83: Chapter 82 The Shield of the Stars

The alarms in the tactical center of Kunlun station were almost deafening.

On the main screen, the seven light spots representing the Pruning Faction infiltration units flickered and dodged like ghosts through the dense defensive artillery fire and psionic interference nets, their speed undiminished.

"They are ignoring the kinetic barrage! The psionic interference only delays their trajectory by 0.3 seconds!" the weapons officer said, his voice laced with despair. "Units 3 and 5 are accelerating, heading straight for the airspace above the Cradle cavity!"

"Launch all interceptor drones! Activate the preset lunar electromagnetic pulse bombs!" Station Chief Chief Geologist shouted, his eyes bloodshot. "Even if we only create a chaotic field, we must hold them back!"

In lunar orbit, dozens of small drones popped out from their hiding spots, spewing a dense cloud of metal projectiles.

At the same time, silent electromagnetic pulses detonated at several predetermined locations on the lunar surface, attempting to interfere with the infiltration units' precision positioning systems.

Two of the infiltration units (Unit 3 and Unit 5) did experience a brief trajectory disturbance, but the other five suddenly dispersed. Two of them (Unit 1 and Unit 7) made an incredible right-angle turn, bypassing all interceptions and lunging straight for Kunlun station itself!

"They want to pluck out our eyes!" Chief Geologist exclaimed in horror.

Inside the Cradle, in the spherical hall.

The consciousnesses of Lin Shen, Elena, and Zhao Yan were almost fused with the virtual interfaces in front of them.

Elena was responsible for analyzing the blueprint for the "Modular Psionic Sensing/Interference Array (Simplified Version)" they had just acquired, while Zhao Yan was quickly grasping the structure of the "Adjustable Focused Psionic Shield Generator (Prototype)" and adapting it to the 25% of the Cradle's peripheral defense system control interface that had been opened.

Medical Officer Lu Yunshan was fully focused on monitoring the neural load of the three, while simultaneously trying to understand the energy flow distribution map of the Cradle's defense system.

"The key to the sensing array is to establish a dynamic reference frequency to counteract the Pruning Faction's psionic noise shielding!" Elena's fingers blurred across the virtual keyboard. "We need to use the Star Ring and the existing monitoring station network on the moon as base nodes, with the Cradle as the processing core, to build a temporary collaborative sensing network! Chief Engineer Lin, I need you to coordinate the technology tree system to optimize the psionic harmonic matching algorithm!"

Lin Shen closed his eyes and quickly imported the theoretical framework parsed by Elena into the technology tree.

The branches representing "Psionic Field Theory" and "Collaborative Network" flickered violently, rapidly deducing several optimization schemes and feeding them back to Elena directly through the consciousness link.

"Scheme 3, using asymmetric frequency comb filtering, has the lowest energy consumption and the highest anti-interference redundancy."

"Implementing Scheme 3! Injecting the Cradle sensing network protocol!" Elena executed immediately.

On the other side, Zhao Yan frowned deeply.

"I understand the principle of the shield generator, but the actual distribution of control nodes and energy transmission paths in the Cradle's peripheral defense system is too complex! 25% power... spread across the entire periphery of the cavity, the single-point defense strength might not be enough to completely withstand the penetration of the infiltration units!"

"Do not aim for comprehensive defense!" Lin Shen's voice rang out in the link, as cold as an ice field. "Based on your previous tactical analysis, Zhao Yan, the Pruning Faction's attack pattern leans towards a 'precision scalpel.' Their goal is clear—penetrate the defense and attack the Cradle itself or the entrance area where we are located. Concentrate all available shield energy to build a three-layer overlapping focused shield at the key nodes of the Cradle's shell and the cavity entrance above us! For the other areas, use the sensing array to create fake energy hotspots for misdirection!"

"Understood! Reallocating shield energy flow, prioritizing the core area!" Zhao Yan's fingers flew as he quickly operated the complex defense system interface.

The blue light flow representing shield energy began to converge and compress from the wide-area dispersion mode toward several key locations.

