The air was filled with an exquisitely fresh scent, like the fragrance of a forest after rain, mingled with the first blossoms, and tinged with an indescribable tranquility, like the warmth of ancient sandalwood warmed by the sun. With each breath, it felt like I wasn't just inhaling air, but the purest energy and vitality, cleansing the last vestiges of haze from my consciousness.
Silence. Absolute, a silence like that of the beginning of creation. No sound of wind, no rain, no roar of machinery, no clamor of the city. Only the majestic rhythm of the soundless stream of light overhead and the subtle ripples of the halo beneath, together forming a symphony of tranquility that cannot be heard with the ears, but directly affects the depths of the soul.
Is this... the "Oasis"? A virtual world buried deep beneath Ethan's terminal, unlocked only with my "Data Heart" as the key? What's its purpose? A refuge? A database? Or... something even more ancient and astonishing?
My consciousness (which, here, seemed to need no physical body) instinctively "moved" forward. The warm, luminous ground beneath my feet carried me forward, my thoughts leading me as I glided. The surrounding scenery slowly shifted as I moved. In the distance, the outlines of strange "mountains" composed of pure light loomed in the swirling mist. Even further away, a "river" seemed to flow—but it wasn't liquid water, but a "river of light" emanating a soft glow, formed by a denser, more vibrant confluence of tiny points of light.
Just as I was overwhelmed by this unimaginable scene, a gentle thought with an indescribable ancient charm, like the gentlest breeze blowing across a calm lake, rippled directly into the core of my consciousness:
【Welcome home, source tracer.】
[First access detected for core authority user 'Zero'. Vital signs stable. Mental fluctuations consistent with the 'Mourning' spectrum... Resonance... High. Beginning basic environmental adaptation...]
This thought is not a sound, but more like a direct transmission of information, clear and gentle, with an impersonal, almost divine tolerance.
[Environmental adaptation complete. 'Oasis' basic laws synchronized. Core database access (restricted) enabled. Excuse me, Source Tracker 'Zero', what do you need at this moment? Is it 'knowledge', 'rest', 'guidance', or... 'forgetfulness'?]
Forget? This option sent a shudder through my consciousness. Ethan's life wasn't meant for me to hide here and seek oblivion! The sadness that had just been temporarily soothed by the tranquility of the "oasis" surged back, carrying with it a sharper pain and a sense of offended anger. My mind raced uncontrollably: "Forget? No! I need the truth! The secrets of the 'Hive'! Who is behind all this! Who...took Ethan away! Tell me! Tell me everything you know!"
My consciousness, like a boulder dropped into a tranquil lake, stirred up noticeable ripples in this tranquil world of light. The halo beneath my feet rippled violently, and the slowly flowing band of light above my head froze and became chaotic for a moment.
The ancient, gentle mind seemed to pause for a moment, as if comprehending the sudden, intense storm of emotion. A few seconds of silence seemed extraordinarily long in this absolute stillness.
[Request received: Originator 'Zero' seeks the 'truth'. Keywords: 'Hive' core, 'manipulator', 'Ethan Kyle (vital signs: terminated)'.] The feedback from his thoughts remained steady, but with a subtle touch... like the caution of a precision instrument facing complex variables.
[Searching related databases…Confirming access rights…Reorganizing information flow…]
As this thought descended, the scene before me suddenly shifted! The warm, luminous ground beneath my feet flowed and rose like mercury, while the bands of light swirling overhead cast a more concentrated beam of light. Countless fine threads of light materialized from thin air, rapidly weaving and weaving before my eyes, instantly constructing an immense, incredibly precise three-dimensional star map!
At the core of the star map lay a pulsating dark red ball of light, enveloped in countless layers of complex energy fields, defensive nodes, and distorted spatial structures—a virtual reflection of the "beehive" core! Like a sinister heart, it pulsated at the center of the star map, emitting a palpitating, oppressive feeling.
Surrounding the core of the "hive" were thousands of bright and dim, large and small dots of light, representing known regional nodes, data hubs, and even lurking "Deep Diver" bases controlled or influenced by it! These dots of light were not isolated; they were connected by countless fine, flashing data streams of different colors (representing different control strengths and encryption levels), forming a giant neural network so vast that it was suffocating and complex enough to drive any top analyst crazy!
Visual model: 'Hive' core and secondary node network (reconstructed based on the final scan data uploaded by Ethan Kyle 7.3 seconds before his death).
Ethan! His last upload! My consciousness shook violently.
The star map began to dynamically evolve. Several tiny streams of blue light, representing the path of the Deep Diver's most recent attack, flew relentlessly towards the dark red core like moths to a flame. They struggled to penetrate several layers of outer defenses (shown as breached, temporarily dimmed nodes on the star map), but as they approached the core's innermost region, something abruptly changed!
Several previously invisible "paths," gleaming with an eerie dark purple light, suddenly became highlighted on the star map! Like venomous snakes lurking in the shadows of the neural network, they didn't connect directly to the core, but instead cleverly parasitized several key, seemingly harmless, conventional data lines. Just as the blue light stream (representing the attacking force of the "Deep Diver") was about to reach the critical barrier within the core, these dark purple parasitic pathways suddenly activated! They instantly distorted the flow of energy nearby, and with incredibly precise precision, created several tiny, yet deadly, "logical singularities" along the blue light's path. The spatial structure was forcibly twisted and folded, and the data flow was diverted into a pre-determined, destructive trap!
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