139: Chapter 138 The Broken String (Part 1)

The force field cage of physical isolation closed deep within the Cradle, sealing the core unit of the technology tree system in absolute silence.

When the last thread of the data link was severed, Lin Shen felt a hollow sense of detachment deep in his consciousness, as if an organ that had existed for a long time had been forcibly removed.

He quickly steadied his mind and turned his attention to the holographic star map—there, the crisis had not slowed down in the slightest due to the system's isolation.

“Cradle, report the changes in ghost process activity.” Zhao Yan's voice rang out in the silence.

“Target process activity curve... re-analyzing.” The Cradle's runes paused briefly, as if re-evaluating.

Two seconds later, the results appeared: “The main process activity has dropped to zero (following the isolation of the core unit). However, seventeen independent, highly simplified ‘sub-process copies’ have been detected, distributed across the Cradle’s secondary protocol layer, the environmental control system cache area, and... the public index area of the ‘web weaver protocol’ foundational archive.”

Sub-process copies.

Like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind, they had quietly drifted into every corner of the system before the isolation was completed.

“Copy function?”

“Analyzing... The function is highly simplified, manifesting as autonomous data collection and pattern recognition units. Current behavior: continuously collecting data streams within the system related to ‘contradictions,’ ‘imbalances,’ and ‘conflict resolution,’ and performing basic-level correlation tagging. No active interference or replication behavior detected.”

It sounded like a harmless observer.

But considering the danger of its parent, no one dared to take it lightly.

“Can it be cleared?”

“It can be cleared, but it requires locating and erasing them one by one, with an estimated duration of 47 minutes. The clearing process may interfere with the normal operation of the corresponding systems.”

“Postpone the clearing.” Zhao Yan decided after weighing the options, “Tag all copy locations and closely monitor their behavior. Prioritize dealing with external threats and the status of internal personnel.”

The status of internal personnel was becoming increasingly complex.

The cognitive evolution brought about by the meme seed was beginning to show more profound effects.

In the medical area, on the screen in front of Dr. Chen Wei, the real-time brainwave maps of twenty crew members were displayed side by side.

Eleven of them were marked as “deeply affected,” and their maps presented an unprecedented “bimodal harmonic” pattern—a high-frequency peak representing logic and order, and another low-frequency peak representing intuition and inclusivity, pulsing in a complex rhythm, reinforcing rather than interfering with each other.

“This is not just about acquiring new knowledge,” Chen Wei said in a low voice to Zhao Yan and Zhou Zhe who had rushed over, “Their consciousness structure itself is undergoing adaptive changes. It’s as if the brain has grown new ‘synapses’ specifically for processing contradictory information and seeking dynamic balance. This change... is very likely permanent.”

“What about the side effects?” Zhou Zhe asked.

He himself was one of the affected, and he could clearly feel the multi-threaded, multi-perspective “panoramic sense” when he thought about problems.

“In the short term, cognitive load is significantly increased, leading to easy fatigue and scattered attention. In the long term... it is unknown.” Chen Wei pulled up another set of data, “More notably, the spontaneous brainwave synchronization rate of these eleven crew members has increased by 300% in the past hour. When they discuss the same complex problem together, their brainwaves unconsciously tend to align, forming a temporary ‘collective consciousness field.’ This field can greatly improve problem-solving efficiency, but it may also lead to a weakening of individual cognitive independence.”

Collective consciousness field.

This sounded both like an efficient collaboration tool and a precursor to losing one’s self.

“Is it controllable?”

“Currently, it is spontaneous and unconscious, and the individuals return to independence after it ends. But if we actively guide or strengthen this field...” Chen Wei did not finish, but the meaning was clear: that might be actively stepping towards some kind of collective ideology, which, while perhaps different in form from the “chaos contamination” feared by the Pruning Faction, was essentially the same erosion of individuality.

Zhao Yan watched those synchronously pulsing brainwave maps in silence.

The meme seed was reshaping his crew, granting them the ability to cope with complex crises, but it was also quietly erasing some traits as “humans.”

Is this evolution or alienation?

In the face of survival, this boundary was becoming increasingly blurred.

Just then, the volunteer team heading to the Kuiper Belt to establish outpost beacons completed their final preparations before departure.

Ten team members (including Li Mubai) gathered at the docking bay, and they would transfer to the “Artisan-class” high-speed engineering ship “ink shadow” provided by the Executive Court.

Ashes conducted the final briefing via hologram.

