As the spatial rift unfolded around the mother nest, Lin Yi's right foot, which had taken the first step, suddenly stopped.
He looked up, and a black storm, visible to the naked eye, was spinning wildly around the core of the mother nest. Every wind blade was wrapped in scarlet blood, like countless venomous snakes flicking their tongues and licking his skin—this was an attack that materialized the barrier of consciousness, specifically targeting the weakest point of his mind to gnaw at it.
"Boss?" Long Wu's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of suppressed excitement.
His molten gold gauntlets were already getting hot, leaving light red marks on his palms. "Is this barrier even more insane than before?"
Lin Yi didn't turn around, but his gaze swept over every face in the group: Aizen's Hogyoku hung around his neck, trembling with his breathing; Su Qing's light panel floated beside her, data streams condensing into pale blue butterflies at her fingertips; Grandma Wang's broom sprouts were stained with blood, yet still stubbornly grew upwards; Little Sugar Bean held his biscuit high, pink light crawling up his wrist into the air, as if tying a glowing rope around everyone.
"It's scared." As Lin Yi spoke, the golden patterns on his palm suddenly shone brightly.
Those patterns are projections of countless rays of faith—just now on the battlefield, he clearly saw old people holding his photo and praying, children throwing paper airplanes with "Brother Lin" drawn on them at him, and even seriously wounded soldiers struggling to raise their hands and use their last bit of strength to make a fist in his direction.
These temperatures were surging through his veins, making his eyes sting.
He gripped the Boundary-Breaking Blade in a reverse grip, the blade humming as it sent ripples through the air. "Su Qing, synchronization rate?"
"98.7%." Su Qing's voice came from the light panel. Her virtual projection solidified in front of the barrier, her hair glistening with silver stars from the turbulent data flow. "The mental fluctuations of all the job changers are converging on you, even the ancient martial arts families in reality are transmitting their faith power through a special channel—Grandpa Wang said this is a favor they owe you."
"A shadowy figure?"
"Oscillation parameters locked." The shadowy figure's voice carried a mechanical lilt. His form remained shrouded in black mist, only his eerie blue eyes visible. "The frequency of the light blade in your palm differs from the resonance wave of the Hogyoku by 0.3 Hz. I adjusted it three times. Now..." He raised his hand, and a mechanical arm emerged from the black mist, its fingertips flicking out lasers that traced silver markings on the barrier. "Perfect fit."
Aizen suddenly let out a low shout.
He reached up and pressed his hand against the Hōgyoku (a type of magical jewel) around his neck, spiritual pressure surging from his fingertips and weaving a blue net of light before the barrier. "Resonance device activated." His pupils turned vertical, like some ancient beast awakening. "Power of faith, infuse—"
Countless golden points of light suddenly converged from all directions.
Little Sugar Bean's biscuits shattered into crumbs with a "crack," but the pink glow intensified; Grandma Wang's broom sprouted three new branches with a "whoosh," each leaf glowing; Long Wu's gauntlets suddenly molten gold flowed onto his arm, solidifying into scales on his skin; even Lin Yi himself could see the golden lines on his wrist drilling along the veins to his fingertips, finally condensing into a semi-transparent blade of light in his palm, the blade densely engraved with names—the faces that had looked at him on the battlefield.
\"tear!\"
Lin Yi's light blade and Aizen's resonance wave simultaneously slashed at the barrier.
The black storm first trembled violently, then emitted a shrill cry like that of a baby crying.
Crimson blood vessels frantically coiled around the light blade, but it was easily sliced open as if it were made of paper.
A golden crack, as tall as a person, opened up on the barrier, revealing a ghostly blue light from the inside of the mother nest, mixed with faint electronic sounds, like some kind of consciousness screaming.
"Assault team, follow me!" Long Wu's molten gold scale armor had already covered his shoulders. He grabbed the shield warrior beside him and crashed directly into the crevice.
The shield warrior's shield sparked as soon as it touched the edge of the barrier, but Long Wu's punch pushed it open a path through the crack.
