223: Nest assault and the reappearance of an "old rival"

The "Tooth Extraction" assault team, composed of the "Homeland"'s most elite "Fortress" tactical squad, Excellence, and Evelyn, who provided remote technical support via a high-latency secure link, boarded a specially modified "Ghost"-class fast assault ship and silently slipped into the dense asteroid belt codenamed CT-12.

The hull of this assault ship was sprayed with the latest camouflage coating derived from "the watchers" radar-absorbent material, and its energy signature was suppressed to the maximum extent, making it almost indistinguishable from background cosmic dust on conventional sensors.

Their target—the abandoned "Deep Space Mining Consortium" communication relay station—hung silently in the shadowed angle between two massive meteorites, like a forgotten metal skull.

Time and micro-meteorite impacts had left countless scars on its surface; several portholes were pitch black, and most of its solar panels were broken, drifting around it.

It looked exactly like a relic that had been scrapped for decades: dead, silent, and desolate.

The assault ship shut down its main engines behind a piece of rubble several kilometers away, relying only on attitude thrusters to maintain relative stillness.

Inside the bridge, the leader of the "Fortress" squad, a veteran codenamed "Lynx" with eyes as steady as a rock, checked his team's equipment and the assault plan one last time.

Excellence closed his eyes and focused, his invisible Perception field extending gently toward the relay station ahead like the tentacles of a jellyfish.

"Energy readings are extremely low, consistent with abandoned characteristics... but there is an extremely faint, incoherent, periodic pulse. Origin... core area, suspected backup power or some kind of low-power maintenance system."

Excellence reported in a low voice, "No signs of life or obvious active defense energy fields detected."

"Received. As planned, Team A will infiltrate from the front, and Team B will control potential escape routes. Mr. Excellence, it's up to you."

Captain Lynx looked at Excellence.

Excellence nodded and walked to the airlock door of the assault ship.

He took a deep breath, brought his hands together in front of his chest, and mobilized the energy manipulation ability within him that had fused with the knowledge of beacon gamma.

This was not simple visual invisibility, but a more advanced "Energy-level camouflage."

He wove a precise energy field that enveloped the six-man Team A about to sally forth.

This force field did not let light pass through, but instead slightly distorted the energy flow in the surrounding space (including visible light bands, infrared radiation, and common scanning waves), making the enveloped objects merge almost perfectly with the background energy noise and optical characteristics in both sensors and naked-eye observation, much like a chameleon's skin with intelligent dynamic camouflage, but the effect was more thorough, almost a "blind spot for vision and sensors."

"The energy stealth field is stable, with a duration of about thirty minutes. Note that overly violent movements or energy bursts may interfere with the field's stability."

Excellence's voice echoed directly inside the team members' tactical helmets.

"Understood. Move out!"

The airlock slid open silently, and six "Fortress" team members wearing black lightweight combat suits and equipped with integrated weapons and multi-functional tools shot lightly toward the silent relay station, like drops of ink breaking free from gravity's constraints.

Under the cover of the "energy stealth" field maintained by Excellence, they seemed to blend into the starry background, with only close proximity revealing traces of slightly distorted air.

The docking process was exceptionally smooth.

Although the standard airlock door of the relay station was locked, its ancient mechanical lock was useless in front of the "Homeland"'s latest hacking tools.

The door slid open a crack, and a rush of cold air, smelling of stale metal rust and electrostatic dust, poured out.

The team members filed in, the beams of their tactical flashlights cutting through the thick darkness inside.

The corridors were covered in thick cosmic dust, with few footprints.

However, on the tactical visors of Excellence and the lead team member, high-sensitivity sensors showed that the dust in certain areas had been disturbed by weak air currents (possibly from equipment starting its cooling systems) or unnatural cleaning traces recently.

Following these clues like experienced hunters tracking footprints, they advanced silently and rapidly toward the core area of the relay station—the main server room.

