438: Anchor point

In the laboratory of the "Sharpening Sword" base, silence reigned, save for the low hum of the cooling System.

Lin Yizhou, Mu Wan, Zhao Youcheng, and several top neuro-experts urgently summoned from the homeland all held their breath, gazing at the strange creation suspended in the pale blue energy field in the center of the laboratory.

It was a translucent crystal, roughly the size of a fist, with a complex polyhedral structure.

Inside it, countless golden veins, thousands of times thinner than a human hair, pulsed with a rhythmic, lifelike cadence, emitting a soft halo of light.

This was the crowning achievement of the Eastern Federation Academy of Sciences' Neuro-Biological Technology Center, the prototype of the consciousness anchor point, codenamed "Soul Vessel."

"Energy fluctuations stable, neural compatibility at 99.999998%... Anchor point initialization complete." Mu Wan's slender fingers glided across the holographic console, bringing up a dazzling array of data and icons.

"Captain, we can proceed with the final docking test."

Lin Yizhou took a deep breath and looked at the young volunteer standing beside the docking pod. He was an elite soldier from the Eastern Federation Marine Corps Special Forces, codenamed "Shark."

His expression was resolute, and his eyes shimmered with excitement and determination in the face of the unknown challenge.

"Shark, one last confirmation, you can withdraw at any time." Lin Yizhou's voice was steady and powerful.

"Reporting to the Commander, it is my honor and my mission to contribute to the 'Soul Vessel' project!" Shark snapped to attention, his voice loud and clear, without a hint of hesitation.

He turned smartly and lay down inside the silver-white docking pod, which was intricately designed and covered with sensor cables. The hatch slowly closed, and a low charging sound began.

"Initiate consciousness anchoring sequence." Mu Wan issued the command.

On the laboratory's main screen, the graph representing brainwave activity began to change dramatically.

The originally chaotic waveforms quickly became orderly, finally converging into a dazzling stream of light that surged out along the military-grade super-light-speed communication link established within the Silver Rail.

The target was a state-of-the-art spaceship inside a sealed shipyard five hundred light-years away, heading toward the direction of Blue Star.

On that ten-meter-high, fifty-meter-long steel hull, which shimmered with a cold metallic luster, the originally silent optical sensors suddenly lit up with a piercing blue light.

Its engines twitched slightly, then started naturally, and the spaceship began to execute departure procedures.

The movements were so fluid that one could tell at a glance that the pilot was an old hand.

"Docking successful! Neural latency is below 0.5 milliseconds!" an engineer reported excitedly.

"Consciousness anchoring complete!"

The footage transmitted back via external cameras was displayed simultaneously in the corner of the main screen.

Shark was seen controlling the spaceship, nimbly completing a series of complex tactical maneuvers within the test field.

"Incredible..." Zhao Youcheng muttered as he watched the nimble, lifelike spaceship on the screen. "It's just like... just like his Soul has really flown five hundred light-years away and climbed into that steel shell!"

"No wonder those people from New Eden are so fond of Clone Pilots; the Eggman System really has something to it."

"Our technology is not quite the same as theirs." Mu Wan corrected, her eyes fixed on the data. "The key to consciousness anchor point technology lies in 'anchoring.' It does not copy or transmit consciousness; instead, it establishes a quantum entangled state connection between the subject's consciousness and the anchor carrier that transcends conventional space-time."

"You can understand it as Shark's 'perception' and 'will' being instantly 'projected' and firmly 'fixed' onto that spaceship. His experience right now is as if he has truly transformed into the ship, placed within the test field five hundred light-years away."

"Everything he sees, hears, and feels is synchronized in real-time, with almost no latency."

"I see." Zhao Youcheng nodded. "Hey, by the way, who researched this thing? It's so powerful?"

"The inspiration for this technology stems from the Academy of Sciences' research into the magical substance known as 'Memetic Matter' discovered by the company in Penacony. We tried to use technological means to replicate that miraculous ability capable of carrying and even distorting memories and consciousness."

