allendalepharm Page 272
Page 272
At the epicenter of the explosion, the flesh cocoon emitted a piercing, soul-wrenching scream! The outstretched shadowy arm instantly collapsed and vanished, and the flesh cocoon tissue around the crack was charred and carbonized over a large area. Its originally regular pulsation became chaotic and disordered, like a dying struggle.
The cold, echoing thought was replaced by pain and rage:
"...An ant...how dare...hurt me...!!"
The mental pressure intensified again, but it was now clearly tinged with disorder and weakness. The sentinel's suicidal attack had obviously dealt it a heavy blow!
Lin Ye struggled to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. Looking at the gradually dissipating blue light at the center of the explosion, and the charred mechanical remains of the sentinels scattered all over the ground, an indescribable grief and anger welled up in his heart.
This silent and loyal mechanical companion, through its destruction, bought them a glimmer of hope!
"Damn it!" Lin Ye roared, a glint of madness flashing in his eyes. He no longer hesitated, nor did he try to defend himself. Instead, he poured all his will, all his power, and his boiling rage into the fragment of the Key of Creation!
"Purify me!"
Holding the fragment as if it were a longsword burning with white flames, he no longer cared about the still powerful mental pressure and walked step by step toward the severely damaged and violently convulsing cocoon!
The light from the fragments was more intense than ever before, even surpassing the intensity of the purification of the first node! The power of order surged forth like a tsunami, actively rushing towards the charred crack that had been blasted open in the fleshy cocoon, towards the still deep but no longer stable darkness within!
*"……No!!!"
The "Echo" emitted a terrified and furious shriek, attempting to mobilize its remaining strength to resist. The remaining blood vessels on the surface of the fleshy cocoon writhed wildly, spewing out a viscous, blackish-red blood mist, highly corrosive and mentally polluting, in an attempt to block the approach of the white light.
But all of this was in vain!
Under Lin Ye's all-out effort, and in the face of the primal power that erupted from the fragments of the Key of Creation sensing the host's strong will, the resistance melted away like ice and snow under the sun!
The blazing white light of order, like a spear of judgment, pierced the core of the fleshy cocoon, penetrating the darkness that represented the origin of "echo"!
The purification process has begun.
Chapter 565 The Price of Purification
Inside the fleshy cocoon is not a biological cavity, but a chaotic space where the boundaries between spirit and matter are blurred.
Guided by the fragments of the Key of Creation, Lin Ye's consciousness was forcibly projected into the sea. He felt like a small boat tossed into a raging ocean of dark red waves. All around him were surging, viscous energy flows, mixed with countless twisted, pained faces and fragmented memories—the remnants of the "Radiance of Annihilation" crew after they had been devoured and digested. Whispers materialized into sound waves, crashing against his crumbling mental defenses.
At the center of chaos lies a black vortex that constantly collapses and reforms, like a heart composed of pure malice. Countless shadowy tentacles extend from it, drawing upon and amplifying the surrounding pain and despair. This is the essence of "Echo."
The blazing white light of order, formed from fragments of the Key of Creation, carrying Lin Ye's will, pierced the core of darkness like a red-hot dagger!
"laugh...!"
A violent energy annihilation erupted! At the boundary between white light and darkness, a silent shriek that tore apart souls burst forth.
"……pain!!!"
The "echo" was filled with a furious rage that had touched its very core. The entire chaotic space trembled violently, and dark red energy condensed into countless hideous faces, claws, and tentacles, rushing towards the white light area where Lin Ye's consciousness was located from all directions.
"Get out of my way!" Lin Ye roared inwardly, his gums almost bleeding from clenching his teeth. He concentrated all his willpower and recklessly activated the fragments. White light shone brightly, dispelling the dark illusions and creating a small patch of pure land in the chaos.
But he could feel the fragmented energy being consumed at an unprecedented rate. His own consciousness was also under immense pressure, as if countless cold needles were piercing and tearing at his thoughts, trying to drag him into madness. His memories and emotions were being tainted by malice.
"...You...cannot destroy me...!" The echoing thought, broken and frantic, continued, "...I am this flesh and blood...I am the future of this ship! You may exhaust your power...but you will never...erasure me...I will...rebuild...and return...!"
"Then let's see! Will you rebuild first, or will I burn you to ashes first!" Lin Ye replied without flinching. The resolute blue flash of the Sentinel's self-destruction reappeared in his mind, and a power mixed with grief and determination surged forth, driving the white light to surge again, advancing deeper into the core of darkness!
?
The scene in the outer hall was equally horrifying.
