163: Silent Hub and Whispering Corridor

The flagship of the First Main Fleet, "the watcher," floated silently in the void at the edge of the Dust Song Sea. All non-essential light sources on the ship's surface had been extinguished, making it resemble a giant whale merging into the deep sea; only the most sensitive detectors were operating at minimum power, scanning the airspace ahead marked as the "Echo Nexus."

The main bridge hall was dimly lit. Outside the massive panoramic viewport were the ordinary sparse interstellar dust and the faint light of distant galaxies, forming a sharp contrast with the star map coordinates projected by the key fragment, which pulsed with a dangerously tempting cursor. There, to the naked eye, was nothing.

Lin Mo stood before the viewport, his back straight but carrying a hint of solemnity. Ling Shuang's "Probe One" vanguard fleet had already been lurking one light-year ahead for seventy-two standard hours, and the data sent back yielded nothing except for confirming the periodic strengthening of the abnormal signal. No energy radiation, no mass reaction, no spatial distortion—conventional detection methods had encountered a complete "blind spot" there.

"Seventy-fourth high-precision spatial scan complete," the shipboard AI's synthetic voice reported calmly. "No macroscopic objects or known energy structures found. The target area's rule background presents as... 'perfectly smooth.'"

"Perfectly smooth?" Dr. Einstein's virtual image appeared beside Lin Mo, his brow furrowed. "There is no such thing as an absolutely smooth rule background in the universe, just as there is no absolutely smooth surface. Even vacuum fluctuations produce tiny ripples. This 'smoothness' itself is the greatest anomaly."

"Like a piece of spacetime fabric that has been meticulously ironed." Wu Yong's image also joined in; he was currently coordinating the fleet's defense from the rear. "What we are facing is either extremely sophisticated cloaking technology, or... the rules there themselves have been modified."

Lin Mo did not turn around, his gaze still locked on that piece of "nothingness." "What about the analysis from the concerto keystone?"

「The 'smoothness' of the target area is an actively maintained state,」 the concerto keystone's consciousness fluctuations rang directly in the minds of the core bridge members, peaceful and profound. 「Its technical principles share the same source as the 'key fragment,' but its scale and completeness far exceed it. This is a technology that 'strips' or 'folds' itself away from the conventional universe, similar to a microscopic application of the 'silent veil.' The probability of a forced breakthrough is less than zero point zero one percent, and it is highly likely to trigger unknown defense mechanisms or lead to the target's self-annihilation.」

"In other words, we've found the door, but there's no keyhole, and we don't even know what material the door is made of." Ling Shuang's communication came from the distant "Probe One," carrying a sense of frustration. "Conventional methods are ineffective, and psionic detection is being refracted or absorbed by some invisible 'barrier.' It's like we're trying to observe dark matter with the naked eye."

A brief silence enveloped the communication channel. Having found the target only to be blocked by an invisible wall was a feeling more agonizing than aimless searching.

"Perhaps the 'key' itself is the guide." Lin Mo turned slowly and walked toward the center of the bridge. There, within a highly reinforced isolation field, the key fragment floated quietly. Since it was activated by the abnormal signal last time, the flow of the halo on its surface seemed to have become a bit more... 'active,' and though it remained silent, it was no longer as deathly still as before.

"Doctor, take all the data we've collected about the target area—including rule smoothness parameters, signal fluctuation patterns, and spatial curvature anomalies—package it all without any interpretation, and project it back to the fragment directly as a raw data stream."

"Commander, that's risky!" Einstein warned. "Last time was receiving an external signal; this time we are actively sending a complex data package. It could trigger an uncontrollable chain reaction!"

"We are taking a risk, Doctor," Lin Mo's voice left no room for doubt. "'the observer' and 'Assimilators' won't give us time to test things slowly. We need a breakthrough, now."

The order was executed. The massive data stream was carefully encapsulated and, through a specialized interface, slowly injected into the force field surrounding the key fragment.

At first, the fragment did not react. Just as everyone thought the attempt had failed again, the fragment suddenly trembled slightly, and the halo on its surface began to flow and intertwine at an unprecedented speed, as if rapidly processing a massive amount of information. A few seconds later, it did not project a new star map or information, but instead emitted a peculiar, resonance-like hum.

At the same time, Ling Shuang on the bridge of "Probe One," along with all the sensors in the outpost array, captured the change simultaneously!

"Reaction in the target area!" Ling Shuang's voice carried shock. "It's not an energy burst, it's... the spatial structure itself is 'writhing'!"

