Chapter 187: Solitary Island Fortress
The attacks from outside the house gradually became slower, and the golden shield was like a silent wall, suppressing all impacts.
Lu Zhao leaned in the corner, and after his breathing became even, he suggested moving everyone to the main control room.
"The equipment is gathered here. In case something gets stuck, there is an emergency power supply." Su Wanqing nodded, asked Xiao Ran for help, and helped the girl with a childish voice into the inner room.
In the main control room, there were a few old carpets on the floor and three backup power indicators were still glowing.
Lin Che had been protecting the girl with the childish voice, placing her on the sofa closest to the console.
His eyes were red and he stared at her fingers in a daze.
Su Wanqing did not stop, but held the jade bracelet tightly and moved closer to the edge of the main console.
She whispered, "Now, is there any way to remove the shield? It can't stay on like this."
She pressed the grooves on the jade bracelet repeatedly, but there was no response.
Lu Zhao put the tablet and a portable scanner together, and only a string of cold values remained on the screen: "High-density energy coverage, no leakage. Sound wave detection, completely blocked." He frowned and put his hands behind his back - "All electromagnetic waves, wireless and infrared communications are completely interrupted. The outside world and the inside are like two different worlds."
Su Wanqing stared at the jade bracelet and tried to communicate with it with her mind. "Eden's Guardian, lifted."
She spoke each word with great pause, but the jade bracelet felt a stinging pain. Then, a cold mechanical reminder sounded in her mind: "Danger level: Omega, emergency protection protocol has been activated, system locked. Collect seven energy cores to restart the system."
For a moment, the room was in a stalemate. Su Wanqing took a deep breath and lowered her voice: "The system is locked. What energy core do you want to collect?"
The gold thread on the surface of the jade bracelet seemed to have lost power and no longer flowed, and even the sense of touch disappeared.
Xiao Ran asked in a low voice beside him: "Does that mean... we need to find seven energy sources to unlock it?"
He gritted his teeth and flipped the rifle safety device in his palm, "It's all locked, and there are military outside, how can we get out?"
Lu Zhao interrupted, pointing to the backup energy dial in the room: "The Eden barrier is different from a normal barrier - its energy is circulating, but all outward channels are closed. I used a scanner to measure it, and not even the thinnest wireless signal can get out. In other words, we have become an isolated island - no one can get in from the outside, and no one can get out from the inside."
Xiao Ran slowly stood in front of the window and opened the only observation port in the main control room.
There were circles of military armored vehicles surrounding the place outside, and in the distance, Liming's people were gathering.
They continuously attacked the golden barrier with folding cannons, flamethrowers and endless explosive bombs.
Each time, ripples could be seen on the surface of the shield, but there was no crack at all.
Further away, the zombies were so dense that they piled up to form a wall.
They sometimes collided and sometimes wailed, attracted by the golden energy, gathering more and more densely, like an expanding black encirclement.
Lu Zhao looked at the energy panel again and couldn't help saying, "At present, the electricity consumption, oxygen circulation and water treatment of the entire fortress are still running. At the past consumption rate, it will take at most 30 days. If we don't replenish the energy core, this barrier will continue to consume - if we can't hold on until all the cores are gathered, we will die first."
She pondered over every word in the mechanical prompt and asked Lu Zhao: "Can the core be replaced with another energy source?"
Lu Zhao reached into his pocket, shook a spare chip, and shook his head: "This kind of lock can only be achieved by finding seven chips as originally planned. They have written the authentication procedure into the physical structure. Even if there is a missing chip, it will be useless. This protocol is not a conventional security mode. It may require a special energy response that is the same as the virus."
The four people in the main control room were silent for a while. Xiao Ran changed his posture at the door, looked at the security door and energy meter outside, and continued to calculate the plan.
He used pencil to write down on old paper how much food, oxygen cylinders and water he had left.
"It could take as short as twenty-six days or as long as thirty-one days. Either we have to wait for someone to rescue us, or for the barrier to shut down and allow the zombies and the military to come in together."
Su Wanqing calmed down and continued to talk to the jade bracelet in a low voice without any further prompts or responses.
Lin Che held the girl with a childish voice in his arms, his brows furrowed, and he repeated the movements of his hands over and over again: "How do you think... how can we collect the core of this thing?"
