Chapter 20: Descending into the Abyss

  Location: Science Castle, Deep-level Passage Leading to "Cornerstone" Area

  Time: Fifteen minutes after discovering the truth in Graham's office

  Science Castle's structure, like its nature, was full of deception. The area marked on public maps as "Non-Access Zone - Infrastructure Layer" showed on the engineering elevator panel that Thunderhawk had forcibly unlocked through Black Cat's assistance as layer upon layer of encrypted deep levels, designated sequentially: "Cocoon Chamber," "Echo Corridor," down to the bottommost—"Cornerstone."

  Inside the elevator car was cold metal, devoid of any buttons, only a National research facility-specific identification scanner. Clearly, conventional means couldn't reach this destination.

  "Needs higher-level permissions," Valeria tried several police universal authorization codes, the screen only returning a cold red "DENIED," "Graham or equivalent-level specialized credentials."

  Cassandra Walker stepped forward, extracting from her suit's inner pocket what appeared to be an ordinary metal badge—printed with the National Scientific Research Ethics Oversight Committee's emblem. She aligned a subtle protrusion on the badge's edge with the scanner.

  "Beep—" A soft sound, the scanner's blue light illuminated, but didn't recognize it. Cassandra remained composed, her fingers extremely rapidly tapping a complex sequence of Morse-like rhythms on the badge's surface.

  "High-level emergency arbitration authority, code 'Promethean Fire,'" her voice was calm yet carried undeniable authority. "Under Crisis State Research Facility Control Act Article 7, Clause 3, I demand temporary takeover of all facility permissions until crisis resolution."

  The screen's characters jumped several times, finally turning green: "Temporary permission granted: Dr. Cassandra Walker. Clearance level: Omega (Restricted). Descent passage opening."

  The elevator lurched violently and began rapidly descending. The sensation of weightlessness struck them, the car's exterior emitting heart-stopping metallic friction and the hum of energy flowing past, as if penetrating layer after layer of heavy armor and energy barriers.

  Thunderhawk leaned against the cold car wall, his left arm's temporary bandaging sending dull waves of pain. He glanced at Verdandi—she pressed her lips tight, hands clasped before her, knuckles white from pressure. Her eyes no longer held simple fear, but a mixture of shock, rage, and a certain... resolute determination. Having her life's research, even her own emotions, treated as experimental data for wanton harvesting—this sense of violation was enough to ignite the inner fire of even the gentlest person.

  "Temporary permission only opens passages and some non-core areas," Cassandra pocketed the badge, tone grave. "'Cornerstone's' main control room will certainly have independent defense systems. We may face more than just guards."

  The elevator's descent depth far exceeded imagination, continuing for nearly several minutes. When it finally stopped and the doors slid open, a wave of mixed high-pressure ozone, coolant, and some... indescribable "psychological noise" resembling billions of whispered thoughts rushed at them, making everyone's cyberbrain interfaces feel a brief stinging pain and dizziness.

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  Before them stretched an astonishingly wide passage, its vaulted ceiling suspended high, both walls made of some dark, light-absorbing alloy. The floor was laid with guiding lines emitting ghostly blue microlights, extending to a vast darkness at the visual horizon's end. The air was frigid, carrying an unnatural dryness. This place didn't resemble an underground chamber, but more like a temple buried beneath the earth, or rather... a nest.

  The passage was silent as death, yet the feeling of countless eyes watching was stronger than ever.

  "Neural interference field," Verdandi said quietly, her professional instinct quickly analyzing the environment. "Very high intensity, designed to disrupt unauthorized cyberbrain activity. Prolonged exposure leads to cognitive confusion. Everyone try to concentrate, don't overly rely on cyberbrain's auxiliary functions."

  They proceeded cautiously along the guiding lines. Occasionally tightly sealed, unmarked alloy doors appeared on both passage sides, cold white light and denser ozone seeping through door cracks. Thunderhawk attempted using Black Cat's provided scanner to probe—feedback information showed massive server clusters behind the doors, their architecture and energy consumption patterns completely different from any civilian or research applications he knew.

  After walking about five minutes, a fork appeared ahead. The main passage continued forward, while a slightly narrower passage to the right had a door standing ajar at its end, light flickering within and the low sound of machinery operating.

  "Let's check it out," Valeria indicated, "might be an auxiliary control room or data relay station."

  They approached carefully. Inside the door was a relatively smaller room filled with blinking indicator lights and running equipment racks. The air was thick with the smell of overheated components. At the room's central console, a screen remained lit, rapidly scrolling massive, incomprehensible data streams, occasionally flashing abstract visualization patterns—like twisted human faces, exploding nebulae, or intertwined neural networks.

  Before the console lay a person.

  He wore Chaldea Tech's technician uniform, body curled, face contorted in extreme agony, eyes wide with dilated pupils. His death differed from Old Chen's—no physical trauma, more like... consciousness instantly drained. His right hand still tightly gripped a data pad, its screen frozen on a bizarre image: a continuously rotating Tower of Babel totem composed of countless light points, below it a line of endlessly repeating error code: "Consciousness stream overflow... connection severed... harvest failed..."

  "It's Ryan Zhang." Verdandi recognized that anxiety-filled face, now only death's blankness remained.

  Cassandra quickly checked the console. "He was trying to forcibly disconnect some data connection... or collapsed under data flood impact. Look here—" She pointed to a minimized log window in the screen's corner, containing several entries timestamped just moments ago:

  "Warning: Main consciousness collection matrix overload. Target: Omega-7 (Verdandi Lee) emotional fluctuation peak value exceeds safety threshold."

  "Error: 'Gilgamesh' fusion process experiencing unpredictable disturbance. Source: Unknown external signal intervention."

  "Execute emergency protocol: Isolate 'Cornerstone' core. Activate internal defense units."

  "They're still harvesting... even accelerating!" Verdandi's voice trembled with fury. "And that 'unknown external signal'..."

  Just then, from deep in the main passage came a series of heavy, uniform footsteps like metal hammers striking the ground. Simultaneously, red warning lights lining the passage sides and ceiling suddenly blazed to life, rotating and bathing everyone's faces in blood-red.

  A cold, synthesized broadcast voice echoed through the passage:

  "Unauthorized intrusion detected. 'Cornerstone' sanctuary entering highest alert. Purge program initiated. For Tower of Babel's eternal evolution, cleansing begins."

  The footsteps grew closer, accompanied by energy weapons' charging hum.

  Thunderhawk gripped his weapon tighter, Valeria raised her gun toward the passage's end, Cassandra's eyes grew cold as knives. Verdandi took a deep breath, straightened her body, her gaze directed toward that darkness birthing monsters.

  The final stretch of road to the "divine realm" was destined to be paved with blood and fire. The abyss had opened its maw.