123: Chapter 122 Whispers from the Tree Roots

In the private analysis room on the seventh level underground in the Qinling Mountains, Lin Shen shut down all external communication links.

Floating on the holographic screen was the core interface of the technology tree system—a giant tree composed of countless light branches and nodes, currently displaying an abnormal state of activity.

The branch representing the "Space-Time Shield Theory" was growing slowly on its own, while the primary node of the "Dimensional Stability Anchor," which should have been locked, was flickering with a faint pre-unlock glow.

This was not the result of his active promotion.

Lin Shen pulled up the system logs.

The last major unlock was the "Qingtian Passage" technology obtained seven months ago, after which the technology tree had been in a stable cognitive digestion period.

According to the system mechanism, the corresponding branches would only be activated and grow when he or the team he led made breakthrough progress in real-world technology.

But at this moment, there was no corresponding real-world breakthrough.

Unless... in the system's judgment mechanism, "perceiving a threat of sufficient magnitude" was, in itself, a condition for unlocking.

He zoomed in on the prerequisite list for the "Dimensional Stability Anchor" node.

Three conditions were still displayed in gray as unfulfilled:

Master at least three different civilization systems' views on space-time (current progress 2/3)

Possess a record of maintaining a macroscopic wormhole for over 1,000 hours of stable operation (currently none)

Have contacted complete thought fragments of a higher-dimensional conscious entity (current status: contact signs detected)

The third one was flickering.

Lin Shen pulled up all data streams related to higher dimensions from the past 72 hours.

Most were routine spatial curvature monitoring, Gaia Network consciousness fluctuation records, and scattered higher-dimensional mathematical descriptions parsed by Elena from the ruins of the Talos Civilization.

But among them was an abnormal data packet, marked as "Third Node Secondary Signal Payload," received exactly four minutes after Ashes revealed information about the "Covenant of the Watchers."

The data packet did not trigger a standard alarm because it was automatically classified by the system as "non-threatening cognitive supplementary material."

Lin Shen decompressed it.

Inside was not language or images, but a projection of a pure thought structure—a multi-dimensional topological model describing the principle of how a certain conscious entity maintains self-identity across different dimensions.

The sophistication of that model far exceeded any mathematical tool currently available to humanity, but the technology tree system had quietly completed the parsing of 37% of its basic structure in the background.

This was the "contact sign."

And even more unsettling, when Lin Shen tried to reverse-map this thought model, he found an extremely subtle directionality within it—the maintenance techniques described by the model could exactly compensate for several key stability flaws in the "Consciousness Separation Protocol" that he had been unable to resolve.

Coincidence? Or some kind of precise feeding?

At the same time, at the lunar orbit shipyard, on the engineering deck of the pioneer.

Zhou Zhe, wearing a heavy engineering exoskeleton, stood beside the main shield generator.

The huge ring-shaped device had already had its casing removed, and the dense energy conduits inside were exposed like silver blood vessels.

Under his command, six autonomous maintenance robotic arms were embedding a Deep Blue crystal array into the gaps of the conduit nodes.

"Space-Time Shield Transient Overload Module, arrays seven through nine installed." The assistant engineer's voice came through the communicator, "But Supervisor Zhou, according to simulation calculations, even with all twelve sets of arrays in place, facing the predicted intensity of the gravitational anomaly, the shield's theoretical overload buffer time is only... 1.3 seconds. Exceeding this threshold, the shield will undergo recursive collapse, and the entire generator will be completely burned out along with it."

"1.3 seconds is enough." Zhou Zhe did not stop his calibration work, "As long as the ship is completely silent during that time, the gravitational anomaly itself will not have persistent destructive power. The key is that the shield must restore basic protection levels within 0.5 seconds after the anomaly ends, otherwise the subsequent tidal wave of space debris will become a fatal threat."

"But how can we guarantee that the anomaly will really end on time? The Third Node's forecast only said 'generate,' not 'how long it will last."

Zhou Zhe looked up at the bridge observation window suspended above the engineering deck.

Zhao Yan was standing there, with the silver-haired, black-armored Ashes beside him.

