88: The Plague Spreads and the Alliance of Despair
The suffocating silence after the “Phantom-07” signal was interrupted lasted less than one standard hour before it was completely shattered by a surging tide of even more ear-splitting alarms.
On the star map of the logic anchor’s main control center, a chilling expanse of silver spots was spreading at a visible rate, centered on the original location of the “Whispering Corridor”! It didn't reduce to pure nothingness like the formatting of the "tide of delusion," nor did it emit stable waves of pain like a resonator. These silver spots were "alive"; they writhed and stretched like a regular slime mold, greedily devouring and transforming all rule structures in their path along the hiddenVeins of the “Order Fortress” network.
Doctor Einstein mobilized all available observational resources, and the returned image data was horrifying: in the space infected by the Crystal Devourer, the rules presented a bizarre, dynamic crystalline state. Countless tiny, constantly shifting geometric structures were born, died, and reorganized within it, emitting a cold and hungry rule radiation. It was neither pure chaos nor absolute order, but an aggressive, anomalous state resulting from the twisted combination of their destructive qualities.
“The spread rate exceeds the worst-case prediction model by 37%!” The doctor’s electronic voice lost its usual composure, carrying a clear urgency. “Eight Order Fortress nodes have been confirmed infected and lost contact! In the three high-rule-activity nebula edge regions around them, the rule background has shown signs of assimilation!”
“What... what is it feeding on to grow so strong?” Wu Yong watched the expanding silver spots, his voice hoarse.
“Everything!” the doctor quickly replied. “It devours the rule energy of the Order Fortress, it devours background radiation, and it even... is starting to show a strong interest in star language seeds (of any variant)! It seems to be able to convert any form of rule information into nourishment for its own proliferation!”
This meant that the "Star Language" Network, which they had painstakingly sowed to promote harmony, might, in some areas, instead become a breeding ground for this plague!
“What... what kind of monster did we create...” Xiao Li slumped in front of the control panel, his face devoid of color.
Ling Shuang bit her lower lip, her psionic perception picking up the distant rule fluctuations that were not pain but pure desire for consumption, making her feel waves of nausea. She looked at Lin Mo; he was still standing in place, but his body trembled slightly, his face terrifyingly pale, and his usually calm and rational eyes now surged with unprecedented self-doubt and a storm.
“It must be stopped.” Lin Mo’s voice was low but carried a steel-like resolve, having cut through his confusion. “No matter what, it must be stopped.”
But how to stop it?
To fight it with their current strength? Even the Order Fortress network was being torn and devoured like paper; how long could their Ark of Order and logic anchor withstand it?
To "pacify" it with a more powerful star language? The doctor's preliminary analysis indicated that any of their existing "seeds," upon contact with the Crystal Devourer area, would be decomposed and absorbed, like chunks of meat thrown to a hungry wolf.
Just as despair like cold vines coiled around everyone’s hearts, Doctor Einstein suddenly received a sporadic rule signal from a very peculiar source with a completely different encoding method.
This signal did not come from the trade wind ship network, nor from any known civilization or natural phenomenon. Its source... pointed to the depths of the rule-level, which they had always been wary of, representing the core will of the "Tide of Delusion"!
After urgent deciphering by the doctor, the content of the signal was simple and direct, yet contained earth-shattering significance:
[Identification: Anomalous variable "Star Speakers." ]
[Detection: Rule-level out-of-control proliferator “Crystal Devourer” (provisional name). Threat level: Exceeds threshold. ]
[Proposal: Temporary tactical coordination protocol. Objective: Contain and eliminate the “Crystal Devourer” threat. ]
[Additional: Share partial temporary permissions for the “Order Fortress” network and a Crystal Devourer weakness prediction model. ]
Following the information was an extremely complex rule key and a constantly updated dynamic model predicting the Crystal Devourer's next diffusion path and energy convergence nodes.
The tide of delusion... actively contacted them? And... requested (or rather, imperatively proposed) cooperation?!
On the bridge, everyone was stunned by this sudden "olive branch."
“It... it considers both us and the Crystal Devourer as threats,” Ling Shuang was the first to react, her tone complex. “But now, the Crystal Devourer’s threat is greater, so it chooses to ‘cooperate’ with us first?”
“This is the only logical choice,” Doctor Einstein analyzed. “The Crystal Devourer’s destruction of rule structures is fundamental; it threatens the very foundation of order upon which the tide of delusion relies. In contrast, while we are also ‘anomalies,’ at least our current behavior patterns are predictable and manageable.”
“Sharing network permissions and weakness models...” Wu Yong looked at the key and the dynamic model, his eyes flickering. “Does this mean we can temporarily mobilize a portion of the Order Fortress’s power? And know where to strike most effectively?”
This was a huge temptation!
With the power of the tide of delusion, they might actually have a chance to contain or even eliminate the Crystal Devourer.
But this was also an extremely dangerous trap!
“This might be its strategy to eliminate us!” Xiao Li said urgently. “It’ll use us to fight the Crystal Devourer to a mutual destruction, then reap the benefits!”
“Or, it just wants to use us as ‘bait’ or ‘test units’ to verify the accuracy of its Crystal Devourer weakness model,” Ling Shuang added. Her psionic senses were extremely sensitive to any potential malice, but this time, what she felt from the signal was more a cold, utilitarian calculation based on absolute rationality, rather than direct deception.
Everyone’s gaze once again focused on Lin Mo. Would he accept this desperate alliance from the "enemy," or refuse and face the all-consuming plague they themselves had unleashed, alone?
Lin Mo closed his eyes, his consciousness rapidly operating within the framework of the Genesis Blueprint, weighing the consequences of each choice. Accepting meant dealing with a tiger, possibly accelerating their own demise, but it might also be the only chance to save more areas (including those resonators and fertile lands pacified by star language). Refusing, on the other hand, meant they would fight alone under the dual threat of the tide of delusion and the Crystal Devourer, with annihilation being an almost foreseeable outcome.
A few seconds later, he suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils filled only with pure, emotionless resolve.
“Accept the protocol.” Lin Mo’s voice was clear and cold, like a surgical knife cutting through the air. “Doctor, immediately verify the authenticity of the key and model. Wu Yong, Xiao Li, prepare to interface with the temporary permissions; we need to quickly learn how to guide the Order Fortress’s offensive power. Ling Shuang, you and I will work together; we need to develop a temporary method based on the shared model, combined with our star language technology, to precisely ‘eliminate’ the Crystal Devourer’s weaknesses.”
He looked at his companions, his eyes reflecting the awareness of bearing heavy sin and responsibility.
“We have no choice. The Crystal Devourer is a mistake we made, and we must correct it. As for the tide of delusion... we must use this ‘cooperation’ to understand its network structure and operating mode as much as possible. This might be our only chance for survival in the future.”
A desperate alliance was formed at this moment. To counter a more immediate and devastating threat they themselves had unleashed, the Star Speakers and the "formatter" representing the cold order of the universe, whom they had always opposed, temporarily stood on the same front.
The logic anchor began operating with unprecedented efficiency, decrypting the key, interfacing with the unfamiliar and hostile network permissions, and analyzing the shared weakness model. Everyone knew they were racing against time and dancing with an "ally" who could stab them in the back at any moment.
On the star map, the continuously expanding silver spots continued to rage. But this time, the light point representing the logic anchor, along with several temporarily “lit” light points representing the mobilizable Order Fortress, began to slowly approach the edge of that deadly silver, in an extremely uncoordinated yet unified manner.
A war to walk with the devil and fight another devil for survival had begun.