Chapter 16 The Key

"A technology tree... He brought back a technology tree from an alien civilization!"

Academician Wang held the blue data core in his hands, his hands trembling, repeating this sentence over and over.

The surrounding scientists swarmed up like madmen, the eyes of everyone flashing with greedy and fanatical light, as if they were not looking at a chip, but a door to a brand-new world.

"Everyone stop! Keep a safe distance!" The head of the security department immediately rushed up with his men, separating the excited scientists from the data core. "Conduct a comprehensive inspection immediately! Radiation, biological activity, meme contamination—every single item must be checked!"

Those present were the top minds of the country. They were well aware that a data core from an alien civilization could be a treasure trove of endless knowledge, or it could be Pandora's box containing devils.

Any slight carelessness could lead to a devastating catastrophe.

Soon, inspection personnel wearing heavy protective suits pushed various precision instruments and carefully placed the data core into a transparent, sealed box filled with inert gas.

"Report! No harmful radiation!"

"Report! No biological activity detected!"

"Report! Information field stable, no signs of meme contamination!"

As one exciting report after another came in, a smile finally appeared on Chen Weiguo's face.

"Good! Send it to 'miracle' Laboratory No. 1 immediately! Academician Wang, the subsequent decoding work is left to you!"

"I guarantee to complete the mission!" Academician Wang straightened his back, his voice so loud it didn't sound like an old man over sixty. He watched the sealed box being sent away under layers of protection, his eyes filled with unprecedented fighting spirit.

On the other side, Lin Yuan was surrounded by a group of doctors and nurses and sent to the medical room for a comprehensive head-to-toe examination, detailed down to every single hair.

The examination results made all the doctors breathe a sigh of relief.

"Apart from some weakness, Mr. Lin Yuan's body has no organic damage. Although there was excessive electrical activity in the cerebral cortex, it has returned to stability. I have to say, this is simply a miracle." The Head of the Medical Team looked at the report and clicked his tongue in wonder.

Lin Yuan lay on the comfortable medical bed, drinking the warm nutrient solution handed to him by the young nutritionist, feeling as if he had fought a battle for three days and three nights. His whole body felt like it was falling apart, but his spirit was exceptionally excited.

He opened the system interface in his mind.

【deep space salvage system】

【host: Lin Yuan】

【Mental Strength: 8】

【Status: Overloaded Mental Backlash (Recovering)】

【Salvage Drone - "scavenger no. 1"】

【Level: LV2】

【Status: Core severely damaged (Repair requires 1500 energy points and 1 rare structural material)】

【Energy Reserves: 150 / 200】

Seeing the status of the drone, Lin Yuan gasped.

Good heavens, 93% damaged, and it actually takes 1500 energy points to repair! That's fifteen times more than last time! Furthermore, there was an additional requirement for "1 rare structural material".

"System, what does this rare structural material mean?" He asked in his heart.

【The drone's core frame was completely destroyed by a high-dimensional gravitational field during this return trip and cannot be repaired with pure energy. At least one structural material of LV2 level or higher is required as a repair frame.】

Lin Yuan understood. Energy alone was not enough; he also needed a "skeleton". That piece of "oracle-grade armor" he salvaged last time—after absorbing the energy, wasn't the small piece left over the perfect ready-made material of LV2 level or higher?

It seems this system really is "taken from the people, used for the people"; salvaging, repairing, and upgrading formed a perfect closed loop.

However, 1500 energy points... He only had 150 points now, which was still far from enough.

It seems that before the next salvage, there was no way to repair the drone.

"Comrade Lin Yuan, how are you feeling?" Chen Weiguo and Academician Wang walked in. Academician Wang's face still carried a flush that hadn't faded, clearly still immersed in great joy.

"Report, Chief, I feel great! I can carry out the next salvage at any time!" Lin Yuan said jokingly.

"Nonsense!" Chen Weiguo and Academician Wang scolded in unison.

"The mental backlash you suffered this time is ten times more severe than last time! If we hadn't prepared a Plan B, you brat would never have come back!" Academician Wang glared at him unhappily, but his eyes were full of concern. "The Medical Team's opinion is that you must be forced to rest for at least a month! Before all your physiological indicators return to normal, you are strictly forbidden from making any more 'connections'!"

"A month?" Lin Yuan was a bit dumbfounded. "Then... what about the decoding work..."

