306: Chapter 306 One Thousand Four Hundred Meters

Tang Qiqi bit off the last piece of the sugar stick, ignoring the crumbs stuck between her teeth.

Two calculation papers slapped onto the master control console.

The pencil handwriting was crooked, but a triangular confirmation mark was drawn beside every set of data.

"The plan is out."

Her fingernail traced across the core formula.

"The infant's life frequency—heartbeat, respiration, blood circulation—forms a perfect destructive interference with the End's recovery pulse. Within a three-meter range, the End goes completely blind."

Everyone in front of the master control console stared at that sheet of paper.

"If someone carries her to the convergence coordinates of the twelve silent well—the exact center of the Void Domain—the End's core processor will fall into an infinite loop due to unparseable data."

Tang Qiqi drew a route on the paper's surface.

A red line pierced through layers of blank areas from the main body of Tiangong, heading straight into the center of the disk.

"Not defeat. It's to make it crash and automatically exit."

Liu Qing took the data and checked it.

Three seconds later, she raised her head.

"The logic holds."

"However." Tang Qiqi's pen tip poked at the starting point of the route map.

"From Tiangong to the core coordinates, it is a straight line of one thousand four hundred meters.

The entire journey is covered by the Void Domain.

The three-meter protection range only covers the child in arms."

She paused for a beat.

"For the person holding the child, with every step they take, their body outside of three meters is being zeroed out."

The master control console fell silent for three seconds.

Qin Yumo was the first to stand up.

"I'll hold her."

Grandmaster Ling Suzhen rose at the same time.

Lu Yan's hand gripped the telephone handset without loosening.

Wang Ya appeared from the direction of the medical area corridor, her grayish-white pupil rings particularly distinct in the dim light.

Tang Qiqi shook her head.

Her finger tapped on the last line of the calculation paper.

"The carrier must have a direct consanguineous relationship with the infant at the genetic level.

Otherwise, the three-meter anchoring range cannot stabilize."

The corridor fell silent for two seconds.

There were only two people who could go.

Jiang Xiaowan—excessive blood loss post-surgery, unable to stand.

Lin Yuan.

The chair legs dragged a muffled sound across the ground.

Lin Yuan stood up.

"I'll go."

No hesitation.

No emotional fluctuation.

It was like saying today's supplies needed to be inventoried.

Qin Yumo crossed her twin blades in front of him.

"I can carry you on my back—"

"Your body is not her blood relative.

The three-meter anchor cannot hold."

Grandmaster Ling Suzhen took half a step forward.

"I'll escort you to the core coordinates—"

"In the Void Domain, the zeroing speed of Titan armor is one-seventeenth of a human body's.

If you escort halfway, the armor will be gone, and so will you."

Wang Ya opened her mouth.

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"Sister Ya, you are a Mutant.

You have a mark on the End's recovery list.

If you walk in, it won't go blind.

It will speed up."

One by one, vetoed.

The tone was flat.

There was no room for discussion.

Lin Motong hugged her little bear and stood in the corner.

From beginning to end, she did not argue.

"Dad."

The voice was very soft.

"After you walk in, what will happen to the parts beyond three meters?"

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"The last message the System gave me before it disappeared—the connection between me and you all is not a product of the System.

It's genetic resonance."

He raised his hand.

The extremely faint grayish-white water ripples on his palm slowly circulated.

It did not rely on Superpower.

It did not come from the System.

It was a trace carved by the body itself.

"As long as the core consciousness remains and the resonance is uninterrupted, I won't die."

He put his hand down.

"But I will lose some things."

He didn't say what would be lost.

Lin Motong buried her face into the little bear.

The black glass eyeballs reflected Lin Yuan's silhouette.

Captain Han Xue stood at the end of the corridor, her palm pressing against her lower abdomen.

She did not walk over.

Liu Qing took off her glasses and wiped them twice; there was nothing on the lenses.

Yu Qingyi closed the administrative file folder in her hands, her lip line tightening.

When Tang Qiqi shoved the route map into Lin Yuan's palm, her five fingers trembled twice.

"One thousand four hundred meters.

Normal walking speed, eighteen minutes."

"Adam's passage reduces the zeroing speed of the first three hundred meters by another forty percent."

"For the remaining eleven hundred meters, it's all up to you."

She didn't say "You'll be fine".

She only reported the numbers.

Su Xiaonuan stood up from the dispatcher seat.

Everyone looked at her.

