244: The collapse of the defense line and a desperate gamble

The battlefield of the real universe had turned into a purgatory where steel and flesh were intertwined.

The Ark, that silver giant once gracefully traversing the sea of stars, was now like a scarred elephant besieged by a pack of wolves.

The shield generators had long been operating at overload. That thin layer of pale blue energy film flickered like a candle in the wind under the lashing of countless Entropy Tentacles, the impacts of Entropy Devourers, and the continuous bombardment of chaotic energy beams.

With every dark red attack that landed, the shield rippled violently, its light dimming a fraction, while a teeth-grinding groan of metal and the sharp alarm of energy overload echoed throughout the ship's hull.

"Left-side third and fourth shield generators overheating! Forced shutdown in ten seconds!"

"Engine room C-section penetrated by the tip of an Entropy Tentacle! Outer wall breached, automatic sealing system activated, but chaotic energy is leaking in! We have casualties!"

"The bow main battery array is entangled by three 'Shadow Beasts'! They are corroding the cannon structure!"

"Medical bay! This is B-deck defensive Node! We have people severely injured! Repeat, require emergency medical support!"

Inside the bridge, damage reports and distress signals exploded across the screens like snowflakes, and alarm lights dyed the entire space in a blinding crimson.

The air was filled with the smell of burnt electronic components, the pungent odor of ozone, and a faint, unsettling metallic sweetness—the scent of leaking life-support fluid mixed with some unknown substance.

Captain Li Wei, like a statue cast in pig iron, was firmly nailed to the deputy command seat.

He no longer issued specific Orders—specific tactical responses had long been delegated to the autonomous decision-making of each combat unit—his presence at this moment was a symbol in itself.

His hand, covered in age spots, rested steadily as a rock on the edge of the console, and his cloudy yet firm gaze swept over every crew member still at their post, silently conveying the will of "I am with you all."

His adjutant, an old helmsman who had followed him for thirty years, had been struck in the neck by fragments of a shattered observation window five minutes ago and was currently being treated urgently by medical robots, blood soaking half the command console.

Li Wei did not even glance down, simply closing the combat logbook stained with a trace of blood and placing it into his chest pocket.

The external defensive perimeter was continuously shrinking.

The firepower grid that originally had the Ark as its core and a radius of several kilometers had been compressed to almost cling to the surface of the hull.

The shadows of dancing Entropy Tentacles and the twisted forms of Entropy Devourers were clearly visible outside the observation windows, the murky energy splashing onto the glass like mud when they struck the shields, only to be partially wiped away with difficulty by the ship's self-cleaning system.

The flashes of gunfire, the explosions of energy annihilation, and the fragments of torn metal silently performed a dance of death in the vacuum.

Su Mu's consciousness was forcibly torn in two.

One half remained on the bridge, remaining in this boiling pot of steel and fire that was the real battlefield.

Her throat was hoarse from continuous shouting of commands, her lips were cracked and bleeding, and her bloodshot eyes were fixed intently on the red dots constantly approaching on the tactical hologram.

Her Orders were brief, rough, and efficient, like a sharp blade cutting through tangled hemp, wedging the limited defensive forces into the most dangerous gaps like nails.

She rejected support requests from three secondary areas, committing the last reserve force toward the crumbling engine room.

She roared into the medical channel, demanding they establish a frontline first-aid point no matter how difficult it was.

She even took the time to personally calibrate a jammed close-in weapon system, using an engineering wrench to smash open the protective cover and manually clear the energy conduits clogged by chaotic energy.

The other half of her consciousness remained in that abyss of data, standing side-by-side with Excellence and Evelyn, walking on the blade of information.

She could simultaneously "feel" every tremor of the external defensive line and the mental shock brought by every casualty, and also "perceive" the increasingly cunning and dangerous offense and defense within the data space.

This dual pressure made her brain feel as if it were being crushed between two millstones, and the edges of her consciousness had already begun to show fine, snowflake-like noise—a sign of mental overload.

"Officer Su Mu! G-deck has fallen! Entropy Devourers have breached the bulkhead! The marines are engaging in hand-to-hand combat!"

"Starboard main power line cut! Overall shield output dropped by 15%!"

"Casualty report updated... fatalities exceed thirty, severely wounded..."

