177: Chapter 177 You Delete the Record, I Carve It into the Earth

Chen Fan's finger paused over the faint bluish vein behind the Silent Child's ear, but ultimately, he let his hand drop.

The last trace of her warmth, before it dissipated, lingered on his palm. It was just like the old stove in the construction shed last winter, the one that never seemed to get hot—he could get so close, yet the heat could never warm his frozen toes.

"Little Girl," his throat tightened. His voice was shredded by the silent system, so he could only breathe onto her dusty eyelashes, "You said after this battle, you wanted to go to the Teahouse to listen to Sister Su sing."

"The osmanthus honey she brewed, I secretly hid half a jar in the construction site warehouse..."

The night wind, carrying shards of broken glass, scraped past Chen Fan's ears. Suddenly, he heard a rhythmic vibration from afar.

Old Wu's shovel, the female student's broken sword, the dull thud of the newcomer hitting his head against the wall—those sounds swallowed by the silent system were now drilling up through the bones and blood of the earth into the soles of his feet.

He looked down at his palm. The golden patterns of Critical Hit Foresight seemed to come alive, crawling across the web between his thumb and forefinger. The numbers floating in his retina were jumping: [Global Resonance Frequency Synchronization Rate: 38% → 39% → 40%].

"They heard it," Chen Fan pressed his fingertip against the jade slip, able to feel the residual fluctuation of the Silent Child's lingering will inside. "You were right. Those who hear it should stand up."

"Ding—"

A jarring hum pierced his sea of consciousness.

Chen Fan snapped his head up and saw the streetlights at the end of the plaza suddenly explode into fragments.

In the red light, the Dark Sound Envoy was pressing the 'Silence Core' onto the control panel, with faint blue electrical currents seeping from the metal casing: "Third Seat Master, the area-wide silence wave has covered the region."

The shadow of the Third Seat of the Red Robes stretched long before the surveillance screen.

He gripped the half-broken teacup, his knuckles turning white: "Data erasure progress?"

"97%," a mechanical voice sounded. "Original sound code residue..."

"Not enough." The Third Seat of the Red Robes crushed the shards of porcelain into powder. "Erase the vibration source in the earth's ley lines too.

Do those ants think stamping their feet against a wall is resistance?

I want them to forget even the sound of their own heartbeats!"

Chen Fan suddenly staggered a step.

The jade slip in his palm dimmed sharply, like a firefly whose neck had been squeezed.

He stared at the fading jade patterns, his back molars grinding—this wasn't ordinary silencing; the system was clearing the 'memory anchors.'

It was just like when the foreman ran off with the money last year, throwing the timekeeping ledger into the mixer, leaving not even a scrap of paper behind.

"Deleting records?" He ripped off the tattered cloth at his waist and smeared his own blood from his palm onto the hammer of the thunder god. "I'll carve the truth into the earth instead."

Blood droplets seeped into the golden patterns on the hammer's handle, and the critical hit system roared in his sea of consciousness.

Chen Fan could see the lies the system claimed were 'erased' decomposing: [Data Cleared?] [Speaker Eliminated?] [No Awakening?] Every falsehood exploded into fine light particles before his eyes, like snapped threads.

"Three short, two long," he raised the hammer of the thunder god and brought it down heavily onto the bluestone slab.

The first strike caused cracks to burst from the hammer tip, enveloping the entire plaza like a spider web.

Chen Fan heard a dull thud from beneath the ground—it was the sound of Old Wu's shovel, the female student's broken sword, the newcomer's stomping feet; all the silenced vibrations drilled in through the cracks.

The second strike sent the stone slabs flying like butterflies.

He saw the Shadow Pavilion's airship approaching through the red light. A blinding warning flashed on the Dark Sound Envoy's control panel, but his hand was as steady as a steel nail driven into a wall—this was the rhythm of the Black Crow key, the password belonging to the Awakened, taught to him by the Silent Child with her last breath.

The third strike made the earth's ley lines tremble.

Critical Hit Foresight stacked wildly. The golden light from triple lie-piercing enveloped the hammer body, and a stream of golden light suddenly surged out of the deep trench he smashed open.

The jade slip dissolved into light dust, drilling into the earth cracks along the golden stream. Every particle was inscribed with the primal waveform of 'Hearing is Resistance.'

The ground of the entire city suddenly lit up.

The bluestone slabs, the asphalt roads, the concrete ground of the construction site, even the marble beneath the Shadow Pavilion's feet, all displayed golden runes.

It was a waveform diagram woven from countless vibration frequencies, like the earth breathing, like a heartbeat sealed in amber.

"This is impossible!" The Third Seat of the Red Robes' teacup clattered to the ground. He stared at the stuttering text in the system prompt—[Operation Failed: Earth Ley Lines Bound to 'Speaker's Will'].

An alien consciousness churned in his sea of consciousness, bringing a chill: "This is... the rule?"

Chen Fan knelt on one knee in the center of the cracked earth, the hammer of the thunder god stuck in the rune core.

The web of his hand split open into a bloody gash, but he smiled like a madman: "You seal mouths, delete records, kill speakers..." He ripped off his blood-soaked sleeve, revealing an old scar left from carrying bricks at the construction site. "But I can, hammer by hammer, carve the truth into the earth."

The sound of metal colliding came from the distance.

Chen Fan looked up and saw a dense mass of figures surging out from the entrance of the underground cavern.

They carried salvaged rebar, broken swords, even shovels. With every step, they lightly tapped the ground with their weapons—three short, two long, then three short again.

It was the rhythm of the Awakened, the earth responding.

"Captain!" The first to run over was a newcomer with blue-dyed hair. His identification tag was still in silent mode, but he grinned at Chen Fan, "We heard the sound from underground! It's like... like someone is shouting 'Stand up'!"

Chen Fan took out the last half piece of hard candy from his pocket and placed it in the newcomer's hand.

His gaze swept over the crowd toward the direction of the Shadow Pavilion—the red light there was still churning.

The night wind suddenly changed direction, sweeping fine sand into the plaza.

Chen Fan felt something hot trickle down the back of his neck. It might be blood, it might be sweat, or it might be... hope.

He bent down, picked up half a piece of broken tile, and carved the words 'Silent Child' on the edge of the cracked earth. Then, with the tip of his hammer, he gently nudged it, letting the three characters sink into the earth's fissure.

"When we dismantle the Shadow Pavilion," he whispered to the ground, "I'll take you to eat the sweetest candy."

A dull thunder echoed from the direction of the Star Dome.

Chen Fan looked up and saw a corner of a broken tower and ruins exposed in the clouds, looking like an unsheathed sword under the moonlight.

He wiped the blood from his face and jammed the hammer of the thunder god into the ground—the golden patterns crawled along the handle toward the distance, as if drawing an invisible line across the earth.

"Next stop," he gazed at the broken tower, a smile forming on his lips, "The Star Dome Ruins."