Chapter 308: Chapter 308: Full of Life
As another squad mysteriously disappeared near the core cabin, an unease bordering on panic inevitably began to spread.
The current situation of drifting into an unknown star system and being trapped in deep space further intensified this panic.
The Sage had to order everyone on the "Order Pillar" to inject a dose of tenacity potion to resist this gradually spreading fear, to maintain order on the ship.
But he could feel that the fear had not disappeared; it was still breeding and spreading in the shadows, like an evil spirit behind the curtain, eager to break through the Barrier of reason.
"...A poor iterative product..."
Looking at the cultivators who were busy with their heads down, but in fact had no idea what to do, the white-robed elder sitting at the chief frowned and cursed quietly inside.
"We just lost contact with the lower mechanical cabin," a member of the hidden Order cautiously approached, saying softly by the elder’s side, "In the last communication, they reported noises coming from the duct layer, they left the cabin to check the equipment, and then disappeared. The monitoring system only captured them leaving the cabin door."
"What’s the engine status?" the Sage asked in a deep voice, "When can we jump again?"
"The engine is charging, but part of the power line is offline, making the charge efficiency only one-third of normal; it will take at least an hour to start, and..." the reporting believer swallowed, "and we have not yet found the ’invader’, nor can we determine the exact cause of the previous jump failure. Even if charging is complete, jumping rashly is probably..."
"I don’t need you to remind me of the risks, I will decide when the time comes—now tell me, how many sections are still out of contact? How much of the area do we still control?"
"Mechanical cabin, supply cabin, data center, residential areas 2 to 4, and connection segments D-1 and D-2 have all lost contact; other sections are still under control, but..."
The Sage’s voice was tinged with discontent: "But what?"
"But... there are very strange anomalies, the data returned from the ship’s perception system always contains some unfiltered noise," the believer said, unconsciously adjusting his standing posture, "including those sections where communication is currently smooth, and personnel on duty are safe and sound; the perception system is also returning some very strange signals, giving a feeling like, like..."
"Stop being so hesitant!"
"It’s like the entire ’Order Pillar’ is infected with some kind of ’disease’, and part of its structure is changing, being identified as a ’foreign object’ by the ship’s perception system, but these structures cannot really be separated out, and apart from that bit of noise returned by the perception system, all other sensor and monitoring system signals are normal...
"Also, some on-duty personnel in various cabins report experiencing ’hallucinations’, feeling as if something is crawling inside the walls, or as if someone is talking to them through the room’s ventilation system. A mechanic even directly said... said his tool cabinet was watching him, claiming they had several pairs of eyes inside."
The Sage said nothing, just thought with a grave expression.
The poor iterative products are full of flaws, their fragile nerve structures are easily affected by the external world like those of ordinary mortals, yet their loyalty and endurance remain beyond doubt. The possibility of deviation in their reports exists, but there would be no deliberate exaggerations or nonsensical ravings under fear.
They truly felt something—some kind of "mutation" is spreading across the entire ship.
And thinking of the previously missing squads, those knights who mysteriously disappeared in the command chain, their disappearances... rather than saying they were attacked, it seems more like they were devoured by this ship, utterly consumed.
The Sage slowly stood up, overlooking the hall, his gaze seeming to penetrate the surrounding walls and floor to see the entire magnificent "Tower".
The Order Pillar, is the proud creation of the hidden Order. Each such vessel bears the mission of restoring world order and reshaping the spacetime structure. Its core comes from the great crafting planet "Radar", and each batch of metal used in its construction has been personally blessed by the Living Saint. No matter whether its final assembly took place on an industrial planet or in a remote and wild expedition camp, its sanctity is undoubtably and should not be challenged.
But now, a "disease" is defiling this sacred artifact.
The Sage lowered his head, retrieving a small pendant from his pocket, made of gold, with a brilliantly red gemstone set in the center of two intricately designed circles.
In the gemstone, an ominous light seemed to flicker faintly.
"Inform all cabins still contactable to hold their positions, under no orders should anyone step out of their cabin, much less enter any connecting corridors."
Although it is unknown what those missing personnel encountered, they all lost contact while outside, the problem might lie in the process of "leaving the cabin" or "entering connecting corridors".
"Continue trying to repair the navigation system, jump preparations must be completed before the phase engine finishes charging."
Without knowing the exact location of the "invader" and unable to rule out the hidden danger of interference again, restarting the jump rashly is likely to fail again, but in any case, preparations for a jump must be made in advance—this ship’s existence has already been exposed, continued delays may draw the Special Service Bureau’s fleet here.