The scene outside the viewport remained empty, but images sent back by high-dimensional sensors showed that the originally "smooth" spacetime was now rippling with invisible circles, like a water surface after a stone had been thrown in. In the center of the ripples, an extremely tiny, almost undetectable "point" began to manifest. It had no physical form; it was more like a spatial coordinate being highly "marked."

"What the fragment is pointing to... is an 'interface'?" Dr. Einstein watched the returned data, dumbfounded.

「Correct,」 the concerto keystone confirmed. 「The fragment recognized the 'context' we provided—namely, the detection data of the target area—and provided the corresponding 'access protocol.' That point is the only permitted access location.」

"And the method of access?" Wu Yong asked immediately. "Send a shuttle over?"

「Negative. Physical contact is ineffective. What is needed is... a specific 'handshake' signal at the information level.」 The concerto keystone paused for a moment, seemingly performing integrated calculations. 「Based on the fragment's feedback and the analysis of the target area's rule characteristics, a composite information package needs to be constructed, containing the following elements: our identity identifier (using the friendly civilization coding left by the 'Weaver'), the intent of access (using ciphertext related to the 'final protocol'), and... a temporary authorization signature from a 'key fragment.'」

"A temporary authorization signature?" Lin Mo caught the key point.

「That is, the fragment generates a one-time, time-sensitive rule key for this access. This signature will consume part of the fragment's energy and will expire once the access is complete.」

This meant that every attempt to gain access would require using the precious key fragment, and they couldn't try an infinite number of times.

"Generate the signature." Lin Mo did not hesitate for a second. "Ling Shuang, prepare to send the information package. Once the signature is generated, send it to the marked point immediately."

The process was tense but orderly. After receiving the command, the light on the surface of the key fragment converged, separating a strand of light as thin as a hair yet containing a complex rule structure. This strand of light was quickly encoded into the prepared composite information package.

"Information package construction complete!"

"Signature injection finished!"

"Send!"

The invisible information package shot toward that tiny spatial marking point at faster-than-light speed.

In an instant, all observation equipment recorded a bizarre sight: the marking point acted like an ignited fuse, rapidly extending and outlining the silhouette of an immensely huge "gate" composed of pure light. This gate had no thickness, as if it were merely a pattern drawn on space, but the complex geometric patterns and energy paths flowing upon it radiated a suffocating sense of antiquity and majesty.

The moment the light gate formed, an invisible gravitational force (not physical gravity, but more like a pull at the rule level) captured the "Probe One" fleet.

"We've been locked on!" Ling Shuang reported, her voice tight but calm. "Engines are failing; the hull is being dragged toward the light gate!"

"Do not resist!" Lin Mo ordered immediately. "Repeat, do not resist! All units, record all data!"

"Probe One" and its escort ships, like small boats pulled by an invisible hand, slowly slid toward that massive gate of light. At the moment of contact with the light gate, no collision occurred; instead, the hulls merged into the light like water droplets into a surface, sending out a ripple before completely disappearing into that radiance.

On the main fleet's side, all remote monitoring signals were cut off the moment "Probe One" merged into the light gate. Only the light point representing the "Echo Nexus" on the star map projected by the key fragment continued to pulse, as if nothing had happened.

Waiting. A long wait.

Every second felt like a century. Lin Mo stood where he was, motionless, with only his clenched fists betraying the turmoil within him. Wu Yong's image was silent, his eyes sharp as a hawk's. Dr. Einstein paced anxiously in his virtual laboratory, analyzing the data sent back in the last few milliseconds before the signal cut out.

No one knew how much time had passed—perhaps only a few minutes, perhaps several hours—

"Receiving an encrypted FTL communication from Commander Ling Shuang!" the communications officer's voice carried the excitement of relief. "Signal stable! Source confirmed to be from inside the 'Echo Nexus'!"

Everyone on the bridge breathed a sigh of relief.

Ling Shuang's image reappeared. Her background was no longer the familiar bridge, but an indescribable space. There was no concept of up, down, left, or right there; as far as the eye could see was a vast "corridor" extending endlessly, composed of flowing energy and complex structures that were constantly being generated and annihilated. Some of these structures looked like giant crystal trees, some like floating rivers of data, and others were geometric forms that defied linguistic description; they emitted a soft glow, bathing the space in a surreal light.

"We're in." Ling Shuang's voice carried a hint of unbelievable awe. "We weren't attacked, and all fleet systems are normal. This... is the interior of the 'Echo Nexus.' A hyper-dimensional space, or rather, an isolated rule bubble."

She adjusted the perspective to show the surrounding scene. "Probe One" and the other ships could be seen floating in a "passage" of this bizarre corridor, looking tiny and fragile.

