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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 14: Shadows Beneath the Lighthouse and the Final Choice
I felt like a soulless shell, numbly waiting for the end of the “Data Packet scan” in that dilapidated hotel room, filled with the scent of disinfectant and despair. The cold numbness beneath my left wrist persisted, like an invisible armor wrapping around my nerves, allowing me to see the tumult within but not feel the heart-wrenching pain.
This forced “calm” was far more terrifying than a hysterical breakdown.
I lost track of time until a cold, mechanical notification finally echoed in my mind:
【Data Packet scan complete. Upload successful. Channel closed.】
It was over. I had completed my “function” like a mere cog in a machine. I stood up and walked to the window. The night was thick, and the city resembled a false sea of stars. Just moments ago, with my filthy hands, I had packaged and sacrificed a stranger's digital privacy to some devil lurking in the depths of the network. For what? I didn’t know.
What comes next? What is the “node value”? Am I alive or dead? Or is there an even more unbearable command awaiting me?
At that moment, the cold, sticky “stream of consciousness” forced its way back in! It wasn’t an order but rather… a coordinate precise to latitude and longitude!
【Coordinates confirmed. Node Delta-4, proceed immediately to the designated location. Route has been preset in your visual cortex; any deviation will be considered an active withdrawal.】
Immediately, a three-dimensional city map bathed in technological blue light projected directly onto my retina! A blinking red navigation line cut through the dense streets, leading straight to the city center’s skyscraper—the Xinghe Technology Center, which I had only seen in financial news as the new tech landmark of the city!
Damn it! Is this where it all ends?! Lured into their lair only to be “humanely eliminated”?
The icy fear shattered through that layer of numbness! Every cell screamed for me to “run”!
But the “Neural Interface” bound me like an invisible chain. And Xiao Ya… If I fled now, they would undoubtedly unleash all their wrath upon her!
A tremendous sense of powerlessness clashed violently with the madness of being pushed to the brink within my chest!
In the end, I left that filthy motel like a puppet controlled from afar, stepping onto the red line paved by unknown technology, leading straight to hell.
All along the way, I felt transparent. Everything around me was blurred and out of focus, except for the cold navigation line in my mind, which was crystal clear. I could even "feel" it monitoring my heart rate, step frequency, and even the angle of my eye movements in real time. Any slight anomaly could trigger that unknown “Disciplinary Procedure.”
I dared not entertain any illusions.
After nearly an hour of "transport," I found myself standing at the foot of the "Xinghe Technology Center," a glass behemoth. It shimmered with a cold, inhuman light in the night, like a blue dagger piercing the heart of God. The security guards at the entrance stood rigidly, and those entering and exiting were dressed in suits; the air was thick with the scent of elitism and money.
【Instruction: Side door of Building B. Exclusive elevator No. 3. Permissions activated.】
I hunched my back and lowered my hat brim further, slipping in through the side door like a delivery person or a sewer worker. The turnstile slid open silently. Elevator No. 3 was empty; the doors closed automatically, ascending smoothly as the floor display remained dark.
Enclosed, weightless, unknown. Fear magnified infinitely within this small iron box of an elevator.
Ding. The elevator stopped at a floor with no markings. The doors opened to reveal a pure white corridor lined with sound-absorbing carpet, brightly lit yet completely empty. At the end stood a metal door that blended seamlessly with the walls, its material indiscernible.
【Instruction: Approach. Perform biometric identification.】
I numbly walked up to the door. It was smooth as a mirror, lacking any buttons or recognition devices. Just as I began to wonder, an extremely faint high-frequency humming sound emanated from within, and I felt a brief warmth flash across my forehead and wrist. Then, without a sound, the metal door slid open to either side.
Behind the door... was a vast, nearly circular space radiating soft white light. The walls, ceiling, and floor melded into one another without visible seams. In the center of the space floated several large translucent holographic screens displaying complex data streams and three-dimensional models. On one side of the room were several large instruments with an extremely sci-fi design, flickering with azure indicator lights and emitting a low hum. The air carried a faint scent reminiscent of hospital disinfectant mixed with freshly unboxed electronic products.
Cold, high-tech, and utterly inhumane.
In this expanse of white light, beneath the holographic screen, stood a man.
Dressed in a pristine white lab coat, wearing elegant gold-rimmed glasses, his hair meticulously combed, and a gentle, scholarly smile gracing his face. He appeared to be around fifty years old.
Yet his eyes, peering through the lenses, were as sharp and cold as a scalpel, carrying an unsettling calmness that seemed to see through everything, as if he had long transcended the mundane.
That face! My heart lurched! I had seen it before! In the blurred black-and-white photograph I found while searching for information on the "Singularity Project," he was one of the young men standing beside Tian Yucheng! Was he Tian Yucheng's student? Assistant? Or perhaps… a usurper in later years?!
