148: Deep Space Echo
Under the radiance of the light of the cornerstone, the Alliance entered a stable period of development known as the "Deep Cultivation Era."
The clouds of war seemed to have temporarily receded, replaced by vibrant vitality and creativity across various star systems.
However, both Lin Mo and the core members of the Alliance knew that the universe's depths far exceeded imagination, and beneath temporary calm often lay grander narrative threads.
On this day, an abnormal report from the distant frontier—the Abyssal Ruins Realm—caught the high attention of Einstein's cornerstone Coordination Department.
The Abyssal Ruins Realm is a buffer zone located between the Alliance's territory and unknown void, with an unusually "clean" rule background, almost devoid of any traces of modern cosmic activity.
It was therefore chosen as an ideal observation area to test the long-range rule influence effects of the concerto keystone.
The high-sensitivity "Listener" detector array deployed there was originally intended to capture the subtle attenuation and variation patterns of the light of the cornerstone as it traversed vast space.
However, the returned data revealed an unexpected discovery.
After filtering out the stable and harmonious background fluctuations of the light of the cornerstone, the "Listener" array captured an extremely faint, but absolutely unnatural, rule echo.
This echo did not originate from the Abyssal Ruins Realm itself; rather, it seemed to come from a more distant, deeper part of the universe, an "afterglow" that finally arrived here after countless reflections, refractions, and attenuations at the rule level.
Its pattern was very peculiar, neither a regular signal nor chaotic noise, but rather like a... fragmented rule structure, or perhaps, the "debris" scattered in space-time after the collapse of some grand rule construct.
"The analysis results are in," Einstein announced at the core meeting, displaying the echo spectrogram enhanced by complex algorithms.
"The encoding method of these rule fragments... is extremely ancient, even older than some structures of the eternal cornerstone computation unit and cosmic amber we've encountered.
But its technological path is completely different, focusing more on... infinite compression and recursive storage of information at the rule level."
On the spectrogram, the reconstructed rule fragments exhibited an infinitely self-similar structure, akin to fractal geometry, where each fragment seemed to contain a nearly infinite amount of rule information far exceeding its physical volume.
"It's like... fragments of some cosmic-scale 'library'?" Ling Shuang sensed the almost tragic sense of vastness contained within the spectrogram and murmured her guess.
"Or some kind of recording device," Lin Mo mused, "What did it record? Who built it? And why did it collapse?"
More importantly, within these "echo" fragments, there seemed to be a faint, non-malicious imprint of consciousness remaining.
It wasn't a complete consciousness, but more like a "fingerprint" left by the creator or user on their creation, or a silent sigh that transcended billions of light-years of space-time.
The cornerstone Coordination Department attempted to convert a small, clearest rule echo fragment into a format the concerto keystone could understand and transmit it to it.
The cornerstone's reaction was unexpectedly... strong.
Its consistently warm radiance showed noticeable fluctuations, and its rule pulsations accelerated, emitting a will mixed with curiosity, retrospection, and an indescribable sense of familiarity.
It seemed to sense from this rule remnant from deep space the aura of an ancient relative, originating from the same "harmonious" essence as itself, yet having taken a completely different developmental path.
It began to actively and more precisely adjust the rule fluctuations it emitted, no longer merely stable and healing, but attempting some form of reconstruction and resonance with those distant, faint "echoes."
It was like an archaeologist trying to piece together the outline of a lost civilization from broken pottery shards.
Under the cornerstone's active intervention, the "echoes" received by the "Listener" array seemed to become slightly clearer.
More rule fragments were captured and analyzed, and a blurry picture began to gradually emerge—
It appeared to be an ancient civilization, long extinct, whose age was unimaginable.
They did not focus on power or order, but dedicated all their wisdom and energy to exploring the fundamental nature of cosmic information.
They sought to encode the entire history of the universe, all knowledge, and even theVeins of Possibility, into the underlying structure of rules, creating an eternal, living "memory universe."
And these "echo" fragments were likely the remnants scattered in the depths of space-time after the failure of their grand plan.
"A civilization... dedicated to becoming the 'memory' of the universe..." Einstein was shocked, "Was their failure due to technological limits? Or did they touch upon some... taboo?"
The concerto keystone's resonance with this "memory" rule grew stronger and stronger.
It even began to unconsciously simulate some information encoding structures similar to those in the "echo" fragments within its own miniature harmonious space-time, as if instinctively learning this ancient "language."
This change caused Ling Shuang a hint of apprehension.
She worried that the cornerstone, overly immersed in this ancient "memory," might affect its current role as a "concerto player," and might even be influenced by the lingering obsessions of that vanished civilization.
Lin Mo also had similar considerations, but he saw more opportunity.
"If these 'echoes' truly carry the entire wisdom legacy of an ancient civilization, even if only fragments, their value is immeasurable," he told everyone.
"This might help us understand the deeper operating logic of the universe, and even find the capital to engage in more equal dialogue with entities like the pure core and the eternal cornerstone."
He made a decision:
"Launch the 'Deep Space Echoes' project.
Dr. Einstein will be in charge, assembling a cross-civilization expert team to fully decipher these rule echoes."
"Ling Shuang, you need to monitor the cornerstone's status more closely, ensuring that while it explores these ancient memories, it does not lose its inherent 'harmony.'"
"Wu Yong, raise the frontier alert level, especially in the direction of the Abyssal Ruins Realm.
We don't know if these 'echoes' will attract other... 'listeners.'"
A new exploration thus began.
This time, the goal was no longer survival or confrontation, but the pursuit of the ultimate mystery of cosmic memory, buried in the long river of time.
Under the protection of the light of the cornerstone, the Alliance's fleet began to dispatch the first batch of scientific research and exploration vessels towards the depths of the Abyssal Ruins Realm, where the echo signals were stronger.
They were like children searching for seashells on an endless beach, trying to hear whispers from the primordial era of the universe from these rule fragments.
And the concerto keystone became the "resonance core" of this exploration; its unique ability, like a key, was slowly opening a door to a lost memory palace.
No one knew what lay behind the door.
Was it a treasure trove of knowledge? A dangerous trap? Or a civilization's ultimate answer about the meaning of existence?
Only by moving forward could they know.