The enormous cocoon of flesh convulsed violently, as if thrown into a steel furnace. At the crack, blazing white light clashed fiercely with the gushing blackish-red blood mist, producing a sizzling corrosion sound and energy explosions. The cocoon rapidly shriveled and withered, its surface vesicles bursting, oozing foul-smelling pus. But the core pulse grew increasingly frantic and rapid, filled with resentment and venom.
Li Sha, whose internal organs had shifted from the previous energy shock, had just awoke from a brief period of unconsciousness, coughing up blood. She struggled to open her eyes and saw Lin Ye, frozen like a stone statue before the fleshy cocoon. One hand braced against the trembling cocoon, the other clutching a shard radiating blinding light. His body trembled slightly, veins bulging on his forehead, blood seeping from his mouth, nostrils, and eyes, as if he were about to collapse at any moment.
"Lin Ye!" Her heart skipped a beat, and she cried out in alarm. She tried to crawl over to help, but she was in excruciating pain and weak all over, unable to even prop herself up.
At this moment, another change occurred!
The large, unpurified blood vessels and residual vesicles on the fleshy cocoon suddenly burst open one after another! This was the "Echo's" last frantic struggle—to pour out the chaotic spiritual energy and impure life essence it had absorbed and stored!
"boom...!"
An invisible yet extremely high-quality energy turbulence, mixed with fragments of mad thoughts and painful memories, swept through the hall like a tsunami!
"Watch out!" Li Sha only managed to shout this before being slammed to the ground again. Her mind was instantly filled with all sorts of distorted and crazy images and sounds, and she could only desperately hold onto a sliver of clarity.
Lin Ye, who was the first to bear the brunt, was under a thousand times more pressure than her!
This torrent of mental energy was more violent and chaotic than any tangible attack. The fragmented light protected his core consciousness from contamination, but the vast and complex information within the torrent forcefully broke through the filters of his will, flooding his mind wildly—
He witnessed the moment when "Radiance of Annihilation" went out of control, the red warning light on the bridge, and the crew's terror and despair; he saw how the ecological zone, under the infiltration of whispers, mutated into a flesh-and-blood abyss; he saw the scene of countless aberrant beings devouring and merging with each other to form an even more terrifying existence; finally, all the fragments of the scene converged into a blurry figure bound by energy chains within a massive core, emitting a soul-shattering wail... That overwhelming pain, regret, and rage nourished the peeling away and birth of a cold, twisted consciousness... That was the source of "Echo"! A part of an ancient being imprisoned, named "Radiance"!
"Ugh...!" Lin Ye let out a painful groan, his head feeling like it was about to explode. Maintaining purification was already extremely difficult, and he also had to distract himself from resisting the impact of the information tsunami; his mental barrier was on the verge of collapse.
The fragments of light flickered violently, their range compressed, and their radiance dimmed, showing signs of being suppressed by a counterattack from the darkness. The darkness at the core of the cocoon seemed to seize the opportunity, attempting to erode the white light in return.
"No... We absolutely cannot fail... The Sentinels cannot die in vain..." Lin Ye's consciousness struggled to balance between madness and lucidity. He knew that if he collapsed at this moment, his will would crumble, not only would all his previous efforts be in vain, but the enraged "Echo" remnant consciousness would instantly backfire, completely devouring his and Li Sha's souls.
In that critical moment, a strong will to survive and a sense of responsibility forced him to remain calm. He recalled the feeling of purifying the first node—not just a brute-force collision, but the permeation and disintegration of its internal structure by the power of order. He needed to find its "structure," to find the "foundation" that supported its existence!
He forcefully restrained his almost scattered will, no longer brutally annihilating all darkness with white light, but consciously guiding the light, concentrating his spirit, and pushing his perception to its limit. With the support of the fragmented power, his perception penetrated the surface energy turbulence and penetrated deep into the core of darkness.
He "saw" it! The consciousness of "Echo" was not monolithic; it was a chaotic aggregate, forcibly fused together from the fragmented thoughts of countless crew members, distorted spaceship protocol codes, and the pain of the "Radiance of Annihilation" itself. Deep within this extreme chaos, several unusually bright, constantly flickering "nodes," yet following completely flawed logic, existed! They were like the key load-bearing pillars of a building, supporting the stability and proliferation of the entire "Echo" consciousness!
That's it! The Achilles' heel!
A mad, resolute glint flashed in Lin Ye's eyes. He no longer cared about his nearly depleted spiritual power and the little energy left in the fragments. He squeezed out the last strength of his soul and merged it with the remaining order essence of the fragments, condensing it into several fine, hair-like yet incredibly concentrated lines of order. Like deadly poison needles, they were precisely shot at the most critical "error nodes" deep within the core of darkness!
