Chapter 51: Compilation Backlash, the Data's Tragedy

The wind and sand of the Gobi seemed also stained with data's chill, blowing against the face with a faint static sting. The Echo Squad swiftly moved between the jagged rocks and dry riverbeds; far behind, those few Cleaner Drones clung like bone‑eating maggots, maintaining a precise tracking distance, their electronic eyes flashing as they uploaded in real time all environmental data along the way and the target's behavior patterns.

【Luo Ya's Heritage Mark】 the resonance feeling came like a candle in the wind, flickering on and off, pointing northeast to a rugged mountain area called the Shattered Steps. There, in the old era it was a signal blind spot; now, under the system's rule solidification, data flow is even more chaotic, perhaps the only hope to shake off pursuit and find the second fragment.

But the tail behind must be dealt with. Under constant surveillance like this, all their actions would be under the system's nose—let alone finding fragments, even basic survival becomes a problem.

"We can't just brute‑force it; the system will send reinforcements immediately." Chen Mo ran while quickly deploying in the mental link, "We need to create a momentary, absolute information‑isolation environment so their signals can't get out, then finish them quickly."

"How about using the 'Faint Light Domain'?" Su Yu asked, her face still somewhat pale; the exhaustion from the previous rule confrontation had not fully recovered.

"No, deploying a domain would cause too much commotion, and continuously compiling against system monitoring would drain us beyond what we can bear." Chen Mo's eyes sharp, "We'll try a one‑time, overload 'point‑compile blast'."

This idea is extremely risky. Instead of maintaining a stable domain, it would instantly release everyone's mental power and the strength of the Source Code Fragment, targeting an infinitesimal spatial point to force‑compile an 'information singularity' that exceeds the system's current rule‑tolerance limit, triggering a brief data black‑hole effect that devours all information flow.

"Target: 150 meters behind, the spatial coordinates atop that wind‑eroded rock pillar." Chen Mo locked on the target, "We have only one chance; the compile command must sync to the millisecond, energy output must reach critical value. If successful, we'll have less than ten seconds to take out those Cleaner Drones."

Everyone understood without a word; the mental link instantly tightened to the limit. Their running speed eased slightly, and all attention focused on the impending coordinated casting.

Chen Mo, as the guidance core, felt the Source Code Fragment in his sea of consciousness emit a low hum; power was frenetically drawn and compressed. Su Yu's observational power locked onto the target coordinates, ensuring absolute compile precision. Han Qing, Zhang Yang, Wang Hu, Li Siwen, Zhao Lei, Liu Qian—six of them—had their mental power like six streams flowing along the energy channel Chen Mo had built, pouring into the continually condensing, compressing compile energy sphere.

An extreme sense of oppression spread, even the Cleaner Drones tailing them seemed to sense the abnormality, their movements showing an imperceptible hesitation.

"Now! Compile command: Define target space—information entropy: infinite! Duration: 0.3 seconds!"

Chen Mo let out a silent roar in the mental link!

No light, no sound. But in Chen Mo's Rule Analysis vision, at the target coordinates the solid rule‑network resembled a pond struck by a stone, its center point collapsing inward! An absolutely dark point appeared, from which even light and the most basic data streams could not escape.

Hum——

An invisible, terrifying suction targeting the information layer erupted! With that black dot as center, within a fifty‑meter radius all data transmission—scanning beams in the Cleaner Drones' eyes, their secret data links to the system, even stray background radiation in the air—was instantly pulled, torn, and devoured.

Those few Cleaner Drones' movements jerked to a halt, the data light in their eyes extinguished completely, like puppets with cut strings, frozen in place. Their connection to the system's main body was forcibly severed!

"Attack!"

Almost the instant the information singularity appeared, the Echo Squad moved! Their long‑charged attack poured down like a violent storm!

Han Qing's will‑arrow, like a death god's whisper, precisely pierced the core processor of the nearest Cleaner Drone. Zhang Yang's heavy machine gun roared, instantly shredding the external sensors and weapon system of another Cleaner Drone. Wang Hu charged like a tiger from its gate, his battle‑axe whistling with a tearing‑air scream as it cleaved the third Cleaner Drone in half! Li Siwen, Zhao Lei, and Liu Qian's precise point‑shots took care of the gaps, ensuring no Cleaner Drone could reboot or sound an alarm.

The whole process took less than seven seconds.

When the last Cleaner Drone collapsed into a heap of sparking wreckage, the information singularity forged by compilation reached its limit, silently vanished, as if it had never existed.

The world returned to 'normal', but the feeling of being watched temporarily disappeared.

"We succeeded…" Zhang Yang panted, a hint of excitement on his face.

However, Chen Mo suddenly dropped to one knee, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the scorching sand! Mixed in the blood were faint specks of light like shattered code.

"Chen Mo!"

"Captain!"

Su Yu hurried to support him, the others gathering around, their faces full of shock.

