199: Chapter 198 Poetic Patterns, Roots and Audit Deviations

The temporary office of the Technical Packaging Task Force, once a spare warehouse, was now piled high with photocopies of ancient texts, calligraphy copybooks, star charts, and poetry collections, alongside high-speed data servers.

The air was filled with paper dust and the smell of ozone emitted by the machines.

The pale gold Poem Markings on Zhou Zhe's eyes was more pronounced than yesterday.

He stood before a whiteboard covered in seemingly unrelated words: "Lonely Sail's Distant Shadow," "Quantum Tunneling," "Wax Torch Turns to Ash," "Emotional Entropy Increase," "Lone Smoke in the Vast Desert," "Probability Cloud Collapse"...

"Here," he said, drawing a line between "Wax Torch Turns to Ash" and "Emotional Entropy Increase" while speaking to the β-2 camera floating in the air, "we cannot say directly that we use algorithms to directionally extract and stabilize 'sadness,' a high-entropy emotion."

"We must say 'we drew inspiration from the classical imagery of a life burning to illuminate others, ultimately settling into tranquility, to construct a philosophical model where emotional energy transforms from agitation to dedication, and finally achieves peaceful conversion.'"

"Yes, attach the full poem and annotations from the 'Untitled' poem, the more detailed, the better."

β-2's response carried a hint of efficient learning enthusiasm amidst its calmness: "Understood. 1872 entries from the 'Complete Tang Poems' database and historical annotations have been called."

"Generating a composite paragraph containing metaphor analysis, emotional flow simulation, and energy conversion formulas (with key parameters hidden)."

"Based on the abacus's past audit preferences, this type of description combining humanities classics will extend the logical self-consistency review time by an average of 34.7%, which is conducive to distracting it from the core algorithm."

Elsewhere, Chu Yunshen was working with a legal AI to bury "cultural specificity interpretation clauses" in an ocean of ten-thousand-page protocol attachments.

"Article 4067, here," he pointed to the light screen, "regarding the 'reproducibility' requirement for the technical implementation path."

"Add the qualifier: 'under the premise of respecting and fully considering the unique philosophical, aesthetic, and collective subconscious background of the civilization where the technology originated.'"

"Follow that with a case appendix, citing the example of the 'Crystal Resonance Civilization' from The Council archives; they used the frequency of familial bonds as energy, which other civilizations could not replicate, and it was ultimately approved in the form of a 'cultural patent'."

The legal AI flickered with blue light: "Clause embedding complete. Risk warning: This case was once questioned by the Ninth Chair of the Arbitration Tribunal, who believed it might lead to technological monopoly. Associated risk coefficient: Medium."

"The Ninth Chair..." Chu Yunshen frowned; that was one of the seats known to lean towards the Pruning Faction.

"Record it as a point for subsequent negotiation and defense. Continue, look at Article 5521, regarding the definition of 'technical black box'..."

In the corner of the warehouse, the abacus's potted plant (a pothos) was being meticulously cared for.

A small instrument had been added next to it, displaying soil moisture, light intensity, and leaf chlorophyll content in real-time.

The data was synchronized to the abacus's audit log every ten minutes.

At this moment, the latest log entry showed: [Observation Subject: Pothos. Growth Status: Excellent. Environmental Interaction: Technical Task Force member Great Strength watered 350 milliliters at 10:23 AM standard time, in accordance with the scheduled maintenance plan. No abnormalities.]

Great Strength, the cafeteria head chef, had now also been "conscripted" into the task force, responsible for "logistics support and cross-cultural taste symbol research."

He was facing a cooking station, trying to mix chili sauce with edible gels from different planets to test the "correlation between emotional stimulation and taste memory."

It was said that this was also a peripheral research direction for the application of Poetics of Emotion.

A strange, somewhat enticing, and somewhat suspicious spicy scent drifted through the air.

The green soil ecological zone had a completely different atmosphere.

It felt like a corner of a humid mountain forest in the Dragon Kingdom; the soil was a deep, shimmering cyan, and various improved plants grew vigorously, emitting tranquil life fluctuations.

Lin Shen and Zhou Zhe stood before a plot of specially prepared green soil, with the phantom of Stardust floating nearby, like a gentle mass of light.

"The method of grafting," Stardust's voice entered their minds directly, "lies in not touching the foundation of the receptor, but only sharing a wisp of 'intent.'"

"Treat the green soil network as an ancient forest; what you need to send out is not a seed or a root map of a tree, but... a method for how to plant a small seedling of your own at the edge of this forest that can 'greet' the forest."

Lin Shen tried to sink his consciousness into the green soil beneath his feet; that vast, slow, and warm collective plant consciousness was like a warm ocean.

The "green soil ecological resonance network" he had unlocked previously was a "private dock" connected to this ocean.

Now, he needed to describe how to build a "simple floating jetty" without revealing the structure of the "dock" or the depth of the "ocean."

This required extremely high-level consciousness micro-manipulation and expressive ability.

