Inside the command center of the forward base, red alarm lights cast a blood-red halo on the metal dome.
Lin Yi removed the star-patterned helmet, his knuckles pressed against the edge of the tactical sand table, and the holographic projection under his fingertips was flashing continuously—it was a three-dimensional structural diagram of the Night Owl's nest, with countless red dots representing defensive nodes crawling like tumors across dark purple veins.
“Long Wu.” When he looked up, his gaze was precisely locked on the muscular figure at the hatch.
The other person was peeling an apple with a military knife when he heard the shout. His hand trembled, and the apple core slammed onto the tactical table with a "thud." "Here!" The last syllable of his voice still carried the crisp sound of something not yet swallowed.
"Aizen." The second man called leaned against the bulkhead, a silver chain peeking out from under his black trench coat. Hearing his name, he slowly straightened up, the wisp of smoke from his fingertips flickering in the alarm lights. "Project Shadow needs a disguise expert." He smiled, his eyes slightly upturned. "Coincidentally, I just improved the Hogyoku simulator."
The last gaze fell on the suspended, semi-transparent data object.
Su Qing's hair was crackling with a pale blue current as she pushed a stack of encrypted files into the tactical screen. When she heard the voice and looked up, a starlight flashed in her pupils, a light unique to data streams: "I've been studying the firewall of the Mother Nest Database for three months. This time... I will expose all their trump cards."
Lin Yi traced the mark representing the core area of the mother nest on the sand table with his thumb, where a ghostly blue light representing the quantum barrier was pulsating: "The shadowy figure will cooperate outside the barrier. His anti-tracking technology can last for three minutes." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three people, "Three minutes is enough for you to go in and come out again."
Long Wu tossed the apple core into the trash can, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists: "Boss, what if we encounter Night Owl's consciousness puppet—"
"Kill." Lin Yi's voice was like a sword tempered with ice, "but prioritize protecting Su Qing."
Su Qing's data stream suddenly rippled, a characteristic of her shyness: "I...I can do it myself—"
"No." Lin Yi interrupted her, tapping the words "Void Rift Matrix" flashing on the tactical screen with his fingertip. "What you're looking for is more precious than our lives."
Suddenly, the buzzing sound of machinery running came from outside the cabin.
A shadowy projection descended from the cabin ceiling, his face always hidden in the shadows, revealing only two gleaming metallic jawbones: "Barrier fluctuation frequency synchronized, channel to open in thirty seconds."
Long Wu tugged at his tactical vest and tucked two serrated knives into his waistband: "Let's go, boss." As he passed Lin Yi, he stirred up a gust of wind, carrying with it the smell of rusty gunpowder—a scent that was unique to him before every battle.
Aizen touched the inside pocket of his trench coat, where a faint buzzing sound came from—the sound of the Hogyoku simulator starting up.
He nodded to Lin Yi, his gaze sweeping over the spacetime compass at the other's waist, and said softly, "If anything unexpected happens..."
"I'm here." Lin Yi patted the Star Key on his chest, which was burning hot with his heartbeat. "The spacetime rift will grab onto your clothes."
Su Qing gently touched the back of Lin Yi's hand—the data body couldn't be truly touched, but both of them felt that faint current.
"Wait for me to come back," she said.
The alarm lights suddenly turned a blinding white.
The shadowy figure's voice became urgent: "The barrier is about to close!"
The four men rushed out of the command center one after another.
In the passageway, Long Wu's combat boots pounded against the metal floor; Aizen's chains scraped against the bulkhead, sparks flying; Su Qing's data stream led the way, like a string of breathing stars.
As they stood in front of the quantum barrier, Lin Yi's communicator suddenly vibrated.
He looked down at the encrypted message from Xuan Mingzi: "There is a mental resonance field on the third layer of the Mother Nest. Be careful."
"Stop." Lin Yi grabbed Long Wu by the back of his collar.
The latter nearly crashed into the blue light of the barrier, turning around with fire in his eyes: "Boss?"
"Aizen," Lin Yi pointed to his Hogyoku simulator, "If I were to disguise myself as a researcher, could I......"
Aizen's pupils suddenly contracted into thin slits.
He pulled down the collar of his trench coat, revealing a pale golden line on his collarbone—a mental shielding talisman he had etched with his spiritual pressure: "I was prepared long ago." He raised an eyebrow at Su Qing, "The fluctuations of the data body are weaker, right?"
Su Qing nodded, the current in her hair condensing into small lightning bolts: "My consciousness frequency can be adjusted to synchronize with the mother nest server."
Lin Yi released his grip, his gaze sweeping over the three of them: "Remember, you're not going to fight." His voice softened, as if he were telling a secret only they could hear, "You're going to take out Night Owl's heart and put it in my palm."
Long Wu suddenly grinned, revealing his sharpened canine teeth: "Then I'd better clean my hands."
The moment the blue light enveloped them, Lin Yi took two steps back, watching as the figures of the four were torn into pieces by the light.
He pulled out a time-space compass, its pointer spinning wildly—this was the time-space anchor point between him and his squad.
"Chu Yao," he whispered into the communicator, "locate their quantum coordinates."
"Locked." The AI assistant's voice crackled with static. "There are seventeen patrol groups on the outer perimeter of the Mother Nest. Aizen's disguise... has passed!"
A live feed popped up on the command screen: Aizen, wearing a silver-white coat, was talking to two patrolmen carrying energy guns.
He made an "ok" gesture with his fingers to his side, and the Hogyoku simulator cast a pale purple halo on his chest—the mark of a senior researcher in the Night Owl faction.
