244: Chapter 244 The Invisible Attack: "Nano Ghost" Infiltration
"Ark" City, special isolation safe house.
This was the place with the highest defense level in the entire GDA. Seven layers of alloy walls, with energy-absorbing materials filled in between; an independent encrypted quantum communication channel, physically isolated from the external network; a twenty-four-hour uninterrupted electromagnetic shielding field, sufficient to block detection and attacks from any known frequency band.
This was Lin Mo's temporary residence.
Or rather, it was a temporary docking point for his unconscious body.
Su Xiaowan sat by the bed, staring fixedly at that sleeping face. It had been seventy-two hours. From the moment Lin Mo's consciousness disappeared until now, it had been three full days. His chest was still rising and falling, his heart was still beating, but his eyes had never opened.
"Fuxi" said his consciousness was trapped in some high-dimensional space unreachable by humans. When would he be able to return? Unknown. Would he be able to return? Also unknown.
Su Xiaowan did not want to hear these "unknowns." She only wanted to wait for him to return.
Long Zhantian stood at the door of the safe house like an iron-cast statue. His body had not yet fully recovered—the mental shock from the last "causal retrospective wave" had severely damaged his biological magnetic field, and he still stumbled occasionally when walking. But he insisted on coming.
"He saved my life," he said, his voice hoarse but firm. "While he is in a coma, I will stand guard."
And so he kept watch here. Seventy-two hours, without taking a single step away.
Inside the safe house, there were only three of them—one sleeping, one guarding, and one waiting.
As well as those invisible, yet constantly operating defense systems.
"Report." The voice of system suddenly rang out, as calm as if it were stating the weather. "Outside the safe house, a weak energy anomaly has been detected. Fluctuation frequency: 0.0003 Hz. Fluctuation intensity: below the background noise threshold. Preliminary assessment: instrument error, no attention required."
Su Xiaowan looked up at the speaker on the ceiling. "Instrument error? Are you sure?"
"Unsure." The answer from system was as frank as ever. "The abnormal signal is too weak to be analyzed effectively. But according to the probability model, there is a 99.7% chance that it is an instrument error."
Su Xiaowan frowned. A fluctuation of 0.0003 Hz was indeed too weak. So weak that any normal sensor would ignore it.
She lowered her head again and continued to look at Lin Mo's sleeping face.
She did not notice that, at the very moment she lowered her head, a "mist" in the corner of the safe house, invisible to the naked eye and smaller than dust, was slowly seeping in through the gaps in the ventilation duct.
That was not mist.
That was—nanobots.
Or rather, it was the ultimate weapon used by the "Scavenger" for microscopic infiltration—"Nano Ghosts."
Each "Nano Ghost" had a diameter of only 0.3 nanometers. One hundred times smaller than the smallest virus. They had no fixed form, no fixed energy characteristics, and not even a fixed mode of existence. They could freely switch between matter and energy, condensing into solid entities when needed, and dispersing into nothingness when not.
They could not be detected by any conventional sensors because their energy fluctuations were weaker than the cosmic microwave background radiation.
They could not be blocked by any physical barriers because they could "seep" through the gaps between atoms, like water flowing through a sieve.
Their only target was biological brainwaves.
Or rather, it was Lin Mo's sleeping, defenseless—consciousness.
That "mist" slowly condensed and gathered in the corner of the safe house. Countless "Nano Ghosts" shifted from a dispersed state to a condensed state, forming a transparent mass that was still invisible to the naked eye but already possessed a "physical entity."
That mass began to move slowly and silently towards the bedside.
Passing through the air.
Passing through the electromagnetic shielding field (it was ineffective against solid matter).
Passing through that innermost layer of biological energy barrier protecting Lin Mo's body.
As if passing through a thin layer of water mist.
It hovered above Lin Mo's head, less than ten centimeters from his forehead.
It began to "infiltrate."
Countless "Nano Ghosts" peeled away from that mass, turning into particles smaller than atoms, slowly and silently seeping into Lin Mo's scalp, skull, and meninges—
Target: Cerebral cortex.
