121: Chapter 120 Ripples of Awakening
The seventh underground floor of the "Guicang" Command Center in the Qinling Mountains was always filled with a low-temperature silence. In the circular main monitoring hall, blue-white holographic light screens floated in mid-air, with a river of silent data flowing through them. Lin Shen stood in the center of the circular platform, his pupils reflecting the red patch spreading in the near-Earth orbit.
The alarm had been triggered thirty-seven seconds ago.
"Sky Chain Relay Station 3, all communication bands Gamma-7 to Gamma-12, under high-intensity conscious noise pollution." Zhou Zhe's voice came through the communication channel, and rapid keyboard typing could be heard in the background. "Noise waveform analysis complete—99.3% match, consistent with the characteristics of the No. 9 composite probe scattered by the 'Abyss Devourer' yesterday. It is mimicking our communication protocols."
Lin Shen's gaze did not leave the red patch. On the holographic projection, the faint blue light points representing the alien probes were like the tentacles of a living jellyfish, gently entangling the structural model of the relay station. It was not a mechanical invasion, but a slow, eerily beautiful infiltration.
"Pollution spread rate?" Lin Shen asked.
"0.47% per second." Zhou Zhe paused for a moment. "Calculated for 71 hours from now, which is the scheduled time window for the 'pioneer' to pass through the Kuiper Belt, the navigation signal calibration function of Sky Chain Relay Station 3 will decay by 12%. More seriously, the invasion mode has evolved to the stage of mimicking legitimate commands; the firewall may not be able to identify the deception."
Mimicking commands. Lin Shen's fingers tightened silently on the edge of the console.
This meant that the entity known as the 'Abyss Devourer' deep within the Guixu was no longer just an instinctive remnant of void consciousness. It was learning—absorbing the logic, language, and even intent flowing within human communications. The previously monitored 41% consciousness pollution level was likely a severely underestimated figure.
"Activate the 'green soil resonance barrier' and cover the contaminated frequency bands with ecological frequencies." Lin Shen issued the command, his voice as steady as usual. "Notify the Orbital Defense Command to implement physical isolation for all external interfaces of the relay station. At the same time—"
He brought up another image. Above the deep Pacific Ocean seabed, that Guixu node, resembling a giant abyssal eye, was pulsing with dark purple light in a slow rhythm. With every pulse, several new probes were ejected like spores, floating faintly toward the sea surface.
"—Synchronize current data streams in real-time to the inspector 'Crystal Analysis'. Additional note: This is the critical state of humanity's current ability to control the prisoners, and it is also the fundamental reason why we need 'Space-Time Calibration Crystals'. Request to include this dynamic in the highest weight of the mission risk assessment."
The command was transmitted in silence. Forty-three seconds later, a brief reply from the inspection team appeared in the system feedback window: [Received. Data has been loaded into the assessment model. Warning: The probe's mimicking behavior may indicate that consciousness pollution has entered the second stage; it is recommended to monitor subconscious fluctuations of all personnel who have had direct or indirect contact. The Council will continue to monitor.]
Three hundred meters below the Siberian permafrost, cold fang monitoring outpost B-7.
The thermometer pointed steadily at minus 272.15 degrees Celsius, infinitely approaching absolute zero in theory. However, the built-in sensor in Lieutenant Li Rui's helmet captured something that should absolutely not exist.
It was not mechanical vibration, nor was it the crisp sound of ice stress release. It was a sound—faint as an echo from the end of the universe, and clear as if whispers were scratching directly inside his skull.
"...misalignment... puzzle... should not be frozen... we were originally..."
"Command center, this is B-7." Li Rui tried to suppress the fluctuation in his voice, but the omnipresent whispers still made his report carry an imperceptible tremor. "Monitoring point No. 38 on the outer ice layer of cold fang, detected abnormal consciousness resonance ripples. Intensity rating Lambda-2, waveform characteristics 87% match with the historical record of 'cold fang' consciousness distortion peaks. But this time... it seems to carry parsable content."
He uploaded the compressed audio clip.
The command center fell into a brief silence. A few seconds later, Chu Yunshen's voice cut into the channel: "How is the decryption progress?"
"The decryption team is processing it; preliminary judgment is that it does not belong to any known civilization's language system." Li Rui took a deep breath. "It is more like a direct projection of emotions and concepts. The concepts of 'misalignment' and 'puzzle' have the highest repetition frequency."
The holographic screen switched immediately. The cold fang node—that creation sealed in absolute zero crystal, resembling a hybrid of a giant neural plexus and mechanical structure—had a crack, fine to the point of being almost invisible, slowly extending on the surface of its ice-sealed layer. The edges of the crack flickered with a faint blue light, its flickering frequency perfectly synchronized with the rhythm of the low-frequency whispers.
"The stability of the ice-sealed structure has dropped to 86%." Zhou Zhe's deputy reported from the side. "The crack extension speed is about 1.3 micrometers per hour. Based on this calculation, complete structural disintegration would take about 14 years, but consciousness leakage has already occurred."