Inceptor… it’s him!
[Warning: Abnormal physiological indicators. Severe emotional fluctuations. Forced stabilization.]
The alarm blared in my mind, but I could no longer control myself! A tidal wave of rage and the humiliation of being deceived overwhelmed my reason!
“It’s you?!” My voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against wood. “Is this all your doing?! Lighthouse Society! Neural Interface! Was it you behind all this?! What the hell do you want?!”
The man adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his infuriating smile unwavering, his tone calm as if stating a physical law: “Welcome, Node Delta-4, or should I refer to you as Mr. Li Mo? It seems your 'cognitive framework' indeed has several areas that require 'optimization.' Emotion is the most inefficient form of energy dissipation.”
That voice! Gentle and clear, with a magnetic quality that was worlds apart from the cold electronic tone online! This stark contrast sent chills down my spine more than any direct threat could!
“Damn your nodes! Damn your optimization!” I felt like a desperate cornered beast, fixated on him, my body trembling with rage. “Where is Xiao Ya?! Where is Tian Xiaoya?! What have you done to her?! Answer me!”
“Cicada?” The man seemed to find my question amusing. He elegantly walked over to a holographic screen and gestured in the air a few times. The screen immediately switched to a live monitoring feed—a stark white, minimalist room that resembled a high-end hospital or perhaps a prison cell. Xiao Ya was curled up in the corner on a chair, dressed in a gray tracksuit, her head bowed like a puppet stripped of its soul. On her wrist, she wore a silver bracelet that flickered with a faint blue light.
My heart felt as if it had been brutally sliced open, bleeding profusely!
“Please remain calm, Mr. Li Mo,” the man turned to me with an almost pitying look in his eyes. “Cicada’s condition is very stable; she is undergoing necessary ‘Frequency Calibration.’ She has developed some harmful ‘cognitive mutations’ due to misinterpretations of certain ‘legacy’ information, which could interfere with the final ‘integration.’ We are helping her, helping her… evolve to a higher dimension.”
“Evolve my ass!” I nearly lunged at him, wanting to tear apart his hypocritical face. “You lunatics! What do you really want?! Tian Yucheng’s research?! The Singularity Project?! What the hell is that?! Speak!”
The man sighed slightly, as if he felt deep regret for my “unenlightened” state. He walked to the center of the room, opened his arms wide, and a fervent, almost martyr-like expression appeared on his face:
“You don’t understand at all, Mr. Li Mo! We are not committing crimes; we are creating the future! A great endeavor capable of ushering human civilization into a new era!”
He pointed at the dazzling holographic screens. “Tian Yucheng! A once-in-a-lifetime genius! He touched the essence of consciousness and uncovered the mystery of ‘consciousness Frequency signatures!’ He proved that everyone’s thoughts have a unique, quantifiable vibrational pattern! His ‘Singularity Project,’ if completed without interference, could extract consciousness with specific ‘high-frequency resonance patterns’ from these fragile, redundant, and flawed bodies and upload it into our constructed—” he gestured around him—“eternal, pure, informational ‘lighthouse!’ Achieving true digital immortality and infinite evolution! We will break free from aging and death, from emotional shackles, becoming pure consciousness! Becoming gods who guide the way!”
Consciousness uploading?! Digital immortality?! Becoming gods?!
I was utterly stunned by this madness; it felt as if all my blood had turned to ice! This… this was crazier than any sci-fi horror film I had ever seen!
“Madman! You’re all completely insane!” My voice trembled with shock and fear. “Tian Yucheng knew you were mad! That’s why he wanted to destroy everything! That’s why he died! You killed him, didn’t you?!”
The man’s smile vanished entirely, replaced by a cold, almost cruel calmness: “Tian was a great pioneer, but he was too weak, too ensnared by the moral shackles of the old world. At the last moment, he chose betrayal and tried to destroy this gateway to the new era! That was a crime against humanity's future! His death… was an unfortunate accident, but he obstructed the course of history. His ‘legacy’ should not decay with him; it belongs to the ‘lighthouse,’ to the chosen future!”
“Belongs to the future?!” I laughed bitterly in anger. “So you’re using his daughter?! Using us as ‘nodes’ you’ve filtered out like cattle?! Treating us as your lab rats for your insane experiments?! What about Zhang Wei? Why did you steal his data?! Does an ordinary person like him also possess this so-called ‘lighthouse gene’?!”
