129: Chapter 129 The Light of Atonement and the Path to the Moon

Icy seawater flooded into the cabin.

"They... found us..." David said despairingly.

Chen Fan used the Amplification system to patch up the escape pod.

The doctor looked at Chen Fan and suddenly made a decision.

"Chen Fan, David, listen to me." His voice was unusually calm. "There's a life sphere at the bottom of the escape pod. It can carry you up to the surface. Both of you, escape."

"What about you?" Chen Fan asked.

"I'll stay." The doctor began operating the console. "I can manually activate the escape pod's thrusters to create a decoy target and divert the pursuers. And... I need to finish something."

"What thing?"

The doctor pulled out a small storage device from his chest and plugged it into the console interface: "In my life... I made many mistakes. For the so-called 'evolution', for the 'new world', I helped the 'Sower' design the omega virus, participated in the harvest plan... I caused the deaths of countless people."

His fingers danced across the keyboard, and complex gene sequence diagrams appeared on the screen.

"But there's one thing I've always kept hidden from the 'Sower'." The doctor raised his head, a flicker of cunning in his eyes. "I planted a backdoor in all the 'Gardener' variant strains... A backdoor based on the 137 sequence. Once activated, the genes of all variants will begin... self-correction."

David's eyes widened: "You've been preparing to resist all along?"

"Since the day I learned the Sower's true purpose." The doctor smiled bitterly. "But I was too cowardly to act. Until I met you, Chen Fan. You showed me... that humanity still has courage."

"Go now!" The doctor shoved a waterproof bag at Chen Fan. "This contains the access passwords to all the labs, the control keys for the lunar facilities, and... a photo of my daughter. If you survive, tell her... her dad wasn't a bad person, he just... was lost for too long."

He pushed Chen Fan and David toward the life sphere entrance at the bottom of the cabin.

"Doctor, come with us!" Chen Fan grabbed his hand.

"No." The doctor shook his head, a peaceful smile on his face. "Some people are destined to atone with their lives. This is the way I choose."

He pressed a button, and the life sphere was ejected.

In the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, the last image Chen Fan saw was: the doctor standing before the console, his fingers still typing on the keyboard. The escape pod's thrusters activated at full power, charging toward the depths of the sea.

A few seconds later, a beam of light shot down from the sea surface, precisely hitting the escape pod.

The light of the explosion bloomed in the deep sea like fireworks.

By the time the life sphere surfaced, it was already dawn.

The Arctic dawn sky was an eerie purplish-red.

Huge ice floes floated on the sea surface, and the outline of land could be seen in the distance.

"It's the Svalbard archipelago." David identified the direction. "The nearest town is... twenty kilometers to the east."

Chen Fan didn't respond. He sat in the life sphere, holding the waterproof bag the doctor had given him. Inside the bag, besides the storage device, was indeed a photo—a seven or eight-year-old girl with a brilliant smile, with the Alps in the background.

"We have to survive." Chen Fan put away the photo, his voice firm. "For Lei Zhen, for the doctor, for all those who sacrificed."

Chen Fan used the Amplification levitation ball and Xiao Zhi to send a distress signal. Soon, they encountered a Norwegian research vessel.

The people on board were shocked by these two "survivors" who suddenly appeared on the Arctic ice sheet.

After being rescued, he immediately contacted Su Qingyue.

"Chen Fan!" Su Qingyue on the holographic screen was in tears. "We thought... the explosion in the Arctic..."

"I'm fine." Chen Fan said briefly. "But the situation is critical now. The Gene Resonance Protocol has been interfered with; we need a new plan."

He quickly explained the situation: the lunar energy, the doctor's backdoor, and... his plan to go to the moon.

"Go to the moon? Now?" Su Qingyue couldn't believe it. "The Sower's mothership is already charging in the Kuiper Belt! According to Xiao Zhi's calculations, it will reach Earth's orbit in at most seventy-two hours!"

"Then we'll go to the moon within seventy-two hours." Chen Fan was frighteningly calm. "Using Fanxing Technology's latest tech, plus the resources left by Alpha Capital. The doctor gave us access to five secret bases; the control terminals in two of those locations can remotely operate the lunar facilities."

"But launching a rocket takes time..."

"We're not launching a rocket." Chen Fan pulled up a top-secret file. "The 'Sower' has... transmission channels between the moon and Earth. The doctor's data shows they used some kind of quantum entanglement technology to achieve instant matter transmission. If we can hack into that system..."

"You want to use the Sower's channel to go to the moon?" Su Qingyue gasped. "That's too dangerous! The transmission process could be interfered with; you could be disassembled into elementary particles!"

Su Qingyue suddenly understood: "You want to 'print' a clone of you on the moon? Then use that body to receive the Stellar Core Energy and transmit it back to Earth?"

"Not a clone." Chen Fan corrected. "An 'energy vessel'. A temporary body that can withstand three minutes of extreme energy impact. Use that body to activate the Gene Resonance Protocol, and then... transfer the protocol control to my original body on Earth before it collapses."

The plan was crazy and dangerous, but perhaps the only chance.

