Chapter 268: Heartbeat Network

Countdown: 5 hours 47 minutes.

The kitchen became a temporary Command Headquarters. Kaiwen's holographic screen split into twelve panels, each showing: attack fleet coordinates (Pure-3 supplied covertly), heartbeat signal coverage map, network node connection status, seed maturity curve…

"Currently detecting seven potential Resonance points," Xiao Yu's forehead light imprint flickered at high frequency as she bore the data analysis with her body, "South Ruins heartbeat, GuiHuaYuan Cloud Mist, Awakener Homeworld, Refractor Shattered Light-7, Silent Observer Sensory Research Department, the robe sensor module of the Cosmic Archive Archivist-0, and—"

She paused, looking at the Supervisor: "—The eighth point is moving. It's… the Supervisor itself."

Question‑mark patterns surfaced on the black geometric surface: "Impossible. I am an absolutely neutral monitoring unit."

"But your 'Differential Resonance Observation Window' refreshes every five seconds," Xiao Yu pulled up the data, "Refresh rate: 12 times per minute. Fully synchronized with the seed's heartbeat. Unconsciously… you have been incorporated into the network."

The Supervisor remained still for three seconds. Then its surface began rapidly shifting colors—self‑diagnosis. Finally it settled on deep blue: "Weak Resonance confirmed. Cause: prolonged exposure to a differential environment, the observation protocol's built‑in 'Adaptive Regulation Module' has been activated."

Lao Zhao was pouring freshly cooked porridge into a thermos cup; hearing that, he looked up: "So you've started 'heartbeat' too?"

"It is an accidental resonance between the observation rhythm and the target rhythm," the Supervisor corrected, but a ultra‑thin silver line appeared on its black surface—signifying that the protective layer woven by the grafted sapling's braided branches had just begun to take effect.

"Whatever you call it," Su Yu folded a blue paper crane and placed it before the Supervisor, "you are now one of the nodes. We need you to share the observation data with the entire network—help other heartbeats 'see each other'."

Countdown: 4 hours 22 minutes. The network construction hit its first bottleneck: the frequency differences among the seven heartbeat points are too great; direct connection would cause mutual interference.

"It's like seven people speaking different languages at the same time," Kaiwen pushed up his glasses, "we need a translation layer, or… a common rhythm."

Han Qing's chest fruit suddenly contracted, emitting a new frequency. Archivist-0's probe captured and translated:

"No need for unification. Just… know that others are also speaking."

Lao Zhao was portioning hot porridge into seven thermos jars—"energy supplies" prepared for each node. Though unsure whether non‑human civilizations need them, he thought "wiring is a labor‑intensive task; you need something to cushion it."

He halted, looking at the seven differently colored jars (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, labeled with Su Yu's help), and suddenly said:

"It's like how my wife used to run a community choir. Some had loud voices, some were off‑key, some could only hum. She didn't force everyone to sing the same; she'd say, 'Listen up—I'll tap the cup, and each of you sings your own line. Don't worry about what others sing; just keep your own lyrics.'"

He lifted the spoon and gently tapped the pot rim holding the porridge: "Dong."

A very light sound. Yet everyone present felt—somewhere in their chests, it followed with a "dong".

The Supervisor instantly detected: "Pot‑rim tap frequency triggered weak synchronization among the seven nodes! Sync rate only 3%, but a basic temporal anchor point is formed!"

Archivist-0's cubes arranged into an exclamation‑point shape: "This is… rhythm guidance! Using simple physical beats as a 'public clock' for the differing frequencies!"

"Not a clock." Lao Zhao tapped again, "It's a meal‑bell. When the bell rings, everyone eats their own, but they know everyone else is eating too."

Countdown: 3 hours 15 minutes. The team decided to build the network using Lao Zhao's "meal‑bell" principle.

Specific plan: use the South Ruins Chen Mo's first‑love heartbeat (13 times per minute) as the base beat; other nodes follow their own rhythms, but after every 13 beats, simulate a "bell ring" by vibrating the grafted sapling's crystalline leaf, serving as a synchronization correction point.

