"As a return gift..." Her eyes suddenly became as sharp as icicles, "Please be sure to enjoy the groundbreaking ceremony that we at Fungus Dome have meticulously prepared for this new era."
The screen switches instantly!
A satellite's bird's-eye view! The camera plummets from the cold orbit of space, piercing the thin atmosphere! The scene unfolds as a boundless wasteland blanketed by giant fungi and metal ruins. Yet, at this moment, a soul-shattering scene unfolds within this deadly wasteland!
Hundreds of thousands… even millions of data predators! They were no longer scattered individuals, but an army commanded by absolute will, moving at high speed across the wasteland, forming arrays and combinations! They formed an unimaginably vast thorn totem, covering dozens of kilometers, composed of flowing scarlet and viscous code! This totem was filled with a sinister ritual and a suffocating pressure!
At the very center of the totem, the earth cracked open with a wail! A massive pillar, nearly a hundred meters in diameter and composed of countless wriggling, entwined scarlet mycelium, broke through the ground and pierced the blood-red sky! At the top of the pillar, countless even thicker mycelium vines grew wildly, coiling and intertwining, eventually forming a giant mycelium tree hundreds of meters tall, blocking out the sun and the sky! The branches of the giant tree twisted and stretched like giant claws grasping at the sky! And at the top of the giant tree, against the backdrop of surging blood-red clouds, hung an enormous crown of thorns composed of glowing mycelium and solidified dark red code! It was the ultimate amplification of the totem that Xu Shuangyao had seen! It exuded overwhelming pressure and a desperate, evil brilliance!
"You and your pathetic creation..." The screen cut back to a face identical to Xu Shuangyao's. The commander's cold, mocking voice pierced their ears like a venomous snake. "The false gods you attempt to create...will eventually bow before this true 'Crown' and become the nourishment that nourishes the new world."
Her body leaned forward slightly, her perfect face almost filling the entire screen, her scarlet eyes staring at Xu Shuangyao like the abyss.
"However, before your humble life completely disappears..." Her voice suddenly dropped, filled with a malicious glee, "Please remember—a true 'hermit'... is never an individual. It is the ultimate form that grows deep within the malaise of civilization and never dies. It is greed, fear, betrayal... the convergence of all negative logic... the eternal shadow."
Bang!
The signal was cut off. The screen fell into a dead blackness. Only the terrifying sight of the giant mycelial crown towering over the blood-red wasteland remained, etched deeply into their retinas like a brand.
A deathly silence enveloped the laboratory, with only Pei Du's heavy breathing as the only sound.
Xu Shuangyao's body trembled uncontrollably, not out of fear, but out of extreme anger and a chilling sense of being completely fooled. She rushed to the control console, her fingers frantically tapping away at the cracked keyboard! She pulled up the deep data stream from the commander's terminal that she had desperately captured the moment the signal was connected!
"Deep protocol...biometric lock...genetic key..." She gritted her teeth, muttering to herself, her eyes fixed on the flickering characters on the screen. Sweat streamed down her forehead. Finally! Deep within a hidden, seemingly intentionally left-behind protocol layer, she discovered a special, encrypted instruction—a fragment of a genetic key emitting a faint, dark golden glow! The structure of this key...bears a striking resemblance to some of the underlying code fragments she had previously deciphered from the Crown of Thorns mark!
Driven almost by instinct and with a determination to burn his boats, Xu Shuangyao activated the genetic key!
Buzz——!
An invisible wave spread out with her as the center!
“Ugh…Ah!!!”
Beside him, Pei Du suddenly let out a low roar of pain! His entire body began to convulse violently! Neck, arms, chest… all the dark golden lines that had previously appeared suddenly burst into an unprecedentedly blazing light! These lights were like living vines, spreading and interweaving beneath his skin at a speed visible to the naked eye! Dark golden lines instantly covered his entire body! Finally, all the lines converged madly towards his forehead, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea!
laugh--!
A faint yet distinct golden light shone between his brows! Countless fine, dark-gold lines intertwined and coiled there, ultimately condensing into a tiny, yet incredibly clear, crown of thorns composed of pure energy! It hovered just an inch above his brow, slowly rotating and emitting a majestic and cold aura!
Xu Shuangyao was struck by lightning. She stared blankly at the illusory crown of light between Pei Du's eyebrows, then suddenly looked at the activated gene key on her terminal screen. A cold and heavy truth surfaced like an iceberg.
"Twin carriers..." she muttered absentmindedly, her voice dry. "The Crown of Thorns... it requires... two interconnected yet distinct core carriers... to... fully manifest?" She slowly extended her hand, with a sense of fateful heaviness, and gently stroked the illusory yet real projection of the crown on Pei Du's brow. A slight burning sensation and a powerful pulsation of energy reached her fingertips.
Just then!
Boom boom boom——!!!
The entire underground laboratory, along with the rock beneath their feet, suddenly shook violently! It was as if a giant beast was rolling over in the earth! Fragments of culture tanks, broken pipes, and dust fell to the ground!
At the point where the "hermit" had completely dissipated, the ground, contaminated by bacterial blood and ash, suddenly arched upward! The hard concrete and rock shattered like fragile eggshells! Scarlet, blood-red mycelium burst forth from the ground, growing, entwining, and condensing madly! In the blink of an eye, it condensed into a massive stone monument three meters tall and nearly two meters wide!
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