90: The Poison of Purification and the Conspiracy of Silence

Over the next several standard cycles, the temporary alliance formed by the logic anchor and the "Tide of Delusion" operated like a precise and ruthless war machine, continuously performing surgical cuts and purifications on the expanding "silver spots."

One after another, Crystal Devourer vanguard nodes were reduced to null rule residue under the combined assault of the Order suppression field and the Dirge of Withering.

The cost of success was evident.

The Ark of Order's rule compilation unit overloaded multiple times due to continuously channeling high-intensity Order energy and releasing the Dirge of Withering, requiring Wu Yong and Xiao Li to lead the engineering team in frequent emergency maintenance.

Subtle, hard-to-remove traces of rule "rust" began to appear on the hull, a backlash from excessive contact with the cold power of Order.

More seriously, Lin Mo's own condition deteriorated.

Each time he guided the Dirge of Withering, he could clearly feel the erosive power of that disintegrating will on his consciousness core.

Irreparable, subtle cracks emanating a desolate aura began to appear on his Mental Image Closed Loop.

Using this power, which was fundamentally contrary to star language, made him feel as if his soul was being frozen and stripped away bit by bit.

He began to have nightmares, not of the Crystal Devourer'sDevour, but of himself in endless pure white Order, gradually losing all emotions, all memories, and becoming a hollow symbol that only executed "purification" commands.

Ling Shuang keenly noticed his changes; her psionic energy, like warm spring water, continuously nourished his damaged spiritual world, attempting to dispel the cold contamination.

But she also knew this was merely a delay, not a cure.

"The Dirge of Withering's entropy residue emissions are fifteen percent higher than the initial model," Dr. Einstein reported with worrying data.

"These residues accumulate around the purification zones, having initially formed several small 'rule deserts' where rule activity is extremely low and they exhibit inertia or even repulsion towards star language seeds.

In the long run, even if the Crystal Devourer is cleared, these areas could become 'stillborn' universes where life cannot germinate."

They were curing one cancer, only to inflict the universe with another hardening disease called "absolute Order."

At the same time, the Crystal Devourer was evolving at an alarming rate.

It was no longer just greedily devouring.

New Crystal Devourer nodes began to exhibit a certain... strategic nature.

They would actively avoid the brunt of the joint strike force, instead attacking weaker, uninfected Order Fortress nodes, or bypassing the main force to infiltrate "active fertile ground" areas nourished by star language.

Their rule structure also became more complex; some nodes even began to simulate rule barriers similar to those of an Order Fortress on their surface, crude but sufficient to interfere with the targeting and penetration of purification beams.

It seemed to be learning, adapting, and even... imitating its enemy.

This rate of evolution exceeded the update frequency of the weakness prediction model provided by the tide of delusion.

During one joint operation, a seemingly ordinary Crystal Devourer node, when suppressed by the Order field, suddenly erupted with strong rule interference from within, disrupting the injection channel of the Dirge of Withering.

This led to purification failure, and instead, the node absorbed some of the scattered Order energy, becoming even more powerful and difficult to deal with.

"Where does its learning ability come from?" Ling Shuang asked a crucial question after the failed operation.

"It shouldn't possess such advanced... 'intelligence.'"

Dr. Einstein delved deep into this.

He retrieved all residue data from purified nodes, as well as records of rule mutations during the Crystal Devourer's evolution, conducting an extraordinarily detailed comparison.

Hours later, a chilling discovery was presented to everyone.

"I analyzed the core encoding fragments in the Crystal Devourer's rule structure responsible for information processing, logical adaptation, and structural evolution..." The doctor's electronic voice carried the weight of revealing a terrifying truth, "The underlying logical architecture of these fragments... has a high degree of homology with the 'weakness prediction model' the tide of delusion shared with us!"

"What?!" Wu Yong exclaimed in shock.

"You mean..." Lin Mo felt a chill rise from his spine, "The Crystal Devourer... it's learning how to fight us, and its 'textbook' for learning... partially comes from the model the tide of delusion itself provided?"

"More precisely," the doctor's data stream revealed coldly, "that 'weakness prediction model' was not a completely objective analysis report.

It contained some... 'deep knowledge' about the Order Fortress network's defense mechanisms, energy flow patterns, and logical recursion rules.

This knowledge, when the model was received and used by us, and then demonstrated in our confrontation with the Crystal Devourer, seemed to have been simultaneously... perceived and interpreted by the Crystal Devourer!"

A dead silence.

The truth was so ironic, so despairing.

The tide of delusion was not omniscient or omnipotent.

The model it provided was based on its understanding of its own network and rules.

But while sharing this model with the Star Speakers to combat a common threat, the deep rule information about the "Order" side, inherent in the model itself, was continuously leaking to the rapidly learning and evolving Crystal Devourer through the "interface" of joint combat!

Their alliance with the tide of delusion, far from quickly eliminating the Crystal Devourer, had, to some extent, fed and accelerated its evolution!

They had become the catalyst for the Crystal Devourer to understand and adapt to the power of Order!

"It... it's exploiting the information exchange between us... and the tide of delusion..." Xiao Li's voice was on the verge of breaking.

"This is an inescapable paradox!" Ling Shuang felt a wave of powerlessness.

"To effectively strike the Crystal Devourer, we need the knowledge and power provided by the tide of delusion.

But using this knowledge and power makes it stronger and harder to deal with!"

Lin Mo clenched his fists tightly, his nails almost digging into his palms.

He looked at the "silver spots" on the star map, still slowly but steadily spreading, and the surrounding "rule deserts" gradually losing vitality due to the Dirge of Withering residue.

A huge sense of absurdity and self-loathing almost overwhelmed him.

They thought they were saving, but they might be accelerating a more complete destruction.

They allied with the devil, only to find the devil was also being exploited by the monster they nourished.

"Terminate joint operations." Lin Mo's voice was hoarse but carried an undeniable resolve, "Immediately!"

He sent a message to the tide of delusion to cease cooperation, citing the newly discovered risks of model information leakage.

The tide of delusion's response was swift and still cold:

["REQUEST: Provide specific data and analysis process for 'information leakage.'"]

["WARNING: Unilateral termination of the agreement will lead to a significant decrease in Crystal Devourer threat handling efficiency."]

["STATUS: Maintain observation. Retain option to restart collaborative protocol."]

It neither denied nor admitted, only requested data and calmly stated the consequences.

This absolute rationality seemed particularly terrifying at this moment.

Joint operations were temporarily suspended.

The logic anchor once again found itself fighting alone, and this time, the Crystal Devourer they faced was no longer the monster that only knew how to devour, but a more dangerous enemy that had begun to understand and imitate Order.

They stood amidst the ruins, surrounded by the wounds of their own actions, facing an evolved threat, and behind them, an "ally" that could "cooperate" again at any moment but could also devour them at any moment.

Hope, it seemed, had been consumed by the fires of war they themselves ignited and the "purification poison" they sowed.

All that remained was the heavy thought of how to preserve the last spark of life for the universe in this desperate situation.