179: Chapter 178 Electronic Wooden Fish, Cyber ​​Merit

Great Strength's daughter is named Wang Xiaohua, eleven years old. In the medical scan images, she lies quietly, like an ordinary sleeping child, except for the flickering neural imprint in her brain's language center—which has now risen to 'awakening progress 23%'.

Zhao Yan stands in front of the observation window, with the projection of composite consciousness entity β-2 analyzing data beside him.

'The structure of the imprint has a 37% similarity to the divine remains seed,' β-2 pulls up the comparison chart, 'but it's more... crude. It's like a pirated figurine made of inferior materials, with crooked lines and the wrong label stuck on.'

'Can it be removed safely?' Zhao Yan asks.

'The success rate of forced removal is only 12%, and it will trigger the imprint's self-destruction, which will most likely lead to the host's brain death.' β-2 pauses for a moment, 'But there is an alternative: overwrite it with stronger "conceptual noise".'

'Is it cheesy pick-up lines again?'

'No, this time it requires more specialized noise.' β-2 opens a database window, listing a string of entries that make Zhao Yan's eye twitch: "Electronic wooden fish tapping sound effect loop", "Cyber Merit +1 Generator", "ASMR exclusive to Buddhist youth", "Let go of the savior complex, respect others' destiny" recitation collection...

'What is this?' Zhao Yan feels his temples throbbing.

'Cultural products of the "spiritual tranquilizers" popular on the Dragon Kingdom internet in the last five years.' β-2 explains earnestly, 'According to my analysis, these contents provide users with a false but effective sense of control through repetitive, ritualistic, harmless behaviors—when facing external pressures that cannot be changed, tapping an electronic wooden fish to accumulate Cyber Merit is essentially a gentle psychological defense mechanism.'

Zhao Yan stares at the entries for three seconds: 'You want to overwrite that imprint with "electronic wooden fish"?'

'The principle is the same. The imprint releases two types of information: "Daddy, I'm in pain" is emotional blackmail, and "Sower Protocol" is conceptual erosion. We need a "conceptual buffer layer" that neither harms the host nor neutralizes both.' β-2 pulls up the simulation results, 'The characteristics of "electronic wooden fish" content are: highly repetitive, low information volume, and emotionally neutral. Using it to build a buffer layer can dilute and dull the two types of information in the imprint, just like mixing screams into white noise.'

'And then?'

'Then we will have time.' β-2 says, 'It will take about eight hours for the imprint awakening progress to reach 100%. After the buffer layer is established, this time will be extended to over forty-eight hours—enough for us to pass the hearing and then find a professional conceptual surgeon to handle it.'

Zhao Yan rubs the space between his eyebrows. He feels his career sliding into some absurd abyss: first using hot and sour noodle soup to catch spies, then using cheesy pick-up lines to repel cosmic monsters, and now having to save a little girl with an electronic wooden fish.

'Do it.' He says.

β-2's efficiency is as high as ever. Within five minutes, a conceptual buffer program called "Buddhist Shield 1.0" is written and imported into Wang Xiaohua's brain through the medical pod's neural interface.

The effect is immediate.

On the monitoring screen, the flickering frequency of the imprint slows down significantly. A real-time emotional waveform chart pops up next to it, and the previously violently fluctuating pain curve gradually flattens into a rhythmic, "dong... dong... dong..." similar to wooden fish tapping.

Even more amazing is that Wang Xiaohua's mouth moves slightly, whispering like sleep talk:

"Merit +1... Merit +1... Let go of the savior complex... Respect others' destiny..."

Zhao Yan: "..."

β-2: "Buffer layer running normally. The awakening speed of the imprint is expected to drop by 72%. The side effect is that the host may have a strong urge to tap a wooden fish after waking up, lasting for three to five days."

'Better than being dead.' Zhao Yan turns to leave, 'I'll leave the monitoring to you. I'm going to check what else the Pruning Faction has buried in her.'

At the same time, Core Command Ring.

Chu Yunshen is making the final round of revisions to the statement draft. She adds the detailed record of the just-concluded "cheesy pick-up line defense battle" to the "Evidence of Civilizational Resilience" section and gives it an academic title:

"On the Strategic Value of Deconstructionist Humor in Countering Conceptual-Level Mental Attacks—A Case Study Based on a Non-Standard Defense Practice"

'Won't this title be too long?' Zhou Zhe, who is organizing the data report for The Unfinished Court nearby, looks up and asks.