At this moment, through the Cradle's limited external sensors and the intermittent link with Kunlun station, they "saw" the emergency on the external battlefield: two infiltration units were lunging straight at Kunlun station, another three were approaching the Cradle cavity from different angles, and two more were cruising on the periphery, seemingly conducting battlefield monitoring and data collection.

"Kunlun station is in danger!" Medical Officer Lu Yunshan exclaimed.

"There's no time for remote support." Lin Shen's eyes sharpened. "Activate the active mode of the Cradle's peripheral defense system! Target: the three units approaching the cavity! Zhao Yan, use the concentrated shield energy to simulate a high-intensity 'psionic flashbang' to interfere with their sensors and buy time for Kunlun station!"

"Activating active defense! Energy focusing to the sector above the cavity... Fire!"

At the edge of the Cradle's southern polar cavity, those dark silver "light spots" that were originally only faintly glowing suddenly lit up!

Dozens of highly concentrated pale blue psionic beams shot out; they were not direct attacks, but rather erupted violently in the preset airspace, forming a blinding, chaotic psionic radiation storm that instantly covered the sensor frequency bands of the three approaching infiltration units.

The movements of the three infiltration units stalled simultaneously, their trajectories showing obvious chaos and swaying.

Two of them immediately began violent evasive maneuvers, attempting to escape the radiation zone.

The other one seemed to have adopted a different response protocol, with a layer of dark light filtering lighting up on its surface, pushing forward against the radiation storm, but its speed dropped significantly.

"Active defense is effective, but it can only interfere and slow them down, not destroy them!" Zhao Yan reported. "Their armor or field defense has strong resistance to psionic attacks!"

"That's enough! Is the sensing array online?" Lin Shen asked.

"It's online! Building the dynamic perception map... captured the precise real-time trajectories and psionic characteristic spectra of the seven units!" The screen in front of Elena lit up, and a battlefield situation map several times clearer than that of Kunlun station unfolded. "They are not completely invisible! At specific harmonic resonance frequencies, their 'psionic trails' are clearly visible!"

"Synchronize the perception data to Kunlun station and the Earth orbit defense network!" Lin Shen ordered, and a new thought occurred to him. "Elena, can you use the sensing array to reverse-engineer the data chain communication frequency between them? Even if it's just for a very brief interference?"

"I can try! Their coordination is very precise, so there must be high-speed data exchange! Give me some time to capture and decompile the protocol characteristics!"

External battlefield, Kunlun station.

Just as the two infiltration units were about to enter the effective strike range against the structure of Kunlun station, the station suddenly received an extremely clear real-time enemy trajectory data packet from the direction of the Cradle!

"It's Lin Shen and the others!" Chief Geologist was overjoyed. "Fire control system, re-lock! All close-in weapon systems, fire in coverage according to the new data!"

The defensive fire, which had been inefficient due to the targets' invisibility and high-speed maneuvers, suddenly had a clear target.

Dense barrages and directed-energy beams were poured out, and although most were still evaded or intercepted, they finally formed an effective threat.

The two infiltration units were forced to abandon their optimal attack paths and perform larger evasive maneuvers, disrupting their attack rhythm.

In Earth orbit, several defensive ships that had just adjusted their posture also received the data, allowing long-range interceptor missiles and lasers to be fired with more precise predictions. Although the hit rate was not high due to the long distance, it further compressed the infiltration units' maneuvering space.

The balance of the battlefield tilted, slightly but crucially.

Inside the Cradle, Elena let out a short cheer: "Captured the data chain characteristics! It's high-frequency hopping with quantum encryption, impossible to crack, but we can try to use the Cradle's psionic field to perform 'resonance interference' at a specific phase, creating brief data packet conflicts or delays!"

"Execute! Interference target: that unit pushing forward against the radiation storm!" Lin Shen decided immediately.

Elena injected the calculated interference parameters into the psionic field control module of the Cradle's peripheral defense system.

An invisible, extremely precise harmonic cut into the battlefield, causing microsecond-level resonance interference with the communication receiver of that advancing unit.