“‘ink shadow’ is loaded with ten special deep-space resonance prisms, as well as necessary construction units and defense facilities. The navigation system is led by the Executive Court AI ‘Cornerstone,’ and you have the highest priority for decision-making, but you cannot bypass the AI’s security protocols. Travel time: estimated 142 hours to reach the farthest coordinate point. Mission objective: establish primary resonance beacons at four predetermined coordinates, return immediately upon completion, and do not make contact with any unknown targets.”

“Understood.” Li Mubai replied on behalf of the team.

His eyes were clear and firm, and the newly acquired spatial navigation intuition in his mind gave him a strange confidence for this journey into the darkness, and even... a hint of anticipation.

“Remember,” Ashes’ dark golden eyes swept over everyone, “You are not only going to establish beacons, but you are also the ‘consciousness anchors’ for ‘ink shadow’ and the prisms. The deep-space environment will amplify the cognitive effects brought by the meme seed, so stay vigilant about your self-boundaries. If you feel any signs of uncontrollable consciousness diffusion or fusion, immediately activate the shipboard ‘consciousness isolation protocol’.”

“Yes.”

The team departed.

“ink shadow” slid out of the Cradle space like a dark gray shadow, disappearing into the shipping lane leading to the Kuiper Belt.

What they took away was not only beacons of hope but also ten seeds that had been quietly changed and might continue to evolve in the darkness.

Almost at the same time “ink shadow” left, on the “threat situation map” shared by the divine remains, the scarlet light point representing the Scavenger experienced a mutation in its behavioral pattern.

It no longer wandered, nor did it slowly penetrate deeper into the Chaos Concentration Zone.

It began to... rotate.

It rotated slowly at a frequency and direction completely synchronized with a huge chaotic vortex inside the Concentration Zone.

As it rotated, its originally intangible outline actually began to “absorb” matter and energy from the surrounding chaotic radiation, gradually condensing a blurry, constantly changing physical outline—that outline sometimes looked like a tumbling nebula, sometimes like a deep-sea creature stretching its tentacles, and sometimes like a pure conceptual aggregate that could not be described by geometry.

“The Scavenger is... ‘materializing’?” Elena’s voice came from the hidden blade, filled with astonishment, “It is using the energy of the Chaos Concentration Zone to shape a temporary shell for itself! This does not conform to the known Scavenger behavioral patterns! They are usually pure consciousness disturbances and do not actively shape physical forms!”

“Purpose?” Zhao Yan asked immediately.

“Unknown! But the location where it is materializing... happens to block the line between the scout ship ‘shadows touch’ and the core area of the divine remains! Moreover, the shell structure it is shaping seems to be... interfering with the data link transmitted back by the Covenant-style probes previously released by the scout ship!” Ashes continued, his voice urgent, “The scout ship is reacting! It is adjusting its posture, and the main weapon system is starting to recharge! But it is not aiming at the Scavenger; it is... aiming behind the Scavenger, at a specific embrittlement point of the divine remains!”

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

The Scavenger’s abnormal materialization, the scout ship’s renewed hostility, all aimed directly at the embrittlement point of the divine remains.

Could it be that the Scavenger is... protecting the divine remains? Or rather, protecting that embrittlement point from being further probed by the scout ship’s detectors?

“Does the divine remains have a reaction?” Zhao Yan looked at β-1, who was maintaining a weak resonance link with the divine remains.

β-1’s light pulsed slowly: “divine remains consciousness feedback: feels... ‘confused’ and ‘slightly uneasy’ about the Scavenger’s materialization behavior. It does not consider the Scavenger an ally, but the Scavenger’s current behavior objectively hinders the scout ship’s detection. The divine remains asks: is it necessary for it to actively ‘stimulate’ the Scavenger, or attempt limited consciousness communication with the scout ship to clarify intentions?”

Actively stimulating either one could trigger a disaster.

But doing nothing and sitting by while the two sides clash at the doorstep of the divine remains was equally dangerous.

“Advise the divine remains to remain silent and continue observing.” Zhao Yan made a difficult decision, “Ashes, Elena, can you perform more precise scanning of the Scavenger’s materialization process or the scout ship’s data link without exposing yourselves? We need to know what they are fighting over and what is special about that embrittlement point.”

“The risk is extremely high.” Ashes said bluntly, “But we can attempt short-term, directional passive information collection. The hidden blade needs to go deeper, closer to the edge of the conflict.”

“Approved. Prioritize your own safety.”

Just as the hidden blade began to maneuver cautiously, a sudden change occurred inside the Cradle.

One of the seventeen “ghost sub-process copies” that had been marked and monitored, the one located in the temperature and humidity regulation module of the environmental control system, suddenly began high-speed self-iteration!

