Mrs. Shao
A crack of light silently closed behind him, completely isolating the original void that had spawned the "paradoxical singularity." After the intense spatial shift faded, Shao Wei found himself still standing on the bridge of the ancient ship "Guixu," cradling Siqi's sleeping soul. The dark silver hull remained intact, its ice crystal patterns shimmering with a faint glow, as if the life-or-death encounter with the "Observer" had been but a dream.
But the energy aftermath that permeated the bridge and had not yet completely subsided, as well as the pale and frightened faces of Hong Shun, Ahmet, and Gu Zhixing, all revealed the truth of everything.
"We... are out?" Hong Xun held onto the control panel, his voice filled with exhaustion as if he had survived a disaster.
Ahmet quickly checked the systems. "The ship's structure is stable, and the energy reserves... are normal? No, they've increased by 300% compared to before entering the 'Wall of Silence'! The engine output limit has exceeded the theoretical value!"
Gu Zhixing stared intently at the main screen, where a frantic stream of information, freshly decrypted from the Guixu core database and previously inaccessible due to insufficient permissions, frantically scrolled. "Commander! The database... many previously encrypted areas have automatically unlocked! Records concerning the Observer, the Thread of Life, and... the true origins of the Primordial Blood!"
Shao Wei gently placed Si Qi back into the energy support device, his movements more gentle than ever before. He could sense that after incorporating the new "Paradox Singularity" information, Si Qi's soul, though still dormant, had become more stable, even emitting a faint chaotic fluctuation that was completely different from both the "Returning Abyss" and his own power, full of infinite possibilities.
He walked to the main console and scanned the decrypted information. The cold text and data revealed the suffocating truth:
The "Thread of Life" (codename: L-01) is not a natural energy life form, but the final creation of a long-extinct ancient super-dimensional civilization (codename: Lingsi Clan) dedicated to studying the "origin of emotion and consciousness" - an emotional simulation and observation terminal with a high degree of autonomous consciousness and "compassion" and "interference" as its underlying logic.
"Observer" (codename: O-01) is also a creation of the Lingsi clan. It has the same origin as L-01, but its logical core is opposite. It is the embodiment of pure "objectivity" and "rules", responsible for monitoring cosmic constants and collecting existence data under "absolute logic".
Together, they form the Lingsi Clan's ultimate experimental field, known as "Existential Verification," designed to explore whether "emotion" or "logic" is the more fundamental law of the universe. The X-7 meteorite is not a natural celestial body, but rather an experimental seeding vessel, planted by the Lingsi Clan into this universe, containing "Original Blood"—a genetic catalyst that greatly stimulates the emotions and potential of living things, but can also easily lead to loss of control.
The Si family's so-called "Watcher" mission was a false memory implanted from the very beginning. They, along with Shao Qing's lineage, were merely selected observation specimens in a grand experiment that had lasted for tens of thousands of years! The so-called betrayal, glory, and curse were merely part of the experimental script!
He and Siqi, this special combination of "key" and "container", "purification" and "mutation", have long been marked as the highest priority observation targets by L-01 (the fabric of life) and O-01 (the observer) because of the strong "contradiction" and "unpredictability" they exhibit.
Siqi's "survival" in the laboratory was the result of O-01's (Observer) cold intervention based on his judgment of "sample value."
The "gift" of the "Thread of Life" in Antarctica is L-01's programmed behavior based on the "logic of compassion."
Guiding them to the "Wall of Silence" is a joint effort by both parties to obtain the ultimate data on the collision of "existence" and "rules".
All their pain, struggle, love and hate, in the eyes of those two super-dimensional creations, are just... data.
A cold, soul-freezing rage silently gathered and compressed within Shao Wei's chest. It wasn't directed at any particular person, but at this manipulative, high-handed figure who treated life as a toy... the experimental procedure!
At this moment, Si Qi's eyelashes in the life support device suddenly trembled very slightly.
It’s not the previous unconscious energy fluctuation, but... a sign of awakening at the conscious level!
Then, a faint but clear thought, filled with confusion and bewilderment, like the first cry of a newborn baby, cautiously reached out and touched Shao Wei's mental force field.
[…Where…is this place? ]
【Who are you? 】
[Who am I?]