The bad news in reality was like ice picks, chiseling at the dam of her consciousness time and again.

She gritted her teeth, forcibly swallowing the metallic-sweet liquid surging up her throat, and split off a wisp of consciousness to transmit information with difficulty in the data space: "The exterior... cannot hold much longer... how much longer... do you need?"

And in that universe of data, the intensity of the battle was no less than that on the outside.

The consciousness synergy of Excellence, Evelyn, and Su Mu had abandoned the initially relatively conservative tentative repairs.

Facing the layers of traps and crazy counterattacks laid by "Entropy," they turned to adopt a more radical and dangerous strategy: multi-point synchronous feints, dynamic encryption injection, and utilizing Su Mu's intuitive warnings of malice to perform real-time tactical avoidance.

They were like three interstellar hackers working in perfect coordination, engaged in real-time offense and defense within "The Weave," this vast and dying system, against a super-virus possessing overwhelming power and malice.

Evelyn was responsible for rapidly analyzing the "true vulnerabilities" that were not covered by traps or where traps were relatively weak within the rapidly changing data stream, and calculating the optimal structure and injection path for "repair patches."

Excellence, following her blueprint, wove highly complex "Order-Information Complexes" with astonishing speed and precision, attempting to inject them through encrypted channels.

They succeeded three times.

They repaired three vulnerabilities located at the edge of the network where erosion was relatively shallow.

With each success, they could feel the overall pressure on "The Weave" seem to lighten by an insignificant fraction, and its tragic pulse also grew a tiny bit stronger.

But the cost of this success was immense.

To avoid traps and counterattacks, their consciousness link endured multiple impacts.

Excellence was once almost contaminated by a logic virus disguised as a "system self-check signal"; to parse an extremely complex nested trap, Evelyn's core processor temperature once spiked to a dangerous threshold; Su Mu, on multiple occasions, forcibly interrupted the injection process based on intuition, avoiding catastrophe, but each interruption brought massive mental backlash.

However, it was a drop in the bucket.

"It's not enough..." Evelyn's consciousness transmitted again.

This time, through the usual calmness of her electronically synthesized voice, there was finally an undisguised exhaustion and a hint of... nearly desperate anxiety.

Her projection appeared more illusory than usual in the data space, with fine data fragments constantly peeling off the edges.

"The ratio of repair speed to the rate of Entropy's erosion spread... is continuously worsening. The time it takes us to repair one edge vulnerability is enough for it to cause ten times the damage in the core area. Moreover, its speed of adapting to our tactics exceeds expectations; the complexity and camouflage of the traps are increasing every time."

She shared a set of cruel data models: the curve representing the overall integrity of "The Weave" was sliding down with an increasingly steep slope; the cursor representing the vitality of the "Coordinating Heart" had already penetrated deep into the red "danger zone" and had begun to flash; and the simulation line representing the external Ark's defensive capability was almost bottoming out.

"Calculated according to current trends," Evelyn's voice coldly pronounced, "before we successfully repair even one core structural damage, the probability of the external defensive line collapsing will reach 92.7%. Or, 'Entropy' has a 73.5% probability of choosing to forcibly tear apart the core protocol layer of the 'Coordinating Heart' regardless of the cost before we can pose a greater threat, even if this triggers the collapse of the local cosmic structure—its hatred for Order and desire for destruction may have already surpassed its instinct to 'feed'."

In the data space, there was dead silence.

Only the pervasive information noise representing the painful groans of "The Weave" and the greedy The Whisper of "Entropy" hummed in the background.

Su Mu's consciousness transmitted a violent fluctuation, mixed with the tragic scenes of the external battlefield, the constantly climbing casualty numbers, and her own exhaustion and fear nearing their limit.

"What do we do then? Do we... have no other choice?"

Excellence's consciousness was silent in the torrent of data.

This silence was not confusion or giving up, but an extreme, inwardly compressed focus.

He "watched" the "heart of The Weave," covered in cracks, struggling to pulse, like a giant being gnawed by countless poisonous insects; he "listened" to the increasingly dense explosions and alarms on the external battlefield; he "felt" Evelyn's precise yet despairing deduction, and Su Mu's resilient yet about-to-snap will.

