Chapter 64: Ark First Appears, Data Plague Doctor

Liu Neng was placed in the camp's makeshift medical tent; his external wounds gradually healed under Su Yu's life‑energy guidance and Liu Qian's herbal treatment, but mental trauma and fatigue kept him asleep most of the time. Li Siwen, with a few technically‑savvy people, surrounded the energy core that Liu Neng had retrieved—once seized and then reclaimed—and several equipment fragments "taken" from the white‑clad men, and began a sleepless, food‑forgetting study.

At the camp's center, Chen Mo, Su Yu, Han Qing, Zhang Yang and Wang Hu sat around the campfire, the atmosphere heavy.

"Those wearing white robes move like machines; their weapons and equipment are far beyond anything we've ever seen," Han Qing said, polishing his longbow, his tone low. "The 'post‑war cleanup agreement' and 'low‑entropy perturbation bodies' they mention aren't terms of this era."

"And the 'Ark'," Su Yu added, brow furrowed. "Li Siwen examined Liu Neng and found an extremely tiny, dormant subdermal tracker—technology far advanced. Before we could remove it, we captured a brief encrypted signal it emitted during a short activation, which repeatedly referenced the 'Ark' command."

"Ark…" Chen Mo chewed on the word. In the old era the "Ark Project" eventually became a monster system that devoured everything; so this "Ark" – a remnant of the old‑era power? Or another…different existence?

"Who cares about Ark or Round‑Ark!" Zhang Yang slapped his thigh loudly. "If they dare to provoke us, we'll damn them! Their energy weapons fear the captain's 'mediation', right? Next time they come, we'll turn them all into burning sticks!"

Wang Hu grunted in agreement: "Yes! Let them come and never return!"

Chen Mo shook his head, his gaze deep: "It's not that simple. My 'Rule Mediation' isn't invincible; it consumes a lot, and if the opponent is prepared or has higher‑power weapons, its effect drops sharply. They're backed by a complete system we don't understand."

He stood and looked north: "We need intelligence. We must know what this 'Ark' actually is, where they are, what they intend. Passive defense will only get us dragged down."

At that moment, Li Siwen ran over, excitement and a hint of confusion on his face, holding a makeshift scanner cobbled together with circuit boards and beast‑skin.

"Found something!" he said urgently. "I performed a deep energy‑spectrum analysis on the energy core and equipment fragments; their energy signatures match, at a high degree, the early theoretical models publicly released for the old‑era 'Ark Project', but they're more refined and stable! Moreover, I tried to crack the outer shell of that encrypted signal—though I couldn't fully decode it, I captured a few keywords—'Data Abyss', 'Purification Sequence', and…'Plague Doctor'."

Data Abyss? Purification Sequence? Plague Doctor?

The combination of these terms exuded an ominous vibe.

"Plague Doctor…" Su Yu murmured. Her True Knowledge Vision is unusually sensitive to such strongly directed terminology, "It sounds like something that deals specifically with 'pathological data'…"

As if to confirm her suspicion, a sudden commotion and cries erupted from outside the camp!

Everyone sprang up and rushed over. At the newly cultivated field on the east side of the camp, a few surviving caretakers pointed terrified at the plot. The crops, which had just sprouted tender shoots, were now withering and blackening at a visible speed; their leaves bore scorch marks like burnt circuits, and this bizarre withering spread slowly to the surrounding soil!

"Is… is it a curse?" a young girl said, voice trembling.

Chen Mo crouched, his fingers lightly touching the wilted plant. A cold sensation laden with strong "delete" and "format" connotations of residual data streamed along his fingertips, furrowing his brow. This was neither natural disease nor ordinary pollution.

"It's a variant of a data virus," Su Yu's complexion turned sour, "overly aggressive, targeting the 'growth' and 'structure' information of living beings for attack and deletion. It's like… like a plague aimed at existence itself."

Li Siwen aimed the scanner at the wilted area; the device emitted a shrill alarm: "High‑concentration malignant data residue! Extremely active! It is self‑replicating and attempting to infect surrounding rule structures! This… this is exactly a man‑made 'Data Plague'!"

Data Plague! Plague Doctor!

Everyone's hearts sank. Those white‑clad men! Not only did they seize resources openly, they also released this vile thing in secret!

"Can we stop it?" Han Qing asked gravely.

Chen Mo gave no answer; he placed both hands on the edge of the wilted zone, closed his eyes. His consciousness sank to the rule layer, where he "saw" the plague data spreading like a black tide, countless tiny greedy worms gnawing madly at the lines of the Primordial Law that represent "growth", "nutrition", "cellular structure", and replacing them with malignant code representing "death", "void", "error".