"Decoding can't be rushed." Chen Weiguo's expression was serious. "That's a tough nut to crack; Academician Wang and his team have plenty to be busy with. Your primary task now is to get your body healthy. Your safety is the cornerstone of the 'scavenger' project; this is non-negotiable."

Looking at Chen Weiguo's unquestionable gaze, Lin Yuan had to nod: "Alright, I will listen to the organization."

In the following days, Lin Yuan lived the "useless person" life he had dreamed of.

Every day, besides eating and sleeping, he was either in the virtual reality game pod, experiencing various games he never dared to imagine before.

In stark contrast to his leisure was the intense, day-and-night busyness in the "miracle" Laboratory No. 1.

Academician Wang and the top computer experts, physicists, and linguists under his command were at their wits' end, facing the blue data core.

"It won't work! Still no good! We've tried all known decoding algorithms, and there's absolutely no response!" A young doctor in charge of decryption grabbed his already thinning hair in frustration. "The storage method of this thing is not binary as we understand it at all! It's not 0s and 1s; it's a... a kind of information storage pattern based on spatial topology!"

"Each of its information units is not a simple high or low voltage level, but a spatial fold at the microscopic level! To read it, we must first learn how to 'smooth out' these folds!"

"This is no longer in the realm of computer science; this is high-energy physics! This is spatial geometry!"

The meeting room was filled with gloom.

They were like a group of primitive people holding stone axes, facing a supercomputer, unable to even find the power button.

Academician Wang looked at the topology diagram on the screen, which was complex to the point of despair, and also felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

He and his team represented the smartest minds on this planet, but in front of this "heavenly book" from the star sea, they were like a group of elementary school students who had just learned to write.

"Could there be... some kind of 'key'?" A linguist suddenly spoke up. "Any complex encryption system will have a corresponding 'key'. We are currently using brute force with an exhaustive method; the direction might have been wrong from the start."

"A key?" Academician Wang's spirits lifted. "What do you mean?"

"I have studied Comrade Lin Yuan's oral report. He mentioned that he saw many strange symbols and characters in the command cabin of that 'oracle-grade scavenger ship'. Could those things be the key to interpreting this data core?"

This idea was like a bolt of lightning, splitting through the fog in everyone's minds.

That's right!

They had always treated this data core as a purely technical product for research, but had ignored the "civilization" attribute it represented behind it!

Any technology is rooted in the culture and language of its civilization!

"Quick! Go invite Comrade Lin Yuan over immediately!" Academician Wang shouted excitedly. "We need him! We need those eyes of his that have seen that civilization with his own eyes!"

Half an hour later, Lin Yuan, who was still driving a virtual sports car in the game pod, was "invited" to the "miracle" Laboratory No. 1 by guards with serious faces.

This was his first time entering the core area of this base.

In the laboratory, there were devices he couldn't understand everywhere, and screens flashing with data.

Academician Wang pulled him to a giant holographic projection. On the projection was the microscopic structure diagram of that data core.

"Little Lin, take a look at this." Academician Wang pointed to the complex "spatial folds" on the screen. "We are stuck here now. We suspect that we need a 'key' to open it."

"A key?" Lin Yuan looked blank. "Where would I have that thing?"

"It's not a physical key!" Academician Wang said anxiously. "It's information! It's a clue! Recall carefully: in the command cabin of that warship, did you see any special, recurring patterns or symbols?"

Lin Yuan frowned, trying hard to search his memory for that short and thrilling experience.

The command cabin was a mess, with broken screens and instruments everywhere.

But... it seems...

"Yes!" Lin Yuan's eyes lit up. "I remember! On the main console, the one where this data core was plugged in, there was a symbol carved on it! That symbol appeared in many places—on the seats, on the cabin walls, everywhere!"

"What kind of symbol? Quick! Draw it down!" Academician Wang's voice changed with excitement.

Lin Yuan picked up an electronic pen and, relying on his memory, drew it stroke by stroke on the drawing board next to him.

It was a very strange symbol, looking like an eye, but the pupil part was a vortex formed by three spirals constantly rotating.

When Lin Yuan finished the last stroke, all the scientists in the laboratory who were staring at the drawing board were stunned.

Because that vortex formed by three spirals was exactly the same as the macroscopic energy field distribution map of the data core in front of them!

"So... so that's how it is..."

Academician Wang looked at the symbol, then looked at the energy field map of the data core, murmuring to himself, his eyes bursting with unprecedented light.

"We found the key! We found the key to open this treasure trove!"