134: Energy parasites and the "safety valve" problem

Once the "operation poaching" plan was proposed, it immediately became the top priority within the Shelter.

Compared to the "star chain," which relied on the voluntary contributions of companions, "operation poaching" was more like a covert war with higher technical requirements—they needed to become energy parasites clinging to the towering tree that was the "spirit net," all without being discovered by the tree's owner.

Senior Brother Zhang and Ying threw themselves back into intense research.

This time, the goal was clearer: to design a special Formation capable of attaching itself extremely covertly to the "spirit net" energy flow, and safely extracting and purifying energy.

Wen Youyi was responsible for providing the core concepts and technical support.

He named this conceptual Formation the "spirit net Extraction Formation" and proposed several key design requirements:

First, absolute concealment.

The Formation itself must not emit any abnormal fluctuations that could be detected by the "spirit net," and its attachment process must simulate the natural loss or turbulence of the energy flow itself.

Second, micro-extraction.

The energy extracted each time must be so small that it is negligible, ideally blending into the "spirit net's" own energy dissipation and statistical errors.

Third, efficient purification.

It must be able to thoroughly purify the extracted energy, which bears the "spirit net's" mark, into pure energy originating from the same source as the Star Core, without leaving any traces.

Fourth, and most importantly—a one-way isolation and self-destruct mechanism.

Once there is any sign of being discovered, or if an anomaly occurs during the extraction process, the Formation must be able to instantly cut off all contact with the "spirit net" and self-destruct, leaving no clues behind.

Each of these four requirements was extremely challenging.

Senior Brother Zhang was mainly responsible for the structural design and concealment implementation of the Formation.

He tried dozens of different rune combinations and energy guidance methods, attempting to find a way to both "stick" to the energy flow and camouflage perfectly like a chameleon.

Ying focused on the energy purification and conversion part.

She needed to find a way to efficiently strip away the invisible "marks" and specific operating rules within the "spirit net" energy, restoring it to the most fundamental, pure energy that could be absorbed by the Star Core and the Shelter.

This required a profound understanding of the essence of "spirit net" energy.

Wen Youyi focused on tackling the trickiest part: the "one-way isolation and self-destruct mechanism."

This was equivalent to adding an absolutely reliable "safety valve" to this dangerous "mining" operation.

He drew inspiration from the concept of interfering with rules from the previous "Spirit Disturbance Array" and attempted to design a "rule flow breaker" based on Star Core Power.

Once triggered, it could instantly create a tiny, absolute vacuum zone of rules, forcibly cutting off the energy channel.

At the same time, the Formation core would initiate an overload, completely annihilating its own structure.

This process was full of risks.

During testing, several simulated "self-destruct" processes almost triggered small-scale energy loss of control, but fortunately, Wen Youyi used Star Power to protect everyone in time, avoiding serious consequences.

"Damn it, this thing is harder than refining a Magic Treasure!" Zhao Iron Pillar said, looking at the charred mess on the ground after yet another test, feeling lingering fear.

"Safety is always the top priority." Wen Youyi wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes becoming even more determined, "If we cannot guarantee absolute safety, we would rather abandon this plan than ever expose the Shelter."

Time passed through repeated failures and adjustments.

Inside the Shelter, the starlight remained, and the altar was slowly regaining vitality under the nourishment of the weak energy gathered by the "star chain."

As for the research surrounding the "spirit net Extraction Formation," after countless sleepless nights, it finally saw the dawn of success.

Senior Brother Zhang successfully designed a "resonance rune" that utilized the fluctuations of the "spirit net" energy flow itself to cover up the attachment behavior.

Ying also found a purification method that used high-frequency vibrations from the Star Core to "shake off" the "spirit net" marks from the energy.

And Wen Youyi, combining his latest understanding of spatial rules and Star Core Power, finally cobbled together a theoretically feasible "starlight flow-breaking barrier" to serve as a safety valve.

Once activated, this barrier could form a miniature, absolute Star Power Domain within one ten-thousandth of a breath, isolating all internal and external connections and guiding the Formation core to overload and annihilate.

Although it was only a theoretical model that still required practical verification, the core technical difficulties seemed to have been overcome one by one.

"Next, we need to find a suitable 'mining spot'." Wen Youyi looked at the extremely complex Formation blueprint in his hand, which represented the countless efforts of the three of them, and said in a deep voice.

This "mining spot" had to meet several conditions: the energy flow must be stable and not particularly important (to facilitate hiding and shifting blame), it could not be too far from the Shelter (to reduce energy transmission loss and risk), and it was best if it were in a relative blind spot of the "spirit net's" monitoring.

This task fell to Ying, who had the best understanding of the "spirit net" structure.

She closed her eyes and focused, recalling the secrets regarding the distribution of "spirit net" nodes within the "Purifiers" organization, and combined with the experience from the previous "Web Break" operation, she began to filter for possible targets on the map.

A covert theft operation targeting the "spirit net" was about to enter a substantive phase.

(End of chapter)