193: Chapter 192 Forty-Eight Hours of Intensive Work and Surprise Audit

Zhou Zhe had not closed his eyes for thirty hours. Three holographic screens floated before him: on the left, the real-time flow chart of the "Poem Markings" energy encoding optimized by The Poet; in the middle, the stability parameters of the emotional resonance field provided by The Unfinished Court; on the right, the energy output prediction curve calculated by β-2.

"Test number two hundred and three." His voice was hoarse. "Load the poetry sample 'Quiet Night Thought,' emotional tags: nostalgia, silence, slight chill."

In the center of the laboratory, a circular device surrounded by countless glowing runes began to operate. Inside the device, a recording made by Zhou Zhe played repeatedly—it was the sound of his father coughing in the small courtyard back home, mixed with the chirping of insects on a summer night. The sound was dismantled and reorganized by the Poem Markings encoding, transforming into a pure stream of energy.

The output reading jumped: 3.7 megawatts.

"Not enough." Zhou Zhe shook his head. "The rhythm of 'Quiet Night Thought' is too regular, the emotional fluctuation is too small. Switch to 'Bring in the Wine'."

"'Bring in the Wine' has too high an emotional intensity; it might burn out the converter," β-2 reminded him.

"Then lower the frequency." Zhou Zhe pulled up the backup plan. "Extract only the contradictory emotions from the lines 'Life is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest' and 'With you, I shall dissolve ten thousand ages of sorrow'—the hedge between pride and sorrow will create a higher energy peak."

The new test began. The device emitted a low hum, the circular light band shifting from warm yellow to incandescent white, then suddenly jumping to dark blue. The reading fluctuated violently before finally stabilizing at: 12.4 megawatts.

"Success!" Zhou Zhe almost jumped up. "One poem is enough to power five hundred households for a day!"

But β-2 immediately poured cold water on him: "But we need a stable output of at least three hundred megawatts to fill the energy gap. You can't have everyone in the Cradle recite 'Bring in the Wine' at the same time."

Zhou Zhe calmed down. "Then build an array. Connect one hundred small poetic power generation units in parallel. For the poetry library, use all the 'civilization coughs' we've collected—canteen recordings, project arguments, potato burps, even the sound of The Poet inhaling while eating a spiced egg. Every sound is an emotional battery."

"How many man-hours will that take?"

"Normally two weeks." Zhou Zhe pulled up the construction plan. "But we only have forty-eight hours."

Just then, the laboratory door slid open, and a group of potatoes rolled in—it was the "Potato Engineering Team" led by Potato Chief. Each potato carried a small energy collection pack made of photosynthetic film, with root hairs clutching various micro-tools.

Potato Chief held up a sign:

[Heard you were short-handed?]

[We've studied "Human Engineering Project Management Crash Course (Potato Edition)".]

[Wages settled in nutrient solution hours, overtime extra.]

Zhou Zhe was stunned, then laughed. "Welcome aboard. Task: Within forty hours, assemble the shells and basic circuits for one hundred poetic power generation units. The blueprints have already been sent to you."

The potatoes dispersed immediately, their root hairs nimbly operating the tools. Although their movements were a bit slow, they were meticulous and didn't need to rest—they could work while photosynthesizing.

β-2 adjusted the construction plan: "After adding the potato labor force, the estimated completion time can be shortened to thirty-eight hours. However, additional overtime pay in nutrient solution is required, exceeding the budget by 7%."

"Approved," Zhou Zhe said. "Deduct it from my project allowance."

Chu Yunshen was in a virtual meeting with an envoy sent by the Gardener Chief. The other party was a projection composed of vines and flowers, with a voice that was gentle but carried bureaucratic caution.

"We have noted your civilization's efforts in ecological symbiosis," the vine envoy said. "The emotional aggregate making the despair moss bloom is indeed a rare case of ecological restoration. But this alone is not enough for The Council to waive resource restrictions."

"We are building a large-scale plant symbiotic energy network." Chu Yunshen pulled up the real-time view of the hydroponic area—thousands of genetically optimized fast-growing potatoes, their leaves connected to fine biological wires, directly importing the chemical energy generated by photosynthesis into the power grid. "If successful, we will become the first civilization in the galaxy to achieve 'zero-pollution agriculture and power generation.' This is in line with the sustainable development direction advocated by The Council."

The vine envoy was silent for a moment. "I have seen the data. The efficiency is indeed good, but the scale is too small. Unless you can prove that this network has the capacity to support more than 30% of the Cradle's basic energy consumption before the audit delegation arrives, it will be difficult for Gardener Chief to speak on your behalf."

