pjbooks Chapter 414 Ten Thousand Years!
Chapter 414 Ten Thousand Years!
The filamentous signal did not stop.
While maintaining the repair process, Zhang Yan ensured that the system continued to capture and analyze data.
Fragmented data is flooding in.
Most of it is noise.
Available information is automatically pieced together by the system.
One hundred thousand years ago. Seven doors intact. Shielding efficiency 97.4%.
Something outside the door started infiltration.
The filaments squeezed in through the tiny gaps in the gate network.
It wasn't a broken door; it "saw" in through the crack in the door.
The infiltration lasted for about seventy years.
Then it was cut off, and the door's self-repairing mechanism completely sealed off all the gaps seventy years later.
The filaments lose their energy supply, die, and freeze in the surrounding medium.
This is the part that Zhang Yan already knows.
The system continues to piece together the data.
The next message made him pause for three seconds.
The internal structure of the filaments is not uniform; it is differentiated.
The outermost filament is the thickest and its function is to open circuits.
The middle layer of filaments is finer and its function is signal transmission.
Innermost layer...
There is an extremely fine filament in the innermost layer.
It is ten times thinner than a strand of hair.
Function label: Instruction chain.
The behavior of all filaments is coordinated by this single filament.
It's not driven by instinct; it's guided by commands.
Zhang Yan continued the repairs, with 28% progress.
The system has completed a deep analysis of the instruction chain.
"Instruction source feature analysis completed. The instruction link signal encoding shows a multi-level nested structure. It is determined that the instruction sender is not a single individual, but a cluster exists outside the gate."
Community.
Not one monster, but a group.
Zhang Yan took a breath, the cold air filling his lungs.
"Can you parse out the hierarchical structure?"
The system took five seconds to process.
The results are displayed on the panel.
Three levels.
Outermost layer: "Pioneers". Quantity unknown. Functions: scouting, weakening defenses, and collecting data. Energy level: 40 to 50 times the peak energy of the original Ruins.
The thing currently gnawing on the Gate Network—47x—is the pioneer.
Intermediate Layer: "Erosion Bodies". Quantity unknown. Function: Primarily responsible for erosion and occupation. Energy Level: 6 to 12 times that of the Pioneers.
Zhang Yan stared at this multiplier. The Pioneer was 47 times larger than the Ruins. The Erosion Body was 6 to 12 times larger than the Pioneer.
The innermost layer. The core individual.
The system only displayed a symbol after the energy level in that column.
∞.
It cannot be estimated.
Zhang Yan stared at the symbol for five seconds. Then he closed the page.
Repair progress is 33%. He can't stop.
His brain was working automatically.
One hundred thousand years ago, the seven gates were complete, with an efficiency of 97.4%. The community initiated infiltration. It lasted for seventy years. It failed.
They haven't been able to break in for seventy years.
Ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and thirty years have passed. The door is still there. Although its efficiency has greatly decreased, although its anchor point is missing, and although it is broken in three places—the door is still there.
The seven gates blocked the way for 100,000 years in their complete state.
This indicates that the design potential of the doors far exceeds the current 72%. 72% is merely the ceiling for six doors. The theoretical upper limit is 100% when all seven doors are present. 100% can block everything.
One hundred thousand years is the evidence.
The question has changed from "Can it be blocked?" to "Can it be fully repaired?"
Zhang Yan locked this conclusion in his mind and continued to pour energy into it.
38%. 41%. 45%.
The filamentous signals within the ice were weakening. The remaining memories were almost completely released. The last few pieces of information the system pieced together were just vague fragments of emotion—hunger, patience, and waiting.
50%.
Zhang Yan's body temperature began to drop again. Without the Vermilion Bird's remote energy support, he relied entirely on the feedback from the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart itself to maintain his body temperature and repair output.
55%. Heart rate 168.
58%. His fingers completely lost sensation. The Thousand-Machine Arm pressed against the surface of the door in place of his palm.
61%.
Zhang Yan stopped.
It wasn't a choice to stop. It was that my body had reached its limit.
The energy output of the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart automatically decreased to maintenance mode. The energy absorbed by the gate was insufficient to continue the repair process.
61%.
It rose from 45.2% to 61%, an increase of nearly sixteen percentage points. But it's still four percentage points short of 65%.
Zhang Yan leaned against the ice wall. His breathing was heavy and rapid. The robotic arms were operating at full power. His body temperature was 34.3 degrees Celsius.
He needs rest. We'll push the final 4% after he recovers.
Communication was completely cut off at this depth. He was unable to contact Nie Qingcheng.
Zhang Yan forced himself to close his eyes.
Twenty minutes. Give your body twenty minutes.
He kept track of time in the cold darkness.
The Heart of Nature pressed against my chest, its faint warmth the only source of heat at this depth. The surrounding filaments had all darkened. Inanimate objects returned to deathly silence.
Zhang Yan opened his eyes seventeen minutes later.
Body temperature returned to 35 degrees Celsius. Heart rate dropped to 120.
enough.
He reattached the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship to the door. The golden light shone once more.
62%. 63%. 64%.
Every percentage point is like carving a tunnel through ice.
65%.
System refresh.
The shielding efficiency of the fifth door is 65.0%.
Zhang Yan removed the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship from the door. The light subsided.
He stood up. His knees were weak. He steadied himself by holding onto the ice wall.
Then climb up.
2200 meters. 2000 meters. 1800 meters. He crawled back into the cockpit of the Black Scorpion. The machine was cold, and the electronic systems were still frozen. Zhang Yan manually restarted the power core and used pure mechanical mode to walk towards the ground.
1200 meters. 1000 meters.
Communication was restored at 800 meters.
My phone vibrated more than a dozen times.
Nie Qingcheng's messages. One message every twenty minutes. No follow-up inquiries. Each message contained the same sentence:
"exist."
Zhang Yan replied: "65%. It's up."
Nie Qingcheng replied three seconds later.
"The Helios board of directors has accepted the takeover offer. A formal response will be provided within 48 hours."
The path to the third gate is also progressing simultaneously.
Zhang Yan leaned back in his seat and took a breath.
My phone vibrated again. Qin Xiao.
"Brother Yan, two things."
"explain."
"Good news. The locksmith just confirmed that collaborative operations can resume in four days. You won't have to work alone on the repair of the third door."
"Another one."
Qin Xiao's tone turned somber.
"We intercepted an encrypted communication. It originated from inside the Helios facility. The recipient's address was linked to three layers of hijacking, and we are still tracking it."
Zhang Yan waited.
"The communication contained a set of images. The technical department has confirmed that they are reconstructed images from the surveillance footage of your last infiltration into the fifth underground level."
Zhang Yan's fingers tightened on the armrest.
He erased all traces when he collected the stardust. But the surveillance system itself was beyond his control. Helios's investigation found nothing unusual, likely due to the limited analytical capabilities of the security team.
Now, some people have taken this raw data and used more advanced technology to reconstruct the images.
"Has the recipient found it?"
"We're still investigating. But there's one key feature—the encryption protocol is the same one used by the remnants of the TFC two months ago."
Zhang Yan leaned back in his chair.
Someone was acting as eyes and ears for the remaining forces within Helios.
Meanwhile, Nie Qingcheng's due diligence team is about to enter the same building.
He dialed Nie Qingcheng's number.