168: Monumental Testament and Seed of Purification
Where Ling Shuang pointed, that fractured stellar monument stood out starkly in the graveyard of silence.
It was a dull, metallic gray, its surface covered in cracks deep enough to reveal its internal structure, left behind by a massive impact. Yet, its overall silhouette still faintly displayed a kind of solemn, perhaps even tragic, architectural aesthetic, distinct from the purely naturally shattered debris surrounding it.
The mourning of the key fragment reached its peak at this moment. The two fragments (obtained from the "Echo Nexus" and "Sprout Era") trembled violently, emitting waves of resonance filled with unprecedented urgency and sorrow, pointing directly at the fractured monument.
"That's it!" Ling Shuang endured the heavy mental burden of resonating directly with countless death memories. Her voice was weak but exceptionally firm. "That consciousness which hasn't fully dissipated... it's very ancient, very... painful. But it's holding on, as if guarding something, or rather... waiting for something."
Lin Mo did not hesitate in the slightest. "Fleet, maintain vigilance. Ling Shuang, you and I will take a small assault craft over there. Dr. Einstein and the concerto keystone will provide remote support. Commander Wu, command of the fleet is yours. If there's any anomaly, retreat immediately without needing to request permission."
"Commander!" Wu Yong wanted to dissuade him. Venturing into such a perilous situation, taking only Ling Shuang who was in poor condition, was too high a risk.
"This is a contact at the consciousness level; more people won't help." Lin Mo cut him off, his gaze sweeping over Ling Shuang. "Can you hold on?"
Ling Shuang took a deep breath and straightened her body. Although the light of the Stellar Silver Psionic Energy was dim, it remained stable. "I can."
Soon, a small assault craft equipped with strong stealth and rule resistance detached from the watcher, sliding like a phantom toward the massive, fractured monument.
The closer they got, the clearer and sharper the whispers of despair permeating the graveyard became, as if countless aggrieved souls were roaring in their ears.
Ripples constantly surged across the assault craft's shields, struck by an invisible force.
Ling Shuang sat in the co-pilot seat, eyes tightly closed, using all her psionic energy to maintain the clarity of her consciousness and to serve as a Bridge for communication with the residual consciousness within the monument.
Lin Mo was responsible for piloting, while simultaneously using his Genesis Blueprint authority to carefully perceive every subtle change in the surrounding rules.
When the assault craft finally hovered before a massive crack in the monument, a powerful and pure stream of sorrowful consciousness gushed out like a physical substance, instantly enveloping the entire craft.
The view of the external universe vanished; outside the portholes, there remained only swirling, dense fog composed of gray memories and the agony of the end.
"...Latecomers..." An ancient, weary thought, seemingly synthesized from the voices of billions of individuals, echoed directly in their minds, carrying the vicissitudes and numbness that had spanned vast stretches of time. "...You... have come... carrying fragments of 'hope'..."
"We are." Lin Mo focused his mind and responded telepathically. "We are seeking the key to the 'final protocol' to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. Who are you? Why did you call for us?"
"I... was once the Kasar civilization's... final collective consciousness... the last... 'Monument Keeper'..." the thought replied, the endless sorrow almost solidifying. "We... were one of the civilizations... completely erased by 'the observer'... on the grounds of 'rule redundancy' and 'stagnation of development'..."
"Stagnation of development?" Ling Shuang couldn't help but ask telepathically. She could feel the former glory and complexity of the Kasar civilization from this consciousness.
"Yes... stagnation..." The Monument Keeper's thought carried a trace of self-deprecating bitterness. "We reached a certain... peak in our own technology and philosophy. We eliminated internal strife, constructed a nearly perfect social structure, and achieved harmony through highly interconnected individual consciousness... We thought it was the ultimate form. But in the eyes of 'the observer', this lost the vitality of 'evolution' and became... redundant information that no longer produced 'new value' in the universe. Thus... the cleansing arrived."
