As the Tentacle Cluster drew closer, anomalous electromagnetic waves began penetrating the planetary Energy Shields and infecting the Crystal Civilization.
This time, Cthulhu himself had arrived. Without operating at full power, the planetary Energy Shields had no way to withstand those warped electromagnetic waves.
Some citizens began hearing voices. Their bodies twisted and mutated, and they went mad, losing all reason.
Most had appeared exemplary on the surface of society, but had suffered some form of mental contamination in virtual games, infected by dark elements such as bloodshed, horror, and dismemberment.
The real and virtual worlds were like inverted yin and yang, keeping that diseased darkness sealed away, much as the Algorithm Maze used to control AI kept such things isolated.
But something from outside awakened that latent darkness.
In a Stasis Pod in the gaming room of a certain building, a young man immersed in the virtual world remained completely unaware.
Yet his body began twisting at the genetic level and developed a consciousness of its own. Fine, densely tangled fleshy growths sprouted from his exposed skin, and something began writhing beneath his nanomaterial clothing.
He lost control-
Pedestrians in the cities also suddenly lost control. Much like zombies after mutation, they bit anyone they saw, and the infection rapidly spread across the four inhabited planets.
Ninety billion living individuals came under direct threat. The empire immediately activated its robots and began ruthlessly eliminating the mutated beings.
The authorities already knew that these mutated beings had undergone a complete change in their mental state and consciousness. They no longer belonged to the Crystal Civilization.
They were Aberrants.
But survivors gathering in various locations discovered that even after clearing out the mutants outside, even after isolating anyone with wounds, they were still not safe.
Those who looked perfectly intact would