346: The mystery surrounding the boundary marker and its "historical context"

The black boundary stele was urgently transferred to a temporarily erected research tent.

Three layers of isolation Formations were set up around the tent—not to prevent people from outside from entering, but to prevent the boundary stele from transmitting its signal.

Wen Youyi, Senior Brother Zhang, Yun Zhi, Silver Thorn, as well as Luo Chen and Aila, who had arrived upon hearing the news, stood around the stone stele, their expressions growing increasingly grim.

The crystal ball on the stele was still rotating slowly, and the wisp of dark golden energy inside resembled a sleeping little snake, ready to wake up and bite at any moment.

"This thing... is a ticking time bomb," Senior Brother Zhang pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting the faint light from the crystal ball. "According to Silver Thorn's analysis, it sends a high-intensity positioning pulse every seven hundred and twenty standard hours—that is, thirty days. The last transmission was... three days ago."

"In other words, in twenty-seven days, it will transmit another signal," Wen Youyi stared at that wisp of dark golden energy. "And this time, if we are still at New Homeland, our location will be completely exposed."

The air in the tent seemed to have solidified.

"Can it be shielded?" Luo Chen asked.

Aila shook her head: "I've tried. Conventional energy shielding is ineffective against it; its signal seems to penetrate most barriers. I suspect it doesn't use standard space communication technology, but rather some kind of... positioning based on 'Karma connection'."

"Karma connection?" Zhao Iron Pillar (who insisted on standing guard at the tent entrance) poked his head in. "What does that mean?"

"Simply put, it's like you and your shadow," Senior Brother Zhang explained. "No matter how you hide, as long as you are in the light, the shadow remains. This boundary stele may have established a connection with a certain 'master shadow' of the Creation Heavenly Court through some method. As long as it still 'exists', the master shadow can sense its general direction."

Silver Thorn's silver humanoid form walked to the side of the stele, the light in its "eyes" scanning the runes on the surface: "This unit can attempt to 'break the chain'. However, the success rate is 64.3%. Consequence of failure: It may trigger an alarm mechanism, accelerating the signal transmission."

"Accelerate? How fast?" Wen Youyi asked.

"At the fastest... in three hours." Silver Thorn's answer was alarming.

"We cannot take the risk," Yun Zhi suddenly spoke up. "I recognize the style of this stele. This is an 'expedition boundary stele' used during the early expansion of the Creation Heavenly Court, usually carried by a 'pioneer fleet'. They would find a habitable planet, bury the boundary stele to mark it as their territory, and then the fleet would continue forward. According to custom, after the boundary stele is buried, a follow-up 'colonization fleet' would arrive within a hundred years."

She paused, her voice sounding a bit dry: "But based on the weathering of the stele, it has been here for at least thirty thousand years. A boundary stele buried thirty thousand years ago, and no colonization fleet has come yet... There are only two possibilities."

"Which two?" Wen Youyi pressed.

"First, that pioneer fleet met with an accident after leaving and was wiped out, so the subsequent colonization plan was canceled," Yun Zhi said, "Second..."

She took a deep breath: "This Star Domain, on the expansion map of the Creation Heavenly Court, was marked as an 'anomaly zone' or a 'danger zone'. They might have come, discovered something, and then abandoned it."

The tent fell into silence again.

What was more terrifying than "being targeted" was "being targeted and then abandoned"—this meant that even the Creation Heavenly Court felt there was a problem here.

"Can we determine which one it is?" Luo Chen asked.

Yun Zhi shook her head: "We need more detailed data. There should be a 'navigation log' memory inside the stele, recording information about the fleet that buried the stele and subsequent instructions. But forced reading might trigger a self-destruct program."

"Let this unit try," Silver Thorn extended that fingerless hand and gently pressed it onto the surface of the stele. "Symbiotic civilizations have 'gentle infiltration' technology, which can simulate legitimate query requests, tricking the System into thinking it is an authorized access."

Its palm began to liquefy, seeping like mercury into the crevices of the runes on the stele's surface.

A few seconds later, the light in Silver Thorn's "eyes" began to flicker violently, clearly engaged in high-speed data exchange.