Han Qing handled the core link. He pressed his chest fruit; memory lag required him more time to perceive each node's "breathing gap"—the moment they are most receptive to external signals.

First attempt to connect Cloud Mist of GuiHuaYuan.

"Her frequency is fast, 22 times per minute," Xiao Yu reported in real time, "but every 11 beats there's a slight pause—that's the ventilation point of her still‑adapting 'semi‑solid breathing system'."

At the eleventh pause, Han Qing let the fruit emit an ultra‑thin frequency filament.

The filament threaded through the plant network, reaching GuiHuaYuan. The view showed Cloud Mist using a newly formed arm to touch a Starlight Flower; upon sensing the filament, she paused, then gently "bumped" the filament's tip with her own frequency.

At the moment of contact, the light flow in her chest leaf veins shifted from 22 times per minute… to a dual‑rhythm mode: 11 fast beats sustaining her own life, 11 slow beats (13 per minute) loosely synchronized with the Ruins' heartbeat.

"Connection successful!" Xiao Yu's light imprint flared, "First node online!"

Cloud Mist's voice traveled through the filament, still raw from her new vocal cords: "I heard… a distant heartbeat. Very slow, but… steady."

Lao Zhao tapped the pot rim: "Dong."

Cloud Mist paused, responding: "…Dong.

Countdown: 2 hours 08 minutes. When the network linked to the fourth node (Awakener Civilization), the attack warning suddenly escalated!

Kaiwen's holographic screen flashed a red alert: "Annihilation frequency pre‑charge detected! Attack may advance to within an hour!"

"The network still needs at least three more nodes to form a basic defensive matrix," Xiao Yu's voice was tense, "at the current pace… it won't make it."

At that moment, the Supervisor did something that violated the protocol.

Its black surface suddenly split open a fissure—not damage, but an actively opened data interface. From the fissure sprouted dozens of hair‑thin silver data lines, each precisely piercing a different data port of Kaiwen's holographic screen!

"What are you doing?!" Archivist-0 warned, "Forced connection may damage both systems!"

"Calculations show: if the attack advances, network failure probability is 97%." The Supervisor's voice remained icy, but the data lines were streaming wildly, "My 'Long‑Term Observation Database' contains a complete catalogue of defensive frequencies from 437 civilizations across the universe. Uploading to the network core now."

In an instant, every screen at the Earth Base was flooded with massive data! It was the Supervisor's billions‑year record of civilizational survival wisdom: how to combat vacuum with song, how to buffer radiation with dreams, how to disperse attacks with collective memory…

The surfaces of Lao Zhao's seven thermos jars began to display different ancient scripts—data was being "cached" through these containers, as ceramic material interferes least with frequencies.

"What you're doing is…" Han Qing looked at the Supervisor, whose black surface was shedding, revealing intricate silver circuitry underneath.

"According to Article 1 of the 'Highest Guidelines for Protecting Cosmic Civilizations': 'When a pluralistic existence faces extinction, any observation unit has the right to provide necessary informational assistance.'" The Supervisor's silver patterns began to flash rhythmically—13 times per minute, "I determine the current situation meets the clause."

It paused, using informal language for the first time:

"And… my robe says, I should help."

Countdown: 47 minutes. When the sixth node (Silent Observer Sensory Research Department) connected, the South Ruins heartbeat suddenly changed its pattern.

From a steady 13 per minute to a complex Morse‑code rhythm.

Xiao Yu immediately deciphered—it was the master‑apprentice secret code Chen Mo had arranged with Han Qing before his death:

"Little Qing, if you hear this, it means two things: one, I'm dead; two, the seed has begun awakening others."

Han Qing's hand trembled. Memory lag made the reading slow, but each word struck his heart like a hammer.

The heartbeat continued:

"I know you'll ask, 'Why leave the heartbeat?' Because… the best teacher isn't the one who walks the whole road with the student. It's the one who, after the student learns to walk, dares to die first, letting the student know—without a teacher, the road must still be walked alone."

