92: Chapter 91 Echoes of the Abyss

In the South Pacific, a deep-sea research platform codenamed "Guixu"—resembling a massive steel jellyfish—floated in the darkness four thousand meters beneath the ocean surface. This was the deepest part of the Earth, the edge of the Mariana Trench, and the location of the final land/offshore anchor point to be investigated: the South Pacific anchor point, codenamed the "Eye of the Abyss." In mythology, Guixu was the place where all waters converged, echoing the previously discovered "Everlasting Underwater Lamp" (the East Sea Node).

Inside the Resonance Chamber of the Cradle, the atmosphere was more solemn than during any previous connection. This was not only because this was the last unknown among the seven anchor points of the Gaia Network, but also because the environment here was extreme and its mythological symbolism was profound and unpredictable. Sarah's state had become more stable and acute after the first three connections, but she could feel that Max was exceptionally tense today—deep-sea missions always reminded him of Sarah's ordeal in Saturn's rings.

"Fourth connection, target: 'Eye of the Abyss.' Intensity: one-fifty-thousandth of the baseline value, employing the highest-grade buffer isolation protocol." Sarah's conscious commands were clear and cautious. "The pressure, darkness, and the imagery of 'Guixu' here may represent 'ending,' 'cycle,' or 'transformation.' Proceed with utmost caution."

Faint harmonics traversed the Earth-Moon space and thick layers of water, reaching the deep-sea abyss capable of crushing a tank.

Feedback did not arrive immediately.

There was only an absolute "silence" and "heaviness" that seemed capable of swallowing everything. It wasn't the structural feel of the iron lotus, the conscious noise of the ice abyss, or the life pulse of genesis, but a kind of "existence" that was nearly "nothingness" yet filled with infinite "mass." It felt as if the harmonics had been cast not into a construct, but into a... "conceptual singularity."

Just as Sarah was preparing to further adjust her perception mode, a change occurred.

Deep within that heavy "silence," like a tightly closed eyelid slowly opening, the "Eye of the Abyss" manifested.

It had no fixed form, appearing more like a constantly flowing and shifting "vortex." This vortex was composed of incomprehensible dark energy flows and some non-material "information density gradient," rotating slowly. Its center was bottomless, as if connected to a dimension beyond three-dimensional space. It emitted no light, yet it swallowed all faint light and energy radiation around it; even the detection harmonics Sarah sent out were slightly "bent" and "absorbed" at its edge.

"Detecting extremely strong gravitational microlensing effects and spatial curvature anomalies!" Elena's voice rang out on the monitoring channel, filled with shock. "The 'Eye of the Abyss' is warping the surrounding spacetime structure! Although the magnitude is tiny, the principle... is similar to the Sanctuary Protocol's method of stabilizing local laws, but the direction seems reversed? It's not 'stabilizing,' but... creating an extremely slow, controlled 'spacetime depression'?"

"What is it 'swallowing'?" Lin Shen immediately followed up.

Sarah concentrated her perception on the edge of the vortex. She "saw" all kinds of seemingly disordered, dissipative energy flows—from mantle convection deep within the Earth, to energy dissipation from ocean currents, and even extremely faint energy that seeped into the deep sea after being attenuated by the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere from distant solar radiation. Upon entering the range of influence of the "Eye of the Abyss," they were captured and pulled by that invisible vortex, then slowly "sank" into the unfathomable depths of the center. Simultaneously, an extremely thin but seemingly "transformed" or "filtered" energy/information "echo" diffused weakly from the deeper parts of the vortex in a manner difficult for humans to perceive, merging into the surrounding deep-sea environment and the Earth's psionic background field.

"It's not defense, not monitoring, not storage, and not nourishment..." Sarah struggled to understand. "It's more like a 'cosmic-scale pressure relief valve' or an 'energy/information converter'! It's absorbing the low-grade energy and information 'waste heat' naturally dissipated from the Earth's interior and surface, performing some kind of 'processing' or 'downgrading' through a process we can't understand, and then slowly releasing the transformed trace products. This might be to maintain the balance of a larger system, or... to prevent this 'waste heat' from accumulating to a dangerous level?"