Long Wu followed behind him, wearing an oversized repair uniform with the brim of his hat pulled low, but it still couldn't hide the bulging muscles on his shoulders.
The patrolman's gaze lingered on him for a moment. Aizen chuckled twice and patted Ryuu on the back: "A new laborer transferred from the logistics department, not very bright."
The patrolman snorted and turned to leave.
Long Wu's Adam's apple bobbed, and Lin Yi knew he was suppressing the urge to beat someone up.
The scene changes.
Su Qing's data stream penetrated the ventilation duct, and the surveillance cameras on the metal pipe walls automatically deflected as she passed by—that was the security system she had hacked into the Mother Nest.
"Boss, something's not right here." Long Wu's voice suddenly boomed from the communicator, "These... these people."
The scene shifts to Long Wu's perspective: dozens of human bodies float in a glass cabin at the end of the corridor.
Their skin was bluish-gray, their eye sockets were fitted with mechanical eyeballs, and their spines were connected to silver nerve wires.
One of them suddenly opened its eyes, its mechanical eyeball flashing red light, and raised its hand towards Long Wu outside the glass cabin, purple lightning crackling from its fingertips.
“Those are consciousness puppets.” Su Qing’s voice trembled. “Night Owl extracts human consciousness and replaces it with his spiritual body… These bodies are just walking weapons.”
Aizen's breathing became heavy: "Look at their wrists."
The camera zooms in.
The same symbol was engraved on the inside of each body's wrist—a brand that Whitebeard had left on his enemies during battles.
"Whitebeard's old subordinates." Lin Yi's temples throbbed.
He recalled that three months earlier, when Whitebeard breathed his last, he was still clutching half a piece of armor engraved with this symbol in his hand.
"Su Qing, find the database." He suppressed his turbulent emotions. "Find the deployment map of the Void Rift Matrix."
"Locating the location." Su Qing's data stream suddenly accelerated. "The core server of the mother nest is 300 meters underground... Found!"
A stream of data exploded on the command screen, and Su Qing's voice was filled with elation: "Deployment map! Matrix activation nodes... Zhoukoudian in Beijing, Giza in Egypt, Machu Picchu in Peru... these are all the places where Whitebeard fought his last battle!"
“He’s utilizing Whitebeard’s battlefield energy.” Lin Yi’s fingers tapped heavily on the sand table. “Those places retain the purest spacetime turbulence, which can stabilize void rifts.”
A crackling sound of electricity suddenly came from the communicator.
Xuanmingzi's voice, mixed with background noise, squeezed in: "Watch out! The mind resonance field has been activated!"
Aizen's face turned deathly pale instantly. He clutched his temples, his nails digging almost into his flesh: "Something is scanning my consciousness... They've discovered we're not locals!"
Long Wu's serrated knife was already drawn, the blade gleaming coldly in the corridor: "Boss, we're surrounded! At least twenty consciousness puppets!"
Lin Yi's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
He ripped open his collar, and the heat of the Star Key almost burned his skin.
The time compass spins in the palm of your hand, and the pointer suddenly reverses—a harbinger of time reversal.
"Su Qing, send out the deployment map!" he shouted into the communicator. "Long Wu, protect Aizen!"
"The data...it's all transmitted!" Su Qing's data stream began to flash. "But I'm locked down; they're going to erase my data—"
"Space-time rift, open!" Lin Yi pressed his palm on the compass, and a pitch-black rift tore through the air inside the Mother Nest.
Ryuu's serrated blade sliced down the last consciousness puppet, then he grabbed Aizen by the waist and rammed him into the crack.
Su Qing's data stream was caught in the crack and drifted in like a kite with a broken string.
The quantum portal in the command module roared.
The four figures fell to the ground. Ryuu Wu pressed down on Aizen, while Su Qing's data stream solidified in mid-air, her face as pale as paper.
"Success?" Long Wu spat out the blood and foam from his mouth, grinning. "That's it?"
Aizen sat up, clutching his temples, his forehead covered in cold sweat: "I almost had my brain ripped out... That resonance field was too eerie."
Su Qing raised her hand with trembling hands, and a semi-transparent deployment map appeared in her palm: "Here you go."
When Lin Yi took it, his fingertips touched her data body and felt a real temperature.
He unfolded the deployment map, his gaze sweeping over the familiar locations, a cold, stern smile curving his lips.
“Chu Yao.” He looked up at the holographic screen. “Analyze the progress of Night Owl’s fusion with the First Will.”
"Seventy-two hours." The AI assistant's voice carried a rare sense of urgency. "If he completes the fusion, Earth's spacetime structure will be completely altered."
The command center was so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat.
Long Wu's knuckles cracked, Aizen's chains dragged on the ground with a grating sound, and Su Qing's data stream trembled slightly.
Lin Yi slammed the deployment map onto the tactical table, his gaze sweeping over every tense face: "Night Owl thinks he's setting a trap." His voice was like a tempered sword, "but he doesn't know... the fish in the net have already sharpened their teeth."
The communicator suddenly vibrated.
This is a new message from Xuanmingzi: "The frequency of the mind resonance field has been cracked. If needed..."
Lin Yi stared at the fluctuating frequency data on the screen, a calculating glint in his eyes.
He touched the time-space compass, a faint smile appearing on his lips: "Chu Yao, prepare the fake intelligence template."
Outside the window, the setting sun dyed the clouds blood red.
Lin Yi's shadow was cast on the tactical table, covering the holographic projection of the Night Owl's Nest.
His voice was low, yet it resonated like a war drum in everyone's ears: "It's time to let them taste how sharp their own net can be."
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