Chapter 389

"Calm down, speak slowly," Ai Yue grabbed her body as she tried to pounce on him. "What do you mean, turn into a monkey? Like those just now?"

"It seems you've already met the student infected with the meme virus, which makes things easier," Dan Heng said from the side. "In short..."

In short, bananas?

Seeing Dan Heng make such a serious sound, Ai Yue almost burst out laughing, but he was quickly drawn in by what the other party was describing, and then frowned.

Damn it, how dare they do this kind of thing on my turf?

"I understand the situation. Meme virus, right? Wait a moment." Ai Yue reached out and pinched Xing's cheek, then rubbed it. "I see. No wonder you needed to come all the way to Penacony."

As a vast "synesthetic dream" capable of connecting the subconscious of countless people, Penacony is clearly the perfect breeding ground for meme viruses. As long as meme viruses are spread here, they can spread at an extremely fast speed to everyone immersed in the dream.

Of course, as we've said countless times, ideals are good, but reality is cruel—the culprit spreading the meme virus is unaware that this experimental field, which he sees as completely undefended, is currently being overseen by experts in the field of mental health.

And there's more than one.

"Solved." After casually cracking the memetic virus of the Sleepy Banana Monkey, Ai Yue reached out and tapped Xing and Dan Heng on the head. "Hey you over there, do you want to come over here?"

Although it wasn't the meme virus from the Sleepy Banana Monkey, Ai Yue sensed something similar from the girl.

"I need not do that." The girl took a small step back, then looked at Ai Yue with a fanatical expression. "I never imagined that you could so easily break the evil ninjutsu of the Monkey King. May I ask which master you are?"

At this point, the other party realized his mistake and immediately bowed, saying, "My apologies. Before inquiring about your identity, I should state it myself—it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is AKA Ranpo."

"It's alright, this thing isn't too difficult." Ai Yue shrugged. "As for me, just call me Ai Yue."

"So that's how it is! It's Master Ai Yue!" Ranpo seemed to have overheard something from Ai Yue's words and immediately became respectful. "I was just about to pursue the evil Chief with Bat Ninja and Flying Dragon Ninja. I wonder if Master could lend me a hand?"

"You've already called me Master, so what else is there to say?" Ai Yue raised his chin, revealing an interested expression. "Lead the way."

"Yes!"

Seeing that the two of them reached an agreement in just a few words, Xing couldn't help but whisper to Dan Heng, "Why are those two able to communicate so smoothly?"

"I think it's probably because Mr. Ai Yue doesn't understand others' meanings based on surface language." Dan Heng pondered for a moment, then revealed a subtle expression. "Of course, we can't rule out... that Mr. Ai Yue might actually enjoy this kind of thing too?"

"What are you two doing?" Ai Yue, who had already walked a short distance away, turned back. "Weren't you going to thwart the plot of Yu Yuan Xie Ninja?"

"He's even using ninja language now," Xing muttered under her breath. "Could it be that Brother Yue really likes these things?"

"I'm more concerned about another issue." Dan Heng looked at Luanpo, who was at the front, "Does Luanpo... really know the way?"

As Dan Heng voiced his question, Luan Po, who was at the front, stopped and turned to the others. "Excuse me, Master Ai Yue, I... seem to have lost them."

"Or rather, we never even managed to identify our target in the first place," Xing couldn't help but complain. "Isn't this exactly why we asked Brother Yue for help?"

"So what does the target look like?" Ai Yue's gaze swept across the campus. "If all you know is that it's a monkey, then it'll be a bit hard to find, since there are monkeys everywhere here."

"The purpose of Professor Banana is to spread the memetic virus of the Sleepy Banana Monkey in Penacony, so I speculate that the place with the largest number of Sleepy Banana Monkey should be where it is now." As the only one of the three who was relatively good at thinking, Dan Heng made his judgment. "Mr. Ai Yue, can you find it?"

"It is possible, but..." Ai Yue closed his eyes, then slowly opened them, a subtle smile on his face, "That place isn't at Origami University."

Before anyone could ask further questions, Ai Yue snapped his fingers and transported everyone to their destination— Flowing Dream Reef.

"Banana! Banana!"

Before Xing could adjust to the sudden change in environment, she heard a chorus of banana sounds around her. As she opened her eyes, she was quickly startled by the Sleepy Banana Monkey running around everywhere. "My bananas! So many?"

"Many bewitched ninjas," Ranpo's eyes swept around. "It seems the Evil Chief is nearby. You two ninjas, and Master Ai Yue, please be on your guard!"

As she spoke, she suddenly turned her head to look in a certain direction. "I heard it! It's Lord Silver Spear Shura's gunshot! It's over there!"

