The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

The bridge of the "Stargazer" resembled a broken metal heart slowly sinking into viscous, icy cosmic pus. The last glimmer of emergency lighting, a dim red glow, flickered a few times in the tens of seconds after its energy was completely depleted, like a candle in the wind, before finally extinguishing completely. Absolute, physical darkness swallowed everything. Only the eerie "nebula" or "mist" of endless, slowly flowing dark silver and deep purple outside the portholes emitted a faint, cold, and extremely unsettling glow of inert energy, casting distorted, shifting, and writhing light, like the pulsating of diseased internal organs, through the already cracked and even shattered portholes.

Absolute darkness, mingled with the eerie, chilling glow of the outside world, created an indescribable, suffocating terror and loneliness. The air was still, the hissing of the life support system had long since ceased, leaving only the last traces of thin, rapidly stale exhaust fumes, carrying the metallic scent of ozone, leaking from the ruptured pipes. The temperature was plummeting, approaching the absolute cold of outer space, and fine ice crystals began to condense on the metal walls. Even more terrifying, this bizarre space, which Lina called "the belly of something," seemed to be continuously, slowly yet relentlessly, permeating, seeping into, eroding, and assimilating everything that entered it. The dark silver and deep purple glow seemed to possess a life of its own, attempting to "lick" the ship's outer shell. Meanwhile, a more subtle, more "essential," cold, and invisible "field" or "rule," filled with the meaning of "devouring" and "returning to nothingness," was penetrating the damaged hull and slowly seeping in, bringing a slow, soul-level sense of "freezing" and "dissolving."

"Lina... what did you just say?" Lowe's voice broke the deathly silence of the bridge, hoarse and dry, like two pieces of rusty metal rubbing against each other. He remained leaning against the control console, his body trembling uncontrollably from the extreme cold and severe soul trauma. The heightened senses of a late-stage second-ring Star Speaker were now a form of torture, allowing him to clearly "feel" the cracks in his own soul, feeling a numbing, sluggish, stinging sensation as if he were being soaked in icy venom under the invisible "erosion" of this eerie space. He also "felt" the terror of the eerie "nebula" outside the porthole—it wasn't simple energy or matter, but a more fundamental, more "chaotic," almost "rule-like," living, hungry "field" filled with a desire to "dissolve" and "assimilate" "order," "information," and "existence" itself.

"Eating..." Lina's weak voice came through the communicator again, trembling with barely suppressed fear and the pain of heightened spiritual sensitivity. "So many... 'voices'... The small ones are eating the smaller ones... The big ones are eating the small ones... They are eating themselves... Here... there is no 'life' and no 'death,' only... the constant 'eating' and 'being eaten'... What is 'eaten' becomes part of what is eaten... and goes on to eat other things..."

Her description vaguely matches the preliminary data on the external environment captured by Verna and Anne using the last bit of the ship's backup batteries (isolated from the main power source and only able to maintain basic sensors and communications for a few minutes).

"External environment scan (passive)... Energy readings are chaotic and disordered, background radiation exhibits high frequency, broad spectrum, and self-devouring characteristics. Matter density... undefinable, seemingly somewhere between energy and 'information,' constantly transforming. Spatial structure... unstable, with numerous microscopic, transient 'spacetime vortices' and 'information annihilation points.' No conventional 'life' or 'intelligence' signals were detected, but strong, unconscious, collective fluctuations in 'entropy increase' and 'assimilation' tendencies were detected..." Verna's voice carried the intermittent electrical noise of the instrument's low battery, and a deep fear. "This... is a high-concentration enrichment zone of some extreme form of 'chaotic' forces, perhaps even... one of the sources or 'breeding grounds'! What we've fallen into may be one of the 'rule faults' or 'absolute frontiers' mentioned by 'Harmony' and 'The Pivot of All Structures'—'The Abyss'!"

"The Abyss"... an abyss of devouring. A region even a powerful ancient civilization like the "Hydra of Myriad Structures" marked as extremely dangerous. Is it the "homeland" of "Crystal Devourers" and other derivatives of "chaos"? Or is it a more fundamental and terrifying "wound" or "organ" formed in the universe by the power of "chaos" itself?