Wen Youyi and the others waited nervously.

In the tent, there was only the low hum of instruments operating and the occasional slight "ticking" sound from Silver Thorn—that was it performing logical operations.

Five minutes later, Silver Thorn withdrew its hand and returned to its original state.

The light in its "eyes" dimmed a bit, as if it had consumed quite a bit of energy.

"Data extraction complete. However... some information is corrupted, and some is encrypted," it reported. "The readable content is as follows—"

A holographic projection unfolded in the center of the tent.

It was a fragmented video record mixed with a large amount of interference:

In the image, three archaic-looking, golden starships hovered in the orbit of New Homeland—this was the Creation Heavenly Court "pioneer fleet" from thirty thousand years ago.

Hundreds of points of light flew out from the ships and landed on the ground.

After those points of light landed, they turned into Heavenly Soldiers wearing golden armor, beginning to survey, sample, and establish a temporary camp.

The process seemed very smooth. But a few days later, an anomaly occurred.

The image suddenly shook violently.

A Heavenly Soldier shouted in terror at the recorder: "Underground! There is something underground! It is absorbing our spiritual power! No—it is reading our memories!"

Then followed a chaotic battle scene.

The Heavenly Soldiers seemed to be fighting some kind of invisible enemy; their attacks hit the ground and the air, but it was as if they were fighting shadows.

Heavenly Soldiers kept falling, and upon falling, their bodies would rapidly shrivel, as if drained of all energy and memories.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!" A person who looked like a commander roared. "This is an extended area of the Forgotten Corridor! This Star Domain is cursed! Evacuate immediately! Mark it as a 'forbidden zone'!"

The image skipped.

A few Heavenly Soldiers hurriedly buried the boundary stele, then flew back to the ships without looking back.

The fleet quickly ascended and fled in a panic; one ship even crashed into an asteroid belt in the chaos, triggering an explosion.

The last segment of the footage was the final record made by the fleet commander on the bridge.

His face was pale, and his voice trembled:

"...Coordinates (data corrupted) Star Domain, unknown high-dimensional life residue exists. This life form possesses 'memory absorption' and 'energy assimilation' characteristics, threat level: World-Extinguishing. Recommend permanently sealing the coordinates and listing it as an absolute forbidden zone. The boundary stele has been buried as a warning marker... May those who come later not repeat our mistakes."

The footage ended.

The tent was deathly silent.

Even Silver Thorn was silent—it probably hadn't expected that just doing some soil remediation would unearth such a huge secret.

"The Forgotten Corridor..." Wen Youyi remembered that Aila had mentioned this place when they were traveling through the Universe. "Is that the area full of memory fragments and space-time turbulence?"

"Yes," Aila's face turned pale. "Legend has it that it is the 'consciousness graveyard' left behind after the destruction of some ancient super-civilization. If New Homeland really has a connection to the Forgotten Corridor... that means..."

"It means that beneath our feet, there might be buried the corpse of a civilization," Senior Brother Zhang continued, "And the 'consciousness' or 'resentment' of that civilization might not have completely dissipated yet."

Zhao Iron Pillar shivered: "Oh my mother, the feng shui of this place is not very good."

Wen Youyi rubbed his temples.

This feeling was like you painstakingly bought a house and were just getting ready to renovate and move in, when the property management suddenly told you: "Oh, by the way, there is an Ancient Tomb buried in your basement, and the owner of the tomb might not have left yet."

"Silver Thorn, can the boundary stele still transmit signals?" he asked.

"It can, but this unit has temporarily shielded its transmission function," Silver Thorn replied, "However, it can only last for thirty days at most. After thirty days, the shielding will fail, and the signal will be forcibly transmitted—this is its underlying directive and cannot be changed."

Thirty days.

They either had to find a way to completely destroy or permanently shield the boundary stele within thirty days, or... pack up and run again.

"We can't run," Yun Zhi suddenly said. "The monk can run, but the temple cannot. The boundary stele has already recorded our energy signatures; even if we leave, it will sooner or later transmit the information. If the Creation Heavenly Court knows that we 'rebels' have stayed here, they will definitely send a large army to purge us—by then, no matter where we run, we might be caught."

