Chapter 134: Aftermath in the Sea of Consciousness
The off-road vehicle tore westward through the endless sandstorm. The tires crushed the soft, shifting sand, causing the chassis to jolt violently at times. A thin layer of mist had formed on the inside of their windproof masks, and outside the windows, the world was nothing but a murky, earthy yellow. Sand grains continuously battered the car body, and the roaring wind filled the cabin.
Lin Yan leaned against the passenger seat, his eyes closed, trying to slowly gather his restless Sea of Consciousness core.
In the brief moment when he had locked onto the phantom seed's anchor point and faced the matrix's remote probe, his mental overexertion had far exceeded his estimates. The newly formed luminous core had been trembling uncontrollably, like a lake surface struck by a massive boulder, the ripples lingering long after. A dull pain in his temples slowly spread through his skull, causing his vision to blur momentarily.
He didn't dare completely withdraw his perception. He kept a single, thinnest thread, trailing the waves toward the retaining wall behind them from afar. It wasn't until the vehicle had traveled nearly a kilometer and the faint signal of the phantom seed was completely swallowed by the thick, geomagnetic sandstorm noise, beyond his ability to track, that he finally exhaled a long, stifled breath from his chest and pulled all his perception threads back into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.
"Signal lost," Lin Yan said in a low voice, a hint of hoarseness in his tone. "The sandstorm's interference is too strong. From this distance, I can no longer track the phantom seed's status. I don't know if the matrix will try to activate it again."
Lu Heng gripped the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the barely discernible tire tracks ahead, his brow tightly furrowed. "If it's lost, don't force a pursuit. Our top priority now is to get back to the bastion and have the psychiatry department verify your Sea of Consciousness status. You held on and kept perceiving the anchor point for so long just now; the stress-induced hidden injury Instructor Wen repeatedly warned you about has likely worsened."
Chen Ye, sitting in the back, leaned forward and looked at Lin Yan through his mask. "That was too close. If we had been a second slower getting into the car and were dragged into the corridor on the spot, even if Lin Yan could distinguish the illusions, the rest of us would have been trapped inside, our mental power drained dry. A trap with a remote on-off switch gives absolutely no time to react."
Zhao Kai clutched the detector in his arms. The screen was filled with chaotic, jumping noise points, completely losing its effective scanning capability. Lingering fear still lingered on his face. "When we studied illusion web tactics in class, the textbooks said priests were the core controllers of the illusion web. But it seems now that the matrix itself can send signals directly through the rock strata. Priests aren't necessarily the only remote controls."
"That's exactly the most terrifying part," Lu Heng replied in a deep voice. "We always thought all high-tier illusion web methods required priests as intermediaries. In the battle at Beacon Two, we saw the dual-priest coordination, but only now are we slowly touching the truth: priests are more like frontline commanders and combat units. The matrix is the central hub of the entire net. As long as the fungal hyphae link can connect, it can remotely control the phantom seeds scattered outside."
The cabin fell silent, filled only with the sound of the wind, the engine's roar, and the muffled crunch of wheels rolling over sand.
Lin Yan sank his mind, using the harmonization mantra Instructor Wen had given him to soothe the trembling core of his Sea of Consciousness bit by bit. The retraction method that usually ran so smoothly was exceptionally difficult to perform now. Every time he pulled the luminous core inward, it triggered a sharp sting, as if fine grains of sand were embedded beneath his flesh. He knew clearly that he had crossed the line today.
The agreed-upon rest period required low-power, intermittent perception and forbade long-term locking onto high-risk phantom seed anchor points. But when the phantom seed showed signs of movement, he couldn't just let it go. The burden of the defensive line's investigation rested on his shoulders; as the squad's only third-tier Sea of Consciousness discriminator, if he backed down, the entire squad would be blind.
Duty and the foundation of his Sea of Consciousness had, from this moment, become a scale that was difficult to balance.
After nearly forty more minutes of driving, the sandstorm's momentum finally began to wane. The漫天 (all-over) yellow fog slowly dispersed, and the tall, thick outline of the West Bastion gradually emerged from the hazy sky. Rows of searchlights on the city wall lit up one after another, casting pale beams of light in the gray, dim sky.
