93: Sowing abundance, glimpsing the cradle, undercurrents surge.
The success of "Hymn of Abundance - Alpha" was like the first spring breeze breaking through the ice after a long winter, injecting long-lost vitality and a sense of purpose into the logic anchor. After a brief celebration, the team immediately began large-scale compilation and deployment with even greater efficiency.
An optimized version of "Hymn of Abundance" was quickly developed. Based on the data from the initial test, Dr. Einstein improved its internal structure, enabling it to adapt more quickly and establish a stable "filling" effect when facing different Crystal Devourer variants. Lin Mo further purified the life order information contained within it, making its "bestowal" more pure and reducing impurities that might cause rejection. Ling Shuang, Wu Yong, and Xiao Li also contributed their efforts to ensure its stability, delivery accuracy, and compatibility with environmental rules were optimal.
A fleet of modified vessels, codenamed "ark of Abundance," carrying these pale golden lights of hope, sailed towards the silver spots-threatened areas on the star map. Their mission was no longer destructive purification, but a patient "healing sowing."
The process was not smooth sailing. Some more evolved Crystal Devourer nodes showed stronger resistance to "Hymn of Abundance," their rule structures becoming more "dense," attempting to reject the "bestowal." However, with the flexible deployment strategy of the "ark of Abundance" and continuous information penetration, most target nodes were eventually gradually permeated by pale golden light spots, their aggressiveness significantly reduced, transforming from active threats into relatively static, "domesticated" rule anomalies.
On the star map, the unsettling expansion rate of the "silver spots" visibly slowed, with even localized contraction and "fading" appearing at its edges. Although it was still too early to completely resolve the Crystal Devourer crisis, the situation was effectively contained for the first time. Hope truly took root.
At the same time, the exploration of the mysterious Cradle coordinates was also put on the agenda. With the successful deployment of "Hymn of Abundance" as planned, Lin Mo decided to dispatch a small, highly mobile research vessel—"Explorer-07"—to conduct preliminary reconnaissance of these coordinates. This vessel was directly controlled by an independent sub-program of Dr. Einstein and was equipped with the most advanced rule perception and non-invasive detection equipment. Its primary mission was observation and recording, avoiding any form of direct contact or interference.
After several days of navigation, "Explorer-07" arrived at the target airspace.
The returned images and data showed that it was indeed a rule "silent zone." There were no stars, no nebulae, and not even obvious gravitational sources. The background rules of space itself presented an unusually uniform, gentle state, as if meticulously "regulated" by some force. As the detection deepened, "Explorer-07" discovered more astonishing details in the deep structure of the rules.
Those ancient, unnatural rule "scaffolds" or "culture mediums" far exceeded initial imagination in scale and technological level. They were not concentrated at a single point but diffused throughout the rule foundation of the entire "silent zone," forming a vast and invisible maintenance system. This system seemed to be extremely slowly, on a scale of hundreds of millions of years, influencing the evolutionary direction of the rules in this area, always tending towards stability and harmony, and subtly rejecting any rule mutations that might lead to violent conflict or extreme order/chaos.
"This place... is like a rule 'greenhouse' or 'protected area,'" Dr. Einstein analyzed the data, his tone filled with awe. "The designers' intention seems to be to create a safe environment that can shield against external drastic rule changes (such as The Shock and its subsequent effects) and allow internal rules to evolve slowly and naturally. These 'scaffolds' are like the control system and support structure of a greenhouse."
Even more astonishingly, at the core of the "silent zone," the detector discovered some... rule "fossils."
These were perfectly preserved fragments of extremely ancient rule structures. They were not painful scars like those of a resonator, but like insects in amber, maintaining a stable rule state from a distant past. Analyzing these "fossils," the doctor found that the rule systems they represented had subtle differences from the mainstream rules of the current universe and from the underlying "set order" of the Shadow of Origin. They were more like... a "sample" of an earlier state of the universe, not completely covered or changed by The Shock.
"The Cradle..." Lin Mo gazed at the returned images, deep in thought. "What it protects is not something specific, but... the Possibility of cosmic rule evolution itself? Is it some kind of... rule 'Noah's ark' or 'gene bank'?"
This discovery was of great significance. If the Cradle truly preserved samples of cosmic rules from an earlier period or those not completely altered by The Shock, then it might contain key clues to resolving the current rule civil war (set order vs. spontaneous life order), or even... the "Blueprint" for restoring the universe to a healthy state!
However, just as "Explorer-07" attempted a more in-depth non-contact scan of a rule "fossil," an anomaly suddenly occurred!
A powerful and familiar, icy rule fluctuation descended without warning upon this "silent zone"!
It was the tide of delusion!
But it did not appear with the overwhelming formatting will as before, but rather more... precise and "surgical." A condensed, pure white beam of order light, as if traversing space, shone directly on the rule "fossil" that "Explorer-07" was scanning!
There was no destructive explosion. The pure white beam, like the most efficient disinfectant, instantly "wiped clean" the existence of that rule "fossil" and a small surrounding area! It was not transformed into a Crystal Devourer, nor did it leave the residue of the Dirge of Withering, but rather completely returned to an absolute "nothing" emptier than a vacuum, where even the rule "scaffolds" temporarily failed!
Immediately after, the icy will receded like a tide, as if it had never appeared. It left behind only the "cleaned" area and a chilling scene recorded by "Explorer-07"'s sensors.
"It... it knew about this place!" Ling Shuang's voice was filled with shock. "It has been monitoring the Cradle! It doesn't allow us, or any existence, to delve into the secrets here!"
"The power it just used..." Dr. Einstein's data stream fluctuated violently. "Its precision and 'cleanliness' far surpassed its previous performance when dealing with us or the Crystal Devourer. It seems... very familiar with the rule structure of the Cradle, knowing how to precisely eliminate what it considers a 'threat' (that fossil) without damaging the overall stability of the 'silent zone'!"
This discovery deepened the mystery of the Cradle and once again elevated the threat level of the tide of delusion.
It was not ignorant of the Cradle; on the contrary, it might have been secretly "managing" or "guarding" it all along! Its previous strategic contraction might have been to focus its efforts on potential changes here at the Cradle? And did the success of "Hymn of Abundance" make it feel some kind of threat, prompting it to guard certain core secrets more vigilantly?
"Recall 'Explorer-07' immediately," Lin Mo ordered decisively, his expression grave. "The Cradle is more dangerous and more important than we imagined. Until we have sufficient strength to counter the direct intervention of the tide of delusion, we cannot rashly delve deeper."
"Explorer-07" quietly withdrew from the "silent zone," bringing back valuable data, and also heavier questions.
The tripartite power structure became increasingly clear:
The Star Speakers: Having mastered "Hymn of Abundance," they are committed to balancing rules through "nourishment" and exploring the deep truths of the universe.
The tide of delusion: Representing absolute order, possessing powerful military force, it seems to guard a secret about the universe's origin (possibly related to the Cradle and The Shock).
The mysterious observer: Possibly an ancient civilization dedicated to maintaining balance, they guided the Star Speakers to the Cradle, their intentions unknown.
And the Crystal Devourer, this monster inadvertently spawned by the Star Speakers, although temporarily contained by "Hymn of Abundance," its potential for evolution and its strange connection with the forces of "order" remain a Sword of Damocles hanging overhead.
The fate of the universe, like an incredibly complex multidimensional chess game, where every move involves countless Possibilities. And the Star Speakers, while sowing abundance and glimpsing the truth of the Cradle, must also be constantly vigilant of the ever-present, cold and powerful undertow.