"Although we are far from reaching the level of 'Memetic Matter' which can create dream worlds out of thin air, we have made a Breakthrough in achieving ultra-long-distance, low-latency consciousness control."

"Now it seems this technology is practically an upgraded version of New Eden's 'Eggman' war model."

"Almost the same effect, but without having to bear the side effects of multiple deaths in a short period."

Lin Yizhou walked to the main screen, his gaze deep; he remembered the tragic scenes transmitted back by the reconnaissance equipment.

Explosions spreading across the galaxy and those expressionless "Eggman" who kept resurrecting amidst the gunfire.

That war model, which normalized the pain of death at the cost of consuming clones, was efficient but bought at the price of cold and inhumane cruelty.

And the Eastern Federation's "consciousness anchor point" technology perfectly avoided the ethical dilemma.

If there were any drawbacks, there were only two.

One was that it borrowed the company's Silver Rail System, and the other was that it was a bit expensive.

The pilot's actual body remained safely in the rear docking pod, without having to face the threat of death or the torment of pain, yet could gain experience comparable to or even exceeding that brought by immersive battlefield experiences.

More importantly, it could break through the limitation of the number of clones.

As long as enough carriers and computing power support could be provided, theoretically, an excellent pilot could simultaneously "anchor" multiple combat units, or conduct ultra-long-duration, ultra-long-range combat.

What carried the consciousness was the silicon-based core and energy System, not the fragile biological clone. Its stability, maintainability, and upgrade potential were far beyond the "Eggman" System.

"Report! 'Shark' has completed all scheduled test items and requests to conduct extreme environment adaptability testing!" Shark's voice came through the communication channel, carrying a hint of excitement.

Lin Yizhou exchanged a look with Mu Wan and nodded: "Approved. Initiate simulated strong electromagnetic interference environment, simulate extreme gravity fluctuation environment."

Inside the test field, it was instantly enveloped by violent energy turbulence and distorted gravitational fields.

However, the spaceship on the screen still acted smoothly, as if those harsh environments, which would have instantly disabled conventional remote control Systems, were merely a gentle breeze to it.

"Too powerful!" Zhao Youcheng couldn't help but praise. "If this were on the battlefield, our soldiers would almost be fighting in an 'invincible' state!"

"Invincible is not the word," Lin Yizhou shook his head slightly. "The docking pod itself needs to be absolutely safe, and the super-light-speed communication link cannot be cut off. However..."

The corner of his mouth curled up: "In this chaotic Star Domain of New Eden, providing a safe 'anchor point' for our fleet shouldn't be too difficult."

"If it really doesn't work, we can just move the location further back; this is not a big problem. Wait, oh, it seems we don't need to worry about this problem."

Just then, a message with the highest authority from the homeland jumped into Lin Yizhou's private communication channel.

"The first phase of the exercise plan has been completed. The participating soldiers are ready and will depart from the 'Fuxi' deep space mothership to the newly built space base in 24 standard hours. Please prepare for docking."

Twenty-four hours later, "Sharpening Sword" base core control center.

On the huge circular main screen, the sparse green dots that originally represented unmanned mining ships and engineering ships were being lit up one by one at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly connecting into a vast sea of green light!

These were the Eastern Federation's first batch of participating soldiers, totaling one hundred thousand.

At this moment, their bodies were far away, hundreds of light-years away, in a special, absolutely safe docking center secretly built by the Eastern Federation.

But their consciousness had already crossed the unimaginable spatial distance and descended upon the "Sharpening Sword" base via the Silver Rail network that covered the edge of the New Eden Star Domain.

Like true Soul Vessels, they were "injected" into the various ships and industrial mechs that had long been prepared for them, densely packed in the shipyard.

The base space, which had seemed somewhat empty and desolate due to a severe shortage of manpower, instantly "came alive."

One by one, unmanned resource collection ships had their tail engines spew out ghostly blue light, sailing out of the shipyard in an orderly manner to form formations.

