Chapter 242 The Weaver's Test
Xiao Ling's voice faded away, and everyone's eyes were focused on the red core floating in the huge crystal cabin in the distance.
The energy field there is more complex than any other time fragment around it, and light is distorted in it, forming an inaccessible vortex.
They walked through rows of crystal cabins displaying past events, taking every step carefully for fear of setting off some unknown alarm.
Lu Zhao took out a palm-sized black device from his backpack. It was the jammer left by "Night".
He held it in his palm and said to everyone, "This thing can only provide us with 45 seconds of invisibility, during which time it can block most of the mothership's conventional detection. We have to succeed in one go."
The five men moved silently behind a group of crystal cabins closest to the bottom of the central control room, using them as cover as they prepared for the final sprint.
The red core was just a hundred meters away, rotating quietly like a beating heart.
Just as Lu Zhao was about to activate the device, a dazzling silver beam shot down from the dome without warning and landed right between them and the core.
The beam of light did not dissipate after landing, but instead began to condense and deform. Soon, a tall human figure made of flowing silver liquid metal appeared in front of them.
It has no facial features, only a vague head outline, and its entire body is glowing with a cold luster.
A voice without any emotion rang directly in everyone's mind: "Your value has been confirmed. Continuing to resist will only increase unnecessary pain. Becoming a part of eternity is the best choice."
This sudden change made everyone stop in their tracks. They all recognized this form—the Weaver Vanguard.
Su Wanqing took a step forward, and the backpack on her back made a slight sound because of this movement.
"What do you mean by 'value confirmed'? Have you been testing us?"
The flowing metal surface of the Pioneer was covered with ripples, as if stones were thrown into the water.
"After five reincarnations, the evaluation is complete. Humans are a rare 'self-evolving species'. With each cycle of extinction, you have been able to find new and unexpected paths to survival. Your core samples are worth preserving." Its form deflected slightly, pointing to the red core.
"This is not only an energy source, but also an evaluation device. How you approach it and how you deal with it will determine the final rating of your civilization."
Lin Che curled her lips as she listened to this. "So this is all just a test?
Wiping out an entire city, killing so many people, just to see how we would react?"
"On a cosmic scale, the survival of a city is insignificant."
The Pioneer's voice remained flat, without any ups and downs. "To be able to refine and permanently preserve the core values of a civilization is an act of eternal significance."
"You are not qualified to judge what is valuable!" Xiao Ran's cheek muscles were tense, he raised the standard weapon in his hand and pointed it at the pioneer. The pioneer just raised his "hand" made of liquid metal.
The weapon in Xiao Ran's hand disintegrated instantly, turning into a handful of temperatureless metal dust that slipped through his fingers.
"Violent reaction. Rating downgraded." That voice sounded again in everyone's mind.
Lu Zhao frowned, and whispered to the people around him: "It's grading us... This is the final test."
At this moment, Xiao Ling, who had been silent all the time, suddenly walked out from behind Xiao Ran.
She raised her head, and her distinctive purple eyes stared directly at the faceless Forerunner.
"We refuse to be graded and to keep only a 'core sample'."
Her voice was not loud, but her words came through clearly, "Either, we keep our world intact, or you get nothing."
The tall figure of the Forerunner paused, and the flowing surface seemed to solidify for a moment, as if processing an instruction beyond its understanding.
"Unreasonable request. The energy required to fully save the current target world line exceeds the maximum threshold calculation range.
Only the core samples that have been screened can be preserved permanently.”
Su Wanqing understood. "You mean, you want the five of us to make a decision... to sacrifice other people in the city in exchange for our own eternal life?"
The atmosphere was deadlocked. The Forerunner stopped talking and just stood there quietly, like an arbitrator waiting for their final response.
Lin Che suddenly thought of something. He turned sideways and said quickly in a voice that only Su Wanqing could hear: "I have something from the Weaver in my genes. Maybe I can directly contact the core and won't be rejected. Activate the jammer and I'll give it a try."
He didn't wait for Su Wanqing to respond.
"Start!" he shouted to Lu Zhao.
Lu Zhao pressed the jammer without hesitation. An invisible wave spread out instantly, and Lin Che's figure immediately became blurred and then disappeared.
At the same moment, he rushed out like an arrow, heading straight for the red core.
The pioneer noticed the abnormality almost immediately, and its metal arm suddenly stretched out and grabbed the place where Lin Che disappeared.
But those 45 seconds of invisibility bought Lin Che a valuable advantage.
Its capture failed.
Lin Che's figure reappeared in front of the red core, his hand already pressed on the surface of the core.
The moment of contact, the Orion Sequence patterns on his arm were fully activated, emitting a dazzling blue light that intertwined with the red light of the core.
"I was once a part of you!" he shouted to the core.
As if in response to his words, the core resonated violently.
Immediately afterwards, the entire mothership began to shake violently, and a shrill alarm sounded throughout the huge space.
In the darkness of the control room above, a huge screen lit up on its own, flashing a series of Weaver symbols that no one could understand, but the two lines of text at the bottom were clearly identifiable:
【Final evaluation process starts】
[Mothership self-destruction countdown: 10:00]
The form of the Forerunner became unstable in the violent vibration, and the silver liquid metal continued to churn.
"Unacceptable interference... The Mastermind will decide your fate himself."
It left these cold words, and its entire body turned into a stream of silver light and disappeared into the dome in an instant.
While everyone was still in shock, the mothership was shaking more and more violently.
The metal wall on one side of the control room suddenly twisted like the surface of water, and a figure slowly walked out of it.
"Ye" appeared there. His body had completely materialized, his skin was no longer in a translucent energy state, and the blue energy lines that had once flowed on his body were now rapidly fading and turning into normal human skin color.
He looked at the five people who were looking at each other in confusion, with a complicated expression on his face.
"I made a choice. Perhaps this was the first time I truly made a choice for myself."
Su Wanqing looked at him warily, her hand already on the backpack.
"What exactly are you? A replica of Dr. Morris, or an agent of the Weaver?"
"Ye" smiled bitterly. "It's both, and not completely.
I am Dr. Morris's last experiment... He copied a portion of his consciousness into a carrier mixed with Weaver technology, hoping to create a tool that could understand and fight the Weaver from the inside. However, in reincarnation after reincarnation, I lost my original purpose. "
He pointed at the red core in Lin Che's hand that was still resonating with him, his face solemn.
"The Mastermind has already begun making its final judgment. This mothership is both an evaluation site and a final defense device.
If the assessment result is that humans are not worth saving, it will complete the formatted collection of the entire planet at the moment the countdown ends. "
He walked quickly to Lu Zhao and pointed at the device sketch that Lu Zhao had drawn earlier.
"You read it correctly. There are six core bases, not three. To form a complete barrier that can protect this world, three additional stable cores with different properties are needed."
As he spoke, he took out a small core emitting a faint purple light from his pocket. The energy aura of this core was different from any other core that anyone had ever seen.
"This is my contribution, a core from a hybrid of Weaver and human technology that will serve as the fourth."
He handed the purple core to Lu Zhao, then looked at Su Wanqing. "The remaining two... you must find them yourself, or create them. There are less than ten minutes until the main brain wakes up."
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