145: Chapter 145 Zhang Hao's Foresight and the Cheat Code for the New Dream Mission

The engine roar of the dream chaser echoed in his ears, and the muffled sound of the highway cracking and collapsing into magma far behind was faintly audible, but Zhang Hao's heart remained unruffled—ever since he bought the first set of Soul Devices at the supply station, the groundwork for this plan to "break the deadlock" had already been laid.

Zhang Hao raised his hand and pointed to the soul gourd in the center of the cargo bed. The Soul of the Honkai Variant, which was emitting black light, stirred slightly within the gourd. He said in a calm tone, "Everyone shouldn't have forgotten that the soul gourd was formed by the Fusion of Soul Series Devices, and the Soul Modification Device inside is one of the keys to creating a cheat. The reason I chose the Soul Series Devices at the supply station, rather than blindly pursuing vehicle speed or weapon power, was because I discovered a key—every zombie's Soul flies toward the direction of the 'End Point' after it is killed. After encountering the Honkai Variant, I discovered that its core ability, strengthening zombies, is actually strengthening the soul virus within the zombies' Souls. The reason I said that if the Honkai Variant is given enough time, it can strengthen variants is because the Honkai Variant needs more time to strengthen the link between itself and the soul virus strengthened by Honkai Power. The essence of this ability stems from its special Soul, stemming from a deeper link with the soul virus affected by Honkai Power that far exceeds that of ordinary zombies and variants."

The cargo bed was quiet, with only Zhao Hu's heavy breathing and the subtle humming of Silver Star's projected data stream. Everyone's gaze was focused on Zhang Hao, filled with surprise, curiosity, and a hint of realization—through Zhang Hao's explanation, Li Mubai had probably guessed a few parts of the truth of the world, but it was only a few parts.

"The essence of the soul virus is a tool used by the world will to imprint a distorted obsession of 'moving forward' onto all Original Humans of this world, and Honkai Power gave it the ability to corrupt physical genetic structures and increase range-based transmission." Zhang Hao's fingertips lightly touched the soul gourd, and a pale golden data stream flowed across his fingertips.

Back when the world was frozen, Zhang Hao had already thoroughly analyzed the core structure of the world will's carrier—the Primordial Soul Virus—through the Eye of Logic. This was thanks to the Dream System Meeting; the pure black equilateral triangle 'Infinite Land' generated by the Dream System pulled all participants to the same level, allowing Zhang Hao to use his Talent to peer into the Primordial Soul Virus which acted as the carrier of the world will. As for the soul virus within the Honkai Variant's Soul, it was merely a sub-body of the Primordial Soul Virus that had been transmitted for who knows how many generations. For Zhang Hao, who had already analyzed the Primordial Soul Virus using the Eye of Logic, it was no different from taking an open-book exam with the answer key in hand.

"Since it can strengthen the soul virus on a large scale, then thinking in reverse, as long as we rewrite its underlying Logic through the Soul Modification Device and turn 'strengthening' into 'weakening,' or even 'reversing and offsetting,' wouldn't it become a super tool for Soul Redemption on a large scale?"

Zhao Hu slapped his thigh fiercely, his boisterous voice breaking the silence: "Brother Hao! You mean we don't have to kill them one by one and save them one by one?"

Zhang Hao smiled and nodded, continuing: "Not only that, the contagiousness of the soul virus that we have been guarding against will instead become our aid." Zhang Hao opened his arms, a flash of excitement in his eyes—this idea had taken shape as soon as Zhang Hao collected the first Honkai Variant Soul. Zhang Hao had just taken the opportunity of setting a new Dream Task to let the new rules appear, which completely made his plan capable of being implemented. "The modified soul virus can already be called a soul redemption vaccine. Its original contagiousness allows it to automatically spread among zombie hordes through the air and contact. By then, redeeming the Souls of the whole world will just be a matter of time; we don't even have to take action ourselves."

