201: Chapter 200 The Dance of Data, Photosynthetic Hot Pot and Ember Burn Marks

The large screen in the Integrated Decision Center was divided into several sections: the left showed real-time logs of the technical package pre-review, the center displayed star maps and reconnaissance data returns from the periphery of the Silent Graveyard, and the right displayed text records of the Potato negotiations and energy output curves.

Lin Shen stood before the screen, his consciousness load stable at 61%, but his nerves were like taut strings.

The technical package pre-review had entered its most critical stage: basic data verification.

The abacus was no longer hung up on descriptive styles, instead directly demanding "simulated deductive verification under cross-civilization benchmark environments" for several core output parameters.

This meant that the detailed and perfect "result data" they provided had to run and produce logical results within a virtual test field provided by The Council, which simulated different cosmic constants and fundamental physical environments.

[Loading verification environments: 1. High-spirituality background radiation field (simulating the home field of the Morning Dew civilization); 2. Rigid logic space (simulating the home field of the silicon-based 'Cornerstone Alliance'); 3. Edge of the chaotic dreamscape (simulating the periphery of the City of Light and Shadow).] The abacus's broadcast was devoid of emotion.

Chu Yunshen looked grave: "These three environments are vastly different. Although our model is self-consistent within the Dragon Kingdom environment, cross-environment deduction... has high uncertainty."

"Once the deductive result in any environment deviates from our submitted data curve beyond the allowable error, our technical universality will be questioned, and even the authenticity of our raw data will be doubted."

Lin Shen looked toward β-2 and Zhou Zhe, who were accessing remotely: "Can you adjust the model parameters? Without touching the core algorithms, add an environmental adaptability compensation function."

β-2: "Attempting now. I need Zhou Zhe to provide the theoretical perturbation patterns that different environments might cause to the 'quantum state' of emotions."

Zhou Zhe stared at the screen, his Poem Markings flickering slightly: "The high-spirituality field might 'nourish' the emotional quanta, making them more active; the rigid logic space might 'suppress' irrational fluctuations; the chaotic dreamscape... anything could happen there. I need time to build a mathematical model..."

"We only have the verification run time provided by the abacus," Chu Yunshen checked the countdown, "a total of six hours."

Just then, the center screen lit up, and the images of Zhao Yan and Ashes appeared, with the sample analysis room in the background.

"Preliminary sample analysis results," Zhao Yan said in a grave tone, "those 'embers' are not just remnants of pain and despair. We detected trace amounts of imprint fragments similar to 'civilization self-destruction directives' or 'ultimate cognitive collapse'."

Ashes explains that this is usually the most 'pure' despair that erupts when a civilization realizes its own inevitable demise and that all efforts are meaningless."

Ashes' black eyes looked into the camera, and a hoarse voice came through: "'Igniting' such embers... is usually not for acquiring energy. It is for... 'resonance' and 'diffusion'."

"To take that ultimate despair of 'everything is meaningless,' like a virus or a source of contamination, and directionally 'detonate' or 'sow' it, to infect other consciousnesses or civilization artifacts that still hold hope. This is a kind of... conceptual psychological weapon."

Lin Shen's heart sank: "The target is?"

"Uncertain," Ashes shook his head, "but based on the pace of the facility's construction and the crude collection methods, they might be rushing to build some kind of... one-time, large-scale diffusion device. The target could be the Cradle, or other vulnerable nodes of the web weaver protocol, or even... an attempt to contaminate certain Ancient Sages ruins to create chaos."

The nature of the external threat had escalated from resource plundering or physical attacks to a more insidious and harder-to-defend conceptual-level erosion.

Almost simultaneously, the final agreement draft for the Potato negotiations popped up on the right screen, awaiting Lin Shen's electronic signature as the highest authority.

The terms basically adopted the joint review model, but the Potato representative seat was set at 45%, and an additional clause was added: "When Cradle official media reports on Potato-related contributions, they must submit the copy to the labor union's 'Cultural Expression Review Group' for non-mandatory review in advance."

The deputy sent a note: "The Potato Chief finally compromised on the condition that Master Great Strength agrees to design a 'photosynthesis-assisting nutrient solution flavor enhancer' exclusively for them, and holds an 'Atypical Photosynthetic Hot Pot' tasting event tonight using green soil mint and edible light sources, inviting Potato representatives and some researchers to attend as a 'cultural integration attempt'."

Lin Shen could almost imagine Great Strength studying the spectral effects of hot pot base while muttering, "This job is more complicated than dealing with aliens." He quickly browsed the agreement and affixed his electronic signature. At least, one internal line could be temporarily stabilized.

The pressure returned to the two lines of technology and threats.

"β-2, Zhou Zhe, focus your efforts on the data verification," Lin Shen ordered. "Zhao Yan, Ashes, continue deepening the sample analysis, attempting to reverse-engineer the possible range, trigger mechanism, and defense entry points of the 'diffusion device.' Contact GW-002 and ask if it knows of any historical cases or weaknesses regarding the Pruning Faction's use of such weapons. Meanwhile, raise the Cradle's overall defense level, especially the monitoring sensitivity for abnormal fluctuations at the consciousness level."

"Understood," all parties responded.

In the depths of the green soil experimental area, in the gaps of assisting β-2 in building the mathematical model, the tender green Poem Markings lit up uncontrollably once again.

