242: Chapter 242 The Enemy's New Tactics: Information Causal Tracing
The core of the fourth "Scavenger" extinguished.
That dim light, which had once floated silently at the edge of the Solar System for countless days and nights, now dissipated silently into the void like a burnt-out candle flame.
Its "body"—that constantly changing consciousness composed of countless geometric structures—was disintegrating, shattering, and turning into nothingness at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Yet it still stood in the way.
Blocking the path between those three "Scavenger" combat units and the human fleet.
Until the last ray of light dissipated, until the last geometric fragment merged into the void, it did not retreat a single step.
The battlefield fell into an eerie, deathly silence.
Those three combat units, like machines with a pause button pressed, floated silently in the void, motionless.
Their cores were still flickering slightly, but that flickering was no longer a charge-up before an attack; it was a deeper form of "data processing" that humans could not comprehend.
The human fleet was likewise motionless.
It wasn't that they didn't want to move; it was that they dared not.
General Xu Rushan stood on the bridge of the "soaring heavens," staring fixedly at the three silent enemies and at the spot where the fourth "Scavenger" had dissipated.
Cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
"What... are they doing?" Lu Chuan's voice was as raspy as sandpaper rubbing together.
General Xu Rushan did not answer. He did not know the answer.
But this eerie calm was more terrifying than the previous frenzied attacks.
"Ark" city, command hall.
Lin Mo was also staring at the three stationary enemies on the screen, his brows furrowed tightly.
"system," his voice was low and urgent, "Analyze the current status of the targets."
"Analyzing..." the electronic voice of 'system' sounded, but this time, its speech rate was a beat slower than usual—a sign of processing load overload. "...Analysis complete. The core processors of the three target units are running at a power output three hundred and seventy times higher than normal. They are performing... large-scale data processing."
"What data?" Lin Mo pressed.
"Unknown. The data stream is encrypted, and the encryption method exceeds the current decryption capability limit of 'system'," 'system' replied. "However, based on the flow of data, it is initially judged that they are... tracing."
"Tracing what?"
"Tracing the source of information. Tracing network nodes. Tracing..." 'system' paused, then delivered the conclusion that made everyone's hearts stop, "Tracing all causal chains related to the 'human civilization command system'."
There was a deathly silence in the command hall.
Lin Mo's pupils constricted slightly.
"Causal chain"... "Information source"... "Command system"...
What they were looking for was not a battleship, not a weapon, and not any physical target.
What they were looking for was—him.
Jupiter orbit, inside the core of target a.
Deep within that black crystal, countless data streams were surging frantically at superluminal speeds.
That data was the massive amount of information collected from every communication, every command, and every decision made by the human fleet over the past seventy-two hours.
Information volume: 27 petabytes.
Information type: Including quantum communication signals, electromagnetic wave traces, tactical instruction codes, commander voice characteristics, and even private messages sent by crew members during battle lulls.
The core processor of target a was conducting a frantic, non-stop—tracing—of this information at a power level exceeding its design limits.
What was it looking for?
It was looking for the most core, the most irreplaceable, and the most un-overwritable by any backup—that point—within that information.
That point, in the human network, was called "supreme command authority."
That point, at the intersection of countless data streams, was repeatedly mentioned, repeatedly encrypted, and repeatedly protected.
That point had a name.
Lin Mo.
The core of target a flickered slightly.
【Tracing complete.】
【Target locked: Human civilization 'supreme command authority' — individual codename 'Lin Mo'.】
【Information existence form: Biological brainwaves + quantum consciousness + network nodes.】
【Physical coordinates: Unknown (already protected by multi-layer encryption).】
【Causal coordinates: Locked.】
【Causal coordinate locking method: Information tracing based on quantum entanglement states. This tracing method does not rely on physical coordinates; it only relies on 'causal anchor points' at the information level. As long as the target has existed at the information level and left any data traces, it cannot be completely hidden.】
【Locking precision: 99.9997%.】
【Attack method confirmed: Activating 'causality weapon'. Attack path: Not through physical space, but directly through the 'causal chain' at the information level, tracing back to the target's consciousness source.】
【Attack target: Lin Mo's consciousness core. Eradication method: Causal severance. After severance, the target will 'disappear' from the information level. All traces of its existence—memories, knowledge, emotions, and all instructions output through its consciousness—will be erased synchronously. As if it had never existed.】
【Attack countdown: Three seconds.】
The core of target a suddenly erupted with a blinding light.
