Chapter 39
"Hearing." As's shadowy silhouette turned to Li Yichuan, reminding him of the impending trouble.
"I know, I know." Li Yichuan waved his hands irritably, and the nebula in his pupils slowed down, revealing a hint of real fatigue.
"Let's go and face those old fogies. Hopefully, they won't blame us for Sphere 99544."
The two figures faded from the pure white space.
…
The feeling of weightlessness in the light cage was completely different from when he was transferred by As before.
That time was more like a rough but short whirlwind, but this time, it was a feeling of being precisely analyzed, thoroughly rinsed, and deeply disinfected.
When their vision cleared again, they were no longer in that pure white space.
They stood on an infinitely extended transparent corridor bridge, with a flowing sea of stars beneath their feet, above their heads, and all around them.
The nebula was like an overturned paint bucket, leaving indescribable colors on Ji Dongzang's body.
Ji Dongzang rubbed it on the back of her hand and rubbed out a "little spider". The "spider" bit her and became much bigger. It stayed quietly on Ji Dongzang's head like a hat.
Seeing this, Xia Changjie used the nebula to mold a robot cat. It looked exactly like the puffed tamarind, especially when it moved, it was like the puffed tamarind was scaled down.
Xia Changjie laughed and carefully put the miniature version of the sterculia lychnophora into his pocket.
"Welcome to the 'Ark of Civilization', Archive Sequence No. 99544 Branch, Temporary Containment Unit."
An emotionless electronic synthesized voice rang out. The data stream on the mask of one of the personnel who had brought them here flickered steadily.
It said they were remains brokers and would manage Ji Dongzang and others next.
"You will be temporarily housed here until deep decontamination and stability assessments are complete. Please adhere to Ark regulations: do not attempt to communicate with the outside world, do not question archiving procedures, and do not possess unauthorized memories."
"Not allowed to have...memories?" Zhou You subconsciously hugged the broken camera to his chest, his voice dry.
The broker didn't answer, but just raised his hand and pointed in the air.
A curtain of light unfolded, with symbols that they could not understand flowing rapidly on it, but the occasional flashes of images of human civilization broken down into data points made several people feel uncomfortable.
"Purification has begun. Extraneous data being stripped."
As it spoke, Ji Dongzang felt a slight dizziness, his head was spinning, and it felt like his memory was being erased.
"No..." she whispered, not out of fear, but out of a disgust of being violated.
Gao Jie clenched her fists. She felt that her spiritual connection with the mutated white tiger had become extremely weak.
As Sui Chunsheng gradually forgot the weapons she had made, she began to forget her sister.
"Please follow me to your temporary residence."
The broker turned around and stepped onto the transparent corridor bridge.
They were forced to keep up.
The Ark of Civilization is not a ship, but an infinitely extended static dimension within the Heritage Recovery Department of the General Administration of the Universe.
There is no distinction between sky and earth here, only countless suspended transparent crystal cabins emitting soft white light.
Time has lost its meaning here.
"This is your temporary residence. The interior space has been simulated based on the physiological structure of your civilization. The energy required for survival will be rationed regularly."
"Once inside, decontamination procedures will continue until you meet archival standards."
Six human specimens were placed in adjacent cabins, their bodies maintained in a state of near stagnation, but their minds were allowed to move slowly.
silence.
despair.
It is not just the despair of losing freedom, but also the despair of having the meaning of existence denied.
They were temporarily sealed.
…
General Administration of Space, Hearing Court.
There are no physical seats here, and the participants' consciousness projections are suspended in a simulated background.
The projections of Li Yichuan and As stood in the center, surrounded by several rays of light and shadow representing the high-level examiners of the General Administration.
"Administrator Li Yichuan, Supervisor Asi."
"How do you explain the major incident that occurred at the distortion point linked to Observation Sphere No. 99544, which resulted in the inadvertent activation of the civilization reset program and triggered a chain reaction of space-time disruption?"
Li Yichuan curled his lips. "Explain? My intern slipped, it's that simple. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Besides, if we hadn't arrived in time and the distortion point exploded, it would have affected more than just Sphere 99544!"
"Mistakes are not excuses," another Inspector's light and shadow refuted.
"Inadequate supervision and lack of training are your unshirkable responsibilities. Especially you, Li Yichuan, whose work attitude has long been lax and has resulted in numerous bad records!"
As's shadow rippled, emitting a low resonant sound. "The most urgent task is to deal with the aftermath of the reset and the placement of the samples. The responsibility for the accident can be investigated in detail later."
"The sample has been taken over by the Civilization Heritage Recovery Department and will be processed according to the procedures." The examiner's voice remained unchanged.
