126: Chapter 126 The Sower's Purification Protocol

The moment Chen Fan stepped into the pillar of light, the surrounding blizzard came to a sudden halt.

Snowflakes suspended in mid-air, forming a strange white barrier that cut off all sound from the outside world.

Inside the blue pillar of light, it was as warm as spring, the air filled with a faint scent of ozone and some kind of... low-frequency humming.

Ahead, the massive Tetrahedron structure floated silently twenty meters above the ice.

Each of its faces was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the distorted sky and the static storm.

At the base of the Tetrahedron, a ramp extended slowly to the ice, its surface flowing with liquid light.

The Doctor stood at the top of the ramp, wearing a silver-white protective suit, a gentle smile on his face.

"Welcome, Mr. Chen Fan." His voice rang directly in Chen Fan's mind, not transmitted through the air. "Please come up; Captain Lei Zhen and David are waiting for you."

Chen Fan stepped onto the ramp of light. The sensation beneath his feet was soft and elastic; with every step, the light beneath him rippled outward.

He could feel powerful energy fluctuations coming from inside the Tetrahedron—it wasn't just Stellar Core Energy, but a mixture of other, more complex and ancient things.

Entering the Tetrahedron, the space was far larger than it appeared from the outside.

It was like an inverted pyramid, with the entrance at the top and several levels of platforms extending downward.

Each level was filled with various equipment Chen Fan had never seen before—holographic consoles, bio-cultivation pods, star map projectors, and those silver cylinders emitting a soft, pulsating glow.

Lei Zhen and David stood on the third-level platform.

Lei Zhen had indeed been modified. However, it wasn't by the omega virus, but rather directly controlled via a brain-computer interface.

The right side of his body was covered in silver armor, with glowing energy patterns visible where the armor met his skin.

One of his eyes remained as it was, while the other had become a mechanical prosthetic eye, flickering with a cold blue light.

But David looked relatively normal, though his face was pale and his eyes were full of fear.

"Mr... Mr. Chen," David stammered, "I'm sorry, I..."

"It's not your fault." Chen Fan interrupted him, his gaze locked on Captain Lei. "Captain Lei, do you still recognize me?"

Lei Zhen's mechanical eye turned toward Chen Fan, his pupil contracting. "Chen Fan..." His voice was half-human, half-electronic synthesis, sounding extremely eerie. "I... I remember the mission. Protect... humanity."

Lei Zhen's facial muscles twitched, as if he were struggling intensely. "They showed... the truth. Humanity needs... to evolve. Otherwise... extinction."

The Doctor clapped lightly. "Excellent. Even after deep modification, Captain Lei still retains some autonomous consciousness; this shows our technology still has room for improvement."

He turned to Chen Fan. "Now, it's time to talk business."

He waved a hand to bring up a holographic interface showing a 3D model of the Blue Planet.

Hundreds of red dots flashed on the model, most concentrated in densely populated areas.

"Christmas Eve Deployment Plan, Version 3.0," the Doctor said. "We have optimized 'reaper-8'. The current version can not only identify specific genotypes but also... predict an individual's evolutionary potential."

Dense streams of data began to appear next to the red dots: age, genetic sequence, educational background, social networks, and even browsing history and consumption habits.

"We have established a behavioral model for all of humanity," the Doctor said with pride. "By analyzing data from seven billion people, we can accurately predict which individuals have the potential to adapt to the 'New World' and which are... redundant."

"You're insane." Chen Fan stared at the data. "You're using an algorithm to decide who lives and who dies?"

"It's not deciding; it's screening," the Doctor corrected. "Like a farmer selecting seeds or a rancher culling livestock. We are merely making this process... scientific and systematic."

He zoomed in on one region—a small country in Africa. The red dots were so dense they almost merged into one.

"Here, the projected survival rate is 3%. It's not because we are targeting them, but because their genetic diversity is too low and their evolutionary potential is limited." The Doctor's tone was as cold as if he were discussing the weather. "By contrast, the survival rate in some areas with dense mixed-race populations can reach 3%."