Lin Shen brought up the real-time feedback of the Gaia Network 'green soil' node. In the signal slot representing cold fang, the originally stable green waveform was showing chaotic ripples. Those whispers were trying to resonate with the entire planet's ecological resonance network through some unknown medium of consciousness.
"Increase the energy injection intensity of the ice-sealed layer, adjust the frequency to the third harmonic of the 'green soil resonance spectrum'." Lin Shen ordered. "Notify Star Speaker observer Listening Wind; we need technical support for consciousness shielding against direct conceptual projection."
The order was transmitted quickly. One minute later, the system received a response from Listening Wind: [Have perceived the 'crying of the cold hunger'. Primary consciousness filters will be deployed to the B-7 site within one hour. Warning: Such whispers may possess cognitive pollution; it is recommended to immediately rotate all personnel at this site and conduct deep consciousness purification treatment.]
In the Talos consciousness network map analysis room, Elena Costa's eyes reflected the flowing river of data. On the holographic map floating in mid-air, the two nodes representing Guixu and cold fang were flashing with glaring red warnings. And the third node that had always been hovering at deep space coordinates (Right Ascension 18h 36m 56.3s, Declination +38° 47' 01")—that existence which had always been just a blurry point of light—was undergoing a drastic change at this moment.
"Lin Shen, the signal strength of the third node has increased by 400% within twenty minutes." There was both excitement and anxiety in Elena's voice. "And the nature of the signal has changed."
On the map, the third node was no longer just passively flashing. It began to pulse—a slow, deep, heartbeat-like rhythm. With every pulse, it sent out a gravitational ripple that was almost impossible to detect, in the direction of Guixu and cold fang.
Elena completed the real-time signal demodulation.
"It's not a receiver." She projected the spectrum analysis chart onto the main screen, and a complex waveform unfolded like a living thing. "It's transmitting. Transmitting a mixed signal—part of it is the ancient identity code of the Talos Civilization, and the other part..."
She magnified a high-frequency signal in the waveform: "...is a distress signal formed after encrypting and reorganizing the consciousness characteristic fragments of the 'Abyss Devourer' and 'cold fang'."
A distress signal. A mysterious node in deep space was using the 'voices' of two prisoners to call out to the depths of the universe.
"Receiver?" Lin Shen walked closer to the hologram.
"Cannot be fully parsed. The signal points to a vast area outside the spiral arm of the Milky Way, marked on the star map as the 'Silent Wasteland', with no records of any known civilization activity." Elena projected the last decoded symbol into the air. "But there is a repeated identifier at the end of the signal."
It was a simple geometric figure: an equilateral triangle surrounded by three concentric circles.
Liaison Coordinator, who had been standing silently on the side—the representative of the Silent Administrator Civilization—suddenly emitted a low resonant sound: "This is the emblem of the 'Covenant of the Watchers'. An alliance of ancient civilizations that has been marked as 'lost' in the Galactic Council archives. According to records, they were once responsible for supervising the imprisonment and reform of high-risk consciousness entities seven epochs ago."
The emblem of a lost civilization was using the signals of the current era's prisoners to send messages to a barren land.
Lin Shen stared at the emblem. The 'Original Heart Emblem' left by Alpha also contained a triangular structure. Could this be a coincidence?
"Synchronize this data to all members of the inspection team and the liaison interface of the Blade - Seventh Execution Court." Lin Shen decided. "At the same time, add the coordinates and signal characteristics of the third node to the priority sequence of the 'pioneer' deep space scan. If the 'Silent Outpost' mission is related to this node..."
He did not finish his sentence. But everyone in the command center knew: the journey to the Kuiper Belt might have significance far beyond obtaining a few key technologies. They were approaching a huge truth spanning multiple epochs, concerning imprisonment, watching, and the loss of civilizations.
And the truth is often more dangerous than known threats.
In front of the global consciousness stability field monitoring main screen, Chu Yunshen watched the curve representing the civilization pressure index. Within ninety minutes after the 'Abyss Devourer' probe intrusion and the 'cold fang' whisper leakage events occurred, this curve, which had originally been forcefully suppressed, showed two subtle but unmistakable upward spikes.
The first spike corresponded to news of communication interference in near-Earth orbit starting to circulate in small technology forums.
The second spike corresponded to rumors of garrison troops outside the Siberian base 'hearing strange wind sounds' fermenting on local social networks.
The index finally stopped at 72.8, an increase of 0.5 from before.
"External threats can temporarily unite people, but subtle cracks are growing." Chu Yunshen said softly to his deputy beside him. "Every move of the prisoners is testing the boundaries of ordinary people's sanity. The consciousness separation protocol prepared by Lin Shen... must be accelerated. We need to prepare a fuse for civilization for the worst-case scenario."
The countdown passed in silence.
Sixty-nine hours and seventeen minutes until the 'pioneer' sets sail.
And the ripples in the abyss have only just begun to spread.