Marvel Universe.

"Life is truly amazing; even inside a computer, bugs from The Propagation can appear... How on earth did these things manage to survive?"

Tony narrowed his eyes, leaning back into the sofa unconsciously. He scrutinized the dense swarm of writhing, twisting bugs on the Celestial Screen, his disgust clearly written all over his face.

Say what you will, but the fact that Madam Herta is willing to personally step in and clean up such disgusting things is enough to earn his respect.

"Come to think of it, if swarms can actually be born from computer programs, does that mean every piece of electronic equipment in my tower—my armor, my systems, my coffee machine—could potentially spawn bugs?... If the Aeon of The Propagation were still alive, that is."

"When even Inorganic Life can turn into bugs, discussing this topic is already meaningless. However, Tony, there is one idea I need to correct you on—" Dr. Banner held up a finger, emphasizing, "With our current computer floating-point operations, we wouldn't attract Calculation Insects at all. In the eyes of those bugs, our computing power is about on par with a primitive tribe."

"What kind of concept is tens of thousands of gai?" Steve asked curiously. "Is 'gai' a unit? I don't think I've ever heard of it; the largest unit I've heard of is a trillion."

"Alright, let me give you an analogy." Tony extended one hand and spread his five fingers. "Cap, do you know what kind of computing power the most advanced supercomputers on Earth have right now—the ones that take up several basketball courts and consume enough electricity to power a small city?"

Steve shook his head.

"Ten quintillion floating-point operations per second." Tony said. "Ten quintillion, that is a 1 followed by 18 zeros. Sounds like a lot, right?"

He paused for a moment, then held up one finger.

"What is ten thousand gai? A gai is 10 to the 20th power. Ten thousand gai is 10 to the 24th power—a 1 followed by 24 zeros."

He looked at the Captain's expression, knowing this number was already beyond his intuitive grasp.

"Although it looks like there's only a difference of 6 zeros, they are an insurmountable chasm. Even if we invested all the resources on Earth to increase computing power, it would be difficult to achieve."

Tony walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the New York skyline outside: "...To have such a computer running every second of every minute, the resources it consumes... Heh, truly, only the Interastral Peace Corporation would be willing to burn money on this. No, the word 'burn' doesn't even begin to capture the efficiency with which they consume money. It should be said that just to maintain the daily operations of this pointy-hat lady's computer, the Corporation is vaporizing resources on the scale of 'planets'... or even 'galaxies' every second."

——

【 "Help! The bug's bodily fluids splashed onto my mirror surface!" 】

【 Madam Herta looked disgusted and had absolutely no intention of helping: "Do it yourself. Can't you just wipe it off with your hand?" 】

【 The mirror gave an awkward laugh: "Ha, ha! You are so humorous..." 】

【 Having dealt with the troublesome bugs in the Calculation Zone, only the Communication Zone remained. Madam Herta and the Fourth Mirror arrived there and found the area filled with her Herta Puppets. 】

【 "This... is this? Madam Herta, I didn't expect to see your Herta Puppets even here." 】

【 Madam Herta explained: "The Communication Zone, as the name implies, is the sector responsible for establishing a bridge of communication between the Herta Space Station and the Machine Head. It concentrates the energy of the Erudition Path into one place and then launches a 'tether' toward the Aeon—it's equivalent to tapping someone on the shoulder from behind; their reaction would certainly be to turn around and look at you." 】

【 "This work is not simple. Not to mention how troublesome the preparatory work is, a single glance from the Machine Head... the slightest carelessness could destroy the entire Herta Space Station." 】

【 The mirror gave an "Oh" of realization: "So putting the entire Herta Space Station into silence is a protective measure to avoid overloading or even destroying the equipment?" 】

【 Madam Herta nodded with satisfaction: "You're quite perceptive, Fourth Mirror." 】

【 "I've been influenced by what I've seen and heard—though I have neither eyes nor ears, ha!" The Fourth Mirror looked around. "This sector... seems quite normal? These Herta Puppets are all operating, and I don't see any malfunctions..." 】

【 "That's hard to say." 】

【 "Madam Herta, behind you—" 】

【 Madam Herta turned around upon hearing this and discovered that a Herta Puppet had already arrived silently behind her. 】

【 "...Hm? What does she want to do?" 】

【 Madam Herta went up to examine it closely: "Let me see, this Herta Puppet... should be #2757." 】

【 "Th-this, how did you recognize it?!" 】

【 "Shh, don't interrupt, I'm checking the Herta Puppet's status. #2757... 'Personality Mapping Module'... disabled. Strange, this parameter should be enabled by default, right? 'Unreasonable Module'... also disabled? This is even more unreasonable; I checked everyone just a few days ago to ensure all Herta Puppets had it turned on..." 】

【 The Fourth Mirror really couldn't help but retort: "No, why is there even such a preset module in the first place!?" 】

【 "Indiscriminate Attack Module..." Madam Herta's pupils dilated slightly: "...enabled." 】

——

Dragon Raja.

"To think someone would specifically install an 'Unreasonable Module' on their own Herta Puppets..." Mai Sakatoku clicked her tongue in wonder. "This module itself is quite unreasonable, but when you think about the fact that the person who installed it is Madam Herta, it becomes reasonable again."

"So, someone has snuck into the Herta Space Station and tampered with the parameters of her Herta Puppets without anyone knowing." Enxi Su put a potato chip into her mouth, chewing with a "crunch, crunch." "To dare to pull such a stunt in front of an Emanator, the other party seems not only bold but also quite capable."

"The key is the other party's goal. To cause trouble at the critical moment of seeking an audience with Nous, it's hard not to suspect that it's a force opposing the Genius Society."

"Opposing a genius? How many lives do they have to be this reckless?"

"If that's not it, then the greatest possibility for sneaking into the Audience Device is to steal the core data inside—in other words, someone else also wants to seek an audience with Nous, but they lack the technology of a genius, so after stealing the technology, the opponent intends to build an Audience Device."

"...Have you been watching too much 'Detective Conan' lately? Or have you been reading some orthodox mystery novels?" Enxi Su rubbed her temples. "Then, who do you think the opponent is?"

"Of course, it's the Intelligentsia Guild." Mai Sakatoku said matter-of-factly. "Those scholars probably dream of seeking an audience with Nous. They've done plenty of crazy things; it wouldn't be strange for them to take a risk and target Madam Herta."