Last time facing this kind of situation, she deleted her own coordinates and filled her life into the loss column.

This time, she walked in front of Lin Yuan.

There were no weapons in her hands.

No interception.

No tears.

Three paper documents were handed out.

The first: B1 total material inventory, including wartime reserves of the three regions and seventy-two-hour consumption estimates.

The second: Three-region administrative authorization—Su Xiaonuan acting as supreme commander, Yu Qingyi taking over outer circle dispatch, and Captain Han Xue responsible for military discipline.

The third: Emergency plan, covering the response procedures for all emergencies "during the master's absence".

On the last page of each document, the same line of words:

[Takes effect after Lin Yuan signs and confirms.

Automatically invalidates after Lin Yuan returns.]

Su Xiaonuan handed over the fountain pen.

"Before the master returns, Tiangong No. 1 will operate according to this."

Her voice didn't tremble.

Lin Yuan took the pen.

He looked at Su Xiaonuan for three seconds.

Last time, he wrote in the regulations, "Your life is not in the loss column."

This time, she replied with three documents—I no longer use my life to prove loyalty.

I use letting you leave with peace of mind to prove it.

The pen fell.

The three documents were stamped in succession.

Su Xiaonuan took back the papers, turned around, and sat back down at the dispatcher seat.

She flipped open a new page and checked the material rotation schedule within six hours.

The sound of the pencil touching the paper was exactly the same as any ordinary workday.

...

Isolation room.

Jiang Xiaowan leaned against the observation bed, her complexion as pale as paper.

The incubator was on her right-hand side.

Lin Yuan walked up to the bedside.

Jiang Xiaowan looked at him.

For a long time.

She didn't ask why.

She didn't ask if he couldn't go.

Her hand reached out and opened the incubator latch.

The baby girl was picked up.

Her small hands were curled up, her breathing mask had already been removed, and the tip of her nose twitched slightly.

The swaddle was handed toward Lin Yuan.

Her fingers paused for a moment when they touched his forearm.

"You bastard."

Her throat had not yet recovered post-surgery, and her voice was hoarse.

"Bring her back in one piece."

Lin Yuan took the child.

The baby girl didn't cry in the crook of his arm.

Her heartbeat was steady.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

...

Outside the main gate of Tiangong.

Adam's passage had been torn open—a three-meter-wide grayish-white corridor in the Void Domain.

The black-and-gray edges kept trying to erode it, only to be burned back by some residual power.

The end of the passage was complete blankness.

Qin Yumo wore the Titan No. 2 exoskeleton, purely hydraulically driven.

Grandmaster Ling Suzhen wore the half-body Eternal Light Martial Maiden amplification armor.

The two stood on either side of the passage entrance.

The first three hundred meters, escort.

The scattered Zero Entities were pushed away by pure physical blocking.

Alloyed fists, ancient martial arts side kicks—each contact did not exceed 0.3 seconds.

The end of the three hundred meters.

The edges of the passage narrowed.

Going further, the armor's zeroing speed would break through the safety threshold.

Qin Yumo stopped her steps.

Her back was facing Lin Yuan.

"When you come back.

I'll pick you up here."

Grandmaster Ling Suzhen stuffed a wind-up timer into his pocket.

"Six hours."

Lin Yuan didn't look back.

Holding his daughter, he took the last step out of the passage protection zone.

Within three meters, the air was normal, the ground existed, and the light was complete.

Beyond three meters—a section of the jacket hem vanished.

There was no pain.

That piece of fabric seemed as though it had never existed.

Lin Yuan lowered his head.

The baby girl opened her eyes.

Her pupils were pitch black and clean, without a trace of Impurities.

But the moment he lowered his head, an extremely faint circle of golden patterns flashed across the deepest part of her pupils.

It was only a fraction of a second.

She closed her eyes again.

Her heartbeat was stable.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Lin Yuan lifted his foot and walked toward the core of the Void Domain.

...

B2 fully mechanical observation cabin.

The twelve patterns on the inner wall of the zero coffin lit up simultaneously.

Black marks floated up from the bottom of the coffin, pressing toward the direction of Lin Yuan's advance.

It wasn't a chase.

It was as if it were confirming something.

Tang Qiqi pressed the wind-up shutter.

The photo was spat out.

She had never seen the posture of the black marks before.

It was trembling.

In front of the master control console, Su Xiaonuan wrote the first record beside the countdown.

[Lin Yuan has entered the Void Domain.

Current time: 00:00.]