Chapter 130: Orbital Counterattack

The alarm for the orbital array's descent sounded at 3:17 a. m.

The piercing buzzer shattered the silence of Pure Land; Su Yu jolted awake from light sleep, the scar on her chest burning hot as if about to ignite. She grabbed her jacket and rushed out of the room, discovering the entire camp had entered an emergency state—not panic, but a trained response. Lights flickered on in sequence, patrol teams ran to their assigned posts, and non‑combat personnel began an orderly evacuation.

This was the instinct honed over seven years: when disaster strikes, humanity splits into two kinds—the panicked and the actors. Pure Land chose the latter.

In the Deep Space Monitoring Station, Kaiwen stared at the screen, his glasses reflecting the wildly jumping data: "Seven targets, descending in sync. Current altitude: 280 kilometers, speed…… not fast, but steady. Expected to enter the atmosphere in six hours."

"What's the purpose?" Han Qing, fully armed, stood beside Su Yu.

"Unknown. Possibly adjusting the observation angle, or……" Kaiwen paused, "Preparing to land."

Landing. The word sank everyone's heart.

"What can we do?" Su Yu asked, her voice unexpectedly calm.

Kaiwen pulled up an orbital diagram: "According to Starfire knowledge, Silan technology's weakness is resonant interference at specific frequencies. If we can generate a strong enough reverse energy field, theoretically we can disrupt their control system, at least pausing their descent."

"What do we need?"

"The stardust crystals from all three purification towers, at full power. We also need a guide—a being that resonates strongly enough with Starfire to precisely control the frequency." Kaiwen looked at Su Yu. "In theory, you can do it. But the risk…"

"What risk?"

"If you lose control, the energy backlash could……" Kaiwen didn't finish, but the meaning was clear.

Su Yu looked out the window. The eastern horizon already showed a pale dawn, yet the seven light points of the orbital array remained clearly visible, like seven stars that shouldn't appear at daybreak.

"What if we don't do anything?"

"After they land, they might intervene directly." Han Qing said, "According to the mother's memory and the Orion civilization's warning, once the experimenters decide to step in themselves, they won't just observe."

Su Yu closed her eyes. She could feel her chest scar throbbing like a second heart. The imprint left by Chen Mo responded to her resolve.

"Get ready," she said, "using the energy of all the purification towers. I'll guide it."

"Su Yu……" Aili wanted to say something.

"How much time do I have to prepare?"

Kaiwen calculated: "The array still has…… four hours and twelve minutes before it reaches an effective interference altitude. But we need an hour to prepare, so the actual operation window is three hours."

Three hours.

First hour, the camp went into full battle readiness.

Lao Zhao was in charge of moving non‑combat personnel to the underground shelter entrance—not the natural cave still being surveyed, but the original shelter entrance, which, though exposed, at least offered basic protection. Children were sent down first; Xiao Yu clung to her pot of hope grass, pausing as she passed Su Yu.

"Sister Su Yu, this is for you." She handed over the pot, "The hope grass changed color this morning. Sister Aili said it senses the planter's emotions. I want you to take it with you."

Su Yu took the pot. The hope grass's leaves showed a strange mixed hue: deep blue at the base (sorrow), pale yellow in the middle (anxiety), but the new shoots at the tip were bright green (hope).

"Thank you, Xiao Yu," she said, crouching to meet the little girl's eyes, "once I finish what I need to do, we'll plant sunflowers together."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear."

After the teacher led the little girl away, Su Yu looked at the hope grass in her hand. The plant warmed slightly in her palm, as if transmitting strength.

Second hour, technical preparations.

The stardust crystals from the three purification towers were urgently dismantled and transported to the open space at the camp's center. Kaiwen and Li Xiaofeng directed the technicians in building a temporary resonance array—using old‑era cables, modified transformers, and the energy‑guiding circuit provided by the stardust plants.

"The principle is simple," Kaiwen explained while soldering the circuit, "Silan technology relies on precise energy‑frequency control. We create a completely opposite energy wave, like noise jamming music, to disrupt their coordination."

