190: Section 190
Even if it can recover from injuries of this magnitude, it will take a considerable amount of time.
When one Twin-Jawed Beast fell, the skeleton of the Phage Beast “Mountain Pile” instantly collapsed.
Jing Yuan followed suit, slaying the other Phage Beast in the same manner.
After slaying the two Twin-Jawed Beasts, Jing Yuan returned above the Lighthouse.
Just then, Jing Nan sent him a message: Flynn was ready.
Accompanied by Master Lai, Jing Yuan flew directly toward the Computational Core.
A device had already been placed beside clotho's Giant Tank.
The device was designed like a reclining chair, with a massive semicircular hood positioned over the head.
Behind the device were several wires, which connected directly to the clotho's brain inside the tank.
Flynn watched Jing Yuan fly over and asked in surprise, “You can fly?”
“No!” Jing Yuan replied with a smile, then jumped off the shield, controlled it to float beside his hand, and said, “I can use Mental Force to control objects!”
“Mental Force!” Flynn suddenly realized. “No wonder you insisted on the Non-Contact Method!”
In Flynn's understanding, Mental Force and Mental Power were just stronger brainwaves.
For someone like Jing Yuan, there was indeed no need to insert wires directly into the brain.
Jing Yuan looked at Master Lai next to him and asked, “Master Lai, would you like to join me?”
“I won't be going. Once you're inside, find Ash, and it will tell you what to do!”
Jing Yuan nodded, then looked at Flynn. “Do I just lie down on it?”
“Yes! Just lie down!”
Jing Yuan sat into the reclining chair, and the semicircular hood automatically covered his head.
Flynn's voice came from the side, “I will open the channel. Since this is a non-contact connection, the rest is up to you!”
“I know.”
Flynn flipped the switch, instantly connecting the device to clotho.
Jing Yuan released his Mental Force, sending it forward along the device's channel.
In Jing Yuan's consciousness, it was as if he traveled through a Time-Space Tunnel and arrived at another place.
A white light flashed.
Jing Yuan opened his eyes and found himself surprisingly on the Outer Ring platform of the Lighthouse.
He looked around in confusion, realizing the place was completely deserted!
“This isn't the Lighthouse! This is clotho's Mental Space!”
Jing Yuan smiled. “I didn't expect clotho's Mental Space to actually be the Lighthouse!”
“It's understandable, considering it has lived on the Lighthouse for so many years!”
Jing Yuan looked around the Lighthouse. It was empty. Where was he supposed to find Ash? And where was he supposed to find the primal body's consciousness?
The Lighthouse was extremely quiet.
This gave Jing Yuan an unsettling feeling.
As he walked, Jing Yuan saw a figure ahead.
Jing Yuan quickly picked up his pace, running over in large strides.
Upon getting closer, Jing Yuan realized it was a blonde woman.
“Wait a moment!”
Jing Yuan called out ahead.
The blonde woman heard the voice, stopped, and turned her head.
Jing Yuan looked at her face and exclaimed in surprise, “Jing Nan?”
“Jing Nan?” the blonde woman asked. “You know Jing Nan?”
“Who are you?” Jing Yuan looked at the woman who looked exactly like Jing Nan.
“My name is Mevy! Are you also from the Lighthouse? Why haven't I seen you there?”
“You are... Morgan's wife, Charles's mother?” Jing Yuan recalled that the person who looked exactly like Jing Nan was Charles's mother.
When Mevy heard herself referred to as Morgan's wife, her expression turned slightly disappointed.
Before entering clotho, she had been very disappointed in Morgan and had already severed their marital relationship. But in the eyes of others, she was still Morgan's wife.
Mevy still replied, “Yes.”
“Why are you here?” As soon as Jing Yuan asked the question, he immediately understood. “You were the volunteer who performed the Direct Human Brain Connection to clotho!”
Mevy looked at Jing Yuan. “Did you also undergo the brain-linking experiment and get absorbed by clotho?”
