Just as 'Cyrene' and Ruan Mei were still chatting.
In a place where no one knew.
Aha was quietly observing the progress of the Simulated Universe project through the mask on 'Cyrene'.
Aha hadn't been paying this much attention to 'Cyrene', of course.
At least not to the point of watching every single day—after all, Aha was quite busy too.
But who could blame it? Just moments ago, 'Cyrene' had nearly pulled off a flawless causal loop, a true closed circle of causality.
She almost became a Fuli within a self-contained cycle of cause and effect.
That unique ripple of memory once again drew Aha's gaze toward 'Cyrene'.
And then THEY discovered that these few had cooked up another wild stunt.
They had manually crafted a genuine micro-universe, and inside it, replicated a batch of Aeon originals to run models.
Aha turned around and found THEY had gained a little sibling out of nowhere.
If THEY felt like fishing this little sibling out, they'd be guaranteed to ascend on the spot as an Emanator at the very least.
Laughing my head off, where's the logic in that?
The original Simulated Universe wasn't like this at all. How did mixing in all this messy stuff make the realism shoot up so high?
Aha watched on, thoroughly amused.
Then, stealthily, It began adding its own special ingredients to the Simulated Universe.
No one noticed a thing.
--+--
On the other hand, after 'Cyrene' recovered her spirits, Ruan Mei didn't stay much longer.
She simply reminded 'Cyrene' to contact her if anything came up, then left.
Exiting the lounge, Screwllum was still there, working on something.
Seeing 'Cyrene' come out, Screwllum paused his task and turned to look:
"Lady Bai Ming, are you feeling better now?"
"It was never much to begin with. Herta was just being overly tense. Did you find anything, Screwllum?"
Screwllum nodded upon hearing this:
"I have some findings. It may be rather hard to believe, but the reason the earlier accident occurred is precisely because we performed too well."
"...?"
A question mark popped up above 'Cyrene's' head.
Screwllum then proceeded to explain once more the conclusions he had discussed with Divine Herta.
After hearing this speculation, 'Cyrene' wasn't sure what expression to make for a moment.
It could happen like that?
No, rather, how did things even get to this point??
The data within the Simulated Universe, aside from key temporal nodes, was mostly a chaotic mess.
Just in terms of the quantity of memetic data, it was quite thin—even less substantial than Penacony.
Even if it was a micro-world crafted by 'Cyrene's' own hands, this place was sufficient for storing memories or conducting some experiments.
But to say... it completed a causal loop, indirectly fulfilling the conditions for a Pure Child of Anāsrava...
Wasn't that a bit too absurd and abstract?
Just what kind of judgment mechanism did Fuli set up?
Could her forceful account takeover even count? Shouldn't she have been straight-up disqualified from the Pure Child of Anāsrava eligibility instead?
"...Isn't this somewhat ridiculous?"
"The Simulated Universe, which was originally throwing up massive errors, suddenly became self-consistent. No genius, no matter how talented, could have optimized the Simulated Universe under our very noses without our notice."
Screwllum pointed out the reasoning behind his insistence on this conclusion.
The entire project had been personally supervised by the few of them, and the entire station was completely under their control.
Even if a genius could one day fix all these bugs, they still couldn't have done it without anyone present noticing.
Though 'Cyrene' found it hard to comprehend, she could accept Screwllum's reasoning.
And precisely because she could understand it, 'Cyrene' found it all the more bizarre.
So she pulled out her phone and sent a message to Evernight.
[Nameless: You there? Got something to ask you.]
[Evernight: ? Running a test? Sorry, no time right now. Maybe tomorrow.]
[Nameless: No, it's a technical question I need your advice on...]
'Cyrene' briefly explained the situation she encountered and Screwllum's speculation to Evernight.
Then her phone's chat window started filling with question marks.
[Evernight: ?]
[Evernight: ???]
[Evernight: My Synesthesia Beacon isn't malfunctioning, is it?]
[Evernight: What do you mean you used the Simulated Universe to complete an actual casual loop and triggered the Pure Child of Anāsrava mechanism?]
[Evernight: Are geniuses really this insane?]
[Evernight: Are you guys geniuses or wish-granting machines?]
Evernight realized she had still underestimated the sheer destructive power of these idea-generators when they gathered.
When she had made the suggestion earlier, she hadn't even considered this possibility.
She only thought it would increase the simulation's realism and make the computational results more accurate.
Because... what normal person would think that creating a simulated world could actually reach the point of triggering the Pure Child of Anāsrava mechanism?
Wasn't being able to simulate it enough?
[Evernight: No, I'd better come take a look.]
[Nameless: Oh... then sorry for the trouble.]
Evernight arrived in a hurry.
She seemed genuinely shaken.
To verify 'Cyrene's' feeling, Evernight took the risk and entered the Simulated Universe.
And then quickly chose to exit.
She didn't even let the process resume from its paused state.
"...Congratulations, you've really done it."
Evernight stared at 'Cyrene' with a complicated expression, a thousand words condensed into a single sentence of congratulations.
The moment she connected to the Simulated Universe, she immediately sensed that peculiar atmosphere.
Without a doubt, what Mr. Screwllum said was true.
These people really created such a bizarre world.
"If I were you, I'd shut this project down right now. And you're still thinking about how to push forward... Honestly, I'm starting to worry how long our cooperation can last."
The crazies of the Garden of Recollection, and these madmen whose brains aren't normal.
Which side is more dangerous?
Evernight wasn't so sure now.
"Is it really that serious... You can feel how thin this world is too, right?"
"Is this just a question of having too little mnemic data?"
Evernight shook her head in disbelief.
Every towering tree was once a tiny seed.
"If you really want to push forward, then you can only pray that your Noa will save you this time, just like they saved Demiurge."
That was Evernight's conclusion.
Either reduce the simulation's realism, forcibly downgrade this thing, or just scrap the project entirely.
If you insist on continuing, the only bet is whether Noa will intervene.
But would you gamble on the probability of an Aeon acting?
However, upon hearing this conclusion, 'Cyrene's' eyebrows rose.
That actually sounded like something worth hoping for?
Maybe I should go back to Herta City and ask Noa what they think.
If THEY don't want me to continue, then I'll find another way.
If Noa thinks it's fine, then full speed ahead.
"Evernight, you're a genius! I'm going to talk to Herta!"
'Cyrene' laughed and patted Evernight on the shoulder.
She then turned and went to discuss the feasibility of this plan with Herta, leaving Evernight utterly dumbfounded.
After all, she had no idea about the relationship between Noa and 'Cyrene's' group.
From her perspective, had 'Cyrene' lost her mind, actually wanting to gamble on the probability of an Aeon intervening?
Just what kind of brain does this person have???
--+--