199: Chapter 199 Warning

"Can someone explain to me," Alpha-01's voice was as raspy as sandpaper grinding against rock, "what exactly did we just see?"

"We saw..." the Chief Technologist spoke with difficulty, every word sounding like he was chewing glass, "we saw Nurgle, one of the Four Chaos Gods, repel the cold observer during their engagement."

"A Chaos Gods repelled the overseer of universal laws?"

"It appears so."

"How is that possible? Our analysis clearly shows that the essence of the cold observer is higher than the Warp, higher than the Chaos Godss."

"The null hypothesis needs revision," the adjudicator's voice interrupted the argument.

"After re-analyzing the combat data, a new hypothesis is proposed:"

"First, the essence of the cold observer is indeed higher than the Warp, but its form of existence is not infinite. In the engagement zone at the junction of Nurgle's domain and the Extragalactic Systems, Nurgle holds the home-field advantage. The Warp essence of that region has been partially Nurgle-fied after trillions of years of infiltration. the cold observer fighting there is like an intruder fighting in enemy territory."

"Second, the essence of the Eternal Garden contains a characteristic that contradicts the laws: the transcendence of life over rules. Physical laws dictate entropy increase, but life locally reverses entropy through metabolism; laws dictate that all things must decay, but life continues its existence through reproduction. Nurgle pushes this transcendence to the extreme; His rot is not simple destruction, but the eternalization of the cycle of life. This characteristic might constitute a form of conceptual pollution or interference with the cold observer's existence, which is based on absolute rules."

"Third, and most importantly, the cold observer's retreat may not necessarily be a failure." The adjudicator's voice became even more solemn. "Based on its inherent obsession with rules, the retreat might be part of its correction algorithm. When facing an anomaly that cannot be resolved in a local battlefield, it may choose to temporarily withdraw, and then, from a higher level, perform a format-clear of the entire anomalous region."

The Command Center fell into silence once again.

Han Zhe spoke slowly, his voice as calm as if he were discussing tomorrow's weather: "So, Nurgle's victory might only be temporary. the cold observer's retreat could mean a greater threat is brewing."

He pulled up the real-time star map of that engagement zone.

"We happen to be located between Nurgle's domain and the cold observer's Extragalactic observation zone. We might become the battlefield for the next round of engagement."

"We cannot wait passively." Han Zhe's voice echoed in the deathly silent conference hall. "The engagement between the cold observer and Nurgle has exposed two key facts:"

"First, the cold observer is not invincible. Although its essence is high, its form of existence can be polluted and repelled. This provides us with a possible way to counter it."

"Second, Nurgle, and by extension all Chaos Godss, possess characteristics that transcend rules which we do not yet fully understand. These characteristics might be a power we can borrow to counter the cold observer."

"But borrowing power from Chaos means contradicting the fundamental principles of the Human Federation," Alpha-01 said deeply. "We never deal with Chaos."

"It's not a deal." Han Zhe's gaze was like ten-thousand-year-old ice. "It's research. It's utilization. Just as we utilize star god fragmentss, Slaanesh avatars, and Chaos Primarchs."

"Nurgle has just shown us a weapon we've never seen before in the engagement with the cold observer—a weapon capable of polluting the underlying laws of the universe. We must parse the essence of this weapon and find a path to 'Human Federation-ize' it."

He turned to the holographic star map and drew a striking red line at the edge of the engagement zone:

"Orders:"

"One, Project Abyss Gaze is initiated. Objective: Establish the highest-level hidden observation stations at the edge of the engagement zone to continuously monitor any signs of potential re-engagement between Nurgle's domain and the cold observer. The adjudicator is fully responsible for data parsing; any anomalies must be reported within one nanosecond."

"Two, the Special Research Group for Corrupted Laws is established. Objective: Based on this engagement data and combined with captured samples of Great Unclean Ones, deeply parse the fundamental principles of Nurgle's ability to pollute rules. Explore the possibility of transforming these principles into rule-polluting weapons based on the laws of the material universe that we can control. This research is directly supervised by the Chief Technologist, assisted by the adjudicator. Security level: Highest."

"Three, dual-preparatory strategic alert. All core territories of the Human Federation, Extragalactic colonies, and the Void Barrier network are to enter Level 2 combat readiness. If the cold observer initiates a format-clear, we need enough time and space for strategic relocation or defense. If Nurgle takes the opportunity to expand, we need enough strength to repel him."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present:

"We have just witnessed a war between a god and the law. The outcome of this war will redefine the order of the universe."

"And we must make ourselves the definers before the new order arrives, rather than the defined."

Three months later. Abyss Gaze Observation Station.

"Detected anomaly in the residual energy decay curve of the engagement zone." An observer's voice sounded on the encrypted channel. "Nurgle's rot imprint is being diluted."

In the holographic image, the area where Nurgle's projection had previously repelled the cold observer saw its residual moldy green color slowly but irreversibly fading and dissipating.

"Is it the after-effects of the cold observer?"

"Uncertain." The adjudicator's voice chimed in. "The dissipation pattern of the rot imprint does not match any known physical or Warp process. It's more like being erased from existence itself by some higher-level rule."

"It's back?" The observer's voice carried a hint of trembling.

"Unconfirmed. But—"

The adjudicator's voice paused for a staggering 0.3 seconds. For its processing speed, this was equivalent to hours of human silence.

"It may never have truly left."

"Retreating might have just been switching its form of existence from observable to unobservable."

"It's waiting. Waiting for the next opportunity to strike."

The observation station fell into a deathly silence.

Outside the window, the Void Zone where the god-level engagement had once erupted was now as calm as if nothing had ever happened.

Only the diluted rot imprint still silently told a fact: two existences beyond human understanding were somewhere, silently watching each other, and humanity just happened to be right in the middle.