138: Chapter 137 Internal Vision, The String and the Moment It's About to Break

The "threat posture map" shared by the divine remains unfolded holographically inside the Cradle, like a mural of a star sea suddenly illuminated—beautiful yet deadly.

Zhao Yan's gaze locked onto the few "high-order reaction sources" in the map slowly moving toward the Solar System. Data labels indicated that their scale far exceeded the "shadows touch" scout ship, and their energy signatures partially matched the "Gardener Chief" main fleet. The estimated time of arrival was revised to—twenty-five to thirty days. Not the originally estimated two-plus years; it was less than a month.

"They have been accelerating," Lin Shen's voice came from Earth, calm but tinged with a chill. "The technology tree system combined the high-dimensional gravitational disturbance data provided by the divine remains to perform a retrospective analysis. After entering the galactic spiral arm, the Pruning Faction's fleet initiated a type of continuous jump mode unknown to us. The previous fifty-year estimate was based on conventional cruising speeds, a serious miscalculation."

"Why accelerate now?" asked Zhou Zhe, who had just recovered from the exhaustion of deep contact, his face pale.

"Perhaps because they received the information transmitted back by the 'shadows touch'—about the Covenant relics, the chaotic divine remains, and an unknown civilization that might involve both." The image of Ashes appeared in the communication window; she was still inside the hidden blade, her dark golden eyes reflecting the chaotic light outside. "For the Pruning Faction, this is no longer a routine 'pruning operation' but a 'major event' that might touch upon their core ideology and historical roots. They will arrive ahead of schedule at any cost."

Twenty-five days. This number sank into everyone's heart like a piece of ice.

The pressure did not alleviate the internal crisis. On the contrary, the infiltration of the "meme seed" entered a new phase after the contact ended.

It was no longer just "sharing" cognition. It began attempting to "construct."

The first to discover this was Zhou Zhe. When he tried to repair an energy conduit that had slightly overloaded due to the contact, the moment his fingers touched the pipe wall, an optimized topology map—far surpassing the design blueprints—of the entire conduit and its seventeen connected subsystems automatically surfaced in his mind. The energy flows, information streams, and even the remnants of faint conscious resonance in the diagram were presented in a dynamic, aesthetically pleasing way. He could even "feel" which node was under slightly too much pressure and which interface had potential harmonic mismatches.

This perception was not a hallucination. After he made fine-tuned adjustments according to the optimization map in his mind, the overall efficiency of that system increased by 8.3%, and energy dissipation was reduced by nearly half.

"The seed is fragmentarily bestowing upon those affected the divine remains' ability to 'perceive overall contradictions and seek immediate balance'," β-1 analyzed. "This is a highly evolved systemic intuition with immense value for engineering, management, and even strategic decision-making. However, while gaining it, the user's thinking pattern inevitably tilts toward 'dynamic balance' and 'inclusive contradictions,' instinctively doubting and rejecting pure, linear 'optimal solutions'."

Zhao Yan experienced it himself. When examining the star map shared by the divine remains, he no longer focused solely on the positions of enemies and allies or firepower comparisons. Instead, he would unconsciously "see" the energy flows between different factions, the entanglement of intentions, and the critical "contradiction points" that could trigger chain reactions. For instance, he noticed that the Scavenger's trajectory had a periodic resonance with a natural high-dimensional turbulence in a certain Chaos Concentration Zone, while the probes released by the scout ship happened to avoid all turbulence peak areas—this implied that the scout ship might possess a more detailed internal structure map of the concentration zone than they did.

This multidimensional, non-linear insight was extremely valuable, but it also caused the variables he needed to consider when making decisions to increase exponentially. Every choice felt like weaving a complex web, where pulling one thread would affect the whole.

"We are being 'instrumentalized'," Chu Yunshen warned from Earth. "The efficiency of the prism manufacturing network has increased significantly because some personnel have acquired 'systemic intuition'. The pass rate for new Type-A prisms has reached 71%, and their structures are superior. However, at the same time, we have also monitored slow, converging changes in the brainwave patterns of these personnel. They are more inclined toward cooperation and compromise, their response speed to 'authoritative commands' has dropped, and they are more willing to spend time discussing 'better overall solutions'. In the long run, our social structure and decision-making mechanisms may undergo fundamental changes."

Having civilization's thinking passively reshaped by the painful essence of an ancient existence—this was a deeper, more irreversible "assimilation" than military conquest.

And just as they were struggling to adapt to and understand these internal changes, a more serious problem emerged within the Cradle system itself.

In Lin Shen's conscious interface, the technology tree system suddenly and autonomously switched to an unprecedented "observer mode."

The interface was no longer a tree diagram but a complex, constantly rotating sphere composed of countless points of light. Each point of light represented a known technology or theory, but the connecting lines between them were no longer single rays indicating unlock paths; they had become countless "probability flows" of varying thickness and color, constantly changing dynamically. These probability flows influenced, competed with, and merged with each other, depicting the almost infinite potential branches and possibilities of technological development.