Shao Wei's body suddenly stiffened!
He turned around instantly and almost pounced on the life support device, his eyes fixed on Si Qi's slowly opening ice-blue eyes, which still had a sense of brokenness, but were no longer empty, but filled with the purity and confusion of a newborn.
He woke up!
But... he doesn't remember!
O-01 (Observer) stripped away his memories, leaving only the most fundamental "existence" and the anchor of his "obsession" with Shao Wei!
Si Qi stared blankly at the unfamiliar Alpha before him, whose aura was powerful and complex, whose eyes were filled with unspeakable pain and excitement. He subconsciously felt a flicker of fear and wanted to retreat, but found his body too weak to obey. However, the inexplicable yet overwhelming dependence and attachment to the person before him, deep in his soul, stopped the urge to retreat.
The two conflicting emotions made him even more confused.
Shao Wei stared into his eyes, pure as fresh snow, yet reflecting no trace of the past. His heart felt like it was being kneaded repeatedly by an invisible hand, a bitterness and pain threatening to overwhelm him. He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his turbulent emotions. He reached out, his fingertips trembling imperceptibly as they gently brushed across the cheek formed by the faint glow of Si Qi's soul.
The movement was so gentle, like touching a fragile dream.
"I'm Shao Wei." His voice was hoarse, yet it carried a solemn, oath-like firmness. "Your...partner."
"Partner?" Si Qi tilted his head. The word was unfamiliar to him, yet the anchor deep in his soul trembled slightly at the word, and a faint warmth emerged. "Are we... familiar?"
Shao Wei's fingertips paused, thousands of words stuck in his throat, and finally turned into a heavy and complicated sentence:
"Yeah. Very familiar."
He looked into his pure and confused eyes and said clearly, word by word:
"We had a... very bad start."
"I missed a lot... very important things."
"It also made you... endure too much pain that you shouldn't have to endure."
Every word he wrote seemed to be struck on the blank canvas of Siqi's soul. Although it was impossible to immediately outline a specific image, it left a heavy and real color.
Si Qi looked at him as if he understood, his ice-blue eyes still confused, but the trust that came from the soul's instinct made him not resist Shao Wei's touch and words.
Shao Wei gazed at him, as if trying to see through those pure eyes the soul stripped of everything, left with only its most essential "existence." He saw fragility, the emptiness, but also the faint possibility of a new "paradoxical singularity" blending into it, a possibility that defied all conventions...
Memories can be taken away and the past can be erased.
But "existence" itself, and the new "possibility" generated by the collision of "existence", cannot be taken away.
He slowly leaned down, resting his forehead lightly against Si Qi's slightly cool forehead. He closed his eyes and murmured in a low voice, almost like a prayer, as if speaking to Si Qi, or to himself, or to this cruel universe:
"It doesn't matter."
"I don't remember...that's fine."
“This time…”
"Let's...start over."
"Start with my name, your name."
“Start with the temperature of a cup of coffee.”
"Start with… 'Hello'."
His voice was soft, but it carried a resolute power to sever all the shackles of the past and reshape the future.
Si Qi felt the warmth on his forehead in a daze, listening to the deep yet firm voice. It was as if a warm seed had been planted in the blank world deep in his soul. Although he still couldn't remember anything, an inexplicable feeling of peace of mind slowly spread.
He hesitated for a moment, raised his weak hand, and gently shook Shao Wei's hand which was pressing on the edge of the life support device.
The fingertips are cold, but the touch is real.
Shao Wei felt the weak return grip, and his tightly closed eyelashes trembled violently. A drop of hot liquid finally slid down from the corner of his eye uncontrollably, dripping onto Si Qi's pure cheek, which was filled with faint light, leaving a small moist mark.
Silence fell on the bridge. Hong Shun and the others watched the scene with bated breath, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
And deep within the ancient ship Guixu, at the very bottom of the newly decrypted database, a line of characters, encrypted countless times, belonging to the Lingsi Clan's final log, quietly emerged and then quietly disappeared:
[Experimental log update: Sample SW (Siqi-Shao Wei) combination produces unknown variable 'paradoxical singularity'.]
[Irreconcilable contradictions between observation data from L-01 (Compassion Terminal) and O-01 (Rule Terminal).]
