296: The worst ride-sharing experience in history

I. The Out-of-Control Hitchhike

"Hold on tight! The veteran driver is setting off!"

Mute's roar, filled with a mix of excitement and self-abandonment, was the last intelligible thing Excellence heard before the ranger was swept into the torrent of the gray "Mirror"—if an existence like Mute could be considered "human."

The next instant, the entire ship was fiercely seized, dragged, and tumbled by an irresistible force into the "Basal Backflow" surging toward the massive the gate.

The sensation was not at all like riding in a vehicle; it was more like being shoved into the intake of a cosmic-grade turbocharger.

The lack of an auditory reference point only amplified the impact on other senses to a terrifying degree.

Outside the porthole, there was no longer a scene, but rather a chaotic, gray, kaleidoscopic blur of stretched and twisted shapes; the groans from the hull were not the wailing of metal, but the shrieking of the structure resisting disintegration at the molecular level; internal organs were violently pulled between weightlessness and hypergravity, while the brain felt dizzy and nauseated from the total loss of orientation.

"Energy shield load has exceeded the safety threshold by 350%! Structural integrity alert! Stress cracks appearing in the seventh and ninth keel zones! Inertial stabilization system is flashing red across the board! Acceleration... conventional physical models have failed; the estimated value has already surpassed the tidal forces at the edge of a black hole!"

Evelyn's voice was drowned out by the ship's disintegration-like tremors; her spiritual projection flickered violently, barely able to maintain its form, clearly straining under a load far beyond its design limits to keep the ship from falling apart instantly.

Excellence felt like he was tied to a meteorite falling toward a star, with every inch of his bones protesting.

His left hand clamped onto the fixing ring like an iron pincer, while his right hand tightly clutched the scorching containment canister of the stone of silence—this was their "ticket," their "talisman," and their only stable anchor in this insane space at this moment.

Stardust was like a sculpture welded to the main console, her body trembling slightly under the immense G-force, yet her hands operated the virtual interface with terrifying stability, golden data streams cascading like waterfalls within her gray eyes.

Using her semi-mechanical limit computing power, she was analyzing the fleeting, rhythmic pulses within the chaotic turbulence of the "Backflow" in real-time, micro-adjusting the fragile "silence-Order composite shield" to find a glimmer of survival amidst the violent scouring.

"Mute! You call this 'a little bumpy'?! This is like falling into a neutron star's accretion disk, for fuck's sake!" Excellence roared through gritted teeth, feeling as if his eyeballs were about to be ejected from their sockets.

"Cough, cough... well... the energy concentration phase has a relatively... significant vortex effect! Hang in there! It'll smooth out once we enter the main channel! Trust me!" Mute's voice was intermittent, clearly under immense pressure as well; its consciousness was deeply bound to the "silence core," and the maintenance of the shield relied largely on it.

Smooth? Excellence looked at the gray-white vortex rushing past the porthole like an abstract nightmare, and his rating of Mute's credibility plummeted to rock bottom again.

Just in the midst of this maddening dash, an anomaly occurred.

Those "sediments" washed up from the depths of the "Mirror" by the "Backflow" began to reveal their true forms.

They were not physical entities, but rather some kind of... condensation of information, afterimages of concepts, bubbles of possibility.

Some appeared as broken geometric fractals that constantly reconstructed and collapsed, flickering with the cold light of non-Euclidean geometry; others were like the life of a star compressed into two dimensions, cycling from birth to explosion to silence in an instant; some were simply bizarre fusions of pure color and melody, causing auditory hallucinations and synesthesia with a single glance; even more extreme were clusters of "presence" that could not be described by any known senses, and merely perceiving them made one's mind reel, as if touching the corners of truths at the foundation of the universe that were never meant to be understood.

"'Information dust' and 'conceptual dregs' stirred up by the 'Backflow'!"

Mute's voice somehow managed to spare a sliver of energy to act as a "tour guide," though the trembling betrayed its nervousness. "They are all 'scraps' leaking from both sides of the gate (mostly from that lively place behind the gate) that are not particularly harmful but impossible to digest."

"Usually, they sink to the very bottom of the 'base,' but now they've been stirred up by this 'housecleaning'."

"Don't pay them too much mind. At most, hitting one will cause a little... cognitive trouble. Just treat it like a free, immersive cosmic art exhibition..."

Before it could finish, directly ahead of the ship, a massive, particularly gorgeous, and especially unstable giant vortex—composed of countless rotating "bubbles of possibility" that seemed to contain every color imaginable—blocked the main path of the "Backflow"!

"Holy shit! Dodge! You can't touch that thing!"

