192: Chapter 193 Divine Pressure, No Two Heartbeats in the World

Chapter 193

[gods heart Forced Pressurization]

[Target: Burst through the non-return structure, restore the main circulation of the divine body]

The loud noise coming from the direction of the heart pump chamber was like someone smashing a mountain into the underground of Jiang City.

All the lights in the Main Control Room turned blood-gold simultaneously.

The temporary mechanical valve that Lin Jin had installed with his own hands was deforming crazily on the pressure graph.

The first brass locking pin turned red.

The second began to loosen.

The third cracked open directly.

Cheng Du's face was pale.

"It can't hold."

"The divine lungs are blocked by filters everywhere, so it has switched to using the gods heart to force its way through."

"Once the valve bursts, the gods heart will reconnect to the torso."

Chen Ye grabbed his shield and rushed toward the maintenance ladder.

"Then what are we waiting for? Get down there and hold it!"

Cheng Du grabbed him.

"You're going to hold the gods heart with a shield?"

"When the gods heart beats, you and your shield will be smashed into a Career System badge!"

Lin Jin had already shouldered his tool bag, pulled off his work order no. 001 badge, and ran toward the entrance of the heart pump chamber.

Shen Tingxue, Zhou Heng, and Thirteen followed closely behind.

Cheng Du braced himself against the rest station to stand up, wanting to follow, but nearly fell after taking just one step.

Lin Jin looked back.

"Don't come down."

Cheng Du cursed:

"Cut the crap, I—"

"You report the pressure from above."

Lin Jin interrupted him.

"This time, the bottom needs hands, and the top needs eyes."

Cheng Du gritted his teeth and punched the Mainframe one last time.

"Get going!"

The heart pump chamber was even more like a living thing than when they had left last time.

The blood vessels on the walls were bulging, golden divine blood was surging inside, and the temporary mechanical valve was creaking under the pressure.

The original handover key that had been pulled out was no longer inside the heart.

In its place was a crude non-return valve cobbled together from a brass ring, an Ice Key cryogenic lock, a lightning-strike synchronization needle, and pieces of Chen Ye's shield.

It was ugly.

But it had held back the gods heart.

Now, the gods heart wanted to smash it to pieces.

Thump!

Another heartbeat.

Chen Ye had just steadied himself when the shockwave knocked him back three steps, and a new crack opened on the edge of his shield.

Shen Tingxue immediately spread ice, not freezing the heart, but only the threads on the outside of the mechanical valve.

Zhou Heng drove his Thunder Spear into the ground, the lightning pulsing in reverse to the heartbeat.

Thirteen rushed to the valve, grabbing the brass pressure ring that was prying upward.

The golden light burned into his palm, but he remained expressionless, saying only one thing:

"Hurry."

Lin Jin lay at the bottom of the valve, and as soon as his wrench touched the first locking pin, his entire arm was scorched and torn.

There were no prompts.

No danger levels.

Only the screws shaking, the metal screaming, and the heart using increasing force to push them all away.

Lin Shoushan's voice came over the comms.

"Lin Jin."

"If you really can't hold on, I can go down."

Lin Jin didn't even look up.

"What would you do if you went down?"

Lin Shoushan was silent for a moment.

"I know the first beat of the gods heart."

"I can use myself as a temporary non-return anchor."

Cheng Du exploded in the Mainframe.

"Bullshit!"

"Twenty years ago you used a key to block the heart, and twenty years later you want to use yourself?"

"The gods heart is missing parts, not your old ailments!"

Lin Shoushan did not refute.

Lin Jin gritted his teeth and tightened the loosened locking pin by half a turn.

"Dad."

This was the first time he had called him that in a long time.

The other end of the communication went quiet.

Lin Jin's voice was hoarse:

"You can provide data."

"You cannot provide your body."

Lin Shoushan said in a low voice:

"Okay."

The next second, the monitoring data from the treatment chamber connected to the work badge.

[Residual heartbeat Record of the first-cut operator]

[For reference only]

[Must not be used as human non-return material]

Ye Guizhou's seal was immediately stamped.

Luo Wensheng Record.

He Zhibai kept the account.

The work order no. 001 badge glowed with a rust-colored light.

Lin Jin finally understood a little.

It wasn't that the gods heart was simply getting stronger.

It was looking for the "same beat."

Career System badges all over the world were being tugged by the gods heart.

As long as enough career interfaces beat at the same frequency as the gods heart, the non-return valve would be identified from the outside as "obstructing the maternal circulation" and then be rejected by the entire Career System together.

Cheng Du saw it from above too, his voice tight:

"It's synchronizing the heartbeat of the whole world!"

"Twelve beats."

"After twelve beats, all places that haven't established local filters will be connected to the main circulation first."

"Once connected, it can borrow the career interfaces of those cities to pull the valve out from the outside."

Lin Jin looked up.

"We can't let it synchronize."

Chen Ye panted and asked:

"How do we make the whole world have different beats?"

Lin Jin looked at the shaking valve, looking at those thin golden threads connecting into the gods heart from seventy-two directions.

"It's not jumping randomly."

"It's each jumping its own way."

He grabbed the communicator.

"All cities on work order no. 002, listen up!"

"The gods heart is pulling for a unified heartbeat."

"Do not synchronize with Jiang City."

"Every location, report your own rhythm!"

"The Hospital, report the monitor."

"Schools, report the class dismissal bell."

"Mining areas, report the rail cars."

"Hai City, report the sound of the tide."

"Qinghe County, reporting the sound of a blackboard eraser knocking on the blackboard is fine too!"

Intern Liang Yu in Hai City was the first to reply.

"Three beats of the waves, then a pause!"

Behind her, the pancake uncle used an iron shovel to knock on a storm drain cover.

Clang, clang, clang—pause.

