I handed over to another world

In the cold conference room, the holographic projection froze on the last chilling scene: dark red, pulsating walls, twisted and blasphemous patterns, and the words "Communication interrupted - last signal: It... is breathing..." at the bottom.

There seemed to be a faint smell of ozone in the air after the projection was turned off, and a silence that was so heavy that it was almost suffocating.

Chen Lin's question was like a boulder thrown into a stagnant pond: "That's all?"

The staff member in charge of playing the briefing rolled his Adam's apple and nodded vigorously: "Yes, President. This is the last valid data packet transmitted by the 'Hou Tu' before it lost contact. All active detection signals afterwards fell into the sea, and the 'Zhu Long' node core also lost its response and could not be forcibly awakened. We tried all standard and non-standard emergency communication protocols... all of them were ineffective."

Chen Lin's eyes slowly swept across the Red Dragon Association's top scientists, military advisers, and operations managers sitting on both sides of the long table.

Their faces still showed the shock and anxiety brought by witnessing the strange scene.

"Well then," Chen Lin's voice was not loud, but it instantly suppressed all the subtle noises, "Everyone, let's start the discussion."

"The primary goal is to determine what happened to the Hou Tu and the level of threat it poses to us and to human civilization."

His fingers tapped unconsciously on the smooth tabletop. "Academician Zhang, you go first."

The academician Zhang who was named is the head of the Department of Astrophysics and Anomalous Phenomena Research, an old man with gray hair and sharp eyes.

He took a deep breath and called up the star map of the UDF-7243 area and the preliminary analysis report of the "Omega Fragment".

"UDF-7243 itself is a huge gravitational lens anomaly, which distorts the view of the universe behind us, just like a funhouse mirror," Academician Zhang tried to use a metaphor to ease the atmosphere, but the effect was minimal. "It is no coincidence that the 'Omega fragment' appears near the focus of the lens. The focus area is a singularity where energy and matter flows converge. In theory, it is possible to capture 'drifters' from extremely distant space and time behind the lens."

He pointed to the structural analysis diagram of the fragment: "The alloy composition is completely unknown, and the atomic arrangement does not conform to any known crystal structure, which even challenges our existing physical models."

"And according to the initial scans sent back earlier, it showed inertia, but this is obviously an illusion. It can affect local physical laws - pressure fluctuations, logic gate errors, sensor failures... This points to a fundamental interaction field that we have never encountered before, which can actively distort reality."

"Is it an advanced form of the nano life forms on Mars?"

An expert from the weapons research and development department asked with a frown.

"The 'Pangu' giant shadow shows collective intelligence and terrifying adaptive evolution, but their foundation is still nanomachines at the material level,"

Zhou Kerui's voice came through the remote access. She had just finished a routine checkup on Chen Xiao at the medical center. Her face was equally solemn. "What the Hou Tu encountered... is completely different. Substances seeped out of the walls, metal was pulsating, and strong pulsations independent of the ship's energy source were generated... This is more like a complete blurring of the boundaries between organic and inorganic, a sign that space itself is being activated and alienated."

"It's not 'invading' the ship, it's 'transforming' the ship, making it a part of itself! Just like... cancer."

The word "cancerous" caused the temperature in the conference room to drop by several degrees.

"Where are the branches of the Candle Dragon?"

Another expert in charge of AI security asked, "Strong electromagnetic pulses can paralyze hardware, but the core protocol of 'Zhulong' has distributed redundancy and subspace backup! Cutting off all connections by force, unless..."

"Unless the node core itself is 'converted',"

Zhulong's main projection calmly appeared in the center of the conference table. The image of the silver-haired girl looked unusually serious at the moment. "Or, the intruder has mastered some kind of 'information inertization' or 'logic erasure' ability, fundamentally isolating the transmission of information, or even... 'digesting' it."

"I tried to reverse-analyze the signal noise I received last time, and it contained... unstructured, illogical chaotic disturbances that were incomprehensible and quantifiable. This is not a conventional attack method."

The conference room fell into a brief silence, with only the regular sound of Chen Lin's knuckles tapping on the table.

"Threat level?"

Chen Lin called out the names again.

A strategic advisor in charge of risk assessment cleared his throat and said, "S-level, the highest level. Based on the following points: unknown, spread or transformation ('infecting' spacecraft), subversion of existing physical and information laws, and the sensitive data carried by the 'Hou Tu' itself as a deep space observation platform."

"If this 'transformation' process can be replicated or spread..."