Finally, the Sage turned to the cultivator who had been reporting the situation to him: "What is the progress of restarting the Artificial Saintess? Why has she not been deployed yet?"
"Re-repo-Reporting, the body repair is completed, but..." the cultivator seemed hesitant at this point, but under the Sage’s gaze, he quickly continued, "There was a problem awakening the Mind; the Saintess refuses to leave the Holy Coffin."
"Refuses?!" The Sage’s face, always filled with stern calmness, finally showed an expression of shock, seeming to find it unbelievable, "She feels fear? She dares not go to battle again?!"
"No, the Saintess’s battle spirit is high, the Mind monitoring device shows her anger towards the enemy and her faith are at their peak," the cultivator hurriedly explained, "Only... only she is conducting a prayer to soothe the souls of the dead, and considers this extremely important."
The Sage frowned, "...Pray? Has no one told her what the situation is outside right now?"
"According to the safety manual, before the Artificial Saintess exits the Holy Coffin, it is not permissible to reveal too much information about the ’external world’ to her. Only a few predefined instructions can be inputted into the coffin to prevent her Mind from breaking through the safety protocols," the Cultivator explained cautiously. "The monitor shows she is mourning the knights who died in battle—she has a particularly deep attachment to this batch of ’Knights,’ likely an issue from the factory settings, or perhaps something related to their origin."
"Enough, I don’t care what the reason is, I demand the Artificial Saintess to leave her iron coffin immediately—if she wants to pray, she can pray all she wants when she gets back. She can lie in the coffin for a hundred years if she wishes, but now is not the time to waste time," the Sage waved his hand angrily. "Inject the fourth potion and reboot to combat state—I’ll take responsibility."
"This... all right, I’ll relay your orders to the Holy Coffin room immediately."
The Cultivator hurriedly turned and left, beginning to convey the Sage’s latest command to the Holy Coffin room.
The members of the Esoteric Order at nearby operation stations continued to work with their heads down, occasionally someone cautiously looked up but quickly lowered their heads again.
Someone heard a faint knocking sound coming from beneath the floor, someone heard strange noises through their headphones, and someone felt a gaze falling upon themselves—but everyone remained silent.
This ship is gradually coming alive.
Many people felt it, including the "Sage," who should have felt it too.
This ship is infected with a plague known as "Life," and now, the symptoms have spread to half of the entire vessel...
...
Fourth potion, maximum dosage, injected into the reserve tank.
Mind reboot enters the residual heat process, ending in three minutes.
Energy supply to the Holy Coffin is normal.
In the depths of the "Order Pillar," in a circular hall illuminated by warm yellow lights, several members of the Esoteric Order, clad in short robes, are busying themselves.
Several large pipes hang down from the walls and ceiling of the circular hall, converging at the center of the room to connect to a device about five or six meters in diameter, which emits a deep iron-black color. The edges are equipped with numerous monitoring devices and fine pipes and cables, with faint lights flickering between them. In the center of the device is a black iron container, quietly placed at an approximately 45-degree angle.
That is the "Holy Coffin" of the Artificial Saintess.
Now, that iron coffin is emitting a faint humming sound, as if some "incubation" process is nearing its end.
A member of the Esoteric Order wearing a white half-mask approached the device, checked the readings on several meters, and then gestured to the others.
The assistants immediately stepped forward to place candles on the candlesticks on either side of the Holy Coffin and lit the flames.
Then, the pumping device on the lower level of the platform began to operate, and the assistants bowed their heads to the candle flames, offering a brief and soft blessing.
"Potion entering the pipeline!"
The chief operator raised his head, tightly focusing on one of the transport pipes directly connected to the Holy Coffin, his muscles slightly tensed.
This is a very dangerous operation. The potency of the fourth potion is strong, and usually requires extensive preparation before use. Injecting it directly without preparation poses a high risk of Mind meltdown for the Saintess.
But now, there’s no time for all that.
The eerie and terrifying atmosphere is spreading in the Order Pillar, even seeming to bring the sacred Holy Coffin room itself to a semblance of life, with eyes peering from the blessed pipes and cables.
A pale blue liquid appeared in the pipeline, being pumped towards the Holy Coffin.
"Fourth potion in contact with the neural intervention plug... reaction normal."
"Saintess’ Mind stable, entering reboot process."
"Recompiling the sensing layer and expression layer..."
Listening to the system’s reports, the chief operator finally let out a slight breath of relief.
However, in the next second, he saw a layer of blood color suddenly stain the pale blue liquid!