Chapter 24
The dark inspection tunnel resembled the intestines of a giant beast: cold, narrow, and filled with the smell of engine oil and rusted metal. The roars and chaotic footsteps of the pursuers behind him were distorted and amplified, pounding on his eardrums as they drew closer.
Chen Mengzhou rushed forward recklessly, his lungs aching. He felt dizzy from exhausting his mental energy, and his vision went black. The energy consumption from the space jump was far greater than expected, and every step felt like stepping on cotton.
But her brain was working frantically, filtering the information she had just seen in a flash.
Junior Researcher Chen Bo... stole the ARK-07 sample... cleared... the abnormal energy signature remaining on his personal data plate... is highly similar to the "anchor point pre-activation fluctuation"!
Anchor! Anchor again!
That dead researcher was actually connected to her, to that vague "Anchor Project"! Why was his energy signature similar to that of "Anchor"? Had he come into contact with something? Or was he... part of the project?
We must find his datapad! Or whatever he might have left behind! It's the key to unlocking the mystery of the "Anchor Point"!
But where to find it? If a researcher is "purged," his personal belongings will likely be confiscated, destroyed, or stored somewhere...
[Warning: The entrance ahead has been detected and locked by the security system. Emergency Protocol Three has been activated.] The cold system prompt sounded as if it were ringing in her ears, carrying the death sentence.
The metal fire door at the end of the passage ahead, which was originally half-closed, suddenly began to slide down, making a heavy friction sound, and was about to be completely closed!
There is no way to retreat, and the road ahead will be blocked!
Chen Mengzhou's pupils suddenly shrank, and he could almost feel the scorching breath from the pursuers behind him!
At this critical moment!
The spiritual energy in her body that she had stolen from Niu Niu and had not yet completely dissipated seemed to be stimulated by the extreme crisis, and it actually trembled slightly on its own!
At the same time, on the right wall in front of her, a piece of metal wall panel that seemed to be tightly fitted suddenly made an extremely slight "click" sound, as if a buckle that had been in disrepair for a long time had popped open due to the vibration!
An extremely hidden inspection hatch, suitable for only one person, quietly slid open a crack! Behind it was even deeper darkness!
Is it Niuniu's energy? Can this spiritual energy affect mechanical structures? Or is it just a coincidence?
There's no time to think! This is the only way out!
Chen Mengzhou used up his last bit of strength, and his body was like an arrow shot from a bow. Just before the heavy fire door was about to close completely, he suddenly leaned sideways and squeezed into the narrow gap!
"Bang!"
The fire door fell heavily behind her, completely blocking the passage and abruptly cutting off the roars and footsteps of the pursuers!
The world instantly fell into dead silence and darkness.
Chen Mengzhou collapsed onto the cold, rough ground, gasping for breath and coughing up blood foam that tasted of rust. Cold sweat had already soaked through his sterile suit, clinging to his skin and bringing a biting chill.
She succeeded…for now.
Where is this place?
She struggled to sit up, her spatial perception extending outward with difficulty. This seemed to be the maintenance floor of a long-abandoned ventilation duct or cable shaft. The space was extremely narrow, filled with thick dust and unknown waste. The air was filthy and carried the smell of stale decay.
Safe for now.
She leaned against the cold wall, seizing every second to recover her strength and calm her surging blood. Her mind, however, didn't dare to pause, rapidly reviewing everything that had just happened.
That researcher, Chen Bo... he tried to steal samples of the Ark's derivatives... why? For what purpose? And where did his "anchor-like" energy signature come from?
His datapad... where would it be stored?
The belongings of researchers who have been "purged" are usually collected and examined by security. But Area A is so vast, with so many departments, where would the security department's temporary evidence storage point be? It certainly wouldn't be in the core area, most likely somewhere near the middle or bottom floors, for easier transportation and... processing.
She recalled the structural diagram of Area A she had secretly memorized over the past few days. The main area of activity for the security department seemed to be at the junction of Areas B and C, near the supply elevator...
Maybe... I could try my luck there?
