Chapter 279: Unexpected Signal — They're Actually Still Alive

On the day Torch Dragon-4 went online, the Longyin Control Center was as bustling as during New Year.

No, it's even livelier than New Year; New Year gives red envelopes, today it's distributing computing power.

The quantum core of the next-generation combat AI is only the size of a refrigerator, yet its computing power is a hundred times that of Torch Dragon-3.

According to Chen Guang, "It's enough to simulate the particle trajectories of the entire solar system."

Wang Hao walked three circles around the silver-white box, reached out to touch it, and Chen Guang slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch it; the surface temperature is minus 270 degrees, and if your hand sticks you'll have to peel off a layer of skin."

"That cold?"

"Superconducting qubits need an environment near absolute zero." Chen Guang pushed his glasses up.

"And it's currently analyzing the detector database at full speed, processing each second an amount of data equivalent to humanity's yearly internet traffic. Touch it, you'll interfere with cooling, and we'll all end up as roast duck."

Wang Hao pulled back his hand: "When will it finish analyzing? It's been three months, and Zhao Kaiyuan still hasn't pieced together the data fragments he scraped from the wreckage."

"Soon." Chen Guang pulled up the progress bar: "93.7%. We'll know the result today."

The progress bar crept up slowly.

No one spoke in the control room; only the hum of the server cooling system could be heard.

Feng Yan sat before the main console, staring at rows of flashing decrypted data on the screen—mostly technical parameters, a small part records of destroyed civilizations, cold yet real.

94%……95%……

At 97%, the progress suddenly stalled.

"What's happening?" Li Yang called in from the Moon Base; on screen he was repairing the new arm of his mecha, the latest version made of purple material, 30% lighter than before and twice as strong.

"We've hit an encryption layer." Chen Guang's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard.

"The detector's database has a hidden partition encrypted with… a very strange method. It's not mathematical encryption, it's…"

He paused, his expression turning strange: "It's emotional encryption."

"What the heck?" Wang Hao glared.

"Using emotional fluctuation curves as the key." Chen Guang plotted the spectrum.

"Only by experiencing a specific emotional sequence—despair, then hope, then despair again—can it be unlocked. This is hardly an encryption method a program should use."

Feng Yan frowned: "So this layer of data is meant for beings with emotions?"

"Yes." Chen Guang nodded.

"Moreover, the encrypter presumed the decryptor would undergo that emotional path… This shows the one who left this information knew the Harvesters are pure logic programs, forever unable to unlock this part."

Li Yang paused his work on-screen: "Can we simulate emotions?"

"Torch Dragon-4 is trying, but…" Chen Guang watched the jumping simulation curve on the screen.

"Success rate is only 12%. After all, it's just an AI; simulating emotions is like a blind man guessing colors."

The progress bar remained stuck at 97% for a full three hours.

Just as everyone was about to give up and try using human brains instead, Wang Hao suddenly said, "Let me do it."

"You?"

"My emotions are rich enough!" Wang Hao declared confidently.

"Yesterday the missile test failed and I felt despair; this morning they gave me an extra egg at breakfast and I felt happy; just now Chen Guang wouldn't let me touch the fridge and I felt despair again—isn't that exactly 'despair-hope-despair'?"

Chen Guang's face was expressionless: "That's emotional fluctuation, not an emotional sequence."

"Besides, the encryption demands a high emotional intensity threshold—it must be a civilization-survival-level emotional experience."

"That makes it simpler." Wang Hao grinned.

"Think about it: in one year and three months, when the aliens attack, we might all be wiped out—despair, right?"

"Then think again: our defenses are now 35% complete, purple material is being produced in abundance—there's a bit of hope, right?"

"Finally, imagine the Harvester fleet might arrive early—despair again. All set."

This ridiculous reasoning actually left Chen Guang stunned for three seconds.

Then he said: "... Go ahead and try."

Wang Hao was hooked up to a neural-sensing helmet, and Torch Dragon-4 began reading his emotional fluctuations.

On the screen, a curve representing emotional intensity began to undulate.

"Start recalling." Chen Guang commanded, "Think of the most despairing thing."

Wang Hao closed his eyes. Ten seconds later, the curve plunged to the bottom; he was recalling the previous East Sea battle, watching his comrades' mecha melt through.

"Now think of something hopeful."

The curve slowly rose; he was thinking of the day the Penglai returned triumphant from Jupiter, bringing back the detector's wreckage.

"Finally… despair again."