Upon reaching the city gate inspection checkpoint, the sentries saw the vehicle covered in yellow sand and the solemn expressions of the crew, immediately granting them priority passage.
Passing through the layers of alloy gates and stepping inside the bastion, the cold, foul wind from the wasteland was finally blocked outside. People flowed through the streets, and medical vehicles and supply trucks moved in an orderly fashion. The bustling atmosphere of a human stronghold washed over them, yet Lin Yan's taut nerves still hadn't relaxed.
"Go straight to the psychiatry clinic," Lu Heng said, parking the car steadily and turning to look at Lin Yan. "I'll report this encounter. Chen Ye and Zhao Kai, return the equipment to the armory first, then return to base and stand by."
After parting ways, Lu Heng accompanied Lin Yan as they walked quickly toward the small psychiatry building attached to the war zone hospital. The area was covered with high-density psychic shielding nets, and rows of diagnostic pods stood side by side, specifically used to treat Sea of Consciousness overexertion, phantom seed infections, and psychic hidden injuries. Instructor Wen had received their communication en route and was already waiting in the clinic.
Seeing Lin Yan walk in, Instructor Wen's gaze sharpened. She immediately released a wisp of gentle perception to lightly touch his Sea of Consciousness. In just an instant, her expression darkened.
"The core's tremor amplitude exceeds the standard, and the stress-induced hidden injury has worsened." Instructor Wen's tone carried suppressed blame. "I repeatedly told you that during the stabilization period, you must not lock onto phantom seed anchor points with remote links for extended periods. Did you knowingly risk it and still force yourself to keep perceiving today?"
Lin Yan didn't argue; he simply nodded gently. "The phantom seed showed signs of remote activation. The matrix was testing us. I had to keep my perception to warn the squad."
"I understand the priority of the mission," Instructor Wen said, taking a detection headset and handing it to him to put on. "But you must remember one thing: there are only five third-tier Sea of Consciousness cultivators on the Western Front. Every single one of you is a resource for the defensive line. If your Sea of Consciousness hidden injury solidifies and you are completely crippled, who will discriminate the phantom seeds buried in this wasteland in the future? Rely on second-tier cultivators and instruments?"
Lin Yan silently put on the headset.
The instrument slowly started. Gentle, low-frequency waves enveloped his restless Sea of Consciousness core. The screen displayed a real-time Sea of Consciousness wave curve, fluctuating violently, far above the safe threshold.
Lu Heng stood to the side, recounting the entire process of encountering the remote-controlled phantom seed in the sandstorm, the matrix's probe, and the emergency retreat in a low voice.
Watching the monitoring data, Instructor Wen spoke slowly, "The intelligence department just synced that nineteen phantom seed locations were reported across the entire line today, three of which were confirmed to have remote fungal hyphae links. The matrix has completed a version iteration of the phantom seeds; they are no longer just passively triggered by dormancy. It can now freely choose when to spring the trap."
She tapped the violently shaking waveform on the screen with her fingertip. "This time, I'll use stable consciousness waves to suppress the tremors and ease the stabbing pain. But once a hidden injury is left, there is no magic cure. From now on, whenever you use your Sea of Consciousness at high intensity, the old injury will repeatedly flare up. In severe cases, your path to promotion will be permanently sealed, and in your twilight years, your Sea of Consciousness will slowly collapse, leaving you a permanent psychic waste."
Inside the diagnostic pod, the waves continuously soaked his Sea of Consciousness.
The stabbing pain faded bit by bit, and the restless ripples of the core slowly settled. Yet, Lin Yan could clearly feel that a lingering tightness had been added deep within the core, like an invisible crack.
"All remaining tasks for today are canceled." Instructor Wen took off the detection ring from his head. "For the next seventy-two hours, any Sea of Consciousness exploration, cultivation, or perception training is strictly forbidden. Aside from normal rest, do nothing. I'll apply to the war zone to suspend your investigation roster for three days."
Lu Heng agreed. "I'll go adjust the schedule."