Mute's voice instantly changed pitch, filled with terror. "That is a 'high-concentration uncollapsed possibility cluster'! If we hit it, our existential logic will be temporarily 'bloated' and 'randomly redefined'! Maybe in the next second, you'll think the ship is a blob of thinking jelly, I'll think I'm a sad melody, and this kid (referring to Excellence) might start seriously arguing about the philosophical question of 'whether purple has a taste'!"

"Evelyn! Emergency evasion!" Excellence and Stardust's shouts overlapped.

"Evasion failed! 'Backflow' inertia locked, shield structure partially solidified; forced turning will cause the shield's energy circuit to collapse, leaving the hull directly exposed!" Evelyn's voice was cruelly calm.

The psychedelic and dangerous seven-colored vortex rapidly enlarged in their field of vision, its bizarre internal scenes appearing to possess life, actively "embracing" the ship.

Life or death hung in the balance!

"I'll bet on it!" Excellence's eyes suddenly became as sharp as blades. Ignoring the dual limits of his mind and body, he twisted the sliver of Power of Order he had just recovered and his deep Resonance with the stone of silence into a single strand, transforming it into an extremely thin, yet weirdly and cunningly frequency-modulated "Order harmonic pulse." It was neither an attack nor a defense, but rather a precise "stab" toward the most core, most chaotic "source of randomness" of the seven-colored vortex!

He was imitating Stardust's approach to interfering with the echo prison, but the goal was grander and more dangerous—not just to interfere, but to attempt to use a sliver of highly ordered "rule pulse" to briefly "infect" or "guide" that pure "chaos of possibility," causing its internal random fluctuations to generate a tiny, controllable... "preference."

"Hum..."

The seven-colored vortex, the moment it was struck by the "Order harmonic," suddenly stalled! The endless, colorful random birth and death within it experienced a momentary "stagnation" and "bias," as if countless chaotic dice had been gently nudged by a weak but firm will.

Then, a miracle happened. The vortex did not explode or counterattack; instead, like a chaotic behemoth that had been tickled, it shrank slightly inward, somewhat reluctantly and with a certain confused "emotion," and then, with extreme reluctance, "yielded" a narrow "gap" within its constantly changing structure—a gap whose edges twisted and writhed with light and shadow, as if it could close again at any moment!

The ranger, by a hair's breadth, roared past the constantly changing edge of the seven-colored vortex—which exuded an aura of cognitive pollution—and plunged into that fleeting gap!

In the instant of crossing, everyone experienced a fleeting, absurdly surreal sensory derangement: Excellence felt the canister in his hand turn into a plush toy capable of reciting pi; the data streams in Stardust's eyes suddenly turned into pixelated figures dancing tap; in Evelyn's Perception, the roar of the ship's engines transformed into a grand Ninth Symphony; and through White Elder's mental link, an old nursery rhyme about "whether the moon is made of cheese," carrying the scent of pine, inexplicably drifted by...

Fortunately, this strange feeling lasted for only an insignificant instant.

The ship burst out of the gap, and everything returned to "normal"—if one could even use the word "normal" in this violent "Backflow."

"My god... kid, how is your brain wired?" Mute, still shaken but unable to help expressing amazement, said, "Using 'Order' to offer 'suggestions' to 'Chaos,' and actually getting it to 'listen'? This maneuver... is wicked! Too wicked! But really, don't do that next time; this old one can't handle such shocks..."

Excellence had no strength to respond; that move just now had almost drained the energy he had just recovered, and cold sweat soaked his back.

He felt that the violence of the "Backflow" had slightly eased, but the ship was still sprinting at an incomprehensible speed toward the gray, seemingly endless abyss of the "Mirror."

"Where exactly are we being taken? How much further?" Stardust's voice carried an imperceptible fatigue. The screen in front of her showed that the ship had "moved" an unimaginable distance in terms of twisted spacetime metrics.

"Almost there, almost there! See that? The array of those 'big black stones' (silence Node crystals) has changed! They're getting denser, and their arrangement increasingly follows that dizzying 'sacred geometry'! The silver light's flickering is also starting to synchronize, like a heartbeat!"

Mute's tone became excited again. "This means we are entering the main artery region of the gate's sealing energy network! Ahead is the end of the 'Backflow,' the hub of energy convergence and conversion, and also the... uh, you could understand it as the 'control room' plus 'reactor core' of the entire Silent Corridor system!"

The scene outside the porthole confirmed its words.

Those towering black crystals were no longer isolated; they were arranged in a breathtakingly precise array, connected to each other by thick, bright energy ribbons flowing with liquid silver light, forming a three-dimensional and intricately complex energy meridian map that covered the sky and penetrated every corner of their vision.

And the flow of all these meridians pointed directly ahead to where the "Backflow" torrent was rushing—there, the sense of "flow" and "convergence" of the gray "Mirror" reached its peak, as if an invisible "endpoint" or "singularity" that devoured everything was greedily absorbing all the silence energy.

