The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

With the launch of the furnace renovation plan, the resource crisis of "Iron Heart" was fundamentally alleviated in the following months.

A massive "logistics base" transformed from "Clockwork City" began to provide "Iron Heart" with a steady stream of energy and supplies.

The continuous output from the bizarre furnace brought the "Iron Heart" warehouse to its full capacity for the first time.

This finally put the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Alai at ease, and gave this massive sea fortress the confidence to set foot in more distant waters.

As the flight path continued northward, the sun was shrouded in thick clouds all day long, and the most noticeable change came from a sudden drop in temperature.

"Sir, the external temperature has dropped to minus forty degrees Celsius. The conventional physical toughness of the 'Iron Heart' outer armor is decreasing. We recommend activating the 'biological cold resistance' mode of the living alloy," the researcher monitoring the outer armor reported to Shen Ge.

Shen Ge nodded. On the outer shell of the "Iron Heart," the emerald green vines began to emit a faint green light. A gentle bio-energy flowed slowly inside the alloy, resisting the extreme cold that could make ordinary steel as brittle as glass.

The city's temperature control system also began operating at high power, keeping out wind and snow and ensuring a warm, spring-like atmosphere inside.

But energy consumption has started to rise again, constantly reminding everyone that they have entered a harsh place where they need to constantly fight against the "environment".

Just two days after "Iron Heart" had adapted to its new environment and started sailing.

"Patrol Team Three reports! The right-wing channel clearing team has been attacked by an unidentified force! Repeat, attacked! Requesting support!" A rapid call mixed with electromagnetic interference came through the communicator.

On the main screen, the monitoring footage of an engineering vessel responsible for breaking through large ice floes suddenly began to shake violently, followed by a piercing metallic cracking sound, and then the screen went dark.

"What's going on?" Roca slammed his hand on the table and immediately stood up.

"Switch to the backup view from the accompanying drone!" Ellie calmly commanded.

The backup screen was switched on, and the scene before them made everyone's pupils shrink.

Beside the missing engineering vessel, a huge, seemingly ordinary ice floe had suddenly come to life.

Countless segments made of ice crystals, resembling giant scorpion claws, suddenly extended from beneath the floating ice, easily tearing through the engineering vessel's thick armor.

In the very center of that "floating ice," rows of compound eyes, emitting a chilling blue light, slowly opened.

"It's the 'Ice Crystal Slayer'! It's the legendary being... capable of freezing a ten-thousand-ton ship into an ice sculpture in an instant!" An old survivor who had worked as a sailor on the Northern Route and had been transferred from "Clockwork City" cried out in terror.

"All personnel on alert! Raider squads two and three, attack immediately!" Kyle commanded.

The main force set out, and Shen Ge watched through the monitor screen as Kyle and Roca commanded the raider forces in a bizarre battle against the giant ice crystal.

It must be said that after these years of training, the two brothers have grown into qualified commanders and valiant and skilled mecha armored warriors.

The battle lasted less than twenty minutes before this fourth-tier monster became nourishment for the "furnace".

After clearing away other potential threats in the waterway, the fleet continued its journey.

Along the way, the number of these fourth-tier "Ice Crystal Killers" increased, until eventually, the entire sea surface was covered with them.

Fortunately, with the support of "Iron Heart" artillery fire, these fourth-tier monsters were not enough to block their way.

A few days later, "Iron Heart" sailed into a stormy sea area.

A raging blizzard connecting the sky and the sea, black leaden clouds that blot out the sun, and huge black lightning rolling in the clouds formed a "black high wall".

"Beep...beep beep...beep..."

The Hermes control console suddenly sounded an alarm.

Hephaestus, who was checking the signal, exclaimed in surprise, "Your Excellency, we have detected a distress signal in the storm!"

His hands flew across the keyboard as he filtered and amplified the distress signal.

Soon, a series of ancient Morse code sounds, filled with static, began to ring intermittently in the command hall.

That was the most primitive and universal distress signal—Morse code.

"."

".."