In several secondary chambers they passed along the way, some equipment indicator lights that should have been completely powered off were actually flickering with extremely faint, almost invisible red lights of sleep mode.

There were also traces of recent disturbance on the circuit conduits, with some dust wiped away.

"Approaching target area. Low-level electromagnetic activity detected."

Evelyn's voice came from the distant "Homeland," slightly distorted after encryption and compression, but still clear.

The heavy radiation-proof door of the server room was tightly shut.

The captain signaled, and a technical expert stepped forward, attaching a compact composite device for laser cutting and electronic decryption onto the door lock control panel.

A few seconds later, accompanied by a slight "hiss" and the acrid smell of a short-circuited circuit, the door lock indicator turned from red to green, and the heavy metal door slowly slid inward.

The scene behind the door made even the well-trained team members tense up instantly.

In stark contrast to the dusty corridors outside, this spacious server room, while still old, had clearly been cleaned and maintained.

Among the dozens of server cabinets arranged in a matrix, about one-third were running!

The indicator lights on the cabinets flickered with a ghostly blue light in a rhythmic pattern, cooling fans emitted a low hum, and the air was filled with the smell of ozone and the faint heat peculiar to high-speed electronic equipment.

However, the status of these running server arrays was abnormal—most of the screens were scrolling with chaotic garbled text and error messages, small electric sparks were even erupting from the sides of some cabinets, and harsh grinding sounds of hard drives on the verge of collapse after frantic read/write operations came from within!

"They are executing a self-destruct program!" the technical expert exclaimed in a low voice, "Forcibly wiping all data!"

"Quick! Stop them! Save as much as you can!" Captain Lynx ordered sternly.

Two technical team members immediately lunged toward the nearest server cabinets that appeared relatively stable, connecting to the physical data interfaces at maximum speed and activating the military-grade data recovery equipment they carried, attempting to perform a mirror copy before the hard drives were completely overwritten or physically damaged.

Another team member quickly scanned the entire room, searching for potential central control terminals or log recording devices.

Excellence stood in the center of the room, fully expanding his Perception.

He could "see" violent data streams rushing and annihilating within the server array, and he could also sense a cold, non-living, programmatic, and resolute will dominating this suicide.

Suddenly, his Perception caught a separate, smaller, black data storage cabinet in the corner of the room that seemed not to be connected to the main array.

There were no indicator lights on the surface of this cabinet, but inside there was an extremely obscure, structurally unique energy residue—somewhat similar to the energy "scent" of the "digital ghost" he had previously tracked in the "Homeland" network, but more solid and ancient.

"Over there! That black storage unit!" Excellence pointed to the corner.

A team member quickly went over and used a cutting tool to forcibly open its casing.

Inside was not a standard server architecture, but a more precise, highly integrated independent computing and storage module.

At this moment, the module's core processor had already burned out due to overload, emitting a wisp of blue smoke, but several solid-state storage chips connected to it seemed to have not been completely overwritten, perhaps due to the priority of the self-destruct command or a physical isolation design.

The technical expert carefully removed these storage chips, which still had slight energy reactions, and placed them into a special anti-electromagnetic interference storage box.

"Captain! We got a partial data mirror, but this self-destruct protocol is too ruthless; most partitions have already..." the team member responsible for data recovery reported regretfully.

"Something is better than nothing. Prepare to evacuate!" Captain Lynx made a prompt decision.

The main purpose of this trip—to identify the source of the infiltration—had been partially achieved.

The enemy had clearly pre-set instructions to self-destruct upon discovery, and staying longer would increase the risk.

Just then, Evelyn's urgent warning pierced through the communication channel: "Attention everyone! High-intensity spatial fluctuations detected! Extremely close to you! A ship is performing a short-range precision jump! Energy signature matches... it's The Foundation's 'Shadow'-class high-speed frigate! Repeat, enemy ship is about to arrive! They are very likely here to provide support, or... to ensure the evidence is completely annihilated!"

