370: Data poisoning and the "Hope" virus

The long whip, covered in barbs, let out an excited hiss in the Gray-Armored Officer's hand.

Gray lightning slithered across the whip's body like venomous snakes.

"Enjoy your punishment, thief."

The officer's voice, filled with cruel mockery, was the last thing Lin Fan's Clone heard in this world.

Crack—

The whip fell.

There was no sound of flesh tearing open.

The moment the barbs on the whip touched the Clone's skin, they unexpectedly transformed into ethereal gray runes and seeped directly inside.

Indescribable pain exploded from the deepest depths of his Soul.

It wasn't tearing, nor was it burning.

It was a kind of "stripping."

Lin Fan felt his memories, his emotions, and his personality being scraped away piece by piece from his Divine Soul Origin by a savage force.

The scraped-off "Soul fragments" were greedily devoured by the gray lightning on the whip, converted into the purest energy of despair.

This torture was ten thousand times more cruel than direct annihilation.

It forced you to watch clearly as you were dismantled bit by bit, until the very concept of "you" vanished completely.

A look of enjoyment appeared on the Gray-Armored Officer's face.

He loved hearing the wails of Souls as they shattered.

But this time, he was disappointed.

That Recruit Number 7754 merely twitched violently once before falling straight down, eyes losing all luster.

His Soul had been whipped into dissipation with a single strike.

"Trash."

The officer spat disdainfully and put away the Disciplinary Whip.

Truly boring.

He didn't even have the qualification to wail.

He turned and left without sparing another glance at the "corpse"... inside the cold stone room.

Lin Fan snapped his eyes open and sat up from the ground.

His forehead was covered in cold sweat.

The experience of being "skinned alive" just now was terrifyingly realistic.

In the Command Hall, Lin Fan's main body also had a grave expression.

The System panel in his Sea of Consciousness was flashing with an unprecedented light.

[You have been resurrected.]

[Manner of Death: Soul-Devouring Execution.]

[Reward: Obtained "Advanced Soul Tenacity Fortification".]

[Shackle of the Soul (High-Dimensional Karmic Creation) analyzing... Current progress: 99.8%... 99.9%...]

[Analysis complete!]

A line of golden text surfaced on the panel.

[Target: Shackle of the Soul.]

[Core Principle: A negative feedback rule closed-loop based on "Definition of Existence".]

[Operational Logic: Establishes an initial dominance relationship by forcibly branding the concept of "Slave". Continuously absorbs the target's negative emotions (despair, fear, numbness), converting them into energy to strengthen the shackles while suppressing the target's positive emotions and autonomous consciousness. The more desperate the target, the more stable the shackles; the more stable the shackles, the more desperate the target. This continues until the target is completely reduced to a pure energy supply node.]

He understood now.

A flash of realization crossed Lin Fan's eyes.

The essence of this "Shackle of the Soul" was a perfect, self-circulating perpetual motion machine of despair.

Any attempt to resist from within would only generate more intense pain and despair, which would instead become the nourishment to sustain it.

To break it, conventional energy confrontation or Law impacts were fundamentally useless.

That would be like trying to put out a fire by pouring oil on it.

The only way was to start from its underlying logic.

Since it runs on "negative feedback"... what if I inject a "pseudo-positive feedback" program into it?

A thought so bold it bordered on madness spread through Lin Fan's mind like a virus.

He was going to perform a "data poisoning".

He was going to plant a Trojan horse within the precise server of the Anomaly Elimination Alliance.

A Trojan horse named "Hope".

"System."

Lin Fan's main body issued a command in his heart.

"Using the analysis data of the [Shackle of the Soul] as a blueprint and my 'Tamper' authority as the core, construct an anti-logic program."

"Effect: Simulate a pseudo-positive feedback signal of 'Return of Power' to induce the 'Shackle of the Soul' to relax its control. The moment the shackle loosens, convert this signal into a real trace amount of energy and inject it into the Host's Divine Soul, forming a positive cycle."

