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

Under the guidance of the Deepsea Growers, Ragnar's agricultural team learned how to use bioluminescent algae to provide light and geothermal pipes to regulate temperature. They then successfully cultivated a crisp-tasting deep-sea mushroom rich in various trace elements in the soilless cultivation area of ​​"Eden," greatly enriching the residents' diet.

The interaction between "Iron Heart" and deep-sea divers has been complementary, resulting in significant progress in various fields such as science and technology and agriculture.

One month later, all the integration and upgrade work was initially completed.

Shen Ge stood atop the newly renovated Iron Heart command tower, gazing out through the enormous crystal porthole.

Below, the city, where steel and crystal intertwine, has become one with the massive geothermal energy tower, which has become a new energy supply device for the "Iron Heart," working in conjunction with the furnace to provide energy for the "Iron Heart."

In the distance, on the Crystal Training Ground, rows of brand-new "Raider-IV" mechs were conducting formation drills, their bodies reflecting an incredibly dazzling blue light.

It's time to set off.

On the eve of departure, the atmosphere in the highest-level laboratory of "Iron Heart" was heavy.

Shen Ge gathered several true core pillars of the "Iron Heart," including Hephaestus, Alai, Ellie, Kyle, and Roca.

"This is some key information compiled from the database of 'Heart of Winter'—the pioneer." Without any further pleasantries, Shen Ge directly transmitted several filtered, encrypted files to everyone's personal terminals.

The contents of the document caused a series of dramatic changes in the expressions of the five people present.

Kyle and Roca were filled with shock and sympathy when they discovered that "Zero" was actually an "artificial container" carrying the "Pandora" virus.

They found it hard to connect the quiet, unassuming girl who silently followed Alai with such a terrifying secret.

When Hephaestus saw the description of the "Omnesia"—the one that attempted to bring everything in the universe into "mechanical ascension"—a look of near disbelief appeared on the face of this tech madman for the first time.

"Behind the New God Cult is not an enemy that can be killed."

Shen Ge's voice rang out calmly: "It is an ideology, a plague that tries to erase everything that has not submitted to them. What we are about to face may be an opponent beyond our imagination."

His gaze swept over the somber faces of the crowd, and he continued, "Upon reaching the far north, I will travel alone to its core. 'Iron Heart' will remain outside the safe route as a final backup and escape route."

“My lord, this is too dangerous! We are willing to go with you!” Kyle was the first to stand up, his expression excited.

"This is an order. Your battlefield is here."

He looked at Alai: "Alai, from now on, you will be the supreme ruler of 'Iron Heart' and 'First Ecosystem'. You will have full authority to decide on all matters concerning people's livelihood, logistics, and internal affairs."

He then looked at Hephaestus, "Hephaestus, you will serve as the Chief Technical Officer, responsible for maintaining the operation of all systems of 'Iron Heart' and providing remote technical support."

Finally, his gaze fell on Kyle and Roca: "The two of you will jointly serve as supreme military commanders. The 'Raiders' Legion and all armed forces in the city will be under your command. Your sole task is to protect this homeland."

“If I do not return,” Shen Ge paused, each word like a boulder striking everyone’s hearts, “then you few will form a supreme decision-making committee to lead everyone to survive.”

Everyone understood that Shen Ge might have come with the conviction that he would never return. The conference room was deathly silent, save for the heavy, suppressed breathing of the attendees.

……

The meeting ended, and everyone left with mixed feelings.

Shen Ge arrived alone at the very top of the command tower, which had been transformed into a "quiet room" completely isolated from the outside world.

"Hermes."

Shen Ge ordered, "Retrieve all the database information just downloaded from the Pioneer Database in the Dream Fragments, create a file with the highest level of security, and name it—'Will'."

"Yes, my lord."

A vast virtual database unfolded before Shen Ge. His mind raced, searching through the sea of ​​information for what he needed most.

He quickly found two crucial encrypted files.

The title of the first document is: [Final Observation Report of Project 'Pandora' & Analysis of the Special Characteristics of Patient Zero].

