27: Chapter 27 The Moral Scale of STC Catalysts

The cockpit of the Wanderer was thick with the acrid, rotten smell of leaking coolant. The scent of rust mixed with spoiled vinegar invaded the nostrils, making eyes sting. On the tactical screen, a red warning at 1.77% had been sitting there for six hours. The life support system wheezed at minimum power, the air circulation pump coughing out a dry screech every thirty seconds.

Chen Duo leaned against the hatch, his thumb repeatedly rubbing that SWQ military dog tag. His gaze passed over Lin Yuan's shoulder, fixed on the Hybrid Guardian temporarily imprisoned by the cryo-mist. The creature's red eye-glow had extinguished, its biological outer armor covered in white frost.

"Three stc fragments," Chen Duo spoke, his voice kept very low. "The biological outer armor enhancement is incomplete, the cryogenic hibernation is intact, and there's energy optimization."

With a swipe of a finger on the data pad, a projection interface expanded between the two. On a deep red background, golden Gothic font floated and scrolled. The icon for the energy optimization protocol was a cluster of lightning bound by chains, with a note below: [Requires biological catalyst: 0.3g of adapter's genetic tissue].

Lin Yuan stared at that line of text, his back teeth tightening slightly.

"Your little pet," Chen Duo jerked his chin toward Rat Eye, "the core frequency of his right eye is synchronized with the Guardian, and the genetic signature match is 99.7%. This is what the system wants."

Rat Eye sat in the corner, his right eyepatch already removed. That eye looked like a scrapped camera lens, the iris covered in fine cracks and the pupil dilated into an irregular oval.

"Commander," Rat Eye's voice was calm, the Master-Slave Contract suppressing the pain, "I have seventy-two hours of vital signs remaining. If energy isn't restored, we will all die here."

Lin Yuan said nothing. He flipped through the military log, first trying an alternative. The last high-concentration promethium battery was plugged into the energy core. The cockpit lights flickered, and the number on the tactical screen jumped to 1.78% before freezing. The system issued a piercing alarm: [Warning: Catalyst mismatch, energy conversion rate 0.03%, biological catalyst replacement recommended].

Lin Yuan stared at the golden text, then glanced at Rat Eye's right eye.

"Extract tissue from the edge of the cornea," Lin Yuan's voice was flat, as if giving a routine supply order. "0.3 grams, no more than two millimeters beyond the periphery of the retina."

Rat Eye nodded. Chen Duo handed over a sterile sampler. Lin Yuan took the tool and reached toward the corner of Rat Eye's right eye. A dark red tissue sample adhered to the tip of the sampler. Rat Eye didn't blink, his ruined eye staring straight at the cockpit ceiling.

"Log entry," Lin Yuan said as he placed the sample into the STC interface, while writing in the military log: [Utilized 0.3g of Rat Eye's biological tissue as a catalyst. Alternative solutions failed. Survival necessity confirmed. Compensatory medical support required hereafter].

The moment the sample touched the interface, the Wanderer shuddered violently. The energy core emitted a low hum, and the acrid smell was overwhelmed by the pungent scent of ozone. The tactical screen glowed with golden light: [STC protocol activated, energy optimization in progress, current efficiency increased by 6.3%].

Numbers jumped frantically on the screen: 1.77%... 1.85%... 1.92%... 2.08%... 2.10%.

[Energy restored to 2.1%, basic scanning functions online, single-channel communication restored].

Lin Yuan turned to look at Rat Eye. A terrifying change was occurring in the boy's right eye. The originally fine cracks were gradually expanding, and dark red bloodshot veins spread outward from the center of the pupil. There was no pain on Rat Eye's face, only a hollow confusion.

"I... can't see," Rat Eye raised his hand and waved it in front of his right eye. "But... I can see other things. Signals... like rivers... red rivers, flowing from that direction."

He raised his hand, pointing deep into Station Zero, toward Sector B.

Lin Yuan immediately activated the newly restored scanning function. A red energy trail appeared on the screen, originating from the Hybrid Guardian imprisoned by the cryo-mist, flowing toward the depths of Sector B, and then bouncing back.

"consciousness projection," Lin Yuan pulled up the previously downloaded stc fragment data, overlaying the Guardian's neural fluctuation map with the signal trail. "It's not a simple program control; it's a real-time neural link. THRONE-02 is projecting its own consciousness fragments onto this hybrid creature through some kind of terminal network."