Su Qingyue commanded the overall operation from Magic City, mobilizing all of Fanxing Technology's resources while simultaneously uniting with governments worldwide—those not yet fully controlled by the "Sower."

David flew to a base, responsible for activating the control terminal in the Southern Hemisphere.

And Chen Fan and Xiao Zhi headed for the transmission channel between the moon and Earth.

According to the information provided by the doctor, they found the entrance under a glacier at an altitude of six thousand meters—a metal door disguised as a natural ice cave.

A triangular symbol was carved on the door.

"Requires a password." Xiao Zhi said.

Chen Fan entered the password.

The door opened.

Inside was a massive, futuristic-looking control center.

Holographic screens on the walls displayed real-time feeds of the facilities on the far side of the moon; the console was covered with unfamiliar symbols and buttons.

Even more shocking was the transparent cylindrical container floating in the center of the control center.

Sealed within the container was a "person."

She appeared to be in her twenties, wearing some kind of ancient clothing, her body in a dormant state.

Most striking was her forehead—there was no triangular mark there, but rather a complex, glowing geometric pattern.

"Life signals detected." Xiao Zhi reported. "Gene sequence analysis. She also has the 137 key sequence, but arranged differently."

"Is she... a previous generation 'Gardener'?" Chen Fan approached the container.

Just then, the container suddenly opened.

The dormant fluid drained out, and the woman opened her eyes.

Her pupils were pure gold, her gaze filled with the wisdom and weariness accumulated over hundreds of millions of years.

"Finally... someone has come." She spoke in an ancient language, but Chen Fan could understand directly—it was communication on a consciousness level. "I am 'Guardian-3', the 'Gardener' of Earth's third civilization cycle. Have you come to end this eternal harvest?"

Chen Fan was too shocked to speak.

"No need for surprise." The woman slowly stepped out of the container, her body emitting a faint glow, her soaked clothes instantly drying. "The 'Sower' thought they sealed my consciousness, but they didn't know... I dispersed myself. Part of me was dormant here, part on the moon, and part... in the genes of every Earth life form."

She walked to the console, lightly touched it with her finger, and the data on the holographic screens began scrolling rapidly.

"You activated the Gene Resonance Protocol? Brave, but reckless." She turned to Chen Fan. "However, the key sequence within you... is very special. You are a 'resonance overcarrier' of the seventh cycle, correct? A mutation that has only appeared three times in history."

"Can you help me?" Chen Fan asked. "I need to go to the moon, obtain the Stellar Core Energy, and complete the gene resonance."

The woman was silent for a long time.

"I can help you open the transmission channel." She finally said. "But the cost is... my existence will be completely exposed. The 'Sower' will know I've awakened; they will spare no effort to destroy me. And once I am destroyed, the part of consciousness dispersed in human genes will also disappear. At that time, humanity will lose the last... 'evolutionary guidance.'"

"Evolutionary guidance?"

"Yes." The woman nodded. "You think humanity's civilizational progress is accidental? Art, science, the yearning for the stars... that was me, and other Guardians, quietly planting 'seeds' over the long ages. We guided you, hoping that one day, you could break through this cycle on your own."

She looked at Chen Fan, her gaze gentle and sorrowful:

"But if I help you, all this might end. Humanity will lose its guidance, but perhaps... gain freedom. Are you willing to bear this responsibility?"

Chen Fan remembered Lei Zhen's final smile, the doctor's frozen figure in the icy sea, and the photo of that little girl.

"Humanity is ready to choose its own path." He said firmly. "Please help us."

The woman smiled.

It was the first genuine smile she had shown in hundreds of millions of years.

"Good." She said. "Let's give the 'Sower' a surprise."

She began operating the console.

The entire facility began to tremble; energy readings skyrocketed.

On the holographic screens, the giant crystal on the far side of the moon began to glow.

The light grew stronger and stronger, finally opening a... channel of light between the moon and Earth.

"The channel can only be maintained for three minutes." The woman said. "During the transmission process, your consciousness will temporarily leave your body. Remember, on the moon side, you only have three minutes to absorb the energy and activate the protocol. After three minutes, whether successful or not, you must return. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?"

"Otherwise your consciousness will be trapped forever in the energy flow, becoming... part of the cosmic background radiation."

Chen Fan lay down in the transmission pod.

"If I don't return," Chen Fan said calmly to Xiao Zhi, "tell Qingyue to continue with Plan B. Use laser weapons to bombard the lunar crystal; at least it can buy some time against the 'Sower'."

The transmission pod closed.

The female Guardian's voice echoed in Chen Fan's mind:

"Are you ready, child?"

"Ready."

"Then... good luck."

Light consumed everything.

Chen Fan felt himself stretched into an infinitely long line, passing through cold and heat, through time and space.

At the edge of consciousness, he saw—

The moon.

Not from the outside, but from within.

That massive Stellar Core crystal was right "before" him, emitting a light bright enough to illuminate the entire solar system.

And he had no body.

Only consciousness.

And a countdown:

[Time Remaining: 2 minutes 59 seconds]

The fate of humanity was wagered on these three minutes.