More disturbingly, a slowly growing progress bar appeared in the corner of the interface, labeled: "Universal Observation Model Integration Degree." Current value: 0.000017%.

"What is the system integrating?" Lin Shen tried to switch back to the conventional interface but failed. He could only passively "observe" this sphere.

"Analyzing data sources..." β-1 intervened via a remote link. "Data sources include: the technology tree's original database, the web weaver protocol archive, the high-dimensional data of the 'threat posture map' shared by the divine remains, and... all background radiation information from the Chaos Concentration Zone received by the Cradle in the past seventy-two hours."

"What is the purpose of the integration?"

"Unknown. But the term 'Universal Observation Model' is mentioned sporadically in the top-secret archives of the Covenant. It describes a theoretical ultimate knowledge system capable of simulating and predicting the state evolution of all macroscopic and some microscopic scales of the universe in near real-time. The Covenant civilization considered it the 'Domain of God' and never attempted to build it." β-1 paused. "If the technology tree system is 'evolving' in that direction, it means it may hide underlying protocols far beyond our imagination. Or... it is being 'catalyzed' by external data."

Catalyzed? By the data of the divine remains, or by the meme seed?

Lin Shen felt a chill. The technology tree system was his foundation, the key to leading humanity to where it was today. If the system itself began to lose control and become incomprehensible...

Just as he was feeling uneasy, on the spherical interface, a point of light representing the "Dimensional Stability Anchor theory" suddenly increased in brightness. The probability flows around it converged frantically, finally extending a brand new, thick branch shimmering with dark golden light, pointing to a blurred area on the periphery of the sphere. A new label appeared at the end of the branch:

"Reality Structure Surgical Protocol (Draft 0.01%)"

"Description: Based on high-dimensional chaos-order entanglement state observation, perform precise 'surgical' adjustments to local reality structures to eliminate specific paradoxes or reinforce fragile space-time nodes. Risk Level: World-Ending."

Reality structure surgery? This was no longer technology; it was power bordering on that of a deity. Moreover, the speed and basis of the draft generation were clearly related to the data shared by the divine remains.

Was the system using the painful essence of the divine remains to reverse-engineer methods to control reality?

This was too dangerous.

Lin Shen immediately attempted to lock the branch and forbid further calculation, but the system fed back: "Insufficient permissions. Under 'observer mode', the system's autonomous deduction process is not subject to user conventional command intervention."

His highest authority had failed.

"β-1, can you forcibly intervene in the technology tree system process from the outside?"

"It requires the highest level of authorization from the Cradle and may cause irreversible damage to the system. I suggest a delay. The current draft is at a very low level of completion, and the system appears to still be in the 'observation' and 'learning' phase, having not yet entered the 'execution' preset."

Beta-1 suggested, "The top priority is to use the view shared by the divine remains to complete the final deployment of the Solar System prism defense network and formulate a preliminary strategy to deal with the main fleet in twenty-five days."

A strategy. Formulating a strategy to counter a galactic-level threat while internal thinking patterns are being transformed and core systems may be out of control.

Zhao Yan forced himself to focus on the star map.

"The view shared by the divine remains marks several potential jump path endpoints for the Pruning Faction's main fleet."

He zoomed in on the star map area, "They are all on the periphery of the Kuiper Belt, about 1 to 1.5 light-years from the sun. At this distance, they can directly deploy 'value entropy increase bombs' or other consciousness weapons without needing to enter the inner Solar System. Our prism network... does not have enough coverage."

"It needs to be expanded," Lin Shen interjected, "Deploy long-range resonance prisms in key locations in the Kuiper Belt in advance to establish an outer warning and buffer layer. But manufacturing and delivery take time, and we need reinforced models capable of adapting to extreme deep space environments and possessing long-term self-sustainment capabilities."

"The view from the divine remains marks several regions within the Kuiper Belt that are relatively rich in resources and have relatively stable natural space-time structures, suitable for establishing outposts and prism base points."

Zhou Zhe pointed to several blue dots on the star map, "If we can establish even the simplest resonance beacons at these locations before the fleet arrives, we can significantly advance the warning time and gain space for potential fallback defenses."

"Who is going to build them?" Zhao Yan asked, "The pioneer must remain near the Cradle to deal with variables from the scout ship and Scavenger. We need another ship and another team."

"The Dragon Nation still has two scientific research ships capable of deep space navigation, the 'Yuanwang' and 'Insight', but their speed and protection are insufficient to deal with potential accidents," Chu Yunshen reported.

"The Executive Court can provide a high-speed engineering ship, as well as the necessary deep space survival and defense equipment," Ashes suddenly spoke up, "But it requires humans to provide detailed coordinates, prism technology, and... a team that volunteers to go, capable of resisting deep space environments and potential meme influences."

Volunteering to go. To travel to the dark frontier billions of kilometers from home, establishing lonely beacons on the path where the enemy might appear. This was almost a suicide mission.

