Chapter 34 System! Absorb it!

"No! I firmly oppose this!"

As soon as Lin Yuan finished his proposal, the Minister of Security was the first to stand up, his face flushed red with agitation.

"This is too absurd! And too dangerous! We know nothing about this system, and now you want it to directly absorb the 'soul' of an alien? Who knows what will happen?!"

"What if the alien's consciousness uses the system to reverse-hack Comrade Lin Yuan's brain? What if this so-called 'soul' is actually a virus, a trap? What if the system crashes because it can't handle such a complex information entity?"

His string of "what ifs" extinguished most of the hope that had just risen in the Command Center.

Indeed, the risk was too great.

Immeasurably so.

"The safety of Comrade Lin Yuan is the bottom line for all operations! This bottom line must never be wavered!" the Minister of Security said decisively. "I would rather this mission return empty-handed than agree to gamble with his life in such an unfounded way!"

His words were met with agreement from most people present.

Chen Weiguo's brows also furrowed into a deep frown.

Reason told him that the Minister of Security's concerns were entirely correct.

The "scavenger" project could survive without the "Snake Staff" or the "Gene Temple," but it absolutely could not survive without Lin Yuan.

But...

His gaze fell back onto the dazzling "sea of soul stars" on the screen.

Give up?

Just give up an opportunity that could allow human civilization to ascend in a single step?

He was unwilling to accept that.

"Academician Wang, scientifically speaking, what do you think are the chances of Lin Yuan's proposal succeeding?" Chen Weiguo asked in a deep voice.

Academician Wang's expression was extremely grave. He pondered for a long time before slowly shaking his head: "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Correct, I don't know," Academician Wang said bitterly. "This is already beyond the scope of all our current scientific theories. Lin Yuan's system itself is an unreasonable 'black box.' We can only infer its functions from the results it displays. But as for its internal logic and operating mechanism, we know nothing."

"Therefore, I cannot scientifically judge the success rate. Ninety-nine percent, or one percent—both are possible."

Academician Wang paused, raised his head, and looked at Chen Weiguo, his eyes flickering with a complex light.

"However, Director Chen, I have an intuition. A scientist's intuition."

"Lin Yuan might be right."

"A system capable of allowing consciousness to traverse dimensions and materializing void matter—perhaps its core function is not 'capturing' at all, but rather... 'absorbing' and 'analyzing'!"

"This time, it might truly be our only chance. If we miss it, we may never have another."

Academician Wang's words caused Chen Weiguo to fall silent once again.

On one side, there was the almost foreseeable and immeasurable, enormous risk.

On the other side, there was the equally immeasurable, potentially world-changing, enormous gain.

And the power to make the choice, in the end, still rested with Lin Yuan himself.

"Lin Yuan," Chen Weiguo picked up the communicator, his voice carrying an unprecedented exhaustion. "I will ask you one more time: have you really thought this through? I must remind you that this time, we have no contingency plans. Whether the pangu system or the 'neural buffer module' can function when facing a direct impact from an alien consciousness is something no one can guarantee."

"Once it fails, you might... completely disappear."

Listening to Chen Weiguo's words, it would be a lie for Lin Yuan to say he wasn't nervous.

Who isn't afraid of death?

He had finally managed to live a few good days, and his one-hundred-million deposit hadn't even warmed up yet.

However, when he thought about the coordinates exposed thirty years ago, the sword hanging over the heads of all humanity, and the longing in the eyes of Academician Wang and the others...

He felt the burden on his shoulders was so heavy it made him gasp for air.

From the moment he chose to hand over that black armor, he was no longer that small-time scrap yard owner who only cared about his own little plot of land.

His fate was already tied together with this country and this civilization.

"Chief, I've thought it through." Lin Yuan took a deep breath, trying hard to make his voice sound less shaky. "Let's do it!"

"Just as Academician Wang said, being timid will only lead to waiting for death. Right now, we can only charge forward."

"Besides," he grinned, psyching himself up, "I'm a tough one. The King of Hell has tried to take me a few times and never succeeded. I don't believe an alien ghost that's been dead for who knows how many tens of thousands of years can do anything to me!"

His words, carrying a kind of reckless, fearless grit, caused the heavy atmosphere in the Command Center to lighten slightly.

"Good..." Chen Weiguo closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, only resolve remained. "Since you have decided, then we will accompany you and gamble one more time!"

"Order! All departments, enter highest alert status! Medical Team, prepare all emergency rescue plans! Technology Department, use all available monitoring and defensive measures!"

"Lin Yuan, begin!"

"Yes!"

Lin Yuan nodded heavily.

He cleared all distracting thoughts from his mind.

He maneuvered "scavenger no. 2," slowly but firmly, flying in front of the blue sphere of light named "ashilya."

He could feel that emanating from that sphere of light was an aura that was serene, sorrowful, yet incredibly pure.

"Sorry, buddy, or sister," Lin Yuan muttered in his heart. "For the sake of our village surviving, I have to wrong you and have you come with me."

He closed his eyes, and in the deepest part of his consciousness, he issued that earth-shattering command to the mysterious system.

"System! Absorb it for me!"

【...】

The system, in a rare occurrence, was silent for a full three seconds.

Then, a line of text that Lin Yuan had never seen before, glowing with a dangerous red light, appeared in his mind.

【Warning: Unknown high-dimensional information lifeform detected!】

【Warning: This lifeform contains a complete consciousness core! Forced absorption may cause the host's consciousness to be contaminated, assimilated, or even overwritten! The risk far exceeds that of a mental backlash!】

【Warning: This operation is irreversible! Please confirm, host, whether to continue executing the 'absorb' command?】

【Yes/No】

Seeing these three lines of blood-red warnings, Lin Yuan's heart instantly sank to the bottom of the abyss.

Damn it!

The system itself was sounding an alarm!

Moreover, the consequences were countless times more serious than he had imagined!

It wasn't mental damage, it wasn't becoming an idiot.

It was... being overwritten!

To put it bluntly, it meant that he, Lin Yuan, might disappear from this world, and in his place, an alien would live inside his body!

At this moment, Lin Yuan truly hesitated.

His palms were full of cold sweat.

To hell with the country, to hell with civilization! My own life is what matters most!

This thought screamed wildly in his mind.

But...

Before his eyes appeared Chen Weiguo's face, etched with exhaustion and trust; Academician Wang's eyes, filled with longing and determination; and the scientists in the Command Center who had stayed up all night, racking their brains for his sake alone.

He remembered what Li Na had said to him.

"You are the spark of our civilization."

If the spark were extinguished, what would be the point of the candle?

After enduring a fierce internal struggle, Lin Yuan's eyes finally, little by little, became firm.

He, Lin Yuan, a scrap collector, with a worthless life.

To have the chance to gamble it all for over a billion people, for the entire civilization.

It's worth it!

"Yes!"

In his heart, he roared this word with all his might.