[Coordinates: Old City… District 7… Data Center… Deep… Root Server Array…]
[Status: Low power…Maintaining…'Tree of Life'…Secondary network…Node…]
[Warning: Energy...depletion...contamination...infiltration...]
[Core...data...'Prometheus...Fire'...complete...blueprint...]
[Link...can...attempt...to rebuild...'Ark'...neural...network...]
[But... the risk... the awareness... the integration... is irreversible...]
The message ended here, and the lily bud icon on the screen flashed a few times before going out completely.
Su Mu was like being struck by an invisible lightning, frozen in place, his mind blank!
The ruins of the data center in District 7 of the Old City! That's the abandoned, old-fashioned quantum communication relay station mentioned in Mother's journal, the underground connection to Hawkeye Outpost III during the initial site exploration! The Deep Root Server Array! Mother actually kept a low-powered "Tree of Life" secondary network node there?! And inside it... the complete blueprints for the "Prometheus Fire" project?!
Link it? Try to rebuild the Ark's neural network? Use that node as the new core?!
This… this is simply unbelievable! That place has long been marked as a permanent electromagnetic dead zone! How could a signal possibly penetrate? Furthermore… the "Tree of Life" network requires a powerful maternal consciousness to guide it! Mother… is her consciousness still there? "Risk… consciousness fusion… irreversible…" What does that mean?!
The immense shock and subsequent ecstasy, like a world of ice and fire, instantly swept over Su Mu! This was the only thread of silk that suddenly dangled from the abyss of despair, the only life-saving thread! Even if it was so thin that it could break at any moment, even if it could lead to another, even deeper trap!
She suddenly raised her head, her bloodshot eyes fixed on the silent core data pool of the Pillar of Creation on the console! An extremely crazy idea burned like wildfire in her heart!
If... if she could connect to that deeply buried "Tree of Life" node! If she could utilize the complete blueprints stored there and any remaining Matrix power... perhaps... she could actually bypass this forest of completely dead servers and, atop the ruins, forcibly construct a new, temporary neural network based on the "Tree of Life" network, covering the "Ark"! This might be the only chance to restore some of the base's functions, or even... to buy a glimmer of hope for those seriously injured!
The price... is it the risk of irreversible fusion of consciousness? Is it the possibility of losing oneself? Or... something else?
Su Mu's eyes swept across the wounded who were struggling on the verge of death in the corner, and across this cold and silent "Ark" that was about to sink completely, and finally stopped at the lily mark on his personal terminal that had long been extinguished.
Mother...are you leaving this behind...to guide me? Even if...the price is becoming a new "matrix"?
There's no time to hesitate! The enemy's fangs are closing in! The base's breath is fading!
"Xiaoling!" Su Mu stood up suddenly, her voice cracking slightly due to excitement and determination, but extremely clear, "Notify everyone... everyone who can move! Collect all the usable neural connection units in the base! Old models are fine! Damaged ones are fine! Immediately! Right now! Send them here!" She pointed to the cold floor of the main control hall.
"Su...Manager Su? What are you going to do?" Xiaoling was frightened by the crazy fire burning in Su Mu's eyes.
"Let's take a gamble!" Su Mu's voice was resolute, with a tragic and heroic tone of desperation. "Let's bet that we can... grow a new 'Tree of Life' on the ruins!"
Lin Mo practically crawled out of the cold, dark, abandoned warehouse corridor, thick with the smell of motor oil and mold. He was carrying a deflated, almost weightless tactical backpack, containing only a few barely usable cold-resistant cables, a small can of industrial sealant frozen like stone, and... half a box of high-energy compressed energy bars, left deep in a corner freezer, the packaging damaged but the production date barely within the expiration date.
This was all the "residues" he had found after trying his best and risking being buried by the alloy structure above that could collapse at any time.
The cold wind blew across his sweat-stained, grime-covered face like a knife. He leaned against the icy alloy wreckage, panting heavily, each breath tinged with the scent of blood. The one electronic eye that could still see, through the swirling snow foam, stared intently into the distance. On the horizon, the energy signal points representing the forces of "Anvil City" and "Quicksand Group" moved at a noticeable speed! They were gathering! A clear attack line was forming! Directly towards the "Ark"!
At most... two hours left! Or even less!
Lin Mo's heart sank to the bottom. This little bit... a drop in the bucket! It couldn't change the situation at all! Despair was like an icy iron hoop, tightly constricting his heart.
He had to go back! Even if it was just to go back... to face the final outcome with Su Mu... and the rest of the people...
He gritted his teeth, stuffed a frozen energy bar into his mouth, and chewed it with all his might, trying to squeeze out the last bit of calories. Then, dragging his legs, which felt like they were filled with lead, he moved step by step, with immense difficulty, towards the base entrance, which loomed in the wind and snow like a huge tombstone.
Every step consumed his remaining vitality. The wound on his back, pierced repeatedly by countless icy needles from the intense cold and the intense movement, made his vision black. His consciousness began to blur, and fragments of the past flashed back frantically in his mind: his father Lin Zhenyuan's heavy entrustment in the video... his mother Su Yingxue's peaceful face sleeping in the incubator... Shen Qingli's cold and complex eyes before her final annihilation... Su Mu's stubborn gaze, refusing to collapse... and Lei Gang's deafening cry, "For the Ark!"
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