Like worker bees that had discovered a nectar source, they precisely pounced toward the resource-rich asteroid belt in the distance.

Huge heavy industrial platforms, under the exquisite control of the "pilots," waved their massive mechanical arms, began to decompose and smelt the collected Ore, and quickly printed it into new hull modules or building Materials.

More armed engineering ships deployed in the outer Star Domain, starting to deploy pre-manufactured sentry turrets, gravity sensors, and communication relay stations.

Like weaving a net, they quietly spread the Eastern Federation's control to other areas of the "Region 00."

The base commander, an old man with the rank of Lieutenant General who commanded respect without being angry, stood in front of the observation window, watching the scene of sudden vitality and strength outside the window, with an irrepressible look of excitement on his face.

He was the highest person in charge of the "Sharpening Sword" plan, General Huo Qiming.

"Report, General! The first to the one-hundredth resource collection brigade have completed departure formation and are heading to the K8, S102, and M444 mining areas according to the scheduled route."

"The Fourth Engineering Fleet reports that the expansion project of the No. 8 shipyard has started, and the construction period is expected to be shortened by 40%!"

"The fourth and fifth sensor arrays of the perimeter defense network are online, and the monitoring range has been pushed outward by 15.5 astronomical units!"

Good news followed one after another. Huo Qiming turned around and looked at Lin Yizhou and his party, who had just returned to the base by short-range shuttle and were covered in dust.

"Captain Lin, this 'key' brought by your 77th Fleet has opened a door to the New Era for us!" General Huo patted Lin Yizhou's shoulder hard, his voice loud.

"It is the result of the joint efforts of the Academy of Sciences and countless colleagues in the rear." Lin Yizhou answered modestly, but his eyes also shone with light.

"General Huo, our 'Sharpening Sword' plan in New Eden now finally has a stage to perform on."

"More than just a stage!" Huo Qiming waved his hand, pointing to the starry sky. "Look, the initial resource development and infrastructure construction that originally would have taken us years or even decades to complete, now, with this batch of 'fresh troops,' this process will be shortened to an incredible degree!"

"With almost no risk, the promotion effect on productivity is quite obvious."

He walked to the huge star map, his finger pointing to the vast and chaotic Star Domain outside "Region 00," marked with the spheres of influence of major forces and newly discovered resource points.

"Before, we could only explore cautiously, afraid of alerting the enemy. Now..." A glimmer of excitement flashed in General Huo's eyes, "We can send out thousands of detection units at the same time, just like scattering a handful of sand, quietly infiltrating every corner of New Eden."

"Collecting resources, mapping the stars, monitoring communications... and perhaps even starting to 'test' the caliber of those so-called pirate mercenaries and even certain national fleets in a planned manner."

Lin Yizhou immediately understood the superior's intention.

The Eastern Federation went to great lengths to establish a forward base here, not just to be a bystander.

This Star Domain full of strife would be an excellent "training ground" for testing the Eastern Federation's new equipment, new tactics, and tempering troops.

And the "consciousness anchor point" technology reduced the cost and risk of this "training" to an unprecedented low.

"I understand, General." Lin Yizhou stood at attention, "Standing by for orders to escort the 'Sharpening Sword' plan!"

"Very good." Huo Qiming nodded with satisfaction, then lowered his voice. "The homeland attaches great importance to the subsequent development of 'consciousness anchor point.' The next phased goal is to test 'cluster consciousness synchronization' and 'multi-carrier collaborative control.'"

"We need to know whether a soldier can simultaneously and efficiently command a mixed fleet composed of destroyers, assault boats, and drones. Or where the upper limit of consciousness control lies?"

"This will truly define the future form of war."

"Also, the intention from above is to add some burden to you and have you take over the command first. How about it, no problem, right?"

Lin Yizhou immediately stood at attention and saluted: "Guarantee to complete the mission!"

"By the way, when in Rome, do as the Romans do; we still need a name. What do you think, Little Lin?"

"Hmm... How about calling it Kyushu?"