137: Chapter 136 Memes, Whispers, and the Cost of Coexistence

The seventy-two-hour countdown began its cold and definitive ticking in every corner of the screens on the pioneer.

However, the internal threat offered them no respite.

The anomalous data ripple—the infiltrator labeled as the "meme seed"—demonstrated its eerie side in the fourth minute after the system self-check program started.

It did not attack the firewall, did not tamper with core data, and did not even consume any additional computing power.

It simply... began to "replicate."

The method of replication was extremely specific: it would quietly "imprint" an extremely weak copy of itself on the edge of any data packet flowing through the Cradle system that contained specific conceptual associations like "order-chaos," "balance," or "cost."

These copies also remained silent, yet they quietly spread along with the flow of normal data to the ship's secondary systems, environmental control networks, and even the cache zones of crew personal terminals.

It was like a drop of oil dripped into water; it did not change the composition of the water, yet it was everywhere.

The first to show signs of abnormality was the navigator, Li Mubai.

While performing a routine recalculation of the flight path, the star map projection before his eyes suddenly "flickered."

It was not a device malfunction, but rather, without any warning, a complex, multidimensional spatial geometric equation he had never studied surfaced in his mind.

The equation itself was a perfect creation of order, but its derivation process and results pointed to a strange spacetime structure that "allowed chaos to exist and maintain stability."

This knowledge was incredibly clear, as if he had always known it, yet it brought a strong sense of cognitive discomfort—because it challenged the fundamental axioms of human physics.

"I..." Li Mubai pressed his temples, his face turning pale, "There is an extra piece of... math in my head? No, it's some kind of... 'cognition'?"

Almost simultaneously, as Dr. Chen Wei of the medical team was checking the recovery data of Sarah's consciousness crystal, the moment her finger slid across the screen, she felt a subtle, static-like sensation at her fingertip.

Immediately afterward, she "felt" a cold, non-human perspective—the "observation record" left behind by the nano-probe when it scrutinized Sarah's consciousness for the last time before self-dismantling.

She instantly understood all the calculation processes in the probe's logic core regarding "beauty," "sacrifice priority," and "guardian value."

This understanding was cold and precise, devoid of any human emotional temperature, yet it left her in tears.

"It is sharing... everything it saw..." Chen Wei murmured.

The anomaly was spreading.

When the engine crew engineers were inspecting the pipes, they would suddenly "understand" the near-artistic energy loss optimization model contained in the coolant flow; the communications specialist, while debugging channels, would instantly "master" the technique of encoding information in chaotic background noise with the least amount of energy; even the synthetic food chef in the kitchen, while preparing nutrient paste, inexplicably "grasped" the subtle criteria for balancing stability and variability at the molecular level.

This knowledge was not instilled, but "awakened"—as if it had been sleeping at the bottom of everyone's consciousness, and was now gently "lit up" by some force.

The knowledge itself was harmless, even beneficial, but the sudden shift in cognitive perspective they brought caused chaos in human consciousness.

"The meme seed is spreading parts of the divine remains' 'cognitive structure,' or rather, its underlying perception mode of 'entanglement of order and chaos' to us."

β-1 began to analyze immediately after recovering some energy.

Its light was still dim, but its analytical ability seemed to have been enhanced by contact with the divine remains.

"This is not an attack, it's more like... unconscious 'assimilation'."

"The existence of the divine remains itself is a form of ultra-high-density paradoxical information body."

"Its unconsciously dissipated aura contains this information characteristic."

"We 'filtered' it in, and it naturally began to search for resonance carriers—that is, us, beings with complex consciousness structures."

"What is the end point of assimilation?" Zhao Yan asked, suppressing a strange thought that had flashed through his mind about how to optimize fleet formation in coordination with gravity anomalies.

"Unknown," β-1 replied.

"Based on existing samples, there may be two directions: One is to slowly change our cognitive modes, making us increasingly able to 'understand' or even 'accept' the state of deep entanglement between order and chaos, which may eventually blur our own value boundaries."

"Two, this knowledge itself may catalyze a technological and cognitive leap for our civilization, but the direction of this leap may deviate from the pure path of order development, becoming more... 'adaptive' and 'inclusive,' but also more unpredictable."

"Is it dangerous?"

"For the 'pure order civilization' defined by the Pruning Faction, it is extremely dangerous."

"This is the 'chaos pollution' they need to 'prune'."

"But for a civilization trying to survive in a perilous universe..." β-1 paused, and a warm supplement from Sarah's consciousness arrived, "This may be a painful gift, or a forced evolution."