At the densest and most dazzling core of that energy network, a special "structure" gradually became clear.

It was not a physical building, but a field of "silence" that had been extremely compressed, condensed, and stabilized, forming a circular platform about several hundred meters in diameter that rose slightly from the surrounding "Mirror" and had a surface as smooth as the purest mercury.

The platform itself flowed with a soft silver light, reflecting the magnificent and ever-changing light and shadows of the energy network above.

And in the very center of the platform, an object was suspended.

It was not large, about the size of an ordinary round table, and its entire body possessed an indescribable, warm, and restrained texture of pure white crystal, as if it had condensed billions of starlight and morning dew.

Its interior was not static; instead, it contained countless miniature, slowly rotating nebulae and galaxies that rhythmically flickered and flowed, emitting a soft radiance that was vast, profound, and filled with the rhythms of wisdom and Order.

Unlike the cold, dead silence of the surrounding black crystals, it was full of restrained "vitality" and a majestic "sense of presence."

"That is..." Excellence forgot the pain in his body and held his breath.

Even from a distance, he could feel an indescribable attraction and pressure emanating from the object, which faintly resonated with his Power of Order.

"The ultimate control terminal of the 'the gate's' sealing system—the 'heart of silence'! It was also the... main residence and operating platform for my consciousness back in the day!"

Mute's voice carried a complex mix of emotions: excitement, nostalgia, sentimentality, and a trace of imperceptible... fear?

"The vast 'silence' energy gathered by the 'Backflow' eventually flows here, and after being harmonized, converted, and distributed by the 'heart of silence,' part of it is used to maintain the ancient seal of 'the gate,' while the other part feeds back to nourish the energy network of the entire 'Silent Corridor'."

"At the same time, this place also stores almost all status logs and historical records of 'the gate' and the 'Silent Corridor' since their existence, as well as... some of the highest-level control protocols and forbidden instructions."

"How do we 'land'?" Stardust asked the crucial question.

They were being rushed toward the "heart of silence" by the "Backflow" at a destructive speed; crashing into it like this would, at best, end in mutual destruction.

"Don't worry! Just watch!" Mute said confidently. "I have already used the identification code of the 'silence core' fragment and your Power of Order signature to send a 'temporary visitor access request' to the 'heart of silence'."

"As long as the authentication passes, its built-in docking protocol will activate, 'smoothly capturing' us before the 'Backflow' impact and guiding us to a safe berth! Just like an automated docking system at an interstellar port!"

It sounded reasonable. Excellence slightly relaxed his tense nerves.

If they could safely approach this core, obtain key information, or even find a way to repair Mute and stabilize the situation, then all the madness of this journey would be worth it.

The ship continued to speed through the "Backflow," getting closer and closer to the platform flowing with silver light and the "heart of silence" at the center.

Excellence could clearly feel the Resonance between the stone of silence in his hand and the "heart of silence" ahead growing stronger, the canister emitting joyful, subtle tremors and low humming.

The silver light of the surrounding energy network also became brighter and more active, as if welcoming the return of a "wanderer."

"Request sent... signal receiving... identity verification in progress..." Mute reported in real-time like a dutiful navigator, its tone relaxed. "No problem, it will definitely pass!"

"Although my 'old account' has been dormant for a long time and some permissions are frozen, the root permissions are still there. The 'key' (stone of silence) is real, and the 'new power' (Power of Order) signature is fresh. Dual verification, it's a sure thing!"

Just as the ship was about to rush into the area of the circular platform, only a few kilometers away from the "heart of silence," with even the slowly flowing nebular patterns on its surface clearly visible—

"Verification passed. Welcome back, Secondary Administrator Permission Unit - Mute (Status: Deep Sleep). Associated 'silence core' fragment detected (Serial number verification passed). New unknown 'Power of Order' signature detected (Temporary visitor identifier generated). Commencing standard docking protocol."

A cold, mechanical, emotionless synthetic voice, in stark contrast to Mute's lively demeanor, rang out directly in everyone's consciousness.

It was the master control system of the heart of silence!

"Ha! We did it! Prepare for an 'elegant landing'!" Mute beamed with joy.

On the edge of the circular platform, several soft, precise, silvery-white tractor beams quietly rose up, like nimble mechanical arms, closing in on the speeding ranger.

At the same time, the surging "Return Flow" energy in front of the ship was skillfully "diverted" and "guided" by a gentle yet irresistible force, clearing a smooth path.

Everything seemed to be heading in the best possible direction.