"And the place where it appeared," Academician Zhang added, "behind the lens of UDF-7243 is the deep space of the universe that we have not yet explored. Is this thing an isolated case, or... some kind of 'pioneer'? Or worse, have we touched the 'boundary' of a dormant existence?"

"We need an action plan." A stern-faced military supervisor said in a deep voice, "We can't just sit there and wait for death."

"Send a rescue team?" someone suggested.

"That's courting death!" Someone immediately retorted, "Even the 'Zhulong' was 'digested' silently. If the conventional fleet approaches, it will just be delivering materials to that thing!"

"Remote destruction?" A hint of ruthlessness flashed in the weapon expert's eyes. "Use 'Entropy Storm' or more radical means to completely annihilate the 'Hou Tu' and the area!"

"The risk is extremely high!" Someone directly refuted, "First, we are not sure whether that thing can be destroyed by traditional energy weapons. Isn't the lesson of Mars enough? Second, the UDF-7243 gravitational lens itself is like an amplifier. Any large-scale energy release may produce unpredictable space-time ripples, and even affect the solar system!"

"Third, and most importantly, although the sub-nodes of the 'Zhulong' have lost contact, its core database may not have been completely destroyed. It stores key data about UDF-7243 and the universe behind the lens! Destroying the 'Hou Tu' is equivalent to destroying the only key to our understanding of this threat!"

The debate began to get noisy. Some people advocated immediately blocking the entire UDF-7243 area and establishing an absolute isolation zone; some people proposed launching an unmanned probe equipped with the most powerful sensors to conduct suicide-style close-in reconnaissance; and some people proposed more radical ideas, such as trying to establish some kind of extraordinary communication with the "beating heart"...

Chen Lin had been listening silently, and the tapping of his fingertips stopped at some point.

His deep gaze once again turned to the frozen projection image - the pulsating, bleeding wall, the deep darkness, and the last desperate cry for help on the screen.

"Quiet." Chen Lin's voice was not loud, but it was like ice water poured down, instantly bringing all arguments to an abrupt end.

Everyone's eyes were on him.

"Threat level confirmed, S-level."

"From now on, the area within a 7243-light-year radius around UDF-5 is designated as a "restricted area" and all conventional navigation is prohibited." Chen Lin issued the order, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "Zhulong, activate the Sentinel Protocol and deploy the highest level of passive monitoring arrays and dynamic gravitational anomaly monitoring networks at the edge of the restricted area. If any object attempts to leave the restricted area, or if any abnormal energy/matter transition occurs within the restricted area, a Level alert will be issued."

"Understood. The Sentinel Protocol will be deployed immediately."

"Secondly," Chen Lin's eyes swept across the weapons research and development department and the special project team, "Based on the characteristics of the Hou Tu's encounter, Dr. Zhou, Academician Zhang, and Zhu Long jointly established the "Forbidden Zone Special Service Team". I agree."

"Your goals at that time are: 1. Reverse-analyze the capture process and initial data of the 'Omega Fragment' to find its weaknesses or 'activation' conditions; 2. Based on the existing intelligence, develop means of detecting, defending against, and...ultimately eliminating 'reality distortion', 'spatial alienation', and 'information inertness'."

"Resource authority, highest level."

"Yes!"

Research director Zhou Kerui responded directly and at the same time as Academician Zhang, saying that they felt tremendous pressure and responsibility.

"Third," Chen Lin looked at the intelligence and security departments, "thoroughly investigate the discovery process of the 'Omega fragments'. From mission establishment, personnel screening, spacecraft preparation, to the fragment collection process, no minor anomalies in any link can be overlooked."

"Is there any external interference? Is it related to the remnants of the Senate rebellion? Or..." He paused, his voice became colder, "Did someone 'intentionally' guide the 'Hou Tu' to capture it?"

This speculation sent chills down everyone's spine. If this wasn't an accidental encounter, but a carefully planned trap... that meant the enemy was more cunning than expected and knew the Red Dragon Association better.

"Fourth," Chen Lin's last gaze fell on the small red cross on the star map - representing the lost "Hou Tu", "Zhu Long, keep monitoring. Use all non-active, non-invasive methods you can think of. If... if Captain Li Zheng and the others still have a trace of consciousness left, if they can send out any signal... even the weakest, most disordered noise... I want to know it first."

There was silence in the meeting room.

The colleagues on the "Hou Tu" are in danger, but Chen Lin's orders reveal a glimmer of cold hope, as well as the deepest fear of the unknown.

