49: Psychic Resonance and the First Appearance of the Star Chart
Inside the ancient ruins' hall, time seemed to freeze. In the center, the suspended "Logic Calibrator" emitted a steady, faint "heartbeat," its core's silver mist like dormant eyes, awaiting awakening. The air was filled with the ancient, solemn, and heavy aura of jade interwoven with psionic energy.
Lin Mo's suggestion made Ling Shuang take a deep breath. She gazed at the dim silver mist, clearly feeling the vast, star-sea-like power within it, which was both from the same origin as her own psionic energy and yet far grander. To commit herself and that precious wisp of psionic origin into it was akin to a drop of water merging into a river, with unpredictable results.
"What should I do?" Ling Shuang's voice was exceptionally clear in the hall; she showed no hesitation, only the resolute determination to fulfill her mission.
"Regard your psionic energy, along with that wisp of origin, as a 'key,'" Lin Mo guided her, while the editor operated at full capacity, analyzing the Calibrator's energy interface structure. "Do not try to forcefully inject it, but rather seek resonance. Imagine your psionic energy as flowing water, and it as a dry riverbed; let the power flow naturally, filling its missing parts. I will assist you with the power of the information-side fragment to ensure precise matching of energy frequencies."
Ling Shuang nodded, walked to the Calibrator, and sat down cross-legged. She held the crystal containing the silver origin, sealed by Lin Mo, in her left palm, while her right hand hovered over the silver mist. She closed her eyes, her breathing gradually becoming long and rhythmic, and a soft blue halo began to emanate from around her body.
She first mobilized her largely recovered psionic energy, meticulously adjusting it to its purest, most orderly state, as if untangling silk threads. Then, she carefully guided the wisp of silver origin from her left palm, allowing it to slowly merge into her own blue psionic energy, like the noblest pigment.
In an instant, the light around her changed! Blue was no longer dominant; instead, it became the background that set off the silver glow. An aura of psionic energy, far more ancient, purer, and imbued with a sense of tragedy and immortality than her own power, permeated the air! She felt as if she had touched the backbone of a bygone era, sensing the will that had burned everything to protect.
She slowly guided this fused psionic energy, shimmering with a silver-blue luster, towards the sleeping silver mist, like the most devout offering.
Initially, the mist showed no reaction, like a cold mirror.
Lin Mo immediately activated the power of the information-side fragment, establishing an invisible bridge of pure data flow between him and the Calibrator. He acted like the most skilled tuner, subtly adjusting the frequency, phase, and information encoding of Ling Shuang's output psionic energy to achieve perfect resonance with the dormant energy circuits inside the Calibrator.
"Now! Maintain this frequency!" Lin Mo exclaimed in the mental link.
Ling Shuang concentrated, fully sustaining this hard-won resonance.
It was like the first sound of ice cracking!
The dormant silver mist suddenly trembled! A barely perceptible silver gleam, like the first spark ignited in darkness, lit up in the mist's core!
Immediately after, the resonance triggered a chain reaction!
"Buzz—!"
The entire Calibrator emitted a low, melodious hum, and its rotation speed noticeably increased! The core's silver mist seemed to be injected with life, beginning to surge and expand violently, its light growing brighter and brighter! The psionic runes flowing slowly on the hall's walls and floor, like electrified light strips, instantly burst into brilliant light, flowing more than ten times faster!
A massive energy fluctuation spread out from the Calibrator, and the entire ruins trembled slightly!
Ling Shuang felt a powerful suction emanating from the mist, and her psionic energy and that wisp of origin were being rapidly extracted! This speed far exceeded her expectations; her face instantly turned pale, and her body began to tremble slightly. But she gritted her teeth, not retreating in the slightest, and continued to stably output her power.
Lin Mo closely monitored the entire process. The editor showed that the Calibrator's energy level was rapidly climbing! 20%... 35%... 50%... At the same time, its internal information processing units, dormant for who knows how many years, also began to come back online, and a massive data stream started to surge!
"Energy input reached critical point! Database connection re-established! Detected faint connection attempt with a distant 'logic anchor'!" The editor delivered a series of exciting prompts.
They succeeded! They were awakening this ancient device and attempting to reconnect to the cornerstone that supported the world!
