Silent Ark

Chapter 24: Daily Talk

The Decameron, Night Six: The Countdown to the Burning

The "purification" of the fifth night at CERN Fortress left behind aftereffects—inside the fortress, Ali Hassan was placed in an enhanced observation room, where every breath he took was monitored; Liu Pan fell into a coma due to a high fever caused by overuse of his abilities; Yao Chong, though awake, had his causal vision permanently polluted by the chaotic background noise of "Gluttony," causing him to see everything with double images and a terrifying sense of "being digested."

Yao Chong has regained consciousness, but his vision is still polluted, and the world appears to be covered by a semi-transparent, constantly flowing illusion of "digestive fluids".

The boundaries between people and objects are blurred, as if they might melt away at any moment.

He must be extremely focused to discern reality.

The fortress experienced a "rejection reaction": the fortress's own intelligent system and the newly added "Alibaba" variable caused a sharp increase in pressure within this closed system.

Tiny frictions are accumulating.

Sixth Night: The Silent Fuse

The atmosphere of the fortress was like a taut string.

Dr. Stark requested a more thorough consciousness scan of Ali Hassan, including reading his deep memories, to confirm that he had not been implanted with a logic bomb by the "Shape Thieves".

Elena and Rajev objected out of humanitarian concern, believing it to be tantamount to psychological torture.

Shen Ruozhi attempted to reconcile the situation with data: "Ali's brainwaves are 99.7% separated from the dark purple frequency band left by the 'Shape Thief,' but abnormally active clusters of traumatic memories were detected in his amygdala. Forcibly reading them could trigger them, causing an unpredictable storm of consciousness."

Chen Dunli leaned against the headboard, his voice weak but clear: "Rage... often arises from extreme fear and helplessness. What we are arguing about now is whether to ignite the fear of a survivor or to endure the gnawing of suspicion within oneself. This argument itself is already the kindling."

As if in response to this statement, the fortress's lighting system suddenly began to flicker at a frequency of 0.5 Hz—this was the preset "stress alarm" before the "Guardian" system crashed.

Immediately afterwards, a dull, rhythmic thud came from the main power pipeline, like a giant heart beating angrily.

"An external physical attack?" Stark accessed external surveillance, but only saw distorted darkness.

"No..." Yao Chong covered his stinging eyes. His polluted vision saw something even more terrifying. "It's the fortress itself... structural stress, energy flow, information transmission paths... all the 'connections' and 'processes' are generating a self-destructive resonance. Look there—"

He pointed to the ventilation duct's interface, which others saw as metal, but to him, the physical connection of that interface was bursting with tiny, scarlet "cracks," and within those cracks surged a pure desire for "breakage."

Shen Ruozhi immediately checked the system logs: "Abnormal harmonics in energy flow... Information transmission error rate soars... Structural sensors detect an increase in unloaded internal stress! The fortress is... dismantling itself from the inside? That's impossible!"

"Perhaps." Rajev's face turned pale. "If we consider the fortress as a macroscopic 'consciousness-matter' coupling system, then the persistent suspicion, pressure, distrust of Ali, and despair about the future within us... these are all high-intensity 'negative coordinating emotions'."

"It is being amplified synchronously with the frequency of the 'Rage and Burning Tide' and fed back to the material foundation of the fortress. Our collective unconscious 'destructive impulse' is causing this sanctuary to commit suicide."

As if to verify this, a maintenance robot suddenly went out of control, its robotic arm violently crashing into the main control panel before being shut down by the emergency system.

On the wall, a real crack quietly appeared, its edges showing a glassy state of molten metal that had cooled rapidly.

"Stop arguing, focus, control your emotions!" Stark roared, but his voice was filled with suppressed rage—rage at the out-of-control situation, at his disobedient companions, and at his own incompetence.

The roar was like a match.