That light was no longer the dark purple light of death from before.
It was a light that transcended color, a light of—nothingness—that humans could not describe in any language.
An invisible "causal tracing wave," undetectable by any physical device, shot out from the core of target a at a speed that transcended time and space.
It was not shot toward "soaring heavens," not toward "Ark" city, and not toward any physical target.
It was shot toward—the "causal chain" at the information level.
Along those dense causal networks woven from countless data streams, the invisible wave was tracing, searching, and locking onto—that sole, ultimate source—at an unimaginable speed.
Lin Mo.
"Ark" city, command hall.
Lin Mo's body jolted suddenly.
There was no warning. No alarm. No anomaly at the physical level.
But he felt it.
It was a fear that could not be described in words, a fear originating from the instinct of life. It was as if an invisible pair of eyes was staring fixedly at him from a dimension that humans could not comprehend. It was as if an unseen hand was slowly, irresistibly, reaching into the depths of his soul.
"Lin Mo?" Su Xiaowan's voice sounded in his ear, filled with anxiety, "What's wrong?"
Lin Mo did not answer. He just stared fixedly at the empty void in front of him, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
He could feel that something was approaching.
Not an approach at the physical level, but a deeper, information-level, causal-level—approach.
That thing was tracing back along every trace of his existence—every instruction he had issued, every word he had spoken, every data fragment he had left behind.
It wanted to find him.
It wanted to erase him.
Like erasing a draft that had never existed.
Just then, the interface of the 【civilization leap system】, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly lit up.
It wasn't an ordinary glow.
It was a blinding, blood-red, frantically flashing—highest-level alert.
A line of blood-red text flashed frantically on the interface:
【Warning! Warning! High-dimensional information-level lock detected!】
【Lock type: Causal tracing! Lock source: 'Scavenger-Type 7 · combat unit' core processor!】
【Target locked: host consciousness core! Locking precision: 99.9997%!】
【Attack type: Causal severance! Attack effect: All information traces of the host will be erased synchronously! Including memories, knowledge, emotions, and all instructions output through the host's consciousness! The host will completely disappear from the information level! As if it had never existed!】
【Estimated time of attack arrival: Three minutes!】
【Activating emergency protocol! Activating emergency protocol!】
Lin Mo stared at the blood-red text, his pupils constricting sharply.
Three minutes.
In three minutes, he would be completely erased from the information level.
It wasn't death. Death at least left behind a corpse, memories, and traces of having existed.
Being severed by causality meant that everything of his—every action he had taken, every word he had spoken, every person he had influenced—would be erased synchronously.
Those who remembered him would suddenly forget him.
Those who had survived because of him would suddenly not know who had saved them.
The instructions, plans, and technologies that existed because of him—all would disappear.
As if he had never existed.
This was a form of—nothingness—more thorough than death.
Lin Mo took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
His hands were trembling slightly. But his eyes remained as calm as an unfathomably deep ancient well.
"Three minutes..." he muttered to himself, "That's enough."
He turned around and looked at Su Xiaowan, at Dr. Elena Chen, and at every tense, fearful, yet still expectant face in the command hall.
"Something is coming," his voice was as calm as if he were stating the weather for the day, "It wants to erase me. From the information level, from the causal level, completely erase me."
Su Xiaowan's face turned deathly pale instantly. She rushed forward and grabbed Lin Mo's hand: "What? Who? How is it possible—"
"There's no time to explain," Lin Mo gently held her hand, which was trembling slightly, "If I am erased, you will forget me. Forget that I existed, forget the words I said, forget everything we experienced together. But it doesn't matter."
He looked at her, and in his eyes, there was reluctance, guilt, but more than that, an unshakeable calm:
"As long as you are alive. As long as civilization still exists. That is enough."
Su Xiaowan's tears gushed out suddenly.
She wanted to say something, but found she couldn't make a sound.
Lin Mo gently let go of her hand, turned around, and faced the void, facing the invisible attack that was tracing back along the causal chain.
The corners of his mouth curled slightly into a smile that even he himself didn't notice.
"Come on," he said softly, "Let me see what else you can do to kill me."
The three-minute countdown, begins.