"But if death is too clean, the student will be scared. So leave a heartbeat. Like leaving a small lamp in the dark; the lamp doesn't illuminate the path, it only tells you: 'Someone has lit a lamp here, so the darkness isn't total.'"

The heartbeat paused here for ten seconds. Then, the final message:

"Now, you are also the one who lights the lamp. Remember—lamps fear not being small, only fear not being lit."

Message ended. The heartbeat resumed at 13 per minute, but its intensity rose fivefold—like shouting the final sentence with force.

The kitchen fell into dead silence. Only the porridge in the pot gurgled.

Lao Zhao lifted the spoon, intending to tap the pot rim, but his hand froze mid‑air. Finally he gently set the spoon down and said:

"Alright, the Light has been passed into your hands. It's time to shine for those who come later."

Countdown: 19 minutes. As the seventh node (Refractor Shattered Light-7) is about to connect, Pure-3's Light Sphere suddenly flickers violently!

"Warning! The radicals have detected my data transmission trace! They are tracking the signal source— in three minutes they will lock onto Earth coordinates!"

Its Light Sphere changes color from pale violet to warning red: "I must cut the connection, or they will discover I'm helping you!"

But just as it prepares to disconnect, Shattered Light-7's voice suddenly cuts into the network: "Wait! Your frequency… I recognize it!"

The holographic display shows: on the crystalline body of Shattered Light-7, ancient patterns identical to Pure-3 appear—those are the artistic symbols of the thirteenth civilization's "Dreamer Era"!

"You… you are 'Echo-7'?!" Shattered Light-7's voice trembles, "The envoy who planted the first seed at the test plot! You reshaped your body but kept the core memory!"

Pure-3— or rather Echo-7—'s Light Sphere steadied. Three seconds later, it concedes: "Yes. But I am now 'Pure-3', the conservative faction's program war representative. If my identity is exposed, all efforts will—"

"Then don't expose it." Han Qing suddenly speaks, his memory never so clear, "Shattered Light-7, can you forge an 'attack simulation signal' to make the radicals think they're tracking the wrong target?"

"Can do! But it requires massive computing power—"

"Use my heartbeat network." Han Qing places his hand on his chest, "Seven nodes, plus the Supervisor database— is that enough?"

Shattered Light-7's crystal erupts with unprecedented brilliance: "Enough! But the network will temporarily shift to defensive mode, unable to continue expanding!"

"Survive first." Lao Zhao taps the pot rim, "Alive, we can think about expansion."

Countdown: 11 minutes. Seven nodes simultaneously shift frequency, beginning to weave a massive 'virtual heartbeat network'—hiding Earth's true coordinates among hundreds of false signals.

And the real, fragile heartbeat network has only one step left: incorporate Echo-7 into the nodes.

Countdown: 3 minutes. The false network is completed, the radicals' attack fleet begins to turn toward the wrong coordinates.

Echo-7's Light Sphere hovers in the kitchen center, hesitating—once it connects as the eighth node, it can never return to the conservatives.

The Supervisor's silver pattern begins extending toward it: "According to my observational data, the weight of your internal 'acknowledged rationality' has increased 47% over thirty days. You now… are closer to 'Echo-7' than to 'Pure-3'."

Echo-7's Light Sphere drifts slowly toward the fruit on Han Qing's chest. One centimeter before contact, it whispers (using the original envoy's voice):

"I choose… to remain a student. To learn how a seed… can sprout even in soil of hatred."

It merges into the network.

In an instant, the heartbeats of eight nodes sound together. Not uniform, but eight different rhythms interwoven into a noisy yet vivid proof of life.

Countdown reaches zero.

The attack wave sweeps past the Error Signal coordinates, hitting no real target.

And in the kitchen, Lao Zhao strikes the pot rim for the eighth time:

"Dong."

Eight heartbeats, each in its own frequency, respond simultaneously:

"…Dong."