"Energy depleted, life support ceased, the ship's structure teeters on the brink of collapse, the external environment is extremely deadly..." Annie's voice was numb with despair. "...How much time... do we have left?"

No one can answer. In this environment, "death" can come in many forms at any time—freezing to death, suffocating to death, being eroded and decomposed by the external "Abyss" energy, being torn apart by a sudden spacetime vortex, or... the soul being assimilated and dissipated by that omnipresent, cold "devouring" will.

An absolute dead end. More hopeless than the "Corridor of Eternal Silence." There, at least, there is an "empty" silence. Here, however, is a slow, inescapable "digestion" filled with "malice."

However, in this darkness that seemed destined to end, in the depths of Rowena's consciousness, which had become unusually "calm" and "sharp" due to the trauma to his soul and extreme exhaustion, he suddenly caught a very, very faint, familiar yet strange, regular "tremor".

It wasn't the chaotic whispers of "devouring" from the "Abyss" outside.

It did not originate from itself or its companions.

Instead, it came from the Star Key in his arms, whose light had long since dimmed and whose aura was "tired," as well as the "Light of Civilization" and "Spark of Engineering" crystals close to it.

In the last vestiges of his perception, which he forcibly maintained to resist the soul erosion, he "sense" that the resonance of the "source seed" within the Star Key in his arms was not completely dormant. On the contrary, upon contact with the omnipresent, icy "chaotic" erosion field of this "Abyss" space, the "tired" resonance seemed... to be "stimulated," producing an extremely faint, yet exceptionally "clear" and "resistant," regular "tremor." It was as if a slumbering beast had been gently "stabbed" from its deepest dream by the aura of its natural enemy.

Immediately afterwards, the damaged, recorded fluctuations of the "Light of Civilization" crystal seemed to be touched by this "chaos" erosion, emitting a faint, yet incredibly "tough," glow that seemed to be "engraving" and "resisting" this "dissolution." Meanwhile, the "Spark of Engineering" crystal conveyed a more subtle, instinctive desire to "reject" and "reconstruct" this "chaotic," "disorderly," and "self-consuming" structure before it.

These three crystals, or rather the "ideas" and "essences" they represent, seem to have generated some kind of... instinctive, rule-based, weak "stress response" and "resistance resonance" when faced with the absolute "chaos" and "devouring" of this "Abyss".

This discovery was like a spark igniting in the darkness. Faint, yet it suddenly brought Luo Wei's almost frozen mind to life.

"Velna, Annie!" Rowe's voice suddenly carried a hurried, forcefully suppressed excitement that seemed out of place in their current dire situation. "Immediately! Use the last bit of backup battery power to analyze the spatial energy fluctuations, background noise, and... the stability parameters of the rules around us—inside the bridge, especially in our vicinity! Compare them with the data from the external environment of 'The Maw' as quickly as possible! Hurry!"

Although Verna and Anne were confused, their absolute trust in Rowe's orders led them to act immediately. The remaining sensors, powered by backup batteries, emitted a final, faint hum.

A few seconds later, Verna's incredulous voice rang out: "Comparison complete! Inside the bridge... especially within a radius of about fifteen meters centered on you... the spatial energy fluctuation disorder is 17% lower than outside! The intensity of the 'devouring' and 'self-devouring' characteristic signals in the background noise has decreased by about 23%! The stability parameters of the rules... while still extremely low, have shown extremely weak, periodic, non-random disturbances, and the source of these disturbances... seems to be your location!"

A radius of fifteen meters! An extremely faint, relatively "stable" and "ordered" bubble centered on Luo Wei (or rather, the crystal in his arms), resisting the erosion of the "Abyss"!

Although this "bubble" is so faint that it could be submerged by the tides of the external "Abyss" at any moment, it does exist! It is the Star Key and the "Spark" crystal that are instinctively resisting, repelling, and purifying the erosion of the surrounding "chaos"!