"...No!!! How could you...find...this place..." The "Echo" thought was filled with disbelief and terror for the first time, trying to stop it, but it was too late!
"Puff puff!"
Several soft, yet deeply penetrating, cracking sounds rang out.
The critical "fault node" collapsed instantly under the impact of the Line of Order! The flawed logic and distorted energy contained within it scattered in all directions.
Like removing a key steel beam from the bottom of a skyscraper, the entire dark core structure collapsed and disintegrated irreversibly from the inside! The surging dark red energy lost its unified will and became scattered and disordered; the entangled painful murmurs and mad thoughts quickly weakened and dissipated.
The frantic throbbing of the fleshy cocoon abruptly ceased.
?
In the outer hall, as the internal core collapsed, the last vestiges of life in the flesh cocoon extinguished rapidly. The final, struggling blackish-red blood mist was purified and evaporated by the remaining white light of order. The massive flesh cocoon was completely transformed into a huge, charred, lifeless mass of carbonized tissue, standing in the center of the hall like a bizarre tomb. The lingering whispers and chilling malice dissipated like the receding tide, and the hall fell into deathly silence, save for heavy breathing.
"Did...it worked?" Li Sha struggled to lift her head, her pale face covered in blood and sweat, her voice weak as if she were whispering.
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Ye swayed, the strength supporting him receding like a tide, and he knelt heavily on one knee. The fragment of the Key of Creation in his hand was dull and lifeless, with even a tiny crack appearing on its surface. A sense of weakness originating from the depths of his soul swept over him; his body felt hollowed out, his thoughts were sluggish, and the chaotic fragments of memories in his mind still throbbed with pain.
He looked with difficulty at the charred mechanical wreckage scattered on the ground after the sentry's self-destruction, then at the ruins of the flesh cocoon. There was no joy in his heart, only the disorientation of surviving a catastrophe, a heavy exhaustion, and the desolation of heavy losses. The price was too heavy.
"It's temporarily... resolved." His voice was hoarse like a broken bellows. He tried to stand up, but the world spun around him and he almost fell over.
Li Sha, drawing strength from who-knows-where, crawled over on all fours, bracing his tilting body with her shoulder, and cried out, "Are you alright? Don't scare me!"
"The drain is too great... I feel completely drained... The power of the fragments... is almost exhausted too." Lin Ye gasped for breath, feeling the faint feedback from the fragments, a shadow falling over his heart. The second node was already this difficult; what about the even more powerful nodes that might lie ahead, or even the "main brain" mentioned by "Echo"? Where was the hope?
Moreover, the fragmented information he gleaned from the mental turbulence—the pain of "Hui," the imprisoned ancient being, the whispering anchor point—seemed to conceal even more complex and dark secrets.
Both of them felt suffocated by the heavy atmosphere.
at this time...
A faint, intermittent electronic notification sound came from deep within the pile of charred remains of the sentry.
"Beep... Detected... core data... backup module... remaining... energy is below critical level... attempting... reboot..."
The voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, yet it was like a bolt of lightning piercing the darkness, instantly capturing the attention of Lin Ye and Li Sha.
Chapter 566 Debris and Echoes
The faint electronic notification sound, like a stone thrown into stagnant water, resonated clearly in the eerily silent hall.
Lin Ye and Li Sha were startled almost simultaneously, their eyes instantly focusing on the pile of charred, twisted wreckage left behind after the Sentinel's self-destruction.
“It’s…it’s a Sentinel?!” Lisa’s voice trembled with disbelief, mixed with the joy of surviving a close call. “It’s…it’s still responding?”
Despite the lingering, needle-like pain in his mind and extreme weakness in his body, Lin Ye, supported by Li Sha, staggered to the pile of wreckage. He knelt down, his sharp gaze sweeping over the broken metal frame and charred wires. Soon, he spotted a relatively intact dark armor plate located slightly below his chest. The intermittent blue light and electronic sounds were emanating from a crack in this armor plate.
“It’s its core backup unit…” Lin Ye explained, panting heavily, his voice hoarse. “Some high-level military mechanical bodies have independent… data backups and emergency power supplies, hidden in the most secure locations… just in case.” He recalled the Sentinel’s final, resolute charge and the blue light of its self-destruction, and his heart tightened. “It seems that it activated this protocol at the last moment.”
"Reboot...program...initialize..." The electronic voice trailed off, growing clearer with each passing moment, "Severe power shortage...requesting...external interface support..."
"Can you save it, Lin Ye?" Li Sha also squatted down, looking at Lin Ye anxiously, her eyes filled with hope. "It did this to save us..."