"We will prove it." Chu Yunshen closed the communication and turned to the potato agronomy expert behind him. "Launch the 'Ignition Plan'."

The expert's face changed. "That will overdraw the potatoes' growth potential for the next three years! And it might trigger a collective consciousness rebellion—"

"We have already reached an agreement with the Potato Guild." Chu Yunshen looked to the side. One of Potato Chief's clones (it had learned to split its consciousness now) was holding up a sign:

[We agree to the ignition.]

[Conditions: During the ignition, all potatoes enjoy 'five-star nutrient solution spa' treatment, one year of paid leave after the ignition, and their offspring receive priority for permanent residency in the Cradle.]

"Conditions accepted." Chu Yunshen signed. "Begin."

The lights in the hydroponic area suddenly turned into high-intensity full-spectrum simulated daylight. A specially formulated, energy-factor-rich activator began to be injected into the nutrient solution pipes. The potato leaves expanded and thickened at a rate visible to the naked eye, and the biological wires on their surfaces lit up with an emerald green light. The power grid reading began to soar: 1%, 3%, 7%...

But at the same time, some potatoes began to show "overwork symptoms"—leaf edges turned scorched yellow, root hairs trembled, and a few potatoes even complained in the public consciousness channel: "So tired, don't want to work anymore."

Potato Chief immediately launched "Guild Psychological Counseling," patting those potatoes with root hairs while playing the recording of the previously successful negotiation:

[Hold on! Five-star spa! Paid leave! Permanent residency!]

The potatoes reluctantly perked up.

The power grid contribution rate crawled with difficulty toward 10%.

Stardust locked himself in a cubicle in the observation team's office, surrounded by encrypted data streams scraped from the depths of the Weaver's network. He was organizing the "Iron Abacus's Blacklist," muttering to himself:

"Eternal Vault Star Sector, total energy subsidies over the past ten thousand years... tsk tsk, enough to support one hundred newborn civilizations."

"Records of the use of these subsidies: 70% for 'gold coin luster maintenance,' 20% for 'coin-counting robot upgrades,' 10% for 'auditing other civilizations' energy bills'—good grief, using our money to audit us."

"And this—Iron Abacus's third daughter has a private resort planet under her name, constant temperature and humidity all year round, energy consumption comparable to a medium-sized civilization, but the bill is listed under the 'Ecological Research Base' project..."

The more he looked, the angrier he got, his starlight body flickering like a police light.

Aurora's projection suddenly appeared beside him: "Is the source of your data legal?"

"Legal?" Stardust grinned. "Accessed from the public database using a legal key, of course it's legal. It's just that the access path took seventeen detours, using some 'poetic crawler' technology taught by the Ancient Sages Poet."

"'Poetic crawler'?"

"It's just wrapping a layer of poetry around the data request packet; the firewall thinks it's cultural exchange traffic and automatically lets it through." Stardust said smugly, "The Poet said this was invented by a party b civilization one hundred thousand years ago, specifically to counter party a firewalls."

Aurora was silent for two seconds. "Back up a copy for me. If the audit delegation goes too far, these can be used as bargaining chips."

Although Ashes was at the Executive Court headquarters, he was participating in the Cradle's defense deployment in real-time through an encrypted channel. He had just received the final version of the "Non-Standard Concept Defense Guide," which included a new chapter: "Identification and Countermeasures for Resource Audit-Type Conceptual Attacks."

"Iron Abacus's audit delegation might carry a variant of 'Sweet Nothingness'—'Compliance Comfort'," Ashes said over the comms. "It manifests as: making you feel that 'following the rules, accepting restrictions, and not struggling' is the easiest and most comfortable choice. Symptoms include: developing a strange patience for tedious audit procedures, and even enjoying the process of filling out forms."

Zhao Yan felt a chill down his spine. "Enjoying filling out forms? That's even scarier than a direct attack."

"The defense plan has been uploaded," Ashes sent a data packet. "The core is: during the audit process, always keep at least one sensory channel receiving 'uncomfortable but real' stimuli. For example, put a micro-player in your ear, looping a deadline alarm sound; or put a vibrator in your pocket, reminding yourself with a slight electric shock every ten minutes."

"In addition, we have applied for the Executive Court's 'Observer Escort Permission'," Ashes added. "I will arrive at the same time as the audit delegation as a 'Pilot Project Supervisor.' Nominally, it's to supervise you following the guide, but in reality, it's... on-site support."

