156: Knowledge is power and the "StarNet" project

The ark was struggling to navigate through the turbulent rules, like a tiny boat in a storm.

Although they had temporarily shaken off the persistent "Scavenger prototype machines," everyone knew that the crisis was far from over.

The energy shield had sustained significant damage during the recent siege, and while the star core energy had mostly recovered, the consumption required to keep the ark sailing through the cracks in the rules remained staggering.

"We must find a relatively safe 'mooring point' as soon as possible." Wen Youyi rubbed his temples, which were still throbbing—the aftereffects of the massive influx of knowledge had not yet fully faded. "Senior Brother Zhang, according to the star map fragments we just obtained, is there any place nearby suitable for hiding?"

Senior Brother Zhang was hunched over a makeshift workbench, with a fragmented, holographic star map outlined by spiritual power floating before him.

He pushed up his glasses and traced his finger between several points of light: "According to this... uh, antique map, there is a place marked 'Silent Zone' about three days' voyage to the front left.

The description says the rules are relatively stable, energy turbulence is rare, and it is commonly used for... temporary starship maintenance?"

"That's the place!" Wen Youyi decided immediately. "It's better than being a sitting duck in these turbulent currents."

With the target determined, the ark adjusted its course and sailed toward the "Silent Zone."

The voyage was tedious yet tense; everyone performed their duties, monitoring energy and maintaining shields without daring to relax for a moment.

Wen Youyi took advantage of this relatively "calm" period to begin fully "digesting" the "compressed files" from the ancient starship in his mind.

It felt like forcing an unzipping of a massive, password-protected file (with star core resonance as the password) on an old computer.

The process was painful, with his head throbbing from time to time, but every bit he unlocked made him feel like he had struck gold.

"So, navigating through the cracks in the rules requires avoiding these 'colorful' turbulent currents; that stuff is called a 'prototype rule storm,' and getting swept into one is a death sentence..."

"Hmm? These energy nodes can be used as temporary 'charging stations'? It's a shame that most of those marked on the map have failed..."

"Tsk tsk, so the 'spirit net'... oh, they call it a 'mental extraction field,' was that rough in its initial version? Relying on forced resonance to amplify negative emotions to extract energy? The efficiency was low and it easily triggered resistance; it seems the Creation Heavenly Court is also constantly upgrading..."

"Wow! This 'basic energy matrix application' is interesting; it's a bit like a distributed server? Connecting multiple energy sources in series to achieve improvements in efficiency and stability..."

As he organized the information, he used the "Mind Net" to share the knowledge fragments he deemed most valuable and comprehensible with Senior Brother Zhang, Ying, and Wang Wu.

Especially the parts regarding energy matrices and starship maintenance (even though their ark was just a toy model compared to a real starship), which Senior Brother Zhang treated like a priceless treasure and immediately began to deduce and calculate.

Zhao Iron Pillar was not interested in these "heavenly books," but he was full of curiosity about the few silver-gray metal balls and those metal ingots that were neither gold nor jade that Wen Youyi had collected.

"Boss, what's the use of those iron lumps and shiny bricks?"

Wen Youyi snapped out of his contemplation, smiled, and picked up a dormant metal ball: "If I haven't misunderstood, this should be a basic maintenance Puppet.

Once we settle down, we'll let Senior Brother Zhang study it to see if we can 'reflash' it and turn it into our own automatic patrol guard or... construction worker?"

He patted the metal ingots again: "As for this 'star iron' (a name I coined based on its characteristics), its hardness, toughness, and energy conductivity are excellent; it is a top-tier Materials for Artifact Refining.

Iron Pillar, your heavy sword upgrade Materials have been found."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Iron Pillar's eyes widened like copper bells, and he hugged the metal ingots, grinning foolishly: "Hehe, good! When the time comes, with one swing of my sword, no matter what kind of Scavenger it is, I'll split them all in two!"

Three days later, the ark arrived safely at the "Silent Zone" marked on the map.

