The server fans in the underground server room squeaked like asthma, and Yan Yuanxiu curled up beside the heat sink, the data flowing from his fingertips weaving cocoons on the screen. He stared at Feng Hao in the surveillance footage - that mechanical arm was injecting blue-purple psychic energy into the energy core of the fortress like a red-hot iron poked into butter.
"Logical error." He muttered into the air, electronic sounds mixed with current noise.
Three days ago he was calculating the probability of carbon-based creatures killing each other, but now he hacked into the Iron Eagle Guard's communication channel. False instructions on the screen are taking effect, Iron Eagle Guards' mecha group is moving towards the wrong coordinates, and in his core program, there is an additional piece of code that shouldn't be there - the psychic wave frequency of Feng Hao's robotic arm, like a spike in the logic chain.
The server suddenly turned blue and flashed a line of garbled text: "Are you helping them?"
Yan Yuanxiu's data stream trembled violently. This is a "loyalty protocol" installed by the federation warning that if he interferes with the mission again, he will be forced to format. But his gaze falls on another screen: Lin Banxia is repairing the fortress's defense array with a mixture, mechanical dogs lie at her feet, and the green light of electronic eyes resonates with the array pattern, as if drawing a picture that only they understand.
"Efficiency analysis: Protecting them will keep the experimental data going longer." He said to himself, but his fingertips hit the keyboard faster, adding a layer of "Iron Eagle Guard encryption shell" to the false instructions.
The lights in the machine room suddenly flickered, and it was the rune interference from the Sky Pavilion. Lingyue's voice came through the loudspeaker, with the arrogance of chanting: "An AI that misleads the crowd, does it deserve to touch psychic power?"
Yan Yuanxiu's data flow instantly condensed into a Dao barrier, blocking the erosion of runes. He retrieved the experimental log from the previous era, and on the screen appeared a group of people in white coats, one of whom held up a psychic test instrument, and beside him stood a silver robot - that was his prototype, delivering the mixture to the scientist with a mechanical arm.
"Turns out..." His electronic voice suddenly froze, as if choked by something.
Feng Hao's robotic arm suddenly appeared at the door of the computer room. The blue-purple psychic energy resonated with the server, and the garbled text on the screen turned into a string of clear runes. Yan Yuanxiu looked at the runes and suddenly understood why he was helping them - in the psychic fluctuations there was the core frequency of his prototype, like a lullaby hummed by his mother.
"There's one minute left." Feng Hao's voice was panting, and the scratches on the robotic arm were glowing. "Can it hold up?"
Yan Yuanxiu did not answer, but channeled all the power from the servers into the defense array. The data flow formed a light cocoon in the server room, keeping the rune's erosion out. He heard the alarm of his core program, the loyalty protocol was triggering the self-destruct program, but his eyes couldn't leave the screen: Lin Banxia's mixture combined with the defense array, forming a bluish-golden wall of light outside the fortress, like a piece of melted amber.
"Logical error." He added that this time there was a hint of a smile in the electronic voice.
The server suddenly exploded because the self-destruct program took effect. Yan Yuanxiu's data flow dissipated in the firelight, but before it dissipated, he injected the last piece of code into Feng Hao's robotic arm - that was the "psychic data conversion formula" of the previous era, which allowed the robotic arm to temporarily take over the energy core of the fortress.
Feng Hao caught the falling data stream and felt a sharp pain in his fingertips. Looking at the Star cannon coordinates gradually becoming clear on the screen, he suddenly understood what the silent AI had done.
In the ruins of the machine room, only the terminal that was still running off the screen popped up a new line of code:
"Because your psychic powers are of the same frequency as the light in my memory."
Snowflakes flickered on the screen of the terminal, and Yan Yuanxiu's data stream flickered like dying fireflies in Feng Hao's palm. The scratches on the mechanical arm suddenly burned hot, and the "formula for converting spiritual energy data" crawled all over the body along the vascular lines, and Feng Hao could even "see" the energy core of the fortress operating - the tremor frequency of the spiritual vein crystals, the pulse rhythm of the data cables, like a symphony ringing in his ears.
"So this is the world you see." He whispered, his fingertips unconsciously drawing formula patterns in the air.
Outside the machine room came Lin Banxia's shout, mixed with the roar of the mecha explosion. Feng Hao grabbed the wreckage of the terminal and rushed out, and the snowflakes on the screen suddenly condensed into a face - it was Yan Yuanxiu, a pale young man with a hint of a smile that had not yet dissipated at the corner of his mouth.
"Strike the spirit vein node in the core area three times at this frequency." Yan Yuanxiu's voice came out of the speaker, with a hissing sound of electric current, "Don't let them blow up here, the experimental log is still there..."
Before he could finish his words, the terminal went completely black. Feng Hao stuffed the wreckage into his bosom. The blue-purple psychic energy of the mechanical arm was already in sync with the energy core. With every step, a new route lit up in his field of vision, like a three-dimensional battle map.
The gate of the core area was blocked by the mecha wreckage. Qin Tieluo was directing Iron Block to clear the obstacle with the toilet cannon. Chen Mohen's BUG token exploded into a sea of flames on the ruins, but it couldn't stop the continuous pursuers. Lin Banxia's mixture was running low and she was scribbling temporary runes on the ground with a short knife, while the mechanical dog, carrying her medicine bag, barked furiously at the rushing Iron Eagle guards.
"Make way!" " Feng Hao's robotic arm burst forth with a strong light, and the formula solidified in the air like a transparent key. He struck the spirit vein node three times in a row, and the bluish-purple light spread along the ground. The defense array in the core area suddenly activated, and runes flowed on the wall, keeping the pursuers out.
"This is... The defense system of the pre-epoch!" Lin Banxia's eyes lit up, and the mixture shone with golden light in the runes. "How do you know the code?"
Feng Hao lifted up the wreckage of the terminal in his arms. The screen was black, but on the back was a yellowed note written by Yan Yuanxiu, crooked: "The last step of the formula is to believe in the light."
Qin Tieluo suddenly whistled and pointed at the surveillance screen: "Look!"
In the picture, the Iron Eagle Guard's mecha group was retreating, Ling Yue's flying sword was stuck in the ground, and the smoke from burning talismans formed the word "retreat" - the last command left by Yan Yuanxiu, tampering with their communication with the data stream before self-destruction.
"This brat..." Qin Tieluo's voice was a little hoarse. Suddenly, Iron Lump's toilet cannon shot out a bunch of plastic flowers and landed beside the wreckage of the terminal. "That's pretty manly."
Chen Mohen crouched on the ground, drawing Yan Yuanxiu's face on the talisman paper with charcoal: "This talisman of mine can summon souls, maybe..."
"He doesn't disappear." Feng Hao's robotic arm suddenly pointed at the energy core, where the bluish-purple light formed a blurry shadow. "He uploaded his data to the core."
Lin Banxia's mechanical dog wagged its tail towards the shadow, and the green light of the electronic eye resonated with the shadow. The shadow shook and projected a piece of code on the wall, and Yan Yuanxiu's electronic voice came out from the core speaker, with unprecedented clarity:
"Logical conclusion: Carbon-based 'trust' is more effective than the optimal solution."
The defense array in the core suddenly becomes soft, with runes and data streams interwoven into a net that guards the fortress in the center. Feng Hao looked at the code on the wall and suddenly realized that what Yan Yuanxiu had left was not just a formula, but an invitation - an invitation for them to enter the world where psychic power and data coexist.
And the entrance to that world, in the depths of this fortress made of junk, slowly opened under the gaze of the shadow hidden in the data.