【 "Madam Herta, when the Swarm Disaster first occurred, were there no civilizations that tried to resist?" 】

【 To Stelle, the Swarm Disaster was indeed terrifying, but the spread of this catastrophe seemed too "smooth." The historical Swarm Disaster lasted only a few Amber Eras, sweeping across the entire universe in a few hundred years; it could no longer be described simply as "overwhelming." 】

【 "I understand what you mean, Stelle, but asking such a question only shows that your understanding of the concept of 【The Propagation】 is not deep enough. — Of course, I can't blame you; after all, including inorganic life in the scope of 【The Propagation】 is indeed something that defies common sense." 】

— — Teyvat, Mondstadt.

Inside a cave in Dragonspine, the Alchemy table glowed with a faint blue light. Sugar was focused on recording Madam Herta's words, occasionally looking up at his teacher, who was deep in his own experiment, with a confused expression.

"Organic life? Inorganic life?" Sugar stopped his pen, trying to understand these two unfamiliar terms that sounded similar but had completely opposite meanings.

"It likely refers to living objects and non-living objects," Albedo said, putting down his test tube and explaining calmly.

Sugar adjusted his slipping glasses, the ice crystals condensed on the lenses falling off with a rustle: "But, Albedo, Madam Herta said that including non-living things in the scope of 【The Propagation】—doesn't that mean even items like stone or machines can reproduce just like little animals? That is simply too..."

...too absurd.

After witnessing the Swarm Disaster that swept across countless planets, Sugar had already formed a preliminary judgment on the absurdity of the disaster, and the content was still within the scope of his knowledge. But letting inorganic matter undergo "The Propagation"... he recognized every character when taken apart, but couldn't understand them when put together.

If it were creating life from inorganic matter, Albedo, who had achieved profound mastery in Alchemy, could do it, but letting stone give birth to stone, or machines give birth to machines...

"Albedo, is such a thing really possible?"

Albedo's expression was thoughtful: "If one uses Calx (the material of the Primordial Human) to create life, and then bestows the function of 【The Propagation】 upon that life, that is possible using Alchemy. But as long as it involves 【The Propagation】, possessing 'life' is an indispensable prerequisite."

"【The Propagation】 without life... Sorry, Sugar, I also cannot imagine what that scene would look like."

— — Honkai Impact 3rd.

"Pfft—!"

During lunch time at St. Freya Academy, when Qiyana heard Madam Herta explaining that inorganic life could undergo 【The Propagation】, she almost couldn't help but spit out the Milk in her mouth.

"Inorganic life? Doesn't that just mean machines? Could it be that robots can have babies too? How is that possible?" Qiyana wiped the Milk from the corner of her mouth. She imagined it for a moment: two robots giving birth to a baby robot through 【The Propagation】... That image was truly a bit abstract.

"...It is indeed hard to imagine." Himeko, who was nearby, also wore an expression of disbelief. "It is not strange for inorganic life to possess wisdom, but the function of 【The Propagation】 is unique to organic life. Combining organic and inorganic... it sounds a lot like magic from novels."

Mei put down her chopsticks, closed her lunchbox, which she had barely touched due to feeling nauseous, and glanced at the dense swarm of insects on the Celestial Screen: "But I think, the very act of 'making humans give birth to insects' is a lot like magic."

"But there is a world of difference between organic life and inorganic life —"

Himeko was about to continue when she suddenly heard Qiyana let out a "Wow, wow, wow" exclamation. It turned out that Madam Herta had switched the scene in the Simulated Universe again, and this time, Stelle was in a factory.

Looking at the various brand-new weapons and equipment placed outside the factory, Himeko deduced that this was a military factory of some civilization in the universe.

Stelle stood before the factory's open gate, hearing the roar of machinery operating inside. But strangely, a steady stream of insects was flying out of the factory windows, flapping their wings as they flew toward the high sky.

As the perspective of the Celestial Screen followed Stelle into the factory, Qiyana instinctively covered her mouth tightly.

On one hand, it was because of shock, and on the other hand, she didn't want to spit out the Milk she had just drunk.

Swarms of insects fell rustling from between the robotic arms — every time the precision steel stamping mold closed, it would "give birth" to a dozen or so small insects of different species. The raw materials for these molds were clearly all sorts of machines and steel creations, yet the moment they closed... it was as if a god had kissed iron-wrought carrion, twisting inorganic life into ugly creations.

The further Stelle walked into the depths of the factory, the more bizarre the scene became:

On the automatic assembly line, the robotic arm that should have been installing the gun Trigger was embedding insect eggs into the rifle's rifling.

The pipes at the top of the factory seemed to have turned into the intestines of some giant insect, not only dripping with mucus but also "producing" a mass of egg sacs wrapped in mucus from the valves every few minutes. Within tens of seconds of leaving the production line, these egg sacs quickly hatched into insects, then began to gnaw on everything nearby that could be bitten.

The entire military factory seemed to have become a nest for insects, with countless members of the Swarm being born from the assembly line — even though their original material was nothing but cold iron.

"Why can even this be done? The Aeon is just too absurd, right? People giving birth to insects is one thing, but why can even machines turn into insects?!" Qiyana pointed at the automatically operating mold on the Celestial Screen. "It clearly uses iron as raw material! It's not an insect egg or anything, so why are insects crawling out of it?!"

"It seems this is the true manifestation of the power of 【The Propagation】..." Himeko watched the factory full of insects with a grave expression. "Aeon... it seems this is also a subject that must be immediately put into research."

【 "How is it? Shocking, right?" Madam Herta let out a "Hehe" laugh. "I told you before, manipulating the 【The Propagation】 of organic life is only a partial manifestation of Tayzzyronth's Authority." 】

【 "Under Its Authority, It can even change the concept of 【The Propagation】, altering all concepts of reproduction and replication into 'giving birth to insects,' making all kinds of living things only able to give birth to insects, making machine manufacturing only able to produce insects, and even down to the microscopic cellular level —" 】

【 "— — Stop, stop, stop!" Stelle hurriedly interrupted her. "If It is so powerful, then why did It fall?" 】

【 "Because Its confrontation with 【The Voracity】 had too great an impact, affecting the Paths of other Aeons — especially the newly emerged 【Order】 Ena. In existing literature, It strictly maintained the Order of the universe; for It, 【The Voracity】 and 【The Propagation】 were just here to stir up trouble, so It had to end this chaos." 】