I handed over to another world

"Who?"

Chen Lin asked the super artificial intelligence Zhulong, and Zhulong quickly gave him the answer.

“They are the remnants of the pioneers.”

Chen Lin's breathing stagnated for a moment, his fingers tightened unconsciously, and the material of the protective suit made a slight friction sound.

"What did you say? Forerunner survivors?"

【Yes】

Zhulong's voice echoed in the empty underground laboratory. [While analyzing the Pioneer database, I found a dormant consciousness. Its quantum signature is completely different from other data and has obvious individual characteristics.]

The blue light surrounding the cryochamber suddenly became regular, flickering like a heartbeat.

Those suspended light spots began to converge towards the center, gradually outlining a vague human figure.

"It... is still alive?"

Chen Lin's voice was so dry that it didn't sound like his own.

[To be more precise, it is dormant in a quantum state]

Zhulong corrected, [The integrity of the consciousness structure is only 37.3%, and the memory module is severely damaged, but I successfully extracted the core personality matrix]

The human figure formed by the light spots suddenly became clear for a moment, and Chen Lin saw a strange face - the guy's skin was a light blue, with three glowing lines on his forehead, and his eyes were big and deep, as if they contained the entire starry sky.

This guy's appearance is obviously not like the mechanical one later, but more like the posture of the original pioneer.

"Aian..."

A voice that did not belong to anyone sounded directly in Chen Lin's mind, using the pioneer language, but he somehow understood the meaning, "My name is... Aian..."

Lin Yuchen's voice came from the communicator: "President! We detected a strong fluctuation of consciousness! Is this... is this really an alien?"

Chen Lin did not answer. He took a step forward, and the light-spot humanoid immediately responded - it raised its translucent arm and pointed at the remains of Phoenix-7 in the freezer.

It is requesting a carrier.

Zhulong explained, [This consciousness is too weak to maintain a free state for a long time]

"No!" Chen Lin objected subconsciously, "We don't know what the consequences will be--"

[Risk factor calculated]

Zhulong interrupted him, [Using the quantum resonance module of the seventh-generation editor as a temporary carrier, the safety factor is 92.7%, I have prepared the isolation protocol]

Chen Lin hesitated for a moment. He looked at the flickering human figure. The alien face revealed human-like fatigue and pleading.

"You'll only have three minutes," he finally said, "and then you must be immediately transferred to an isolated environment."

"clear."

The equipment table next to the cryochamber opened automatically, and a hemispherical container rose up, with the same quantum light as the Candle Dragon's core flashing inside.

Immediately afterwards, the humanoid figure transformed into a stream of light and drilled into the container. Soon, complex patterns appeared on the surface of the container, and at the same time, an intermittent voice sounded: "Thank... Thank you... Are you... a new civilization?"

Chen Lin's pupils dilated slightly. Even with Zhulong's assisted translation and his own abilities, the grammatical structure used by the survivors of this pioneer was extremely ancient, like the childhood language of some civilization.

“We are human beings.”

He answered cautiously, "It has been countless tens of thousands of years since the demise of the pioneer civilization. We are life forms from another world."

The light in the container flickered violently: "Perish? No... We are just... sublimating..."

The voice suddenly became confused, "Big Filter... Purification Protocol... 73% failure rate..."

Zhulong immediately intervened: [Aian, your memory is severely damaged, please stabilize your consciousness structure first]

"I... remember the last moment..."

Ian's voice was sometimes strong and sometimes weak. "Civilization chooses... collective consciousness upgrades... but I... refused..."

Chen Lin exchanged glances with his colleagues at the command center. The alien had forgotten what he had done before, and the things he remembered were probably some very distant things. When problems arose in the Black Domain, Aian was taken away as well. Chen Lin felt a little strange when he heard this voice again.

"Why refuse?"

Chen Lin couldn't help but ask.

The light in the container dimmed for a moment: "Fear of...losing...myself..."

Suddenly, the voice became unusually clear, "Warning... Do not repeat our mistakes! The purification protocol... is flawed!"

The lights in the entire laboratory suddenly flickered and the container began to vibrate violently.

Zhulong immediately started the stabilization program: [The consciousness structure is about to collapse! The quantum anchoring factor is being injected]

Chen Lin stood in front of the control console and asked calmly, "Can he be saved?"