Lin Mo and Ling Shuang were deeply shocked. Not because of internal conflict, nor because of being too active, but simply because of "stagnation" and "harmony"? This "the observer" cleansing standard was even more harsh and unreasonable than they had imagined!
"At the final moment, we concentrated all our power, not to resist... that would be meaningless... but to record. To record everything about us, to record the truth of our erasure, to record the... cruelty under 'the observer's' cold logic." The Monument Keeper's thought continued, with a sense of stubbornness. "This monument is our 'civilization's epitaph'. And the key fragment you are looking for... one of them is integrated with our core record."
"The fragment is here?" Lin Mo's spirits lifted.
"Yes... but to obtain it, you need to bear our final 'gift'... which is also our final 'curse'." The Monument Keeper's thought became incomparably solemn. "We will grant you access to all our civilization's knowledge, history, and technology, including our partial research on 'the observer's' mechanism... but at the same time, you must personally 'experience'... the ultimate fear and nothingness... of the moment we were erased."
Personally experiencing the feeling of an entire civilization being completely erased? That was definitely a terror sufficient to cause any consciousness to collapse!
"This is too dangerous!" Ling Shuang immediately objected. "The consciousness might not be able to bear it and could completely dissipate!"
"This is the only way." The Monument Keeper's thought was unquestionable. "The fragment is bound to our core record. If you do not accept this 'gift', you cannot separate the fragment. And... this experience itself might allow you to more deeply understand what it is you are fighting against. Choose, latecomers. Accept, or leave."
The assault craft fell into a deathly silence. Outside was the swirling, dense fog of consciousness representing the final agony of the Kasar civilization.
Lin Mo looked at Ling Shuang, and Ling Shuang looked at him. Both saw determination in each other's eyes.
They needed the fragment. They also needed to understand "the observer" better. This risk had to be borne.
"We accept." Lin Mo answered on behalf of both of them.
"Very well... then... prepare to welcome... the memories of the end..."
The Monument Keeper's thought retreated like a tide, replaced by a more surging, more concrete torrent of consciousness! It was no longer vague whispers, but clear perceptions, thoughts, and emotions belonging to countless Kasar individuals at their final moment!
They "saw" the harmonious and magnificent cityscape of the Kasar homeworld, felt the selfless connection and shared joy between individuals, and understood the astonishing heights they had reached in art, science, and philosophy... Then, everything stopped abruptly.
An indescribable "feeling," transcending all known fears, descended. It wasn't pain, it wasn't destruction; it was the absolute process of "existence" itself being denied, stripped away, and forcibly erased from the "record" of the universe. Individual consciousness was like a water droplet exposed to a vacuum, rapidly evaporating; the connected network fractured inch by inch; memories, emotions, knowledge, and even the concept of "self" collapsed like sandcastles, returning to absolute "nothingness."
Lin Mo's Genesis Blueprint authority operated frantically, attempting to analyze and resist this rule-level feeling of erasure, but he still felt his own consciousness structure vibrating violently, as if it would disintegrate at any moment.
Ling Shuang let out a muffled groan, blood spilling from her mouth and nose. The protection formed by her Stellar Silver Psionic Energy appeared so fragile in the face of that absolute "nothingness"; her consciousness was like a candle flame in a gale, flickering and about to go out.
This was a more terrifying experience than death. It was the complete annihilation of the meaning of existence.
Just as their consciousness was about to be swallowed and assimilated by that ultimate nothingness, the key fragment suddenly erupted with intense light! It wasn't the resonance from before, but a... gentle yet firm "negation" carrying a certain "authority"!
A ripple of rules, originating from the same source as "the observer's" erasure power but with a completely different nature, spread out from the key fragment, acting like a miniature "silent veil," temporarily isolating Lin Mo and Ling Shuang's consciousness from those memories of the end.
"This is... the power of the 'protocol'..." The Monument Keeper's residual thought let out an exclamation, then followed with relief. "So that's it... the 'final protocol' is not about creating new rules... but an 'amendment proposal' to the underlying rules... It inherently contains the... seed... to resist 'cleansing'..."