After saying this, she transformed into a dazzling rainbow and shot off, leaving only a swaying trail on the ground.

"He's really impatient." Ai Yue shrugged, then closed his eyes, did something, and looked at Xing and Dan Heng. "Let's follow."

When they arrived, what they saw was not the great battle they had imagined—but a complete and utter crushing defeat.

Ranpo and Boothill, a ninja and a gunslinger, fought their way in and out of the monkey troop, treating it like a Dynasty Warriors game. The Sleepy Banana Monkey were completely powerless to resist and were sent flying through the air by the two of them.

Even the seemingly leader, the Professor Banana in the white coat, was shot by Boothill's bullets and started tap dancing, showing absolutely no strength as the mastermind behind the scenes; it was all just a farce.

Ai Yue glanced at the other person's white lab coat, then at his own similar white trench coat, and began to seriously consider whether he should change his style of dress in the future.

With the demise of Dan Heng and Xing, the monkey troop's situation became increasingly dire. Had their intelligence not been reduced to the point of being unable to comprehend their current predicament, they would likely have already collapsed and scattered in all directions.

One could say that being mentally challenged has its advantages... though it's hard to say whether it's a good thing or not.

"Damn you, you wretched Sea-faring Ranger!" However, it was clear that Professor Banana had a backup plan. Seeing the dwindling number of monkeys under its command, it couldn't help but become furious. "Although the numbers are still not enough, there's nothing we can do!"

So, under everyone's watchful eyes, Professor Banana leaped up and rushed towards the distant black hole of Idrit!

"Oh no, Professor Banana is running away!" Xing cried, watching Professor Banana disappear into the distance. "Brother Yue! Brother Yue Brother Yue, give me a hand!"

But Ai Yue didn't make any move; instead, he revealed a strange smile, as if to say, "You chose this yourself."

The next second, everyone saw a white light flash across the surface of the Idrit black hole, which then bounced Professor Banana and all the monkeys that were trying to escape back.

"Banana?! How could this be!"

Completely unprepared for this outcome, Professor Banana collapsed onto the platform. When he got up again, he saw everyone surrounding him with malicious expressions.

"Banana--"

Chapter 90 Who Changed My Major?

Ai Yue truly hadn't expected that the precautions he had taken in advance to prevent the conspiracy theories from coming true would actually work in this way.

Although these monkeys are nothing compared to the Aeon of Propagation of Procreation in conspiracy theories, they are still better than the air force.

However, as Professor Banana attempted to escape into the Idrit Void, Ai Yue finally realized that the conspiracy theory had probably failed—if this had anything to do with the Aeon of Propagation, this guy wouldn't have chosen to escape from here.

Of course, these things can be put on hold for now, since the most important thing right now is to solve the problem of these Sleepy Banana Monkey.

"So, can someone explain what's going on with these guys?"

After kicking Professor Banana to ensure he couldn't retaliate, Ai Yue lifted him up and looked around at the people. "Theoretically speaking, this guy shouldn't be the real mastermind, right?"

Although completely unaware of this plot, this monkey currently lacks both sufficient power and a shocking conspiracy like Sunday's. While the meme virus it spreads is indeed a bit troublesome for ordinary people, that's about it—it's at a level that can be resolved by the train trio and the helpful passerby. Clearly, it's not enough to be considered the true mastermind.

"No, the only one committing crimes in Penacony should be the Evil Chief; the real villains haven't arrived yet." Ranpo shook his head, looking at the Professor Banana in Ai Yue's hand that was now motionless. "I originally wanted to use the Evil Chief to find out where the Monkey King Evil Ninja was... but now it seems that's probably not going to work."

"What do you mean?" Boothill leaned over. "Oh, playing dead, huh? No problem, leave it to me. I'll use all the best stuff the company's given me on it, and it'll talk then!"

"It's pointless now, cowboy actor."

The answer to Boothill wasn't the nearby chaos, but a young man who appeared out of nowhere. He had disheveled hair, a pale face, and deep, somewhat obsessive eyes, looking like an artist.

Ai Yue glanced at him, then focused his attention on a toad on his shoulder. The toad was made entirely of mechanical parts, but it was not just a simple doll. Its eyes gleamed with a kind of spiritual light, clearly indicating that it possessed its own consciousness.

At that moment, the man walked over quite naturally. "That guy has already run away. Now he's just an empty shell, no longer of any use in acting."

"It got away? Really?" Boothill was stunned for a moment, then his gaze shifted to Ai Yue's hands. "It got away from your hands?"

As someone who had a general understanding of Ai Yue's strength, Boothill simply couldn't believe the result. How could someone like Professor Banana, who could be shot around like that by him, possibly escape from Ai Yue's clutches?