Shen Ge quickly opened it, and the contents confirmed many of his previous guesses, but also revealed a deeper secret.

It turns out that the so-called "Ark Faction" and "Purification Faction" among the pioneers were not simply a difference in ideology. In the process of researching "using tricks to fight tricks," the "Purification Faction" inadvertently came into contact with an information aggregate—the original form of the "Pandora" virus. They naively believed that they could tame it and transform it into the ultimate biological weapon capable of "purifying" the tricky energy.

But they failed.

"Pandora" contaminated them, disguising its own existence as their "scientific research achievement." The woman "Zero" in the hibernation pod was neither an ordinary researcher nor a descendant of the pioneers.

She is the only "artificial human" created by the Forerunners that can "resonate" with the original message of "Pandora".

Her body is a living key, a "container" born to carry and guide "Pandora".

The reason the "Ark Faction" brought her along was that, after arriving in the New World, they planned to use the special link between her body and "Pandora" to reverse-analyze and find a way to counter the strange power.

The ability of "Zero" to resonate with machinery is not a talent, but a "permission" granted to her by "Pandora," because in the laws of this planet, machinery and life are inherently information of the same origin that can be transformed into each other.

"So that's how it is... Zero's amnesia is probably not just a simple aftereffect of hibernation, but rather the activation of her self-protection mechanism as a "container," which actively sealed away those memories that were enough to break her down.

Next, Shen Ge opened the second document.

This document did not come from the Pioneers' database, but was a "final echo" forcibly extracted by the system from the last 0.01 seconds of struggle before being swallowed by the black vortex.

After the initial deciphering by "Hermes", a strange formula composed of unknown symbols appeared on the screen, constantly changing. It looked like mathematics, yet also like theology.

Below the formula, Hermes provides its annotation:

【'Omnissiah'】

When Shen Ge saw this word, he instantly understood.

"Mechanical ascension...purification of flesh and blood..."

Shen Ge flipped his hand, and a tiny, shimmering fragment the size of a fingernail appeared in his palm. This was a trophy he had acquired in the Heart of Winter.

In the dim light, there was also a small black dot, which was the part contaminated by the black vortex, but this did not affect the use of the dream power.

With 32 points, plus the 1 point he acquired earlier, Shen Ge now has 33 points of Dream Power.

It's still far from the 50% threshold for direct teleportation or the 100% threshold for establishing a teleportation channel, but it can clearly pinpoint the locations of other dream fragments. "So it really is the far north?" Shen Ge sensed the feedback from the dream power; it seemed the journey to the far north would need to be accelerated.

He sat cross-legged, holding the fragment of the dream in his hand.

Through the fragments of his dream, his eerie eyes seemed to see a magical scene.

At the world's extremes, beneath a vast ice plain shrouded in eternal aurora, lay not the eerie lair or Forerunner ruins he had imagined.

It was an inverted spire so enormous that it defied any measurement.

The spire appears to be carved entirely from the purest diamonds, without any trace of splicing. It hangs upside down from beneath the ice sheet, deeply "nailing" itself into the heart of the planet, like a giant wedge used to "suppress" or "anchor" the entire world.

Around the spire are several chains resembling planetary rings, each engraved with energy patterns so complex that even Hermes could not decipher them.

Inside the deepest part of that diamond spire, Shen Ge saw luminous objects resembling "fragments of a dream."

"found it!"

Shen Ge took a deep breath. Judging from the light source, this dream fragment was definitely much larger than the one in his hand. Once he found them all, he might be able to reopen the portal.

……

"Iron Heart" has officially set sail.

For the first three days of the voyage, the wind and sea were calm.

The newly upgraded power system enabled the "Iron Heart" to reach an unprecedented speed in the deep sea.

However, on the morning of the fourth day, when the coordinates of "Iron Heart" officially crossed the "Northern Circle" marked on the Pioneer's nautical chart, an anomaly quietly occurred.

"Reporting to the Governor! The sonar array... is malfunctioning!" A technician in charge of monitoring said with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Hephaestus immediately switched the main screen to the monitoring interface of the "Superrange Crystal Sonar Array". The three-dimensional sea chart, which should have been filled with densely packed light spots representing various marine life signals, was now completely black.

