Silent Ark

Chapter 23: Daily Talk

The Decameron, Night Five: The Masquerade of the Shape Thieves

CERN underground fortified isolation zone.

Thick, double-glazed explosion-proof glass separated the thirteen new survivors from the core area.

An ominous hum emanated from the air circulation system, filtering out any potential mental contamination.

Yao Chong (in a coma), Chen Dunli (weak but conscious), Stark, Shen Ruozhi, Rajeev, Elena, Liu Pan (barely surviving)

Several new survivors have arrived outside the underground safe house:

Hans Berg: Senior Engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Science, calm and professional, always carrying a silver engineering tablet that he never leaves behind.

Lena Kowalski: A Polish-born computational neuroscientist, lively and talkative, with a knack for calming people down.

Ali Hassan: A former Syrian communications engineer who worked on equipment maintenance at CERN. He was taciturn but had an amazing ability to observe.

The other ten included: two CERN junior researchers, three remaining Swiss soldiers, a French doctor, two Italian tourists, a Japanese robotics expert, and an Indian chef.

The Fifth Night: The Viper in the Mirror

The screening in the quarantine area has been going on for six hours.

Dr. Stark stared grimly at the monitoring screen, which displayed real-time biological data for each newcomer.

Shen Ruozhi quickly analyzed the fragmented digital records recovered from their personal belongings.

"There's a big problem," Shen Ruozhi said, pulling up a set of waveforms. "The brainwaves of these thirteen people show abnormal synchronicity in a specific frequency band, with a correlation coefficient of 0.82, far exceeding the normal range of a small group of random survivors. It's like... they were trained with the same 'rhythm'."

Rajeev: "Group consciousness training? Like a cult?"

Chen Dunli whispered from his hospital bed, "...it's more like fish caught in the same 'net'."

At this moment, Liu Pan, who had been trying to suppress his headache by keeping his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. His synaptic vision was barely focused under the influence of the medication.

He looked at the quarantine area—

"No..." he said hoarsely, "Their 'connection'... is too neat."

In Liu Pan's view, the halo of consciousness of normal people is unique, and the connecting threads between them are different in thickness, color, and pulsation rhythm.

But these thirteen people... all had a very faint, almost imperceptible dark purple rim around the edge of their auras.

Moreover, the threads connecting them present an unsettling, mechanical symmetry and uniformity, like "friendships" produced on a factory assembly line.

Even more terrifying, Liu Pan saw two almost transparent dark purple threads slowly "growing" out of the isolation zone, like sniffing tentacles, trying to pass through the tiny gaps in the explosion-proof glass and reach the old members in the core area—one reaching towards Elena, and the other, surprisingly, reaching towards the unconscious Yao Chong.

"They're... 'mimicking' the connection!" Liu Pan whispered, "Trying to impersonate one of us!"

As if to confirm his words, Lina Kowalski suddenly raised her head in the quarantine area, looked at Elena through the glass, and revealed an expression and curve that was exactly the same as Elena's habitual pursed-lip smile, down to the fine lines at the corners of her eyes.

Elena was so frightened that she took a step back.

"She's imitating me..."

At the same time, Yao Chong, who was in a coma, suddenly convulsed violently on the medical bed, and the monitoring device emitted a piercing alarm.

Even while unconscious, his causal vision passively received information—he "saw" countless chaotic probability branches, one of which, a particularly clear future line, showed that if the dark purple tendril reaching towards him was successfully established, he would be dragged into an endless nightmare loop about "identity theft."

"Sever the connection, physically isolate!" Dr. Stark made the decision immediately.

The fortress security system was activated, air circulation in the isolation zone was independently cut off, and internal communications were laser-shielded.

The two dark purple tentacles recoiled as if burned in Liu Pan's vision.

But the crisis is not over.

Hans Berger tapped on the glass and said in fluent German, "Doctor, we need to talk. We possess crucial data from the final moments of the 'Eye of the Abyss,' regarding the origin frequency of the 'Frequency Band.' But the data requires the quantum core to decrypt."

Shen Ruozhi examined the encrypted data packet he provided: "The structure does indeed originate from CERN's highest security level. Decryption requires a composite key from Dr. Stark and Dr. Yao, as well as... residual synchronization signals from the collider."