“Zhang Wei?” The man scoffed, curling his lip. “Just a low-quality ‘reference point.’ His involvement in outsourced testing years ago allowed him to encounter fragments of early algorithms. His online behavior patterns provided us with some trivial negative data for constructing the compatibility model for ‘consciousness uploading.’ As for you, Mr. Li Mo, and Chan…” A fervent gleam flickered in his eyes again. “You are different. You are… rare ‘high-potential seeds.’”
“Seeds?”
“Yes,” the man explained, his tone akin to that of a teacher addressing elementary students. “Tian’s research has confirmed that not all consciousness can withstand the information shock brought about by ‘digitalization.’ Only a select few individuals, whose brain's specific gamma wave resonance patterns are exceptionally active and who demonstrate extraordinary ‘cognitive resilience’ in extreme environments and information overload, can maintain stable consciousness after leaving their physical bodies. We refer to this as carrying the ‘Lighthouse Gene.’ The Lighthouse Society has invested immense resources to establish this screening network, aiming to find seeds like you among billions of ordinary people! Chan, she naturally resonates with the ‘Core Code’ left by her father; she is the perfect ‘key’! And you, Delta-4,” he said, looking at me with keen interest, “the stubbornness you exhibit under immense pressure and interference, your tendency to resist and seek loopholes, precisely proves that your consciousness possesses remarkable plasticity and… a certain rare ‘assimilation ability.’ Very intriguing!”
Screening?! Experimental subjects?! Assimilation ability?!
My worldview shattered in that moment! All the pain, struggle, and fear we had endured were merely cold procedures for these lunatics to select “experimental materials”?!
“What about ‘Frequency Tuning’?” I bit my teeth, forcing the words out through clenched jaws. “You want me to ‘calibrate’ Xiao Ya to use my ‘assimilation ability’ to erase her resistance consciousness and turn her into the ‘key’ you need?!”
“‘Calibration’ is for the ultimate ‘sublimation,’” the man replied flatly, as if discussing replacing parts in a machine. “Chan’s consciousness frequency is a perfect carrier, but her resistance consciousness is a dangerous ‘virus’ that could contaminate the purity of the data. And you, Delta-4, your failed task proves your instability but also reveals your unique value. Our original plan was to have two consciousnesses carrying the ‘Lighthouse Gene’ but with frequency deviations conduct close-range ‘cross-validation’ to observe what results would emerge. Would mutual rejection lead to annihilation? Or… fusion and ‘synchronization,’ creating a more stable and powerful consciousness prototype that meets the ‘Lighthouse’ standards? Unfortunately… your performance has disappointed us but also provided new data.”
Fusion?! Mutual consumption?!
A chill raced from my spine to the top of my head! These bastards! They didn’t see us as human beings at all! We were merely part of their experimental data!
“You’ll never get away with this!” I roared like a beast cornered with no escape, instinctively wanting to charge at him, even if it meant going down together!
At that moment, I suddenly noticed that while he was speaking to me, his peripheral gaze seemed to be darting toward an inconspicuous camera in the corner of the room! Who was he talking to? Was he explaining things to me? Or reporting back to some hidden “higher-ups”?!
I abruptly halted my steps as a wild thought flashed through my mind! If he was also being monitored, could I…
The man seemed to see through my thoughts, a look of pity mixed with a cat-and-mouse smile reappearing on his face. "Give up, Mr. Li Mo. Resistance is futile. This is not a matter of choice; it is the torrent of history, the iron law of evolution. The era of old humanity is coming to an end, just as the age of apes has long passed. Now, you have one last chance to make the 'right' choice."
He walked over to the holographic screen and tapped it lightly with his finger, causing two images to appear side by side.
On the left was a live feed of Xiao Ya, curled up in a chair with a vacant expression.
On the right was an extremely complex digital consciousness model, constantly rotating and shimmering with countless points of light, dizzying in its complexity.
"Choice one," the man said, pointing at the model on the right, his eyes gleaming with unmasked fervor. "Embrace the future. Voluntarily accept the final 'consciousness upload.' Your soul, filled with 'interference' yet remarkably resilient, will be purified and immortalized within the 'Lighthouse,' becoming one of the cornerstones of the new world order. You will gain unimaginable power and freedom."
He paused, his cold gaze shifting to the image of Xiao Ya on the left.
"Choice two: reject evolution. Then, as a failed specimen that has lost its utility and possesses high instability, you and the cicada will be immediately subjected to the highest level 'formatting' procedure. You will be completely erased, leaving no trace of your existence from physical to informational."
Upload my consciousness and become a digital prisoner? Or be completely wiped out alongside the girl I vowed to protect?
Is this… my final choice?
I looked at Xiao Ya's desperate face on the screen, then at this self-proclaimed god before me and the cold instruments behind him that represented incomprehensible technological power. I felt my soul being torn apart and crushed inch by inch.
This is not a choice at all!
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