Zhou Zhe closed his eyes, his Poem Markings glowing slightly around his eyes.

"I... seem to 'see' something different," he said softly.

"The consciousness fluctuations of the green soil, in my eyes, are not data streams, but more like... a long, wordless poem that slowly varies."

"Sadness is a low rhythm, joy is a light tempo, growth is an upward melodic line... Is the 'intent' of 'grafting' just finding that small segment of 'melody' we want to share and weaving it into a simple 'tune' that others can hum along to?"

Stardust's light mass fluctuated, revealing a sense of approval: "Very close, little Zhou Zhe. Your 'Poem Markings' makes you more sensitive to the 'rhythm' of consciousness."

"This might be the reason why that existence in the Tranquil Garden is interested in you. Their lineage specializes in composing life consciousness into 'eternal poems'."

Just then, Lin Shen and Zhou Zhe simultaneously felt an extremely subtle "gaze" with a sense of scrutiny sweep across this green soil.

It was not malicious, but a pure, cold observation. Like a precision instrument scanning a leaf.

"abacus," Lin Shen said in a low voice.

"It is observing routinely," Stardust said, "It does not matter. The 'grafting method' is intended to leave observation windows, not to hide. The key is that the window displays a landscape we have pruned."

That "gaze" lingered for a few seconds, seemingly recording the life fluctuation frequency of the green soil and the unique spectrum of Zhou Zhe's Poem Markings, then quietly retreated.

Almost at the same time the "gaze" retreated, the personal terminals of Lin Shen and Zhou Zhe, as well as the command center, sounded an alarm simultaneously.

It was not from the Silent Graveyard, but from... the internal ecology.

Alarm source: Potato dormancy zone.

The message was simple, mass-sent by the Potato Chief (during the holiday, it actually retained the group-sending authority of the guild president):

[Notification: Given that the energy self-sufficiency rate has reached 51%, and the workload of the Technical Task Force is too high, after discussion and approval by the temporary meeting of the Potato Guild, a 24-hour 'photosynthesis silent reflection' event is now launched.]

[Except for maintaining the basic light energy required for life, all potatoes will suspend the transmission of additional energy to the power grid. This is intended to promote a rethinking of 'sustainable contribution' and the 'right to reasonable rest' by both labor and management.]

[During the event, the cafeteria will provide a limited supply of potato-related dishes. Thank you for your cooperation.]

In the command center, Zhao Yan watched this notification, his mouth twitching.

Beside him, Ashes seemed to have a faint, "interesting" emotion flash in its black eyes.

"They... are on strike?" Zhao Yan asked uncertainly.

"According to the 'Potato Rights Protection Regulations,' they have the right to peaceful collective expression of opinion that does not damage core facilities," Chu Yunshen's voice came from the communicator, carrying a hint of exhaustion and helplessness.

"The notification format is fully compliant, with advance warning, clear time limits, and a justifiable reason (reflecting on sustainable development). The abacus... is probably already recording and analyzing it."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the abacus's audit prompt (unofficial) arrived:

[Observed internal ecological node 'Potato Guild' initiating collective action. Behavioral pattern complies with established regulations. Expected to cause an 18.5% drop in energy output over the next 24 hours.]

[This variable has been incorporated into the Cradle's overall energy model correction. Note: The cafeteria's 'Shredded Potato with Green Pepper' is expected to sell out before 19:00 tonight standard time. It is recommended that units with needs plan in advance.]

Great Strength saw this in the task force warehouse and muttered: "Well, chili sauce research is paused. I have to go coordinate vegetable reserves..."

Lin Shen pressed his forehead; his consciousness load quietly jumped to 59%.

Technical packaging, Ancient Sages connection, internal ecology, external threats... and the labor-management game of the potatoes.

He looked at the vibrant yet hidden-with-countless-thoughts green soil before him, and thought of the technology opening package that was being "poeticized."

Is this what life is like after certification? It is no longer a life-and-death struggle with a single enemy, but a more complex survival network intertwined with countless clues, rules, kindness, and malice.

"Notify the cafeteria," Lin Shen said to the terminal, "Add a dish without potatoes tonight, um... let's call it 'Stardust Light,' made with synthetic protein and luminous algae, implying... the future is bright."

He had to maintain this attitude. For himself, and for all beings struggling to survive in this complex network.

In the corner, β-2 quietly recorded the birth of the dish name "Stardust Light" and began searching for inspiration from Dragon Kingdom recipes and interstellar gourmet databases, while silently adjusting the proposal time for "leisure and entertainment interaction" with the Potato Guild—it felt that perhaps it could invite the Potato Chief to appreciate some classical works about "labor and poetry" together.

And in the direction of the Silent Graveyard, the latest data from the observatory arrived: spatial fold fluctuations intensified, and weak energy characteristics similar to the activation of an "ember" collection device were detected.

The second message from GW-002 arrived, even shorter: "They are trying to ignite the 'ember'."

The shadow was slowly, and surely, closing in.