The two seemed to be discussing something, and Ashes' fingers were tracing a certain trajectory in the void.

"We have experts." Zhou Zhe said, "Continue installing the tenth array. Also, notify the bioengineering team; I need all crew members to complete a new round of neural adaptability enhancement before departure, focusing on increasing the tolerance threshold of the vestibular system to space-time distortion. I don't want anyone vomiting on the console due to dimensional vertigo at a critical moment."

"Yes. Also, the 'heart crystal' synchronization interface for the consciousness isolation chamber has been installed, but Dr. Sarah's consciousness waveform... has some abnormal fluctuations. The medical team is asking if the connection test needs to be delayed."

Zhou Zhe pulled up the real-time monitoring data.

The crystal waveform graph representing Sarah's consciousness was changing its harmonic characteristics at an extremely slow speed, gradually approaching... a kind of mirror-symmetrical form of the low-frequency consciousness ripples of the "Abyss Devourer" leaking from the Guixu node.

That was not contamination. It was more like some kind of passive resonant learning.

"Proceed with the connection test as planned, but use level-three consciousness filters throughout, and back up all data to an independent server in real-time." Zhou Zhe ordered, "If any abnormal synchronization rate exceeds five percent, disconnect physically immediately and send a highest-priority alert to Commander-in-Chief Lin."

"Understood."

At the other end of the engineering deck, Zhao Yan had just finished a short conversation with Ashes.

"So the usage time limit of the 'Silence Mask' actually varies depending on the user's consciousness strength?" Zhao Yan confirmed.

"Strictly speaking, it's the stability of the consciousness structure." Ashes retracted her hand, the residual light traces in the air slowly dissipating, "The more an individual's thinking tends toward linear, logical, and clear self-boundaries, the longer they can maintain it, and the weaker the side effects. Conversely, if the user themselves has a tendency toward consciousness diffusion, or is currently enduring external consciousness interference..."

She looked down at the crystal container being installed on the engineering deck below, which was connected to several glowing conduits.

"...then the 'Silence Mask' might become a catalyst for consciousness anchoring loss. That Dr. Sarah of yours, her consciousness state is not suitable for using this device. In fact, after entering the Kuiper Belt, it would be best for her to remain in a state of deep isolation throughout."

Zhao Yan frowned: "Her consciousness stability is the key to maintaining the synchronization between the Gaia Network and the ship's protective field. If she is completely isolated—"

"Then find an alternative," Ashes interrupted him, "or take the risk. In the 'Gardener Chief's' fleet, there are units specifically for hunting consciousness-sensitive individuals. If you expose that you possess a 'key' capable of deep resonance with a planetary consciousness network, they are very likely to adjust their tactical priorities."

She paused, her dark golden eyes turning to Zhao Yan: "Captain, do you understand the origin of the name 'Pruning Faction'?"

"They prune away the civilization branches they deem 'not in accordance with order'."

"Not entirely." Ashes' voice lowered slightly, "'Pruning' is an extremely delicate operation. They won't crudely destroy an entire civilization, but will precisely excise those 'incoherent' parts from the civilization's conscious entity—overly strong individual will, irrational collective resonance, sparks of inspiration that deviate from the main technology tree... all variables that could trigger chaos. What is left is a neat, efficient, stable, but also forever-lost-the-potential-for-evolution civilization framework."

She pointed to the crystal chamber where Sarah's consciousness resided: "An entity like her, in their eyes, is the 'weed' most in need of pruning. If I were you, I would hide her in the deepest shadows of consciousness, rather than letting her become a shining node in the defensive network."

Just then, Lin Shen's voice sounded over the ship-wide broadcast, calm but with a rare hint of tension: "Attention all mission-related personnel, the Third Node signal has undergone a structural change. The coordinates of the predicted gravitational anomaly have shifted; the new coordinates are located within a spherical region of plus or minus fifteen light-seconds from the original position, and the specific landing point is distributed as a probability cloud. Repeat, the anomaly is no longer a point event, but a regionalized probability event."