By the time they left the psychiatry building, it had grown dark. Streetlights in the bastion flickered to life one by one, and the evening breeze blew through the alleys, carrying away the yellow sand clinging to their bodies. Lin Yan walked back to his dormitory alone. He pushed open the door and closed it behind him.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and tried to gently mobilize a wisp of Sea of Consciousness perception. With just the slightest movement, the familiar stabbing pain immediately returned. He immediately gave up, not daring to try again, and lay flat on the bed.
Staring at the rough cement patterns on the ceiling, his thoughts drifted back to beneath that retaining wall on the wasteland.
The matrix sat deep within the earth, overlooking every patrol squad on the wasteland through the fungal hyphae network. It was in no rush to launch a beast tide to storm the bastion. It merely patiently sowed one remote-controlled phantom seed after another, slowly draining the mental power of high-tier cultivators and creating irreversible Sea of Consciousness hidden injuries.
This was a war without roars or the howls of scaled beasts. No blood was visible, yet its lethality was equally fatal.
In the encrypted channel of the Western Front Command Center, a new assessment report was circulating.
[Matrix Tactical Shift: Phantom seeds are now remotely controllable, with the core objective of consuming high-tier Sea of Consciousness combat power. Recommendation: Reduce the frequency of third-tier cultivator external screenings and increase the deployment plan for fixed-point detection arrays. Flaw in the plan: Arrays are expensive to build, have a long deployment cycle, and cannot cover all wilderness ruins.]
Meanwhile, deep within Rift No. 79.
Countless fungal gills slowly opened and closed, continuously breeding a new generation of phantom seed embryos. The fungal hyphae links of this new batch of embryos were finer, more concealed, and had stronger resistance to geomagnetic interference, specifically adapted for harsh environments like sandstorms and foggy days.
The feedback from that probe just now had been fully recorded by the matrix: after discovering the phantom seed, the human squad would decisively retreat and not force a stay to handle it.
A new plan was taking shape within its massive consciousness network.
The next batch of phantom seeds would no longer be buried alone in open ruins.
It would deploy the phantom seeds in pairs: one visible, one hidden. The visible phantom seed would be used to attract the human squad to stop,警戒, and wait for the disposal team; the second, hidden phantom seed would quietly lock down their retreat route. Then, when everyone let their guard down, it would activate them simultaneously, trapping the entire squad firmly within the corridor of consciousness.
Darkness layered upon darkness, a trap hidden within a trap.
A new hunting layout had quietly spread through the underground rock strata.
End of Chapter.
Lin Yan leaned against the passenger seat, his eyes closed, trying to slowly gather his restless Sea of Consciousness core.
In the brief moment when he had locked onto the phantom seed's anchor point and faced the matrix's remote probe, his mental overexertion had far exceeded his estimates. The newly formed luminous core had been trembling uncontrollably, like a lake surface struck by a massive boulder, the ripples lingering long after. A dull pain in his temples slowly spread through his skull, causing his vision to blur momentarily.
He didn't dare completely withdraw his perception. He kept a single, thinnest thread, trailing the waves toward the retaining wall behind them from afar. It wasn't until the vehicle had traveled nearly a kilometer and the faint signal of the phantom seed was completely swallowed by the thick, geomagnetic sandstorm noise, beyond his ability to track, that he finally exhaled a long, stifled breath from his chest and pulled all his perception threads back into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.
"Signal lost," Lin Yan said in a low voice, a hint of hoarseness in his tone. "The sandstorm's interference is too strong. From this distance, I can no longer track the phantom seed's status. I don't know if the matrix will try to activate it again."
Lu Heng gripped the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the barely discernible tire tracks ahead, his brow tightly furrowed. "If it's lost, don't force a pursuit. Our top priority now is to get back to the bastion and have the psychiatry department verify your Sea of Consciousness status. You held on and kept perceiving the anchor point for so long just now; the stress-induced hidden injury Instructor Wen repeatedly warned you about has likely worsened."
Chen Ye, sitting in the back, leaned forward and looked at Lin Yan through his mask. "That was too close. If we had been a second slower getting into the car and were dragged into the corridor on the spot, even if Lin Yan could distinguish the illusions, the rest of us would have been trapped inside, our mental power drained dry. A trap with a remote on-off switch gives absolutely no time to react."