"Airi! Concentrate!" Luo Wei immediately turned to Airi, who was almost unconscious beside him, grabbed her cold hand, and placed the Star Key into her palm. At the same time, he pressed the "Light of Civilization" and the "Spark of Engineering" crystals together. "Use all your 'structural vision' and harmonizing power to 'see' and 'feel'! See the 'boundary' of this 'bubble'! See how the 'light' of the Star Key and the crystals interacts with those 'dirty things' outside! Tell me, where is the 'light' most 'stable,' and where are the 'dirty things' most 'afraid' of this 'light'?"

Amidst the extreme cold and weakness, Airi was awakened by Luo Wei's voice and the faint warmth (spiritual) emanating from the crystal in her hand. She struggled to concentrate her remaining will, and her dark golden eyes, in the darkness, once again shone with a faint, silvery-white starlight. She looked around, at Luo Wei, and at the crystal in her arms.

In her "structural vision," the scene was terrifying and bizarre. Inside the bridge, there were thick, viscous "lines" and "mist" representing the "Abyss's" erosion—constantly writhing, intertwining, and devouring each other, filled with information of "fragmentation" and "disorder." These "lines" and "mist" were pouring in from the damaged parts of the hull, attempting to erode and assimilate everything. However, in the area centered on Lovi and the crystal, these "lines" and "mist" seemed to encounter an invisible, scorching "wall," being blocked, "burned," and forcibly "repelled," forming an irregular, pale golden, extremely thin "halo" with constantly flickering and distorted edges. Inside the "halo," the "lines" and "mist" of the "Abyss" became sparse and sluggish, and their "devouring" activity was greatly reduced.

She could "see" the "tired" resonance of the "source seed" within the Star Key, like a candle flickering in the wind, yet emanating a pure, ancient, essential "rhythm" full of "evolution" and "possibilities." This rhythm naturally and systematically "rejected" the "chaos" and "stagnation" tendencies of the "Abyss." The "recorded" fluctuations of the "Light of Civilization" acted like a resilient, invisible "membrane," "rejecting" and "covering" the "dissolution" of "information" and "existence" brought about by the power of the "Abyss." The "construction" concept of the "engineering spark" was weakly attempting to "organize" and "reinforce" the chaotic "structure" within this small area.

"The light... is very weak, it's trembling..." Airy's voice was intermittent, but she tried her best to describe it, "The 'dirty stuff' outside... is 'squeezing' it, 'biting' it... The edges of the 'light' are 'bitten' in some places, and in other places it's 'pushed' out a little bit... The 'heartbeat' of the Star Key... seems to be 'helping' each other with the 'colors' of those two pieces (referring to the Light of Civilization and the Spark of Engineering), so that the 'light' doesn't dissipate so easily..."

Her description confirmed Luo Wei's conjecture—the Star Key and the "Spark" crystal were passively and instinctively forming a weak "joint force field" to resist the "Abyss's" erosion! Although this force field was weak and consumed the crystal and the Star Key's last, essential energy, it did exist, and it seemed to produce some kind of synergistic effect under the resonance of the crystal's "idea"!

"So... what if we... actively 'guide' and 'enhance' this resonance?" The almost extinguished flame in Luo Wei's eyes reignited. "Not by using energy to fight it, which would only deplete the crystal's last remaining essence. But by... 'understanding,' 'guiding,' or even... 'borrowing' it?"

He suddenly recalled the cold, absolute, mathematical descriptions of the nature of "order" and "chaos" in the "Ten Thousand Structures Hub" knowledge base. It stated that "chaotic" forces (such as the "Abyss") are not entirely disordered, but rather, on a larger scale, follow a more "savage" and "essential" dynamic set of "rules" based on "entropy increase" and "information annihilation." The suppression of "order" forces is essentially a conflict and overlap between two different systems of "rules." The concept of "tuning" seeks temporary, dynamic "equilibrium points" or "resonance points" within this conflict, using the conflict itself to achieve purification.

"Velna! Retrieve the relevant theoretical framework from the 'Hyperstructure of All Things' knowledge base regarding the dynamic model of 'chaotic' energy structure, the identification of key nodes in 'entropy increase' and 'information annihilation,' and... the creation of temporary 'orderly interference windows' using conflicts of external rules!" Luo Wei said urgently, his mind racing in this desperate situation. "Airi! Keep 'watching'! Focus on the 'main channels' and 'vortex centers' where the 'Abyss's' eroding power flows, and the 'fronts' where they collide most violently with the crystal 'force field'! Find those... places that look the most 'chaotic,' but whose 'chaos' has a certain 'rhythm' or 'repetition'!"