Chen Fan felt a wave of nausea. "So you're not trying to eliminate specific races, but to 'optimize' the entire human gene pool?"

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded. "War, plague, natural selection—these screening mechanisms of the old world are too inefficient and have too many side effects. What we offer is... a painless upgrade."

"And what about those who are 'screened out'?" David couldn't help but ask. "Those 'redundant' individuals?"

The Doctor was silent for a few seconds, then brought up another image.

It was a massive underground facility. Countless people lay in life-support pods, with tubes connected to their bodies.

Their consciousnesses were connected to a virtual world where they "lived," while their bodies... were being slowly decomposed and transformed into pure biomass energy.

"Their life energy will be reclaimed to support the operation of the 'New World'," the Doctor said calmly. "Their consciousness will live forever in a Virtual Paradise, while their bodies contribute to evolution. This is the most humane way to handle it."

"Humane?" Chen Fan's fists clenched. "Deciding someone's life or death without their consent—what kind of humanity is that?!"

"Most people don't truly know what they want." The Doctor shook his head. "They are driven by instinct, emotion, and short-sighted interests. As higher beings, it is our responsibility to make better choices for them."

Just then—an emergency message from Xiao Zhi was transmitted directly into his consciousness via a quantum entanglement channel:

star dome 5 has completed a deep scan of the lunar facility. Startling discovery:

1. The core of the facility is a massive Stellar Core Crystal 10 meters in diameter, with an energy intensity 1000 times that of the North Pole source.

2. Surrounding the crystal are over ten thousand Stasis Pods containing various biological samples—humans, animals, plants, and even species that do not exist on Earth.

3. Periodic energy extraction signals detected; signal target: the Kuiper Belt region outside the solar system.

Conclusion: The lunar facility is not a relay station; it is a storage and transport center for 'harvested' energy. The North Pole is the control room, and the Moon is the warehouse.

Chen Fan's heart jolted.

North Pole control, lunar storage, Kuiper Belt reception... how long has this entire system been running?

How much life energy has already been 'harvested' and transported away?

The Doctor seemed to sense something; his mechanical eye locked onto Chen Fan. "You're receiving external communications. Interesting... quantum entanglement technology? It seems your 'little toy' is more advanced than I imagined."

Chen Fan stopped hiding it. "My satellite discovered your warehouse on the far side of the moon. Over ten thousand Stasis Pods—what's inside them? Life energy 'harvested' from Earth?"

For the first time, the Doctor's expression changed.

"You... how could you..." He took a step back, then quickly regained his composure. "No, that's impossible. The lunar facility has a perfect cloaking system; your technology..."

"Our technology is indeed primitive." Chen Fan took a step forward. "But sometimes, primitive methods can discover the things you 'higher beings' overlook."

He brought up the images sent back by Xiao Zhi—the massive Stellar Core Crystal, the dense clusters of Stasis Pods, and the scans of the energy transport pipelines.

"Tell me, Doctor." Chen Fan stared at him. "If the Sowers are truly so advanced, why steal Earth's life energy? Can't they create it themselves? Or is it... that they are actually very 'hungry'?"

The Doctor's expression turned hideous. "What do you know! That... that is the price of evolution! To ascend to a higher dimension, to..."

He stopped suddenly, realizing he had let something slip.

"To what?" Chen Fan pressed. "Did the Sowers encounter a crisis themselves? Do they need the life energy of other civilizations to sustain their lives?"

The lights inside the Tetrahedron began to flicker.

An alarm sounded.

[Unauthorized information leak detected. Initiating Purification Protocol.] A cold mechanical voice echoed through the space.

"No! Wait!" the Doctor shouted. "I can explain..."

But it was too late.

The entrance at the top of the Tetrahedron suddenly slammed shut. Silver liquid began to seep from the walls, dissolving equipment wherever it touched.

Even more terrifyingly, the silver cylinders began to vibrate violently, and their doors opened one by one.