"Watch the structure!" Lin Yi yelled into the communicator, twirling the Boundary-Breaking Blade in his hand. "The outer defensive node of the Mother Nest is behind the third load-bearing beam in the ceiling. Long Wu, that glowing sphere to your left is the energy core. Smash it!"
A muffled laugh came from the communicator: "Boss, do you think I'm a fool? Watch me—"
\"boom!\"
A loud bang shook the entire mother nest.
Lin Yi saw blue energy liquid splashing out of the crack, and Long Wu's figure rushed out of the droplet, with burning fragments still hanging on his gauntlets.
The assault team soldiers following behind him all had shining eyes. The shield warriors' shields were already half dented, but they held them even more firmly; the archers' arrows were wrapped in the light of faith, and each one accurately pierced the joints of the defensive robots; even Grandma Wang rushed in with a broom, and wherever the broom's new shoots swept, the robot's shell melted like butter.
"The gap in the barrier is widening!" Chu Yao's voice suddenly broke in.
Her virtual projection appeared beside Lin Yi, her fingers rapidly tapping in the air. "I've hacked into the Mother Nest's monitoring system. The breach radius has expanded from two meters to five meters—wait, the evolution progress of the central consciousness... 98%!"
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He could feel something awakening deep within the barrier, colder and larger than before, as if an invisible hand was pressing on the back of his neck.
"Su Qing, how long can the power of faith last?"
"Three minutes at most." Su Qing's light panel suddenly flashed red, "The central consciousness is absorbing faith power in reverse!"
It's... analyzing our resonant frequencies!
"Aizen, increase the intensity of the resonance wave!" Lin Yi grabbed Aizen's wrist and pressed the light blade in his palm against the Hogyoku.
Golden and cyan energy exploded between the two. Cold sweat instantly beaded on Aizen's forehead, but he gritted his teeth and nodded: "Hold on!"
"Boss, the defenses inside have weakened!" Long Wu's voice was filled with elation. "The robots that were just counterattacking suddenly stopped. I destroyed three cores, and now they're rushing towards the central area—wait, there's a large room ahead, and the walls are covered with...consciousness seeds?"
Lin Yi suddenly looked up.
He saw more golden specks of light emerging from the gap in the barrier; these were human consciousnesses that had broken free from the seeds of consciousness.
A girl with a ponytail waved at him, a boy in a school uniform held up a gaming helmet, and even an elderly man with white hair gave him a trembling thumbs-up.
"They are awakening." Su Qing's voice suddenly softened, and her projection reached out to catch a point of light. "The absorbed seeds of consciousness are rebelling against the central nervous system; they... are helping us."
"Chu Yao." Lin Yi suddenly turned to look at Chu Yao's projection, "Prepare your data node."
Once we break through the last barrier, you'll need to hack into the central brain within ten seconds—
"It's ready." Chu Yao's fingertips hovered in mid-air, her eyes gleaming with an astonishing light. "I've cracked the Mother Nest's firewall; now all I need is an interface..." Her gaze swept over the widening breach, a cold smile playing on her lips. "Soon."
A crisp sound, like shattering glass, came from deep within the barrier.
Lin Yi saw a blinding white light shining through the golden crack, and Long Wu's roar, mixed with the sound of metal breaking, exploded: "Boss!"
The gap is big enough for a ten-man team!
"Let's go." Lin Yi gripped the Boundary-Breaking Blade, glanced back at Aizen who was still maintaining resonance, and said, "You, Su Qing, and the Shadow stay here to stabilize the breach. The rest of you come with me."
The moment he stepped through the breach, he heard Chu Yao whisper behind him: "Data node coordinates locked... Mother Nest Central, I'm here." As Chu Yao's fingertips traced the third data stream in the void, her voice suddenly boomed in the tactical channel: "Assault team! Shield warriors in front, archers behind, your current advance speed is 17% faster than planned!" Pale purple code appeared on the back of her virtual projection's neck, a sign of data overload—the Mother Nest's firewall was gnawing at her intrusion program like a living thing.
