292: "Flesh and Blood" Growth and "Honeycomb" Anomalies

The excitement of the Dragon's keel assembly hadn't even faded before the "renovation squad" in the dock was already rubbing its hands, ready to add flesh, blood, nerves, and internal organs to this silver "Dragon."

If building the Dragon's keel was like a surgeon setting bones, then the work that followed was a chaotic carnival for cell biologists, neurologists, and mechanical engineers.

The first major project: laying the "Flowing Silver neural network."

This thing would become the sensory System, internal communication System, and even the physical foundation for the future "ship spirit" of hope.

The "Flowing Silver nursery team" led by Xiao Wu became the most sought-after group; the team needed to guide hundreds of millions of individual "Flowing Silver" units to "weave" a living network that covered the entire ship, could transmit energy and information, and was capable of self-repair, all according to a complex, pre-designed Star Pattern blueprint.

This work was excruciatingly delicate.

Imagine using hundreds of millions of silver "worker ants," smaller than actual ants, to precisely "spin silk and weave webs" inside a complex, three-dimensional maze hundreds of feet long, all without tangling the lines, breaking them, or accidentally gnawing on a neighbor's "web."

Fortunately, after their recent "education and training," the "Flowing Silver" units had significantly improved their collaboration and comprehension skills.

With the "heart module" acting as the "big brother" to coordinate things, and the "guiding Star Patterns" and "energy signposts" that Xiao Wu and the team kept optimizing, the project progressed more smoothly than expected.

In the dock, countless tiny silver "streams" emerged from various cultivation pools, happily "flowing" along the preset guiding tracks toward the massive Dragon's keel.

They climbed onto the cold metal surface, burrowed into the reserved conduits and cavities, and began to "weave" in an orderly fashion.

The silver network spread and intertwined inside the Dragon's keel at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if covering the giant beast's skeleton with glowing silver "blood vessels" and "nerves."

Occasionally, "construction accidents" occurred.

For example, the "Flowing Silver" in a certain area might collectively suffer from "aesthetic bias," weaving a straight channel into a wavy shape, or several groups of "Flowing Silver" might "fight for territory" at an intersection, nearly causing a "silver traffic jam."

Whenever this happened, Xiao Wu had to bring the team of "translators" to urgently "mediate," using specific energy fluctuations to guide them to "follow traffic rules" or "rework" the section.

Senior Brother Li and Senior Brother Zhang led another group, responsible for the more "hardcore" part—the construction and installation of the "star core engine" core module.

This was the heart of hope and the part with the highest technical difficulty and risk.

The core module was located in the middle-rear section of the Dragon's keel, a multi-layered nested spherical structure.

The outer shell was forged from the sturdiest "star pattern gold" mixed with various Materials resistant to energy impacts.

The interior contained a complex Star Pattern array for energy guidance, conversion, and stabilization, as well as a "resonance chamber" that would eventually connect with the main star core fragment and the crystal key.

The installation process was meticulous, like implanting a precision nuclear heart into a giant Dragon.

When the massive core module was hoisted into place and aligned perfectly with the reserved energy conduits and Star Pattern interfaces, everyone held their breath.

Senior Brother Li operated it himself, initiating the preliminary energy circuit test.

Hum—

A low, powerful humming sound emanated from the core module, and the pre-set Star Patterns lit up one by one, emitting a soft silver light.

There was no abnormal energy leakage, no structural resonance; everything was stable!

"Core module installation successful! Basic circuits operating normally!" Senior Brother Li announced excitedly, drawing a round of cheers.

Next was laying the "energy arteries" to connect the core module to every part of the ship—thick alloy conduits engraved with reinforced Star Patterns.

This job was handed to Zhao Iron Pillar's infrastructure team.

They carried the heavy pipes, chanting work songs as they climbed up and down the Dragon's keel frame, performing the most primitive manual labor to ensure every "artery" was secure, straight, and sealed.

