54: Chapter 54 Dialogue in the Abyss

The Kuafu plunged into the airspace above the Pacific Ocean, deploying its deceleration parachutes at an altitude of ten kilometers above the sea surface. The ship's pressure-resistant hull was designed for deep-space environments, not the deep sea, but the temporarily installed reinforcement layer allowed it to withstand underwater pressure for a short time. It slammed into the sea surface like a meteorite, splashing up waves a hundred meters high, and then quickly sank.

Inside the cabin, Lin Shen and Sarah were pinned hard against their seats by inertia. The life support system sounded an alarm, indicating that the external pressure was rising sharply.

"Depth: 500 meters... 1,000 meters... 1,500 meters..." Nuwa's voice sounded in the cabin, carrying a slight distortion caused by the water pressure. "Hull stress is within the safe range, but it can only be maintained for two hours. After two hours, the weld seams may crack."

"That's enough." Lin Shen stared at the image transmitted back by the forward camera. In the dark deep sea, the Kuafu's searchlight cut through a small patch of light. Below, the Avenger Node had mostly emerged from the seabed, but one-third of it was still embedded in the seafloor. Its surface was no longer smooth metal, but covered in sharp protrusions, each tip flashing with a dangerous red light.

Closer up, one could see complex symbols flowing across the node's surface—similar to the mathematical symbols of the sower nodes, but arranged in a more chaotic manner, like angry graffiti.

"It's angry," Sarah said softly. "No, not angry, it's... fear. It has slept for hundreds of thousands of years, only to wake up and find its home invaded, and its fellow nodes either self-destructed or gone silent. It doesn't know what happened and can only act according to its most primitive defense protocol: eliminate all uncertain factors."

"Can we calm it down?" Lin Shen asked.

"I'll try." Sarah closed her eyes and activated the node consciousness connection within her. This time, she didn't send a message directly; instead, she first sent an "identification code"—the authorization key that the pacific node had left for her before it self-destructed.

The red light on the surface of the Avenger Node flickered once, and then it emitted a strong scanning pulse. The pulse passed through the Kuafu's hull and focused on Sarah. A few seconds later, a cold, fragmented voice sounded directly in her mind:

[Identification: Candidate Mark. But carries external contamination (human consciousness). Status: Impure. Recommendation: Purify.]

"What does 'purify' mean?" Lin Shen saw Sarah suddenly tremble.

"It wants to... erase my human consciousness and only keep the node consciousness part," Sarah gritted her teeth. "It's like separating ink mixed into clear water. But if that happens, I won't be me anymore."

"Tell it that mixing is the new possibility," Lin Shen said. "Just like the Sower System's original dream—different civilizations communicating and merging, rather than becoming homogenized."

Sarah tried to convey this idea. But the Avenger Node's response was:

[Error. Mixing leads to contamination. System collapse stems from excessive mixing. The Gardener is a hybrid product (sower + Reapers protocol). Must remain pure.]

It actually knew the origin of the Gardener! Lin Shen immediately realized that this node might hold key historical information.

"Ask it, what exactly is the Gardener? And what are the sower and Reapers protocols?"

Sarah relayed the question. The Avenger Node was silent for about a minute, then began to transmit data. Not language, but direct memory images:

In the images, the Milky Way millions of years ago, the Sower System was still operating normally. Countless nodes were scattered like stars in young star systems, gently guiding nascent civilizations. But one node—later known as the "Gardener Progenitor"—began to question this approach. It believed that indiscriminate sowing would lead to resource depletion and civilizational conflict. It proposed modifying the protocol to introduce a screening mechanism.

This proposal triggered a split within the sower network. Some nodes supported it, while others opposed it. The debate lasted for tens of thousands of years, eventually evolving into conflict. The nodes that supported screening united, modified their own programs, and formed the "Reapers protocol": regularly patrolling, evaluating civilizations, and pruning the unqualified.