But how to get through? She is now a top-level wanted criminal. There must be a complete martial law outside, and all entrances will be blocked and scanned.
Her eyes fell on the wall panel that had accidentally popped open because of her (or Niuniu's energy). Where did this abandoned maintenance passage lead to?
Perhaps, these long-forgotten "capillaries" throughout the fortress are her only path of movement.
After resting for a while and feeling that he had regained some strength, Chen Mengzhou gritted his teeth and began to crawl forward along the narrow and dark passage.
The situation inside the tunnels was worse than she had imagined. Collapses and blockages frequently occurred, requiring laborious clearing or detours. The dust nearly choked her. But she also discovered that these abandoned passages, interconnected like a maze, could indeed evade surveillance and blockades of the main passages.
Relying on her sense of direction and her memory of the mental map, she groped her way towards the area where the security department supposedly stored evidence.
I don’t know how long I climbed, but I could vaguely hear faint light and human voices ahead.
She immediately stopped, held her breath, and increased her perception to the extreme.
She looked down through a gap in the blinds of a vent.
Below was a relatively spacious room that looked like a warehouse or temporary storage area. Several men in security uniforms were sitting around chatting idly. The room was filled with confiscated weapons, damaged equipment, and several sealed and numbered metal boxes.
Is this the evidence storage area?
Her heart pounded as she searched carefully. Her gaze quickly locked onto a half-open metal cabinet in the corner of the room. Inside, personal belongings were layered—broken glasses, burnt ID cards, even dried blood-stained clothing...all seemingly belonging to individuals who had been "purged."
On one floor, she saw several personal data boards of the same model, but all with varying degrees of damage! There were labels on them!
The distance is too far to see the words on the label clearly.
But there is a high possibility that Chen Bo’s data board is there!
The opportunity is right in front of you! But there are guards downstairs, and there are surveillance cameras in the room.
To rob someone by force is suicide.
The tiger needs to be lured away from the mountain.
Chen Mengzhou's eyes swept across the abandoned maintenance floor. She noticed that in the upper left corner of the room, near the ceiling, there was an old ventilation duct joint. It seemed to be loose due to rust, and there were several exposed wires at the joint, which seemed to be powering some long-dismantled equipment.
A risky plan took shape in an instant.
She moved cautiously to the interface, took out the only remaining cardiac stimulant that she had been hiding (which she had stolen from the clinic before), removed the needle cap, squeezed out a small amount of liquid medicine inside, and dripped it onto the rusted interface and exposed wires.
Then she found a loose piece of metal.
Take a deep breath.
Now is the time!
She suddenly used the metal fragments to smash the rusty interface that had been dripped with medicine and had enhanced conductivity!
Snap!
A dazzling spark suddenly exploded, instantly igniting the dripping liquid and accumulated dust!
A cloud of black smoke suddenly rose up along with the flames! The fire was not big, but the smoke spread quickly!
"It's on fire!!" "What's going on?!" "Quick! Fire extinguisher!"
The security personnel below were suddenly in chaos, jumping up to look for fire extinguishers, their attention completely drawn to it!
The smoke alarm in the room was also triggered, making a shrill sound!
Now is the time!
Chen Mengzhou suddenly used spatial energy to shake open the buckles of the vent blinds, and his body fell silently into the room below like a light civet cat, and quickly rolled behind the metal cabinet to avoid the surveillance camera!
Her movements were as fast as a ghost, and under the cover of thick smoke, her eyes quickly scanned the labels on the data boards!
[Li XX…illegally operated…] [Wang X…attempted to steal secrets…] [Chen Bo…stole samples…cleared…]
Found it!
The label clearly read "Chen Bo"! The screen of the data tablet was shattered, but the main body seemed to be intact!
She grabbed Chen Bo's data pad and stuffed it into her arms! At the same time, she caught a glimpse of another item labeled "Chen Bo" next to it—a small, hand-carved, dried-out, blackened wooden amulet with a strange shape.
Without thinking too much, she grabbed the amulet and stuffed it into her pocket!
At this time, the security personnel rushed over with a fire extinguisher and sprayed white dry powder towards the fire.