In Yao Chong's polluted vision, he saw a blazing, scarlet aura of rage rising from Stark's body. This aura immediately coupled with the invisible self-destruct resonance field permeating the fortress, and was amplified dramatically.

The floor beneath Stark's feet groaned under the weight.

"Doctor, stop! Your anger is fuel!" Yao Chong screamed.

But it was too late.

In the observation room, Ali Hassan, who had been silently enduring the pain, suddenly clutched his head and let out a beast-like howl.

The traumatic memories in his mind—tortured by the "Shape Thieves" and witnessing his fellow citizens slaughtering each other in the chaos—were completely ignited by the "Rage Band" that permeated the outside world and Stark's roar.

In his eyes, these rescuers instantly overlapped with the thugs in his memory.

"Aaaaaah—!!!" Ali smashed through the reinforced glass, his eyes bloodshot, and lunged at Elena, who was closest to him.

It was not a targeted attack, but a pure, indiscriminate urge to destroy.

Rajeev tried to stop him, but Ali punched him away.

Elena screamed and backed away.

Stark drew his sidearm, his finger trembling on the trigger—should he kill him? Would killing him play right into "Wrath's" hands?

"Stop right there, all of you!!!"

A deep, resounding shout, though aged, drowned out all other noise.

Chen Dunli struggled to his feet from the hospital bed, slamming his cane heavily on the ground.

It wasn't the power of words, but rather the highly condensed and extremely orderly spiritual impact that erupted from the old man with that angry shout.

This is not a gentle connection of "benevolence," but a severe judgment of "righteousness"—an absolute will to "stop the chaos."

Instantly, the frenzied self-destructive resonance within the fortress paused.

Ali stood frozen in place, the crimson in his eyes fading slightly, replaced by immense confusion and lingering fear.

Stark's anger was abruptly interrupted, leaving him feeling nauseous and bloated. Everyone felt an invisible, awe-inspiring "field of order" descend upon them, forcing the chaos to a halt.

But Chen Dunli also coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsed to the ground, and his breath quickly faded.

This forced "judgment" exhausted his last bit of energy.

"Teacher!" Yao Chong rushed over.

"I... can only pause..." Chen Dunli grabbed Yao Chong's hand, his nails turning white from the force. "Rage... born of despair, nurtured by injustice, finally leading to a complete breakdown of communication... to truly quell it... we must... rebuild the minimum level of 'understanding' and 'response'... even if it's just... an exchange of a signal..." He fainted.

The tremors and strange noises from the fortress temporarily subsided under the lingering power of "Judgment," but the crimson "self-destruct cracks" continued to spread slowly.

The crisis was merely forced to be postponed.

"Rebuild understanding?" Shen Ruozhi looked at the unconscious Ali, the deteriorating Old Chen, the chaotic companions, and the creaking fortress. "How is that possible? We can't even trust each other to see if we'll be controlled by the frequency band the next second!"

"There is a way..." Yao Chong raised his head, his polluted vision sweeping over everyone before finally settling on Ali.

Beneath those raging crimson halos, he could still see deep within Ali's heart, the core understanding of a communications engineer covered by trauma—his obsession with "signals" and "coding."

"Ali's brain was traumatized and its frequencies were disrupted, but his deepest professional instincts remained. His rage prevented him from receiving and understanding our 'language signals.' But what if... we didn't communicate with him as a 'person'?"

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Treat him like a communication device... with severe signal interference and chaotic protocols, but with perfectly intact hardware," Yao Chong said quickly, his thoughts becoming clearer amidst the pain. "Instead of trying to understand or soothe his emotions, we send him the most basic and primitive communication protocol handshake signal—not in words, but purely technical, something from his muscle memory."

"Awaken his 'professional self' as a communications engineer, and use this 'self' to temporarily cover or isolate the traumatic self that has been triggered."

Rajeev: "The risk is extremely high! It could completely erase his personality!"