However, just as the silvery-white tractor beams were about to touch the composite shield flickering around the ship, and the docking procedure entered its final fine-tuning—

The cold synthetic voice rang out again, but its content sent everyone into an icy abyss:

"Warning. Docking protocol forcibly interrupted. The following security risks have been detected in the visitor carrier ('ranger'): 1. High concentration of 'chaotic corrosive information residue' (energy signature highly consistent with recent anomalous tidal events). 2. Attachment of an unregistered 'higher-dimensional information symbiont' (psionic signature does not match known database)."

"According to the 'Silent Corridor Safety Regulations - Underlying Protocol VII', Supplementary Clauses 3, 7, and 11: To prevent chaotic infiltration and spread, as well as unknown information contamination, any carrier carrying the aforementioned risk factors is prohibited from accessing the core control area. Initiating... mandatory purification and physical isolation protocol."

"What the hell?!" Mute's voice instantly shot up an octave, filled with shock and rage. "Chaotic residue? Higher-dimensional symbiont? Bullshit! This ship is clean enough to eat off of! Where would contamination come from? White Elder is an honored guest! Not a pollutant! And what the hell is this 'Underlying Protocol VII'? I never signed this crap back in the day! It must be some trash clause the system updated on its own while in 'standby'! Cancel it! Cancel it immediately! Use my secondary administrator privileges!"

"Privilege review in progress... Secondary Administrator Mute, your current privilege status is 'dormant/frozen'. You no longer have the authority to unilaterally cancel or modify instructions related to 'Underlying Protocols' involving core security. The master control system will execute automatically in accordance with the protocol." The cold synthetic voice was uncompromising.

"Damn it..." Mute cursed halfway, his voice distorted.

The next instant, the nature of the originally soft, docking silvery-white beams changed drastically! The light became blinding and sharp, filled with a cold aura of purification and destruction!

Even more terrifyingly, with the heart of silence as the core, the entire circular platform and the vast energy network surrounding it began to flash wildly with silvery light in a specific, hostile, and repulsive frequency!

A terrifying force field, far exceeding the intensity of the previous "environmental maintenance tools" and aimed at thoroughly "purifying" and "isolating" non-standard entities, instantly locked the ranger tightly in place like an invisible cage!

"The shield is under comprehensive suppression from the 'Silent Purification Field'! Energy consumption is skyrocketing exponentially! The shield structure is showing signs of 'conceptual assimilation'!" Evelyn's voice carried urgent alarm tones.

"'Chaotic residue'... does it mean what we picked up during that 'shutting the door to catch the dog' maneuver earlier? Or is it the 'mild chaotic echoes' energy converted and absorbed by the stone of silence; even though it's ordered, the source is still deemed a risk?" Stardust's thoughts raced. "'Higher-dimensional symbiont'... undoubtedly refers to White Elder's state of existence."

"Damn it! This broken system! Stubborn! Bureaucracy kills!" Mute was furious. "Since when is converted ordered energy considered pollution?! White Elder's information entity level is higher than this broken corridor! And it wants to purify and isolate that? It's treating us like viruses to be 'disinfected', and then it'll throw us into the 'Silent Prison' to be locked up until the heat death of the universe!"

"What do we do now?!" Excellence felt the composite shield emitting unbearable groans under the continuous scouring of the "Purification Field," with energy pouring out like a floodgate opening. Even more terrifyingly, that purification force field was attempting to penetrate the shield and act directly on their essential nature, bringing a cold fear as if they were about to be "formatted" and "silenced," completely erasing all their personalities and memories.

"What do we do? Brute force it!" Mute's voice suddenly became fierce and resolute, carrying a madness born of being pushed to the brink. "Since it won't let us have a 'civilized visit', then we'll... 'brute force' it!"

"Brute force it?! Rush into the very center of the purification field?!" Even Stardust felt the absurdity and danger of this proposal.

"Yes! Target—directly beneath the heart of silence, that 'logical shadow zone' at the Nexus Point of the main energy network!" Mute's speech was as fast as gunfire. "That's where the energy flow is strongest, but it's also a blind spot where the purification field is relatively weak due to its own energy interference, and where system monitoring might have nanosecond delays!"

"We rush in, and I'll use the last bit of my unfrozen privileges to forcibly shove this fragment of the 'Silent Core' (stone of silence) into a physical backup interface of the energy network! This will create local energy overload and logical conflicts! As long as we can make this rigid system experience even a one-in-a-billionth-of-a-second of disorder or hesitation, we'll have a chance to bypass the purification protocol, or... make direct contact with the main body of the heart of silence, and use the most primitive method—'physical contact' plus 'consciousness override' to gain control!"

"'Physical contact'? 'Consciousness override'?" Excellence asked, while desperately squeezing out power to maintain the shield.