Zhao Kai clutched the detector in his arms. The screen was filled with chaotic, jumping noise points, completely losing its effective scanning capability. Lingering fear still lingered on his face. "When we studied illusion web tactics in class, the textbooks said priests were the core controllers of the illusion web. But it seems now that the matrix itself can send signals directly through the rock strata. Priests aren't necessarily the only remote controls."
"That's exactly the most terrifying part," Lu Heng replied in a deep voice. "We always thought all high-tier illusion web methods required priests as intermediaries. In the battle at Beacon Two, we saw the dual-priest coordination, but only now are we slowly touching the truth: priests are more like frontline commanders and combat units. The matrix is the central hub of the entire net. As long as the fungal hyphae link can connect, it can remotely control the phantom seeds scattered outside."
The cabin fell silent, filled only with the sound of the wind, the engine's roar, and the muffled crunch of wheels rolling over sand.
Lin Yan sank his mind, using the harmonization mantra Instructor Wen had given him to soothe the trembling core of his Sea of Consciousness bit by bit. The retraction method that usually ran so smoothly was exceptionally difficult to perform now. Every time he pulled the luminous core inward, it triggered a sharp sting, as if fine grains of sand were embedded beneath his flesh. He knew clearly that he had crossed the line today.
The agreed-upon rest period required low-power, intermittent perception and forbade long-term locking onto high-risk phantom seed anchor points. But when the phantom seed showed signs of movement, he couldn't just let it go. The burden of the defensive line's investigation rested on his shoulders; as the squad's only third-tier Sea of Consciousness discriminator, if he backed down, the entire squad would be blind.
Duty and the foundation of his Sea of Consciousness had, from this moment, become a scale that was difficult to balance.
After nearly forty more minutes of driving, the sandstorm's momentum finally began to wane. The漫天 (all-over) yellow fog slowly dispersed, and the tall, thick outline of the West Bastion gradually emerged from the hazy sky. Rows of searchlights on the city wall lit up one after another, casting pale beams of light in the gray, dim sky.
Upon reaching the city gate inspection checkpoint, the sentries saw the vehicle covered in yellow sand and the solemn expressions of the crew, immediately granting them priority passage.
Passing through the layers of alloy gates and stepping inside the bastion, the cold, foul wind from the wasteland was finally blocked outside. People flowed through the streets, and medical vehicles and supply trucks moved in an orderly fashion. The bustling atmosphere of a human stronghold washed over them, yet Lin Yan's taut nerves still hadn't relaxed.
"Go straight to the psychiatry clinic," Lu Heng said, parking the car steadily and turning to look at Lin Yan. "I'll report this encounter. Chen Ye and Zhao Kai, return the equipment to the armory first, then return to base and stand by."
After parting ways, Lu Heng accompanied Lin Yan as they walked quickly toward the small psychiatry building attached to the war zone hospital. The area was covered with high-density psychic shielding nets, and rows of diagnostic pods stood side by side, specifically used to treat Sea of Consciousness overexertion, phantom seed infections, and psychic hidden injuries. Instructor Wen had received their communication en route and was already waiting in the clinic.
Seeing Lin Yan walk in, Instructor Wen's gaze sharpened. She immediately released a wisp of gentle perception to lightly touch his Sea of Consciousness. In just an instant, her expression darkened.
"The core's tremor amplitude exceeds the standard, and the stress-induced hidden injury has worsened." Instructor Wen's tone carried suppressed blame. "I repeatedly told you that during the stabilization period, you must not lock onto phantom seed anchor points with remote links for extended periods. Did you knowingly risk it and still force yourself to keep perceiving today?"
Lin Yan didn't argue; he simply nodded gently. "The phantom seed showed signs of remote activation. The matrix was testing us. I had to keep my perception to warn the squad."
"I understand the priority of the mission," Instructor Wen said, taking a detection headset and handing it to him to put on. "But you must remember one thing: there are only five third-tier Sea of Consciousness cultivators on the Western Front. Every single one of you is a resource for the defensive line. If your Sea of Consciousness hidden injury solidifies and you are completely crippled, who will discriminate the phantom seeds buried in this wasteland in the future? Rely on second-tier cultivators and instruments?"
Lin Yan silently put on the headset.
