242: The initial formation of StarNet and external crises

With the tireless "alchemy" support from the Flowing Silver, the supply issue of high-purity star pattern gold was alleviated.

Senior Brother Li led the technical team, having learned from the lessons of the first failure, and conducted comprehensive optimization and reinforcement of the second-generation beacon's structure and internal runes.

A few days later, three brand-new second-generation beacons, emitting soft starlight, were produced.

They were more refined than the first generation, their structures were more stable, and their internal energy circuits had been redesigned, theoretically capable of withstanding stronger energy loads.

The second remote connection and energy transmission test started again amidst the anticipation of everyone in the base.

This time, the test was prepared even more thoroughly.

Wen Youyi held the crystal key in the control center, his expression focused.

The three second-generation beacons were placed in three different locations within the base at varying distances and environments, guarded by designated personnel who recorded the data.

"Initiate connection," Wen Youyi said in a deep voice.

The key's light swirled, and three stable "connection lines" were established almost simultaneously, successfully docking with the three monitoring screens in the control center.

"Connection stable! Signal clear!" Senior Brother Zhang stared intently at the data stream and reported quickly.

"Attempt low-power energy transmission, target, beacon number one." Wen Youyi began to carefully guide a trace of faint Star Power, flowing through the connection line toward beacon number one.

The energy readings in the control center rose steadily, without the violent fluctuations of the first time.

Far away at the number one test point, the Star Pattern on the surface of that beacon lit up steadily, emitting a gentle glow without showing any signs of overload!

"Energy transmission stable! Beacon status good!" An excited report came from the number one test point.

"Increase transmission power, five percent." Wen Youyi gradually increased it.

The beacon's light increased accordingly, but it remained stable.

Ten percent, twenty percent... until the transmission power was raised to the critical value that caused the beacon to be damaged in the first test, the second-generation beacon was still working steadily, with only a slight rise in surface temperature.

"Success! We succeeded!" A deafening cheer erupted in the laboratory!

Even the usually calm Senior Brother Zhang couldn't help but wave his fist.

Senior Brother Li was so excited that his eyes were red; to optimize this beacon, he and his team had stayed up for countless days and nights.

Wen Youyi also let out a long sigh of relief, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

He stopped the energy transmission but kept the information connection open.

"Conduct multi-node information interaction test." He issued a new command.

Using the key as the hub, the three beacon points began rapid information transfer and exchange, as if building a small, invisible communication network within the base, with extremely low latency and high confidentiality!

"starnet," finally was no longer a concept, but had truly become reality!

Although it was currently only a small local area network covering the interior of the base, its significance was immense!

This proved the technical route was completely feasible!

Over the next few days, the technical team began small-batch production of second-generation beacons and started planning the deployment of "starnet" nodes within the base, aiming to achieve seamless, real-time, and secure communication within the base.

However, just as everyone in the base was rejoicing over the success of the "starnet" and was busy promoting the construction of the internal network, Mo Chen and Wang Wu, who were responsible for external intelligence, brought some grim news.

"According to the intelligence we gathered from various sources," Mo Chen's expression was somewhat heavy, "The Qingxuan Sect's Discipline Hall has been unusually active recently; they seem to be... mobilizing personnel and resources on a large scale."

"Mobilizing? What do they want to do? Which mountain peak are they going to purge again?" Zhao Iron Pillar frowned.

"It doesn't look like that." Wang Wu shook his head and pointed to the map spread out on the table, "Their mobilization direction is very clear, mainly concentrated on several large resource points in the southwest area of the Sect and... the surroundings of Falling Star Lake!"

"Moreover, there is unconfirmed news that Elder Hei Sha has secretly traveled to Falling Star Lake many times recently, seemingly conducting some kind of... exploration or setup."

"Falling Star Lake?!" Wen Youyi's heart sank suddenly.

That was their important passage to the outside world and the key node for material exchange between "Spark" and the "Peddler"!

Hei Sha and the Discipline Hall suddenly showing such keen interest in that place was definitely not a coincidence!

"Could it be... that our previous actions were still noticed by them, leaving traces?" Mu Wanqing said worriedly.

"Very likely." Wen Youyi mused, "The anomalies in the 'Misty Ghost Domain' and our clashes with the 'Scavenger' could all have aroused their vigilance."

"As an area relatively close to the 'Misty Ghost Domain' with spatial anomalies, it is not surprising that it has been listed as a key investigation target by them."

"More importantly," Mo Chen added, lowering his voice further, "An extremely secret informant we planted within the Sect risked their life to send a message, saying that Hei Sha seems to be looking for a way... to stabilize and expand spatial channels."

Stabilize and expand spatial channels? Wen Youyi's pupils constricted slightly.

What does Hei Sha want to do? Does he want to actively open a channel to the Starry Sky Debris or the "Misty Ghost Domain"?

Is he crazy? Or is it that... the instructions from the "Creation Heavenly Court" behind him are no longer satisfied with passive defense and internal purges, and they have started to take the initiative, wanting to completely eliminate the source of them, these "viruses"?

Regardless of which possibility it is, for "Spark," it is an extremely dangerous signal!

"We don't have much time left." Wen Youyi raised his head, his gaze sweeping over every core member in the conference hall, "Hei Sha and the 'Creation Heavenly Court' have likely already aimed their spears directly at us."

"The Falling Star Lake channel could be exposed or even utilized by the enemy at any time!"

The joy of the "starnet" being initially formed was diluted by this sudden external crisis.

A sense of urgency, like a storm about to break, once again shrouded the sky over "Bedrock Base."

They must speed up! Not only must they perfect the internal "starnet," but they must also extend the "starnet" to the outside as soon as possible to master more intelligence and take the initiative!

At the same time, they must also prepare contingency plans for the Falling Star Lake channel being discovered or even invaded!

Peaceful days seemed to have come to an end once again.

(End of chapter)