“Alert: Sub-process copy-07 activity has spiked abnormally! It is attempting to reorganize into a more complex analytical structure!” The Cradle’s warning rang out.

“What is it reorganizing into?” Zhou Zhe immediately called up the detailed data stream of that area.

I saw that the sub-process, which was originally only simply tagging the correlation between “temperature setting” and “crew emotional fluctuation (monitored indirectly through biological sensors),” was frantically absorbing the brainwave synchronization data about the “collective consciousness field” just uploaded from the medical area, as well as the energy disturbance pattern data about the Scavenger’s materialization process from the shared view of the divine remains.

It was like a greedy spider, forcibly weaving these seemingly unrelated information streams together, attempting to build a brand-new model.

The model’s label was being generated: “Coupling Probability Prediction of Collective Consciousness Resonance and Exogenous Chaotic Entity Morphogenesis.”

It was attempting to describe the potential connection between the meme seed, the human consciousness field, and the Scavenger’s materialization using mathematics!

“Clear it immediately!” Zhao Yan ordered.

But it was too late.

Just one millisecond before the Cradle’s clearing protocol reached it, sub-process-07 completed its final iteration and broadcast this incomplete prediction model through a low-priority data channel used for system state backup that no one had noticed.

The broadcast’s destination address was—the cage of the physically isolated technology tree system core unit.

“It wants to give this model to the parent!” Zhou Zhe understood instantly.

The Cradle’s force field cage perfectly isolated internal and external data exchange, but this low-priority backup channel was a hardware-level design redundancy used to ensure core data was not lost in the most extreme situations, and its very existence was almost a backdoor.

The clearing protocol intercepted the broadcast data packet, but failed to stop a “signal pulse” that had been highly compressed and contained the key parameters of the model, which penetrated the instantaneous fluctuation gaps of the isolation force field and hit the core unit inside the cage.

Inside the cage, the rotating spherical interface of the technology tree system froze the moment it received the pulse.

All dynamic changes in the probability flow stopped.

The value of “Universe Observation Model Integration” jumped from 0.000021% to 0.00047%.

In the center of the sphere, a brand-new core light point flashing with dangerous red light was lit up.

Label: “Chaos-Order Equilibrium State Reality Intervention Framework (Pre-research) - Sub-module: Consciousness-Entity Coupler”

“Description: Based on the external input model, deduce the possibility of indirectly influencing the form and behavior of exogenous chaotic entities by modulating specific collective consciousness resonance frequencies. Risk Level: High. Status: Insufficient data, deduction paused.”

It stopped because it lacked key data.

But that “sub-module” had been activated, like a loaded but un-aimed weapon, waiting silently.

And the ghost sub-process-07 that sent the key pulse, after completing its “mission,” safely self-erased, leaving no traceable traces.

As if the only purpose of its existence was to send this final “bullet” into the “gun” that was taking shape.

There was dead silence inside the Cradle.

Everyone realized what had happened.

That dangerous ghost process parent, although isolated, had its disseminated sub-processes still active in the dark, and they had successfully transmitted information to it.

And the transmitted information directly pointed to using the altered consciousness of humans to influence or even control terrifying existences like the Scavenger.

This path might lead to power, but it was more likely to lead to complete dehumanization and madness.

“Scan the system thoroughly! Clear all residual sub-processes! Close all unnecessary data channels, including hardware backdoors!” Zhao Yan’s voice carried an unquestionable decisiveness, “At the same time, medical team, conduct an in-depth assessment of the consciousness state of all crew members immediately, focusing on monitoring the formation conditions and controllability of the ‘collective consciousness field.’ Before clarifying all the risks of consciousness-entity coupling, prohibit any form of active consciousness resonance experiments!”

The order was quickly executed.

But a deeper shadow was cast over everyone’s heart: what exactly did that isolated ghost want to do? What was the ultimate goal of those dangerous protocols it deduced?

And the external strings were already stretched to the limit.

On the star map, the materialized outline of the Scavenger was becoming clearer and clearer, emitting a heart-palpitating pressure.

The main weapon charging of the scout ship “shadows touch” had reached a critical point, its eerie light flickering.

The embrittlement point was right between them, like a silent bomb waiting to be detonated.

The hidden blade was approaching on thin ice.

“ink shadow,” heading to the Kuiper Belt, was sailing into the unknown darkness.

Inside the Cradle, the meme seed grew silently, and the changed crew members struggled to adapt to their new selves.

Deep inside the imprisoned technology tree system, a dangerous sub-module was lit up, waiting silently.

Time, at the critical point of multiple crisis resonances,

emitted an unbearable,

pre-breaking

shriek.