A thought, a thought that had existed like a seed buried deep underground ever since he first connected to the "Coordinating Heart" and felt its grand tragedy and unyielding persistence, now, under the pressure of this desperate situation, crazily broke through the soil, grew, and spread.

The thought was so insane, so dangerous, that he had kept it buried at the very bottom of his consciousness, viewing it as a last resort, a choice to go down with the enemy. But now... it seemed there were no options left other than this "last resort."

"Sister Evelyn," Excellence's consciousness rang out, exceptionally calm, as calm as the final sliver of silence on the sea before a storm, "If we... abandon all local repairs, abandon all defensive operations..."

He paused for a moment, as if giving Evelyn, and himself, time to accept it.

"If we concentrate all the energy currently available to the Ark, concentrate all the consciousness power of the three of us, concentrate all the authority and knowledge bestowed by the five beacons... and stop trying to 'patch' those riddled wounds stitch by stitch..."

His consciousness began to condense, becoming sharp, like a sword blade being slowly honed before being drawn from its sheath.

"...and instead, 'restart' and 'overwrite' the core protocol layer of the entire 'The Weave' system?"

"Restart? Overwrite?" Evelyn's consciousness instantly understood what this meant, and for the first time, her calm electronic tone exhibited a violent fluctuation that could only be described as "shock," "You mean to use our own brand-new 'Order protocol template,' fused with the knowledge of the five beacons and our latest understanding, to forcibly overwrite and replace the existing core underlying protocol of 'The Weave,' which has already been deeply eroded and even partially tampered with by Entropy? This... this is equivalent to forcibly formatting and reinstalling the system kernel while the operating system is still running at full speed and suffering from a lethal virus attack!"

She threw out a string of data almost without thinking: "The success rate cannot be effectively simulated because there are too many variables that exceed known models! The possibilities of failure include but are not limited to: our new protocol is not fully compatible with 'The Weave' hardware (the structure of the universe), leading to a total system crash; triggering uncontrollable rule conflicts and space-time tears during the overwrite process; our consciousness being directly annihilated under the immense load of the protocol overwrite; 'Entropy' detonating all the logic bombs it has buried at the last moment, causing a chain collapse..."

"And," Evelyn's consciousness carried a tone of nearly earnest dissuasion, "this requires an unimaginably high intensity of energy output and incredible precision of control! Even if we concentrate all the energy of the Ark, it might not be enough to support the entire overwrite process! And the control precision... this requires our three consciousnesses to be completely fused and sublimated, reaching a level of unified calculation and control that is nearly 'divine'! This is simply..."

"We have three people." Excellence's consciousness gently but unquestioningly interrupted Evelyn's storm of rationality. In that consciousness, a fire of belief, nearly devout, was burning.

"Squad leader," his consciousness turned to Su Mu, carrying infinite trust and entrustment, "I need you to use all your strength to maintain and strengthen that 'Hope Link'. It's not just connecting the three of us, but connecting every crew member still fighting on the Ark, connecting all the souls in the distant 'Homeland' who are expecting our return, and even... connecting those 'order node' scattered in the universe that are still flickering weakly, and the Resonance of the beacons that haven't been completely extinguished yet. We need their belief, their 'proof of existence,' as the 'anchor' for us to execute this overwrite, to resist the void erosion of 'Entropy'. You are the toughest bond between us and the real world, between us and all life that believes in Order."

Su Mu's consciousness transmitted intense resistance and fear: "Excellence! No! You will die! You will completely disappear! We must have other..."

"Sister Evelyn," Excellence did not directly respond to Su Mu's fear, his consciousness turning back to the AI, "I need you to use all your wisdom, all your computing power, all the beauty of logic, to construct that brand-new, strongest 'Order protocol template'. It must be simple enough, solid enough, and inclusive enough to serve as the core after 'The Weave' is reborn. Integrate your understanding of the universe, your analysis of Order, and everything you have learned from the beacons into it. You are our brain, our blueprint designer."

Finally, his consciousness returned to himself; beneath that calm was a volcano about to erupt.

"And I... I will provide the energy, I will execute the overwrite."

His consciousness began to undergo a certain essential change, as if compressing infinitely inward while extending infinitely outward.