"Give it a try." Lin Ye said concisely, without any unnecessary words. He forced himself to focus and carefully examined the area around the armor plate. His fingers ran over the charred surface, and he quickly found a standard multi-functional interface. Although there were some signs of melting at the edges, the core structure did not appear to be completely damaged.
He immediately untied the spare miniature power cable and multi-functional data cable from his belt. His miniature power pack had been greatly depleted in the previous battle, and now it was almost empty, but it should be enough to sustain him for a while.
"Hopefully it will work," he muttered, carefully connecting one end of the power cable to the power output port on his belt, and the other end even more carefully to the interface on the Sentinel wreckage. Then, he connected the data cable to his personal terminal on his wrist.
yah...
After a slight electrical hum, the terminal screen lit up, and data exchange began.
"Detected...external low-power energy injection...data connection established..." The sentinel's voice came through the speaker on Lin Ye's terminal. Although it still had some static, it was much more stable than before. "Initiating transmission...core log recording...and basic runtime code library..."
On his personal terminal screen, a massive stream of complex data and coded information began scrolling rapidly. Lin Ye quickly skimmed through the key entries—primarily the environmental scan data from when the Sentinels followed them into the control tower, the analysis report on the battle with the Aberrations, and the cold, resolute logical judgment made in the final moments when facing the invincible "Echo" creation: [Threat Level: Destructive. Execute Final Protocol: Root Eradication. Priority Targets: Commander Lin Ye, Dr. Li Sha's survival.]
At the same time, Lin Ye could feel a faint warmth emanating from the hand holding the fragment of the Key of Creation. With a thought, he tried to guide that nearly depleted energy of order, channeling it extremely slowly and weakly through the contact between his palm and the terminal, and then via the data cable, to the Sentinel's remaining core module. He didn't know if it would work, but it was the only thing he could do now, like trying to give a dying patient a tiny bit of life-giving warmth.
This process lasted nearly fifteen minutes. Every second felt incredibly long. Li Sha watched Lin Ye and the pile of wreckage with bated breath, barely daring to breathe.
When the last data stream was transmitted and the terminal screen displayed "Core data received completely," the faint blue light inside the Sentinel wreckage finally stabilized. Although it was still dim, it stopped flickering, like a candle in the wind finally finding a relatively sheltered corner.
"Core data backup... complete. Basic consciousness module... preservation rate, approximately 17%. Body structure and combat functions... permanent loss, exceeding 93%." The Sentinel's voice regained its usual calmness and order, but the pace was noticeably slow, carrying an undisguised, deep-seated sense of weakness. It had lost almost all of its body, leaving only a fragmented core. "Unable to... restore its original combat form. In the current state, it can only maintain basic computation and information exchange."
"Consciousness is still there, and the core memories are preserved... That's enough, that's good enough!" Lin Ye breathed a long sigh of relief, his tense shoulders relaxing slightly. At least, the Sentinel hadn't truly "died," and his comrade-in-arms had survived in another form.
"Thank you for your timely assistance, Commander Lin Ye." The sentry's voice was calm and even, but Lin Ye, who knew it well, could detect a subtle...relief in it. "Based on the data collected in the last microsecond before the self-destruction, and combined with existing information, the analysis shows that the 'Echo' consciousness has been purified by more than 99.7%. The remaining fragments of consciousness have lost their ability to coalesce and cannot pose a systemic threat. The second control node...confirmed to be closed."
It paused slightly, the processor seemingly running at full capacity, integrating the information.
"Supplementary report: 0.3 seconds before the self-destruct sequence was initiated, an abnormal energy shielding phenomenon was detected deep within the cocoon's energy core. Behind the shielding layer, a stable, high-density, non-biological independent structural signal was detected. This signal was not contaminated by whispers. It is recommended... to conduct further investigation."
"High-density, non-biological structure? Hidden inside the fleshy cocoon?" Li Sha frowned, looking at Lin Ye. "Is there something else hidden inside that thing?"
Lin Ye's eyes narrowed; the information provided by the sentry coincided with a vague premonition he had had earlier. He looked at the pile of charred, lifeless remains in the center of the hall and nodded: "Let's go take a look."
After resting for about half an hour and barely regaining some mobility, the two returned to the ruins of the flesh cocoon. Using a metal rod they found as a tool, they carefully began to pry open the charred and brittle remains on the surface and dig deeper.
Before they had dug very deep, there was a crisp "clang" sound, and the front end of the metal rod encountered obvious resistance, hitting some extremely hard object.
"There really is something!" Li Sha's spirits lifted.