“I am indeed performing a Brain-Link, but I haven't been absorbed!”
“Alas...” Mevy sighed. “Once life source essence enters this space, there's no way to leave!”
Jing Yuan didn't explain. He had only entered clotho's Mental World through Mental Power communication; his life source essence was still outside.
Mevy nervously glanced around, grabbed Jing Yuan's hand, and said, “Come with me first!”
Jing Yuan was confused, but he still followed Mevy.
Although this Lighthouse had the same exterior as the real Lighthouse, its internal structure was completely different, even somewhat bizarre.
For example, just now they were on the Outer Ring platform, but in the blink of an eye, they entered a Passage.
This Passage resembled the Power Zone, but it wasn't the same.
After Mevy brought Jing Yuan to the Passage, she seemed relieved and said, “We should be temporarily safe here!”
Mevy looked at Jing Yuan and asked, “Why did you perform a Brain-Link and come in here?”
“The Lighthouse is currently facing an emergency; the Operating System has been locked by clotho. I came here to retrieve control of the Lighthouse!”
Chapter 193: Jing Nan's Background
“What happened to the Lighthouse?”
“The Lighthouse is currently in a Low-Altitude Hover State and cannot navigate. Phage Beasts are gathering on The Surface and may climb up the Lighthouse within a short time! So the situation is urgent, and I need to see Ash! Do you know where Ash is?”
“Ash?” Mevy looked at Jing Yuan.
“Ash, where is it?”
“She is right here!”
“Here?” Jing Yuan looked confused. Besides him and Mevy, there was no one else here.
Mevy said, “This Lighthouse was constructed by Ash to confine clotho.”
Jing Yuan asked in surprise, “Are you saying this Lighthouse is Ash?”
“To be precise, this Lighthouse is a part of Ash!”
“What's going on?”
“Before I connected directly with clotho, Morgan told me that the consciousness inside clotho was Ash, the Super AI from the old world, but that there might also be another consciousness present.”
Jing Yuan nodded. “This giant brain belonged to an Ancient Giant; its consciousness must still exist inside its brain.”
“After I connected with clotho, it devoured my life source essence, and then I arrived here...”
Before Mevy finished speaking, Jing Yuan interrupted, “When Gray stole the giant brain back then, he knew the giant brain had devoured Ash's life source essence. Didn't he pass down such important information? Morgan should know, right!”
“He knew, but we had no choice but to awaken Ash!” Mevy continued, “After I was devoured by clotho and came to this Consciousness Space, I realized things were not at all what we thought!
Back then, clotho devoured Ash but couldn't completely consume her, which allowed Ash to take the initiative for a period of time.
This is also why clotho was able to help our Lighthouse avoid danger and guide us in obtaining supplies.
Later, the other consciousness inside clotho suddenly erupted and devoured a portion of Ash's life source essence, causing Ash's abilities to weaken.
Ash wasn't sleeping; she was preoccupied with fighting the other consciousness and thus couldn't attend to us.
I originally wanted to awaken Ash to help us, but unless we eliminate the other consciousness, there's no way for Ash to break free.”
Jing Yuan looked at Mevy, but his mind was elsewhere.
Considering Master Lai's words, Ash probably didn't have a portion of her source essence devoured; rather, she actively separated a portion of it to explore the mana network, but unfortunately failed.
Jing Yuan asked, “Can you let me communicate with Ash?”
“The other consciousness is sometimes strong and sometimes weak. When it is weak, Ash can spare the time to communicate with us.”
Jing Yuan understood that Ash must have been the one to tell Mevy all this.
“But I don't have time right now. I need to immediately regain control of the Lighthouse!”
Hearing this, Mevy suddenly realized, “I know. Ash previously sent me a message asking me to help her bypass a Command. Perhaps she discovered the Lighthouse's crisis!”
Before Jing Yuan could ask more questions, Mevy hurriedly walked forward and said, “Follow me!”