"Love, what are you trying to do?" Verna asked in surprise as she quickly operated the machine (the backup battery was running low).

"Nothing," Rowe's voice, in the darkness, carried an almost frantic calm. "We can't generate energy, and we can't repair the starship. But maybe... we can try to create a small, short-lived, regular 'indigestion' inside the 'belly' of this 'Maw'."

"By utilizing the conflict between the crystal force field and the rules of 'The Abyss's' erosion, at the most intense 'frontal' of the conflict, we search for naturally existing, transient 'unstable nodes' or 'resonance weak points' in the dynamic flow of 'The Abyss's' power. Then, we concentrate all our last remaining 'ideas' resonance and 'existence' imprints belonging to the 'Cradle' and 'Spark,' like the sharpest 'needle,' to 'pierce' that 'node.'"

"The goal is not to repel the 'Maw,' that's impossible. The goal is to trigger a small-scale, short-lived, intrinsic 'rule disorder' or 'information annihilation burst' caused by the 'Maw's' own power. Like a drop of cold water in a boiling oil pan, causing a short-lived, localized 'boiling' and 'splashing'."

"If successful, the chaotic but immense energy and rule disturbances generated by this 'disorder' outbreak might briefly and violently 'push away' or 'tear apart' a small patch of the 'Abyss' around us, forming a temporary 'void' or 'crack' leading to... a less lethal depth. Or, at least, it could buy us... a few minutes, or even tens of minutes, a relatively safe time to think and try other methods!"

This plan is even more insane and far-fetched than the previous "stealing the glimmer of light." It is no longer about bargaining with "nothingness," but about trying to use a "needle" of "idea" to "scratch" the "itch" inside the stomach of the "chaos" behemoth, so that it will "burp" and "spit out" a little "food."

Success rate? Infinitely close to zero. Consequences of failure? It could instantly trigger a larger-scale "Abyss" riot, completely devouring and annihilating them.

However, this is currently the only thing they can "actively" do, and theoretically, there is only a slight possibility of it happening.

"Found it!" Airi's voice suddenly rang out, tinged with pain and extreme focus. "To the left front, outside the broken porthole, about fifty meters... there! The 'flow' of the 'dirty stuff' is swirling like a vortex, spinning very fast and 'rapidly,' but every time it reaches a certain point, it... 'clunks,' like a gear missing a tooth... And, that place is very close to the edge of the crystal's 'light'! The 'light' and the 'dirty stuff' collided most violently there; the 'light' was forced into a sharp point, and the 'vortex' of the 'dirty stuff' was also somewhat... deformed by the sharp point of the 'light'!"

"That's it! The 'unstable node'! The 'rule conflict front'!" Lowe barked. "Velna, Annie, calculate! Using that point as the center, predict the optimal intervention time when the energy and information 'density' and 'chaos' simultaneously reach their theoretical peaks—the time when the 'stutter' and 'conflict' are most intense! Airi, keep your eyes glued to that spot, use your 'eyes' to provide real-time calibration for Annie's calculations!"

"Remaining backup battery power: 3%... Estimated time to sustain core sensors and computing units: no more than eighty seconds..." Verna's voice was taut and strained.

"Eighty seconds...that's enough." Lowe took a deep breath, the cold air biting at his very core, yet it sharpened his chaotic thoughts, making them clearer and sharper, even imbuing them with a near-divine, cold, absolutely rational sense of calculation characteristic of the "Hydraulic Mechanism." "Lilith, Elder Anderson, hold yourselves steady. Barton, Lina, may the 'Fountain of Life' protect you."

"Now," Lowe closed his eyes again, but this time, his consciousness was more focused and clear than ever before. He integrated, wove, and compressed all the power of the three crystals in his arms, his last bit of understanding of spacetime and the rhythm of "rules" from his later stages as a second-ring Star Speaker, every minute structural and dynamic information about that "node" that Airi had transmitted, and the theoretical "interference window" that Verna and Annie had calculated, accurate to the millisecond...