Chen Mengzhou didn't dare to stay. He watched the opportunity and took advantage of the moment when smoke and dry powder filled the air and the vision was the most chaotic. He jumped up again like a ghost, grabbed the edge of the vent, and nimbly flipped back into the maintenance layer!
"Ahem...what's that sound?" "Something seems to have passed by?" "It must be a mouse! Damn this place!"
The security personnel's voices of uncertainty were heard below, but they were quickly drowned out by the noise of firefighting and alarms.
Without even turning back, Chen Mengzhou frantically crawled along the way she had come! The data tablet in her arms hurt, but her heart was filled with immense excitement and a sense of urgency!
Got it! Really got it!
We must find an absolutely safe place as soon as possible to check the contents of the data pad!
She navigated the maze of abandoned passages, relying on her memory to crawl toward an area she had long noticed, marked on the map as an "abandoned old ventilation shaft." Deep in the underground rock, the structure was complex, and signal shielding was strong, making it the safest hiding place at the moment.
Finally, she emerged from a narrow exit and landed at the bottom of a darker, slightly larger shaft. It was filled with discarded metal components, the air was cold, and only a faint light shone through from high above her head, as if it were an abandoned exit leading to the ground.
It's safe here for now.
She slumped in the cold corner, gasping for breath, almost fainting.
After calming down a little, she couldn't wait to take out the broken data tablet.
The screen was shattered and could not be viewed directly, but she sensed that the internal storage unit of the data board did not seem to be completely damaged.
She tried to insert a tiny bit of mental power (after integrating with Niuniu's energy, her control over mental power became more precise) into the interface of the data board, while mobilizing spatial energy and carefully simulating the weak current signal required for data reading.
Sizzle...
The remaining indicator light on the datapad flickered ever so faintly.
There is a reaction!
Done!
On the broken screen, lines of incomplete characters and codes began to appear intermittently and distortedly!
[…ARK-07's activity is abnormal… It's seriously deviating from the theoretical model… It's not decaying… It's… evolving? …] […Cronus Sands' time calibration records… The deviation rate isn't decreasing… It's been shifted?! Where did it go? …] […Personal log: I dreamed of that voice again… "The Anchor Point must return"… Who was it? …] […Warning: Unknown changes in my energy signature have been detected… Resonating with the "Relic - Lighthouse Fragment"… Source? …] […Final decision: We must obtain the sample for analysis… This could be the key to understanding the "Anchor Point"… and also… a chance to escape this prison…]
The data was extremely incomplete, and many parts were vague, but the information revealed made Chen Mengzhou's scalp tingle!
Chen Bo seemed to have long noticed the anomaly in the "Ark" project and began to doubt the calibration of the "Sand of Kronos"! He even experienced a "change in his energy signature" and resonated with a certain "lighthouse fragment"!
And his final act, stealing the sample, seems to be an attempt to... understand the "anchor point" and escape from the fortress?!
What on earth did he know?! What did "the anchor must return" mean?
At this moment, the data board flashed violently, and the last relatively complete piece of information struggled to appear:
[…If they find this…I will definitely be dead…Those who come after me…If you can also see this…Remember…The “Lighthouse” is not destruction…It is guidance…The “Ark” is not hope…It is a cage…Cronus…never left…Time…is the only thing…]
The information ends here.
The data pad went completely black, the last bit of energy exhausted.
Chen Mengzhou sat in the cold darkness, feeling cold all over.
Is the lighthouse a guide? Is the Ark a prison? Did Kronos never leave? Is time... the only thing?
Chen Bo's research and the warnings he left behind were like the last pieces of a puzzle, intertwining and colliding wildly with her own experiences and those fragments of memory!
She subconsciously reached for the wooden amulet in her pocket.
The moment her fingertips touched the dry wood—
Something strange happened suddenly!
The amulet suddenly became scorching hot without warning! The strange carvings on its surface suddenly lit up with a faint blue light!
A huge, ancient, cold will without any emotion, like a flood bursting through a dam, rushed along her fingertips and into her mind!
