Chapter 42: Data Storm, Desperate Compilation

The military assault vehicle's engine roared madly, speeding along the desolate, ruined highway, wheels kicking up clouds of dust. Behind it, the swarm of data-corrupted monsters known as the "Locust Swarm" pursued relentlessly, their forms twisted, parts of their bodies showing semi-transparent data-stream light effects, emitting piercing cries that mixed beastly howls with electronic static, like bone-eating maggots.

"Turn left! Avoid the collapsed area ahead!" Su Yu stared fixedly forward; her "Observer" permission seemed also enhanced in the real world, allowing her to sense unstable data nodes and structural weaknesses in the environment beforehand.

Chen Mo wrenched the steering wheel, the assault vehicle drifting perilously over a cracked road surface; almost simultaneously, the road behind them collapsed with a roar, forming a deep trench that slightly hindered the pursuers' speed.

"Nice shot, Su Yu!" Zhang Yang fired the scavenged heavy machine gun from the rear compartment at the pursuers; bullets struck the data monsters, bursting into clouds of distorted light shards, but their numbers were overwhelming—each felled was instantly replaced by more.

"These damned things can't be killed!" Wang Hu roared, hurling a high-explosive grenade into the monster horde; the blast's shockwave flung a few aside, but more monsters, like bugs lacking fear protocols, kept charging madly.

Han Qing's eyes were sharp; he tried, like Chen Mo, to infuse his spirit power—laden with hatred—into an arrow and shoot it. The arrow pierced a monster, which then dissipated noticeably faster, its residual data fragments becoming even more unstable. "Effective! Our willpower can accelerate their 'data decomposition'!"

Li Siwen laid down precise suppressing fire while quickly analyzing: "Their data structure is unstable, like hastily generated consumables by the system! But the core order is clear—eliminate us! They are coordinating a siege via some network-shared information we cannot comprehend."

Chen Mo gripped the steering wheel tightly, activating his Data Perception to the fullest. He could not only "see" the data flow of the pursuing troops behind, but also faintly sense a "data pressure" ahead over a larger area—an intangible oppression born of system malice and purge protocols, now gathering forward.

"We can't keep running! There's an ambush ahead! The system is luring us into an encirclement!" Chen Mo growled low.

Their vehicle had just burst out of an abandoned tunnel; the view opened up, yet it was a despairing sight—a vast ring-shaped valley, the sole exit opposite them, but the ridges on both sides of the valley and the far exit were already thickly packed with more data monsters of varied forms! Their eyes glowed with cold red light, like hunters waiting for prey to fall into a trap.

They were surrounded!

Rear pursuers, front blockade, steep cliffs on both sides!

"Damn it! Let's fight them!" Wang Hu's eyes turned bloodshot, about to jump out of the vehicle.

"Don't act rashly!" Chen Mo barked, his mind racing. A forced breakout would be a dead end; staying here would be like a fish in a jar.

His gaze swept over the relatively flat but jagged-strewn area at the valley's center. The data flow there… was abnormally chaotic and… ancient? It seemed as if something was interfering with the system's total control.

Exactly! In the old era this might have been an important geological node, or it could retain a pre-civilization "Ark" facility not fully assimilated by the system! It formed a data-interference zone akin to "library fragments"!

"To the stone forest in the middle!" Chen Mo decided instantly, slammed the accelerator, and the assault vehicle shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, racing toward the rocky area at the valley's center.

Almost as they plunged into the stone forest, the monster torrents from front, rear, left, and right surged to encircle them simultaneously! Upon entering the stone forest, the monsters' movements showed a slight hesitation, and their data-stream light became unstable.

"Indeed! This place can interfere with them!" Li Siwen exclaimed delightedly.

But the interference was mutual. Chen Mo also felt his Data Perception grow fuzzy, and his mental link with Su Yu suffered strong interference. The assault vehicle struggled through the rugged stone forest, its speed greatly reduced.

"The vehicle's done! Prepare to abandon it and fight on foot!" Chen Mo slammed the vehicle into a large rock and stopped; this spot could barely serve as a temporary shelter.

Everyone quickly disembarked, using the boulders and vehicle to build a defensive line. Monsters poured in from all directions, climbing rocks, leaping obstacles, and frenziedly assaulting this small squad.

The battle instantly erupted into white-hot intensity!

Han Qing's arrows were like death's summons, each striking precisely the monsters' core data nodes, triggering small-scale data collapses. Zhang Yang's heavy machine gun spewed tongues of fire, laying down a dense barrage to block the tide-like assault. Wang Hu and Li Siwen handled close combat and mopped up, slaying monsters that broke through the fire net. Zhao Lei and Liu Qian stood back-to-back, laying down precise covering fire for each other.

Chen Mo and Su Yu stood at the center of the group, attempting to more deeply employ their newly gained abilities.

Chen Mo closed his eyes, no longer relying on sight but using Data Perception to "read" the battlefield. He "saw" the red data streams flowing inside the monsters, representing attack orders; he saw the weak network lines linking them, sharing information; and he saw within this stone forest the ancient data remnants, like background noise—chaotic yet tenacious.

"Su Yu! Help me locate their data network hub!" Chen Mo shouted.

Su Yu focused, a faint gold glint flickering in her pupils; her "Observer" pierced the facade, directly locking onto several entities hidden behind the monster horde—slightly larger, with unusually active data streams—these "Node Units"!