"That is indeed the case, Lord Silver Spear Shura." Ranpo said calmly, "My super hearing can no longer detect the sounds of evil spirits. What the Shrimp Ninja said is true."

"No, really?" Even Xing, standing to the side, wore an expression of disbelief. "Evil spirit, truly despicable!"

"So, still no one's going to explain what's going on with this guy?" Ai Yue looked at the chaos before him, speechless for a moment. "If no one's going to explain, then I'm leaving?"

"Let me explain," Dan Heng finally stepped forward, "Simply put, this Professor Banana is actually a subordinate of Genius Club #64, Primeval Doctor."

"The Primeval Doctor?" Ai Yue stroked his chin, quickly realizing something. "The one who did atavistic experiments?"

In an instant, he understood many things. The Primeval Doctor was most skilled at the research and spread of meme viruses. His atavism experiments were also about reshaping the cognition of people on multiple planets by spreading meme viruses, causing them to degenerate to the state of apes and then evolve again.

This explains the traces of the memetic virus on Luanpo's body. He was clearly one of Primeval Doctor's experimental subjects who escaped, joined the Sea-faring Ranger, and began hunting him down.

"Yes, it's him." Boothill sighed from the side. "We were hoping to follow the trail and catch him this time, but unfortunately we lost our only clue. He was our precious one!"

"It's not that we lost it," Ai Yue smiled, his gaze sweeping over Rake. "Besides, the only clue... doesn't seem like that."

Luanpo blinked. "Does Master perhaps have another method?"

"That guy wasn't capable of escaping from me anyway," Ai Yue chuckled. "But instead of capturing him and having him tortured to see if we can extract the whereabouts of the Primeval Doctor, I have a better idea."

He raised a finger, and a glint of light appeared at its tip, illuminating his somewhat wicked smile, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, how about it?"

On an inconspicuous planet on the edge of the Asdener Star System, a spaceship is rapidly ascending. The excessive acceleration is clearly unsuitable for takeoff, causing its silhouette to sway erratically, as if reflecting the pilot's panicked state of mind.

"Damn it, damn it! What the hell is this Penacony?!"

Inside the spaceship's cockpit, a burly figure was crammed into a seat that was far too narrow for his size, operating the spaceship while muttering curses under his breath.

The reason it is described as "it" is because it is not a conventional intelligent life form such as Homo sapiens or intelligent machines, but a chimpanzee covered in body hair.

Despite wearing a white lab coat and glasses, the attire clearly didn't suit it, making it look somewhat comical.

This style also reveals its identity—it is Professor Banana has just escaped from a dream.

As a subordinate of "Primeval Doctor," a dangerous individual wanted throughout the universe, Professor Banana is naturally not someone who can be seen in the light. Therefore, its ability to infiltrate Penacony's dream is naturally due to some illegal smuggling methods.

This method also allowed it to quickly break free from the dream, although the process was a bit painful, it was at least much better than falling into the hands of the Sea-faring Ranger.

Yes, the Sea-faring Ranger, those despicable Pioneers, and that last guy of unknown origin... what's going on with all these people?

The result of my meticulous planning was so easily destroyed. How could those who were clearly contaminated by the meme virus so easily revert to their original state?

Thinking of this, Professor Banana reached for a banana from the side and took a big bite, as if to vent his fear.

But after only a couple of chews, its expression suddenly changed, and it spat it out in a very ungraceful manner. "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! This banana is rotten?"

It's clearly its favorite variety, so why does it taste like rust?

Concentrating on escaping, Professor Banana casually put the banana aside and began to focus on operating the spaceship. At that moment, the Hound Family Fleet, which was responsible for patrolling the edge of the star system, also noticed the spaceship that had taken off forcibly and was chasing after it from a distance.

Unfortunately, they were far inferior to Professor Banana in both spaceship performance and piloting skills. As a result, they were quickly left far behind and could only watch helplessly as Professor Banana swaggered away.

"Banana! A bunch of idiots, trying to catch me?" Professor Banana, clearly finding some solace in this insignificant victory, pressed a button on the control panel and dialed a communication point somewhere, "Hello? It's me, what are your current coordinates?"

"Oh? You've got results so quickly?" A voice similar to Professor Banana's came from the other end of the communicator. Judging from the many similarities in their speech, it wasn't hard to guess that the other person was also a gorilla. "As expected of our lab's rising star, even Penacony can't stump you."

"No, I failed." Professor Banana readily admitted his defeat, then complained, "There's definitely something wrong with Penacony! Who said they were still in a state of chaos, making it easy to slip through? I couldn't even find a place to hide the Id-bubble!"