Su Wanqing whispered, "We may have to go into the fortress and search for the backup energy left by the previous Eden Project. The mechanical prompt is not made up casually. Only by finding the energy core can we have a chance for the next step."
She paused for a moment to sort out the key issues.
From outside there was a sound of the barrier vibrating violently again, but the wall did not move at all.
Xiao Ran closed the observation port and said to Su Wanqing, "No matter what, we have to ensure energy and safety first. If we delay for a few more days, the water and oxygen inside will deteriorate."
Lu Zhao quietly used an instrument to test the strength of the shielding area.
"Don't expect to have any contact with the outside world. You can't shout to people outside or ask for help. The signal will never get through."
The classroom was very quiet. At this moment, the girl with a childish voice moved in Lin Che's arms and let out a long sigh.
Lin Che leaned closer and spoke in a much lower voice: "Are you okay? Where do you feel uncomfortable?"
The girl opened her eyes, raised her head, and spoke in a soft, slightly hoarse voice.
“I’m fine.” She looked at Lin Che and whispered, “Thank you, brother.”
Lin Che was stunned for a moment, but did not ask any more questions. The girl with the childish voice turned to look at Su Wanqing.
She started to speak: "My name is Xiaoling." Her voice was very soft, but she spoke very seriously. "I used to live in a very white room. It was called 'Orion'. There was an auntie wearing glasses who always told me stories. Sometimes she was very anxious, but she would hold my hand every night. Then one day she disappeared, and I couldn't find her since then."
Lin Che patted her shoulder and said, "You finally remembered my name."
Xiao Ling nodded and stretched out her right hand for Lin Che to see. A faint blue light slowly lit up in her palm.
"It's called 'Little Star'. Auntie said it can help me find fragments of my memory. Whenever I'm scared or cold, it lights up. Sometimes, I can even see shadows in the room, and they guide me to get back what I've lost."
Su Wanqing walked over slowly, with a look of silent thought on her face.
She picked up the rod-shaped detector and paused in front of Xiaoling's palm.
Only a string of blue flowing numbers appeared on the display, which was extremely similar to the energy color on the jade bracelet.
Lin Che asked softly: "Can you find these 'fragments'?"
Xiao Ling raised her head slightly: "I can't remember, but I think I can help."
She handed the blue light to Lin Che to see, and whispered, "This 'little star' only responds to Eden's energy. Auntie said that when I 'put it all together', the door will open."
Lu Zhao was silent for a while, then added: "The core design of the barrier is to allow different genetic energies to respond to each other - the Orion project may have made such an emergency plan. Is your resonance frequency a clue to the energy core?"
Su Wanqing glanced at everyone and asked Xiao Ling directly: "Can the barrier allow you to directly sense the location of those fragments?"
Xiao Ling lowered her head and slowly gathered the light in her palms: "Now I can only feel that someone is very close to us, it's very noisy, and there is a lot of energy piled up...but the fragments seem to be hidden in the wall. I have to get closer to know where it is."
Xiao Ran closed the notebook in his hand, and his voice was filled with real anxiety: "Whether she can lead us to find energy or not, don't give up any hope. In thirty days, even if there is even a little mistake, it will all be over."
The air in the room seemed to have a more solemn smell, and no one had the extra energy to talk.
Su Wanqing quietly put the jade bracelet back on her wrist, pressed it with her fingers, and continued to count the words prompted by the system in her mind.
Lu Zhao recorded all the initial conditions of the barrier and entered the parameters one by one into the terminal.
Lin Che asked again: "Xiao Ling, do you remember anything in particular? Like shapes, symbols, or numbers?"
Xiao Ling shook her head but leaned her head on Lin Che's shoulder. "Auntie said that as long as I have 'Little Star' and the energy fragments, I won't be afraid of the dark."
Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Lu Zhao shook the remaining batteries and replayed all the energy recycling schemes in his mind.
Xiao Ran lowered his voice and said, "It doesn't matter how far the situation goes. We must first ensure the energy consumption of the fortress is prioritized."
Su Wanqing didn't say anything more, but just put the jade bracelet on the table and waited for any new response from the system.
Everyone sat in the main control room, isolated in an isolated island fortress.
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