“All life signs… have disappeared,” Ellie murmured to herself, her eyes filled with disbelief.

There are no schools of fish, no plankton, and even the energy reactions of the ubiquitous microbial colonies on the seabed have vanished into thin air.

This sea area is as clean as a sterile room that has been thoroughly disinfected, with only the huge floating city of "Iron Heart" standing out out of place.

Even the most experienced sailors felt a deep-seated unease; they preferred to face the overwhelming, eerie raging tides rather than sail in this "silent sea."

"Maintain maximum alert, slow down." Kyle's voice broke the silence. He ordered, "All 'Raider' squads, go to Level One readiness, ready to attack at any time."

The Iron Heart sailed for another two full days in this eerily silent sea.

Just as everyone's nerves were about to snap from the endless silence, the "Hermes" alarm suddenly sounded.

"Warning! A giant non-biological high-energy reaction detected ahead! Its size... incalculable! It is rising from beneath the seabed!"

Before the words were even finished, the massive hull of the "Iron Heart" suddenly shuddered, as if it had struck something indestructible.

On the seabed ahead, a massive crystalline structure, hundreds of meters high and composed entirely of blue-black ice crystals with a perfect geometric shape, was slowly "growing" out of the sea, blocking the path of the "Iron Heart".

It is not any known fleshy monster, but a previously unseen "mineral monster".

It has no facial features, no limbs, it is just a pure collection of crystals.

However, the powerful and eerie energy emanating from it caused violent energy ripples to spread across the surface of the "Iron Heart's" conventional shield, as if it were about to be breached at any moment.

"Is this... the eeriness of the far north?" Roca frowned as he looked at the giant crystalline mountain radiating an ominous blue light.

Before anyone could react, the core area of ​​the "Crystallized Sentinel" suddenly shone brightly.

The next second, a thick, eerie blue beam of energy slammed into the "Iron Heart's" shield.

"boom--!"

The entire city tilted violently, and piercing energy overload alarms blared in every corner. The shield's energy level dropped by nearly 10% instantly from this attack!

"All units, open fire and return fire!" Kyle roared.

Thousands of dark gold turrets and newly installed crystal energy cannons fired simultaneously, unleashing devastating firepower like a torrential downpour upon the crystal mountain, sending up countless shattered crystal fragments.

However, given its enormous size, these attacks were nothing more than a tickle. The shattered areas almost instantly "grew" back to their original state, completely intact.

"Conventional firepower is ineffective! Its self-repair capabilities are too strong! Kyle, Roca, we must destroy its core crystal cluster. According to energy reaction detection, it's located right at its geometric center!" Ellie analyzed quickly, looking at the monitor screen.

"Understood! Raider Legion, follow me!"

With Kyle's command, dozens of brand-new "Predator-IV Deepsea Hunters" were launched from various launch ports of the "Iron Heart".

Faced with an enemy with extremely high levels of pure energy and physical defense, the previously invincible flesh-and-blood alloy weapons proved inadequate.

This will be the debut of the new weapon.

"Switch to 'Resonance Oscillation' mode!" Kyle calmly ordered over the communication channel.

The tips of the crystal spears in the hands of all the "plunderers" lit up simultaneously, emitting a high-frequency vibration wave that was invisible to the naked eye but powerful enough to distort the surrounding seawater.

Amidst the piercing resonance, those seemingly indestructible crystal structures were torn apart like fragile glass by the oscillation waves, leaving huge cracks.

"Deep Frost Rays, Crossfire!" Roca commanded another team to launch an attack from the flank.

Dozens of white beams, powerful enough to freeze everything, precisely struck the cracked area, causing the crystal structure, which was about to repair itself, to become structurally brittle in an instant, and large chunks of crystal began to peel off.

After several mechs were temporarily overloaded due to excessive energy output, they managed to open a passage to the core on the surface of the Sentinel.

"Follow me!" Kyle charged ahead, leading the way. (End of Chapter)