It was this microsecond-level interference that caused an extremely brief lack of synchronization in the tactical updates between this unit and the rear command node (likely one of the two units cruising on the periphery).

Its path of advance had an insignificant, unplanned deviation.

And this deviation caused it to collide right into a focused shield area with the highest energy density, which Zhao Yan had preset.

"Now! Shield overload! Directional impact!" Zhao Yan roared, instantly boosting the shield energy in that sector to its theoretical limit.

"Boom—!"

A silent explosion bloomed in the vacuum.

Highly concentrated spirit energy collided violently with the infiltration unit's own defensive field in an unprecedented clash.

Dark and pale blue lights flickered and annihilated frantically.

Visible cracks appeared on the surface of the infiltration unit, its thruster exhaust became erratic, and it tumbled off its predetermined trajectory, crashing obliquely toward the lunar wasteland!

"One damaged!" Medical Officer Lu Yunshan reported excitedly.

However, before they could celebrate, the remaining six infiltration units seemed to be enraged, and their tactical style changed abruptly!

They abandoned some of their stealth characteristics, their speed and maneuverability increased once more, and they began firing slender, space-distorting energy beams that were almost invisible to the naked eye!

"It's an Order Cutting Beam!" The warning from Gardener Representative Qi, transmitted directly into Lin Shen's consciousness through the link between Sarah and the heart crystal, came through. "Be careful! This attack can temporarily weaken the stability of local physical laws and has extremely strong penetration against both shields and solid structures!"

Before the voice faded, a cutting beam grazed a cluster of spirit energy light spots on the edge of the Cradle's void.

The light spots in that area instantly dimmed and extinguished, and the corresponding external defensive energy output dropped by 8% immediately.

Another beam shot toward the Kunlun station; although it was deflected by an urgently reinforced local shield, the shield generator overloaded, smoked, and became non-functional.

The enemy's counterattack was sharp and lethal.

They no longer pursued stealthy infiltration, turning instead to high-intensity, suppressive attacks aimed at rapidly paralyzing human defensive nodes and the Cradle's external facilities.

The pressure spiked!

"Shield energy is being consumed rapidly! The sensor array nodes are also being targeted!" Zhao Yan said, his voice urgent as he watched the blue and green indicators on the screen rapidly decreasing.

Lin Shen's brain raced.

If they tried to outlast them, they would undoubtedly lose.

They had to win by a surprise move.

His gaze fell upon the knowledge cubes still slowly revolving in the center of the hall, especially those few dim ones that had shown no reaction before.

A crazy idea popped into his mind.

"Elena, Zhao Yan, continue maintaining the defense and stall for as much time as possible! Medical Officer Lu, connect me to the Cradle's deepest system status logs. I need to know the general classification of those locked cubes!"

"Chief Engineer Lin, what are you going to do?" Elena asked urgently.

"Taking a gamble." Lin Shen's voice was filled with determination. "The Cradle is observing us, evaluating us. It gave us tools, but it also gave us a desperate situation. Now, I want to show it that in a desperate situation, human civilization doesn't just use tools; it also... 'creates' tools, or 'awakens' them."

He waited no longer, sinking his consciousness fully into the technology tree system while importing the system status logs that Medical Officer Lu Yunshan had just connected (even though most were garbled text or insufficient permission prompts) all at once.

He needed to find the "implicit connections" between those locked cubes, the current battlefield threats, and the knowledge they had already acquired.

The technology tree grew and deduced frantically, consuming a massive amount of Lin Shen's mental energy.

His face visibly turned pale, and his body trembled slightly.

Medical Officer Lu Yunshan immediately prepared to inject a neural stabilizer.

"Found it!" A few seconds later, Lin Shen opened his eyes abruptly, a flash of golden light passing through them. "Among those locked cubes, one classification tag has a 0.7% inverse match with the energy decay pattern of the Order Cutting Beam! It might contain some kind of... 'local law stabilization field' theory or technology! Although we can't access it, the Cradle's own defense system might have a low-power background process with similar functionality built in!"

