248: Chapter 248 Sacrifice: Long Zhantian's Barrier
Su Xiaowan's hand hovered over the console, trembling like a withered leaf in the wind. Her eyes were fixed on the holographic screen, staring at a string of data packets so tiny they were almost non-existent, watching their millisecond-precise transmission every three seconds, and their lethal destination—Lin Mo's Brainwave Interface.
To cut it, or not to cut it?
In her mind, two voices were tearing at each other frantically.
Cut it. At least it would stop those things from continuing their attack. At least it would preserve his current consciousness for a little longer. At least—
She couldn't cut it. That was his only way home. If she cut it, he would never come back. Never.
Three seconds.
That string of data packets flowed silently across the screen once more, slipping into the faintly flickering interface at the back of Lin Mo's neck.
In three seconds, there would be another.
Three seconds after that, another.
Endless.
Until those "Nano Ghosts" found a new way to break through the defensive line Lin Mo had constructed in that High-Dimensional Void and launch another attack.
Su Xiaowan's tears fell silently.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't cut that path. She couldn't bring herself to close that door with her own hands.
But she even less could she bear to watch him be torn apart, devoured, and erased over and over again.
Just as her soul was being torn in two by this desperate choice—
A rough, calloused hand gently grasped her wrist.
Su Xiaowan's body jolted.
Slowly, in disbelief, she turned her head.
Long Zhantian stood behind her.
His face was still as pale as paper. His body was still precarious, needing to lean against the wall just to barely stand. His eyes, once as sharp as a hawk's, were now bloodshot and his pupils unfocused, as if he might collapse again at any moment.
But he was standing.
Using every last ounce of strength, he had crawled back from the abyss of death.
"Gen... General Long..." Su Xiaowan's voice was so raspy it was almost inaudible. "You..."
Long Zhantian did not answer. He only stared fixedly at the holographic screen, at the flickering, lethal stream of data.
His lips moved, producing a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz: "Those things... are back?"
Su Xiaowan nodded vigorously. "They're continuously transmitting 'seeds' to Lin Mo's Brainwave Interface. Each transmission 'downloads' a new batch of 'Nano Ghosts'. I... I don't know what to do..."
Long Zhantian was silent for a second.
He released Su Xiaowan's wrist and stumbled, step by step, toward Lin Mo's bedside.
"General Long?" Su Xiaowan was stunned. "What are you doing?"
Long Zhantian did not look back. He just kept walking forward, every step accompanied by violent trembling, as if it required his entire body's strength.
He reached Lin Mo's bedside and looked down at that sleeping face—a face that was almost excessively young, yet carried the hope of an entire civilization.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
In that smile, there was bitterness and reluctance, but more than that, there was a deep, relieved sense of peace.
"Kid," he said softly, his voice as coarse as sandpaper, "In my life, I've owed many people. But I owe you the most."
"You saved my life. You saved the life of this civilization. You allowed this old man to see, in his remaining years, that people could actually live like that."
He slowly leaned down and reached out with his rough, scarred hand, pressing it gently against the back of Lin Mo's neck—onto that faintly flickering, lethal Brainwave Interface.
Su Xiaowan's pupils constricted sharply.
She finally understood what Long Zhantian was going to do.
"No—!!!" She screamed and rushed forward, trying to pull him away.
But it was already too late.
Long Zhantian closed his eyes.
The next second—
An invisible shockwave, powerful enough to make the air in the entire Safe House tremble, erupted from his body!
It wasn't a physical shockwave. It was the ultimate release of a Biological Magnetic Field. Using the last of his life force, he transformed his consciousness, memories, emotions, soul—everything—into a barrier and frantically injected it into Lin Mo's Brainwave Interface!
He was going to use his own existence to plug that leak.
He was going to use his own life to protect the sleeping man.
The moment those continuously transmitting data packets touched the barrier formed by Long Zhantian's Biological Magnetic Field, they were like insects hitting an iron wall, silently annihilated and dispersed!
Unwilling to give up, they frantically battered the barrier!
With every impact, Long Zhantian's body shuddered violently, and more blood seeped from his facial orifices!
But he did not retreat.
His hand was pressed firmly against the back of Lin Mo's neck, as if welded there.
His lips moved silently, using his last bit of consciousness to say words only he could hear:
"Kid... live a few more years... for me..."
"For me... watch those children... grow up..."
"For me... protect this... home..."
Su Xiaowan threw herself at Long Zhantian's side, desperately trying to pull his hand away, only to find she couldn't budge it at all. That hand, that broken body, now seemed merged with Lin Mo, transformed into a barrier that no force could separate.
"General Long! Let go! You'll die! You'll really die!" Her screams echoed in the Safe House.
Long Zhantian's eyes had completely lost focus. His pupils were slowly dilating. His breathing was slowly stopping.
But the smile remained on his lips.
That smile said—
It was worth it.
In the High-Dimensional Void.
Lin Mo's core consciousness jolted.
He "saw" it.
That faint yet incredibly familiar light coming from the low-dimensional world. It was Long Zhantian's Biological Magnetic Field, his soul, his everything.
That light was frantically burning itself, turning into a barrier and plugging that lethal gap.
That gap was his way home.
It was also the only channel for those "Nano Ghosts" to attack him.
Long Zhantian was using his final moments of life to hold that path for him.
Lin Mo's core consciousness trembled violently.
He wanted to shout, to scream, to stop it, to rush down and push that crazy old man away—
But he couldn't.
Trapped in this High-Dimensional Void, he could only watch helplessly as that light grew fainter, dimmer, and closer to being extinguished.
"No..." His core consciousness let out a silent, soul-tearing roar, "Long Zhantian! Stop it, damn you! You bastard—"
That light flickered slightly in his "eyes."
In that flicker was Long Zhantian's final voice:
"Kid... stop shouting... for this life... I've had enough..."
"You... continue on..."
"For me... keep walking..."
That light was completely extinguished.
In the Safe House.
Long Zhantian's hand finally loosened.
His mountain-like frame slowly and silently fell backward.
Falling beside Lin Mo's bed.
Falling beside the person he had protected with his life.
His eyes were still open, but they no longer held any spark.
That smile still lingered on his lips.
That smile seemed to say—
I did it.
Su Xiaowan knelt beside him, clutching his already cold hand, tears pouring out like a broken dam.
From her throat came an extremely suppressed, heart-wrenching sob.
That sob echoed for a long time in the silent Safe House.
And on the back of Lin Mo's neck, that faintly flickering Brainwave Interface was now covered by a layer of faint, golden light.
That was Long Zhantian's Biological Magnetic Field.
That was the eternal barrier he had built for him with his final breath.
Those lethal, continuous data packets were now fruitlessly battering that barrier, being annihilated and failing time and again.
They would never be able to get close to Lin Mo's consciousness again.
Never.
Because a man of iron and grit had used his soul to guard that door.
Jupiter's orbit, the battlefield.
The cores of those three "Scavenger" combat units flickered frantically at the same time.
[Warning! Target 'Lin Mo's' Brainwave Interface is covered by an unknown energy barrier!]
[Analyzing barrier properties... Analysis complete. Barrier composition: High-concentration Biological Magnetic Field + Intense residual obsession + Causal Anchor formed by self-sacrifice.]
[Barrier strength evaluation: Impenetrable. Unless the traces of the barrier holder's existence completely dissipate, attacks will be permanently ineffective.]
[Barrier holder—Individual code 'Long Zhantian', status: Biologically alive, consciousness—dissipated.]
[Wait. Waiting for the traces of the barrier holder's existence to naturally dissipate. Estimated waiting period: Unknown.]
The cores of the three combat units returned to a state of calm.