Just as the energy level broke through 70%, another anomaly occurred!
The core of the Calibrator, now an incredibly dazzling silver mist, suddenly projected countless delicate light beams that intertwined and shifted on the hall's dome! Finally, they formed a vast, complex, and slowly rotating... three-dimensional star map!
This was not a cosmic star map known to humans, but an abstract diagram depicting the current world's "reality structure" and "rule脈絡"! Lin Mo could "see" that the areas representing normal, stable regions were soft, continuous silver threads, like a healthy neural network. In contrast, the areas representing regions eroded by the "Tide of Delusion" were constantly twisting, breaking, and even showing dark spots and tangled messes of foul colors.
Their gaze involuntarily turned to the eastern part of the star map.
There, where there should have been an incredibly bright "node" radiating silver threads that maintained the rules of the entire world, like a sun—that should have been the location of the logic anchor itself. However, at this moment, that node appeared... abnormal!
It still emitted powerful energy fluctuations (which was the source of the pulling sensation), but its light became extremely unstable, sometimes as bright as before, and sometimes rapidly dimming! More unsettling was a thick, inky dark energy, with strong corrosive characteristics, like a maggot clinging to bone, wrapped around that node, constantly trying to infiltrate its interior! The rule threads extending around the node also flickered erratically, and even showed signs of breaking and twisting!
"The logic anchor... is under attack!" Ling Shuang exclaimed, despite the immense psionic energy consumption, the sight before her made her forget her fatigue.
Lin Mo's expression was incredibly solemn. The editor was analyzing the data feedback from the star map at full capacity.
"Confirmed. The logic anchor is suffering continuous, high-intensity rule-level attacks. Attack source energy signature analysis: same origin as the 'tide of delusion,' but more organized and purposeful... suggesting the presence of a command node."
"logic anchor current stability: 71% (continuously slowly declining). Estimated critical point for complete instability: unable to calculate precisely; if current attack intensity is maintained, it could be reached within several months to several years."
Several months to several years! This time window was far more urgent than they had imagined!
Just then, on the star map, the light point representing their current location (at the core of the Withered Land), and the attacked logic anchor in the east, a very faint silver thread, almost on the verge of breaking, suddenly lit up! A clear and urgent information flow, carrying a sense of distress and plea, traveled along this fragile connection, spanning endless space, directly pouring into the partially recovered Calibrator, and through the information-side fragment, transmitted into Lin Mo's consciousness!
This information was not language, but a more fundamental "warning" and "guidance":
• Threat identification: "shadow of devouring" (naming of the unknown entity attacking the logic anchor).
• Core weakness: The "shadow of devouring" relies on "reality folds" and "information paradoxes" for attack and defense.
• Countermeasure strategy: It is necessary to utilize the corrective power of the "logic anchor" itself, or an equivalent level of "order definition" authority, to create an "absolute Logical Closed Loop" inside or outside it, which can temporarily force it back or weaken it.
• Path guidance: On the star map, a relatively safe path, formed by connecting several faint nodes representing other existing "Calibrators" or "stable fragments," was highlighted, winding towards the east.
The information flow abruptly ceased, and the fragile connecting thread again became dim. Clearly, the logic anchor itself was in an extremely difficult state; the previous transmission was its limit.
Silence fell in the hall. Only the hum of the Calibrator and the flowing light of the star map remained.
Ling Shuang collapsed to the ground, exhausted, sweat soaking her bangs, but her eyes burned with a resolute flame. She had personally witnessed the true crisis facing the world.
Lin Mo stood in place, digesting this shocking information. The enemy's identity (the shadow of devouring), the method of response (Logical Closed Loop), and the path forward were all clear. The burden on his shoulders had never been so heavy, but the direction had never been so clear.
He looked at the huge star map, his gaze fixed on the logic anchor in the east.
"We found the answer, and we saw the countdown," Lin Mo's voice was calm, yet carried immense weight. "Rest for a bit, recover. Then, we depart."
Deep within the Withered Land, the ancient ruins completed their final mission. And the travelers, carrying the faint hope of civilization, would once again set off, heading to the eastern front that would decide the fate of the world.