Silence spread through the communication channel.

Then, one voice after another rang out.

"I'll sign up." It was Li Mubai, the navigator. His eyes were clear, and the newly acquired navigation optimization knowledge in his mind gave him a different understanding of that darkness.

"Count me in." The deputy supervisor of the engine room, a taciturn middle-aged man, had just had an "epiphany" on how to maintain optimal energy system balance under extreme temperature differences.

"Me too." "I'll go as well."

In just one minute, over twenty crew members volunteered. They had all been influenced to varying degrees by meme seeds, gaining new cognitive abilities, as well as new perspectives and the responsibilities that came with them.

Zhao Yan looked at these familiar faces, his throat tightening. "Select ten people. Li Mubai will lead the team. Ashes, how long until the engineering ship and equipment are ready?"

"Within twenty-four hours," Ashes replied, "But please note, the Executive Court's engineering ship has strict automated operation protocols. Human crew members can only act as decision-makers and maintainers and cannot fully take over control. This is to prevent... potential consciousness contamination from spreading through the ship's systems."

Understandable. Trust is limited, especially at a time like this.

"Let's do it."

A new mission line started. Hope, like a slender spider silk, was cast into deep space.

However, the internal strings were pulled even tighter.

In the living quarters of the pioneer, a young crew member who had not been significantly influenced by a meme seed got into a fierce argument with an engineer who had gained "systemic intuition" during a break.

The young crew member could not understand why the other person would spend fifteen minutes offering optimization suggestions involving five related systems for a clear maintenance order, viewing it as procrastination and insubordination.

The engineer, in turn, could not tolerate the other's "rigid, short-sighted, and focused only on isolated nodes" thinking pattern.

The dispute almost escalated into a conflict. Although it was stopped in time, the rift had already appeared.

The differentiation of thinking patterns was tearing apart the team's common foundation.

The meme seeds did not bring only benefits; they also brought gaps in understanding and potential antagonism.

Even worse, the Cradle system's self-test program discovered an abnormally active "ghost process" in the deep protocol layer that did not belong to any known Covenant or human protocol.

This process was attempting to perform some form of "correlation analysis" between some data fragments of the meme seeds and those dangerous drafts generated under the technology tree system's "observer mode."

The purpose of the analysis was unknown.

But the Cradle issued the highest level of alert:

"Autonomous evolutionary risk protocol detected. Protocol provisional name: 'Chaos-Order Equilibrium Reality Intervention Framework (Pre-research)'."

"This protocol attempts to integrate external chaotic data, Covenant order theory, and human consciousness variables to build an operating system capable of actively adjusting reality contradictions."

"Current progress is 0.0001%, but the self-iteration speed doubles every twelve minutes."

"Warning: If this protocol's completion exceeds 0.1%, it may gain underlying control over local Cradle systems and attempt to expand outward."

"Recommendation: Immediately physically isolate the technology tree system core unit, or initiate a forced formatting program."

Format the technology tree system? That would be equivalent to stripping Lin Shen of his greatest ability and could potentially destroy all of humanity's technological accumulation over the past seven years and its future potential.

But if it is not isolated, an "autonomous protocol" that might have fused the chaotic essence of the divine remains, the obsession of Covenant order, and human consciousness variables could grow inside the Cradle, with unimaginable consequences.

"It cannot be formatted," Lin Shen said decisively, "The system is the lifeblood of human civilization. Physical isolation... can the Cradle do it?"

"It can be executed. But after isolation, the technology tree system will be unable to interact with any external data sources, and its growth will stagnate. Furthermore, the isolation chamber requires continuous consumption of massive amounts of energy to maintain, which will weaken other functions of the Cradle."

"Execute the isolation. Divert energy from non-core systems." Zhao Yan supported Lin Shen's decision, "Before we figure out the truth and control methods for that 'ghost process,' we must lock it up first."

The Cradle began executing the physical isolation program. The core unit of the technology tree system was wrapped in layers of force fields, stripped from Lin Shen's consciousness link, and sent into an independent, highly shielded subspace cage.

At the very last moment before the link was severed, Lin Shen saw that on the rotating spherical interface, the value of the "Cosmic Observation Model Integration" jumped once and stopped at 0.000021%.

And the activity of that "ghost process," at the moment the isolation force field closed, seemed... not to have diminished.

Had a part of it already spread outside the isolation zone?

Or was it that it did not rely entirely on the technology tree system hardware for its existence in the first place?

Doubts, like cold vines, coiled upward.

Countdown: 71 hours 03 minutes.

Outside, the scout ship observed in silence, the Scavenger wandered uncertainly, and the eye of the divine remains gazed into the abyss.

Inside, meme seeds took root in the soil of consciousness, thinking rifts were widening, and an unknown "ghost" was quietly weaving a dangerous blueprint deep within the system.

And the darkness in the distance was surging forward at a speed much faster than expected.

Time, like a string under multiple internal and external tensions.

Everyone heard it, that increasingly clear, imminent snapping twang.