"There's an energy trap ten meters ahead. Long Wu, have your shield warrior on the right use his heavy shield to slam the ground!"
Long Wu was punching the head of the last defensive robot when he heard this and paused slightly.
His arm, covered in molten gold scales, suddenly slammed down, heavily striking the shoulder armor of the shield warrior beside him: "Old Zhou! Slam the ground!" The shield warrior's bronze heavy shield slammed into the ground with a "thud," and the metal floor immediately cracked with spiderweb-like patterns. Three dark purple energy blasts shot out from the cracks, grazing the tops of the assault team and exploding into fireworks.
"Well done, Chu Yao!" Long Wu grinned, the molten gold patterns on his gauntlets glowing red with excitement. "Give me another way—that door up ahead looks like it leads to the central hub!"
"Don't rush." Chu Yao's pupils suddenly transformed into flowing binary code. Her projected right hand pressed against her temple. "The Mother Nest's command system is reassembling. I need three seconds..." Before she could finish speaking, blue sparks suddenly erupted from her fingertips. "Found it! There are three sets of automatic turrets behind the door, located at—"
"bite."
A clear, ethereal notification sound interrupted her.
Xuan Mingzi's voice rang out simultaneously in everyone's earpieces, hoarse and metallic: "The cognitive virus has been implanted." His figure appeared at the edge of the gap, his white Daoist robe billowing in the turbulent data flow, pale gold virus residue still clinging to the tip of his left index finger. "The central consciousness's defense program is self-formatting—it's cleaning up the infected parts, giving you a three-minute vacuum." He looked up at Lin Yi, a complex glint in his eyes. "Go in. The door to the core area is open."
Lin Yi's Boundary-Breaking Blade suddenly emitted a buzzing sound.
He could feel the oppressive feeling deep within the barrier lessen somewhat, as if a piece of cotton wrapped in ice shards had been torn open.
"Su Qing, how much faith power do you have left?"
“82%.” Su Qing’s light panel floated in front of him, and the data stream condensed into a real-time energy graph on the panel. “The reverse absorption of the central consciousness has been interfered with by the virus. Now it can retain 2% more per second.” Her virtual projection reached out and touched the light panel, a very faint smile appearing on her lips. “Those awakened consciousness seeds… they are helping us build walls.”
"Boss!" Long Wu's roar rang out again, "The door is open! It's full of... crystals?"
Lin Yi looked up and, through the widening gap, saw at the end of the corridor inside the mother nest, a metal door inlaid with a deep blue crystal was slowly opening.
Golden patterns flow across the crystal surface, resonating with the light of faith—the awakened seeds of consciousness resonating within it.
In the light shining through the door, a huge circular control console could be vaguely seen, with countless data chains moving through the air like living snakes.
“The Shadow,” Lin Yi suddenly spoke, his gaze sweeping over the black mist at the edge of the breach. “How is Night Owl’s countermeasure progressing?”
The black mist churned violently, and a mechanical arm extended from the shadowy figure, its fingertip laser projecting a real-time monitoring image into the air: "37%. They've intercepted the frequency of our previous faith fluctuations and are simulating it using consciousness seeds..." His eerie blue pupils suddenly contracted. "The simulation is successful! There are now 127 consciousness seeds releasing pseudo-faith waves!"
The archer Xiao Wu's exclamation came through the communicator: "My arrows have suddenly become heavier! The light of faith... is fading?"
Lin Yi smiled.
He looked down at the light blade in his palm; the densely packed names were glowing, as if body heat was seeping from the lines.
“Let them try.” His voice carried a certain certainty. “True faith is the heartbeat, the feeling of pain, the light in the eyes when you see me—” He thrust the Boundary-Breaking Blade into the ground with a backhand motion, golden patterns spreading outwards along the blade, “not copied code.”