[Trying…]

Zhulong's voice was rarely uncertain. [Its memory is like... footprints on the beach, which disappear as soon as the tide comes in.]

Suddenly, the container burst into a dazzling golden light.

And when the light faded, only a faint blue pulsation remained inside, like a candle in the wind.

"Aian?" Chen Lin called softly.

He was answered by a child-like voice: "Who... am I? Who... are you?"

Lin Yuchen took a deep breath in the communication channel: "It has lost its memory?"

【More than that】

Zhulong solemnly announced, "Consciousness has degenerated to a primary state, only the core personality still exists, but all situational memories have disappeared."

Chen Lin stared at the faint light, an indescribable sadness welled up in his heart. Ai'an disappeared in the Black Domain at the beginning. In fact, it was to help the Red Dragon Association solve the problems in the Black Domain. His contribution was unquestionable.

"Can it be restored?"

[The probability is less than 7.3%] Zhulong replied, [but its quantum signature itself is a priceless treasure, and I can infer some of the content from it.]

[Please wait, I found something new...]

The host array suddenly ran at full power, projecting a new set of equations: [This is... the complete theory of consciousness quantization! It is hidden in Ian's signature! ]

Zhou Yan exclaimed from the loudspeaker: "Oh my God... This is at least three orders of magnitude more advanced than the previous formula!"

But Chen Lin's attention was still on that weak consciousness. It was now as innocent as a newborn baby, but it carried the last starlight of a lost civilization.

"Take care of it."

He said to Zhulong, "This is the most precious gift left to us by the pioneers."

The blue light in the container flickered gently, as if responding to his words.

In a trance, Chen Lin seemed to see the blue face and the three glowing lines again - a lonely soul belonging to the pioneer civilization, which had been drifting in the long river of time for who knows how long. After being suddenly awakened, it immediately conveyed a warning to them.

Chen Lin stood in front of the console, his fingers tapping the metal surface unconsciously.

The faint blue light in the container flickered like breathing, reminding him of the stars in the night sky that were about to go out.

"Zhulong, can you build a stable consciousness environment for it?"

Chen Lin's voice was particularly clear in the laboratory. [Trying to build a quantum memory palace]

The core array of Zhulong flickered with a soft blue light. [Based on the remaining consciousness characteristics of Aian, I can simulate part of the environment of the pioneer civilization.]

A holographic projection unfolds around the container, presenting a bizarre cityscape - towering crystalline buildings present non-Euclidean geometric forms, liquid light flows on the streets, and translucent jellyfish-like creatures float in the sky.

The scene is both beautiful and strange, with a certain aesthetic logic that transcends human cognition.

The blue light in the container suddenly became active, swaying like a flame blown by the wind.

"Home……"

The childlike voice sounded again, "It feels like... home..."

Lin Yuchen's voice came from the communicator: "The brain wave monitoring shows a positive reaction! Its consciousness activity is increasing!"

Chen Lin nodded slightly, but his brows were still furrowed: "Zhulong, how long can this state last?"

[Under the current energy consumption rate, it can last for 73 hours]

Zhulong replied, [But the more critical issue is that it is unconsciously reconstructing its memory]

As if to confirm this statement, the projected city suddenly began to distort. The special crystal buildings on the planet Kinolian melted and reorganized, the light on the streets turned blood red, and the creatures in the sky let out shrill screams.

"no, do not want!"

Ian's voice suddenly became sharp, "The purification protocol... is wrong... it's all wrong..."

The lab alarm sounded again, and Zhulong immediately adjusted the projection parameters: [Traumatic memory fragments detected, filtering...]

Chen Lin walked quickly to the container: "Aian, can you hear me? Tell us what's wrong?"

The blue light flickered violently for a few times, then suddenly stabilized.

When it spoke again, its voice became unusually clear: "The direction of quantum collapse...we chose the wrong direction of collapse..."

Every word seemed to be squeezed out with all his strength, "Upgrading consciousness is not a way out... it's a trap..."

Zhou Yan couldn't help but interrupt: "What do you mean? What direction of quantum collapse?"

