154: The Glimmer of the Abyss
Witnessing the tragedy of an unknown fleet being devoured was like a bucket of ice water waking up the last shred of hope within the Alliance. The echo devourer they faced was by no means an entity that could be simply 'fed' or 'appeased'; it was a wandering, living catastrophe, a curse born from ancient tragedy, constantly creating new tragedies.
Lin Mo's orders quickly and resolutely translated into action. The Alliance's resources were unprecedentedly channeled towards unraveling the mystery of the echo devourer.
Einstein's team entered a state of non-stop work. They used the deciphered 'Forbidden Protocol' imprint as a breakthrough, combining all records of rule fusion experiments and failed consciousness ascension cases retrieved from the memory ark by the concerto keystone, to perform massive data comparison and model deduction. They attempted to reverse-engineer the core logic of the ancient civilization's forbidden experiments, thereby finding the critical node that inevitably led to loss of control—that might be the weakest 'Achilles' heel' in the echo devourer's rule structure.
The work was extremely difficult. Most of the records were vague, full of cautionary metaphors and deliberately obscured technical details. Clearly, even the Memory Civilization itself held great reverence and fear for such knowledge. Progress was slow, but not without results. They initially confirmed that the echo devourer's rule structure indeed contained an extremely unstable, self-referential 'logical singularity.' This seemed to be a permanent trauma left by that failed fusion, and also the root of its endless hunger and existential anxiety. Any attempt to forcibly destroy this 'singularity' could trigger a catastrophic collapse of rules, with an unpredictable scope of impact.
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Meanwhile, Ling Shuang, Aidan, and the concerto keystone together embarked on a more profound and perilous path of consciousness contact attempts.
They were no longer content with long-distance information feeding, but decided to undertake an extremely risky 'consciousness dive.' The plan was for the cornerstone, with its powerful rule control, to construct an extremely subtle, highly concealed 'consciousness conduit,' carefully sending Ling Shuang and Aidan's specially enhanced, hybrid consciousness, fused with psionic energy and the Song of Tracing Back, deep into the echo devourer's violent and chaotic sea of rule consciousness, to search for that possible remnant glimmer of reason belonging to its original intelligent life.
This was tantamount to casting two precious souls into a sea of death filled with rule vortices and mental storms.
"It's too dangerous!" Wu Yong firmly objected. "What if your consciousness gets trapped, or is devoured and assimilated by it..."
"This is currently the only possible way to find a non-destructive solution," Ling Shuang's gaze was calm and firm. "We cannot give up trying just because it's dangerous. Moreover, we have the cornerstone as an anchor, and Aidan's song as a beacon."
Aidan caressed the ancient instrument that had accompanied him for many years, his aged eyes gleaming with a light that saw through life and death: "Our songs have always guided us to trace back to the source. If this source is a sea of pain that needs solace, then the singer's destination lies within it."
After making thorough preparations and planning for the worst, the 'consciousness dive' commenced under strict secrecy.
The light of the concerto keystone condensed into a rule thread, as fine as a wisp of silk yet incomparably tough. One end connected to the stasis pod where Ling Shuang and Aidan sat, while the other, like the most precise surgical probe, bypassed the violent rule turbulence at the periphery of the echo devourer's consciousness sea, silently piercing into its depths.
In an instant, Ling Shuang and Aidan's perceptions were overwhelmed by endless chaos and pain.
There were no clear thoughts here, only billions of fragmented rule images, distorted time segments, and an eternal, heart-wrenching hunger and sense of lack pervading every 'corner.' It was as if a soul stripped of everything, forever unable to find satisfaction, was emitting a silent roar in the darkness. They 'saw' stars torn apart into energy flows, saw the brilliance of civilizations extinguished under the crushing force of rules, all driven by a cold, pure instinct to devour.
Aidan immediately began to chant the most ancient Song of Tracing Back. In this chaotic sea of consciousness, the song was like a faint but pure starlight, trying to penetrate through layers of mist, searching for resonance.
Ling Shuang, on the other hand, fully unleashed her psionic energy, not to resist, but like the gentlest tendrils, to perceive and understand the 'emotional core' that might be hidden deep within this sea of pain. What she felt was not evil, but a heartbreaking, immensely lost sorrow.
They advanced with great difficulty, relying on the coordinates and stable support provided by the cornerstone from the outside, resisting the ubiquitous devouring intent that sought to assimilate their consciousness.
After an unknown period, just as their consciousness energy was about to run out and they were preparing to withdraw, Aidan's song finally touched something!
In the deepest part of the consciousness sea, the core of the densest darkness and pain, there was an extremely faint ripple, almost completely covered by the devouring instinct... That ripple reacted to Aidan's song; it was no longer just hunger, but mixed with a trace of... confusion, and a trace of bewilderment, as if awakened after billions of years of slumber.
Ling Shuang immediately focused all her psionic energy on that point!
She 'saw' it—in the center of that ruin of rules, suspended was an extremely tiny, cracked, yet stubbornly flickering fragment of consciousness. It was like a diamond buried under a landslide, broken, yet still retaining a trace of its original clarity.
That fragment felt Ling Shuang's psionic contact, full of compassion and inquiry, and transmitted a fragmented intention, full of immense pain and confusion:
"...Who...am I?"
"...Where...is this?"
"...So hungry...so empty..."
"...Why...can't I stop...?"
"...Save...save me..."
This faint plea, like a cry from the depths of hell, made Ling Shuang's soul tremble. This was what they were looking for! The individual from the ancient civilization who underwent the forbidden experiment—her consciousness had not been completely annihilated, but was twisted and imprisoned within this uncontrolled rule-body, a creation of her own failure, enduring eternal torment!
"We found you!" Ling Shuang used all her will to transmit waves of warmth, steadfastness, and understanding to the fragment. "Hold on! We hear your voice!"
Just then, the echo devourer's overall consciousness seemed to perceive this internal 'abnormality.' The endless hunger surged towards this point like a tide, attempting to drown this newly awakened tiny spark of reason!
"cornerstone! Pull us back!" Ling Shuang immediately signaled.
Outside, the concerto keystone instantly contracted the rule thread, dragging Ling Shuang and Aidan's consciousness out of that violent sea of consciousness at the fastest speed!
The stasis pod opened, and Ling Shuang and Aidan were almost utterly exhausted, their faces pale, their minds having suffered a huge impact, but their eyes gleamed with excitement and hope.
"It...it still has a 'person' inside!" Ling Shuang gasped, speaking to Lin Mo and Einstein who were waiting for them. "A trapped, suffering consciousness! It's not a pure monster!"
This discovery completely changed the Alliance's understanding of the echo devourer, and also made the ethical dilemma they faced even more complex. Destroying it meant killing an ancient soul begging for help, tormented; saving it meant facing an almost impossible, ultimate challenge of reversing a forbidden experiment.
"We found a glimmer of light," Lin Mo said, his voice heavy and firm, looking at his tired but bright-eyed companions, "but the path ahead seems even harder than we imagined."
"No matter what," Ling Shuang supported herself to stand, "since we heard the cry for help, we cannot turn and leave."
The Alliance stood at a new crossroads. Would they become executioners delivering a merciful end, or heroes challenging the impossible, attempting to redeem an ancient lost soul?
The answer, perhaps, lay in that faint light in the abyss.