243: Beyond the crack

The engine sound of the wuling type 100 vanished after passing through the rift. The vehicle body no longer vibrated, nor did it hit anything. Chen Wang opened his eyes, his hands still on the steering wheel. His breathing was very light, but his chest rose and fell, indicating he was still alive. The kindling interface floated before his eyes, the data flickering like a screen with a poor signal.

"Vehicle body stable." Lin Wei stood beside the console, her voice a bit hoarse. She swiped her hand, and the main control console lit up with a faint blue light. "An external energy membrane has enveloped the vehicle, temperature is normal. SP is slowly recovering."

Su Ling stood at the doorway of the medical pod, holding a syringe in her hand. She glanced at Star Pupil. Star Pupil lay on a stretcher in the corner, eyes closed, lips pale. The mechanical parrot was perched on her knees, motionless.

"Brainwave frequency abnormal." Su Wan sat in front of the monitor, her fingers pressed against the screen. "Her nerves are still receiving signals, but the intensity is forty percent lower than before."

Amy Chen didn't speak. She stared at the financial terminal, the data on that metal plate stopped at a symbol—∞. She tapped the edge lightly, producing a crisp sound.

Chen Wang turned his head to look out the window.

Outside was not pitch-black void, nor was it an ice field. Many broken metal chunks were floating in the air; there were wrecks of flying vehicles and fragments of buildings, some stationary, some slowly rotating. In the distance was a layer of faint blue light, like mist. The searchlight suddenly turned on by itself, casting light out and illuminating a piece of twisted wing. A pattern was carved on it, the same as the rune under the wuling emblem.

"Don't turn on the lights," Chen Wang said in a low voice. "Shut down all unnecessary systems."

Lin Wei acted immediately. She turned off the external lights, leaving only the internal emergency lights on. The light on the vehicle roof went out, and the surroundings became dark again.

"How did the light turn on by itself?" she asked.

"It wasn't controlled by us," Chen Wang said, looking at the kindling interface. "It started by itself."

He touched the edge of the steering wheel. The metal was a bit hot, as if it had been running for a long time. He looked down at his hands; his palms were sweating, his knuckles white. He let out a breath and put his hands back on the steering wheel.

"Where are we now?" Su Ling walked behind the driver's seat and looked at the observation window.

"Stasis Zone," Chen Wang said. "We've entered."

Lin Wei opened the engineering module to check the data from the inertial gyroscope. The attitude sensor was broken, and the vehicle had no concept of up, down, left, or right. She activated the small thrusters on the tracks, emitting a little airflow to keep the vehicle stable.

"We can't stop," she said. "These fragments are moving; although not fast, their direction is chaotic. If we hit one, it might trigger a chain reaction."

Chen Wang nodded. He pressed the accelerator, the tracks turned gently, and a puff of white mist sprayed from the rear. The vehicle slowly moved forward, weaving between the fragments.

He chose an S-shaped route. He remembered Old Zhou saying that when snowmobiles cross ice rifts, they must go in a snake-like pattern to avoid pressing on the same spot. Although there was no ground now, the principle was similar. He controlled the thrusters to fire intermittently, letting the vehicle inch forward.

A triangular metal piece slid over the top, less than two meters from the vehicle roof. Its edges were sharp, reflecting a faint blue light. Chen Wang waited until it had completely passed before continuing forward.

Star Pupil suddenly shuddered.

"Is she awake?" Su Ling turned around immediately.

"No," Su Wan pressed down on the monitor. "Brainwave peaks are rising, mental fluctuations are increasing. She is receiving information."

"What information?" Amy asked.

"I don't know," Su Wan shook her head. "But it's not an attack. It's more like a scan, constantly reading."

Star Pupil's mouth moved. She didn't open her eyes, but she spoke: "They are watching... our memories... everything..."

The tail feathers of the mechanical parrot shuddered.

"Cut the neural interface," Su Wan operated quickly. "Reduce external signal entry."

Amy simultaneously checked the data on the financial terminal. She discovered that Star Pupil's brainwaves were resonating with the surrounding space, synchronizing once every three seconds, like a heartbeat.

"There is a consciousness network here," she said. "It covers the entire area. We were marked the moment we entered."

Chen Wang immediately ordered: "Turn off the kindling system's external broadcast, keep only the navigation core."