'The Arbitration Tribunal likes long ones.' Chu Yunshen doesn't even look up, 'The longer the title, the more professional it seems. By the way, is your data summary for "Shield of Regret" done? You need to highlight how it sublimates individual "small certain sadness" into the "great resilience" of civilization.'

'Writing it now.' Zhou Zhe says, 'But I'm thinking, should we prepare some more down-to-earth explanations? What if the Arbitrator doesn't understand academic jargon?'

'Then use metaphors.' Lin Shen walks over, holding the "Civilization Trait Enhancement" preview material just downloaded from the technology tree system, 'For example: "Our civilization is like a forced-to-work party b. When the party a universe wants to destroy us, we use a PPT modified a hundred times to tell party a—Dear, your requirement logic is inconsistent. How about we open a Tencent meeting to align first?"'

Chu Yunshen and Zhou Zhe turn their heads to look at him at the same time, with complex expressions.

'Boss Lin, have you... watched too many Dragon Kingdom internet jokes lately?' Zhou Zhe asks cautiously.

Lin Shen keeps a straight face: 'This is necessary cultural research. After all, our opponents use high-end jargon like "existential falsification," and we must learn to fight back with party b jargon like "you can't do this requirement." The essence is the same, the form is down-to-earth.'

Chu Yunshen sighs and writes a line in the memo: "Prepare a popular version explanation: Analogize the cosmic crisis to unreasonable party a requirements."

Countdown: 3 hours 45 minutes.

Just then, Zhao Yan returns with β-2's analysis report.

'Wang Xiaohua's situation is temporarily stabilized, but there is a new discovery.' He projects the data onto the central screen, 'β-2 found a hidden code at the bottom of the imprint, pointing to a coordinate—not a Pruning Faction outpost, but another place.'

The coordinate zooms in. A gray-white rocky planet, with its surface covered in regular geometric depressions, as if stamped by a huge seal.

'This is a ruin of the Muttering Civilization.' β-2 says, 'A civilization that self-annihilated three thousand standard years ago due to "excessive introspection." Before they perished, they carved the history of their entire civilization on the planet's surface, in the way of—continuously repeating the three words "We were wrong," in 137 different languages.'

Zhou Zhe: "...This is collective obsessive-compulsive disorder, right?"

'But that's not the point.' β-2 pulls up the real-time monitoring screen of the coordinates, 'The ruins now show signs of activity. Energy readings are abnormal, and Pruning Faction ship signals have been detected. They are there... it seems they are digging something up.'

The screen zooms in. At a depression on the rocky planet, several Pruning Faction engineering ships are working, lifting a huge, coffin-shaped black container from underground.

'The life readings in the container...' β-2 pauses, 'Have an 89% similarity to the readings of the divine remains seed before it went dormant.'

Everyone is stunned.

'A second seed?' Chu Yunshen asks.

'Or is it the... same kind as the divine remains?' Lin Shen stares at the black container, 'The Muttering Civilization perished, the divine remains were imprisoned in the Cradle, and the Pruning Faction is now excavating a suspected container of the same kind—there must be a connection between these events.'

β-2: 'There is one more detail. According to the inscriptions on the surface of the ruins, the last words of the Muttering Civilization before it perished were: "We finally understood the sorrow of the sower, but we understood it too late."'

sower. That word again.

Lin Shen pulls up the technology tree system. The tree icon of the "kindling protocol" still has its unlock progress stuck at 5%, but the icon itself is glowing slightly, as if echoing something.

'After the hearing, we need to go there and take a look.' He says.

'But the Arbitration Tribunal may forbid us from leaving the Cradle.' Zhao Yan reminds.

'Then we apply for a "Civilization Archaeological Research Permit".' Chu Yunshen has already opened the Covenant Network's legal database, 'According to Article 22 of the "Emerging Civilization Rights Act," emerging civilizations have the right to conduct academic investigations on ownerless ruins in neighboring star sectors. We can completely legally go and take a look.'

Countdown: 3 hours 10 minutes.

Preparations enter the final sprint. The statement draft is finalized, "The Unfinished Court" data is packaged, team division of labor is confirmed, and even three versions of contingency plans for emergencies are prepared (Version A: pass normally; Version B: conditional pass; Version C: we need to run away on the spot).

Just as everyone is preparing to take a short break, Seventh Seat proxy's emergency communication comes in.

This time it's not text, but a hologram. Seventh Seat proxy's expression is much more serious than before, and the data stream in his crystal eyes is flickering somewhat chaotically.

'Mr. Lin Shen, there is bad news.' He says straight to the point, 'The Arbitration Tribunal has just held an informal pre-vote. Of the nine seats, three support you, two oppose, that hasn't changed. But the two originally neutral seats... are now leaning towards opposition.'

