"Observers!" He practically gritted his teeth as he spat out the name. A name for something only sporadically mentioned in the Ark's top-secret archives, speculated to be the remains of an ancient cosmic civilization or some unknown higher-dimensional being. Like cosmic ghosts, they monitored the rifts in the sea of entropy, monitoring any variables that could affect the cosmic balance! They possessed an almost instinctive greed and desire for control over the energy of order!
"Their target... is that energy carrier!" Raymond suddenly understood, his heart tightening as if by an icy iron hand. An individual carrying the ancient, pure essence of the galaxy had fallen into a garbage graveyard, attracting the Ark, space pirates, and local hyenas... Now, even the most mysterious and dangerous "scavenger" in the universe had taken action!
"Order!" Raymond's voice was like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, severing the oppression in the command center. "All 'Insight' fleets carrying out search missions in the Gould Belt, immediately activate the highest-level covert protocol, 'Deep Dive'! Abandon all active detection methods! Switch to silent lurking mode! Change the goal: track and lock onto that high-dimensional submarine trajectory with all your strength! Find that energy carrier individual at all costs! Priority is above all else! At the same time, upgrade the intelligence on the abnormal movement of the Entropy Sea rift and the intervention of the Observer to an 'Annihilation-level' threat and report it to the Supreme Council immediately! Request the activation of the highest-level plan for the 'Spark Guardian Protocol'!"
"Yes, General!" The operators' voices were filled with unprecedented solemnity and a hint of determination. The Spark Guardian Protocol... that was the final plan, deployed only when the Ark faced the threat of complete extinction! This meant that the unknown individual stranded in the garbage graveyard had been elevated to a level of importance equal to the Ark's survival!
The atmosphere in the coordination center instantly plummeted to freezing point. The orange warning lights continued to spin, casting a crimson glow over a silent hunt that hinged on the fate of the universe.
Deep in the Ark, Academy of Life Sciences, Stasis Monitoring Center.
Inside the icy life support chamber, Xu Shuangyao floated in a pale blue nutrient solution, like an ice spirit slumbering in a crystal coffin. The curve on the EEG monitor remained a lifeless straight line. The vital signs readings were frozen at absolute zero, without a single fluctuation.
However.
At the same moment when the Entropy Sea Rift Alarm sounded at the Coordination Center and General Raymond issued the "Spark Guardian Protocol" order—
Inside the life support cabin, the tip of Xu Shuangyao's index finger on her pale, slender left hand, which hung quietly at her side, trembled once again... very slightly.
The amplitude is weaker and the duration is shorter than the last time.
But this time, the vital signs monitoring electrode connected to her fingertips captured a trace of abnormal bioelectric fluctuations that was so weak that the instrument almost judged it as background noise!
Beep…
In the monitoring center, amidst the ever-changing, regular and monotonous ticking of the instruments, an extremely short, almost imperceptible abnormal signal tone was inserted very abruptly!
Then, everything returned to silence.
On the monitoring screen, the subtle curve representing the bioelectric signal had, for a moment, developed a pinpoint-sized, almost negligible... bulge. Then it smoothed out again.
The on-duty medical AI, its core logic module, performed billions of calculations on this imperceptible anomaly, ultimately classifying it as a transient data disturbance caused by an unknown interference source. Priority: Very Low. No alarms were triggered.
Only within the icy nutrient solution, Xu Shuangyao's pale fingers seemed even colder than before... Deep within that eternally frozen consciousness, at the center of the almost nonexistent ripples left after the bubble named "Pei Du" burst, a tiny light, colder than absolute zero, flickered for a fleeting moment, as if responding to the wailing and call of the same origin order from the edge of the universe.
The cold metal passage was filled with the bloody smell of engine oil, rust, and death.
Lin Mo leaned against the bone-chilling cabin wall, gasping for air, each breath a searing pain in his lungs. A mixture of sweat, blood, and grime flowed freely across his face and body. The dim golden light in his left eye was as faint as a firefly, each flicker a twinkle of agony deep within his soul. Energy level: 0.68%… and still slowly but steadily declining.
On the floor of the narrow passage before him lay a body... no, half a body. The upper half, nearly shredded and melted by some violent force, blended with the shattered metal panels and twisted pipe debris, leaving only the remnants of a once robust human male. Dark red blood and charred tissue fluid coalesced into suspended droplets in the weightless environment, emitting a sickening, rusty, sweet smell.
This is the second one.
Just a few minutes ago, this member of the Rust Brotherhood, wearing a simple but practical welding exoskeleton and wielding a buzzing high-temperature plasma cutting gun, had blocked Lin Mo's path with a sly grin. In the entropy field of view, the energy nodes of the exoskeleton, the violent plasma flow trajectory within the cutting gun, and the intention of the other party's muscles to accumulate power were all as clear as the lines on the palm of his hand.
At this critical moment, that cold, all-consuming rage once again seized Lin Mo's body. He no longer attempted to channel his energy into destroying material structures—that would be too costly. The moment the opponent's plasma cutter unleashed a destructive stream of flame, he suddenly ducked forward, not to dodge, but to charge! At the same time, the last shred of star-level energy within his body was instinctively and forcefully concentrated in his right fist, not to attack, but to... engage!
[Energy Guidance: Local Entropy Increase Rate… Target: Exoskeleton Left Knee Hydraulic Transmission Node…]
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