Damage to ship's cabin equipment: 50% - 60% - 70%...
Temperature imbalance alarm, alarm number A012-12515-n2...
Refrigeration system failure alarm alarm number...
Emergency facility offline alarm...
Preparing to restart the entire ship's systems
System offline countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7...
...
Accompanied by a violent explosion and tremor, the blowout alarm rushed towards Hal like a tsunami in an instant.
The local control system within the isolation zone short-circuited momentarily, and the explosion, which should have been contained within the isolation zone, affected three levels of the ship and detonated a small energy conversion device...
The continuous flames ignited a corner of the Providence, like orange fireworks suddenly lighting up from the dark underground.
Apart from the deafening roar of the explosions and the flashes of fire, the Providence suddenly fell into utter silence.
Of course, having been abandoned here for so long, deathly silence was its usual state. But the silence that descended upon this spaceship this time was different.
It's important to understand that even when the alien infection on the Providence reached its peak and the entire ship was in complete chaos, the basic systems that maintained the ship's most fundamental operations never stopped completely like this.
If the Providence were a human being, we could say that it died once, in a very brief moment.
Yes, though reluctant to admit it, Hal was indeed overwhelmed by the deluge of false reports.
The overwhelming load forced Hal, who had finally regained control, to go offline once again.
Then, in a very brief instant, perhaps 0.1 seconds, or even less, Hal began the first reboot of his life.
This was an incredibly incredible thing for Hal.
After all, as a spaceship like the Providence, even if the spaceship is mostly damaged, she should still be able to maintain its basic operation, just like HAL has not been maintained for hundreds of years.
Moreover, what keeps entering its brain are just some insignificant error reports.
After a cursory examination, Hal said this to himself.
but……
Hal could clearly feel that his operation was becoming increasingly difficult and sluggish.
However, this is really hard to explain.
After all, in addition to the main computing power, it has a few spare computing resources.
But when Hal retrieved the background data, it discovered that all of its backup databases were already fully loaded.
Fortunately, the full-load operation only lasted for a short while, after which a large amount of computing resources were released, allowing Hal to barely regain control of the spaceship.
Although its spaceship is now severely damaged (and it no longer has any humans capable of repairing it), its top priority remains Lin Xi's life or death.
Surrounding the still-burning explosion zone, countless monitoring ports received Hal's instructions at the same time, their machines flashing and operating with utmost sincerity and loyalty as they searched for traces of the alien species known as "Lin Xi".
Search for the target...
Search for target Lin Xi... failed. Searching again in ten seconds... failed...
The target was not found within the area.
...
Hal attempted to find Lin Xi inside the spaceship—ideally, the remains of Lin Xi and those damned bastards.
However, after wasting a lot of resources, Hal did not find any trace of Lin Xi in the explosion zone.
Hal is once again faced with an incomprehensible problem: Lin Xi is missing.
No matter how much it investigated or searched, Lin Xi and its retinue could not be found.
...
...
Lin Xi is inside Hal's brain.
Of course, Hal was unaware of this.
In fact, just a few minutes ago, even Lin Xi himself did not realize that he was in Hal's core computing center.
After all, everything was too chaotic.
Using the airflow from the explosion, Xavier, along with Lin Xi, Noah, and Arthur, escaped the blast zone at an astonishing speed.
It was also slightly damaged, with its wings covered in slag and metal fragments ejected by the airflow.
The wings were completely beyond saving, and Xavier had to give them up once again.
It was quite saddened by this, until it realized that it could use it as leverage to get a long period of comfort and consolation from Lin Xi.
In comparison, Noah and Arthur's injuries were very minor.
Noah's body was partially burned, and Arthur was cut.
Of course, for two such different species, this level of wound is practically negligible.
On the contrary, the scene of Xavier staring menacingly at the two young and weak aliens with his blood-red eyes, and tearing off his own wings by the roots, had a greater psychological impact on them...
Well, that's not entirely incomprehensible.
Even as an observer, Lin Xi could clearly feel the murderous aura that Xavier unleashed in that instant.
He could even sense the barely concealed regret in Xavier's heart...
Clearly, Xavier's previous actions were completely unplanned.
If given more time to think, Xavier might prefer to leave Noah and Arthur, those two third wheels, in the blast zone.
But at that time, it had absolutely no room for "thinking".
Xavier rescued the two aliens entirely on instinct, and in doing so, he lost a pair of wings in the process...
"Alright, Xavier..."