The instrument slowly started. Gentle, low-frequency waves enveloped his restless Sea of Consciousness core. The screen displayed a real-time Sea of Consciousness wave curve, fluctuating violently, far above the safe threshold.
Lu Heng stood to the side, recounting the entire process of encountering the remote-controlled phantom seed in the sandstorm, the matrix's probe, and the emergency retreat in a low voice.
Watching the monitoring data, Instructor Wen spoke slowly, "The intelligence department just synced that nineteen phantom seed locations were reported across the entire line today, three of which were confirmed to have remote fungal hyphae links. The matrix has completed a version iteration of the phantom seeds; they are no longer just passively triggered by dormancy. It can now freely choose when to spring the trap."
She tapped the violently shaking waveform on the screen with her fingertip. "This time, I'll use stable consciousness waves to suppress the tremors and ease the stabbing pain. But once a hidden injury is left, there is no magic cure. From now on, whenever you use your Sea of Consciousness at high intensity, the old injury will repeatedly flare up. In severe cases, your path to promotion will be permanently sealed, and in your twilight years, your Sea of Consciousness will slowly collapse, leaving you a permanent psychic waste."
Inside the diagnostic pod, the waves continuously soaked his Sea of Consciousness.
The stabbing pain faded bit by bit, and the restless ripples of the core slowly settled. Yet, Lin Yan could clearly feel that a lingering tightness had been added deep within the core, like an invisible crack.
"All remaining tasks for today are canceled." Instructor Wen took off the detection ring from his head. "For the next seventy-two hours, any Sea of Consciousness exploration, cultivation, or perception training is strictly forbidden. Aside from normal rest, do nothing. I'll apply to the war zone to suspend your investigation roster for three days."
Lu Heng agreed. "I'll go adjust the schedule."
By the time they left the psychiatry building, it had grown dark. Streetlights in the bastion flickered to life one by one, and the evening breeze blew through the alleys, carrying away the yellow sand clinging to their bodies. Lin Yan walked back to his dormitory alone. He pushed open the door and closed it behind him.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and tried to gently mobilize a wisp of Sea of Consciousness perception. With just the slightest movement, the familiar stabbing pain immediately returned. He immediately gave up, not daring to try again, and lay flat on the bed.
Staring at the rough cement patterns on the ceiling, his thoughts drifted back to beneath that retaining wall on the wasteland.
The matrix sat deep within the earth, overlooking every patrol squad on the wasteland through the fungal hyphae network. It was in no rush to launch a beast tide to storm the bastion. It merely patiently sowed one remote-controlled phantom seed after another, slowly draining the mental power of high-tier cultivators and creating irreversible Sea of Consciousness hidden injuries.
This was a war without roars or the howls of scaled beasts. No blood was visible, yet its lethality was equally fatal.
In the encrypted channel of the Western Front Command Center, a new assessment report was circulating.
[Matrix Tactical Shift: Phantom seeds are now remotely controllable, with the core objective of consuming high-tier Sea of Consciousness combat power. Recommendation: Reduce the frequency of third-tier cultivator external screenings and increase the deployment plan for fixed-point detection arrays. Flaw in the plan: Arrays are expensive to build, have a long deployment cycle, and cannot cover all wilderness ruins.]
Meanwhile, deep within Rift No. 79.
Countless fungal gills slowly opened and closed, continuously breeding a new generation of phantom seed embryos. The fungal hyphae links of this new batch of embryos were finer, more concealed, and had stronger resistance to geomagnetic interference, specifically adapted for harsh environments like sandstorms and foggy days.
The feedback from that probe just now had been fully recorded by the matrix: after discovering the phantom seed, the human squad would decisively retreat and not force a stay to handle it.
A new plan was taking shape within its massive consciousness network.
The next batch of phantom seeds would no longer be buried alone in open ruins.
It would deploy the phantom seeds in pairs: one visible, one hidden. The visible phantom seed would be used to attract the human squad to stop,警戒, and wait for the disposal team; the second, hidden phantom seed would quietly lock down their retreat route. Then, when everyone let their guard down, it would activate them simultaneously, trapping the entire squad firmly within the corridor of consciousness.
Darkness layered upon darkness, a trap hidden within a trap.
A new hunting layout had quietly spread through the underground rock strata.
End of Chapter.