Chapter 146 - 145: Simulated Universe Chaos Unleashed

Silver Wolf had officially joined the crew, though her joining was somewhat unconventional. With her bounty skyrocketing, she couldn't exactly walk openly onto the Astral Express. But as long as she stuck with Pei Guang, she could participate in the main quest whenever she wanted, and thanks to her teleportation ability, she could join him instantly. For now, though, she wasn't heading back to Kafka. The contest was over, and Silver Wolf decided it was time to find a nice, cozy spot to play some games. That cozy spot was... Herta: "You're staying here?" Seeing Silver Wolf still in her office with no plans to leave, Herta found the situation rather amusing. She'd expected Silver Wolf to either follow Pei Guang or return to the Stellaron Hunters. But Actually? She wasn't leaving at all. As she gamed on the console Pei Guang left behind, Silver Wolf complained, "Thanks to you, I'm now the most wanted criminal in the entire universe." Herta shrugged. "Aren't you worried I'll sell you out? With that many credits, even I might be tempted." Herta couldn't help but admire the galaxy's ability to stir things up. What had started as a simple betting pool she'd opened had spiraled out of control, with Silver Wolf becoming the first target of a company-backed crowdfunding bounty. Now, regardless of whether people had participated in the betting, everyone seemed to be throwing in a credit or two for the fun of it. Individually, a few credits wouldn't make much difference, but with the sheer number of contributors, it was adding up fast. Soon, Silver Wolf's bounty reached 20 quadrillion. And it was still climbing! No wonder Silver Wolf had decided to lay low in Herta's space station. It wasn't a bad setup. Food, drinks, and Herta herself to chat with—it wasn't the worst place to hide out. Silver Wolf: "You don't need money, and I'm useful to you. So you wouldn't sell me off, right? I'm a top-tier hacker, after all. If you ever need something done quietly, I'm your girl." Herta: "Oh? And what would you want as a reward?" Silver Wolf's eyes lit up: "Any kind of player items will do. No credits, though!" Herta: "Alright then, but you'll have to help me with a few experiments. I'm curious about your player abilities." While Herta had little interest in Silver Wolf's Aether Editing ability, which was somewhat common in the universe, Pei Guang's unique power fascinated her. His player-like abilities could potentially influence the entire universe and, more importantly, could offer insights that might aid her research. But Herta wasn't ready to invite Pei Guang into her Simulated Universe just yet—he was too unpredictable. Instead, she would use Silver Wolf for her tests. After all, Silver Wolf now had access to some of Pei Guang's abilities, and it seemed more practical to experiment with her first. Besides, Herta had Silver Wolf wrapped around her finger, thanks to the allure of rare gaming gear. Limited edition consoles, antique game cartridges, exclusive in-game items, and rare account IDs—Herta could acquire these with ease. All it took was a few credits, and she could get as much as she wanted. Silver Wolf, meanwhile, was about to experience the perks of being a player for the first time. For Herta, this was a revelation: players were surprisingly easy to manipulate. As long as the rewards were enticing enough, they'd do almost anything. Toss in some rare items or increase their favorability score, and they'd happily comply. Silver Wolf, though, was too engrossed in the game Pei Guang had left behind. "This game is tough... why is it so hard? Ugh... I died again..." Herta didn't mind. She casually added, "All you have to do is help me run a few simulations in the Simulated Universe. It's basically like playing a different kind of game." Silver Wolf sighed, defeated by her in-game death. "Fine... but only after I die in this game. It's frustrating!" Eventually, after a few more rounds of losing, Silver Wolf gave up and stood where Herta directed her for the experiment. Herta explained, "I've input some of Pei Guang's player data into the Simulated Universe. All you need to do is act naturally in there and fight a few battles. I want to see if you can attract the attention of the Aeons." Silver Wolf: "What exactly do I need to do?" Herta: "I've set up several scenarios. Just go in and fight, and we'll see if you can get the Aeons' attention. I'm hoping Pei Guang's data will do the trick." Herta had a couple of goals in mind. Stelle's connection to her internal Stellaron allowed her to interact with Aeons more easily, and Pei Guang's player-like presence was equally intriguing. But since Pei Guang was too unpredictable to experiment with directly, Silver Wolf was the next best option. Herta carefully set up the Simulated Universe, using backup data and a separate machine to isolate it from