'The reason?'

'They received "supplementary evidence" submitted by the Pruning Faction.' Seventh Seat proxy pulls up a file summary, 'Accusing you not only of illegally possessing high-dimensional relics, but also of "polluting your own civilizational purity" during the process of merging with the relics. The evidence includes: the "The Unfinished Court" you developed using divine remains technology, the "non-standard emotional patterns" you displayed in the battle against the Dream-Devouring Shadow, and even... the record of your "cheesy pick-up line defense".'

Lin Shen narrows his eyes: 'They think we are not serious?'

'They think you "lack solemnity".' Seventh Seat proxy says, 'And solemnity, in the values of the Covenant Network, is an important sign of an advanced civilization. In the words of an Arbitrator: "A civilization that uses rubber duck videos to counter cosmic threats is either a genius or a lunatic. We can't afford to bet."'

The communication room is quiet.

After a few seconds, Zhou Zhe says in a low voice: 'So our problem is not that we are too weak, but that we are too... gimmicky?'

'That can be understood this way.' Seventh Seat proxy nods, 'At the hearing, you need to do one thing: prove that your "lack of seriousness" is not frivolity, but a deeper kind of "seriousness"—a seriousness that dares to use unconventional methods to protect core values. This is difficult, but if you can't do it, the voting results may be unfavorable to you.'

'What about the last seat?' Chu Yunshen asks, 'The attitude of the last seat in the pre-vote?'

Seventh Seat proxy's expression is even more solemn: 'The last seat... abstained. But this is not a good thing. Because that Arbitrator is known for being "extremely rigorous," and his abstention usually means—he thinks the existing evidence is insufficient to make a judgment, so he will ask you to conduct a "live stress test" at the hearing.'

'What kind of test?'

'Don't know. It's different every time.' Seventh Seat proxy says, 'It could be an ethical dilemma, it could be a technical verification, or it could be... pure mental torture. The purpose is to force out the most essential reaction of your civilization to see if it is worth accepting.'

The communication ends.

Countdown: 2 hours 28 minutes.

The pressure presses on everyone's shoulders like a physical object.

"Live stress test..." Chu Yunshen flips through the legal articles, "According to records, the pass rate of this kind of test is less than 40%. And the Arbitration Tribunal is not responsible for the psychological damage caused during the process."

'Soldiers come, generals block.' Lin Shen stands up, 'We even survived the "existential falsification" of the Dream-Devouring Shadow, are we still afraid of this?'

Although he says so, he quietly pulls up the "Civilization Trait Enhancement" interface of the technology tree system.

Three options are still there:

[Resilience of Compassion]

[Humorous Deconstruction]

[Regretful Abundance]

He needs to make a choice. Before the hearing starts, add a "buff" to the civilization.

His fingers hover over the interface.

Which one to choose?

Medical area, Wang Xiaohua's ward.

β-2's projection stands quietly beside the medical pod. The data stream shows that "Buddhist Shield 1.0" is running stably, and the imprint awakening progress is firmly suppressed at 24%.

But her attention is not on the data.

She is looking at Wang Xiaohua's face. The girl's brows are slightly furrowed, and even under the hypnosis of the electronic wooden fish, that pain belonging to a child has not completely disappeared.

β-2 performs an experimental operation: she connects one of her threads to the medical pod's emotional resonance module, and very slightly, simulates the action of "stroking"—not a physical touch, but a "comfort signal" at the conceptual level.

The data stream fluctuates.

Wang Xiaohua's brows relax by 0.3 millimeters.

'Interesting.' β-2 whispers to herself, 'So what humans call "gentleness" is essentially a precise neural signal modulation...'

She records this discovery in her learning log. Then, she looks out the window—through layers of bulkheads, as if she can see the team preparing for the hearing.

'Good luck to you all.' She says, her voice so soft that only she can hear, 'Although I don't fully understand the concept of "luck".'

Countdown: 1 hour 59 minutes.

The simulated sky of the Cradle begins to show artificial morning light.

The main venue of the hearing, in the virtual space of the Covenant Network, is ready.

Nine seats surround the central presentation stage.

On two of the seats, figures are already sitting.

One figure is wearing the silver-edged black robe of the Pruning Faction.

Another, wearing a pure white mask, with no holes on the mask.

He/she/it sits quietly, fingers tapping gently on his/her/its knees.

The rhythm of the tapping is exactly the same as the "dong... dong... dong..." of the electronic wooden fish.