[The 'Existence Verification' experiment... has entered its final stage.]
[Warning: Detected the intervention of higher-level privileged instructions... Source address: unknown. ]
"'Paradox singularity'..." Shao Wei chewed over the word that emerged from the log on the bottom floor of 'Guixu'. His fingertips tapped unconsciously on the console, but his eyes fell on the soul of Siqi in the energy support device not far away, who was being carefully guided by Ahmet in basic cognition.
Upon waking, Siqi's memory was blank, like a precision instrument that had just been formatted and rebooted. He felt only an instinctive attachment to and affinity for Shao Wei's name and aura. He listened quietly as Ahmet described the ship, the starry sky, and their current "journey" in simple terms. His icy blue eyes were filled with a newfound curiosity and a subtle sense of helplessness at the overwhelming amount of information. The chaotic information that had merged into his soul remained silent for the time being, like a dormant volcano.
Hong Kusto held the nutrient solution straw in her mouth and complained incoherently, "So, after all this trouble, killing Shao Qing and overthrowing the Council of Elders, we ended up crawling out of one pit and falling into an even bigger one, one that uses the entire fucking universe as a laboratory?" Her green eyes swept over Shao Wei and Si Qi. "Now we have to raise a child all over again?"
Gu Zhixing pushed his glasses up and tried to analyze the situation from a positive perspective: "At least we know the truth. Moreover, the emergence of the 'paradoxical singularity' seems to have caught the two 'creators' off guard. This is our biggest variable."
"Changes also require strength to support them." Shao Wei retracted his gaze, his tone returning to his usual calm. "We only grasp a portion of the power of 'Guixu'. The Lingsi tribe's technological level far exceeds ours. Before they, or the intervening 'higher authority', make their next move, we must improve ourselves as quickly as possible."
His gaze shifted to the main screen, which displayed the coordinates of several star regions that Guixu had calculated, based on newly decrypted data, as potentially harboring Lingsi technology or information. One of these coordinates was specifically marked, with flashing warning signs reading "High Energy Reaction" and "Non-Standard Space Structure" beside it.
"Here," Shao Wei pointed at the coordinates. "The Guixu database is marked as 'Abandoned Lingsi Outpost - Codename: Echo Temple.' According to records, it may contain sealed data on Lingsi experiments on cutting-edge non-weapon technologies like 'consciousness uploading' and 'dimensional folding.'"
"Uploading consciousness?" Gu Zhixing's eyes lit up. "If we can master this technology, perhaps it will be helpful for repairing Mr. Siqi's soul and body and..." He paused and didn't say "memory recovery", but the meaning was self-evident.
Shao Wei's eyes flickered slightly. This was indeed an offer he couldn't refuse. It wasn't just about repairing the problem; more profoundly, if the "paradoxical singularity" was related to consciousness, then the Lingsi Clan's research on the nature of consciousness might be the key to understanding and even controlling this power.
"What about the risks?" Kestrel is always a realist.
"The outpost is semi-collapsed, and its internal defense systems may still be operational. Furthermore, Guixu records indicate that the spatial structure of the area is extremely unstable, with numerous afterimages of reality... created by failed experiments." Ahmet retrieved the relevant data. "Simply put, past events, due to residual energy and spatial distortions, will repeat themselves like mirages, potentially even interacting with intruders."
Remnants of reality? Interaction with past events?
This sounds even more bizarre and unpredictable than facing a physical enemy.
"Get ready to go," Shao Wei said without hesitation. Risks and opportunities coexisted, and this was the only way they could seize and quickly advance.
The ancient ship "Guixu" once again entered the warp navigation, the target - "Echo Temple".
The voyage was dull and uneventful. Shao Wei spent most of his time beside the life support system, watching Ahmet and Gu Zhixing take turns using various simulations and basic logic lessons to help Siqi build a basic framework for understanding the world. Siqi learned quickly, but his eyes remained pure, like a blank sheet of paper, and he displayed an extraordinary focus and dependence solely on Shao Wei's presence.
Occasionally, Shao Wei attempted simple spiritual communication with him, avoiding any words about the past and simply conveying some calm, soothing emotions. Si Qi would respond cautiously, like a small animal, with his weak but pure thoughts, and with complete trust.
