Chapter 256: Emotional Waveform Lock

"Unauthorized access detected," a mechanical synthesized voice rang out from all directions, "Emotional Sample Collection Program initiated."

Alarm lights flashed throughout the space, and the originally pure white walls turned blood-red. The floor suddenly split, and dozens of silver-white streamlined robots rose from the gaps, all with that abstract eye logo printed on their chests.

Lin Yu grabbed Xu Xiaochuan, the back of his tactical suit split open, and his white hair transformed into a sharp long whip, lashing out at the nearest robot. However, when the Void Energy touched the robot's surface, the expected tearing did not occur.

Instead, a burst of data chaos code flashed across the robot's surface, and its movements stiffened for a moment.

"Energy interference... they aren't adapted to Void fluctuations!" Lin Yu stomped his tactical boots hard on the ground, his white hair sweeping out a blurred afterimage.

Xuanyuan Qing gripped the last Silver Bell Fragment, a faint luster emerging on its bronze surface. She closed her eyes to sense for a second, then pointed toward the deepest part of the Data Hub: "There is an Emotional Vacuum Zone there, with an extremely high security level—that might be Zhou Weihong's private terminal!"

The three of them stood back-to-back in a defensive formation; the robot swarm gradually closed in, their movements precise and cold. They were not equipped with traditional weapons, but their metal palms could transform into various capture tools.

"Watch out for their restraint devices!" Lin Yu's gold-black energy condensed into a shield, blocking a Mechanical Arm extended by a robot.

The Receiver on the back of Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform began to heat up again, blue light flickering through the fabric. He looked around and suddenly discovered a Maintenance Port embedded in the wall, with patterns strikingly similar to those on his father's steamer craftsmanship.

"Buy me thirty seconds!" Xu Xiaochuan lunged toward the port, his school uniform hem brushed by a robot and torn open.

Lin Yu and Xuanyuan Qing attacked simultaneously, one forming a vanguard with Void Energy, the other creating interference with the Silver Bell Fragment. The robot swarm's movements indeed slowed down due to the energy fluctuations, data chaos code flashing in their Electronic Eyes.

Xu Xiaochuan pressed both hands onto the Maintenance Port, the blue light of the Receiver suddenly intensifying and resonating with the port. His consciousness was instantly pulled into the Data Stream, and countless codes and information flows appeared before his eyes. In this ocean of data, he was shocked to discover the network structure map of the entire Si Jiu City—tens of thousands of information streams converged at various Donkey Meat Burger Shops, then transmitted to this central Data Hub.

"I've acquired some information!" Xu Xiaochuan's eyes glowed with a pale blue light, "This is indeed the 'Observer's' data center; it processes surveillance data from the entire city..."

A larger robot suddenly descended from a gap broken in the ceiling, with a gold rather than silver eye logo printed on its chest. The end of its Mechanical Arm was not a grasping device, but a complex Scanner.

"Emotional Feature Extraction Program initiated," the gold-eyed robot's voice was deeper than the others, "Target locked: direct descendant of Xu Jianhua."

Lin Yu sensed the crisis, his white hair growing violently and winding into a protective net. However, the gold-eyed robot completely ignored this obstacle, and an invisible energy wave passed directly through the defense, striking Xu Xiaochuan in the back.

"Ugh—" A painful groan squeezed out of Xu Xiaochuan's throat; the Receiver on his back suddenly overloaded, the blue light so blinding it almost blinded his eyes.

A massive amount of data and emotional Memory was forcibly extracted, and beads of sweat the size of peas appeared on Xu Xiaochuan's forehead. He struggled to keep his consciousness clear and discovered a deeply encrypted information channel in the Data Stream, leading to an area marked "PHDW."

"Zhou Weihong... his private terminal is in the northwest corner... but the door lock isn't a normal password..." Xu Xiaochuan conveyed the information intermittently, every word causing him extreme pain, "It's a... Emotional Waveform Lock..."

Xuanyuan Qing's Silver Bell Chain whipped toward the gold-eyed robot, the bronze surface erupting with unprecedented brightness, leaving a scorch mark on the robot's Scanner. Taking advantage of its scanning system being temporarily disabled, the three quickly retreated from the Maintenance Port and moved toward the northwest corner.

Along the way, the lights flickered on and off, and the air was filled with the smell of metal and ozone. Xu Xiaochuan's brief experience connecting to the Data Stream left him with a splitting headache, but he had also brought back key information.

"According to the Data Stream, Zhou Weihong's private area hides the true control program for the Zero Machine," he said, leaning against the wall as he moved, every step making the Receiver on his back sting incessantly, "But to enter that area, we need to provide a specific emotional Memory as an unlocking key."

"What specific type of memory is needed?" Lin Yu asked while remaining on guard.

"The Data Stream only mentioned that this is an emotional waveform related to Zhou Weihong's personal experience," Xu Xiaochuan gritted his teeth, "It must be intense enough and meet the specified characteristics to pass authentication."

They arrived in front of an inconspicuous gray metal door in the northwest corner. There were no handles or any obvious switches on the door, only a small indentation shaped like a teardrop.

Xuanyuan Qing placed the Silver Bell Fragment close to the indentation, and the bronze surface immediately resonated. The wall next to the door suddenly lit up, projecting a waveform graph and a few lines of text:

"Emotional Authentication System. Please provide the specified emotional feature waveform: Loss—Betrayal—Anger—Determination."

Lin Yu suddenly remembered something: "Qin Tianluo's data fragments mentioned... Zhou Weihong... laboratory accident... family member... Xu Jianhua... could this be a clue?"

A fragment flashed through the Data Stream captured by Xu Xiaochuan's Receiver—an old laboratory accident report dated thirty-five years ago, in which the report mentioned a researcher named "Zhou Lin" who died in the experiment, and the signing auditor was none other than Xu Jianhua.

"I understand," Xu Xiaochuan's eyes suddenly lit up, "Zhou Weihong's family—possibly his wife or daughter—died in a laboratory accident, and my father was the Person in Charge of the accident investigation."

Xuanyuan Qing closed her eyes to sense: "This explains why this is an Emotional Vacuum Zone—Zhou Weihong locked his most intense emotions here, both as a protection and as... a memorial."

The footsteps of the robot army gradually approached, the rhythm of metal colliding with the ground growing faster. Time was tight; they had to unlock this emotional lock immediately.

"What's needed here isn't our emotions," Lin Yu suddenly realized, "but Zhou Weihong's emotional Memory."

A burning sensation suddenly came from the Receiver on Xu Xiaochuan's back. He couldn't help but lean toward the teardrop-shaped indentation, a strange resonance occurring between the Receiver and the indentation.

"Father's tattoo... is not just a Receiver... but an Emotional Record Instrument," Xu Xiaochuan's back pressed against the indentation, intense pain accompanying a massive influx of unfamiliar memories into his consciousness, "He recorded Zhou Weihong's emotional fluctuations... as a contingency..."

The waveform graph on the wall suddenly became active, gradually synchronizing with the light waves emitted by the Receiver on Xu Xiaochuan's back. The text on the screen changed from red to green:

"Emotional feature match rate: 78%... 85%... 92%... Verification passed."

The gray metal door slid open silently, revealing a space completely different from the outside—warm wooden floors, an old-fashioned desk and lamp, and a yellowed family photo hanging on the wall. In the photo, a young Zhou Weihong stood beside an elegant woman and a girl of about seven years old.