At this moment, the Cradle system suddenly issued an alert.

"Detected interaction between the 'meme seed' copy and the 'web weaver protocol' base archive!"

"Interaction result: In the archive, encrypted files regarding 'chaos entity taxonomy,' 'order solidification risks,' and 'historical experimental records of dynamic equilibrium models' have been automatically unlocked and have begun data exchange with the seed copy!"

The aura from the divine remains could actually pry open the Covenant's encrypted archives?

"Stop the exchange!" Zhou Zhe operated the console immediately.

"Cannot stop it," the Cradle responded.

"The exchange process is based on the data resonance principle at the bottom layer of the protocol, and cannot be intervened with by authorized operations."

"The archive unlocking is one-way; the seed copy is 'reading' the archives and seems to be... performing some kind of 'verification' or 'comparison'."

Verification? Comparison? Why would the residual aura of a chaos entity want to read the Covenant's archives on chaos and order?

The answer soon presented itself in another form.

Everyone affected by the "meme seed," those who had gained knowledge in their minds, simultaneously developed a strong, directional "thirst for knowledge."

They longed to know more about the boundaries between order and chaos, about the Covenant's failed experiments on "balance," and about the past of the divine remains.

This longing was not a command, but an instinctive, cognitive-level "hunger."

"It is guiding us." Lin Shen's voice came from Earth; he was also resisting the various conjectures about "potential chaos-side branches of the technology tree system" constantly welling up in his mind.

"Guiding us to explore the secrets it shares with the Covenant."

"This may be the purpose of its 'infiltration'—not destruction, but building a connection, seeking... 'understanding'."

"Building a connection with the residual consciousness of a star-killing monster?" Zhao Yan frowned. "The risk is too high."

"But we have no way out." β-1's light flickered. "The seed has been sown."

"We either passively wait for it to sprout, with unknown results; or we actively intervene, trying to guide its growth direction, at least to grasp some initiative."

"And active intervention requires deeper 'understanding'."

"I suggest... executing the 'observational contact' with the divine remains as planned, but with a revised goal: no longer just to obtain intelligence, but to try to understand the essence and intent of the 'meme seed,' and to find a possible method of 'symbiotic management'."

Active contact to understand a monster that was influencing them from within.

This proposal was more radical than before, but it also seemed to be the only way out.

"The scout ship is watching, the Scavenger is wandering, and the seed is sprouting inside us." Zhao Yan looked at the confused, enlightened, or struggling expressions of his companions and let out a slow breath. "We have no safe path left. β-1, how long do you need to prepare?"

"Thirty minutes to recalibrate the resonance channel, establish a reverse firewall, and ensure the contact process does not lead to large-scale activation or reverse control of the seed."

"At the same time, we need a brand new, uncontaminated Type A prism as the absolute consciousness anchor for the contact person."

"What about the prism?"

Chu Yunshen's voice carried an apology: "The new Type A prism will take at least four more hours..."

"Use mine." Zhou Zhe suddenly spoke.

Everyone looked at him.

"I mean... use my neural link status with the Silent Curtain." Zhou Zhe explained.

Because he had maintained the curtain for a long time, his consciousness had become accustomed to that nihilistic state of "disembodied existence," and his self-boundary was relatively blurred but exceptionally resilient, making it difficult to be assimilated by external information structures.

"I can serve as the 'base' for the consciousness anchor, allowing β-1 to project part of Dr. Sarah's stable consciousness waves onto it to form a temporary composite anchor."

"This is more flexible than a single prism and can better withstand the impact of chaotic information."

"The risk?" Zhao Yan asked bluntly.

"My self-cognition may be further diluted, or even partially permanently changed." Zhou Zhe's voice was calm. "But compared to the risks to the entire system and mission failure, this is acceptable."

After a brief silence, Zhao Yan nodded: "Approved. Prepare for contact."

Just as β-1 and Zhou Zhe began their tense preparations, the communication from Ashes came through again, with an exceptionally serious tone:

"The scout ship is making a move! It just launched three micro-probes deep into the Chaos Concentration Zone!"

"The probe trajectory... is headed straight for several major 'embrittlement points' of the divine remains!"

"It seems to want to sample directly!"

"Can we intercept?"

"Too late, the probes are extremely fast and use some kind of spatial skip technology."

"But..." Elena's voice cut in, with a trace of disbelief, "When the probes approached the embrittlement points, their outer camouflage coating suddenly failed!"