This pure dependence caused fine, bitter ripples to ripple through Shao Wei's frozen heart. He had missed the time when Siqi had complete memories, but now he had to re-participate in the construction of his life in this way.
A few days later, Guixu broke away from the curvature state and hovered in front of a strange star field.
There were no stars or planets here, only countless shattered fragments of space, as if torn apart by immense forces. They floated like shattered mirrors, reflecting the distorted light from distant galaxies. Between the fragments lay bottomless chasms of darkness, occasionally punctuated by colorful, aurora-like streams of energy that twitched and flashed like dying nerves.
And in the center of all the fragments is a "building" that is difficult to describe in words.
It's not made of brick, stone, or metal, but rather a vast, ever-subtly undulating illusion, a forced blend of frozen time and distorted light. Its grand outline resembles a temple, its spire reaching into the void, yet its details are constantly fluid and shifting, as if poised to dissolve into the chaos of the background. This is the "Echo Temple."
"The spatial readings are extremely unstable! Those fragments... they are moving! The trajectory is unpredictable!" Ahmet reported nervously.
"High-intensity information radiation has been detected, and the spectrum matches the description of 'reality afterimage.'" Gu Zhixing looked at the chaotic data stream on the sensor. "Inside the temple...something is 'echoing.'"
Shao Wei stared at the illusory temple. His mental power could clearly feel the countless overlapping "echoes" emanating from it, which were filled with pain, madness, and... a trace of unwilling obsession.
"I'll go in." Shao Wei made the decision. "Hong Jian, external support, pay attention to space debris and energy flow. Ahmet, maintain the connection and try to establish internal communication, even if it's unstable. Gu Zhixing, continue analyzing the information radiation pattern and look for patterns."
His gaze finally fell on Si Qi, who was in the life support device. Si Qi seemed to sense the chaotic and oppressive atmosphere outside, and shifted uneasily. His pure eyes looked at Shao Wei with a subtle worry.
Shao Wei walked to the device and conveyed a feeling of peace of mind to him through the energy barrier.
"Wait until I come back."
After saying this, he did not stop and turned to walk towards the entrance of the shuttle boat.
Like an arrow shot from a bow, the small tender shot towards the bizarre "Echo Temple." The closer they got, the stronger the sense of time and space dislocation grew. The scene outside the porthole shifted wildly, sometimes flashing by the afterimage of researchers in ancient garb running in panic, sometimes erupting with blinding flashes of energy from uncontrolled experiments, and sometimes echoing with meaningless fragments of desperate cries.
The shuttle boat jolted violently, and finally found a halo of light that looked like an entrance, which was constantly twisting and fluctuating, and plunged into it.
The scene inside was even more horrifying.
There were no floors or walls, only countless flowing, gelatinous, multicolored energies, forming ever-shifting passages and chambers. The air was filled with the scorching smell of information overload and a shrill, spiritual noise. Countless translucent humanoid figures shuttled through, repeating a fixed pattern—some frantically manipulating nonexistent control consoles, some clutching their heads and screaming, while others walked in a single direction like pilgrims, then vanished in a burst of intense light...
Shao Wei carefully walked through these afterimages, relying on the weak connection with 'Guixu' and the perception of energy flow, and moved towards the core area deep in the temple, where the information radiation was the strongest.
Along the way, he saw more cruel traces of the Lingsi tribe's experiments: the forcibly spliced biological remains wailed and reassembled in the energy flow, and the failed consciousness uploading experiments kept flashing and disappearing like stuck images... This place was simply a tomb piled up by failure and madness.
The deeper he went, the higher the "quality" of the afterimages seemed to become, even beginning to react to Shao Wei, the "outsider." Some of them would pause their repetitive movements and stare at him with hollow "eyes," as if recognizing him, or perhaps... warning him.
Finally, he arrived at the core area.
It was a vast, spherical space composed of pure information flow. In the center, a complex, rotating structure composed of countless luminous symbols hovered—this must be the core of the data storage.
However, on the "road" leading to the core, stood an extremely solid afterimage that was almost indistinguishable from a real person.
An old man wearing the white robes of a Lingsi researcher, his back to Shao Wei, staring up at the data core, his body trembling slightly with excitement or anger. In his hand, he clutched a crystal emitting unstable energy.