He looked at his teammates, speaking as fast as bullets: "We don't need to fully unlock it! We just need to use our existing permissions and knowledge, especially the 'collaborative sensing' and 'focused shield' principles we just acquired, to try to 'stimulate' or 'guide' that background process, making it perform a brief, unconventional power boost in the area where we need defense! It's like using a needle to nudge a rusted gear!"

"This... the theoretical basis is too weak! The risk is extremely high!" Elena said in disbelief.

"We don't have time to pursue a perfect theory!" Lin Shen gritted his teeth. "Zhao Yan, ready the shield energy. On the predicted path of the next cutting beam, create a high-intensity, high-frequency oscillating spirit 'resonant cavity'! Elena, use the sensor array to scan for micro-variations in the spatial constants of that area with full power, feeding the data in real-time to the Cradle's system core, especially flagging the anomalous bands that match the characteristics of the locked cubes! Leave the rest to the Cradle's own logic!"

This was a high-stakes gamble.

Betting that the Cradle's intelligent system could recognize their intent and the "clues" they provided, betting that the dormant background process could be successfully stimulated, and even more, betting that their direction of conjecture was correct.

There was no time to hesitate.

Zhao Yan and Elena executed immediately, pushing all their computing power and control precision to the limit.

An Order Cutting Beam shot over again, aimed directly at another important energy node on the Cradle's outer shell.

Just at the moment before the beam was about to hit, the spirit "resonant cavity" preset by Zhao Yan was triggered in that sector of space.

At the same time, the data stream containing special anomalous bands scanned by Elena was injected into the Cradle system like the most urgent alarm.

Time seemed to freeze for a hundredth of a second.

Then, at the point where the beam was about to make contact with the shield, space itself rippled slightly.

It wasn't the blue light of the shield, but a more fundamental, dimmer gray halo, like an oil film on water, which flashed and vanished.

The cutting beam, capable of weakening laws, dissolved and dissipated silently the moment it touched this layer of gray halo, like ice and snow under the sun.

There was no explosion, no impact; it just vanished into thin air.

Not only this beam, but several other beams that followed, firing in other directions, all encountered the same brief interception by the gray halo after entering a certain range of the Cradle's void periphery, and then dissipated.

The attacks from the six infiltration units stopped abruptly.

They seemed "confused" by this unexpected defensive phenomenon, hovering in place for a moment.

"The Cradle... it responded!" Elena watched the system feedback, which displayed a temporarily activated process named "Basic Law Anchoring Field (Emergency)," consuming 0.01% of the Cradle's reserve energy, with a duration of 1.7 seconds.

It was these 1.7 seconds that neutralized the lethal offensive.

"The Cradle is helping us..." Zhao Yan muttered.

Lin Shen leaned weakly against the control pillar, his forehead covered in cold sweat, but a smile appeared on his lips.

They had won the gamble.

They had proven to the Cradle that humans not only had the ability to use the legacy, but also the potential to understand, associate, and attempt to "guide" the deeper functions of the legacy under extreme pressure.

A cold, neutral voice, with unprecedented clarity, echoed among the four of them and throughout the entire spherical hall:

"Emergency protocol upgraded."

"Candidate civilization has demonstrated potential for 'creative crisis response' and 'deep system correlation cognition'."

"Granted 'temporary deep collaboration authorization'."

"Opening front-end interface for the 'Cradle' Antarctic void core defense system (dormant state) wake-up protocol."

"Note: Wake-up requires complete guidance from the 'key' and higher-level energy authorization. Estimated wake-up time: 47 minutes."

"Current threat assessment: Infiltration units are adjusting tactics; a full-scale attack is expected in 35-40 minutes. Please prepare."

New hope, accompanied by even greater challenges and a more urgent countdown, descended together.

The infiltration units had temporarily retreated but were regrouping and adjusting.

And as for who the key—the complete guidance—to wake up the Cradle's core defense system pointed to, it went without saying.

Lin Shen's gaze turned toward the heart crystal that had been silently floating in his equipment all along.

Sarah...