"Guixu... where all waters return and finally find peace." Professor Chu Yunshen's voice patched in. "Mythology might be hinting that this is the 'terminal station' and 'recycling starting point' for energy and information. Did the builders consider the long-term 'entropy increase' problem of planetary or even stellar systems? Were they trying to design a prototype of an... 'eternal engine' that could locally counter heat death and achieve energy and information cycling?"

This speculation was too grand, even somewhat terrifying. If the "Eye of the Abyss" truly was some kind of experimental device to counter the ultimate heat death of the universe, even if only a planetary-level prototype, the technological level and ambition it represented far exceeded human imagination.

"What is its status? Are there cycles or peaks?" Lin Shen was more concerned with practical risks.

Sarah carefully perceived the slowly rotating vortex. Its "rotational speed" was extremely stable, with a faint synchronization with the Earth's axial precession cycle (approximately 26,000 years). It was currently in the "steady absorption" phase of that cycle. No short-term crisis peaks like those of the East Sea Node were detected, nor were there signs of the locked-down decay seen in the ice abyss. It was like a prototype of a high-precision perpetual motion machine that had been slumbering for eons, still operating silently according to its originally set rhythm.

However, when Sarah attempted to perceive its connection with other anchor points, especially with genesis (life nourishment) and the ice abyss (consciousness preservation), she discovered an even more unsettling phenomenon.

The invisible "gravitational field" or "information absorption field" of the "Eye of the Abyss" seemed to faintly shroud the entire Gaia Network. In an extremely slow, almost imperceptible way, it was "absorbing" the minute "system entropy increase" or "information redundancy" naturally generated by other anchor points during their long operations. This might be a passive "maintenance" or "cleanup" function.

But when Sarah's perception focused toward the ice abyss, she felt that the "Eye of the Abyss" exhibited an... extremely faint "preferential absorption" toward the harmonics of "conscious whispers" filled with pain and chaos emanating from there. It was as if those negative conscious echoes were, in its view, also a type of "waste" that needed to be processed and transformed by "Guixu." However, this absorption efficiency was also extremely low, far from enough to solve the problems of the ice abyss.

"It might possess the potential capability to handle the ice abyss issue," Sarah speculated, "but it would require the entire network to operate at a higher power, or... specific commands to adjust its 'processing preferences'."

Yet another answer that required higher permissions and energy.

The fourth connection ended. The "Eye of the Abyss" had not brought an imminent crisis, but it had revealed a more magnificent and ultimate mystery—the civilization of the builders might not only have been thinking about the survival of their civilization, but also attempting to touch the ultimate laws of the universe itself.

On the Moon, the completion ceremony for the first phase of the Anvil fortifications was held in the expansion area of the "Kunlun" station. Although the scale was not large, it marked the first time humanity possessed a permanent defense node with actual combat capabilities on the Moon. Experimental "Focused Psionic Shield Generators" had been deployed at key locations, forming a preliminary complement to the Cradle's Sanctuary Protocol defense field.

More importantly, with the collaboration of countless theoretical physicists and psionic scientists, the principle verification machine for the "Law Interference Neutralizer"—anchor point one—completed its first low-power laboratory test.

The test was conducted in a highly shielded laboratory. The objective was to use a miniature "Order Cutting Beam" simulator (built based on partial principles provided by the Gardener) to attack a target protected by anchor point one.

The beam fired, and the moment it approached the target, anchor point one activated. There was no light, no loud bang; only the monitoring instruments captured an extremely brief (nanosecond-level) violent fluctuation in the spatial parameters around the target, as if it had been instantly "refreshed."

The simulated beam was like hitting an invisible, absolutely smooth wall; the energy flow was forced to "scatter" and "dissipate," failing to cause any damage to the target.

"Success! Although it's only a test under minimum power and ideal conditions, the principle verification passed!" the project leader, theoretical physicist Ouyang Jing, reported excitedly. "Within nanoseconds, anchor point one forced the reconstruction of local physical constant baselines in the protected area, neutralizing the external law interference!"

This was a milestone breakthrough! Although there was still a long road ahead to manufacturing practical equipment capable of defending against the Pruning Faction's heavy assault ships, humanity had finally grasped the theoretical key to countering such high-end threats.

"Accelerate follow-up research and enter the engineering prototype stage as soon as possible," Lin Shen instructed. "At the same time, study how to combine 'anchor' technology with 'focused shields' to form a multi-layered defense system."