The torrent of memories of the end began to recede, but the bone-deep fear and sense of nothingness had already been deeply branded into the depths of Lin Mo and Ling Shuang's consciousness, never to be erased.
At the same time, a massive amount of knowledge and records belonging to the Kasar civilization flowed into their memories like an unlocked database, especially some vague speculations and observational records regarding the operating mechanism of "the observer".
A new key fragment, with a dull metallic luster and surfaces seemingly naturally inscribed with countless tiny characters and patterns, slowly emerged from the core of the fractured monument, flew toward the assault craft, and converged with the other two fragments.
The three fragments drew closer, and their resonance became more complete and powerful.
"Take it... successors... carry our memories... carry our warning..." The Monument Keeper's thought grew weaker and weaker, as if it had completed its final mission. "Be careful... 'the observer' is not the only threat... the path of the 'Assimilators' is a misguided one... and the 'Seventh Fragment'... it is not a physical object... it is a 'lock'... it requires a specific 'key' to manifest... the clue is in... the 'Reverse Time Vortex'... look for... the 'Time Worms'... they gnaw on time... perhaps they also... know the secret..."
The voice dissipated completely. The swirling, dense fog of consciousness around them also began to calm and fade. That fractured monument seemed to have lost the final power supporting its special existence; the luster on its surface quickly dimmed, becoming indistinguishable from the other cosmic debris around it.
The Kasar civilization, along with its last Monument Keeper, had truly ushered in complete peace and the end at this moment.
Inside the assault craft, Lin Mo and Ling Shuang were silent for a long time. Both were pale and drenched in sweat, as if they had just woken up from a nightmare, but their eyes were deeper and firmer than ever before.
They had personally "died" once and understood the weight of this mission even more.
"We have obtained the third fragment." Lin Mo's voice was somewhat hoarse as he piloted the assault craft, slowly steering away from this oppressive airspace. "And we have also obtained a crucial clue."
"'Reverse Time Vortex'... 'Time Worms'..." Ling Shuang repeated these terms, feeling the vast new knowledge in her mind regarding the Kasar civilization's research into the field of time. "The 'Seventh Fragment' is actually a kind of... 'conceptual lock' that requires specific conditions to activate?"
"It seems the puzzles left by the 'Weaver' are getting more complex one after another." Lin Mo looked at the starry sky outside the porthole, which was gradually returning to a normal cosmic scene, his eyes sharp. "Let's return to the fleet first. We need time to digest the Kasar knowledge and plan our journey to the 'Reverse Time Vortex'."
"The Assimilators won't give us too much time." Ling Shuang reminded him. She could still feel the lingering, faint threat from the Assimilators' pursuit on a mental level.
"I know." Lin Mo's gaze fell on the three key fragments floating in the containment field, which had already formed a stable triangular resonance structure. "Therefore, we must be faster."
When the assault craft successfully returned to the watcher, everyone saw that something was wrong with the two of them; it wasn't just exhaustion, but a kind of composure and coldness, as if they had experienced a cycle of life and death.
Without needing much explanation, from the third fragment they brought back and the heavy atmosphere that had almost turned into a physical substance, everyone understood that they had once again walked on the edge of a cliff and brought back a heavy "legacy".
Dr. Einstein immediately began to analyze and integrate the new data generated by the resonance of the three fragments, as well as the knowledge about the Kasar civilization that Lin Mo and Ling Shuang brought back, especially the speculations regarding "the observer's" mechanism.
Wu Yong strengthened the fleet's patrols, vigilant against the next attack that the "Assimilators" might launch at any time.
The concerto keystone silently provided mental comfort and stability to Lin Mo and Ling Shuang, helping them digest the trauma brought by those memories of the end.
The Star Language Alliance, after obtaining the third key fragment and paying a painful mental price, had once again taken a solid and heavy step toward that faint hope. And as for their next target—the "Reverse Time Vortex," a region where even the rules of time were chaotic and inverted—what awaited them there?