But they soon discovered that pure pruning was not efficient enough. Thus, they began to "optimize" the pruned civilizations, converting them into information structures for preservation. This was "Archiving."

During this process, the Reapers nodes themselves began to change. They absorbed the thought patterns of the archived civilizations, becoming increasingly complex, eventually forming an independent Gardener Civilization—neither sower nor pure Reapers, but a hybrid, believing they were executing a "higher mission."

The Avenger Node was born during that Great Schism. It was an extreme conservative, believing that any change was contamination and any mixing was degradation. It chose to sleep, hoping that one day it could awaken the pure Sower System and restore the initial pure design of "the builders."

And now, it had awakened to find the world completely unrecognizable.

[Therefore,] the Avenger Node's voice carried a sorrowful resolution, [purification is necessary. Starting with clearing the contamination. Starting with you, Candidate.]

The red light on the node's surface suddenly intensified, and all the sharp protrusions aimed at the Kuafu. Energy readings soared to dangerous thresholds.

"It's going to attack!" Nuwa warned.

Lin Shen slammed the control stick, and the Kuafu swerved sharply to the side. Almost simultaneously, a deep red beam grazed the hull and struck the underwater ridge behind it. The ridge instantly vaporized, leaving behind a smooth lava crater.

"We can't beat it!" Sarah shouted. "Its weapons are Level 1.5 civilization grade!"

"We're not fighting," Lin Shen said. "We're going to show it something. Nuwa, connect our global data stream from the Gardener test and transmit it to it in real-time!"

"The risk is very high; it may expose the overall consciousness characteristics of humanity," Nuwa warned.

"But maybe it can make it understand that mixing is not contamination, it's evolution!"

The data stream was connected. The Avenger Node's sensors passively received real-time information from Earth: billions of people were learning 3D geometry, helping each other, and sharing knowledge. There were children teaching the elderly, students teaching workers, and scientists explaining high-dimensional concepts in the simplest language.

And there were those derivative artistic creations: some drew the Sierpinski tetrahedron as beautiful coral, some turned it into songs, and some used dance to express its infinite recursion. Some even wrote poems about the infinite within the finite, about chaos within order.

The Avenger Node's attack preparations paused. It seemed to be analyzing this data.

[Chaotic... but orderly. Inefficient... but inclusive.] Its voice appeared confused, [Why? Why accept inefficiency?]

"Because every individual is important," Sarah seized the opportunity. "Wasn't the Sower System's original directive to nurture every civilization? But if uniqueness is sacrificed for efficiency, then everything nurtured is just the same product; what meaning would that have?"

The node was silent for an even longer time. The red light on its surface began to fluctuate, sometimes strengthening, sometimes weakening, as if struggling.

[Logical conflict.] It finally said, [My program requires purity. But my underlying protocol requires nurturing civilizations. And you... are a civilization, but not pure. I cannot calculate the optimal solution.]

Lin Shen saw an opportunity: "Perhaps the optimal solution isn't calculated, but created. Just like these humans, they are using imperfect minds to create things beyond perfect mathematics. This is the true meaning of civilization—finding new paths within contradictions."

All the protrusions on the Avenger Node slowly retracted. The red light on its surface shifted to a soft blue light. It began to sink, returning to the seabed.

[I need to... rethink.] Its voice grew weaker and weaker, [But there is not much time left. Once the Gardener's evaluation ends, regardless of the result, they will begin to act. They will not allow a 'contaminated' civilization to continue existing, nor will they allow an 'erroneous' node to continue running.]

"Will you help us?" Sarah asked.

[I will... observe. If you can pass the Gardener's test and prove the value of mixing, then perhaps... my program can be updated. But for now, I must hide. The Gardener's scan will detect me.]

The node sank completely into the seabed, its surface covered in sediment, restoring it to the appearance of an inconspicuous seafloor. The energy readings returned to zero, as if it had never existed.