Zhao Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll feel more at ease with you here. By the way, is there any news from The Poet?"

"The Poet is lobbying within The Council, trying to limit the audit scope to 'technical compliance' rather than 'energy consumption morality.' If successful, Iron Abacus won't be able to use subjective reasons like 'you consume too much energy and it's immoral' to hold you back."

Before the call ended, Ashes suddenly whispered:

"I got wind that Iron Abacus might... arrive early."

"How early?"

"Within twenty-four hours."

Twenty-four-hour countdown to the energy crisis.

The poetic power generation array completed seventy units, and after connecting in parallel, the output stabilized at two hundred and ten megawatts. The potato photosynthetic power grid contribution rate reached 12%, but at the cost of one-third of the potatoes being exhausted, soaked in special nutrient solution for emergency recovery.

The Cradle's total energy self-sufficiency rate climbed to 42%, barely over half.

But just then, an alarm sounded.

Not an energy alarm, but a diplomatic alarm.

A silver spaceship painted with The Council's emblem appeared without warning on the outskirts of the Cradle, with huge, cold characters printed on the hull:

[Audit Delegation · Arrived Early.]

[Please cooperate with the comprehensive resource audit.]

[Resistance will be severely punished.]

Following beneath the spaceship was a small Executive Court escort ship—Ashes was on it.

Zhao Yan stood in front of the defense command console, fists clenched. "Sure enough, it's early."

Lin Shen pulled up the communication interface, preparing to welcome them.

Chu Yunshen quickly checked his formal attire.

Zhou Zhe stuffed the last "Sober One" spiced egg into his mouth, the spiciness rushing to his nasal cavity.

The potatoes collectively entered "Silent Photosynthesis Mode," pretending they were just ordinary vegetables.

Stardust encrypted and hid the blacklist, adjusting his starlight body to a "harmless" soft brightness.

Aurora's golden eyes locked onto the audit delegation's spaceship, beginning to record every abnormal energy fluctuation.

The hatch opened.

Stepping down was not Iron Abacus himself, but a mechanical body composed of precision gears and glowing numbers—Iron Abacus's agent, "abacus." Behind it followed eight similarly mechanized auditors, each holding a ledger with constantly scrolling numbers.

abacus's mechanical eyes swept over the welcoming team, emitting a cold synthetic voice:

"Dragon Country Civilization, according to Council Resolution No. 447, we will conduct a full-process audit of your energy acquisition, usage, and storage over the next seventy-two hours."

"Please provide the following documents: all energy purchase contracts from the past ten years, technical patent proofs for self-produced energy, detailed accounts of energy consumption, and..."

It paused, a subtle pale golden halo flashing in its mechanical eyes:

"...a reasonable explanation for the additional energy consumption generated during your resistance to the audit process."

As soon as the words fell, a gentle "atmosphere" carrying the scent of paper and ink began to permeate.

Like a library in the afternoon.

Like the satisfaction of filling out the last form.

Like... the sweetness of compliance.

Chu Yunshen immediately felt a strong urge: to go back and organize the ledgers, to enjoy that sense of order where "everything is within the rules," even feeling that being audited was a kind of... being cared for.

Zhao Yan's hand unconsciously loosened its grip on the weapon handle.

Even Lin Shen felt that cooperating with the audit seemed to be the easiest choice.

But just then—

Zhou Zhe let out a "hiss" from the spiciness of the spiced egg.

The sound was very small.

But in that sweetness of compliance, it was like a nail.

Immediately after, the micro-player in his ear automatically started (pre-set by Ashes), and began to loop:

[Project overdue! Project overdue! party a is urging for the draft! party a is urging for the draft!]

The sharp electronic sound tore through the tranquility.

abacus's mechanical eyes turned sharply toward Zhou Zhe.

Zhou Zhe raised his head, eyes teary (from the spice), but his gaze was clear:

"Auditor, we have the documents ready."

"But before checking the accounts—"

He wiped away the tears caused by the spice and grinned:

"Would you like to... try our welcome spiced egg first?"

"Extra spicy, brain-awakening, specifically treats all kinds of compliance-related drowsiness."

abacus's gears jammed for a moment.

The auditors behind it saw the numbers on their ledgers glitch for 0.3 seconds.

The Cradle's defense system, in that instant, quietly switched its energy mode to "Wartime Self-Sufficiency."

The countdown continued.

But the sound of coughing had already begun.