With the combined efforts of the player and Aha, the entire Memory World had completely turned into Aha's image.
After all, offspring born through propagation could carry Aeon traits.
One or two wouldn't impact the universe, but once the numbers increased, even other Aeons couldn't withstand it. And as combat strength ballooned, the things Pei Guang started doing became more and more depraved.
For example, he sent a galaxy-sized force, all units carrying the trait of the Aeon of Elation, to capture the Aeon of Abundance, and then dragged Abundance across the universe to breed with other Aeons.
One day, the swarm of Ahas pinned down Abundance; the next day, they overpowered Destruction. Any Aeon caught would get bombarded by an endless stream of pet balls and become Pei Guang's pet.
Once they became a pet, more and more of their Aeon traits would be collected.
As the number of Aeon traits grew, Pei Guang started synthesizing some ??? traits.
Preservation tried to intervene upon noticing the chaos, but a single swing of his hammer was no match for the endless units with both Elation and Permanence traits, which made Qlipoth feel a chill down his spine.
Because of trait inheritance, today it's a swarm of Ahas, tomorrow it's a swarm of Abundances, and the day after that, a swarm of Destructions. Eventually, even Preservation couldn't hold out.
Aha was the first Aeon to voluntarily join Pei Guang, and Pei Guang remembered that favor: he made sure every unit carried the trait of Elation.
As for Aha? In a normal world, Aha would surely stir up chaos.
But this Aha knew he wasn't real. He was fake. This was a false world, and he was merely a false memory.
Precisely because he was false, he had no intention of ruining Pei Guang's plans.
On the contrary! He wanted to prepare even greater mischief before this world ended—mischief aimed at the player.
Not to sabotage Pei Guang, but to mess with his real-yet-fake self outside. So Aha gave it his all to help Pei Guang cause chaos, all to bring about the final "Elation" before the end of this world.
Of course, what truly scared the Aeons wasn't the universe-wide swarm of "Ahas," but the fact that Pei Guang's gameplay actually made the Memory World grow more stable.
Logically, a memory-based world should only be held together by the Aeon of Remembrance. Yet over time, this Memory World became increasingly stable.
Not only did the world itself stabilize, but something theoretically impossible in any kind of simulation world was actually achieved here.
To the beings within the Memory World, they had no concept of "traits" or "pet balls." They only saw a galaxy suffering an AI crisis.
But surprisingly, many ordinary people in civilized worlds actually liked this AI crisis.
After all, most people could now enjoy a seven-hour workday, two days off each week, and paid leave that had increased from two days a month to five. There were also all kinds of holidays.
What? Don't want to work? It's time for a one-way trip to the power plant!
And it's a special player-designed power plant: just sleep for eight hours inside, and you get paid based on how much energy you generate.
Everyone could gain anything they wanted through effort and labor, including becoming a Pathstrider. With infinite resource farms spread throughout the universe, all basic needs were guaranteed.
Since Pei Guang had obtained the trait of the Aeon of Preservation, there was nothing in the universe that could block his path forward.
Compared to the first simulation, this time Pei Guang was even more extreme and faster. After all, he had experience from the first run, and this time's randomly generated buffs were absurdly powerful.
Naturally, all the benefits were only for people under Pei Guang's rule. Compared to the IPC, Pei Guang's methods against rebels or enemy factions were far crueler.
See those Abominations of Abundance who refused to surrender? All tossed into the mines, digging every day, and if they collapsed, they were thrown into the furnace. Either die from exhaustion or get roasted alive: take your pick.
As for the Antimatter Legion's soldiers, they were all thrown into bio-power plants to ensure that every bit of life was squeezed to its limit.
In the Memory World, once Pei Guang completed the conquest of the last planet and painted it in his own colors, a satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Mmm~ Every planet in this universe is mine now. This instance should be over, right~"
Though dozens of Amber Eras had passed within the Memory World, players could skip all the boring wait time, so for Pei Guang, the experience felt similar to playing the Cosmic Swarm Disaster: like starting a civilization from scratch and clearing it all in one go.
For players, especially those who enjoy strategy and management games, accomplishing things that are impossible in real life is every player's dream. Watching an entire universe under his rule with maxed-out happiness, Pei Guang felt deeply satisfied.
At that moment, Pei Guang began to feel a bit tired. It was time to log off and return to his room for a proper sleep.
If possible, he'd love to find March or Stelle and take in some of the power they brought him.
While Pei Guang was contentedly admiring the final results, Aha appeared beside him.
"Oh~ My great commander~ Are you about to leave this world?"
"Leave? I guess? After all, the game's over. It's just an instance. But isn't it a bit much for you to keep trying to break the fourth wall ?"
Aha: "What's so wrong about that?"
Pei Guang: "Fine, do whatever you want~"
Thanks to Aha's participation, the late game was incredibly satisfying, especially when fighting the Aeons. Watching countless mechanical units with Aeon traits attack the Aeons gave Pei Guang a joy he hadn't even felt during the Swarm Disaster playthrough.
Back then, he still needed tactics and countermeasures.
Here? None of that was needed. Just F2 + A and call it a day.
But clearly, Pei Guang had been having so much fun that he forgot one thing: the last time the Swarm Disaster ended, Aha had completely screwed him over.
And this time, Aha had prepared another "big surprise" just for him.
Just as Pei Guang was getting ready to log off and rest, Aha's mask suddenly lunged at him.
"Aha~ My great Commander, my beloved Emperor, you're mine now~"
Accompanied by Aha's perverse declaration, all the masks puckered their lips and pounced on Pei Guang.
He had originally been leisurely preparing to log out, but when he saw all those masks rushing at him, seemingly about to do something with him, his brain completely froze.
At the same time, Pei Guang suddenly remembered something: although Aha and his units had bred a unit with Aeon traits, Aha himself, as an Aeon, had never actually been captured with a pet ball!
Still, Pei Guang reacted quickly.
The moment he realized something was wrong, he chose to exit.
In that instant, the scene before him disappeared, and a Messenger from the Garden of Recollection was standing in front of him.
"Ahem! Welcome back to the Forgotten Hall. How was your experience this time?"