I handed over to another world

The simulated image of Zhulong pulsated silently on the main screen, and its dark purple blood vessels flickered like a living thing. With every "pulsation", the basic constants in the simulated space twisted and trembled.

The only sounds in the laboratory were the hum of the instruments and the suppressed breathing of everyone.

That silent demonstration was more powerful than any scream, visually demonstrating the nature of the "Omega Fragment" - a key that can pry open the foundation of reality, or more precisely, a cancerous, contagious space-time tumor.

Academician Zhang took a deep breath and said in a dry voice: "Quantum freezing... turns out it's not suppression, but more like... sealing? Our isolation cabin interrupted an ongoing process? It's like forcibly pressing down the fuse of a bomb that's about to explode?"

This metaphor points to the impending disaster more directly than Zhou Kerui's "cancer".

"That's right,"

Zhou Kerui's eyes were fixed on those twisted fluctuation lines of physical constants, her face frighteningly pale, "The original state of the fragments at the capture point, the activity of its 'field' is far beyond our imagination!"

"It is not being found statically, it is at a critical point of...activation and diffusion!"

"Our collection procedure, the 'quantum freeze at absolute zero', is probably not the result of our technology. It is more like the fragments themselves encountered some incomprehensible 'rejection reaction' or rule conflict when entering our universe, causing their core processes to be temporarily 'frozen'."

"And we foolishly mistook this freeze for safety and locked it in a safe like a 'relic'!"

"Hou Tu Hao..."

Zhulong's cold voice continued, with a hint of heavy logical deduction, "When the 'Zhulong' node tried to conduct a deep scan, especially trying to understand its internal structure or information encoding, it might have inadvertently provided some kind of 'key', or simply the disturbance caused by the observation itself broke this fragile frozen balance, causing the fragment to be 'awakened'. It was not 'activated', but... thawed."

"Thaw... cancer... transformation..."

Zhou Kerui muttered to herself, and every word made her feel cold.

She turned around abruptly and faced the entire laboratory. Her voice was not loud, but it was filled with unprecedented determination and a kind of pessimistic clarity: "Combining all the existing data, simulation results, the experience of the 'Hou Tu', and the phenomenon of the 'digestion' of the Zhulong core - I, Zhou Kerui, as the chief researcher of the 'Forbidden Zone Special Service Team', formally propose the highest priority risk assessment recommendation to the association: immediately terminate all active research projects on the 'Omega Fragment'!"

"What we are studying is not a technology, not a weapon, not even a life form...it is a 'rule virus', a malignant growth against the laws of physics itself!"

Her words echoed loudly in the silent laboratory. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her in astonishment.

"Keep going deeper. Whether it's reverse engineering, energy stimulation or information decoding, we are injecting new vitality into this 'virus' and accelerating its 'thawing' process!"

"Any detection method we have now is essentially asking it a 'question', and its 'answer' is to distort the physical rules that we rely on to ask the question! Sensor failure, logical errors, metal pulsation... these are all its 'answers' that are eroding our cognitive tools and material foundation!"

She pointed at the simulated core on the screen that was still beating silently. "Look at it! What is the 'pulsation' it shows in the simulated environment? It is trying to modify the 'laws' of the space it is in! Make it more suitable for itself, or in other words, make the environment around it more like its 'native' place - a place with chaotic logic, blurred boundaries between organic and inorganic, and space itself has activity and even... an abyss of will!"

"Every time we try to understand its underlying principles, every time we try to frame it with known scientific frameworks, we are providing it with 'anchors' and 'nutrients', and accelerating its erosion of the structure of reality!"

"We think we are looking for means of defense or elimination, but in fact we may be building a bridge for it to spread outside the laboratory, and even spread to the entire association headquarters and even the solar system!"

Zhou Kerui took a deep breath, her eyes flashing with the despair and rationality of a scientist facing force majeure: "I suggest that the fragments be immediately transferred to the association's most remote, highest-level protected deep space isolation station with complete self-destruction capabilities, and the 'annihilation' protocol be activated - place it in a permanent, multi-level space-time isolation bubble, prohibiting any form of active energy or information interaction!"