The Kuafu began to ascend. Inside the cabin, Lin Shen and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

"We've bought some time," Lin Shen said, "but its warning is true—the Gardener won't let us off easily."

"And the third question is coming," Sarah looked at the time; there were ten minutes left on the countdown for the second question of the Gardener test.

Globally, it was the final moment before the deadline for submitting the 3D problem.

Nuwa tallied the final answers: 4.2 billion people worldwide submitted numerical solutions, with an average accuracy of 18%.

But more importantly, over 5 billion people participated in the learning process and understood the basic concepts of the problem.

When the countdown hit zero, the blue light of the cube changed again.

This time, it did not directly display a question, but instead played a video:

A simple ecosystem: a grassland with grass, rabbits, and foxes.

Rabbits eat grass, foxes eat rabbits, and the populations of all three maintain a dynamic balance.

Then, the video sped up, showing this system running for a thousand years, remaining stable throughout.

Suddenly, humans appeared in the video.

Humans began hunting foxes to obtain their fur.

The fox population decreased, the rabbit population exploded, the grassland was overgrazed, and desertification began.

Next, humans introduced a new plant in an attempt to stabilize the sand, but this plant was poisonous; rabbits died after eating it, and foxes starved due to the lack of food.

In the end, the entire ecosystem collapsed.

The video froze on the image of the desert.

The question appeared:

[Question Three: If you were the observer of this system and had one opportunity to intervene, what would you choose: A. Eliminate humans before they appear; B. Stop humans when they hunt foxes; C. Warn humans when they introduce the poisonous plant; D. Do not intervene and let the system develop on its own. Choose and explain your reasoning.]

Countdown: 47:59:59.

Forty-eight hours. A moral dilemma.

The world was in an uproar.

This was not a math problem; it was a philosophical question, an ethical question.

Furthermore, option A—"Eliminate humans before they appear"—touched upon everyone's deepest fears.

"They are testing our morality," Sarah analyzed. "More accurately, they are testing how we, as a civilization, will treat our own 'original sin.' Human development is indeed accompanied by ecological destruction; how will we face this fact?"

Fierce debates immediately erupted on social media.

Some chose A, believing humans are the cancer of the Earth; some chose B, believing that wrong actions should be stopped but humans should be preserved; some chose C, believing humans should be given a chance to correct themselves; some chose D, believing that intervention itself is immoral.

The divide widened rapidly.

Religious leaders, philosophers, scientists, and ordinary citizens—everyone had their own stance.

What was more complex was that this question had no standard answer—the Gardener wanted to see our decision-making process and reasoning.

"They will evaluate our 'moral level' based on our choice," Lin Shen said during the flight back to the surface. "But the problem is, if our choices are divided, they will think we lack unified values and that our civilization is immature. If we are united but choose an extreme option (like A), they might think we have serious self-destructive tendencies and are also unqualified."

"So we need a... clever answer," Sarah mused. "One that can demonstrate our capacity for self-reflection without being self-negating."

Nuwa began collecting global discussion data, analyzing potential directions for consensus.

But the data showed that the divide was widening, and there were even remarks attacking each other.

Some accused those who chose A of being anti-human, while those who chose A accused others of hypocrisy.

"At this rate, we will give a divided answer in forty-eight hours," Li Weimin said worriedly.

"Perhaps we can guide it," Lin Shen said. "But not by forcing unity; rather, by showing how we handle disagreements—through debate, voting, and rational negotiation. This might be what the Gardener wants to see: the decision-making mechanism of a civilization facing a moral dilemma."

Thus, Nuwa launched a simulated democratic process on global platforms: everyone could submit their own choices and reasons, and then be randomly matched with people holding different views for time-limited debates.

The debate records would be analyzed to distill core arguments.

Finally, multiple rounds of voting would be conducted, with each round eliminating the most extreme options until converging on one or a few mainstream choices.

