288: The Hive's Upheaval and the "Dust's" Counterattack

After the wake-up signal was sent, every second stretched out like hot, fine sand, slowly scorching the nerves of everyone in the control room. The data streams on the instrument screens were unsettlingly calm, and the curve representing the energy readings of the "Beehive" area continued to rise and fall in its inherent cycle, as if the signal that had gathered all the hopes of the base was merely a pebble thrown into a deep pool, not even causing a ripple.

"Signal confirmed delivered to the target area," Wang Wu said, staring at the monitoring screen, his voice dry. "But... there is no direct feedback. The receivers of the 'Dust Mites' are too weak; we cannot confirm if they have been successfully awakened."

"That's normal," Senior Brother Li said, licking his dry lips, trying to comfort everyone as well as himself. "Those little guys are designed for 'one-time ignition.' They work when they receive the signal, and they are scrapped once they're done. They don't have time to send us a 'received' message."

The "Thousand Eyes" network and the high-sensitivity detectors deployed on the periphery of the "Anvil" were all adjusted to the highest detection mode, not letting even the weakest energy turbulence escape. Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed intently on the various monitoring screens, fearing they might miss even the slightest anomaly.

Ten breaths... twenty breaths... thirty breaths...

Just as anxiety and disappointment began to quietly entwine around their hearts like vines—

In the core area of the "Anvil," at the coordinate point where the "Beehive" was located, the energy reading curve suddenly spiked upward!

The magnitude was not large, like an electrocardiogram being gently tapped, but at this critical juncture, any movement was enough to make one's heart stop.

"There's a reaction!" Senior Brother Zhang whispered.

Immediately after, as if the first spark had lit a fuse, the originally regular curve began to tremble violently and irregularly! It was no longer a smooth rise and fall, but appeared with dense, sharp spikes! At the same time, several screens monitoring different energy frequency bands began to light up one after another with red warnings representing "abnormal high-energy reaction"!

"Detected high-frequency energy pulses! The sources are scattered, located within the 'Beehive' structure and at key energy nodes in the surrounding area!"

"Spatial disturbance index rising! Unstable energy turbulence appearing in the 'Beehive' area!"

"The normal instruction flow of the 'Bee Queen'... has been interrupted! Detected strong but chaotic internal energy exchange signals!"

The good news came like a barrage of cannon fire, and the oppressive atmosphere in the control room was instantly ignited!

"It worked! The 'Dust Mites' have been awakened! They have started attacking!" Xiao Wu cheered, punching the air in excitement.

"Look! Quick, look at the macro images transmitted back by the 'Thousand Eyes' network!" Wang Wu switched the largest screen to the long-range observation view of the "Anvil" area.

In the center of that area, which was composed of countless wrecks and had originally only been slowly creeping with dark golden light spots, a patch of fine and dense silver sparks seemed to light up! Those sparks were extremely tiny but numerous, as if hundreds of fleeting silver sparks had simultaneously ignited inside and on the surface of the dark golden Beehive!

Every time a spark flashed, the dark golden light in that area would violently flicker and twist! The originally stable flowing energy pipeline network began to show obvious signs of "spasm" and "blockage" on the screen!

"The high-frequency shock pulses of the 'Dust Mites' are working! They are interfering with and even destroying the energy transport System of the 'Beehive'!" Senior Brother Li said, his voice trembling with excitement. "Look at those energy pipelines, don't they look like blood vessels blocked by stones?"

The even more exciting part was yet to come.

After the instruction flow of the "Bee Queen" was interrupted for about ten breaths, it suddenly reappeared, but this time, it was no longer stable or orderly; it became intermittent, full of noise, and even contradictory!

A command would stop abruptly halfway through, followed by a few energy pulses of unknown meaning, then a high-intensity but chaotic warning signal, and then... another string of garbled code attempting to restore normal patrol instructions but calling up incorrect coordinate data...

The command System of the "Bee Queen" had clearly become disordered! It was like a commander who had suddenly started stuttering and had become illogical, issuing contradictory orders to its "Swarm" army!

"The external 'Swarm' is reacting!" Mo Chen pointed to another screen. "Multiple patrol squads have stopped cruising and are spinning in place! Some squads are moving in contradictory directions, almost colliding with each other! The 'Elite Bee' guards near the 'Beehive' have started firing detection waves in all directions in a disorderly manner, seemingly blindly searching for the source of the interference!"

It was chaos! The entire "Swarm" System in the "Anvil" area began to experience collective confusion and chaos due to the short-term incapacitation and chaotic instructions of the "Bee Queen"!