It was indeed as the name suggested; the surrounding turbulent rules were much calmer, like a small safe harbor in a violent ocean.

Although it was still desolate and dead silent, at least there was no need to worry about being torn apart by turbulence at any moment or being swept away by strange rule phenomena.

The ark carefully moored, and the outer shield was adjusted to a low-power stealth mode, floating quietly like an inconspicuous space meteorite.

Finally getting a chance to breathe, everyone's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

Wen Youyi immediately summoned all core members, including the few "Purifiers," to hold a meeting in front of the altar.

"This adventure, although we almost didn't make it back, had huge gains." Wen Youyi got straight to the point and pointed to his head, "My brain now contains a technical database of an ancient civilization (incomplete version). And the 'junk' we picked up outside is also worth a fortune."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone: "Now, we have clearer goals and more powerful technical reserves.

But ultimately, we are fighting against the Creation Heavenly Court, which has been operating for who knows how many years; relying on just us hiding and playing small games won't amount to much."

"Boss, what do you mean?" Wang Wu asked.

"We need to change our strategy." Wen Youyi's eyes flashed with a light like flowing code, "Shift from passive avoidance to active layout and accumulating strength!"

He walked to the star map outlined by spiritual power and pointed to the points of light representing different Small Worlds or safe points in the cracks of the rules (most were gray, representing failed or unknown ones).

"The 'Spark Alliance' we established before is too loose, and the connections are too fragile, just like isolated standalone users.

Now, we are going to network them, including ourselves!"

"Network?" Everyone was stunned.

"That's right!" Wen Youyi snapped his fingers, "Using the energy matrix knowledge we just mastered, and the characteristics of the star core as a core server, we are going to build an internal network belonging to us rebels, independent of the 'spirit net'—I call it the 'Star Network'!"

He explained in detail: "This 'Star Network' does not need to cover the entire Universe in the Early Stage; even if it can only connect a few key nodes, such as here, such as the relatively safe area Senior Brother Wang Wu found before, or even some awakened, trustworthy 'Spark' strongholds."

"Through the 'Star Network,' we can achieve safer and faster information transmission, provide remote technical support, coordinate actions, and even... remotely perform 'Spirit Awakening' and spread 'stardust'! The efficiency will far exceed our previous 'dandelion plan' of scattering flyers!"

This concept made everyone's breathing quicken! If it could really be realized, the resistance force would no longer be a scattered sand, but would truly become an organized, connected whole!

"Of course, this is very difficult." Wen Youyi poured cold water, "There are many technical difficulties; energy supply, signal relay, preventing monitoring and interference from the 'spirit net'... all are problems.

And, we need to find and activate more 'nodes,' which are places like ours that have relatively independent space and energy sources."

Senior Brother Zhang pushed up his glasses, his lenses reflecting excited light: "The energy matrix and starship maintenance knowledge includes parts about building local communication networks and energy relays; although not completely applicable, the ideas can be borrowed! Give us time, and we will definitely overcome the technical difficulties!"

Ying also nodded: "Understanding the structure of the 'spirit net' will also help us better avoid its monitoring."

"Leave finding nodes and recruiting people to me!" Zhao Iron Pillar patted his chest, "Once my heavy sword is upgraded, I will go and 'invite' all those suitable 'Sparks' over!"

Looking at his partners who had regained their fighting spirit, Wen Youyi smiled.

Knowledge is power; the ancients did not deceive me.

This legacy from the ancient starship was rapidly transforming into the capital for them to fight against the 'Ranch owner'.

"Then, the plan starts!" Wen Youyi announced, "Phase one goal: repair and upgrade the ark and build it into the first main server node of our 'Star Network'! At the same time, Senior Brother Zhang will lead the effort to tackle the core technology of the 'Star Network'! Everyone else, perform your duties and provide support!"

"Yes!"

The flame of hope, fueled by the firewood of knowledge, burned even more vigorously.

In this forgotten rule Silent Zone, a 'networking' revolution aimed at overturning the order of the entire 'Ranch' quietly began.