"Yes! Use your Power of Order as a guide and carrier to establish a direct physical and information link with the heart of silence through this fragment! Then, forcibly 'write' your consciousness (carrying that emergency override code I taught you) into it! Override the priority of that damn 'purification protocol'! It's like... like using a red-hot branding iron to forcibly burn a new boot command onto the motherboard of a precision quantum computer!"

Mute's voice was filled with a desperate, all-or-nothing madness. "Although it's crude, although it might permanently damage the heart of silence, and although the success rate might be lower than finding an intact snowflake inside a supernova, this is our only way to survive! Otherwise, in ten seconds, we'll become the cleanest... nothingness in this corridor."

Using a red-hot branding iron to change instructions on a quantum computer motherboard... the metaphor made Excellence's eye twitch. But watching the shield's light rapidly dim, and feeling that increasingly strong, icy will that erased everything, he knew this seemingly suicidal plan was the last resort.

"Evelyn! Lock onto the coordinates of the 'shadow zone' Mute mentioned! Inject all remaining energy into the engines and shields! Prepare to execute a 'fearless charge'!" Excellence ordered loudly, his eyes bloodshot, flashing with the fierce light of a trapped beast. Since the "security check" at this "terminal station" was so unreasonable, they shouldn't be blamed for "forcing their way through"!

"Coordinates locked. Energy redistribution complete. Charge program initiated, countdown: three, two, one!"

The ranger's tail engines erupted with a final light, like a dying star. No longer resisting the residual inertia of the "Return Flow," but instead superimposing it with all its own power, the entire ship transformed into a resolute stream of light. It no longer dodged the ubiquitous, blinding purification rays, but instead, like a javelin thrown into the sun, it crashed unhesitatingly toward that "shadow zone" beneath the heart of silence, where the energy turbulence was most intense and the light and shadow were darkest!

"Come on! Let's see if your metal-shell 'safety regulations' are tougher, or if my rotten life and this 'spare key' are!" Mute let out a final roar, mixed with despair and madness.

Excellence clutched the canister of the stone of silence, which was already so scalding he could barely hold it, with both hands. He frantically compressed and condensed every last bit of Power of Order within him—from his own reserves, the feedback from the canister, and even what he squeezed out by overdrawing his life potential—at the point where his hands touched the canister, preparing to launch that "branding" strike the moment of impact!

Stardust pushed the power of her special rifle to the theoretical limit. The muzzle condensed a blinding, incandescent white light, ready to clear away any remaining energy turbulence interference for Excellence the moment the shield shattered and the hostile energy poured in.

White Elder's mental fluctuations were unprecedentedly concentrated and sharp, like the sword of an ancient deity that cuts through causality, ready to slice open any purification will that attempted to erode their souls.

Evelyn's spiritual projection was so faint it was almost invisible, leaving only an extremely blurry, intermittently flickering halo, maintaining existence at the bare minimum level.

The purification rays were like billions of cold needles, continuously stabbing at the shield that was on the verge of shattering! The shield's light was like a candle in the wind, flickering uncertainly, with cracks spreading!

The ship crashed fiercely into that "shadow zone" where the energy network intertwined and silver light danced wildly! Losing the shield's buffer, the violent, unfiltered "silence" energy turbulence acted like a cosmic storm, instantly tearing at the ship's hull, with the deafening sounds of metal twisting and cracking ringing out incessantly!

Just the instant before the hull was about to disintegrate completely—

"Now—!!!"

Excellence roared, using every last ounce of his life's strength to shove the canister of the stone of silence—which was so scalding it was about to melt, and glowing with an extreme brilliance—along with the torrent of Power of Order condensed upon it (compressed to the critical point of qualitative change, wildly intertwined with silvery-white and seven colors)—fiercely, resolutely, into that extremely hidden, dim, physical-interface-like depression beneath the Nexus Point of several thick main energy flows that Mute had pointed out!

"Boom—hum—!!!"

The indescribable roar and vibration did not propagate through the air, but acted directly on everyone's essential nature! It was as if the laws of two universes had collided and annihilated most violently at a single point!

The moment the canister of the stone of silence touched that "interface," it shattered completely like fragile glass! The black crystal inside (now transformed into a boiling, seven-colored nebula) made direct, dual contact—on both physical and informational levels—with that cold "interface"!

An indescribable light erupted! Silvery-white, seven-colored, and the purple-black representing destruction and chaos stirred up by the violent energy, intertwined into an absolute ball of light that swallowed all senses, instantly drowning the ship, drowning that area, and even temporarily drowning the radiance of the heart of silence!

Excellence felt his arms, his consciousness, and his soul being torn and scorched in this terrifying collision and backlash of energy, as if he were about to dissolve into the most basic particles! But he gritted his teeth until his gums bled, pouring every last bit of his remaining, unyielding will into that Power of Order, and along the shaky link forcibly established between the stone of silence and the "interface," frantically "wrote" the simple, crudely extreme string of forced instructions—which Mute had stuffed into his mind temporarily to override the priority of the "purification protocol"—into the deepest part of the heart of silence's energy network!