"The exposed true structure... has obvious early engineering style of the Covenant civilization!"

"And, they emitted a faint... 'identification code' compatible with the web weaver protocol?!"

Covenant-style probes? Launched from the Pruning Faction's scout ship?

This information left everyone stunned.

"Could this scout ship, or rather, the forces of the 'Gardener Chief', possess a portion of the Covenant legacy? Perhaps... they might even be connected to a lost branch of the Covenant?" Elena's speculation was earth-shattering.

If the Pruning Faction itself originated from a branch within the Covenant civilization that advocated for 'absolute order,' then their extreme hostility toward 'chaos,' their interest in the 'lost Covenant legacy,' and even their ability to manufacture weapons like the 'value entropy-increasing bomb' that target consciousness structures, all had a more logical explanation.

This also meant that what they were facing was not just an external aggressor, but possibly a hostile faction in a 'war of orthodoxy.'

"The probe has begun sampling!" Ashes reported. "The divine remains... show no obvious reaction to the probe's approach? No... wait, the chaos radiation pattern around the embrittlement point has undergone a subtle change, as if it is... 'cooperating' with the sampling? How is this possible?"

Unless... the divine remains can recognize the Covenant characteristics carried by the probe and associate them with the fragile connection established here at the 'Cradle,' mistaking this for further contact from 'its own kind'?

The chaos was intensifying. The purpose of the scout ship had become even more elusive. The reaction of the divine remains was unpredictable. And they had to complete a dangerous deep dive of consciousness within this mist.

Thirty minutes later.

Contact was ready.

Zhou Zhe sat in the specially designed connection chair, his neural interface linked to the Silent Curtain, the Cradle system, and the core threads of β-1. His consciousness was like a calm and empty plaza, ready to receive a guest from afar. β-1 transformed the most stable and inclusive parts of Sarah's consciousness, along with the protocols regarding 'protection' and 'understanding' from the probe logic, into a gentle stream of light. It flowed into Zhou Zhe's consciousness plaza, forming a glowing, self-adjusting composite phantom.

"Consciousness anchor stable," β-1 reported.

"Cradle resonance protection maximized."

"Reverse firewall activated."

"Contact channel opening—using the 'meme seed' as a guiding path for retrospective deep contact."

"Objective: Understand the essence of the seed and explore the true intentions of the divine remains."

"Contact countdown, three, two, one..."

Zhou Zhe felt his 'sense of existence' being infinitely stretched and diluted, then rapidly falling along a path composed of countless tiny points of light (copies of the meme seed), shimmering with the mixed luster of chaos and order.

There was no feeling of passing through matter, only the direct wash of information.

He 'saw' it.

Not with his eyes, but perceiving directly with his consciousness.

It was a boundless ocean composed of 'contradiction' itself. Light and dark were not opposites, but intertwined into a spiral; order and chaos were not fighting, but like two different colored liquids, eternally and slowly permeating and rotating into each other, forming huge and beautiful vortices. In the center of each vortex, fragmented geometric shapes, broken logical chains, and uninterpretable emotional remnants vaguely emerged—these were the traces of the divine remains' attempts to understand and integrate itself during its long imprisonment, all of which had failed.

Pain. Pain was everywhere. Not physical pain, but a 'discomfort' at the level of existence, the endless 'friction' and 'tearing sensation' caused by two fundamentally incompatible origins being forcibly bound together.

Deep within this ocean of contradiction, the faint light emitted by Zhou Zhe's consciousness anchor (that composite phantom), carrying Sarah's inclusivity and the protection logic of the probe, was like a stone dropped into a deep pool, stirring up a ripple.

Wherever the ripple passed, the agitation of contradiction seemed to... calm down slightly. It was not a resolution, but a certain degree of 'soothing.'

A vast, blurry focus of consciousness, formed by countless whispers, slowly 'turned' toward this point of light.

"...New... harmonizer...?"

"...Carrying... a familiar scent... order... but not rigid... chaos... but not frantic..."

"...What do you... want? To understand... me? Or... to use... me?"

The residual consciousness of the divine remains asked directly. Its thought pattern was extremely jumpy and non-linear, containing both extremely rational deductions and extremely emotional venting.

Zhou Zhe (through β-1's translation) struggled to focus his intent and responded:

"We want to understand. To understand you, and to understand the 'seed' growing in our system. We do not want to fight needlessly, but we need to know how to coexist."