"But their technology is far superior to ours," Li Xiaofeng worried, "Our makeshift equipment……"

"That's why we need Su Yu's precise guidance," Kaiwen said, looking at Su Yu as she familiarized herself with the energy circuit diagram, "Her resonance can refine the crude interference into a 'scalpel' rather than a 'hammer.' The difference is— a hammer might be ineffective, while a scalpel could find the weak point."

Su Yu touched her chest scar; it could sense the incoming energy flow and was trembling slightly.

Third hour, personal preparations.

Han Qing handed Su Yu the "Dawn's Thorn": "Take it. Even if it might not be used, but……"

"I understand." Su Yu took the spear; the moment she gripped it, the tip's golden light flared naturally, resonating with the warmth of her scar.

Aili gave her an injection: "High‑concentration nutrient solution and nerve stabilizer. The energy drain on the body is great; this will help you hold up."

Makusi and Wang Hu checked the perimeter defenses: "We'll hold the outer line, making sure nothing disturbs you."

Lao Zhao finally approached, holding a photograph—of his wife. He glanced at it, then handed it to Su Yu: "Keep this for me. If I don't make it back, let Xiao Feng keep it. If he's not around either… bury it under the ruins of our family's old house; she knows where."

"Uncle Zhao, you'll come back." Su Yu took the photograph.

"Of course I will." Lao Zhao laughed, his smile bearing the easygoing air of a veteran, "But preparations must be made. All right, time's up."

Su Yu lifted her head. The sky was fully bright, yet the seven light points remained visible, noticeably larger and brighter than before. They had descended to an altitude of 150 kilometers, like seven miniature suns falling.

She walked to the center of the resonance array. The three purification towers' stardust crystals formed a triangle, hovering above her head and slowly rotating. Kaiwen stood at the control console, giving her a thumbs‑up.

"Thirty‑second countdown," Kaiwen's voice came over the comm, "Remember, it will start off gentle, like warm water. But as the energy builds, it will turn into…… boiling water. If you can't hold out, call a halt—we can cut it off anytime."

"It won't be interrupted." Su Yu closed her eyes.

She began deep breathing, entering the True Knowledge Vision. The world became a map of energy flows: beneath her feet lay Pure Land's Starfire network, faint but tenacious; above her head hovered seven massive energy sources, icy and precise; around her burned her comrades' heart‑fires, like campfires persisting in the dark.

And herself—her chest scar was a golden sun, linked to all the imprints Chen Mo had left, to the stardust plants, and to…… those who had chosen to believe in her.

"Begin."

First minute, the energy flowed like a stream.

Gentle and slow, it flowed from the three stardust crystals into Su Yu's body, then, through her guidance, transformed into a specific‑frequency reverse wave shot toward the sky. She could feel the energy circulating inside her, warm but not unbearable.

The orbital array seemed unaware. The seven light points continued their steady descent.

Fifth minute, the energy flowed like a river.

The flow increased, and Su Yu began to feel pressure—like standing beneath a waterfall, the water striking every nerve. She clenched her teeth, keeping the frequency precise. Her scar began to heat, as if reminding her: focus, focus.

The array reacted. One light point flickered, then adjusted its descent trajectory—not stopping, but veering. Like a ship steering clear of a reef.

"It's working!" Kaiwen's voice, "They're evading the interference! Boost output!"

Twelfth minute, the energy flowed like an ocean.

The energy of all three stardust crystals surged forth in a torrent, flooding into Su Yu's body. She felt as if she were being torn apart, every cell screaming. Her vision began to blur; in the True Knowledge Vision, the seven light points turned into seven blinding light spheres, their energy structures clearly visible—

The core is icy cold machinery, the middle layer is biological wrapping, and the outermost layer is an energy shield. Deep within the core, there is a tiny, pulsing point of light, like a heart.

That is the control system.

It is also the weak point.

Su Yu focused all her will, concentrating the interference energy into a needle, and stabbed it at that point of light.

The first point of light flashed violently, then…… stopped descending. It hovered at an altitude of eighty kilometers, beginning to wobble irregularly.

The second, third…… when Su Yu's target shifted to the fourth, she felt a sweetness in her throat, and a bloody taste surged into her mouth.

"Su Yu!" Aili shouted over the communicator.

"Continue……" she said hoarsely.

At the forty-ninth minute, the fourth point of light stopped.