"Error! Critical error! Unauthorized physical interface accessed by force! High-risk override instruction write attempt detected! System logic core overloaded! Purification protocol execution thread blocked! Initiating highest-level emergency defense—zzzt—!!!"

The cold synthetic voice erupted with rapid, piercing alarms and static noise.

The pure white light of the heart of silence flickered and dimmed frantically, like a dying heart struggling! The vast energy network beneath it was in violent turmoil, with silver energy flows darting about and colliding, and even large, unstable patches of "extinguishment" and "short-circuit" light spots appeared!

The ranger was violently tossed away by the explosive energy turbulence, like a leaf in a gale. The hull rolled and twisted in the air, the exterior shell disintegrated over a large area, and internal explosions of fire and electric snakes occurred one after another. Finally, in a horrific state, it "slapped" obliquely and heavily onto the edge of the circular platform, sliding out a scorched trail smoking with thick smoke and sparks, and lay there completely paralyzed, like a dismantled toy.

Inside the cabin, it was a scene of hell. Most of the main control console was shattered, electric sparks crackled, and exposed cables twisted like dying snakes. The air was murky, filled with a pungent smell of burning, ozone, and blood. Emergency lights flickered on and off, casting ghostly shadows over the wreckage. Excellence was thrown among the twisted metal debris, his right arm bent at an eerie angle, blood gushing from his mouth, nose, and shattered forehead, his consciousness drifting on the edge of darkness. The stone of silence in his hand was gone, leaving only a few dim, spiderweb-cracked fragments scattered in the pool of blood.

Stardust was also thrown, slamming into the deformed bulkhead. Her left leg was unnaturally twisted, and there was a wound on her forehead deep enough to see bone, with blood blurring half her face. Her special rifle was broken in two and lay in the distance.

Evelyn's spiritual projection was so faint it was almost invisible, leaving only an extremely blurry, intermittently flickering halo, maintaining existence at the bare minimum level.

White Elder's mental fluctuations were weak to the extreme, like the embers of a dying charcoal fire, with only a trace of the most tenacious "existence" intent still holding on.

Dead silence. Only the sound of energy leakage and short-circuiting, like dying gasps, came from deep within the ship's wreckage.

I don't know how much time passed, maybe an instant, maybe ten thousand years, when Mute's voice—weak as a whisper, yet carrying an incredulous, survivor's ecstasy—floated intermittently into Excellence's almost blank consciousness:

"Did... did we do it? Damn it... we actually... really managed to... pry open a crack? That garbled instruction... it seems... it really... squeezed in? The purification protocol... stopped?"

Excellence used his last strength to pry his eyelids open a crack, looking outside through the blood-blurred, crack-filled porthole.

Those bone-chillingly cold purification rays had disappeared. The terrifying purification force field that had shrouded everything had also dissipated. The turmoil in the surrounding energy network was slowly calming down, and the wild silver light was gradually returning to a regular flow, although it was clearly dimmer, slower, and still carried unstable ripples.

In the center of the circular platform, the pure white heart of silence crystal remained suspended, but its crystal-clear surface now bore a tiny yet glaring, lightning-like crack, inside of which flickered unstable, multicolored glimmers!

Around the crack, some chaotic, child-like scribbles of intertwined silver and multicolored energy patterns were slowly fading and dissipating; these were the final traces left by the garbled instructions that Excellence had forcibly written.

They... had actually used the most barbaric and insane method to temporarily hack a core instruction of the Silent Corridor ultimate security system?

And they had physically damaged the control core?

Excellence wanted to laugh but only coughed up a mouthful of blood foam.

What was this?

The most disastrous hitchhiking trip in history, where they violently broke through the door at the terminus and smashed the master control computer on the way?

Are we... still alive?

Stardust’s hoarse, dry voice rang out.

She struggled, using her one functioning right hand to prop up her body, twitching slightly with every movement due to the intense pain.

Temporarily... not dead yet.

Excellence replied weakly, feeling as if every cell in his body was screaming.

Overall ship damage rate: 89.7%.

Main power completely cut off, emergency power remaining: 2.1%.

Life support system severely damaged, remaining duration: approximately twenty-eight minutes.

Evelyn's weak voice sounded like a final judgment.

Twenty-eight minutes.

What they had traded their lives for was less than half an hour of lingering, a damaged heart of silence, and an ultimate system they had violently invaded, which heaven knows what hidden dangers it had now buried.

Oh, and a pile of stone of silence fragments, along with the remnants of Mute's consciousness, who was likely on the verge of death inside.

Was this... really worth it?