Target: Brainstem reticular formation.
Target: Thalamus.
Those core regions responsible for consciousness, memory, and emotion.
They were going to enter his brain, find his sleeping consciousness—and devour, assimilate, and replace it.
To turn his body into an empty shell.
To make his consciousness unable to return forever.
Long Zhantian stood at the door, his brow suddenly furrowing.
There were no alarms. No abnormal signals. But he felt it.
It was a kind of intuition that could not be described in words, originating from the instinct of a beast—something was wrong.
The air in the safe house suddenly became "viscous." Not physically viscous, but a deeper, almost sixth-sense kind of "wrongness."
He suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction where Lin Mo was sleeping.
There was nothing.
The bed, Lin Mo, Su Xiaowan, the monitoring equipment on the bedside table—everything was normal.
But his intuition was screaming wildly: Something is there! Something is there!
"Xiao Wan!" His voice exploded in the safe house. "Get away from the bed!"
Su Xiaowan looked up abruptly, and before she could react, Long Zhantian had already rushed over from the door like an enraged lion!
His body had not yet fully recovered. Every step he took was accompanied by severe pain. But his speed was astonishingly fast.
He rushed to the bedside, grabbed Su Xiaowan by the shoulder, and yanked her behind him!
He used his own body to block the space between Lin Mo and Su Xiaowan.
At that very instant—
His brain was pierced simultaneously by countless cold, lethal "thoughts."
Those "Nano Ghosts" had originally been slowly seeping into Lin Mo's brain. Long Zhantian suddenly rushed over, and his biological magnetic field—that powerful biological magnetic field that had unexpectedly interfered with the enemy's lock-on during the first mental shock—at this moment, like a suddenly lit lighthouse, instantly attracted the attention of all the "Nano Ghosts."
They had no intelligence, no emotions, only preset programs—find biological brainwaves, infiltrate, devour.
And Long Zhantian's brainwaves were one hundred times stronger than the sleeping Lin Mo's.
They instantly changed direction, abandoned Lin Mo, and surged crazily towards Long Zhantian!
Countless "Nano Ghosts" simultaneously pierced into Long Zhantian's cerebral cortex!
That moment—
Long Zhantian felt as if his head had been pierced simultaneously by ten thousand red-hot steel needles!
His eyes widened abruptly, his pupils instantly dilating to their limit. His body trembled violently, his muscles twitching crazily. From his mouth came a low, painful muffled roar, a sound like a wounded beast howling in despair.
But he did not fall.
He stood there firmly, using his own body to block that bed, to block the person sleeping on the bed.
Blood began to seep from his seven orifices.
His eyes began to roll back.
But his feet did not retreat a single step.
"General Long!" Su Xiaowan's scream exploded in the safe house. "General Long! What's wrong with you! Help! Someone come quickly!"
She desperately tried to hold him up, but was pushed away again and again by his massive, constantly trembling body.
He did not want her to get close. He did not want those things to hurt her.
His consciousness was blurring crazily.
Those "Nano Ghosts" were rampaging inside his brain, devouring his memories, destroying his neurons, and severing his consciousness links.
He felt himself falling.
Falling into an endless, dark abyss.
But before falling completely into the darkness, he used his last bit of strength to turn his head, looking towards that bed, looking at the person sleeping on the bed.
His lips moved.
No sound.
But Su Xiaowan understood.
What he said was—
"Run..."
His mountain-like body collapsed with a crash.
Falling in front of that bed, falling in front of the person he had protected with his life.
Like a collapsing mountain peak.
Su Xiaowan's scream echoed in the safe house.
And those invisible, lethal "Nano Ghosts," after devouring the last bit of Long Zhantian's consciousness, slowly withdrew from his body, re-condensed, and hovered.
They "looked" at the person sleeping on the bed.
They changed direction again, slowly and silently drifting towards that bed.
Target—Lin Mo.