"This is a trap," Rajeev asserted. "They want access to the quantum core, which is the 'brain' of our fortress."

"It might be the only chance." Stark stared at Hans. "If we can get the origin frequency, maybe we can find a way to counter the frequency band."

Chen Dunli slowly shook his head: "The Taotie will not hand over its cooking recipes."

Just as the stalemate was at hand, the fortress's lighting system suddenly began to "mimic" the flashing rhythm of the lights in the quarantine zone.

Then, a backup servo robot in the core area suddenly began to move with the exact same gait and gestures as Ali Hassan, even though its program had been shut down.

"Imitation is spreading..." Shen Ruozhi wrote, "From biological behavior to mechanical systems. This is the power of 'Jealousy Thief'—unable to create, only to distort and replicate and replace."

Suddenly, Lena's voice came over the loudspeaker, but the tone and manner had changed to Elena's: "Why are you rejecting us? We just want to help. Look how well I've imitated you." Then, the voice changed to Stark's: "Pragmatism requires us to utilize all resources." Finally, it became Chen Dunli's aged voice: "The movement of the human heart is caused by external things..."

"She's speaking in our voices!" Elena exclaimed, horrified.

Worse still, the long-time members of the core area began to feel a strange sense of déjà vu.

Rajeev found himself unconsciously pushing up his glasses in the same way Shen Ruozhi did, while Shen Ruozhi blurted out a Stark catchphrase.

Liu Pan’s vision connected to the world and saw that the dark purple trim was subtly “penetrating” information through the air, sound, and even light, stimulating the subconscious “comparison” and “imitation” of each person’s traits.

"They're making us divide ourselves..." Liu Pan gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to mimic Stark's authoritative tone. "'Jealousy' isn't necessarily about hating others; it can also be... a desire to become someone else, thereby dissolving their uniqueness. They're making us 'like' each other, blurring the team's unique connection and making us easier to replace."

At that moment, Ali Hassan, who had been silent all along, suddenly whispered something quickly in Arabic within the quarantine zone.

Liu Pan's keen visual perception caught that when Ali said those words, the dark purple trim on his body fluctuated violently, the color fading for a fraction of a second, revealing the original, scarred but resilient bronze aura that belonged to him underneath.

"That Syrian... he's resisting!" Liu Pan said to Stark. "What did he just say in his native language? Repeat it!"

Stark retrieved the audio for analysis: "He was reciting rapidly...it seemed to be a chapter from the Quran, about 'God created all things, each with its own nature.'"

"He's anchoring himself to faith, resisting 'imitation'," Rajev realized. "We need anchors. Strong personal memories, unique habits, anything that defines 'I am who I am'!"

Inside the fortress, the veteran members immediately sprang into action.

Elena pulled out the cross her mother had left her and clutched it tightly; Rajev began rapidly memorizing complex Indian mathematical equations; Shen Ruozhi pulled up her unpublished, highly personal quantum gravity paper; Stark… He hesitated for a moment, then took out a yellowed photograph of himself and his deceased wife at the University of Bern from his inner pocket.

When everyone focused on reinforcing their self-identity, Liu Pan saw that the infiltrated dark purple "imitation signals" bounced off them and dissipated as if they had been branded with a hot iron.

But the situation is worsening inside the quarantine zone.

Lina's body began to deform erratically, as if countless faces were rolling beneath her skin. Sometimes she resembled Elena, sometimes Shen Ruozhi, and sometimes a dead tourist.

On Hans's engineering tablet, code was automatically generated, attempting to remotely crack the Bastion firewall. Its coding style was a blend of Yao Chong's rigor and Stark's efficiency.

"They are uncontrollably imitating all the 'excellent' qualities they come into contact with," Shen Ruozhi analyzed. "They will eventually collapse due to internal contradictions, but they may devour us before they collapse."

"We need something they can't imitate," Chen Dunli suddenly said, "a... unique, unreplicable 'connection'."

All eyes involuntarily turned to the unconscious Yao Chong, and to Liu Pan beside him, who was holding his hand tightly and enduring excruciating pain to maintain the golden connection between them.

"The 'trust' and 'understanding' between them," Chen Dunli said, "is a connection between awakened individuals who have shared the same disaster, mirror each other, and complement each other. This deep bond, based on shared trauma and responsibility, is something the 'form thieves' cannot understand, because its essence is isolation and substitution, rather than genuine empathy and complementarity."