"Found them! Three o'clock direction, above that black rock; nine o'clock direction, behind that dead tree; and also…"

Chen Mo sprang into action instantly! He ceased using firearms, instead concentrating his spirit power intensely, hands loosely clasped; his Primordial Origin Seal trembled faintly in his sea of consciousness, guiding the surrounding mutable ancient data streams that could be influenced, as well as the fragmented data scattered when monsters died.

"Compile… imprison!"

He let out a low shout, thrusting both hands forward! Invisible data ripples spread outward; the space around the few Node Units Su Yu had locked onto suddenly twisted, countless translucent data chains like shackles materializing out of nowhere, tightly binding them!

【Error! Connection severed!】

【Instruction lost…】

Those Node Units emitted chaotic electronic noises; their data links to the surrounding monsters were forcibly severed! Instantly, the previously coordinated monster horde fell into a moment of chaos, its attack rhythm disrupted, even causing them to collide with each other.

"Effective!" Han Qing's eyes lit up; he seized the moment, loosing several arrows in succession, blasting each bound Node Unit to pieces.

The monsters' offensive stalled for a moment!

But the system reacted even faster! The data ribbons in the sky suddenly brightened; a stronger data flood poured down like a waterfall, injecting into the remaining monsters' bodies! Their forms solidified again, their data-light effects grew more glaring, and their attacks became more frenzied, heedless of cost.

"It's forcibly boosting their permissions and energy levels!" Su Yu's face paled; "If this continues, the stone forest's interference won't hold much longer!"

Chen Mo also felt a wave of dizziness; his earlier "Data Compilation" had taken a huge toll. He looked around at the seemingly endless monsters, then at his comrades—wounded, exhausted— and a fierce resolve surged within him.

Passive defense only leads to death! We must attack! Attack the very data structure of this area!

He recalled how, inside the system, everyone had struck the "Logic Arbiter" with human-data. Perhaps… we could replicate that here?

"Everyone! Listen to my command!" Chen Mo roared hoarsely, his consciousness resonating deeply with the Primordial Origin Seal; a spirit of "rebellion," unwillingness, and defiance spread from him as its center: "Stop thinking about specific attack targets! Recall your strongest emotions! Release your spirit, your will, the humanity you deem 'error'—let it all out! Entrust it to me!"

Although they didn't understand what Chen Mo intended, long-standing comradeship had forged absolute trust. Han Qing recalled his wife and daughter's smiles and bloodshed; Zhang Yang recalled fighting side by side with brothers, their heroism and farewells; Li Siwen recalled the pure thirst for truth; Wang Hu recalled his mother's warm embrace; Zhao Lei and Liu Qian clasped hands, remembering their mutual support… All members of the Echo Squad, at this moment, threw open their hearts completely, channeling that chaotic, fervent torrent of humanity toward Chen Mo!

Chen Mo felt his consciousness near bursting under the weight of that massive thought! He gritted his teeth, forcibly merging the huge "error data stream" gathered from everyone's emotions, memories, and will, with the power of the Primordial Origin Seal, and his own newly grasped, rough "Data Compilation" ability!

He spread his arms, as if holding up an invisible weight, and aimed at the ceaseless data waterfall of system will pouring down from the valley's sky, emitting a silent roar!

"Compile—Humanity Storm!"

No sound, no flash of light.

But the valley's data layer underwent a cataclysmic upheaval!

An intangible, substance-less surge, brimming with countless joys, angers, sorrows, pleasures, loves, and hatreds, rose upward against the system's data waterfall!

Wherever this surge passed, the system's data streams, as if meeting their nemesis, twisted, errated, and collapsed! The monsters whose permissions had been forcibly raised flickered violently like bad-signal images; their attack orders, struck by the humanity data surge, became meaningless, their logic cores unable to process this flood of "meaningless information"—each froze like a crashed program, then began to disintegrate from within, dissolving into the most primitive data points that scattered into the air.

Not only the monsters, but the valley's very data structure was struck. The data chains representing the system's rule-bound shackles snapped link by link; the ancient interference data within the stone forest grew more active, even beginning to spontaneously repel the system's power!

The data waterfall in the sky was forcibly severed and shredded! The system's will emitted a silent yet soul-shaking surge of anger, then receded like a tide.

Inside the valley, silence fell instantly.

Apart from the wind and the ragged breaths of the group, no monster howls could be heard any longer.

All the data monsters, together with that vast encirclement, vanished in smoke after the impact of that "Humanity Storm."

The team members slumped to the ground, nearly spent, yet their eyes brimmed with awe and the joy of having survived.

Chen Mo knelt on one knee, sweat soaking his garments, his sea of consciousness empty, his Primordial Origin Seal grown dim. Yet he sensed his grasp of "Data Compilation" had deepened another level. He lifted his head, gazing toward the direction the system's will had retreated, his eyes icy.

This time, they not only survived, but found a path capable of truly wounding the "system"!

Su Yu walked to his side, gently supporting his slightly swaying body, and whispered, "We did it."

"Hmm." Chen Mo grasped her hand, feeling that real temperature, his gaze once again turned toward the golden coordinate in the sea of consciousness.

Time grew even more urgent.

The system's next counterattack will only be more terrifying. They must reach that place as soon as possible.

After a brief rest and replenishing some food and water, the group climbed back onto the scarred assault vehicle, crushing the data light debris scattered across the ground, charging out of the valley that had just endured an invisible storm, and continued speeding toward the unknown source.

The doomsday countdown continued to tick.