CIATB Chapter 523 The Mark!
Chapter 523 The Mark!
The second round of synchronization training began at 9:00 AM.
Zhang Yan sat down in the training chair, and after confirming that all security protocols were in effect, he activated the interface.
Consciousness sank into the heart of the divine craftsman, and 2.5% became the starting point for this.
Zhang Yan paused at this depth for five minutes, waiting for the pressure to adjust before continuing to descend.
Information layers below 2.5% are denser, with data piling up and pushing the boundaries of consciousness to tighten.
Twenty minutes, 2.51%.
The progress is faster than the first round, but it's still not enough.
Zhang Yan recalled the knowledge imprints left by the first generation of maintainers. Those things were originally hidden at the bottom of the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship. Since knowledge can be preserved, the path may also be preserved.
Thirty-five minutes later, he found the first trace at a depth of 2.52%.
It wasn't words or images, but a pathway of consciousness that had faded to the point of being buried by the flow of information.
The path our predecessors walked is still there.
When Zhang Yan stepped on it, the resistance immediately lessened.
2.53%.
2.55%.
2.58%.
On the outer monitoring screen, the values were jumping too fast, and the stargazer's finger stopped on the interrupt button again.
"Progress has accelerated abnormally, heart rate is 91, temporarily safe."
Forty-five minutes, 2.6%.
Zhang Yan continued along those remaining paths. The traces of his predecessors were not just one, but a sparse network, intermittently distributed deep within the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship.
They don't actively guide, but they can reduce resistance.
One hour, 2.63%.
One hour and fifteen minutes, 2.66%.
One hour and thirty minutes, 2.69%.
One hour and forty-two minutes, 2.7%.
Zhang Yan stopped at this depth, attempting to stabilize the area.
Suddenly, I lost sound in my left ear.
The air conditioner, the instruments, the pages turning—all disappeared from the left side, leaving only the right ear still receiving reality.
In that silence, he heard a sigh.
The sound came from the depths of his consciousness, and also from the path he was walking on.
Three seconds later, the left ear recovered, and all the sounds returned.
Zhang Yan withdrew from the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship.
When he opened his eyes, he had no nosebleed, his heart rate was 97, and he had a slight ringing in his left ear.
Observe the stars and report the numbers.
"2.7%, stable for eleven seconds."
She saw Zhang Yan rubbing his left ear and immediately initiated a detailed scan.
The report came out three minutes later.
"The auditory nerve is temporarily overloaded. It is not a physical injury, but an overflow of information from the conscious level that affects the sensory area. The recovery time is forty seconds, and there are no sequelae."
Zhang Yan nodded.
"I heard a sigh at 2.7% depth, from the path itself."
Put down the tablet while stargazing.
"Your judgment?"
"Lingering emotions."
Guan Xing took off his glasses, wiped them, and then put them back on.
"This explains your progress. The fearlessness of your predecessors remains in the path, and you borrowed it, so your subjective pressure decreased."
She pulled up the brainwave diagram and zoomed in on a segment.
"But there's a 0.3-second offset here; your consciousness pattern has shifted closer to that of your predecessor."
Zhang Yan looked at the waveform.
"Overwrite risk".
"Yes, if you continue to rely on emotions, your underlying consciousness may be mixed with fragments of patterns from your predecessors, affecting not knowledge, but your personal boundaries."
The laboratory fell silent.
Zhang Yan asked.
"Is it possible to avoid it?"
"Use the path, but don't touch the emotions, and don't resonate with them."
"And the price?"
"The progress has returned to an increase of about 0.1% each time."
Zhang Yan did the math.
Three more training sessions are needed, and six days should be enough to complete the task before the Black race arrives at Jupiter.
"Okay, we'll just borrow the path from now on."
He stood up and turned back as he walked to the door.
"What do you think that sigh was?"
Observe the stars in silence for a moment.
"Thirty thousand years, a person endured twelve years in the darkness, waiting for no one, and before finally fading away, he would probably sigh."
Zhang Yan did not respond and left.
The elevator is going up.
In the living room, Nie Qingcheng sat behind the bar, drinking coffee, with a schedule in front of her.
She glanced at him.
"His complexion is normal, and his nose is not bleeding."
"I'm 2.7."
Nie Qingcheng put down her coffee cup.
"Faster than expected."
"We borrowed the path left by our predecessors in the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship."
"cost?"
Zhang Yan took a glass of water from the refrigerator, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.
"I was temporarily deaf in my left ear for forty seconds, but I have recovered. I am also aware of the risk of overwriting, and I will try to suppress my emotions from now on."
Nie Qingcheng picked up a pen and changed the numbers on the schedule.
"Will the progress be slow?"
"0.1% each time, three more times, six days should be enough."
She pushed the schedule to the center of the table.
"The third round is the day after tomorrow, the fourth round is the day after that, the fifth round is the morning of the sixth day, and we will depart for Jupiter on the afternoon of the sixth day."
"There's still time."
Nie Qingcheng picked up her coffee but didn't drink it.
"As the depth increases, the next side effect might shift to vision, or another sense, right?"
"Yes, as long as it doesn't exceed one minute, it won't leave permanent damage."
Nie Qingcheng stood up, walked up to him, and reached out to fold his left ear back.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore, I'm fully recovered."
She released her hand, her fingertips sliding from his earlobe to his chin, then withdrew.
"I'll stay in the lab for the next training session."
"We agreed last time not to watch it."
"Last time it was 2.4 to 2.5, this time it's different."
Zhang Yan looked at her.
Nie Qingcheng walked back to the bar and sat down.
"I'm not bothering you, I'm just here."
Zhang Yan put down the water bottle.
"As long as you're here."
My phone vibrated.
Qin Xiao sent a message.
"The Ink Soldier Formation has been reorganized, and the melee equipment has been calibrated according to the new parameters. When will you take a look, Brother Yan?"
Zhang Yan replied.
"Tomorrow afternoon."
Qin Xiao quickly responded.
"Received. Also, did you pass your 2.5 test on the first try?"
"I passed the first round."
Qin Xiao replied with a string of ellipses.
"Livestock."
Zhang Yan put away his phone.
Six days, three training sessions, and a battle to dismantle Jupiter.
Nie Qingcheng lowered her head to revise the schedule, her pen tip gliding lightly across the paper.
In the corner of the balcony, the potted Moon Shadow plant stood quietly, its leaves slightly more spread out at the edges than yesterday.
Zhang Yan turned and went into the kitchen; there were still shrimp left in the refrigerator.
Nie Qingcheng's voice came from behind.
Dinner will be served at 6:30.
"understood."
The sound of running water filled the air; Zhang Yan had just finished washing the shrimp when his phone vibrated again.
A new message came from the stargazing site.
"An anomaly was discovered while organizing the training data; the frequency of that sigh was not random."
"Its energy frequency is exactly the same as the energy released when the community matrix was first torn open by the first generation of maintainers."
"It might not be a lingering emotion, but rather a marker."
"The frequency of the community's most painful moments was marked."
Zhang Yan stared at the screen for a few seconds, then locked it and put it back in his pocket.
He continued washing the shrimp.
We'll discuss this after the battle with Jupiter is over.