pjbooks Chapter 467 7 months!
Chapter 467 7 months!
The Mo family's reply was an encrypted data stream, encoded in a format from 30,000 years ago, with the edges of the bytes carrying the cold, hard order unique to the old civilization.
[Coordinates: Scorpius direction, outer edge of galaxy G-892δ.]
[Observation results: Large-scale anomalous aggregation of matter was detected, preliminarily identified as a high-dimensional aggregate of the community, the parent body.]
[Trajectory: Having escaped the gravitational pull of its original galaxy, it is approaching the solar system at a constant speed in a straight line.]
Estimated arrival time: Seven months.
At the end of the data, an additional line of simulated handwritten annotations was added.
"Young Master, it moved."
Zhang Yan stared at the last four words, his fingertips hovering over the edge of the tablet.
Seven months is long enough for humans, but for a cosmic-scale life form with a star mass as a reference, it's equivalent to a sprint.
He didn't waste any time and sent the question directly.
What is the goal?
While waiting for a reply, Zhang Yan brought up the real-time monitoring interface of the network. The seven nodes were flashing stably, the shielding efficiency remained above 96%, and there were no abnormalities in the 100-year countdown in the delay field.
The surface is calm, but underneath it's all fire.
The reply arrived quickly.
[Goal: The Heart of Heaven's Craftsmanship.]
[Cause: 0.7 Standard Date, the anti-meme virus you injected through the consciousness channel caused irreversible cognitive anchoring within the mother consciousness network. The information characteristics carried by this virus are highly bound to the Gate, the Maintainer, and the Heart of the Celestial Craftsman.]
[Brief Description: The Matrix has confirmed your existence and the dual attributes of the Key and Shield of the Celestial Craftsman's Heart. It has abandoned attacking the Gate Network and instead opted for same-dimensional physical proximity. The Gate Network's defensive effectiveness decreases when it moves against entities of the same dimension.]
Physically similar.
Zhang Yan leaned back in his chair and quickly pulled up the simulation results.
The gate network defends against high-dimensional penetration and blocks dimensional invasion, but once the mother body chooses to approach from outer space like a celestial body, the advantages of the rune array and the delay field will be negated by physical mass.
It was a small, moving star.
He forwarded the message to Nie Qingcheng.
The study door was quickly pushed open, and Nie Qingcheng entered wearing a dark nightgown, her long hair cascading over her shoulders. She showed no signs of sleepiness, and her gaze first fell on the words "physics is close" (a Chinese idiom meaning "approaching").
"The network can't block the door."
"Yes, it bypassed the rules."
"Current firepower."
Zhang Yan retrieved the data for the Chaos Mech: "At full power output, the peak value of the Chaos Mech is approximately one-thousandth that of a small tactical nuclear bomb, and it is ineffective against star-level targets."
"What about the cooperation from the other mechs?"
"The total increase is less than one percent."
Nie Qingcheng stood beside him, arms crossed, her gaze fixed on the still-dark sky outside the window.
She offered neither comfort nor questioning, but simply rearranged all the variables in her mind.
Why doesn't it continue with its dimensional invasion?
"The gate network has entered a self-sustaining mode, and dimensional intrusion is too costly. Physical proximity is more direct; get close to the core and devour it."
"How close does it need to be?"
"Without clear data, based on the size of the parent body and the radiation range of the Heavenly Craftsman's Heart, it is estimated to have entered at least the inner solar system, and in the worst case, the Earth-Moon space."
Nie Qingcheng turned to look at him, "What else do we have?"
Zhang Yan paused for half a second, then opened the data package that the Mo family descendants had attached to the letter.
[Young Master, this is the final contingency plan for Tiangong City to deal with cluster-level physical threats 30,000 years ago—the blueprint for the Tiangong Final Mech. It requires 100% completion of the Tiangong Heart and unlocking all original protocol functions. The blueprint includes all design details and a materials list.]
He opened the blueprint.