He attempted a "Rule Mediation", defining the area to "repel malignant data". But the plague's force was extremely stubborn and carried a "de‑compilation" trait against the Primordial Rules; his mediation was like water striking rock—little effect, and it drained massive energy.

"No," Chen Mo opened his eyes, sweat beading on his forehead, "this 'plague' is designed specifically to counter the Primordial Law; my mediation can't eradicate it, only temporarily slow its spread."

Must we watch helplessly as the hard‑won fields are destroyed, or even see this plague spread through the whole camp?

At that moment, a faint, warning‑tinged pulse emanated from the Primordial Core fused with Chen Mo's chest. Simultaneously, a fragment of ancient knowledge from the Luo Ya Legacy about "information‑layer protection and purification" flashed in his mind.

Information layer… countering data…

An idea sparked like a firework.

"Engineer Li!" Chen Mo shouted at the tech officer, "If we use that energy core, together with all the Primordial active materials we can gather (like mutant‑beast energy crystals, life‑rich plant essence), can you build a temporary, large‑scale 'Information Filtering Field'? Not for attack, just for 'identification' and 'isolation'?"

Engineer Li froze, then his eyes lit up: "In theory… feasible! The energy core supplies stable power; the Primordial materials serve as a 'whitelist' baseline. We can design a simple logic circuit that forcibly isolates and silences any data fluctuation that doesn't match the 'whitelist' life signatures! Like… like building a firewall!"

"How long will it take?" Chen Mo pressed.

"If the materials are ready, give me one day!" Engineer Li's eyes glittered with the light of a tech‑madman.

"Alright! Han Qing, Zhang Yang, Wang Hu, you take people to assist Engineer Li, give full support! The camp goes into emergency mode; all uninfected zones implement isolation!" Chen Mo ordered swiftly, "Su Yu, you and I, use our abilities to delay the plague's spread as much as possible, buying Engineer Li time!"

The next twenty‑four hours, Echo Camp entered an unprecedented state of tension.

Engineer Li, with his tech team, under protection from Han Qing and others, frantically assembled a roughly built but cleverly conceived device—a complex base composed of the energy core, various faintly glowing Primordial materials, and countless intertwined wires and runes (blending Luo Ya knowledge with old‑era circuitry).

Chen Mo and Su Yu guarded the edge of the wilted zone, barely sleeping. Chen Mo continued high‑intensity Rule Mediation, like building a fragile dam before a flood, forcibly slowing the black plague's advance; his face grew visibly paler by the minute. Su Yu used her True Knowledge Vision to pinpoint the most active "nodes" in the plague data flow, directing other camp members who possessed faint traces of Primordial Blood or special abilities to deliver small‑scale energy strikes, disrupting the replication rate.

Everyone's hearts hung in the balance. Watching the black boundary that kept pushing forward, watching Chen Mo and Su Yu's increasingly gaunt faces, watching Engineer Li's occasional sparks and frantic debates.

Finally, at dusk on the second day, when the black plague was about to breach Chen Mo's tenuously held defense line and reach the nearest row of tents, Engineer Li's side shouted hoarsely:

"It's done! Activate the 'Life Barrier'!"

Buzz—!

A soft, water‑like white aura centered on that peculiar device instantly expanded, enveloping the entire Echo Camp! Where the aura swept, the raging black plague was halted as if struck by an invisible wall; its forward momentum stopped abruptly! The plague struck the aura, emitting a faint crackling like hail on glass, then was forcibly confined within its original bounds, unable to spread a single inch outward.

Success!

The camp erupted in post‑catastrophe cheers! Many collapsed to the ground, crying with joy.

Chen Mo let out a long sigh, his body swayed, and Su Yu steadied him. He looked at the temporarily isolated plague zone and the still‑lush land beyond the aura, his gaze icy.

"Ark… Plague Doctor…" he whispered the two words repeatedly.

This is no longer a simple resource scramble; it is a clash of ideals, a confrontation of ways of survival.

The other side sees them as "low‑entropy perturbation bodies" that need "cleansing", even resorting to the "Data Plague" as an extermination method.

Then they have no more reservations.

Chen Mo straightened, his eyes sweeping over the weary yet resolute companions.

"Engineer Li, research a complete purification method for this plague as soon as possible."

"Han Qing, strengthen camp patrols and alert levels."

"Zhang Yang, Wang Hu, reorganize equipment, be ready to strike at any moment."

His voice carried a hint of fatigue, but mostly an undeniable resolve.

"We will make those who call themselves 'Plague Doctors' understand…"

"This land, we are the doctors. And they, are the patients who need diagnosis…"

The shadow of the Ark has already fallen, the smoke of the Data Plague has not yet cleared. The survival battle of Echo Camp has entered a harsher, more complex new stage.