Chapter 137: Resonance Breaking the Lock
The wind on the high ground swept across everyone's combat suits, carrying stone fragments. The sharp howling of the wind echoed back and forth in the valley of chaotic rocks. The entire squad remained on the safety line two hundred meters outside the triangular phantom array, not daring to take another step forward.
Lu Heng had already reported the complete coordinates, the azimuths of the three anchor points, and the triangular closed-loop structure to the command center. The dispatcher's voice on the other end of the communication channel was heavy as he informed them that the disposal team, carrying three suppressors, was on its way and would need at least fifty minutes to arrive.
"Three instruments, corresponding exactly to the three phantom seeds." Lu Heng looked at Lin Yan and Gu Shen. "The risk lies in the fact that the links of the triangular phantom array are interconnected through resonance. With ordinary dual phantom seeds, we can suppress them sequentially. But here, as long as even one phantom seed remains unneutralized, the other two can rely on resonance to maintain their trigger authority. If the suppression order is wrong, it is highly likely that the entire corridor will be activated on the spot."
This was the key difficulty highlighted in the consultation documents. Paired phantom seeds were merely simple signal synchronization, whereas the triangular closed loop formed an independent psychic resonance field. The three anchor points served as mutual fulcrums; touching one affected the whole.
Gu Shen frowned deeply, his perception threads hovering at the periphery of the triangular area, not daring to cut into the closed loop. "I tried gently touching the edge of the resonance field. The psychic waves inside have been slowly circulating, like a continuously spinning ring. If we suppress any one of them first, the waves from the other two locations will instantly compensate and strengthen to fill the void."
Lin Yan slowly retracted part of his perception, leaving only extremely fine threads skirting the outer edge of the resonance field, carefully feeling the rhythm of the internal flow. That old hidden injury in his Sea of Consciousness was still present, so he didn't dare to rashly thrust his perception into the core of the resonance. He could only slowly trace the rules of this cycle from the outside.
"They don't simply trigger simultaneously. The waves of the three phantom seeds have minute time differences, with one ring pushing the next in a continuous flow. To lock them down at once, we cannot suppress them point by point. We must start the three suppressors synchronously, with three neutralizing waves falling simultaneously, cutting off the resonance link at the exact same instant. Being off by even half a second will result in failure."
"Correct. This is also the only reliable plan given by the psychiatry department." Instructor Wen's voice came through the channel; she was traveling with the disposal team. "We have rehearsed simulations of the triangular phantom array, and timing synchronization is the key. I will personally control the release nodes of the three instruments. All operators must listen to my command and activate them uniformly."
The long wait began.
Zhao Kai set up the detector to continuously monitor the overall psychic spectrum of the triangular area. On the screen, three slowly flowing waves connected into a closed-loop circular graph, cycling back and forth, stable to the point of being almost cold. Chen Ye gripped his shock baton, pacing back and forth along the edge of the high ground, his gaze fixed dead-set on the entrance of the karst cave deep within the quarry pit. Everyone knew that the matrix could easily arrange scaled beast scouts to ambush outside the phantom array, launching a sneak attack while they were focused on guarding the phantom seeds.
"The matrix is very skilled at stacking traps," Chen Ye said in a low voice. "The phantom array is responsible for trapping our Sea of Consciousness, while the scaled beasts are responsible for harvesting our flesh. When that distressed squad on the Northern Front broke out, they were ambushed by two second-tier scaled beasts. That's how the casualties occurred."
Lu Heng nodded, reaching up to flip the safety off his rifle. "We will take shifts rotating our guard. Half of us will watch the wave changes of the phantom array, and the other half will watch the rock piles and the cave exit. Once we see the shadow of a scaled beast, fire a warning shot immediately."
Time passed minute by minute. The wasteland was oppressively quiet, with only the sound of the wind rolling over broken stones. Lin Yan and Gu Shen continued to rotate their perception, exchanging every few minutes to avoid a single person drastically consuming their mental power. Every time Lin Yan opened his perception, he deliberately controlled his output intensity. The hidden pain brought by the old injury always lay dormant at the base of his skull; he didn't dare risk overexertion.
Over forty minutes later, dust rose in the distance. The convoy of the disposal team broke through the dust and rushed to the high ground.
