"Chen... Entropy?" Her voice was filled with the weakness and disbelief of someone who had just survived a catastrophe. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes and slid down her pale cheeks. "You... you really... are back? It's not... not that..."

"It's me! It's always been me!" Lu Chenshang nodded vigorously, and wiped the tears from her face clumsily with his fingertips. His voice was choked with a barely perceptible sob, "I'm sorry... Shi Fei... I'm sorry... for letting you..." The rest of the words were stuck in his throat, and the huge guilt made him unable to continue.

Wen Shifei hugged him back tightly, burying her face deep in the crook of his neck, greedily absorbing the warmth and heartbeat of his presence, as if only this could confirm that he was truly back. Her tears silently soaked his collar. After a long moment, her emotions finally calmed down a bit, and she finally noticed the strange surroundings and Yun Zhan standing silently beside her.

"Yun Zhan? You...what are you doing..." She was a little confused, and then she remembered the moment of falling. "Where...is this place? Aren't we in the 'Lighthouse'..."

"We are inside the 'Lighthouse.'" Yun Zhan succinctly repeated his previous explanation, pointing to the dark blue walls with flowing nerve veins. "A living space. It actively 'captured' us."

Wen Shifei's gaze followed Yun Zhan's finger, landing on the translucent wall, emitting a faint glow, and pulsating slowly as if alive. An indescribable chill crept up her spine. She remembered that signal, that neural totem belonging to her brother...

"Brother...his consciousness..." She sat up straight suddenly, looking anxiously at Yun Zhan, then at Lu Chenshang, "It was brother's consciousness! He stopped you at the last moment! I felt it! That power! That command! It's his authority! It's definitely him!" The light of hope ignited in her eyes again, although there was a hint of fragility in the depths of this light.

"The signal source is right here!" She struggled to stand up, but was gently held down by Lu Chensheng.

"Don't be anxious, Shi Fei." Lu Chensheng's voice was low and solemn. He held her shoulders and looked at her with complicated eyes. "Yun Zhan is right. This place... is very strange. Dr. Wen Yuan's consciousness... the situation may be very complicated." He didn't want to shatter her hope directly, but he had to make her alert.

Wen Shifei saw the solemnity in Lu Cheneng's eyes, then glanced at Yun Zhan's expressionless yet equally wary face. The spark of hope that had just ignited in her heart was doused with a bucket of cold water. She was no fool. After that terrifying moment on the spiral staircase, she knew better than anyone the dangers of this place. But her brother... that final instruction... that familiar feeling...

She took a deep breath, suppressed her surging emotions, and forced herself to calm down. She pushed Lu Chen's hand away and supported herself to stand, though her steps were still a little unsteady. Her sharp eyes scanned the dark blue space, which resembled a huge biological chamber, and finally landed on the portable terminal lying quietly in the corner.

"Terminal..." She walked over quickly, picked it up, and started it up quickly.

The screen lit up, but the signal bar was blank. The icon representing the "Lighthouse" signal source disappeared. However, the screen clearly displayed a message...?

It was an extremely concise text with no signature, but Wen Shifei recognized it at a glance from the text's layout style and the unique, extremely calm narrative method - it was his brother Wen Yuan!

【Shi Fei:】

[The fact that you can read this message proves that you have reached the core. I don't have much time.]

[The "Lighthouse" is not a prison; it is an observation outpost for the old world's "Ark Project," and also a container for the failure of consciousness transitions...]

My subjective consciousness has long since dissipated on Pandora. What you perceive is the imprint of authority and core logic modules I left here, barely maintained by the neural matrix of the "lighthouse."

[Stop the pollution source and clean up the order. This is the highest priority logical response by default. I'm glad... I could help you.]

The Lighthouse's autonomous consciousness is awakening, and it is filled with rejection and... hunger for "external data." Leave as soon as possible.

[The core database... may contain the fragments... of the "Ark"... that you seek... The coordinates are...]

The text abruptly stopped here, followed by a string of incomprehensible gibberish. It seemed the signal had been forcibly interrupted.

Wen Shifei stared at the screen intently, her fingertips white from the strain. Silent tears fell, dripping onto the cold screen. It wasn't his brother... just a stamp of authority and a logic module... a cold, machine-dependent "program"? So what ultimately stopped Shen En wasn't his brother's will, but a pre-set piece of code?

A crushing sense of loss washed over her like an icy tide. But beneath the cold logic of the message, the words, "Glad to be able to help you," pierced the softest part of her heart like a tiny needle. And what about the "Ark Project"? Consciousness Leap? These terms she'd never heard her brother mention...

"Ark..." Lu Chen's voice sounded behind her, full of doubt and solemnity. He also saw the message on the screen.

Yun Zhan's gaze also turned over, and for the first time, a noticeable fluctuation appeared in his cold eyes: "'Ark Project'... the top-secret code name for the final refuge of the Old World. Legend has it that it preserves the flame of human civilization... Noah's Ark. Does it really exist?"

Wen Shifei forcefully wiped the tears from her face, her gaze quickly calming from the immense loss, transforming into a sorrowful determination and exploratory resolve. She pointed to where the message had been interrupted: "Brother said the core database might hold a clue! The coordinates... even though they're interrupted, there must be a way to find them!" She looked toward the dark blue wall, crisscrossed with neural circuits. "The entrance... must be here!"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!