He no longer tried to "confront" or "purify," but instead attempted to "understand" the "chaotic rhythm" of the "Abyss" vortex, to "simulate" the "ripples" of the crystal force field colliding with the "Abyss's" erosion. Then, in the most precise, calculated, fleeting "window" of 0.0001 seconds, he gently, yet with unwavering determination, "passed" in all his complex, condensed, conceptual, and pure "intentions" and "resonance" representing "evolution," "recording," "creation," "life," "harmony," and "existence," like the most exquisite, ruthless, and insane surgical scalpel, along the most fragile, regular "gap" of the "vortex" that Ai Rui "saw," where there were "stutters" and "deformations."

There was no light, no sound, and not even any burst of energy.

There is only one kind of discordant note, which appears abruptly, extremely briefly, extremely faintly, yet incredibly clearly, against the eternal, cold, chaotic, and whispering background of the Abyss, like a gear inside a precision clock suddenly "misaligned," or an "irrational" symbol suddenly inserted into a complex mathematical formula—a discordant note that is regular, logical, cold, and utterly discordant.

Immediately afterwards—

The center of the "Abyss," a swirling vortex of dark silver and deep purple locked by Ai Rui, suddenly contracted inward! The violent, chaotic, and mutually devouring energy and information flow within it seemed to be instantly "interfered," "polluted," and "detonated" by that "dissonant sound," disrupting its inherent, deep-seated, unstable logical contradictions based on "entropy increase" and "information annihilation"!

A tiny, yet utterly unnatural, silver-purple interwoven, irregularly shaped "sphere of light," constantly bursting with bizarre geometric cracks and filled with an aura of self-annihilation, suddenly emerged and expanded at the center of the vortex! Wherever the sphere of light passed, the surrounding "Abyss" energy, as if encountering a natural enemy, retreated in terror and chaos, disintegrated, and devoured each other, triggering a series of small-scale, chain-like, chaotic energy explosions and information annihilation!

A brief, small-scale, internal, and disruptive "rule disorder" eruption originating from within the "Maw" itself!

The chaotic yet massive shockwave of energy and rules generated by the eruption, like an invisible giant hammer, slammed heavily onto the relatively thin "Abyss" field surrounding the "Stargazer" ship, briefly and violently "pushing" and "tearing" it apart!

Outside the porthole, the thick, cold, dark silver and deep purple "mist" churned and receded violently, like miasma scattered by a gale! Revealing what lay behind... a deeper, darker expanse, but devoid of that suffocating, inert energy glow of "devouring" intent—a pure, cold darkness, seemingly the most primordial, most "empty," and void of the universe!

They succeeded! Inside the "belly" of the "Maw," they created a temporary "void" leading to the "relatively safe" outer layer!

However, before anyone could even feel a sense of relief at surviving such a disaster—

"Warning! High-intensity, targeted 'chaotic' energy reaction detected! Originating from the outer perimeter of the 'Void,' deeper within the 'Abyss' region!" Verna's scream rang out in the last second before the backup battery ran out, and then all the instrument screens went completely dark.

Almost simultaneously, in the peripheral vision of Ai Rui, blurred yet still sharp due to overexertion, she "saw" that, on the outskirts of the "void" that had just been "blasted" open, leading to the "relatively safe" darkness, deep within the churning, receding dark silver and deep purple "mist," several enormous, ferocious, irregular energy structures resembling dark silver "tentacles" or "mouthparts," filled with a "greedy" and "gluttonous" will, were slowly, silently, yet with an absolute "hunger" that froze the soul, reaching towards the "Stargazer," this "delicious" "foreign object" that had suddenly "made a commotion."

"The 'void'... is shrinking!" Airy's voice trembled with despair. "There's... there's something bigger... that we... have 'awakened'... it... they... have come!"

The slim chance of survival they had just secured vanished in an instant. A greater, living, and terrifying malice from the Maw itself had been alerted and was descending.

Darkness descended once more. But this time, within the darkness, there was a more tangible, cold, slowly approaching sound... of chewing.