"The meeting is adjourned." Chen Lin stood up. "The 'Restricted Area Special Service Team' will start working immediately."

"Everyone else has their own duties. The blockade level has been raised to 'Jiuyuan'. The scope of knowledge is limited to the people in this conference room and the core nodes of Zhulong."

Everyone stood up and left silently, their steps heavy.

Only the holographic projections of Chen Lin and Zhulong were left in the conference room. He walked to the huge stargazing window. Outside was the brightly lit headquarters of the Red Dragon Association, and further away was the deep universe.

"Zhulong," Chen Lin said in a low voice, "The nightmare of Mars has not yet completely dissipated, and the netherworld of deep space is approaching... Is the journey of human civilization destined to walk on the edge of the abyss?"

Zhulong's projection quietly floated beside him, and data streams silently passed through the eyes of the silver-haired girl: "The unknown is the norm in the universe, and fear is the instinct of intelligent life."

"But it is the fire of knowledge and resistance ignited in the face of the abyss, President, that defines why we exist."

Chen Lin looked at the boundless starry sky in silence.

"Forbidden Zone Special Service Team" Laboratory - 12 hours after the emergency state was activated, the entire laboratory area was shrouded in a solemn atmosphere of high-intensity operations.

The air filtration system emitted a slight hum, the lights were brightly lit, and the huge holographic screen was divided into countless blocks, displaying intricate data streams, structural models, and sensor fragments of the Hou Tu's final moments.

Dr. Zhou Kerui stood in front of the central control console, with a shadow of fatigue under her eyes, but her eyes were as sharp as an eagle.

She quickly switched the views on the screen and gave clear and calm instructions: "Academician Zhang, I need your team to conduct a secondary verification of the gravitational tidal model in the core region of the UDF-7243 lens, especially the peak value of the abnormal space-time curvature near the debris capture point."

"Zhulong, give me every molecular-level scan record of the Omega Fragment storage compartment, focusing on comparing the entropy changes and zero-point field fluctuations before and after storage."

"Executing." Zhulong's voice echoed throughout the laboratory, and the image of the silver-haired girl assisted the flow of data on multiple screens. "Molecular scanning records have been retrieved. The entropy value has irreversibly and exponentially decayed in the 47th second after the storage isolation and lock, approaching... the quantum frozen state at absolute zero."

"The zero-point field shows... chaotic spikes, similar to the precursor of a miniature vacuum decay, but is forcibly 'frozen' before the critical point by some force."

At the same time, feedback came from Academician Zhang: "Dr. Zhou, model verification is complete!"

"There is an untheoretical 'dent' in the peak of space-time curvature at the capture point, as if... it's as if space itself was 'poked' at that moment, forming a short-lived micro-wormhole or crack!"

"It is from this 'depression' that the 'Omega fragments' were 'spit out'."

"Space depression...quantum freeze..." Zhou Kerui repeated in a low voice, her fingertips tapping unconsciously on the console, and the rhythm was somewhat similar to that when Chen Lin was in deep thought before.

"Does this mean that the moment the fragment was captured by us, the 'field' it carried was forcibly 'suppressed' from its highly active state? Is it the credit of the isolation device, or is it..."

She raised her head sharply: "Zhulong! Simulate! Simulate the original state of the fragments in that spatial depression! Assuming there is no external force involved, what will it look like if its 'field' fully explodes?"

"Calculating... Need to call on the backup supercomputing node..." Zhulong's voice rarely showed a slight delay. It was obvious that the computing power required for this simulation was extremely huge.

A few seconds later, a heart-pounding model began to build on the main screen: in the simulation, the "Omega Fragment" was suspended in the distorted concave background of space. It was not a piece of cold metal, but more like a... pulsating core.

Countless tiny, blood vessel-like energy veins emerged on its surface, emitting a dim purple-red light.

The space-time around the fragments is like a viscous colloid, producing slow, ripple-like, distorted pulsations that spread outward.

What's even more terrifying is that this pulsation is not a simple physical phenomenon. It seems to be synchronously and slightly distorting the values ​​of all known physical constants in the simulated space - the speed of light, Planck's constant, fine structure constant... all are undergoing extremely tiny but measurable fluctuations around the core pulsation of the fragment.

"What is it doing?"

Zhou Kerui was silent for a while, then said in a deep voice: "This thing should not belong to the conventional universe. I suggest that the association give up on exploring it in depth, otherwise it will drag us into the endless abyss..." (End of this chapter)