"Great! It's even better than expected!" Zhao Iron Pillar slapped his thigh hard. "These iron lumps have lost their head! Quick, should we add more fuel to the fire? Should we use 'Bee Language Maze' to give them more chaotic orders?"

"No, wait a little longer!" Although Wen Youyi was equally excited, he remained calm. "The attack by the 'Dust Mites' is a continuous high-frequency pulse, and the interference will last for a period of time. The 'Bee Queen' System is disordered now, but its underlying security protocols and emergency mechanisms may still be running. We need to observe how long it takes to recover, the degree of recovery, and... what spontaneous behaviors the chaotic 'Swarm' will exhibit without clear instructions!"

His judgment was correct.

The chaotic state of the "Bee Queen" lasted for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. During this time, the "Swarm" in the "Anvil" area was in a state of utter disarray: some patrol squads were in endless internal "discussions" due to conflicting coordinate instructions, almost killing each other; some "Elite Bee" guards fired randomly, accidentally injuring a few passing "Worker Bee"s; and many "Worker Bee"s, because they had not received valid instructions for a long time, triggered their underlying security protocols and began to automatically contract toward the "Beehive," attempting to "return to the nest to await orders," resulting in them blocking the energy-disordered pipeline entrances and causing even greater congestion...

However, the "Bee Queen" was, after all, a highly sophisticated war machine core. After experiencing the initial chaos, its massive System seemed to have initiated some kind of powerful "error correction" and "reboot" program. The chaotic instruction flow gradually weakened, replaced by a single, repetitive, and extremely high-intensity self-check and purification pulse that began to spread outward from the "Beehive" core, like an angry beast trying to shake off the fleas on its body.

Those "Dust Mites" that were still continuously releasing interference, under this powerful purification pulse, were like candle flames in the wind, quickly located, suppressed, and destroyed. On the monitoring screens in the control room, the silver sparks representing the activity of the "Dust Mites" began to extinguish one by one.

The "Bee Queen" was forcibly clearing the "parasites" from its body! The cost was the temporary suspension of almost all external command, focusing entirely on internal purging.

"That's enough," Wen Youyi said, watching the "Dust Mites" signal disappear rapidly while the "Bee Queen" self-check pulse grew stronger, knowing that the mission of the "Dust Mites" had been completed. "The infiltration and attack by the 'Dust Mites' successfully disrupted the 'Swarm' System for at least a quarter of an hour, causing considerable internal damage and chaos. Now, the 'Bee Queen' is forced into a defensive and self-check state; in the short term, its aggressiveness and external search capabilities should drop significantly."

"We... won this round?" Xiao Wu still couldn't quite believe it.

"You could say that." Wen Youyi nodded, a look of relief on his face. "We successfully conducted an effective internal harassment of a powerful, automated 'Reapers' legacy base, proving that our technology and tactics are feasible. More importantly, we have obtained extremely valuable combat data: regarding the emergency response patterns of the 'Bee Queen,' the spontaneous behavior of the 'Swarm' after losing unified command, and... the weaknesses of this type of war machine."

He looked at the "Beehive" coordinates on the light screen, which were still emitting strong self-check pulses, his eyes deep.

"Of course, it's not dead yet. This lesson will make it more vigilant, and it might even upgrade its defenses. Our contest with it is far from over."

"But at least," Wang Wu added, his voice carrying the lightness of having survived a disaster, "we know that this steel beast can also 'hurt,' get 'confused,' and 'panic.' It is not an invincible god."

In the control room, the tense atmosphere finally dissipated completely, replaced by a mixture of fatigue, excitement, and immense pride. With their small strength, they had meticulously planned and challenged a colossus, and they had achieved a partial victory!

"Alright, save the celebration for the victory feast." Wen Youyi clapped his hands. "Now, start a comprehensive data analysis immediately! Record every detail of the 'Dust Mites' attack, every reaction of the 'Bee Queen,' and every bit of chaos in the 'Swarm'! This is the cornerstone for us to formulate higher-level confrontation strategies in the future!"

"In addition, the base will maintain a Level 2 alert status to prevent any retaliatory reconnaissance or probing that the 'Bee Queen' might take after it recovers."

The order was given, and everyone immediately threw themselves into the tense and orderly post-battle analysis work. Although physically exhausted, everyone was mentally excited, with eyes flashing with the light of hope.

Deep in the sea of stars, a storm stirred up by "Dust" had temporarily subsided.

But the confrontation between "Star Fire" and the shadow of the "Reapers" had already entered a new chapter.

(End of chapter)