"Using the... highest mystery of 'Genesis Programming' that I have comprehended so far. To temporarily... turn my consciousness, my existence, and my 'Order' essence into that 'new protocol' itself, into the sharpest 'scalpel' injected into the heart of 'The Weave', the most solid 'carrier', and the most resolute... 'formatting command'."

The plan was clear. Excellence would use himself as a sacrifice and a weapon, Evelyn would provide the blueprint and path, and Su Mu would provide the anchor and support of belief. If successful, it would sweep away the filth in one stroke and recast the core of Order. If it failed, Excellence's consciousness would completely dissipate, Evelyn and Su Mu would likely collapse as well, the Ark would turn into cosmic dust, 'The Weave' would completely disintegrate, and this universe would slide into an irreversible abyss of chaos.

This was an ultimate gamble, betting everything on the roulette wheel.

Su Mu's consciousness transmitted a mournful resistance, but it also began to mix with a trace of understanding born of despair. She knew the state of the external defensive lines better than anyone, and understood better than anyone that time had run out.

Evelyn's silence lasted only for an extremely brief moment. Immediately after, her core, based on absolute rationality, made a choice after evaluating all possibilities (including the inevitable failure of not executing this plan).

"Command accepted. Starting to construct the 'Rebirth Protocol-Zero' template. Calling all computing resources. Estimated construction time... twenty-seven seconds." Her consciousness became cold and efficient again, like a weapon system entering its final countdown, "Excellence, you need to begin synchronous transformation the moment I finish construction. Su Mu, please stabilize and expand the 'Hope Link' to the maximum extent. After the overwrite protocol is activated, the mental backlash and void impact from 'Entropy' will increase exponentially. Your 'anchor' is our only guarantee against being swallowed by the void."

The plan was established in a flash of lightning.

Excellence's consciousness no longer had the slightest hesitation. He took a deep breath (an action on the level of consciousness), and then, through the invisible "Hope Link" that Su Mu was trying her best to maintain and expand, he transformed his will, his determination, and his request into a warm and surging torrent of belief, transmitting it backward!

This consciousness penetrated the barriers of data space, penetrated the crumbling shields and armor of the Ark, connected to every crew member fighting in blood on the bridge, connected to the engineers repairing desperately in the engine room, connected to the doctors racing against death in the medical bay, and connected to every soldier holding their post, who had not taken a single step back even in fear.

It even followed the faint aftermath of communication, crossed the endless starry sky, and arrived at the space station of the distant "Homeland." Wang Jianguo was in the command center, staring fixedly at the screen that had long lost its signal and was left with only static. Suddenly, he seemed to hear something, stood up abruptly, and pressed his hand to his chest. Everyone in the "Homeland" waiting eagerly and praying for the Ark felt a tremor in their hearts for no reason.

It continued to spread, like ripples caused by a stone thrown into a calm lake, weakly but persistently touching those lights of Order in the universe that had not yet been extinguished: the wreckage of a beacon flashed slightly on a barren planet; a 'The Weave' Node that had not been completely corroded struggled to brighten for a moment; even in some distant galaxies that had not yet been touched by Entropy, some ignorant life forms looked up at the starry sky at that moment, with an inexplicable throb arising in their hearts.

Excellence's voice, or rather, his consciousness carrying his resolute belief, echoed in the depths of every heart that resonated with him. It was not loud, but it reached straight to the soul:

"Lend me your power... your longing for the Homeland, your hope for the future, your belief in Order and life... lend it to me!"

"This strike—"

His consciousness began to burn, the light of the five beacons erupted deep within his soul, beginning to forcibly fuse with the "Rebirth Protocol" blueprint that Evelyn was constructing, and linking with the surging yet invisible torrent of belief from all living beings that Su Mu had gathered.

"—for everything we love!"

In the data universe, Excellence's consciousness body began to transform into a pure white sun that was pure to the extreme, and also dangerous to the extreme. On the external battlefield, all the remaining energy of the Ark gathered recklessly toward the connection point at the bow, and the engines emitted a wail of impending disintegration due to overload.

The all-or-nothing gamble, the ultimate fusion and blooming, entered an irreversible countdown at this moment. Would it be breaking the cocoon to become a butterfly, recasting the firmament? Or would it be a moth flying into the fire, leading to eternal damnation? The answer was about to be revealed in the next instant.