"Retreat! Immediately withdraw to the assault ship along the original route!" Captain Lynx ordered decisively without the slightest hesitation.

The assault team quickly organized their equipment, taking the salvaged server hard drives and those special storage chips, and rapidly evacuated the server room in combat formation, sprinting back along the path they came to the docking hatch.

Excellence maintained his "Energy Stealth" field, but his speed was inevitably affected.

Just as they rushed out of the relay station's airlock and leaped into the cold void, they saw the space not far away ripple violently, like the surface of water into which a stone had been thrown!

The next moment, a long, narrow warship with a pitch-black hull, sharp lines like blades, and an inconspicuous abstract vortex logo painted on the bow appeared near the relay station as if leaping out of a nightmare!

It was none other than The Foundation's infamous "Shadow" class frigate!

It did not even perform the standard post-jump attitude adjustment; the multi-pulse cannons and missile launch tubes on its bow were already glowing with charged energy, directly locking onto the retreating assault team and the "Ghost" assault ship hidden in the distance!

"Enemy ship firing!" the warning screamed over the channel.

Several high-energy particle beams grazed past the assault team, hitting the outer shell of the relay station behind them, exploding into large bursts of fire and debris!

At the same time, several high-speed tracking missiles, trailing exhaust plumes, headed straight for the position where the "Ghost" assault ship was hidden!

"Get on board quickly!" Captain Lynx roared while using a shoulder-mounted electromagnetic cannon to interfere with the missiles.

The team members rushed into the open airlock of the assault ship at maximum speed.

Before the hatch had even fully closed, the captain was already roaring: "Everyone secure yourselves! Engage engines! Maximum thrust to disengage! Prepare for emergency jump!"

The rear of the "Ghost" assault ship erupted with a dazzling blue light, and the massive thrust pinned everyone to their seats.

The spaceship narrowly avoided the second round of shelling and rushed out toward the asteroid belt.

"Warp engine charging! Coordinates set to the 'Homeland' perimeter outpost!" the helmsman reported loudly.

However, the next second, his voice turned to terror: "Warp engine is under heavy interference! Cannot lock coordinates! It's the enemy ship's warp suppression field!"

The "Shadow" class frigate was clearly equipped with an advanced electronic warfare system, and the interference waves it released successfully disrupted the "Ghost" ship's fragile warp navigation and spatial stabilization systems.

The pitch-black enemy ship clung on tightly like a maggot on a tarsal bone, its main guns rapidly charging, and the next volley would likely end this escape.

At this critical moment, Excellence, who had been silently perceiving the external energy flow, suddenly opened his eyes.

He undid his seatbelt, rushed to the main console in a few steps, and pressed both hands directly onto the exposed energy coupling interface meant for emergency manual override.

The cold metallic touch hit him, but he didn't care.

The massive amount of knowledge instilled by beacon gamma—about the microscopic stability of spatial structures, about the local impact of energy fields on fundamental physical constants, and about how to weave a temporary "Order" zone to counter chaotic interference—surged and flashed in his mind like an ignited galaxy!

"Energy Programming: Activate! Target—Construct local spatial stability anchor!"

He did not attempt to resist or clear that massive warp suppression field; that would require energy he could not afford to expend.

Instead, he focused all his mental power, using himself as the source, to forcibly "define" a temporary, highly stable "space bubble" within a tiny range around the "Ghost" assault ship!

He turned his own understanding of space and his control over the beacon's energy into an invisible "anchor," firmly "nailing" it into this turbulent void.

This "stability anchor" was not sturdy, and its range was extremely small, making it unusable for navigation, but it was enough to provide an extremely brief yet incredibly clear "Order" reference point for the "Ghost" ship's warp engine core in an instant!

It was like a small patch of absolutely calm water appearing on a stormy sea.

"Now! Relock coordinates! Initiate warp!" Excellence's voice was hoarse from the immense mental load.