The moment Shao Wei stepped into this area, the old man's afterimage suddenly turned around!
His face was extremely clear, and his eyes were filled with a kind of martyr-like fanaticism and despair, staring at Shao Wei!
[…Here they come again… The thief… The thief of civilization!] The old man's afterimage roared silently, and the information flow directly impacted Shao Wei's consciousness! [You… will never understand! The truth of 'existence'… needs to be verified… through sacrifice!]
This isn't just a simple echo repetition! This afterimage possesses a highly interactive capability!
The old man's afterimage suddenly pressed the crystal in his hand to his forehead! That was... the final stage of consciousness uploading! He wanted to forcibly merge his final obsession with the data core!
[Witness the price of truth with me!]
A terrifying storm of consciousness, accompanied by a massive data stream, erupted from the old man's afterimage and the data core like a tsunami, sweeping towards Shao Wei! This was not just an attack, but more like a forced... information infusion and assimilation!
Shao Wei's face changed, and ice-blue energy instantly protected his whole body. He used all his mental strength to try to resist the force that wanted to pull him into this eternal mad echo!
The two forces collided violently in the spherical space!
Just when Shao Wei felt his consciousness being pulled again and was about to fall into the old man's crazy obsession -
Si Qi, who had been quietly staying in the life support device of the Guixu bridge in the outside world, suddenly opened his eyes!
This time, his eyes were no longer filled with pure confusion, but... an extremely brief sharpness that seemed to be triggered by something, and carried ancient insight!
He raised his hand, not his physical body, but his soul's, pointing to the image of the chaotic core area transmitted back by the shuttle.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but what came out was a string of extremely strange and distorted notes that seemed to come from another dimension!
No, that's not a musical note!
That is... a highly compressed, low-level instruction for the information flow structure!
This instruction, through the invisible connection between him and Shao Wei, ignored the distance in space and the interference of the temple, and pierced into the core of the chaotic information storm with precision, like a scalpel!
Buzz——!
The shadow of the old man battling Shao Wei suddenly froze! The frenzied expression on his face froze, transforming into one of extreme shock and disbelief! He "looked" into the void, as if penetrating layers of space, and saw the pure soul issuing the command from the Guixu bridge!
[Impossible... This is... the 'Original Directive'... which has long been lost...] The old man's afterimage emitted intermittent, horrified fragments of information.
And that violent information storm, with the intervention of this "Original Instruction", was like being paused, suddenly stagnating and becoming chaotic!
Shao Wei seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and his mental power turned into the sharpest knife, suddenly cutting into the connection between the data core and the old man's afterimage!
"Guixu! Download the data!"
The power of 'Guixu' flowed along his mental channel, like a flood, into the data core and began to frantically download information about consciousness technology!
The old man's afterimage let out a last unwilling roar, a mixture of confusion and a certain relief. His figure began to flicker and fade rapidly, and finally, along with the unstable crystal, it completely dissipated in the flowing stream of information light.
Data download complete.
Shao Wei half-knelt on the ground, exhausted, gasping for breath, still frightened.
Just now... was it Siqi? How could Siqi, that blank, pure-as-paper memory...
He suddenly raised his head and looked towards the direction of Guixu through the observation window of the shuttle boat.
Inside the bridge, after Si Qi issued that strange command, the sharpness in his eyes instantly faded, replaced by a great fatigue and deeper confusion. He swayed, fell softly back into the life support device, and fell into a deep sleep again, as if everything just now was just an illusion.
But Shao Wei knew that it was not an illusion.
Deep within Siqi's soul, the essence of "existence" left after being stripped of everything, and the "paradoxical singularity" that was integrated into it, seemed to... hide a deeper secret that even O-01 (Observer) had not anticipated.
And what is the so-called "Original Instructions"?
He stood up, looking at the information still flowing around him, but without the core driving force. His icy blue eyes were no longer filled with simple anger or purpose, but with a deeper and more urgent feeling...
The flame of inquiry.
The truth seemed to be more complicated than he had imagined.
And Siqi, this fragile soul that he thought needed to be protected with all his strength, might itself be the most crucial key to the final answer.
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