Excellence looked out the porthole at the heart of silence, which was inches away and emitting a soft yet cracked radiance.

He then looked at the hellish scene inside the cabin and his severely injured, dying companions, his heart filled with absurdity, bitterness, and a trace of unwillingness.

However, at this moment of pervasive despair, the pure white light of the heart of silence suddenly fluctuated extremely slightly.

Immediately after, a thought, far softer than before and even carrying a hint of... human-like hesitation and confusion, cautiously and tentatively touched Excellence's consciousness, which was on the verge of dissipating (perhaps because the rough writing process earlier had created some strange temporary link between him and the heart of silence):

Detected... residual illegal high-priority command override... logic conflict and paradox in system permissions...

Detected new type of Power of Order carrier (Excellence)... life signal on the verge of disconnection...

Detected holder of associated heart of silence fragments (Mute)... consciousness signal extremely weak, on the verge of collapse...

Detected visitor vessel (ranger)... damage degree exceeds safety threshold...

According to Base Protocol VII emergency supplementary clause - extreme crisis handling plan (conditions met)... system automatic determination... initiating... temporary emergency response and assessment program...

Program core objective: Prioritize maintaining the minimum survival state of the new type of Power of Order carrier and associated heart of silence holder, and forcibly collect relevant conflict data to evaluate its potential impact weight (positive/negative) on the current crisis of the Silent Corridor and the gate...

Execution steps: 1. Call upon the heart of silence auxiliary emergency life support unit to perform minimum stabilization treatment on target units.

2. Synchronously force download the complete data stream of the illegal override command, target vessel surface memory fragments (fuzzy authorization required), and associated event data.

3. Based on collected data, conduct rapid threat/value assessment.

Before the final assessment is completed, temporarily shelve and freeze the execution of Base Protocol VII - Purification Isolation Protocol...

Excellence: ???

Stardust, Evelyn, White Elder: ???

Mute (faintly): ...What?

There is... still... this kind of... hidden clause?

Extreme crisis handling plan?

I... back in the day... completely... didn't know about this...

How many... bizarre functions has this broken system... actually... evolved (or rather, degraded) into... behind my back...?!

Before they could recover from this another unexpected plot twist, they saw several cracks slide open silently on the platform floor beneath the heart of silence.

Several milky-white energy beams, emanating a gentle yet powerful vitality and fluctuations of Order, shot out precisely.

Like the most sophisticated medical nanobot swarm, they gently enveloped the severely injured Excellence, Stardust, and the scattered fragments of stone of silence.

A gentle yet tenacious energy began to inject into their shattered bodies, forcibly stabilizing vital signs, repairing the most fatal wounds, and soothing their spirits on the verge of collapse.

Even the severely damaged wreckage of the ranger was supported by several larger milky-white beams.

Fine silver patterns, like regenerating biological tissue, lit up on the exterior of the hull.

Although the repair was slow, it was indeed taking place.

At the same time, a clear and irresistible thought, similar to an End User License Agreement, was transmitted into the surviving consciousness of Excellence and Mute (through the fragments):

To execute the temporary emergency response and assessment program, the system must forcibly collect the following data packets: 1. Full-band records and energy signatures of the illegal command override event.

2. Deep analysis data of the new Power of Order characteristic code (requires carrier authorization to open certain non-core memory sectors for environmental correlation analysis).

3. Recent activity records and consciousness state snapshots of the associated heart of silence fragment holder (Mute).

4. All information related to Chaos-corrupted entities (Heart-Devouring Demon), abnormal Chaos tide events, and recent stability fluctuations of the gate.

Please confirm within three seconds: [ ] Agree to data collection and accept temporary life support (safely stored until assessment is complete).

[ ] Refuse data collection (emergency response program will terminate immediately, the system will restore default status, Base Protocol VII may restart based on current logic paradox, consequences are unpredictable).

Excellence and Mute (on the verge of death) looked at each other on the consciousness level.

What was this?

After a violent invasion, instead of immediately executing kill on sight, the system initiated first aid and forensic investigation, and even wanted to negotiate with them?

Does this Silent Corridor core management system... have some major logic disorder?

Or, is it that in the underlying code left behind by Mute, the former administrator, there are extremely flexible and even bizarre emergency mechanisms buried that even it itself had forgotten?

Excellence felt the restorative power within his body, although weak, it was definitely there.

He watched the wound on Stardust's face stop bleeding, her broken leg being fixed by an energy brace, and he looked at the fragments vibrating slightly in the milky-white light, as if Mute's consciousness had also gained a moment of respite.

He licked his dry, bleeding lips, a complex light mixing survival instinct and calculation flashing in his eyes.

It seemed... things hadn't reached a dead end yet?

Perhaps... a strange turning point had appeared?