the main system. She couldn't risk Pei Guang's chaotic energy corrupting the entire simulation. Better safe than sorry. Once Silver Wolf entered the Simulated Universe, things quickly spiraled out of control. Out of nowhere, the Aeons—who normally wouldn't interact—started fighting. The simulation became chaotic. The Aeon of Destruction quickly obliterated the version of Silver Wolf containing Pei Guang's data, and the Elation Aeon, intrigued, snatched the data back to observe it. Finding it amusing, he blessed the data, which then began attracting the Aeon of Abundance. This caused a chain reaction, where the player data fused with the powers of Abundance and began pulling Stellaron Hunters into the fray, eventually challenging the Aeon of Destruction. But it didn't end there. As the data continued to evolve, the player-driven entity led an entire faction, blessed by Abundance, to clash with the forces of Destruction. Back in the real world, Herta was at a loss. The simulation was getting out of hand! Should she pause it? She could, but if she did, she'd miss this once-in-a-lifetime event. No, she couldn't stop it. Even if it meant burning out the backup machine and losing all its data, the spectacle unfolding was too valuable to ignore. This strange player data might provide insights into the Aeons like nothing else before. As Herta observed the chaos, she made a few adjustments, adding new faction details to the simulation. But this only made things worse. The simulation began to overload, with the machine starting to overheat from the sheer volume of calculations. Meanwhile, in the simulation, reality had passed by in just thirty seconds, but in that time, six Xianzhou ships had already joined the player faction. In three minutes, the player faction began to dominate various galaxies within the simulation. Herta couldn't comprehend how the simulated players had managed to get every planet to join them, without any resistance. This was unprecedented!!! The simulated universe's players had now allied with all the factions and were developing advanced technology, fighting a guerrilla war against Nanook across the galaxy. Whenever Nanook sent out a new Emanator, the player data would personally capture them and use them as an energy source to power their tech, which in turn used Nanook's destruction powers to fight back. It was totally insane. What left Herta speechless was that the player data in the simulated universe actually used real code to fight the virtual Aeons and even managed to kill Nanook. Unfortunately, at that moment, the simulated universe completely collapsed. The hardware just couldn't handle the massive amount of data. To complete all the necessary calculations, they'd need the entire resources of several star systems. "This... this is what players are like?" Herta stared at the final results, her worldview completely shaken. She had only simulated Pei Guang's abilities as they had been shown so far, and even that had caused the simulated universe to crash. The experimental results were too important to ignore, so Herta quickly contacted her three research partners, showing them the results of the simulation. At first, the others thought Herta had lost her mind. But after seeing the data logs, they worked together to run more simulations remotely. However, due to limited resources, they could only simulate up to the point where the player data started going rogue. No matter how they simulated it, the outcome was always the same: either this Aeon provoked the players, or that one did. Or sometimes, Nanook's minions would provoke the players, leading to yet another player-versus-Aeon war. With the first experiment as a guide, Herta began trying to figure out how to stabilize the player data in relation to the Aeons, but no matter what she tried, nothing worked. After numerous attempts, Herta had a thought. She looked over at Silver Wolf, who had been playing games ever since realizing she wasn't needed in the first test. "Hey, got a question. How do I keep the player data from going out of control?" She had run too many tests by now, and every time the player data went berserk for one reason or another. During the testing, Herta remembered something—the Stellaron Hunters' Elio could predict the future. He had likely foreseen what happens when players are involved. Maybe Silver Wolf could offer some insights based on their experience. Without even looking up from her game, Silver Wolf answered casually, "Simple. Just don't do anything that pisses off the players. I mean, look at me—I almost got stewed!" Silver Wolf was still feeling relieved she hadn't pushed things further back then. Otherwise, right now, the whole galaxy would be laughing at her "getting cooked" video. If pranking players could make her a legend back home, then a video of her getting boiled would probably get her mocked until the end of time.