"As for you, given the serious consequences of this incident and the long-term management oversight, we hereby sentence: Administrator Li Yichuan, his gaming privileges for three standard cosmic eras will be suspended, and he will be required to participate in basic management standard retraining. Supervisor As, your supervisory rating will be downgraded by one level, and the corresponding resource quota will be deducted. Effective immediately."
Li Yichuan's face instantly fell when he heard this: "What?! You're stopping my gaming privileges?! And I want training?! Hey! You're abusing your employees!"
The vortex of As's shadow appeared again, but this time it suppressed it and just accepted the judgment in silence.
…
At the same time as the hearing court announced the verdict.
The Ark of Civilization, an extremely hidden corner connected to an abandoned data channel.
A weak, almost undetectable signal penetrated layers of shielding and connected to a crystal cabin.
It is Qiu Lian’s cabin.
Her originally calm and submissive consciousness instantly became active after receiving this external signal.
"...Signal access successful...Phase one of the plan complete..." Intermittent thoughts were transmitted through this secret link, "...Waiting for the 'key'...the right time..."
The information was transmitted in an instant, and the link was quietly disconnected without triggering any alarm.
Qiu Lian's consciousness returned to calm again, as if nothing had happened.
On the other hand, in the General Administration’s huge data processing center, the final “sacrifice” process of the six samples is being carefully calculated and arranged.
The one in charge of this matter is a large white rabbit with wings. It has ears three times its own length, curled up on its silver-white wings.
It is busy here and there at the moment.
"Ah! Supervisor As has been demoted. Can I eat her now?!"
"Ahhhhhh! Eat her, eat her!!!"
“So delicious, hehehe!”
The rabbit was busy working, spinning in circles on tiptoe.
Rabbit found an extremely subtle anomalous data stream.
Marking this as a "low priority item to watch" did not immediately trigger a high-level alert.
In the vast universe of the General Administration system, occasional data noise is not uncommon.
…
Li Yichuan was almost "kicked" out of the simulation field by an invisible force.
Her and As's entities condensed in a remote corridor of the archives.
"I can't play games for three epochs... I might as well be exiled..." she wailed.
Li Yichuan crawled all over the glass wall, leaving scratches of varying depths.
He banged his head against the glass, and bright red blood oozed out of his body.
Just as she took her first bite of the glass, she was thrown out by the raccoon in the cleaning hat, teeth and all.
It hit the electronic screen in the distance and turned into a human pancake.
The rabbit, who had just finished his work, came to Asi and stepped on her feet twice.
The rabbit's ears were not tucked into its wings at this moment. It was hitting Li Yichuan a few times as it ran.
When Asi saw the rabbit, she wanted to run and bumped into Haomuhao who had been behind her for some reason.
She saw Haomuhao take a few steps back and was surrounded by the furry rabbit ears, and the rabbit's laughter sounded in her ears.
"Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey!"
When it hits the good part, there is a sticky sound like bubbles popping.
As's entire shadow was gloomy.
Haomuhao is a sticky humanoid figure, and finally someone discovered him.
It spat out a grotesque mass of debris, caked with gray-green saliva.
At this moment, Li Yichuan finally walked over under the raccoon's resentful gaze.
She squatted down and poked the inactive residue with her finger. The nebula in her pupils glowed slightly as she performed a deep scan.
"The 'Remains Broker' sign... even though it was violently erased, the stench lingers. These idiots are growing bolder and bolder, even daring to place beacons in the garbage stream surrounding the archives."
As Li Yichuan spoke, he wiped the saliva off his hands with the rabbit's wings.
"Qiu Lian."
Haomuhao said two words and spitted as he spoke.
The liquid floor has begun to absorb the saliva.
When the raccoon saw this, he swelled up, put a layer of insulation on his tail, and then rolled up Haomuhao with his tail and threw it out.
As's shadow wavered, indicating his agreement. "The sample is concentrated, and the consciousness fluctuations are abnormal, consistent with external consciousness interference."
The raccoon threw out As and the rabbit that was clinging to As.
"She didn't accept her fate, she just found her next employer." Li Yichuan sneered.
"Those brokers love these kinds of 'relics' that are both mentally unstable and valuable. This one is in high demand."
Li Yichuan was also kicked out.
The rabbit held As and chewed, chewed, chewed, as if he had forgotten something.
Chew chew chew, it doesn't matter.
"Focus on this, Rabbit."
After saying this, As ran away and prepared to do a deep clean.
Asi left, and Li Yichuan didn't want to bother with this dead rabbit. She wanted to go and look through the "garbage dump".
The figure flashed and rushed in the opposite direction of As, towards the maintenance passages in the lower level of the archives that were usually deserted.
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