"At the same time, destroy all raw data and samples that have direct contact with it, and only keep the observation log copy with the highest encryption level. Completely abandon research! Treat it as the source of a cosmic plague and seal it up! Any contact is equivalent to self-destruction!"

There was deathly silence in the laboratory.

Give up research? Give up trying to understand the source of terror that caused the destruction of the Hou Tu ship and reached the S-level threat level?
Give up the technology that may be ahead of its time?

Even give up on any glimmer of consciousness that might exist to rescue Captain Li Zheng?
This is tantamount to raising the white flag to the unknown!

This runs counter to the Red Dragon Association's consistent purpose of facing the abyss and exploring the unknown!

Academician Zhang was the first to break the silence. He frowned with deep worry, "Dr. Zhou, I understand your concerns. Fear is also a part of scientific research... But should we completely seal it up and give it up? Will this make us completely lose the initiative to deal with threats? If we know nothing about it, what can we do to resist it next time it appears, or its kind? Moreover, our compatriots on the Hou Tu..."

"Academician Zhang! It's better to be ignorant than to dig your own grave!"

Zhou Kerui's voice suddenly rose, with a rare hint of excitement, "What has the nano disaster on Mars taught us? In the face of a highly adaptable and subversive unknown, reckless research is equivalent to launching!"

"What we are facing now is not nanomachines, but the distortion of the laws of physics! Our existing weapons, defenses, and logical models may be like a stick in the Stone Age against a supernova explosion! Continuing research is not exploration, but feeding! It is to provide it with 'samples' and 'experimental fields' that adapt to the rules of our universe!"

"Think about how the 'Hou Tu Hao' was 'digested'? Think about how the Zhulong branch node was 'erased'? The next thing to be transformed may be this laboratory, or the entire headquarters!"

She looked around at her shocked colleagues and lowered her voice, carrying a heavy sense of fatigue and an unquestionable warning: "Believe me, or you will see the walls around you begin to pulsate and breathe, and feel the cognitive logic collapse. It will be too late."

"The abyss is right in front of us. The desire for knowledge is sometimes a fatal temptation... We must admit that there are some things that humans should not touch and cannot control. Giving up research and sealing up the fragments is our only option to delay the disaster!"

Her warning of "endless abyss" was like a huge piece of ice, smashing into the boiling research atmosphere of the laboratory.

The huge sense of crisis and the huge controversy over abandoning research instantly pushed the "Restricted Zone Special Service Team" to the center of the storm.

Zhou Kerui's proposal directly challenged the core belief of the Red Dragon Association and put a cruel choice in front of everyone: continue to explore the abyss at the risk of civilization destruction, or confine oneself forever in the cage of ignorance in order to protect the fragile present?

At this suffocating moment of confrontation, in the corner of the laboratory, a researcher who was responsible for monitoring the passive sensors outside the debris isolation zone suddenly turned pale. His hands trembled uncontrollably as he pointed at the relatively small screen in front of him.

"Dr. Zhou... Dr. Zhou! Academician Zhang! Zhulong! You... hurry up and take a look at the zero-point field surveillance of the outer ring of the quarantine area!"

Everyone's eyes were instantly focused on the past.

On the screen, the originally smooth green curve representing the zero-point vacuum energy benchmark was now pulsating synchronously at an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible amplitude. The pulsation frequency perfectly matched the pulsation frequency of the core of the "Omega fragment" in the Zhulong simulation.

The quantum freeze seal of the isolation chamber is still in effect, and there is no energy overflow signal from the fragments themselves.

But the zero-point field pulsation from the space outside the quarantine zone silently announced a fact that was even more terrifying than the thawing of the fragments themselves:

The influence of the fragments has penetrated the most stringent physical isolation! It is resonating with the underlying "background" of the universe itself in a way that we cannot understand!

“It…” the researcher’s voice was filled with fear. “It… is not isolated… it is trying to… infect space itself…?”

Zhou Kerui's pupils suddenly contracted. Her deepest fear was becoming a reality at a speed beyond her imagination.

The abyss is not static; it is beginning to actively and erosively spread toward the shore.