Stark stared at the spreading cracks in the fortress, then at the unconscious Old Chen, and gritted his teeth: "Is there any other choice? Dr. Shen, you understand quantum communication protocols. Rajeev, you understand consciousness encoding. Design the signal! Yao, use your eyes to find Ali's consciousness 'interface' facing us, even if it's burning red-hot right now!"

Collaboration under dire circumstances has been restarted.

Shen Ruozhi and Rajeev quickly converted a basic, internationally recognized wireless communication handshake signal (SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK) into a specific sequence of light pulses and sound waves.

Elena prepares the launcher.

Stark and Yao Chong stared intently at Ali.

Ali struggled in the chaos, letting out meaningless roars, his body slamming against the wall from time to time, leaving dents.

"emission!"

A soft, rhythmic pulse of light shone on Ali's face, accompanied by a corresponding sound wave.

Ali froze, his attack halted, his crimson eyes blankly following the rhythm of the light pulses.

"Repeat it, add the handshake audio from the old-fashioned modem commonly used in his hometown," Yao Chong shouted.

His polluted vision saw that when that familiar, jarring, and ancient "handshake tone" joined in, deep within Ali's raging consciousness, a tiny point of light representing "communication protocol logic" flickered faintly.

Ali clutched his head and let out a painful whimper, but it was no longer a pure roar.

He began unconsciously tapping the ground with his hand—the rhythm of the tapping, surprisingly, corresponded to the rhythm of the "ACK" confirmation signal amidst the chaos.

"He's actually responding!" Elena exclaimed.

"Continue, upgrade the protocol. Simulate a simple 'fault code-diagnostic request' interaction." Rajev's voice trembled, but his hands did not stop working.

More complex optical-acoustic signals are emitted.

Ali's typing rhythm changed, becoming more orderly, although still chaotic, but he began to try to "respond".

The crimson in his eyes, like the receding tide, was gradually replaced by a deep, weary focus and bewilderment typical of a technician.

The tremors of the fortress began to weaken in sync with Ali's gradually "calibrated" consciousness.

The crimson self-destructive cracks stopped spreading.

This is not an emotional exchange, but a technological resonance.

In the most inhuman madness, they used the most instrumental yet universal part of human nature—the instinctive obsession with the technical act of "establishing connections"—to find a fulcrum and leverage the absolute communication severance created by "rage".

Finally, Ali stopped banging, collapsed to the ground, and fell into a complete coma.

But his breathing was steady, and the violent peaks in his brainwaves had disappeared.

The fortress was quiet for the time being.

The self-destruct process has stopped.

Everyone collapsed as if utterly exhausted, their bodies drenched in cold sweat.

"We... used the modem's voice... to temporarily fix someone?" Elena murmured incredulously.

"We've repaired our consensus on 'not self-destruction.'" Stark wiped his face, revealing for the first time in front of everyone his undisguised exhaustion and lingering fear. "Old Chen was right. Calming rage doesn't require love, just a minimal, effective exchange of signals. It proves that communication hasn't been completely severed."

He looked at the unconscious Ali with a complex expression: "He was both a powder keg and our...communicator."

In Yao Chong's polluted vision, the scarlet cracks inside the fortress no longer spewed flames of destruction, but instead solidified into ugly scars.

But he knew the scars were still there.

Ali's trauma was not yet healed, the team's trust was riddled with cracks, the teacher's life was in danger, and in his vision, the background noise that "digested" everything was forever ringing out.

"The Sixth Night..." he said hoarsely, "We've learned how to use a handshake as a signal to prevent mutual destruction when language fails. But what if we can't even agree on what kind of 'agreement' to use?"

He gazed into the deeper darkness beyond the fortress. Tomorrow, they might face "Pride" or some other unknown entity.

Inside the fortress, having just experienced the "Judgment" and "Technological Resonance," have the feelings of relief and the seed of "I am the only one who matters" quietly begun to sprout in the hearts of the people who survived the ordeal?

The sixth night has ended.