Su Yu collapsed to her knees, hands braced on the ground, fresh blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, spreading a dark red stain in the dust. Her vision was already a blur, except for the three points of light still descending within the True Knowledge Vision.

Her body had reached its limit.

But her will had not.

She recalled Chen Mo's final moment before disappearing into the Door of the End, Old Liang's relieved smile at death, Xiao Yu's hopeful gaze toward the sunflower, the souls imprisoned in plant bodies by the mother entity, and the final warning from the Orion civilization before its extinction——

"Do not repeat our mistakes."

Su Yu lifted her head, and the scar on her chest burst forth with an unprecedented golden light. It was not hers alone, but the light of all who believed in her, of all who chose not to give up, of all who still looked up at the stars in the darkness.

The light surged out of her body and poured into the resonance array.

The fifth point of light stopped.

The sixth stopped.

The seventh——the largest one, at the center of the array——changed its strategy at the last moment. It did not stop descending, but accelerated, like a true meteorite, hurtling straight toward the Pure Land.

"It's going to hit!" Kaiwen shouted.

Su Yu gathered all her remaining strength, condensing all energy into a shield, and held it above the camp.

The collision of light and light made no sound.

Only a silent explosion.

The seventh point of light disintegrated ten kilometers above the ground, but did not vanish——it split into thousands of fragments, like a reverse meteor shower, scattering toward the earth.

And Su Yu lost consciousness in the energy backlash.

In her final moment, she saw a scene: Chen Mo stood at the end of the light, reaching out his hand to her.

"You did it." he said.

Then darkness.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Yu woke up.

She lay in the medical tent, Aili was injecting her with nutrients. Outside the window, the sky was an strange twilight hue——even though it was noon. Floating in the air were tiny, glowing specks of dust——the debris from the disintegrated orbital array.

"You were unconscious for eight hours," Aili whispered, "don't move, your body……"

"How about the others?" Su Yu's voice was hoarse to the point of being almost inaudible.

"Everyone is still alive." Han Qing entered the tent, his face showing fatigue but his eyes bright, "Seven array targets, six were forcibly held at an altitude of one hundred kilometers, losing power. The seventh disintegrated, its debris scattered within a fifty-kilometer radius. We are collecting and analyzing them."

"Casualties?"

"Minor. The shock wave was mostly blocked by your energy shield, only a few people suffered minor injuries." Han Qing paused, "Su Yu, you did it. You bought humanity time."

Su Yu closed her eyes, tears sliding down. Not sorrow, but relief.

Just then, the tent flap was lifted, Kaiwen rushed in, holding a glowing fragment——only the size of a fingernail, yet its internal structure was impossibly precise.

"The analysis results are out," he said, his voice trembling with excitement, "these fragments…… are not merely machinery. They are 'seeds'."

"Seeds?"

"Silan technology's bio-mechanical seeds," Kaiwen placed the fragment beside Su Yu's bed, "if given enough time and resources, they can self-replicate, rebuilding the entire array. But now they are damaged, and…… they contain data inside."

He connected the fragment to a portable terminal; the screen lit up, displaying line after line of non-human text, but automatically translated via Starfire technology.

【Experiment Log: Earth Sample - ID 7392】

【Observation Target: Remnants of Human Civilization】

【Anomalous Phenomenon: The sample autonomously awakened Starfire Resonance, deviating from the preset evolutionary trajectory】

【Recommended Measures: Initiate second-stage intervention, inject 'guide spores', correct the evolutionary direction】

【Warning: The sample exhibits a rare 'collective will resonance', possibly producing unpredictable mutations】

【Final Recommendation: If correction fails, execute the harvesting protocol, recover the experimental data】

The log ends here.

The tent was filled with dead silence.

"They will come back," Han Qing said, "bringing more arrays, more spores, more…… resolve."

Su Yu struggled to sit up, Aili tried to stop her, but she shook her head.

"Then let them come," her voice still weak but her eyes firm, "let them see what 'unpredictable mutation' means."

She looked toward the hope grass on the windowsill.

In the impact just now, the flowerpot shattered, scattering the soil. But the hope grass's roots clung tightly to the last bit of soil, stubbornly alive. Moreover, at the top of the plant, a flower had bloomed.

It was tiny, unnoticeable.

But it was a flower.