The proposal to abandon the research almost became a bitter irony in the face of such rapid changes.

"I will go to President Chen to explain the situation!"

Zhou Kerui realized at this time that the problem had become serious. The matter of the "Hou Tu" starship was definitely not a small matter that could be handled easily. There were too many and complicated issues involved. Now she had to find someone who could make the final decision.

……

The fear and shock that filled the cold air of the laboratory had not yet dissipated when Zhou Kerui rushed out of the door and headed straight for the president's office on the top floor.

She didn't even use the internal communication to request an appointment - time, in the face of threats of this level, is the most consumable luxury.

The door of the president's office slid open silently the moment her authority was recognized.

The interior space was unexpectedly simple, with only a huge curved desk, a real-time star map that took up almost the entire wall, and a holographic model in the corner that was constantly changing its geometric shape and emitting a faint blue light - it was a dynamic simulation of an early suppression sample of the Martian nano-disaster, a permanent warning.

Chen Lin was not sitting behind his desk. At this moment, he was standing with his back to the door, with his hands behind his back, staring at the star map.

On the huge star map, the area of ​​UDF-7243 was highlighted, and in the center was a dazzling, shrinking and expanding scarlet light spot, representing the lost "Hou Tu" and the "Omega fragment" it carried.

At the edge of the star map, the golden dots representing the solar system appear extremely small and distant.

Zhou Kerui's hurried footsteps were particularly clear in the empty room.

She didn't even have time to adjust her breathing before she spoke directly, her voice trembling with forced suppression and unprecedented urgency: "President! The situation is out of control! The 'Omega Fragment'...it has broken through the quantum freeze isolation! The zero-point field is pulsating synchronously! It is eroding space itself!"

Chen Lin's figure did not move at all, as if he was a solidified sculpture.

He did not respond immediately, but the scarlet light spot in the UDF-7243 area on the star map seemed to expand strangely the moment Zhou Kerui finished speaking.

The time in the office seemed to freeze for a few seconds, with only the star map data stream scrolling silently in the background.

Finally, Chen Lin slowly turned around.

There was no shock or panic on his face as Zhou Kerui had expected.

"Zero-point field pulsation... frequency matches the fragment simulation core?"

Chen Lin's voice was not loud, but as clear as a scalpel cutting across the surface of metal, and every word cut precisely to the core.

"Perfect match!" Zhou Kerui confirmed immediately, and quickly called up the monitoring data on the wristband and projected it into the air. The subtle but deadly pulsation curve was clearly visible. "Our most stringent physical barrier is useless! The impact mechanism of the fragments far exceeds the scope of physical isolation! It is rewriting the basic rules, President! It is not just a foreign object, it is assimilating the surrounding space... into a part of it!"

Chen Lin's gaze swept across the pulsating curve and then fell back on the scarlet spot of light on the star map.

His fingers unconsciously rubbed a callus on his knuckles - the mark left by countless times tapping at the crisis decision-making table.

"Dr. Zhou," he said, his voice steady and calm, yet full of unquestionable authority, "your previous suggestion - to seal it up completely and abandon the research, how feasible is it now?"

This question went straight to the point, like an icy awl piercing Zhou Kerui's last bit of hope, and bitterness instantly filled her mouth.

"zero."

She answered decisively, with the honesty of a scientist in her desperation, "The zero-point field pulsation proves that even if we immediately stop all active contact, transfer it to the farthest isolation station, and activate the 'Nirvana' protocol... I'm afraid we can't stop this spatial 'infection'."

"It has found a way to pry open the background rules of our universe, and sealing it away... may just delay its eventual explosion, or... give it a more stable, undisturbed 'incubation' environment."

"That is, the option of 'giving up contact' has essentially been removed from our decision tree."

Chen Lin's statement carried a cold and decisive tone.

"At least, based on current knowledge and technology, yes, President." Zhou Kerui nodded with difficulty. "Passive defense has failed. What we are facing is a kind of... rule cancer that is contagious at the spatial topology level."

Chen Lin slowly walked to the desk, his shadow stretched long by the light of the star map.

"Is it my turn to make the decision?" (End of this chapter)