On Earth, the geothermal enhancement pilot project for the ice abyss anchor point in Siberia began its first seventy-two-hour run under cautious supervision.

Specially made psionic resonance devices were buried in the permafrost, emitting harmonics carefully matched to the frequency of deep geothermal flows. Monitoring data showed that the geothermal extraction efficiency in the target area increased by about 6.3%, consistent with predictions.

However, monitoring the status of the Cryo-Lock brought confusing results.

The energy decay rate of the Cryo-Lock... did not slow down; instead, in the twelfth hour after the pilot began, an extremely faint sign of acceleration appeared! Although the magnitude of acceleration was tiny (about 0.001% per hour) and potentially within the margin of error, the trend was completely opposite to expectations.

"Stop the pilot immediately! Analyze the cause!" Lin Shen ordered immediately upon receiving the report.

The project was halted, and data analysis proceeded intensely. The preliminary conclusion was unsettling: the slight enhancement of the geothermal flow seemed to have accidentally "activated" the already fragile balance between the sealed conscious echoes and the Cryo-Lock system inside the ice abyss anchor point. The activity of the conscious echoes saw an almost unmeasurable increase, causing the Cryo-Lock to consume more energy to maintain suppression, which in turn exacerbated its decay.

"We outsmarted ourselves," Dr. Zhou Zhe's voice carried a sense of defeat. "The system of the ice abyss is more sensitive and complex than we imagined. Any external energy input, even with good intentions, can be distorted and produce the opposite effect."

This was a heavy lesson: when facing ancient legacies, especially those involving the dangerous realm of consciousness, humanity's means of intervention had to be more subtle, or... required a higher level of understanding and permission.

"Suspend all direct intervention plans for the ice abyss," Lin Shen decided. "Re-evaluate. Perhaps the key to solving the ice abyss problem lies not within itself, but in other anchor points, or... after the Inheritor's Trial."

Inside the virtual "Civilization Exhibition Hall," Professor Chu Yunshen and his team were testing the first batch of exhibition modules.

They designed a display about human "War and Peace": from bloody murals of the cold weapon era, to video fragments of the two World Wars, to the moment the United Nations was founded, as well as the practices of the modern pacifist movement, war trauma treatment, and international conflict mediation. The exhibition did not linearly praise progress but instead highlighted humanity's struggle, reflection, and slow learning within this ultimate contradiction.

Another module showcased humanity's understanding of "life": from primitive fertility worship, to the decoding of the genetic map, to the race between ecological protection and species extinction, and finally to the exploration of consciousness and artificial intelligence ethics. Similarly, it did not shy away from the controversies of cloning and genetic editing, nor the history of human exploitation of other life forms, but it also displayed a growing sense of empathy and responsibility.

"How will Stargazer 742 understand these?" a young sociologist asked.

"I don't know," Professor Chu said frankly. "But we have shown the truth. The true face of a civilization is its greatest sincerity and its most powerful defense."

In deep space, the "Scavenger-7" satellite monitored an abnormal neutrino burst at the Lagrange L2 point. It lasted only 0.3 seconds and was not high in intensity, but its spectral characteristics were extremely strange, matching no known astrophysical process or Pruning Faction technology. The direction of the burst pointed vaguely toward the center of the Milky Way.

The Gardener's side maintained silence on this, providing no analysis or speculation. This silence itself revealed an unusual atmosphere.

At the Cradle control center on the Moon, Lin Shen marked the discovery of the "Eye of the Abyss," the success of anchor point one, the failure of the ice abyss intervention, the progress of the "Civilization Exhibition," and the new deep-space neutrino anomaly one by one on the strategic star map.

The star map became increasingly complex, with lines crisscrossing and light points flickering.

Seven anchor points, seven functions, seven mysteries. They were like an ancient, fragmented puzzle waiting to be correctly assembled.

And the final image of the puzzle might point not only to the safety of Earth, but also to some... ultimate meaning of civilization's existence in the universe.

Lin Shen knew that the last few pieces of the puzzle were likely located deeper within the Chamber of Inheritance, inside that yet-to-be-opened Sanctuary of Choice.

Time was passing, unknown spectators were peering in, and the pruning blades were closing in.

Humanity had to quicken its pace.

In the echoes of the abyss,

Discern the direction,

And complete the civilization puzzle that belongs to them.