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Wu's voice rang out again, filled with barely suppressed joy: "The arrows have become lighter! Those false lights... have been truly dispersed!" Grandma Wang's broom suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light, and wherever it swept, all the false faith waves melted like snow meeting the blazing sun.
Little Sugar Bean skipped and hopped around holding her new cookie (which she had somehow produced), and pink light flowed like a stream into everyone's weapons: "Brother Lin's light is so sweet!"
"Pseudowave collapse detected." The shadowy figure's mechanical voice rarely showed any emotion. "Night Owl's countermeasures... are overloaded."
"Chu Yao, can we hack into the mainframe now?" Lin Yi drew the Boundary-Breaking Blade, the gold on the blade shining even brighter.
"This is the moment we've been waiting for!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly merged with the optical network, and she transformed into millions of blue rays that shot into the gap. "Data node taken over! Mother Nest Command System... 10% paralyzed!"
“One and a half minutes left in three minutes.” Xuan Mingzi’s voice rang out again. His Taoist robe had been restored to its original smoothness. He raised his hand and made a hand seal. “The defense matrix in the core area is weakening, but…” His gaze suddenly focused on the doorway. “There is something waiting for you inside.”
Lin Yi followed his gaze.
In the center of the circular control panel inside the door, where the central brain should have been located, a sphere shimmering with dark purple and scarlet light was now suspended.
The surface of the sphere was covered with cracks, and black mist seeped out from each crack. Countless distorted human faces could be vaguely seen in the mist—those were the seeds of consciousness that had been completely eroded.
"That's..." Su Qing's light panel suddenly sounded an alarm, "The materialization of the central consciousness! It's evolving!"
"So what if I evolved?" Long Wu stretched his shoulders, his molten gold scales now covering his waist. "This punch of mine has even taken down a mythical-level boss!" He turned and waved to the assault team. "Get your act together! After we beat this guy up, I'll treat you guys to hot pot—the spiciest kind!"
The assault team soldiers burst into laughter.
Shield Warrior Lao Zhou patted his dented shield, revealing a set of white teeth; Archer Xiao Wu drew his bowstring taut, the light of faith on the arrowhead condensing into a small sun; Grandma Wang carried her broom on her shoulder, the blood droplets on the new shoots shimmering golden in the light; Little Sugar Bean hopped and skipped behind Lao Zhou, pink light like a small snake coiling around everyone's ankles.
Lin Yi watched this scene, and his throat suddenly tightened.
He remembered the little girl who threw a paper airplane at him on the battlefield three hours earlier; he remembered the old people clutching his photo, their fingers turning white from the force; he remembered the clenched fist of a seriously wounded soldier with his last ounce of strength—all these feelings were now in his veins, in the patterns of the Breaking Blade, and in everyone's eyes.
"Let's go." He gripped the Boundary-Breaking Blade tightly, the golden blade materializing in his palm. "Let's go meet this evolved consciousness."
The dark purple sphere inside the door suddenly trembled violently, and the black mist in the crack surged wildly, emitting a shrill cry like that of a baby.
But amidst its screams, Lin Yi heard even clearer sounds—the booming of Long Wu's molten gold gauntlets colliding with metal, the muffled thud of Lao Zhou's shield smashing through obstacles, the sharp whistling of Xiao Wu's arrows tearing through the air, the hissing sound of Grandma Wang's broom sprouts melting the defense, and Xiao Tangdou'er's crisp shout of "Go, Brother Lin!"
These voices converged into a torrent, pushing him step by step toward that door.
The light inside the door grew brighter and brighter, so bright that he could barely open his eyes.
But he knew that on the other side of the door lay the core of the Mother Nest, the end of the truth, and...
"Boss!" Long Wu's roar pierced through all the noise, "The core control console is right ahead! I can see the mainframe interface!"
Lin Yi's Boundary-Breaking Blade suddenly emitted a dazzling golden light.
He took a deep breath and took the final step.
The light from inside the door swallowed his figure.
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