This time, it was not a vague melody, but a clear, serene "image": a boundless garden filled with strange flowers and glowing vines. In the center of the garden stood a huge tree, seemingly made of crystal and green leaves, and beneath the tree was an empty, naturally formed jade seat. A gentle sense of urging came from the image.

Zhou Zhe took a deep breath, following Stardust's previous advice of "no need to resist," and did not close off his perception. Instead, he tried to project a sliver of intent representing "curiosity" and "friendliness," along with a wisp of "joy of growth" he felt from the green soil, gently toward that image.

Instantly, the image became more vivid. He could even "smell" an indescribable fragrance and "hear" the rustling whispers of leaves rubbing together. On that jade seat, light and shadow seemed to converge, forming a blurry, humanoid silhouette that nodded slightly at him.

Immediately after, a large, complex, and orderly stream of information regarding "plant consciousness spectrum sorting" and "correspondence between emotional color and growth rhythm" surged into Zhou Zhe's consciousness like a gentle tide. The amount of information was massive, yet arranged extremely beautifully, as if it were a symphony about life itself.

Zhou Zhe let out a muffled groan as a trickle of blood flowed from his nose; the Poem Markings around his eyes shone brilliantly, and pale gold began to interweave with the tender green. He forced himself to steady his mind and shouted to β-2 and Lin Shen: "I... I received it! A lot of... high-level knowledge about the connection between plant consciousness and emotions! It's from the Tranquil Garden! No time to explain, there are formulas inside... that might help us quickly build the environmental adaptability compensation function!"

He immediately extracted the part of the received information regarding "the impact of environmental fluctuations on consciousness harmonics" and transmitted it to β-2.

β-2's computational core spun at high speed instantly: "Information format unique... parsing... matching degree with existing model... astonishing! Importing compensation function parameters... deduction model correction completion 87%... estimated to reduce high-spirituality field simulation error to within the allowable range, rigid logic space error reduced to the critical point, chaotic dreamscape... still has significant uncertainty."

"Take a gamble," Lin Shen looked at the countdown, "submit the corrected model and run the verification."

On the screen, the three deductive curves in the virtual environments began to generate. The high-spirituality field curve almost perfectly overlapped with the submitted data. The rigid logic space curve fluctuated slightly in the early stages but stabilized in the middle and later stages, with the error barely pressed within the red line. The chaotic dreamscape... the curve oscillated violently, once exceeding the red line, but in the final stage, with the help of a correction in the model derived from Tranquil Garden information regarding "latent orderly resonance within disorder," it eerily looped back, barely touching the edge of the red line before stabilizing.

After a long few minutes.

[Three cross-environment basic data verifications complete.] The abacus's voice sounded, [All errors are within the acceptable thresholds stipulated in Appendix C-9 of the "Council Technology Exchange Basic Law." Verification passed.]

In the command center, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Chu Yunshen wiped the sweat from his forehead. β-2's indicator light stabilized. Zhou Zhe slumped in his chair, his face somewhat pale, but there was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.

However, the abacus's next sentence made the atmosphere freeze again:

[Based on the passed verification, per the process, we are now initiating the 'technical feasibility on-site miniature demonstration' phase. Please, within 24 hours, at the designated observation point, construct a minimal operational Poetics of Emotion power generation device and a green soil grafting interaction node for The Council observation team (represented by the abacus) to conduct an on-site functional confirmation not exceeding one hour. The demonstration must achieve an output of over 30% of the benchmark value in the submitted data.]

An on-site demonstration! This was harder to bluff than data verification; it was a real, tangible test.

Just as Lin Shen was about to respond, new emergency intelligence came from Zhao Yan: "GW-002 replied! It confirmed that the Pruning Faction has used 'ember bombs' in history, but their effect is related to the purity of the 'embers' deployed and the consciousness density of the 'detonation' environment. It provided several spatial coordinates suspected to be 'bomb' construction points, one of which... is less than three short-range jumps away from the Cradle! It also said... the 'ignition' process may require a special 'fuse,' usually triggered by resonance with some 'strong common emotion' in the target area."

Common emotion? What kind of strong common emotion was there in the Cradle?

Scenes from the recent past flashed rapidly through Lin Shen's mind: the anxiety of technical breakthroughs, the pressure of hearings, the gamesmanship of the Potato strike, the fleeting joy of passing verification... and also, the uncertainty about the future, as well as the deeply buried determination to protect their home.

Perhaps...

"Accept the demonstration request," Lin Shen ordered decisively. "Zhou Zhe, β-2, Great Strength, prepare the demonstration device with all your might; just modify our existing experimental platform. Zhao Yan, Ashes, focus on monitoring the coordinates provided by GW-002, and at the same time... analyze whether there are any abnormally concentrated, strong 'common emotion' fluctuations within our Cradle recently—any type will do!"

He looked at the large screen, where the countdown for the technical demonstration and the coordinates of the external threat hung like two swords of Damocles.

And in Zhou Zhe's eyes, the Poem Markings interwoven with tender green and pale gold had not yet completely calmed down; the burden brought by the "gift" from the Tranquil Garden and the pressure of the upcoming demonstration were superimposed on each other.

The battle had never stopped; it had only changed its form.