Professor Banana's original plan was excellent. He disguised the meme virus of the Sleepy Banana Monkey as a popular trend and sent it to Penacony. Then, he chose places like Origami University, where young people congregate and are most easily influenced by popular elements, as the planting site to spread it out quietly.

At the same time, he gathered those infected with the meme virus into the Id-bubble he created, and waited for the right moment to unleash a massive attack on Penacony.

When the amount of meme virus contamination reaches a certain level, the resulting resonance among infected individuals triggers a surge of thoughts that can transform into a massive wave sweeping through the dream world, completely engulfing the entire Penacony!

However, the plan encountered an extremely awkward problem right from the start: Professor Banana simply couldn't find a place to put Id-bubble.

As the intelligence reports indicated, Penacony was indeed in disarray due to a calamity. Wealthy people who valued their lives left one after another, while speculators eager for opportunities kept entering the market. Friction between the family and various forces continued, resulting in many loopholes in management.

But this doesn't mean the dream itself is full of flaws; on the contrary, after a simple test, Professor Banana unexpectedly discovered that the dream was protected by an unknown rule almost everywhere, so much so that if it dared to hide any unauthorized Id-bubble within it, it would be immediately discovered.

"Hey, hey! Why did you suddenly stop talking?" Just as Professor Banana was still reminiscing about the past, the gorilla on the other end of the communication channel lost patience. "Failure is normal, but you can't expect to get nothing of value, can you?"

"We've collected some data reports on the spread of memetic viruses in synesthetic dreams. It turns out this is indeed very beneficial for the spread of memetic viruses. Perhaps we can artificially create synesthetic dreams in the future to accelerate the process of atavism experiments." Professor Banana snapped out of his reverie and picked up the half-eaten banana from the side. "Hmm? This banana is actually quite delicious?"

"What kind of time is this to be eating?" A sneer came from the other end of the line. "You'd better pray that the data is actually valuable, otherwise you know the rules of the lab, and you don't want to be the next guinea pig, do you?"

"Of course, so you have to help me!" Upon hearing the words "experimental subject," Professor Banana Shou shuddered, his voice revealing a hint of barely suppressed fear. "This time, I've been hunted down by the Sea-faring Ranger! This was completely unexpected interference, Doctor, you can understand, right?"

"That's hard to say. After all, being caught by them only proves you're stupid." Hearing about the Sea-faring Ranger, the other party became even more merciless in their mockery. "Perhaps you really should participate in an experiment and start evolving again? Maybe that would make you a little smarter!"

"If anyone's going to evolve again, it'll be you first!" Professor Banana said angrily. "You wait, when I get back I'll dismantle you, throw you into the furnace, refine you into basic building materials, and then put you on the assembly line. Let's see if you dare laugh at me like that next!"

"Then I'll be waiting, okay?" Along with these words, coordinates appeared on the spaceship's display screen. "You'd better practice your lines first, so you don't embarrass yourself when you give your report!"

"Exposing my weakness? How could I expose my weakness?" Professor Banana snorted coldly, set the spaceship to autopilot mode, and then took out the data he had collected earlier. "Although this attempt failed, I have already designed a better evolution plan for the Doctor!"

In his field of vision, the data that originally recorded the dreamer being transformed into Sleepy Banana Monkey by a meme virus had somehow turned into a meticulously designed and cold blueprint.

The precise data, the exquisite metal ratios, and the complex parts manufacturing processes—all painted a splendid picture of a bright future for the Professor Banana.

Replacing the brain with photonic chips, nerves with quantum transmission lines, bones with super-titanium alloys, and blood with nanorobots...

"What a wonderful blueprint!" A cold smile appeared on Professor Banana's face. "Flesh and blood are weak, Machine Ascension!"

"You mean, you implanted a meme virus into Professor Banana?"

In the dream, everyone was stunned as they listened to Ai Yue's description.

"Yeah, it's just a little gadget I whipped up on the spot, but it should be enough to annoy them." Ai Yue said with a smug look. "To make sure it works, I put some serious stuff in there!"

Since Primeval Doctor is so fond of letting human civilization regress to the primitive era and then re-evolve, Ai Yue might as well give him a more thorough path of evolution.

After all, carbon-based life forms are fragile and short-lived; where can they compare to the greater efficiency of mechanical life forms?

To ensure that this meme virus was troublesome enough that Primeval Doctor could easily solve the problem after discovering it, Ai Yue even incorporated the previously analyzed "Anti-Life Equation" into it, hoping that Primeval Doctor himself could also evolve and perhaps even take over Rupert II's mantle.

As for whether such an operation would significantly increase the Primeval Doctor's harm to the universe, thereby causing trouble for more people, the answer is of course no.

Ai Yue looked up at the sky in his dream, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.