Li Mubai leaned on the Star Rail panel, his tone inquisitive: "From buying the Soul Devices to deliberately collecting zombie Souls, and then to synthesizing the soul gourd, did you think of all this from the very beginning of the mission?"

Zhang Hao shrugged slightly, revealing a helpless smile: "It can't be called foresight. At first, I just felt that the setting of the 'End Point' was too weird and vaguely sensed that there was a hidden Logic behind the mission, so I didn't follow the crowd to upgrade the vehicle or weapons, but chose the seemingly useless Soul Series Devices. I didn't expect the vulnerability feedback I submitted to be adopted by the System, and the rules of the new Dream Task happened to give this plan a chance to be implemented. It can be considered a stroke of luck."

Actually, no one knew that when he collected the first ordinary zombie Soul, Zhang Hao had already seen the causal threads enslaving their Souls through the Eye of Numerology. At that time, the idea that 'liberating these Souls might be a hidden mission' had already sprouted. It was just that there were no sufficient tools and rule support at the time, so he could only temporarily suppress the idea in his heart and lay out his plan step by step.

"Alright, let's get back to business." Zhang Hao reined in his thoughts, his tone becoming steady. "Modifying the soul virus requires a relatively stable environment. We need to adjust our current division of labor, but the core remains unchanged."

Zhang Hao looked at Li Mubai: "President, you continue to use Star Rail to detect road conditions ahead and large-scale zombie hordes—these will be the targets for testing after the modification is complete. Zhao Hu, Chen Rui, you are responsible for clearing high-threat variants approaching the dream chaser. You absolutely cannot let them interfere with the modification process, and you must not let the vehicle speed drop below 110km/h—the Honkai Power range behind us expands by 100km per hour; we have no room for error. Lin Wan, your life, water, and wood elements all have healing and purifying effects. Please use energy to wrap the soul gourd to stabilize the Honkai Variant Soul inside and prevent energy runaway during modification. Silver Star, provide me with real-time computing power support, assist me in precisely controlling the energy output of the Soul Modification Device, and assist me in changing the underlying Logic of the virus core." As he spoke, Zhang Hao stroked Silver Star's head. Silver Star squinted its three mouse eyes in enjoyment and even actively rubbed against Zhang Hao's palm.

Everyone responded in unison, their actions quick and tacit—this was the most basic and important trust among the members of the Dream Society team, and it was also the confidence Zhang Hao had to push this bold plan.

Lin Wan stepped forward, and the three-colored elements intertwined into a soft light shield, gently wrapping the soul gourd. The black-light Soul that had been stirring slightly instantly calmed down. Zhang Hao could see through the Eye of Logic that the energy in the light shield was soothing the Honkai Variant that was being continuously stimulated by the Honkai Power in its Soul, providing stable environmental support for the subsequent Soul modification. Silver Star jumped to the side of the soul gourd, its three eyes lighting up simultaneously. The All-Knowing Eye (Pseudo) projected a dense data stream, precisely connecting with the patterns on the surface of the gourd.

Zhang Hao looked up at the display screen in the driver's seat and shouted to the dream chaser: "[dream chaser], report current status, ensure vehicle speed and performance are stable during the modification process."

"Command received!" The AI's mechanical voice rang out on time. A data stream connected with Li Mubai's Dream Spirit, Star Rail, continuously receiving detection data from Star Rail. "Fuel (liquid energy) is sufficient. 'dream chaser' can maintain full speed for 50 hours. Current speed is 110km/h, performance is stable. The Honkai Power range behind is 20km away from this vehicle, the distance is continuously increasing, and there is no risk for now."

Hearing the report, Zhang Hao felt completely settled. His fingertips touched the data stream on the surface of the soul gourd, focusing on feeling the energy contained within it, and whispered: "Silver Star, prepare to start extracting the underlying Logic of the soul virus core. Let us completely rewrite the tragedy of this distorted world."