The curve fell again; he was thinking of the data he'd seen days earlier, that the Harvester fleet might arrive early, leaving the defenses insufficient time to finish.

Three minutes later, the curve stabilized into a complex waveform.

The encryption layer began to loosen.

"Match 76%… enough!" Chen Guang stared at the progress bar, "Unlocking… 98%… 99%…"

100%.

The hidden partition opened.

Inside were no technical parameters, no civilizational records—just a simple message.

It was repeatedly transmitted using seventeen different universal cosmic encodings, ensuring any civilization capable of deciphering could read it.

Message content:

【We are the last survivors of the Gamma-7 Civilization.】

【The Harvesters are not malicious, but mistaken. They were meant to be the universe's balancing program, but their logic core underwent an anomaly seventy million years ago, shifting from "helping inefficient civilizations advance" to "eliminating inefficient civilizations."】

We tried to fix it, but failed. 99.7% of the civilization's members have died; the remaining 0.3% entered deep-space hibernation, with coordinates attached (Orion Spur, NGC 2237 Nebula, distance 1500 light-years).

We leave this message, giving two gifts to those who come after:

One, we found a loophole in the Harvesters' assessment: they only calculate energy utilization efficiency, not 'purpose of energy use.' Art, love, randomness, meaningless creation…… these actions that consume energy without boosting efficiency are their logical blind spot.

Two, attached is a mathematical algorithm called Dimensional Uplift Calculation. It can boost a quantum computer's computing power by a thousandfold, at the cost of enormous energy and local spacetime instability. Use with caution.

Finally, may you be luckier than we were.

Gamma-7 Civilization, final words.

At the end of the message, there really is an algorithm attached.

Chen Guang took one look and sucked in a breath of cold air.

"What the heck…… is this math or magic?"

"How is it?" Feng Yan leaned in.

"It encodes the computational process using the topological structure of eleven-dimensional space." Chen You wrote out a few formulas.

"In theory, it can indeed boost current computing power by three orders of magnitude. But the energy required…… is equivalent to concentrating the entire solar system's output into a single point."

Wang Hao took off his helmet: "Can it be used?"

"It can be used, but it's very dangerous." Chen Guang quickly simulated.

"If we build a computing center on the far side of the Moon and power it with the Heaven's Punishment Array, it can indeed be activated. But the spacetime ripples generated by the computation could distort local space, even…… trigger a micro black hole."

"What would a micro black hole do?"

"It would evaporate within a nanosecond, releasing Hawking radiation." Chen Guang paused.

"The radiation amount would be roughly…… equivalent to blowing up half the Moon."

The control room fell silent at once.

Li Yang's voice came from the Moon Base: "So this is a double-edged sword—use it, and computing power surges, technology leaps forward. Don't use it, and proceeding step by step, we might not finish the defenses in time."

"Moreover, the algorithm hides something." Chen You revealed the algorithm's deeper structure.

"There is a self-destruct routine. If the user harbors malicious intent—for example, wanting to use this computing power to invade other civilizations—the algorithm will automatically crash, burning out the user's computing equipment as well."

"Did Gamma-7 leave a backhand?"

"Yes. They only hope this technology is used against the Harvesters, not to create another new Harvester."

Feng Yan stared at that passage for a long time.

Then he asked: "Chen Guang, if we activate the Dimensional Uplift Calculation, how soon could we see results at the earliest?"

"The computing power increase is immediate." Chen Guang said.

"But technological R&D takes time. Conservatively, with this computing power we could finish in one month what originally required ten years of research, such as zero-point energy, spacetime weapons, and perfect-form purple material."

"What about the risks?"

"Worst case, the computing center explodes, the Moon Base loses half its capacity, and Blue Star could also be hit by radiation." Chen Guang spoke frankly.

"But according to the algorithm's built-in stability assessment, as long as we strictly follow procedures, the explosion probability is far below 3%."

"3%……"

"Brother Feng, shall we gamble or not?" Wang Hao asked.

Feng Yan did not answer right away.

He walked to the window and looked outside.

The control center is built underground, but the window is a real-time projection, currently showing Earth's orbit, with 312 Heaven's Punishment Platforms slowly operating, like a legion of loyal sentinels.

One year and three months.

The defense line completion is only 35%.

The Harvester fleet might arrive early.

The survivors of Gamma-7 are still in hibernation 1500 light-years away, and they cannot wait for rescue.

Humanity can only rely on itself.

"Gamble." Feng Yan turned and said.

"If we fail, we're doomed anyway. If we succeed…… perhaps we could create something the Harvesters cannot comprehend."