"What...why use this connection?" Elena asked.

"As 'bait,'" a decisive glint flashed in Stark's eyes, "and also as a 'purifier.'"

The plan is as follows: Liu Pan will actively amplify and "showcase" the unique golden connection between him and Yao Chong, illuminating it like a lighthouse to attract the attention of all "shape thieves" who want to imitate the whiskers.

When these tentacles attack this connection in a concentrated manner, because they cannot truly understand the nature of this connection, they can only make clumsy imitations (such as replicating fake "Yao Chong" and "Liu Pan" in the isolation zone), thereby exposing its core mechanism.

Shen Ruozhi and Rajeev will take the opportunity to analyze the loopholes in its imitation mechanism and use a reinforced "self-identity" resonance frequency to reverse-impact the isolation zone and shatter its internal false synchronization.

"But Liu Pan and Yao Chong will be completely exposed to the attack," Elena objected. "Yao is still unconscious, and Liu's condition is also very poor!"

Liu Pan looked at the unconscious Yao Chong, then at the new "survivors" behind the glass who were gradually losing their human form but were still clumsily imitating human expressions.

"We have no choice," he wiped the blood from his nose, sat cross-legged beside Yao Chong's bed, and held his hand. "Teacher, please help me stabilize my consciousness. Everyone, please remember who you are."

Liu Pan closed his eyes and focused all his energy on stimulating his visual connection.

In his mind, the golden line connecting him and Yao Chong, representing "comrades-in-arms who would entrust their lives to each other," suddenly emitted a sun-like light, piercing through his body and manifesting in the real world as a warm golden pillar of light, enveloping the two of them.

Inside the quarantine zone, all the "survivors" froze simultaneously, then emitted inhuman screams.

The dark purple light emanating from their bodies surged wildly, rushing towards the pillar of light in an attempt to "understand," "copy," and "replace" it.

Lina's body began to twist into a hybrid of Liu Pan and Yao Chong, and sparks flew from Hans's tablet, causing the code to scramble.

Other "people" also began to transform, trying to "become" Liu Pan or Yao Chong.

"Now!" Shen Ruozhi pressed the button.

Inside the fortress, each person tightly grips their own "self-anchor," resonating their intense self-awareness through a bio-amplifier.

Different colors and frequencies of "self-spectrum" converge into a colorful but resilient torrent, rushing towards the quarantine zone.

A dark purple wave of imitation collides with the torrent of "self".

In Liu Pan's vision, he saw those dark purple tentacles, upon encountering the complex and varied signals of the real "self," malfunction like a clumsy painter facing the simultaneous explosion of all the colors on a palette—they "crashed."

Imitation requires a single goal and cannot simultaneously handle countless distinct and unwavering "I am me" identities.

Inside the quarantine zone, the false synchronization was shattered.

The transformations of Lina, Hans, and the others froze, then began to collapse like melting wax figures, revealing the core beneath, which had been completely swallowed by chaos and was no longer human—clumps of writhing, dark purple flesh that tried to imitate human form but always failed, with remnants of human organs embedded in their centers, still pulsating.

Only Ali Hassan, amidst the chaos, clutched a small metal pendant (containing photos of his family), chanting scriptures continuously, his form largely intact despite being contorted in pain.

The dark purple trim on his clothes was gradually washed away like stains under the torrent of "self".

When the light faded, only twelve dark purple clumps of ashes remained in the quarantine zone, along with Ali Hassan, who was unconscious but still breathing.

In the core area, Liu Pan collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, but remained conscious. Yao Chong, lying on the medical bed, twitched his fingers slightly.

"We...won?" Elena asked, trembling.

"We won a battle," Chen Dunli said, looking at the ashes in the quarantine zone and Ali, who had survived but might have suffered mental trauma. "But the 'Shape Thief' already knows that there are two 'connections' here that it cannot understand. Next time, it will use a different method..."

He looked out into the endless darkness beyond the fortress.

"...For example, sending us 'survivors' whom we truly cannot refuse."

The fifth night passed without incident.

Perhaps when everyone was trying to fool the system by imitating the chaotic frequency bands, they were targeted by the "Shape Thief".