The old miners in Beiyuan shouted right after:

"The mine car turntable changes direction every five beats!"

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank—boom!

The sound of a monitor came from The Hospital in Nanling.

Beep, beep-beep, beep.

"Neonatal monitoring rhythms are not unified, Record them separately by bed!"

Teacher Song Qing in Qinghe County, with thirty-seven students, used a chalk box to knock on the blackboard.

Thump, thump, scratch—thump.

She called out somewhat embarrassedly:

"Ours isn't accurate!"

Lin Jin immediately said:

"Inaccurate counts too."

Luo Wensheng quickly wrote on work order no. 002:

[Local rhythms are not required to be unified.]

[Rhythm sources must be confirmed locally.]

[Must not be organized by the maternal end into a standard heart rhythm.]

Ye Guizhou stamped:

[Local heartbeats received]

[Does not constitute ownership]

He Zhibai added:

[Non-synchronization generates coordination costs, public accounting, must not be converted into a reason for unified management]

One place after another began to emit their own sounds.

The sound of pot lids.

School bells.

Rail sounds.

Hospital bells.

The sound of market iron gates closing.

Some people slapped tables, some stomped feet, some knocked on water pipes.

It was as chaotic as a band thrown together after a disaster.

The gods heart was confused for the first time.

It wanted to pull them into one beat.

But every place pushed back with its own rhythm.

Thump!

The gods heart beat again.

This time, the temporary valve was not blown away directly.

The pressure was divided into many small impacts in different directions by the seventy-two lines.

Some fast, some slow.

Some early, some late.

Lin Jin seized the opportunity to pull out the first cracked locking pin and replace it with a new pressure plate dismantled from Chen Ye's shield.

Chen Ye's eyelid twitched as he watched.

"My shield is missing another piece."

He Zhibai's voice came over the comms:

"Public maintenance cost recorded."

"Alright then, keep dismantling."

Chen Ye pried off the third pressure plate from the back of his shield and stuffed it into Lin Jin's hand.

Shen Tingxue used ice to stabilize the temperature, Zhou Heng used lightning to counter-pulse the beat, and Thirteen held the brass ring down tightly.

Lin Jin replaced the locks one by one.

With every one replaced, a local rhythm connected in.

The gods heart became angrier and angrier.

It no longer resembled a heart.

It was more like a god awakened by countless noises.

[Heart Rhythm Contamination]

[Maternal Circulation Abnormal]

[Defibrillation Recommended]

Cheng Du's face changed drastically.

"It's going to force a zero-reset!"

Six golden electric arcs suddenly opened at the top of the heart pump chamber.

That wasn't lightning.

It was divine defibrillation.

Once it landed, all local rhythms would be wiped simultaneously, returning to the first beat of the gods heart.

Zhou Heng looked up, his Thunder Spear trembling.

"I can't block all of this."

Lin Jin looked at those electric arcs and suddenly asked:

"Defibrillation requires pads, right?"

Fang Ning's voice immediately connected.

"It needs contact points!"

"Improper defibrillation will hurt people!"

Lin Jin grabbed a few pieces of discarded brass, throwing them to Chen Ye and Thirteen.

"Make fake pads!"

"Where do we stick them?"

"Stick them where it thinks is most like a human."

Thirteen looked down at himself.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Lin Jin had already dismantled the outer shell of the work order no. 001 badge, revealing the iron filings scraped off that rusty wrench inside.

"The maintenance team badge has our shift Records."

"It's human enough."

He nailed the iron filings and brass pieces onto the walls on both sides of the heart pump chamber.

Luo Wensheng immediately added to the Record:

[Fake defibrillation pads]

[Purpose: Divert divine zero-reset pulse]

[Must not be considered human pressure bearing]

Ye Guizhou stamped.

He Zhibai kept the account.

The golden electric arcs fell.

Boom!

The entire heart pump chamber turned white for an instant.

The fake pads were burned red-hot, and the brass pieces melted halfway.

But the people didn't fall.

The local rhythms weren't wiped either.

Hai City's three beats and a pause were still there.

Beiyuan's mine car turntable was still there.

That absurdly broken chalk box sound in Qinghe County was still there.

Taking advantage of the rebound from the defibrillation, Lin Jin finally replaced the last locking pin.

The temporary mechanical valve was no longer just a valve made by Jiang City.

Every one of its new locks was connected to a local rhythm.

It wasn't a unified heart.

It was many small sounds from reality, jamming the main circulation that the gods heart wanted to return to the divine body.

[gods heart Forced Pressurization Failed]

[Maternal Main Circulation Restoration Failed]

[Non-return Structure Upgraded: Multi-location Asynchronous Buffer Valve]

Inside the heart pump chamber, the violent heartbeat subsided little by little.

Lin Jin knelt on the ground, exhausted, his palms covered in charred blood scabs.

Chen Ye was about to help him up when he suddenly heard Cheng Du curse in a low voice over the comms.

"It stopped pressurizing."

"But it hasn't retreated."

Lin Jin looked up.

On the surface of the gods heart, that golden eye pattern slowly closed.

The next second, it no longer surged blood toward the divine body.

Instead, it sent a drop of golden divine blood along the seventy-two connecting lines to all parts of the world.

Cheng Du's voice was cold.

"It has given up on connecting the heart back to the body."

"It wants to do the opposite—"

"Connect the world into its new heart."

On the Mainframe screen, countless city nodes lit up with faint heart-light simultaneously.

Every place that had just established a local work order was marked by that drop of divine blood.

The God Head's voice came from very far away.

"You do not wish to be in the same beat."

"Then I will remember every beat."

[Mother of All Things Protocol Updated]

[New Target: Incorporate all local heartbeats as gods heart sub-chambers]

[First sub-chamber candidate: Jiang City]