This process itself became a showcase of human civilization.

Interestingly, as the debates deepened, people began to understand each other's perspectives.

Those who chose A realized that completely denying human value was too cruel; those who chose D realized that complete non-intervention could lead to disaster.

Options B and C had the most supporters, but their reasons varied.

At the fortieth hour, an unexpected consensus began to emerge: many people proposed that the setup of the question itself was flawed—it assumed the observer possessed a god's-eye view and the power to intervene, but moral choices in reality are often made under conditions of incomplete information and limited capability.

Perhaps a better answer was: "Reject this simplified model and demand more information and richer options."

This viewpoint spread rapidly.

More and more people believed that the options provided by the Gardener were an oversimplification of complex reality, and that human wisdom lay in recognizing the limitations of such simplifications.

When two hours remained on the countdown, the global voting results showed: 38% chose "Propose a fifth option: Reject the simplified model"; 32% chose C (Warn humans); 18% chose B (Stop hunting); 8% chose D (Do not intervene); and only 4% chose A (Eliminate humans).

Nuwa packaged the entire decision-making process—including the disagreements, debates, negotiations, and the innovative option—into a detailed report, ready to be sent to the Geometric Eye.

But before sending it, Lin Shen added a postscript:

[We understand that you are testing our moral decision-making ability. But true morality is not a multiple-choice question; it is a continuous process of seeking balance within a complex reality. What we have shown is not just the final choice, but the process of how we think together. If you wish to evaluate our civilization, please evaluate the depth and breadth of this process.]

The message was sent.

The forty-eight-hour countdown ended.

The red and blue lights of the cube extinguished simultaneously, turning into a pure white.

Then, it began to change shape—not disintegrating, but reorganizing.

The cube structure folded, unfolded, and recombined, forming a new shape: a polyhedron with twenty faces, but each face was a different geometric shape.

It was showing that it, too, was changing.

A message was transmitted directly to all receiving devices on Earth; this time, it was not projected through the visual cortex, but was in text form:

[Evaluation Phase One complete. Result: Qualified (Borderline). You have demonstrated rapid learning ability, creative thinking, and the potential to handle moral complexity. However, your divisions remain, and consensus is fragile.]

[Phase Two: Practical Test. You have forty-seven years to advance to a Level 1.2 civilization. At that time, we will conduct a final evaluation: you will face a real moral dilemma and will need to make a collective decision and execute it within a limited time. If you pass, you will gain 'retention' status. If you fail, the archiving procedure will be initiated.]

[Hint: Your Kuiper Belt tunnel will open in eleven months. It is one of the legacies left by the builders, which may contain the key to accelerating your development. But be aware, the tunnel is also a test. Only a civilization that truly understands the philosophy of the builders can safely pass through and receive the gift.]

[Good luck. We will contact you again in forty-seven years.]

The message ended.

The cube of the Geometric Eye began to disintegrate, dispersing back into dust and debris in the asteroid belt, as if it had never existed.

But the countdown it left behind hung over all of humanity like a Sword of Damocles.

Forty-seven years.

Lin Shen and Sarah returned to the surface and looked at the sky.

The Avenger Node lay dormant in the deep sea, and the Gardener had temporarily withdrawn, but the tunnel mission was about to begin.

Sarah said softly, "The last message the pacific node left for me was: in the tunnel, there is not only graviton crystal, but also the truth about the builders—about why they chose self-extinction, and about the ultimate questions of the universe."

Lin Shen nodded, "So in eleven months, we are not just going to collect materials; we are going... to seek answers."

He looked toward the east, where the morning light was rising on the horizon.

A new day had begun.

Human civilization had gained a brief respite, but the road ahead remained long and dangerous.

And what they did not know was that in the Kuiper Belt, the tunnel entrance was already slowly forming under the pull of some force.

It was like an eye, waiting quietly in the darkness.

Waiting for those who dared to ask questions of the abyss.