"Then what do we do? Wait for death?" The voice of Blood Fiend Old Demon came from outside the tent—this old Devil Head didn't know when he had arrived, and was standing at the entrance with a dark expression on his face.

Wen Youyi stared at the black boundary stele, his brain racing.

A programmer's instinct analyzed the situation: this was an encrypted System (the boundary stele) buried in a potentially buggy environment (the Forgotten Corridor extension zone), and they needed to either crack the System or... exploit an environmental bug to bypass the System without triggering any alarms.

"Silver Thorn," he asked, "you said the boundary stele sends signals based on 'Karma' connections, so what if we... cut this connection?"

"Theoretically feasible, but we need to find the 'connection anchor point'," Silver Thorn explained, "It's like cutting the connection between a shadow and a person; either destroy the light source or keep the person in perpetual darkness. For the boundary stele, we must either destroy the main server of the Creation Heavenly Court (impossible) or make its 'current reality' impossible to perceive."

"Impossible to perceive..." Wen Youyi's eyes lit up, "What are the characteristics of the Forgotten Corridor? Memory fragments, space-time turbulence, reality instability. If we could actively create a localized 'reality distortion field' and wrap the boundary stele inside it, could we interfere with, distort, or even cause its emitted signals to be 'forgotten' during transmission?"

The idea was bold.

Even Silver Thorn was silent for several seconds before replying: "Feasibility: 31.8%. Risk: May trigger unknown space-time effects, or even drag the entire area into the Forgotten Corridor."

"It's better than waiting for death," Wen Youyi stood up, "Senior Brother Zhang, go check the Star People knowledge base and see if there is any information on 'reality stabilization technology' or 'spatial shielding'."

"Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain, Luo Chen, you two contact 'hope', perform a comprehensive scan of the New Homeland's underground structure, and look for any abnormal energy sources—since the heavenly soldiers from thirty thousand years ago said there was something underground, it might still be there."

"Yun Zhi, Silver Thorn, you continue studying the boundary stele and try to find a safer shielding method."

He paused, looking at the growing number of onlookers outside the tent: "As for everyone else... just go about your business. Those farming keep farming, those building houses keep building, and those who Cultivate keep Cultivating. Even if the sky falls, we still need to eat and sleep first."

The order was given, and the crowd gradually dispersed.

However, an atmosphere of unease, like a thin fog, shrouded the entire camp.

Over the next few days, the camp appeared calm on the surface, but undercurrents surged beneath.

Senior Brother Zhang immersed himself in the Star People knowledge base and found several methods for constructing a "localized reality stabilization field," but they all required vast amounts of energy and precise spatial manipulation technology—given New Homeland's current conditions, they could barely construct a prototype, and its effectiveness was questionable.

The scan results from Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain and Luo Chen were in: three hundred meters beneath New Homeland, there was indeed a massive "cavity" with a peculiar energy signature.

The cavity was irregular in shape, resembling a naturally formed cave, but it was filled with a viscous "fluid" that existed between matter and energy.

Even more bizarrely, when the scanning beams made contact with the fluid, a portion was "absorbed," and the returned data contained fragmented images and sound clips—as if reading the memories of some entity.

"It is indeed similar to the matter in the Forgotten Corridor," Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain said with a grave expression, "but it is... quieter. As if it is sleeping."

Progress on Yun Zhi and Silver Thorn's side was minimal.

The boundary stele's encryption level was too high, and the risk of a forced crack only increased.

Silver Thorn even simulated seventeen gentle infiltration plans, all of which were blocked by the boundary stele's self-defense mechanism.

"It's like a door locked from the inside," Yun Zhi sighed, "Unless we have a key, we can only break it down—but breaking it down will alert everyone."

Days passed.

Countdown: twenty-five days.

Daily life in the camp continued, but everyone wore an expression of anxiety.

They were easily distracted while Cultivating, spoke less during meals, and even the sounds of children playing were much quieter.

Madam Liu's youngest daughter, Little Girl, asked her mother: "Mom, why is everyone not smiling anymore?"