-./

The Morse code ended there, and the process began to repeat.

But everyone could hear it clearly: behind the Morse code, there seemed to be faint cries of children.

Eye of the storm?

Children?

It's obvious this is a trap.

However, this is on the "Iron Heart" route, so there's no harm in taking a look along the way.

The instant the "Iron Heart" touched the outer wall of the storm, a semi-transparent energy shield provided by the [Clock of Order] suddenly lit up on the outside of the regular shield.

This is the initial application of the "Clock" developed by Hephaestus' team. It uses the power of its "rules" to forcibly stabilize the chaotic eerie energy in a small area, forming a temporary eerie energy shield, which is remarkably effective against such eerie energy storms.

Even so, the "Iron Heart" itself continued to shake violently.

The ice crystal storm, sharp as blades, frantically slashed at the shield, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound.

Huge black lightning bolts struck outside the window intermittently, illuminating a terrifying, mountain-like shadow that loomed in the wind and snow.

Those seemed to be high-level anomalies. They were full of hostility towards the "Iron Heart," this "glowing entity" that had intruded into their territory, yet they felt an instinctive fear of the power of rules emanating from the [Clock of Order]. They merely roared from afar, not daring to approach easily.

Hours later, when nearly one-fifth of the energy reserves had been depleted, Hermes' voice rang out in the command center: "We have reached the storm's center. Warning: A massive entity has appeared ahead. Please slow down and take precautions."

Ahead, a strange circular "eye of the storm" with a diameter of about ten kilometers appeared in front of the fleet. It looked calm and peaceful, as if the power of the strange energy storm was blocked by an invisible wall.

Right in the center of the eye of the storm, a huge offshore drilling platform stands silently.

It was covered by thick ice and snow, with countless huge icicles hanging upside down from its steel frame. The entire platform was pitch black, seemingly devoid of any signs of life, except for a faint signal light flickering on the long-rusted communications tower at the top.

"Is this the source of the distress signal?" Alai asked, frowning as he looked at the drilling platform.

“It doesn’t look like a refuge, it’s more like a…trap.” Roca frowned, sensing an extremely ominous atmosphere from the platform.

It was clean, too clean. Logically speaking, in the polar regions where the energy of the supernatural was so concentrated, and where there were a large number of high-level supernatural beings in the storm, such a huge metal structure should have long been used as a nest by countless supernatural beings.

"Kyle, Roca, take a small team down and take a look," Shen Ge said.

"Yes!"

Ten black Predator III helicopters glided down from the deck of Ironheart and landed on the platform's tarmac, which was covered in thick ice.

"crunch, crunch..."

Combat boots screeched harshly on the thick snow. The platform was deathly silent except for the howling wind.

Kyle gave a hand signal, and the squad immediately formed a combat formation, weapons at the ready, and crept step by step toward the entrance of the main building of the platform.

Surprisingly, the entrance door was not locked.

As they approached, the massive, rusted alloy explosion-proof door, weighing tens of tons, slowly opened inward with a creaking sound, as if welcoming their arrival.

Behind the door was a pitch-black corridor. Kyle frowned, extremely displeased with this feeling of being "lured into a trap."

After reporting the situation to the command center, he led his team into the darkness. Following the internal pipelines and the signals provided by "Hermes," they descended through abandoned dormitories, laboratories, and archives.

The facilities here were remarkably well-preserved, only covered in a thick layer of dust. Strangely, they encountered nothing unusual, not even a single mutated rat.

They arrived at the deepest part of the platform, where a circular partition door, its surface carved with a picture of a baby sleeping peacefully in a flower bud, blocked their way.

Above the door, its name is clearly marked in the pioneers' script—

[Conservation Area - "Cradle"]

Just as Kyle raised his hand, preparing to have the demolition experts force open the door, the huge circular isolation door opened automatically again with a low, gurgling sound of hydraulic pressure deflating.

Behind the door, it was not dark.

A soft light shone from inside the door, and the purified, warm air rushed in, creating a stark contrast to the cold atmosphere outside.