[Command received.]

[Constructing 'Anti-Logic Karmic Program'...]

[existence value consumed: 1.000%]

Lin Fan's [existence value] instantly dropped from 77.499% to 76.499%.

The price was not small.

But in the next moment, in his open palm, a fist-sized energy body emitting a soft, warm, and pure white light appeared out of thin air.

It possessed no aggressiveness.

It didn't even have a hint of energy fluctuation.

But its very existence was utterly incompatible with this deathly silent, cold Tomb of the Epoch.

[Program construction complete.]

[Naming: Hope Virus V1.0.]

It was done.

Lin Fan looked at the ball of light in his hand, the corners of his mouth curling up uncontrollably.

Now, all he needed was a test subject.

A test subject with a will firm enough and strong enough to seize the moment "Hope" sprouted and turn it into a prairie fire.

In Lin Fan's mind, that silent figure emerged.

Convict Number 734... inside the mine.

The "Poor Worm" was once again escorted back.

He looked even more wretched than before, his body shaking so much he could barely stand, as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

The Gray Armored Soldiers looked at him with eyes full of contempt.

Unable to even withstand the lightest strike of the Disciplinary Whip, such trash deserved to die.

No one paid him any more attention.

Lin Fan lowered his head and dragged his heavy steps back to the excavation point.

He didn't approach Number 734.

He simply picked up his pickaxe as usual and silently struck the rock wall.

He was waiting for an opportunity.

An opportunity to be alone with him.

The opportunity came quickly.

While digging, Lin Fan used his fully analyzed rule vision to observe the structure of the entire mine.

Although the space and rules here were broken and chaotic, in Lin Fan's eyes, they were like a program code map full of vulnerabilities.

He found the most fragile structural node.

During one swing of his pickaxe, he used a trace of imperceptible clever force to knock a fragment of broken Time Law into the edge of a spatial rift.

Buzz—

A low resonance, as if coming from the abyss of the Universe.

The entire Area D-3 Mining Zone began to tremble violently without warning.

"Not good! A Rule Storm!"

"The mine is collapsing! Evacuate quickly!"

The Gray Armored Soldiers responsible for supervision showed panicked expressions for the first time.

Without a second thought, they immediately turned and fled toward the cave entrance.

The prisoners also fell into a massive commotion, instinctive fear surfacing on their numb faces as they followed the soldiers, scrambling to escape.

In the chaos, no one noticed.

The "Poor Worm" Lin Fan, in a display of "panic-stricken" running, slipped and fell toward another direction.

And that direction was exactly where Number 734 was located.

Rumble!

Massive rocks and distorted spatial structures fell from above.

In an instant, that area was completely cut off from the outside world.

Dust filled the air.

A deathly silence followed.

An unknown amount of time passed.

A rock was slowly pushed aside.

Lin Fan's Clone crawled out from underneath. He brushed the dust off his body, and the fear and cowardice on his face vanished without a trace.

Replacing it was an indifference so calm it was chilling.

He turned around and looked not far away.

Number 734 was standing there quietly.

During the collapse just now, not a single stone had fallen within three feet of him.

His numb eyes, for the first time, stared directly at this "Poor Worm" designated as "Number 7754".

"Who are you?"

His raspy voice, like sandpaper rubbing together, rang out.

Lin Fan didn't answer.

He just slowly opened his palm.

A soft, warm energy body, as if containing the first ray of light from the beginning of creation, floated quietly in his palm.

In the depths of this mine where only death and despair existed, this ball of light was as dazzling as a miracle.

Number 734's hollow eyes suddenly constricted the moment he saw this light.

It was the first time since he had been imprisoned for untold ages that such a violent emotional fluctuation had appeared.

"Do you want to..."

Lin Fan looked up, meeting his gaze, and asked one word at a time.

"...take back the sword that belongs to you?"