Mute, Excellence asked in his consciousness with all his might, is this ultimate property management AI of yours... always this... flexible, and sticking to procedural justice?

Mute (weak and bewildered): ...If I knew... would I still be... in such a miserable state... having my permissions frozen by it?

This system... definitely... has a ghost!

Either some bastard... left a super backdoor... back in the day... or it itself... during the long standby... somehow... learned or mutated... strange... survival instinct and... curiosity...

Excellence was silent for a moment, then, facing the heart of silence management system waiting for a reply, he gathered his last clear will and slowly transmitted the information:

I choose... to agree to data collection.

But, with additional conditions: during the data collection and assessment period, you must absolutely guarantee the existence safety and consciousness integrity of me and all my companions (Stardust, Evelyn, White Elder, Mute), and provide necessary life support and repair support, including structural stabilization of this ship.

At the same time, I require temporary access rights to consult the non-core, non-forbidden records stored by the heart of silence regarding the historical status of the gate, basic analysis of the Sea of Chaos, and the text content (read-only) of all Base Protocols and their supplementary clauses and emergency plans.

If the conditions are not met, I will reserve... the right to attempt command writing again before my consciousness dissipates—even if that command is just meaningless chaotic noise.

A threat!

Making a naked threat to a super system that had just pulled them back from the brink of death, held absolute power of life and death, and was suspected of having developed intelligence!

Even Stardust couldn't help but look at Excellence, her eyes complex, as if saying you are truly crazy.

The milky-white light of the heart of silence management system fluctuated significantly, as if performing high-speed thinking or weighing.

A few seconds later, that cold, yet seemingly having a hint of indescribable, helpless or weighing pros and cons emotion, synthetic voice sounded again:

Request received.

Simulating deduction...

Deduction result: Partially agreed.

During the data collection and assessment period, the minimum safe existence of the target and its directly associated units will be guaranteed, and basic life support and stabilization support (including structural reinforcement of the ship) will be provided.

Read-only access to some non-core, non-forbidden historical databases and protocol libraries will be opened (access list will be provided after the connection stabilizes).

Serious warning: Any further attempts to perform illegal writing, damage the system, or interfere with the assessment program, regardless of whether it has actual destructive power, will be treated as the highest-level hostile action, triggering an immediate, indiscriminate ultimate purification protocol, with no room for negotiation.

Temporary agreement established.

Starting data collection process.

Estimated duration: Unknown, depends on data complexity and carrier cooperation.

Please maintain minimum consciousness activity and cooperate with the scan.

The milky-white light became more stable and focused, beginning to scan their physical states deeply.

At the same time, a slight but distinct feeling of data being read began to touch the edge of Excellence's surface memory and the information fragments in Mute's surviving consciousness.

Excellence let out a long, silent sigh of relief.

His nerves, which had been stretched to the limit, finally relaxed slightly, followed by an overwhelming wave of fatigue and intense pain.

He looked out the porthole at the heart of silence, which was inches away, cracked yet still emitting a vast aura, and then looked at his companions in the cabin who were gradually stabilizing and the ship that had stopped showing signs of disintegration.

His heart was filled with mixed emotions.

This hitchhiking trip, which had gone through near-death experiences and violent breakthroughs, finally ended in such a way as reaching a temporary ceasefire agreement and accepting an investigation?

And he had also managed to extort some information access rights and repair services along the way?

This plot development, even as a participant, felt utterly absurd.

However, as long as one is alive, there is hope.

And, it seemed unexpectedly, he had gained an unprecedented opportunity to observe or even inquire about one of the universe's ultimate secrets—the control core of the gate?

Mute, Excellence said in his consciousness to the fragments shimmering slightly in the light, when this is over, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation.

About this homestead of yours, this property, and this not quite right former administrator identity of yours.

I always feel that what we are involved in might not just be the trouble of the Heart-Devouring Demon and the Sea of Chaos, but the center of some... older, weirder, and more deeply buried... vortex.

Mute (consciousness blurred and self-abandoned): ...Don't ask me...

I don't know anything...

I just... want to... have a good sleep now...

Hopefully wake up... and find that all this is just a nightmare...

Excellence twitched the corner of his mouth, but gave up because of the wound on his face.

Well, at least he wouldn't die immediately for the time being.

As for what kind of truth that would overturn his cognition or... more troublesome big trouble could be dug out from this heart of silence management system, which seemed to have some problems with its logic, he would just have to wait for the assessment results to be revealed.

He closed his eyes, cooperating with the gentle yet irresistible data scan, while amidst the intense pain and fatigue, he struggled to maintain the last trace of clear thinking, silently accumulating every bit of strength for the upcoming maneuvering and exploration.

This visit to the terminus of the Silent Corridor was truly... one wave after another, and one could never guess what would happen in the next second.