Meanwhile, the frame of the ecological dome began to take shape in the middle-rear section of the ship, which would eventually be the home of the "star rice" fields and "aquaculture pools."

Auxiliary structures like weapon platforms, sensor array bases, and thruster mounts also sprouted up all over the Dragon's keel like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

The entire hope was growing flesh, blood, veins, and the rudiments of organs from a cold skeleton at an astonishing speed.

However, just as the entire base was rejoicing over the rapid growth of hope, the "Thousand Eyes" network once again transmitted unsettling news.

The "Hive's" interest in that fake "branch base" beacon seemed to be waning.

"Scout Bees and elite bees have been searching there for nearly a month with nothing to show for it, and they have started to withdraw," Wang Wu reported the latest data.

"Moreover, the Hive's repairs are basically complete. Energy readings have returned to the levels before the 'Dust Mites' attack, and have... even slightly increased."

"More importantly," Mo Chen pulled up another set of data with a grave expression, "we have detected a new, stronger energy aggregation phenomenon inside the 'Hive.'"

"It's not command transmission; it's more like... large-scale energy charging or weapon preheating!"

"Furthermore, the assembly pattern of the 'Swarm' has changed."

"They are no longer patrolling in scattered groups but have started gathering in specific areas outside the 'Hive,' forming several sizeable 'combat clusters'!"

The atmosphere in the main control room became heavy instantly.

"The Bee Queen finished repairs and decided the fake target outside is worthless, so... she's planning to do something else?" Zhao Iron Pillar frowned.

"What does she want to do? It can't be a military exercise, right?"

"I'm afraid it's not an exercise," Wen Youyi stared at the "Swarm" combat clusters forming on the star map.

Although the direction they were assembling in didn't point directly at the "Starfire" base, it faintly formed a loose encirclement arc around the area where the base was located!

"She is adjusting deployments and strengthening the external military presence. It's very likely she is preparing for a larger-scale active search or suppression operation."

"Our previous harassment and diversion tactics might have only made her more certain that there is a 'hidden threat' in this region that needs to be taken seriously."

"Then what do we do? Our hope isn't even fully formed yet!" Senior Brother Li said anxiously.

"We can't let her finish the assembly and deployment." Wen Youyi said decisively, "We must disrupt her rhythm again and keep her 'busy' so she doesn't have time to form an encirclement pressure on us!"

"Another 'Dust Mites' attack?" Senior Brother Zhang asked.

"No, the Bee Queen has already learned her lesson and must have strengthened defenses against internal infiltration."

"Besides, 'Dust Mites' take time to infiltrate and lie in wait; distant water cannot quench near thirst." Wen Youyi shook his head and cast his gaze on the star map.

"This time, we'll play something more direct."

He pointed his finger at the periphery of the "Hive," near the "combat clusters" currently assembling.

"After the 'Deep Dragon' was upgraded, didn't it get the 'starlight focusing array' and stronger stealth capabilities?"

"Can we... conduct a super-long-range, high-precision 'surgical' strike?"

"The target doesn't need to be big; just take out the command nodes or energy supply points of one or two of those assembling 'combat clusters'!"

"Let the 'Bee Queen' know that even if she hides in her nest, her 'children' outside aren't safe."

"If she dares to come out and do something big, she'll have to think about whether someone will 'steal her chicken' at home!"

This plan was bolder and riskier.

It required the "Deep Dragon" to infiltrate the dangerous area closer to the "Hive," conduct a precision strike, and then flee immediately.

But right now, there didn't seem to be a better choice.

They couldn't let the "Swarm" successfully complete their combat readiness assembly and push the pressure right to the doorstep of the "starlight gauze curtain."

"Deep Dragon, dare to go and provoke that big wasp again?" Wen Youyi looked at the silver starship quietly docked on the side.

[Dare.] The "Deep Dragon's" response was concise and firm, with calm Battle Intent flickering in its deep blue "dragon eye," [This time... hit its... hand.]