[It describes the core principle of consciousness upgrading]

Zhulong immediately explained, [The pioneers tried to transfer the entire civilization consciousness to a higher dimension, but apparently...]

"Failed."

Chen Lin took over the conversation, his eyes fixed on the container, "The 73% failure rate is not a technical defect, but a fundamental mistake in direction."

"Didn't the pioneers on their planet Kinorian perish because of this reason instead of the Kara Zerg?!"

The scene in the projection changed again, showing countless light spots extending from three-dimensional space to higher dimensions, but most of them were twisted, broken, and dissipated in the process. Only a few successfully crossed through, but they turned into some kind of horrible and deformed existence.

Ai An's voice became weaker and weaker: "The Black Domain... is not a natural phenomenon... they... are back..."

These words were like ice water poured on Chen Lin's back. He suddenly realized that they might have uncovered a truth that was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

"Zhulong! Record all data immediately!"

Chen Lin turned to the host array, "Especially any information about 'them'!"

[Key fields captured]

Zhulong's core computing unit is running at full speed. [Matching known database... Matching failed, unknown threat classification found]

At this moment, the blue light in the container suddenly surged, dyeing the entire laboratory an eerie blue-green color.

Ian's voice no longer sounded like that of a living being, but rather like the whisper of the universe itself: "Be careful of the shadows between the stars... they never leave... they just wait..."

As the last syllable fell, the blue light suddenly shrank into a tiny dot, and then - disappeared.

"Energy readings zero!"

Zhou Yan exclaimed, "The consciousness...dissipated!"

Chen Lin stood there, feeling an indescribable sense of loss.

[Quantum entanglement residue detected]

Zhulong suddenly reported, [What did Ai'an leave behind at the last moment?]

The holographic screen automatically displayed a string of strange symbols, which were neither words nor mathematical formulas, but more like a new language that was a mixture of the two.

"This is?"

Lin Yuchen moved closer to observe.

【Consciousness Encoding】

Zhulong's voice was filled with rare awe. [It transformed some of its core memories into a stable form, just like... solidifying flames into gems.]

Chen Lin reached out and touched the symbols, and felt a slight tingling sensation at his fingertips.

In an instant, broken images flooded into his mind—endless darkness spread across the starry sky, engulfing one galaxy after another, and the Pioneer fleet was defeated in the face of some indescribable existence.

The final choice is not to escape, not to resist, but... to transform, to convert the entire civilization into a quantum state, and try to escape to a higher dimension.

But the most terrifying thing was that at the edge of those pictures, Chen Lin vaguely saw... something familiar.

The arms of the Milky Way, the outline of the Solar System, and... the Earth.

"Zhulong,"

Chen Lin's voice was terribly hoarse. "Analyze the time and space coordinates of these symbols immediately."

【Analysis completed】

A holographic star map was immediately projected onto Chen Lin's retina. Zhulong enlarged the three-dimensional model of the Milky Way to the entire laboratory space. Soon, a dazzling red dot was flashing on the periphery of the Orion cantilever.

"Coordinates locked." Zhulong's voice was calm, a unique feature of machinery. "It is about 3000 light years away from the solar system, near the NGC 2237 Rose Nebula."

Lin Yuchen walked quickly to the star map: "There should only be interstellar dust and newborn stars there... Wait!"

She suddenly pointed to a set of abnormal data, "This gravity reading is wrong!"

Chen Lin narrowed his eyes. There was indeed a subtle gravitational anomaly in the center of the Rose Nebula - like a whirlpool on a calm lake, almost imperceptible, but it did exist.

"Zhulong, retrieve the deep space observation files." Chen Lin ordered, "Compare the data from the past ten years."

[Comparing... found anomalies]

Zhulong's computing core flashed blue light. [The gravitational fluctuations in this area have increased by 73% in the past 0.73 months, which completely violates the nebula evolution model.]

Zhou Yan suddenly gasped: "This is impossible... unless..."

"Unless there's something there that's changing the gravitational field."

Chen Lin took over the conversation in a low voice, "Contact the Far-Distance Fleet and have the Third Fleet immediately turn to investigate."

"We have to find out what's over there as soon as possible."

He turned around and looked at the people present: "If what Ian said is true, some of the research we conducted before is very likely to be wrong." (End of this chapter)