99: Chapter 99 Wildfire Spreads

But at that moment, Yan no longer reacted.

It was as if—he was falling into an echo-less abyss.

And in that silence, still as stagnant water—

His eyelashes fluttered slightly.

The next second—

He opened his eyes.

They were eyes that seemed to rise from the very bottom of the abyss.

Clear, yet no longer powerless.

Calm, yet filled with an extreme, resistant stubbornness.

—He moved.

He was not being controlled.

He was "waking up."

He was supposed to have collapsed, disintegrated, and reconstructed into a "System Puppet."

But at this moment, his body gave a slight shudder, his back straightened, and a spiritual vibration surging against the current rose from the depths of his eyes!

The instant he opened his eyes, the spiritual wave in the surrounding air let out a sharp "crackling" sound!

Like a short circuit!

[Anomaly Feedback: Extraction Failed]

[Feedback Source Anomaly Stronger than Source Wave · Sympathetic Resonance Interrupted]

The system identification layer began to—sound the alarm.

And Yan only gave Ye Nanxing a gentle look.

His gaze was as clear as it had been at the beginning; his lips moved slightly, his voice silent:

[...I'm still here.]

In that moment—

Deep within Yan's consciousness, a deeply hidden "Defense Protocol" quietly activated.

It wasn't a logic chain, nor a mental barrier.

It was—

Emotional Programming.

It was a primal protection mechanism unrecorded by language and unparsed by reason.

His body moved, but very lightly.

His eyes reflected Ye Nanxing's face, her eyes red from suppressed emotion, her hand trembling as it gripped his fingertips.

She was afraid.

Not afraid of death.

But—afraid of him being taken away.

[She's afraid I'll break.]

[So, I cannot break.]

"Crack—!!"

The entire mental identification system emitted a minute, faint, yet high-frequency screech full of tearing sensation.

The mental control network recoiled.

An unknown wave of consciousness "exploded" from Yan's neural core!

[Central System · Real-time Warning]

[Anomaly! V-79 Module undergoing structural reorganization]

[Target 04 · Consciousness Form Mismatch · Extraction Failed]

[Reverse Infection Detection in Progress · Master Control Chain has failed!]

"What's going on?!"

Lin Muran stood up abruptly, his expression wavering for the first time.

"Shut it down! Sever the core chain—now!"

The adjutant shouted:

"I can't cut it! He's counter-attacking! It's like... he's bitten on!"

In that moment—

In the system-constructed "Mental Purification Room," Yan opened his eyes.

The white space seemed to be permeated, infected, and transformed by his consciousness.

He was like a small beast pushed onto an altar, but instead, he was building a nest inside it.

He wasn't being washed clean.

He had—walked in and locked the door behind him.

He stood in the center of the purification system, expressionless.

But within the mental fluctuations, a sentence came through clearly:

[You want to purify me?]

The next second—

"Boom!!!"

[V-79 Module · Master Control Panel Shattered!]

Electric sparks flashed wildly in the main brain area, and the control console spewed scorching sparks!

The alarm blared completely!

[System Alarm · Level: S+]

[V-79 Out of Control · Module Meltdown]

[Reverse Mental Domain Contamination Detected · Spreading]

[Infected Areas: Station Three → Neural Master Control Core → Main Signal Ring]

[Countdown Mechanism Failed · Device Self-Destruct Sequence Triggered Early]

Lin Muran's expression changed drastically.

He finally realized—

They hadn't unlocked a weapon.

They had released a mental spark that had never been recorded.

He whispered:

"...This isn't a Child."

"This is a wildfire capable of igniting the structure of civilization."

"Once it spreads, the entirety of Zero Point—will turn to ash."

At the bottom of the ventilation shaft.

Yan slowly opened his eyes, leaning in Ye Nanxing's arms, his clear black-and-white pupils refocusing.

He calmly turned his head and looked at the deep layers of the high wall a hundred meters above—where the control brain was located.

His voice was extremely soft.

But it fell into every system nerve ending that had once pressured him.

[You want to rewrite me?]

When the final main system firewall was completely swallowed by mental contamination, the seventh alarm line on the large screen snapped with a "pop," climbing across the entire main brain visual projection like a bursting blood vessel.

The master control hub fell into a brief but suffocating silence.

The next second—

[Warning: S-Class Defense Lock Failure]

[Base Master Control Contaminated]

[Main Brain Abandoning Calculations · Backup Consciousness Circuit Failed]

[Zero Point Base · Officially Entering "Out of Control State"]

[Executing Protocol Number: FINAL-DUST]

The lights in the master control room flickered with a cold white glow.

Everyone was looking at Lin Muran.

Some faces were pale, some fingers gripped the console in involuntary tremors, and others murmured: "This is impossible... how can this be..."

They were the core members of "Zero Point," the system builders, the maintainers of stability, the people who had been told "this bunker will never fall."

But now, they watched as the words "never fall" turned from a belief into a mockery.

Lin Muran didn't move immediately.

He stood before the control console, his gaze drifting for a moment.

An imperceptible "blankness" wavered deep in his pupils.

It was an emotional rift that had been suppressed for too long, like the last spark before logic completely lost power.

"To think it has come to this..."

He whispered.

This was the "worst-case scenario" that had never been written into any report or appeared in any exercise plan.

—It wasn't a system collapse.

It was the foundation of civilization being easily counter-consumed by a "Child."

He should have been angry.

He should have shouted.

But he did nothing.

He only slowly raised his hand, unlocking the final layer of permission locks on his cuff, revealing a black authority seal on his wrist that was never shown to others.

His fingertips steadily pressed the smooth, unlabeled button at the very bottom of the control console.

"Since it cannot be held."

His voice was low and hoarse, yet colder than the system prompts.

"Then—bury it."

Click.

[Self-Destruct Program Initiated]

[Countdown: 29:59]

The moment the countdown started, the control room erupted in chaos.

"The secondary control channel is cut!"

"Our retreat path is blocked by a mental storm!"

"The main brain core has self-melted; all intelligent carriers have gone silent!"

"Fission waves appearing in the high-heat zone sensors—the base is going to collapse!"

The expression of every "Zero Point" high-ranking official changed.

They had once been confident, calm, and elegant, smiling as they said "extreme cold is the touchstone for rebuilding order."

But now, their faces were pale one by one, sweat trickling from their temples, breathing heavy, gazes lost like sacrificial offerings driven into a corner.

Someone rushed toward the access channel like a madman.

They were immediately judged as "out of control" by the security system, knocked to the ground with a "zap," twitching incessantly.

Lin Muran glanced over but said nothing.

He simply sat down slowly, rearranged his cuffs, and looked up at the main screen on the wall as the countdown advanced second by second.

Like a destined, irreversible self-immolation of a deity.

His gaze calmed down—even carrying a strange hint of pity.

"After the wildfire burns through..."

"What will be left?"

[Countdown: 29:38]

[29:37]

[29:36...]