The complex structure unfolds on the screen, exceeding the traditional concept of mecha. The overall structure is a streamlined celestial body, with a giant furnace embedded at its core that resonates with the Heart of the Celestial Craftsman. It combines the characteristics of a weapon, a fortress, and an artificial celestial body.
The first line of the materials list immediately caught their eye.
【Star Core Crystallization: Extracted from active star cores, with a purity of 99.99% or higher.】
Zhang Yan looked out the window.
The eastern horizon was already turning white; in a few hours, the sun would rise.
That is the closest star to Earth, and currently the only star whose core could possibly be reached.
Nie Qingcheng's hand landed on the back of Zhang Yan's hand, her fingertips were slightly cool, but her strength was steady.
"First, I need to decipher the blueprint. I need to know the time, resources, and costs involved."
Zhang Yan nodded and connected the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship to the data packet.
Golden energy flowed across the screen, and the ancient encryption protocol peeled away layer by layer, revealing the complete blueprint, materials list, construction process, performance parameters, and energy consumption estimates.
The blueprint's preface has emerged.
This strategy is neither warfare nor defense, but anchoring. Anchoring the world to reality, anchoring civilization to time, anchoring hope to the boundless night. The builder must bear the fire of eternal stars, embrace the chill of the void, and shoulder countless thoughts. Once this strategy is unleashed, there is no turning back—only survival or annihilation.
After Zhang Yan finished reading, he looked at Nie Qingcheng.
She picked up the now-cold tea and took a sip.
"If there's no way out, then there's no need to consider a way out."
As dawn breaks outside the window, the sunlight of a new day will soon shine into Jinghai, and also onto this world that is about to face a star-level threat.
But that burning sun had taken on a different meaning in Zhang Yan's eyes.
It is material, it is hope, and it is the craziest gamble.
When Nie Qingcheng came downstairs, the lights in the underground laboratory were still on.
She was wearing a dark purple silk nightgown, her long hair cascading over her shoulders. As she walked to the corner of the stairs, she saw Zhang Yan sitting in front of the control panel. The final blueprint on the screen was constantly rotating, disassembling, and reassembling, and the materials list on the desktop was covered with red pen marks.
She didn't go in immediately; instead, she went to the kitchen to heat up a cup of milk before carrying the cup into the laboratory.
5:17 a.m.
Zhang Yan turned around when he heard footsteps. His eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night, but his concentration was terrifying.
"Finished watching?"
Nie Qingcheng placed the milk next to him.
"I've finished reading it. The theory is feasible, but the conditions are stringent."
Get to the point.
Zhang Yan retrieved the Chaos Mech model and the final blueprint of the Heavenly Craftsmanship.
"The final form requires a brand-new energy furnace. The basic framework can be upgraded using chaos, and the core material must be stellar core crystals."
"This thing can only form naturally in the core of a star; the energy required to synthesize it artificially exceeds our current limit."
"So go get it in the sun."
"Yes, and it's the core area."
"The temperature is 15 million degrees Celsius, and the pressure is about 250 billion times that of Earth's atmosphere."
"Chaos begins to melt upon entering the corona layer, disintegrates within ten seconds of entering the photosphere layer, and theoretically survives for only 0.3 seconds in the core area."
Zhang Yan retrieved the high-dimensional debris test report, stating that "the heat resistance limit of the deep-sea tentacle debris exceeds 40 million degrees Celsius, and its structural stability is actually enhanced under high-temperature conditions."
"Use it to cover the mech's outer shell, and then use the Heart of Heaven to create a temporary heat-free force field. The effective dwell time in the core area can be extended to forty seconds."
He marked the path on the screen: "The optimal solution takes a total of 35 seconds, with 20 seconds for entry, 10 seconds for core operations, and 5 seconds for return. The energy consumption is about 17% of the current reserves of the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart, which is acceptable."
Nie Qingcheng approached the screen and scanned the simulation parameters line by line.
A moment later, she raised her hand and tapped on her tablet.