"...Coexist..." The consciousness of the divine remains seemed to chew on the word, triggering a violent churning of contradictions that brought more ripples of pain. "...The Covenant... also said... coexist... harmonize... and then... they sealed me..."

"We are not the Covenant. We are latecomers forced into this."

"...Latecomers... do you see... my pain... my... essence..." The consciousness of the divine remains pushed fragmented images toward the point of light: ancient experimental grounds, forced fusion rituals, out-of-control explosions, spires of order collapsing into chaos, itself being contaminated, feared, banished...

"...I... am not a monster... I am just... a failed... experiment... a dream... that longs to be whole... but is forever broken..."

The confession of a failed experiment. This was vastly different from the image of the 'chaos monster that devours order' in the Covenant records.

"...The seed... is my unintentional... breath... it is the dust of my existential essence... it seeks... resonance... it seeks an... consciousness that can 'understand' this contradictory state..." The divine remains continued to convey, "...It has no malice... only... the instinct to share... and... a faint... hope... hope that someone can... find... a way to give me peace... or... at least... to no longer be painfully alone..."

Sharing pain, seeking understanding, longing for peace.

Is this the essence of the meme seed? A star-destroying entity, in eternal torment, unconsciously emitting the most fragile cry for help?

"...Those... little things... bearing the mark of the Covenant..." The consciousness of the divine remains pointed to the probe launched by the scout ship, "...What are they... looking for? More... pain? Or... the weakness of the seal?"

"We do not know. We have limited knowledge of them." Zhou Zhe responded candidly, "But if you are willing, we can try, within our limited seventy-two hours, to build a more stable temporary equilibrium model for you to alleviate your pain. In exchange, we need your help to deal with the external threats that might harm us, and might further harm you."

The proposal was issued.

The consciousness of the divine remains fell into a long silence. The ocean of contradiction churned, as if engaged in a fierce internal debate.

Finally, a faint but clear thought came through:

"...I... agree."

"...Help you... observe... warn... share the... darkness... that I 'see'..."

"...But... the model... must be careful... very careful... any error... could make me... more painful... or... wake up..."

The agreement was reached.

A fragile, temporary alliance based on mutual benefit.

And as the contact was about to end, the residual consciousness of the divine remains sent one last piece of information, regarding the data types it perceived those 'Covenant-style probes' were collecting:

"...They are collecting... the resonant frequencies of the 'order injection points'... and... the gravitational anomaly maps of the 'Chaos Concentration Zone'..."

"...This combination... is very familiar..."

"...It's like... looking for... a 'key'..."

"...A key... to open some door... that should not be opened..."

A key?

What door?

The thought of the divine remains became extremely chaotic and fearful here, unable to provide more information.

The contact channel closed.

Zhou Zhe's consciousness returned, and he opened his eyes abruptly, panting heavily, as if he had just returned from a deep-sea dive, drenched in cold sweat. His mind had been stuffed with too much contradictory, painful, and incomprehensible information, and he needed time to digest it.

And the moment he returned, the Cradle system sounded another alarm:

"Detected a significant decrease in 'meme seed' activity! Some copies have entered a silent state!"

"At the same time, received a filtered and organized wide-area monitoring data stream from the direction of the Chaos Concentration Zone! The data packet is marked: 'Eye of the divine remains · Shared View (Frame 1)'!"

Zhao Yan immediately opened the data packet.

Unfolding was a dynamic 'threat situational map' covering an extremely vast star region.

On the map, the energy readings, shield frequency weakness predictions, probe trajectories, and sampling data analysis of the Pruning Faction scout ship 'shadows touch' were clearly visible.

The precise outlines, movement vectors, and consciousness disturbance intensity gradients of the Scavenger entities were clear at a glance.

Even in the more distant deep space, several blurry 'high-order reaction sources' (suspected to be the Pruning Faction's follow-up fleet) that were slowly moving toward the Solar System were also marked.

And in several dark corners of the galaxy, several 'high-dimensional rifts' and 'Chaos Concentration Zone' that had not been recorded by any civilization were also flashing with dangerous signs.

A pair of eyes from an ancient horror had opened to them.

They saw a panoramic view of the darkness they had previously been unable to see.

The price was that a 'seed' from these eyes had already been buried in the consciousness soil of their civilization.

And in the distance, those probes bearing the Covenant mark seemed to be searching for a 'key.'

A key that might be related to the divine remains, to the seal, and to some kind of 'door.'

The seventy-two-hour countdown was ticking away.

And the mist of truth seemed to have just been blown away at one corner, revealing an even deeper and more dangerous abyss beneath it.