Lin Wei executed the order. A warning popped up on the interface, but he ignored it. He reached into his pocket and took out the copper pocket watch left by his father. The watch case was old, the numbers blurry. He placed it on the console and tapped it lightly with a screwdriver.

The watch hands flickered.

Strangely, Star Pupil's brainwave curve became a bit flatter.

"It's working?" Lin Wei looked up.

"Not sure," Chen Wang stared at the pocket watch. "Try again."

He tapped it again, harder this time. The sound rang out in the vehicle cabin. Star Pupil's breathing became steadier.

"Interference source?" Amy looked at the financial terminal. "The pocket watch's vibration frequency is 0.3 Hertz off from the external fluctuations, just enough to break the synchronization."

"Continue," Chen Wang said.

He tapped the pocket watch, one tap at a time. With each vibration, Star Pupil's state improved a little. Five minutes later, her brainwaves returned to a safe range, and the mechanical parrot stopped twitching.

"They... are reading us," Star Pupil suddenly opened her eyes, her voice very soft. "Not stealing, but taking directly. I saw... our path, our battles, every upgrade of the wuling... all of it was seen."

"Who saw?" Su Ling asked.

"I don't know," Star Pupil closed her eyes. "But they recognize this vehicle."

Chen Wang didn't speak. He put away the pocket watch and grabbed the steering wheel again. The vehicle continued forward, passing through a dense fragment zone. The space ahead became larger and larger.

Then they saw that structure.

It floated three kilometers away, composed of many glowing crystals, like an inverted bowl. There were patterns on the surface, arranged in the same way as the initial interface of the kindling system, only the order was scrambled.

"That is..." Lin Wei stood up and walked to the observation window.

"The Master Template," Chen Wang said.

Lin Wei typed rapidly on the keyboard. She pulled up the camera feed and pieced together a complete image of the dome. The more she looked, the more familiar it felt. Those runes were not decorations; they were code, part of the startup instructions.

"This is not a ruin," she said. "This is the source."

Amy finally left the financial terminal. She walked behind Chen Wang and looked at the structure ahead.

"Target confirmed," she said. "But the path is very dangerous. There is a high-speed fragment belt in the middle, the slowest piece has a speed of fifteen meters per second. Ordinary methods won't get us through."

"Is there a force field?" Chen Wang asked.

"Yes," Lin Wei pulled up the detection data. "Some fragments are sucked in when they get close to the dome, then they recombine. The wall repairs itself."

"Which means it is running," Chen Wang said. "It's not dead."

"It can't be called alive either," Su Ling reminded. "It might be an automated program."

"Regardless of what it is," Chen Wang pressed down on the accelerator. "We can't rush it."

He kept the vehicle close to large fragments, using them to shield the vehicle body. He didn't turn on the lights, didn't send signals, relying only on the gyroscope and his eyes to judge the direction.

Two hours later, the wuling type 100 stopped.

It was at the edge of the fragment belt, directly facing the crystal dome. The distance was three kilometers, clearly visible. The wuling emblem on the front of the vehicle was slightly hot, as if it had sensed something.

"This is as far as we go," Chen Wang said.

No one objected.

Lin Wei collapsed into the operator's seat, sweat on her forehead. Her mechanical arm was still shaking, but she hadn't stopped recording. The screen was full of rune screenshots and frequency analysis.

Su Ling stood guard by Star Pupil's side, holding a modified pistol in her hand. She kept looking out the window, her finger resting on the trigger guard.

Su Wan sat leaning against the wall, the empty syringe still in her hand. She looked at the monitor, her eyes tired but clear.

Amy stood in the middle of the cabin, the financial terminal pressed against her leg. She gazed at the dome, her lips moving slightly, as if calculating something.

Star Pupil was curled up in the corner, the mechanical parrot perched on her knees. Its feathers had lost their luster, but its tail would tremble slightly every so often, as if it were still receiving signals.

Chen Wang sat in the driver's seat, his hands on the steering wheel. The kindling interface refreshed before his eyes, the data stream slow and steady. He looked at the crystal dome ahead, motionless.

The lights in the vehicle were off.

Only the faint light emitted by the instruments shone on everyone's faces.

Lin Wei pressed the final save key. The screen flashed, the recording complete. She leaned back against the chair, closed her eyes.

Her mechanical arm suddenly shuddered, ejecting a thin needle that pointed toward the observation window.

The needle tip was pointing at a crack at the very top of the dome.

A wisp of light drifted out from there, the color the same as when the wuling emblem was hot.