"Preliminary scans show that the physical constants here differ slightly from the outside, and the flow of time also seems out of sync. The spatial structure is extremely complex, filled with non-Euclidean geometric passages. We currently seem to be in a main trunk corridor."

"Any discovery of life signs? Or intelligent entities?" Lin Mo asked.

"None. At least not by conventional detection. It's terrifyingly quiet here, with only the faint hum of energy flow and some... unparseable whispers." Ling Shuang paused and added, "Those whispers are like residual information fragments acting directly on consciousness, but they are too broken to understand."

「Those are the Historical Echoes left by the 'Weaver,'」 the concerto keystone's consciousness fluctuations came through; it seemed able to indirectly contact the environment there through Ling Shuang's perception. 「Try to establish a connection with those whispers, using the resonance frequency of the 'key fragment' as a filter. Be careful; the information may contain cognitive risks.」

Ling Shuang did as instructed, mobilizing the shipboard systems to simulate the unique resonance frequency of the key fragment and beginning to actively capture and filter the "whispers" in the space.

At first, it was still chaotic noise, but soon, some clearer fragments began to emerge, like a radio station being tuned in on an old receiver:

"...veil... riddled with holes... observation window... open..."

"...fugitives... seeds... must be preserved..."

"...assimilation... is annihilation... refuse... unification..."

"...final protocol... not creation... but... repair..."

"...keys... scattered... among... ruins and... hope..."

"...beware... carrying... shadows of the past..."

These whispered fragments were intermittent and their meanings vague, yet they revealed information that made one's heart race.

"'Assimilation is annihilation'... that sounds like a characteristic of the 'Assimilators'?" Wu Yong mused.

"'Carrying shadows of the past'? Does it mean us? Or does it refer to Qi?" Einstein speculated.

"Keys scattered among ruins and hope... does that mean other fragments might be hidden in the ruins of certain civilizations, or... in the hands of some emerging civilizations?" Ling Shuang analyzed.

Just then, the fleet's sensors suddenly captured a rhythmic energy pulse coming from deep within the corridor ahead, accompanied by a much clearer consciousness broadcast using a standard information code used by the "Weaver":

"Authorized visitor detected. Unit holding 'Protocol Fragment.' Boot program activated. Please follow the marked path to the 'Core Archive.' Warning: Unauthorized areas carry the risk of rule disintegration. Repeat, please follow the guidance."

Following the broadcast, the energy light bands in the corridor that had been flowing randomly began to converge ahead, forming a clear path paved with light that wound toward the unknown darkness deep within the corridor.

"They... or rather, the automated system here, is guiding us," Ling Shuang reported.

Lin Mo pondered for a moment. This was an obvious invitation, but it could also be a trap.

"concerto keystone, assess the risk."

「The guidance signal is bound to the hub's underlying rules; no malicious code detected. The 'Core Archive' is highly likely to store the key information we need. The risk lies in potential rule anomalies along the path itself, as well as... potential threats not marked by the guidance system.」

"Ling Shuang, maintain maximum alertness. The fleet will assume a defensive formation and proceed slowly along the guided path. Report the situation at any time."

"Understood."

The "Probe One" fleet began to move carefully along the path of light. The scenes on both sides of the corridor shifted constantly, sometimes showing data cloud maps as vast as the starry sky, and sometimes revealing static image fragments that seemed to record past events—giant starships burning, bizarre worlds disintegrating, and indescribable terrifying shadows writhing against the cosmic background... These scenes further confirmed the brutal war and massive crisis the "Weaver" had once faced.

After traveling for about thirty standard minutes (according to the ships' internal timing, though the external time flow was unknown), the fleet reached the end of the path. A even more massive and complex energy gate blocked the way. This gate was composed of countless rotating symbols and constantly reorganizing geometric bodies, with an obvious key-shaped indentation in the center.

"Secondary identity verification," the guidance broadcast sounded again. "Please place the 'Protocol Fragment' into the verification interface."

The size and shape of the key-shaped indentation perfectly matched the fragment in their possession.

The critical moment had arrived. Was it necessary to use their only key fragment to open this gate?

"Commander?" Ling Shuang waited for the command.

Lin Mo looked at the fragment flowing with light in the isolation field, then at the light point on the star map that was still pulsing as if urging them on. He knew that hesitation would lead to no progress.

"Execute verification," he ordered in a deep voice.

Under remote control, the key fragment was carefully guided, slowly flying toward the indentation in the center of the energy gate several light-years away.

The moment the fragment made contact with the indentation—

A blinding light swallowed all perception.