[——A thought carrier that meets the standards has been detected——] [——Remaining information module activated——] [——Identity authentication: Kronos Watcher - Seventh Seat——] [——Information flow transmission begins——]
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Chen Mengzhou clutched her head and let out a suppressed scream of pain! Countless bizarre, shattered, chaotic images and fragments of information forcibly poured into her consciousness!
She saw... immense, incomprehensible machinery whirring among the stars... She saw the azure Earth enveloped by an invisible, ever-fluctuating energy shield... She saw a massive, cross-shaped "lighthouse" casting beams of light from the void... She also saw the shield shatter, the "lighthouse" snap, black cracks streaking across the sky and earth, and all things withering...
And at the core of all these scenes, there repeatedly appears a huge, cold symbol that looks like a combination of a clock and a genetic spiral - Kronos!
[——Mission: Guard the time sequence, execute the "Ark" plan, wait for the "Anchor Point" to return, and restart the "Lighthouse"——] [——Warning: The "Ark" core has been detected to be contaminated... Plans have deviated... The "Anchor Point" sequence is abnormal...——] [——Final Order: Clear the contamination, correct the errors, and ensure that the "Anchor Point" returns to the correct coordinates at all costs——]
The impact of the information flow was like a tsunami, almost completely tearing Chen Mengzhou's consciousness apart!
So...that's how it is!
The apocalyptic catastrophe wasn't an accident! Was it the ancient organization called "Kronos" that caused the tragedy, the "Ark" project going out of control?! And the "Lighthouse" seemed to be some kind of protective device? But it was broken?
And the "anchor point"... is the key to the reboot? She herself... is one of those "anchor points"?! Sent back from the future to "correct mistakes" and "restart the lighthouse"?!
Chen Bo... He probably accidentally came into contact with some information carrier left by "Kronos" (such as the "lighthouse fragment"), and only then did he know part of the truth, and was silenced as a result!
The amulet he left behind wasn't an ornament at all, but a small, remnant of information storage! A relic of the "Kronos Watcher"!
Now, this heavy mission and truth, enough to crush anyone, is branded in her soul like a curse!
The impact of the information flow gradually weakened, but the cold will and the huge amount of information had been deeply implanted in her mind.
The amulet's light dimmed, completely turned into dust, and slipped through her fingers.
Chen Mengzhou collapsed to the ground, curled up, his body shaking constantly, cold sweat streaming down his face like a stream.
It's not a coincidence... Everything is not a coincidence...
Her time travel, her special powers, the future she saw... all were part of a huge, cold plan that spanned time and space!
She is a pawn, an executor, and the so-called "anchor"!
The enormous pressure and responsibility pressed down on her like a mountain, almost suffocating her.
But at the same time, an extreme, cold realization also rose in her heart.
She knew where she came from and why she came.
We know who the enemy is (at least one of them) - it's the force that caused the "Ark" plan to deviate, polluted the core, and tried to prevent the return of the "Anchor"! It's very likely that they are hiding in the highest floors of this fortress!
We know what the goal is - to remove the pollution, correct the mistakes, and find a way to restart the "lighthouse"!
Although the road ahead is still shrouded in fog and the enemy is hopelessly powerful, at least she is no longer struggling aimlessly for survival.
She had a direction.
The trembling slowly stopped.
Chen Mengzhou slowly, slowly sat up from the ground.
In the darkness, her eyes slowly opened, and the last trace of confusion and hesitation in the depths of her pupils completely disappeared, replaced by a kind of almost cold determination and firmness burning with a dark flame.
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and the cold sweat from her forehead, and tidied up her damaged sterile suit.
Then, she picked up the completely scrapped data board and used space energy to crush its internal storage unit into powder.
All the clues have come together.
All pretense has been torn off.
It’s time to change the way you play the game.
She was no longer the prey, no longer the lurker.
From this moment on, she is the "anchor."
It's from the future, the Reckoner.
Her gaze seemed to penetrate through layers of alloy walls and look directly into the deepest and darkest core of Area A.
There, there are the "mistakes" she must face.
There were also answers...that she had to get.
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