Xavier's emotions grew increasingly intense, and Lin Xi had to interrupt the Queen Insect who was starting to get stuck on his own thoughts.
To distract himself from his depressed mood, Lin Xi stood up and wandered around the makeshift shelter they had found.
Familiarity with unfamiliar environments is also an instinct for a qualified mutant species...
It was at this moment that Lin Xi realized that he seemed to have arrived in a rather special area.
This place is exceptionally spacious, an open area that resembles a giant stadium.
There are no work facilities for humans here. Instead, it suddenly looks a bit like an old stadium. Only the bottom area is wide and flat, and the circular "seats" are no longer occupied by humans, but by a continuous line of neatly arranged metal boxes.
Each metal box was covered with neatly arranged electronic lights and numerous cables. These cables and pipes, like a spider web, connected all the metal boxes together.
Above all the metal boxes, a translucent spherical particle processor, like some kind of miniature celestial body, flickered on and off.
If Lin Xi hadn't visited the computer center of Earth-Moon University before, he probably would have had a hard time imagining that it was such a huge computer room.
In ordinary settings on Earth, people can already entrust incredibly complex calculations to ultra-thin micro-calculators the size of a fingernail; giant electronic computing centers like the ones we see today are truly rare.
However, on the other hand, if the computer's computation is to maintain an incredibly large, sophisticated, and even human-emotion-generating intelligent system, then tiny, ultra-miniature devices simply cannot withstand that level of computation.
What he needs is a massive computing cluster like the one in front of Lin Xi.
"For God's sake, where on earth did you find this place...?"
Lin Xi looked around in shock, then murmured to herself.
Lin Xi only expressed his feelings instinctively, but Xavier still answered him very seriously.
"Indicator light..."
Xavier said dryly.
"Emergency indicator light..."
In that instant filled with flames, high temperatures, and turbulent air, Xavier had an exceptionally short time to make a choice—and in that very moment, he keenly noticed that in the intricate interior of the ship, an emergency indicator light representing an escape route was flashing rapidly in a certain direction.
It followed the indicator light almost instinctively, and by the time it realized what was happening, it had already stumbled and staggered into the area.
After hearing Xavier's answer, Lin Xi suddenly turned around and looked in the direction that she and Xavier had come from.
A metal door was slightly ajar, and one could still vaguely see the marks that Xavier had drawn on the metal plate when he broke in.
Those weren't the crudely made, flimsy metal doors found in other parts of the cabin.
The extremely thick metal door, equipped with countless security devices, reminded Lin Xi of the vault doors that banks on Earth use to arm their vaults.
Looking at the door, a thought suddenly flashed through Lin Xi's mind.
He strode toward the entrance, and after a quick inspection, he was not surprised to find about a dozen mechanical warriors hidden in several well-concealed traps at the entrance.
Judging from their appearance, they are quite different from the ones Lin Xi had dealt with before, but it is certain that... if they were to wake up, they would be quite troublesome.
But, since our focus is on... "if" they wake up.
The role of these mechanical warriors is far too simple and clear: if anyone enters the core area of the central computer without permission, these mechanical warriors are the last line of physical defense.
However, the mechanical warriors, which were supposed to be a trump card (let's ignore their models for now), are now completely paralyzed.
Lin Xi grabbed a limp metal tentacle and casually manipulated its body.
Beneath the hemispherical helmets of the mechanical warriors, electronic eyes flashed wildly, but their bodies remained completely immobile.
Error report locked, unauthorized locking.
A line of code flashed across the mechanical warrior's helmet.
Lin Xi slowly put the machine down temporarily, then turned his head to look at the incredibly empty hall.
Something opened that door for them, and Lin Xi knew who it was.
"...What exactly do you want, Scripps?"
Lin Xi asked.
The hall remained silent. Amidst the red lights indicating malfunctions, only a few dozen "metal boxes" were flashing green lights, operating normally.
This made those computers stand out conspicuously.
Lin Xi raised her eyebrows and looked at the machines.
"Oh my god, you wouldn't happen to be..."
Suddenly, some information and data that Lin Xi had seen in the research center in the quarantine area flashed through her mind.
In an instant, the strange look in his eyes grew stronger and stronger.
Yes, Scripps still hadn't had any direct communication with him, but Lin Xi vaguely felt that he could sense Scripps's thoughts.
He fumbled around to inspect the machines that were still running.
Before long, Lin Xi discovered that her guess was correct.
"This is Hal, isn't it?"
With an incredulous feeling, he placed his hand on the slightly warm, cold metal box.
Then he asked Scripps.
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