There were no images, no sounds, only a line of text composed of countless flashing, living, deep blue data links, floating before everyone's eyes with a cold and absolute sense of authority:
[Data siphoning protocol has arrived. Authorization verification: highest level. Connection request: immediate.]
Deep blue datalink text, resembling living worms, flickered and twisted silently on the massive main screen in the Rock Conference Room, imbued with a cold and eerie vitality. The words—[Data Siphon Protocol Arrived. Authorization Verification: Highest Level. Connection Request: Immediate.]—struck like an invisible hammer, hammering down on the nerves of every attendee.
The conference room, brimming with chaos, anger, and despair just a moment before, instantly fell into an eerie, suffocating silence. Even Chief of Operations Lei Gang, whose volcanic fury was about to erupt, was frozen in place by this sudden onslaught of information, which conveyed the message of absolute technological dominance.
"Data... siphoning?" Zhao Qiming, the resource coordinator, muttered incoherently, his voice as dry as sandpaper. "What the hell is that? The highest level of authority? Whose authority?"
The old professor from the technical team stared intently at the squirming data link, his cloudy eyes widening as his facial muscles twitched uncontrollably. "Impossible... This level of information flow compression and penetration technology... and this form of encryption... I've never seen it before! It's not even recorded in the old Deep Web archives! This... this is definitely not a technology that any force in the ruins can possess!"
"Who cares what it is! Anyone who dares to forcibly enter the Ark's airspace is an enemy!" Lei had just recovered from his shock, and his fierceness surged again. He slammed the table and roared into the communication channel, "Air defense position! Lock it! I say again, shoot it down..."
"Minister Lei!" Su Mu's voice rang out again, unusually sharp, instantly drowning out Lei Gang's roar. Her gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, was fixed on the line of dark blue text on the main screen. She leaned forward slightly, her eyes no longer the cold despair they had previously held. Instead, they were filled with an extremely complex light—shock, disbelief, and a hint of... a throbbing sensation, as if she had seen something familiar amidst the endless darkness. "Wait! Look at its information structure! Look at the redundancy check method in the core code!" Her fingertips trembled slightly with excitement as she pointed at a tiny dot of light on the screen, a fleeting star in the deep blue data stream. "That's... the underlying architectural feature of 'Prometheus's Fire'! It's the core algorithm identifier used by the top-secret project team my mother was involved in before she disappeared!"
Mother!
Those two words, like a stone dropped into a stagnant pond, stirred a huge wave in Lin Mo's heart. Su Mu's mother, the brilliant yet mysteriously missing chief scientist, the project she was involved in? This aircraft that had forced its way into the base, emitting an extremely dangerous aura, was actually connected to her?
Lin Mo's heart sank, a surge of unease gripping him. The mystery of Su Mu's mother's disappearance, the destruction of Hawkeye Outpost 3 (her mother's last place of work), and now the appearance of this aircraft carrying the "data siphoning" protocol and utilizing the core technology of her mother's project team... all of this was no coincidence!
"Highest level authorization verified." A cold electronic synthesized voice suddenly echoed in the conference room. It didn't originate from the base system, but directly from the intruding information stream! The tone was flat, yet it carried a palpitating, unquestionable sense of judgment. "Connection channel established. Target: Central Data Hub 'Pillar of Creation'. Prepare to receive."
Buzz——
The heavy alloy door of the conference room made a low unlocking sound and slowly slid open to both sides.
Under the pale emergency light outside the door, a figure stood there quietly.
The visitor was tall, dressed in a sharply tailored, dark gray jumpsuit with a distinctive metallic sheen, its lines radiating power and fluidity. Her long, dark hair was simply tied back, revealing a smooth, full forehead and a striking face. Her features were three-dimensional and distinct, like carefully carved jade. Her brows were sharp, sword-like, exuding a compelling aura. Her nose was high, and her lips were thin, defined, pressed into a cold, hard line. Most striking were her eyes, deep as a bottomless pool, her pupils a rare, metallic silver-gray, scanning the room with a cold, unfeeling gaze.
Her gaze shifted with the precision and indifference of an examining instrument. When her silver-gray eyes finally landed on Lin Mo's face, seated at the head of the table, a subtle yet clear ripple rippled through her icy gaze.
It wasn't surprise, nor was it scrutiny.
It was a kind of... confirmation. It was like finally finding a single particle of metal that met the expected parameters amidst a sea of sand. It was cold, focused, and filled with an almost inhuman, pure, intense interest. That gaze, like a physical probe, instantly penetrated the distance of space, leaving Lin Mo with an intense, uncomfortable feeling of being thoroughly scanned, completely seen through. It was as if he was no longer a living person, but a collection of extremely precious data samples waiting to be analyzed.
This feeling instantly tensed Lin Mo's spine, and a chill ran up his spine. Danger! This woman exuded a pure, highly rational aura of danger that was even more frightening than the mechanical beasts roaming the ruins outside!
"Shen Qingli," the woman began. Her voice, like her person, was clear, steady, and without any fluctuations, like the most sophisticated instrument reading out its readings. "Holder and executor of the 'Data Siphon' Agreement." She entered with a steady, rhythmic pace, each step as if calculated with the utmost precision. Her gaze swept across the conference room again, lingering briefly on Su Mu's pale, shocked face, his eyes a mingled mixture of excitement over clues to his mother's project and wariness of the unfamiliar woman before him. Then, without a ripple, it shifted away, finally settling on the two disaster scenes on the main screen, representing the platform crash and the outpost's destruction.
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