Madam Liu could only stroke her head: "Because the adults are thinking about things."

Wen Youyi was not idle either.

He handled various affairs during the day and stared blankly at the boundary stele and the crystal ball at night.

Late one night, while staring at the slowly flowing dark golden energy within the crystal ball, he suddenly remembered something:

When destroying the spirit net System in the Ranch World, the master key had resonated with the consciousness of Profound Mechanism Master (the old man who had been transformed into a System interface), awakening his suppressed humanity.

Could this boundary stele... also have a similar "consciousness interface"?

The idea was insane.

The boundary stele was an inanimate object, not a living being; how could it have consciousness?

But Star People technology could transform living people into System interfaces; perhaps the Creation Heavenly Court, thirty thousand years ago, had similar technology, just more primitive.

"Silver Thorn," he called the silver humanoid over, "You said earlier that the boundary stele is sending signals. Is it sending... only coordinate data? Could it also be sending 'status reports'? Like 'I have been tampered with' or 'I am being studied'?"

Silver Thorn's "eyes" flickered: "Logically possible. However, this unit has not detected any such signals."

"What if the signals it sends aren't 'signals' as we understand them?" Wen Youyi's thoughts became clearer as he spoke, "For example... a kind of 'existence state broadcast'? Like a heartbeat, not transmitting specific information, but just telling the outside world 'I am still alive'? If the heartbeat changes rhythm, the receiver knows something is wrong."

This speculation made Silver Thorn silent for even longer.

"Verification is required," it finally said, "but the verification method... carries extremely high risk. It requires simulating an 'external query' to induce the boundary stele to expose its communication protocol details. Once the simulation fails, it may directly trigger an alarm."

"Success rate?"

"18.9%."

Wen Youyi gritted his teeth.

18.9%, even lower than the previous 31.8%, but this was the only Breakthrough point for now.

"Do it."

Over the next forty-eight hours, Wen Youyi, Silver Thorn, and Senior Brother Zhang barely closed their eyes.

In the tent, they constructed a micro-simulation environment, using technology found in the Star People knowledge base, combined with Silver Thorn's symbiotic ability, to attempt to simulate the Creation Heavenly Court's "main server query signal."

The process was comparable to walking a tightrope.

Every adjustment of the signal frequency could potentially trigger the boundary stele's defense mechanism.

Three times it nearly triggered an alarm, and each time Silver Thorn used its millisecond-level reaction speed to forcibly cut the connection, narrowly avoiding it.

Countdown: twenty-three days.

On the seventy-first attempt, a turning point appeared.

When the frequency of the simulated signal was adjusted to a specific value, the boundary stele's crystal ball suddenly lit up.

It was not the red light of an alarm, but a soft, almost inquisitive blue light.

"Is it... responding?" Senior Brother Zhang said in disbelief.

Silver Thorn's "eyes" flashed rapidly: "Non-standard communication protocol detected. The boundary stele is asking... identity verification? No, it is a 'confirmation of existence'. It is asking: 'Are you the one I have been waiting for?'"

Wen Youyi felt a shock in his heart.

The one it was waiting for? The pioneering fleet that buried the boundary stele thirty thousand years ago, who were they waiting for?

"How do I answer?" he asked.

"This unit suggests... not answering. However, you can send a vague 'affirmative' intention to induce it to continue exposing information."

Silver Thorn controlled the simulated signal, sending a gentle, non-specific "Yes."

The blue light of the crystal ball grew brighter.

Then, the runes on the surface of the boundary stele, which had been dim, lit up one by one, like awakened fireflies.

When all the runes lit up, an old but gentle voice echoed directly in everyone's minds:

"Waiting... thirty-two thousand seven hundred and forty-one years... finally... a latecomer... has heard..."

It was not the cold, mechanical voice of the Creation Heavenly Court, but a tired... old man's voice, as if it could dissipate at any moment.

"Who are you?" Wen Youyi asked with his consciousness.

"I am... the 'boundary stele Guardian'," the voice said, "and also... the fleet commander... who buried this stele all those years ago."