Zhao Yan immediately pulled up the star map. The originally clear red coordinate marker had now expanded into a blurry, constantly deforming region of light fog, covering a 3,000-kilometer stretch of the pioneer's preset route.

"Specific distribution parameters of the probability cloud?" Zhao Yan asked.

"Being calculated, but it takes time." Lin Shen's voice came through, "More importantly, a new fragment of information has been added to the node signal. After preliminary decryption, the content is: 'The test subject must prove their ability to choose a path. Order within chaos is the cornerstone of true order.'"

Order within chaos. Ability to choose a path.

Ashes' pupils contracted slightly: "This is not a simple early warning mechanism... this is a screening program. The Covenant of the Watchers is testing whether the approacher has the ability to make correct judgments in uncertainty. If the ship traverses in a straight line as originally planned, it is highly likely to crash into the area of highest anomaly intensity."

"Then how should we choose a path?" Zhao Yan stared at the light fog, "If the anomaly is a probability cloud, any choice is a gamble."

"We need more information." Lin Shen said, "Elena is trying to find historical records related to this area from the Talos map. Also, Zhou Zhe, can the shield's overload buffer time be extended to more than two seconds?"

On the engineering deck, Zhou Zhe looked at the eleventh array that had just been installed: "The limit state can reach 1.8 seconds, but it requires pre-charging and will consume 60% of the shield's basic energy reserves. If we encounter an attack immediately after the anomaly ends..."

"Do it." Zhao Yan made the decision, "We need the widest possible error tolerance window. Supervisor Ashes, does the Executive Court have similar experience in dealing with this?"

Ashes was silent for a moment. "Yes. But our approach is usually... to deploy a cluster of probes, use quantity to cover the probability cloud, and then choose the path with the least loss. But you don't have those resources, nor the time."

She suddenly raised her hand, pointing to an edge area on the star map where the light fog was relatively thin: "However, if this were my mission, I would choose here. Not because the anomaly intensity is low, but because during the peak of the Talos Civilization, this location might be the remains of the entrance to an abandoned 'Starry Ancient Road'."

"Starry Ancient Road?"

"A kind of ancient curvature navigation shortcut network, most of which were destroyed in the war. But the entrance structure itself often possesses a natural space-time stabilization effect, which might suppress the probability of gravitational anomaly generation." Ashes pulled up a blurry historical star map and superimposed it; an almost invisible dashed line happened to pass through the area she pointed to, "Of course, this is just a conjecture based on incomplete records. The actual effect cannot be guaranteed."

Conjecture. Probability. Cannot be guaranteed.

Zhao Yan looked at the light fog, then at the countdown: There were 25 hours and 7 minutes until the predicted gravitational anomaly occurred. There were 66 hours and 29 minutes until departure. He needed to make a final recommendation for route adjustment before the next general briefing with Lin Shen. But at this moment, all he had was Ashes' conjecture, the Third Node's riddle, and a constantly changing probability cloud.

"Zhou Zhe." He connected to the engineering channel, "Besides the shield, how many degrees of evasive steering can the ship's emergency maneuver capability complete within 1.5 seconds?"

"The theoretical limit is 45 degrees, but it will severely deplete propellant reserves and may cause structural stress overload on the hull."

"Enough. Start programming the maneuver plan, covering a conical area of plus or minus 45 degrees centered on the original route."

"Understood. Also, the synchronization test of the consciousness isolation chamber... has just been completed. Dr. Sarah's consciousness waveform showed a brief directed resonance pointing to the Third Node at the moment of connection. Duration 0.3 seconds, intensity rating Lambda-1. It has been recorded."

Directed resonance. Pointing to the siren in deep space.

Zhao Yan exchanged a glance with Ashes on the other side of the observation window. The silver-haired woman nodded slightly; the meaning was clear: this is why it needs to be hidden.

And out of everyone's sight, in a shadowy corner of the engineering deck, a nano-structure the size of a microorganism, which had fallen off the Guixu probe, was silently seeping into the gap in the insulation layer of a cooling pipe. Its surface had already begun to show optical encoding patterns similar to the internal network communication protocol of the pioneer.

Imitation, never stopped.