Hook-New-043 fulfilled: The Guardian is a remote puppet for THRONE-02, with the control node pointing to the depths of Sector B.

Lin Yuan walked over and crouched in front of the Guardian, checking the creature's eye receiver. The device was three times larger than Rat Eye's right eye, its metal casing engraved with tiny inscriptions, faintly recognizable as a variation of Gothic script.

"Faith is control," Lin Yuan whispered.

He pulled up the scan records of the icon of the emperor. Under the high-resolution scan supported by 2.1% energy, the interior of the icon's base was filled with neural conduits. Those conduits were of the same design as the interfaces on the Guardian, only much larger.

"The icon is a signal amplifier," Lin Yuan pointed at the winding conduits on the screen. "THRONE-02 is conducting faith experiments here, combining Emperor worship with biological control. The brainwaves generated when believers pray are collected and amplified to strengthen control over the hybrid creatures."

Hook-New-044 advanced.

Chen Duo's communicator suddenly emitted a piercing buzz. He glanced down, his expression instantly darkening. "Anvil King," he squeezed out the words, "a forced recall order. The Tyrant-class is shrinking the perimeter; four hours left."

"How do you plan to report?" Lin Yuan didn't look back, still staring at the scanning screen.

"Outpost established, hybrid creature discovered, suspected biological weapon hatchery. No remote control technology found, no anomalies found in the icon of the emperor."

Lin Yuan's fingers paused for a moment. Chen Duo was hiding core technical intelligence, keeping exclusive bargaining chips.

"The encrypted communication channel has been restored," Lin Yuan said calmly. "You can go outside the cockpit to talk; the signal will be clearer."

Chen Duo stared at Lin Yuan's back, checked his implanted tracking beacon, and then pushed the door open to leave.

Lin Yuan counted down three minutes and opened the reverse monitoring program. Using the newly restored 2.1% energy, he had already hacked into Chen Duo's tracking beacon. Communication waveforms appeared on the screen; although he couldn't decipher the content, the call duration was only one-third of a standard report.

Trust level dropped from 45% to 40%. Lin Yuan noted the number in the log and then closed the monitoring interface.

He turned to look at Rat Eye. The boy's right eye had completely lost its visual function, the pupil turning a cloudy grey-white, yet that eye was eerily moving, tracking the signal flow invisible to the naked eye in the air.

"Pointing to Sector B?" Lin Yuan asked.

"It's very deep," Rat Eye's voice carried a hollow echo. "The signals are converging there into a vortex... and... something else. Something like me... no, something more complete than me..."

Lin Yuan stood up and walked to the observation window. The depths of Station Zero were pitch black, and a faint sound of machinery operating came from the direction of Sector B.

He gripped the STC interface at his waist, where the faint warmth of Rat Eye's tissue still lingered.

Chen Duo's footsteps suddenly came from outside the cockpit, heavy and hurried. He pushed open the door, his face looking even worse than when he left.

"The Tyrant-class has tightened the perimeter ahead of schedule," Chen Duo said. "They'll reach the outpost's outskirts in three hours. The Anvil King changed the order—it's no longer a recall... it's a clearing. No matter what's in the outpost, it will be leveled by heavy fire in three hours."

Lin Yuan didn't speak. He looked at Rat Eye's ruined eye, then at the darkness in the depths of Sector B.

Rat Eye suddenly looked up, his cloudy right eye staring straight at the cockpit ceiling, as if piercing through metal and concrete to see the deepest part of the station.

"The signal has changed," Rat Eye said softly. "That observer... THRONE-02... he is looking at us. Now."

The temperature inside the cockpit plummeted. Lin Yuan looked up at the shadows on the ceiling. Behind some terminal screen in that darkness, a pair of eyes was looking back at them through Rat Eye's neural link.

Energy at 2.1%, the perimeter shrinking, the alliance fragile, and the observer had already opened his eyes. Lin Yuan's fingers rested on the weapon at his waist, his knuckles turning white.

"Prepare to break out," he said, his voice as soft as if he were talking to himself. "Target: the depths of Sector B."

Chen Duo's hand stopped on his holster, unmoving. Rat Eye's intact left eye turned toward Lin Yuan, while his cloudy right eye still stared at a certain point in the void. Deep within the pupil, a red glimmer flashed and vanished.