What unfolded before the "Raiders" squad was a huge circular hall filled with futuristic technology.

Dozens of hibernation chambers made of translucent crystals were neatly arranged around the hall. Inside each chamber lay a human child between the ages of five and ten.

As the raider squad entered, a quaint-looking conservation robot in the center of the hall slowly turned around.

Most of its body was corroded by rust, and broken wires were even exposed at the joints. It moved slowly and stiffly, with only one lonely red electronic eye still stubbornly shining.

Its synthesized electronic voice was filled with noise, and its speech was somewhat intermittent. The sound slowly rang out in the hall through the broadcast system.

"...Warning. Access verification—human genes detected..."

"...Not affected by the deep weird corruption, judged as... 'friendly' unit."

"Excuse me……"

The robot's red electronic eyes looked at Kyle, who was in the lead, and asked, "...Are you here to take us home...the 'rescuers'?"

In fact, Kyle is not human in the strict sense, and the Alai family are not human from the old era. They have already undergone a "monstrous" change.

However, this is different from the mutations caused by the transplantation of bizarre flesh and blood by the monsters. They are "monsterized fish-men" who have slowly evolved through generations of washing by the ocean and erosion by bizarre energy.

This is like how organisms evolved from the ocean to the land, and then slowly evolved into humans. It's just that because over 90% of the post-apocalyptic world became ocean, it forced the humans of this world to return to the ocean to live, which gave rise to fish-men like Alai.

So when the robot mentioned detecting human genes, Shen Ge's first thought was... what was its basis for judgment?
Because it mentions "not being contaminated by deep weirdness".

"Be careful," Shen Ge's voice came through the communicator.

After receiving Shen Ge's instructions, Kyle nodded and said, "Yes, that's us."

The robot's red electronic eyes flashed violently a few times, as if some data stream was overwhelming its old processor.

"Please... come with me."

It slowly turned around and, in a leisurely manner, led the "predator" squad on a tour of the "conservation area".

"This is the Pioneer's most advanced 'Gene Spark' project research base."

The synthesized electronic voice of "Cradle" slowly rose through the lobby's public address system. Although filled with noise, it sounded like a dutiful museum guide.

"Our mission is to study how to make human newborns naturally develop antibodies against the supernatural at the genetic level, so as to preserve the last hope for civilization."

It stopped in front of a hibernation pod, its eyes flashing red, as if looking at its own child.

"These are the children of the greatest scientists at the base back then. They entrusted their most precious treasures to this project."

The apocalypse came without warning. As alarms blared throughout the base, hundreds of powerful and bizarre creatures had already torn apart its external defenses.

In order to protect these last "sparks" of humanity, the base commander resolutely activated the highest level of defense measures—the "Cradle" Emergency Protocol.

"Once the agreement is activated, the base will be permanently locked down."

"All the scientists and security personnel voluntarily stayed outside the conservation area, fighting the invading monsters with their own flesh and blood, buying precious seventeen minutes for my core program to start and for all the hibernation pods to enter a deep hibernation state."

"They...are all heroes."

It paused for a long time, as if in mourning for the departed creators.

"And I, as the ultimate executor and sole guardian of the agreement, protect the children here. My only mission is to maintain the life support system and wait for the 'Ark Zero' marked on the sea chart to come and take them back to a new world without the strangeness."

The story of the "cradle" ends here.

This heroic story, filled with sacrifice, dedication, perseverance, and hope, deeply moved Alai and others who listened to the entire tale through the communication system.

Alai's eyes even reddened a little, and she pleaded with Shen Ge, "Sir, can we bring these poor children back?"

Kyle and Roca also fell silent. Looking at the dilapidated yet steadfast robot before them, a sense of respect welled up within them.

However, in the command room of "Iron Heart", Shen Ge leaned back in his chair and frowned almost imperceptibly.

The story was touching, and logically it seemed to make sense. But his keen intuition detected a discordant note within this seemingly perfect tale. (End of Chapter)