Chen Mo's face turned ashen as paper; in his sea of consciousness it felt as if millions of steel needles were piercing. Not only was his mental power exhausted, but worse… rule backlash!

Forcibly compiling an 'information singularity' that exceeds the system's current rule framework is tantamount to digging a chunk of flesh out of the system's 'body'. The system's retaliation is not an external energy shock but a direct attack on the compiler's own existential logic.

【Warning: Detected high‑danger rule tampering… executing compilation backlash protocol…】

【Target individual: Chen Mo (anomaly variable core)… applying logic contamination… existence stability -15%… and continuing to decay…】

A cold alert tone sounded in Chen Mo's consciousness, carrying a judgment‑like weight. He felt his 'existence' becoming thin, the edges of his memory blurring, his link to reality as if veiled by frosted glass. This is the price of compiling reality! Every attempt to transcend limits may invite the system to directly corrode the foundation of his own being.

"It's logic contamination!" Su Yu, through observation, clearly saw the ominous black data streams swirling around Chen Mo's consciousness, constantly trying to invade his core logic, "We must purify it immediately! Otherwise your 'existence' will be gradually negated and erased!"

Purify? Easier said than done! This is a direct curse from the system's main body, originating from a higher‑level rule strike.

Chen Mo strained to lift his head, looking at the Source Code Fragment in his hand. Its glow had dimmed considerably, as if that previous overload compilation had also been a huge burden for it. He tried to channel the fragment's power to dispel those black data streams, but to little effect. The fragment's power leans more toward 'creation' and 'order'; for this pure 'negation' and 'contamination', it seems to lack an effective countermeasure.

"Use… use our will…" Chen Mo's voice weak but his eyes firm, "Just as we fought the logic maze… use our 'existence'… to overwrite its 'negation'!"

He opened his consciousness core once more, not resisting but actively accepting his companions' will.

Su Yu without hesitation was the first to inject her purest mental power and the observer's 'anchor' trait into Chen Mo's sea of consciousness, trying to establish a stable coordinate to counter his existential dilution. Han Qing, Zhang Yang, Wang Hu… everyone, once again unreservedly poured their mental imprints, emotions, memories—all the precious fragments that make up their 'humanity'—into a warm, vibrant surge that flowed toward Chen Mo.

This is not an attack, but the most fundamental 'existence declaration', the most direct rebuttal to the system's 'negation'!

We are here!

We perceive each other!

We share memories!

We… are a whole!

The surge of will pooled from everyone merged with the residual power of the Source Code Fragment, forming a warm, tenacious light that washed over the icy black data streams in Chen Mo's sea of consciousness.

Contamination and purification, negation and existence, unfolded in a fierce tug‑of‑war on the level of Chen Mo's consciousness.

His body alternated between solid and semi‑transparent, his expression twisted by extreme agony. Su Yu gripped his hand tightly, tears slipping down silently; she could clearly 'see' the foundation of Chen Mo's existence wavering, like a candle in the wind.

Time passed second by second.

Just as Chen Mo's consciousness was about to be completely engulfed by that black data stream, the 【Luo Ya's Heritage Mark】 in his pocket flickered faintly once more! This time it was no longer a beacon for direction, but transmitted a fragmentary ancient message carrying a kind of soothing power—a lost chapter of Luo Ya civilization on stabilizing consciousness and resisting information‑layer erosion.

It was like lighting a lamp in the darkness!

Chen Mo felt a sudden spark of inspiration; he immediately followed the method in that fragment, guiding the surge of everyone's will—not by brute force but like weaving—interlacing those humanity‑filled wills into a tight net, the 'Cognitive Net', that covered his existential core.

This net, woven from their shared memories, their emotional bonds, and their hope for the future, cannot fully dispel the system's logic contamination, but it can keep the contamination at bay, firmly guarding Chen Mo's core 'self' cognition.

The black data streams continued to erode, but their speed noticeably slowed. Chen Mo's existence stability, which had been on the brink of collapse, finally managed to hold, ceasing its decline and lingering at a perilous threshold that had not yet fully given way.

He slowly opened his eyes; though still weak, his gaze regained clarity.

"Temporarily… stabilized." His voice hoarse, carrying the fatigue of having survived a catastrophe.

Everyone let out a breath, but their hearts remained heavy. Though they had shaken off the pursuers, they had made Chen Mo pay such a heavy price. The power to compile reality is a double‑edged sword of unsurpassed sharpness.

Chen Mo looked at his companions' concerned yet exhausted faces, then gazed toward the northeast where the faint outline of the Shattered Steps mountain range loomed like the fangs of a giant beast.

The road ahead is unknown, strong enemies lurk, and he himself bears the curse of possibly being erased from existence by the system at any moment.

But he stood up anyway.

"Let's go, to the Shattered Steps."

Before the system finds us, find the second fragment.

We... have no time to waste.

The sorrow of data, etched upon the body. But the fire of hope has never been extinguished.