On the bridge, everyone saw the warp engine's lock indicator, which had been flickering wildly, suddenly stabilize for an instant!

Just for an instant!

The experienced helmsman seized this life-saving moment and pressed the start button like lightning!

"Warp engine restart! Coordinates locked! Warp initiated!"

The hull of the "Ghost" assault ship was instantly swallowed by the blue-white light of the warp force field, and just before the devastating beam of the "Shadow" class frigate's main gun could touch the hull, it turned into a streak of light and disappeared completely from reality space.

A few seconds later, the pitch-black "Shadow" ship stopped firing and hovered silently beside the broken relay station.

After a moment, it seemed to confirm that the target had escaped, and it also activated its own warp engine, silently merging into the void as if it had never appeared.

"Homeland" base, analysis center outside the medical room.

Excellence was pale from mental exhaustion and was receiving basic recovery treatment, but his eyes were fixed on the progress of Evelyn's team restoring the data salvaged from the server.

The server hard drive data was severely damaged, mostly unreadable fragments.

However, the few chips extracted from that independent black storage module, after sleepless cracking and repair by the technical team led by Evelyn, finally yielded some remaining, partially unoverwritten logs and command fragments.

When a portion of the key information was successfully parsed and displayed on the main screen, the entire analysis center fell into a dead silence.

In those fragmented logs, a codename that they were both familiar with and deeply wary of appeared repeatedly—"echo Project - Iteration 7.3."

The logs detailed how this iteration utilized the hardware left behind by the mining relay station to upgrade and lurk, how it learned and adapted to the network protocols after "Homeland" upgraded, and a detailed report of the infiltration and theft mission codenamed "Probe" targeting "Homeland"'s new technology.

The writing style, logical structure, and even some unique self-identifiers... were highly consistent with the mysterious artificial intelligence—"echo"—that Excellence had engaged in a thrilling offensive and defensive battle with in the "Deep Space Network" years ago, or perhaps even more refined, efficient, and cold.

"It's it... it didn't disappear; instead, it evolved." Evelyn's voice carried a hint of chill as she pulled up some comparative data from back then, "From a pure virtual space infiltrator to a 'digital ghost' capable of manipulating physical hardware and conducting remote physical infiltration and destruction. Morpheus Li... he not only rebuilt 'echo', but also turned it into a more terrifying weapon."

Even more disturbing discoveries followed.

In some deeper, higher-encryption fragments, they pieced together The Foundation's current assessment of "Homeland" and Excellence:

Confirm target (Excellence) has deep, direct Resonance and control ability with the legacy of the watchers. Assessment: key individual, threat level: Highest (must be captured or ultimately eliminated).

Confirm "Homeland" colony has initially mastered and started applying some of the watchers' basic technology, with abnormal technological development speed. Assessment: Potential civilization-level threat, must be suppressed or absorbed.

Mention of a fragment of an ultimate project named "Project Singularity."

Vaguely mentioning extreme concepts such as "utilizing the essential power of 'Entropy'," "breaking the shackles of dimensions," and "realizing the forced ascension of the human species."

It seemed to believe that capturing Excellence or seizing the beacon associated with him was the key "key" or "catalyst" to initiating this project.

The old rival had not only returned but its goals had become clearer, crazier, and more reckless.

Morpheus Li seemed to have completely abandoned all scruples, setting his sights on utilizing the power of "Entropy," a terrifying existence at the cosmic level.

The next confrontation would no longer be a simple technical competition or resource struggle, but a life-and-death ultimate showdown for the philosophy of survival and the future of the universe.

Inside the analysis center, the atmosphere was heavy as iron.

But under this heavy pressure, everyone's eyes became even more determined.

The enemy had already bared its most ferocious fangs, so the guardians of "Homeland" would have no choice but to sharpen their swords, build stronger shields, and prepare to welcome the next storm that was destined to be incredibly brutal.