After getting out of the car, Instructor Wen didn't delay. She immediately gathered the three instrument operators, marked the precise locations of the three phantom seeds on the terrain map, and repeatedly explained the operating rules.
"Remember, listen to my countdown. Three, two, one, press the release key synchronously. The neutralizing waves must reach the three anchor points simultaneously. If they are off by even a second, the resonance field will experience a stress outbreak, and the entire triangular area will directly open a triple corridor. At that time, we will all be on the edge of the radiation zone and will be dragged in just the same."
The three operators' expressions were tense, and they nodded solemnly.
The engineers carried the instruments, splitting into three groups. Following three pre-calculated safe routes, they moved in low postures toward the periphery of the triangular area. They would not step inside the triangle, only setting up the suppressors at an appropriate distance outside the anchor points. After the three instruments were in position, reports of readiness were transmitted through the channel one after another.
"Number one in position."
"Number two in position."
"Number three in position."
Instructor Wen took a deep breath. Her voice was steady and clear, broadcasting through everyone's communication earpieces:
"Prepare — three, two, one, activate!"
Three soft, heavy neutralizing psychic waves pressed down toward the three phantom seed anchor points inside the quarry pit almost at the exact same moment.
The next second, the resonance waves across the entire triangular area trembled violently. The circular graph that had been flowing smoothly on the screen suddenly distorted. The three phantom seeds compensated for each other, trying to maintain the closed-loop flow. The purple waves frantically crashed against the suppression of the neutralizing waves. Beneath the earth, it was as if invisible currents were spinning and struggling wildly.
"It's compensating!" Zhao Kai stared at the screen and cried out. "The resonance field hasn't broken immediately; it's redistributing energy!"
Lin Yan immediately spread out his perception, carefully capturing the nodes of the resonance flow: "It's not a failure; it's the self-preservation mechanism of the phantom array. It will use the energy from the other two locations to supplement the suppressed position. This will last for about ten seconds. As long as our neutralizing waves can hold on for these ten seconds, the resonance chain will completely collapse."
The channel fell silent. Everyone was silently counting down.
Ten seconds. Every second felt suffocatingly long. The fluctuations of the resonance field became increasingly chaotic, and the psychic links connecting the three phantom seeds were ground apart bit by bit by the neutralizing waves. The wave chain that had originally cycled in a closed loop first developed gaps, then collapsed section by section.
At the ninth second, the waves of one of the anchor points collapsed first. A chain reaction followed; the remaining two lost their resonance fulcrums and were powerless to maintain compensation.
At the tenth second, the three silent waves belonging to the Corridor Phantom Seeds calmed down and dimmed one after another.
On the detector screen, the circular graph that had been entangled for so long completely dissipated.
"The resonance link is cut. The triangular phantom array is locked, and the trigger function is disabled." Instructor Wen breathed a sigh of relief. "You can excavate and take samples now. Move quickly and isolate the embryos in boxes as soon as possible."
The engineer squad carefully entered the triangular area, rushing separately to the three anchor points. They slowly cleared the stacked rocks and soil layers above. The first to be excavated was the phantom seed beneath the northern karst cave. The purple patterns on its semi-transparent colloidal surface had originally undulated slowly, but now, deprived of resonance nourishment, the patterns gradually dimmed, like a seed that had lost its vitality. The other two were successively extracted and placed into independent isolation boxes.
The moment the three boxes were closed, this quarry pit was finally no longer an invisible cage.
Instructor Wen walked over to Lin Yan and Gu Shen, her gaze falling on Lin Yan's face. "Your judgment of the compensation window just now was very accurate. Many fourth-tier cultivators, when facing a triangular phantom array for the first time, tend to panic during the resonance struggle phase, thinking the suppression has failed. They hastily withdraw their waves, which directly triggers the phantom array."
"I simply calculated it based on the flow rules of the waves." Lin Yan gently shook his head. "The design of the matrix's phantom array revolves entirely around resonance compensation. It is forcing us to achieve absolute synchronization. Any flaw in our coordination comes at the cost of everyone falling into the corridor."
Gu Shen sighed. "Synchronous suppression has extremely strict requirements for the disposal team's coordination, instrument transmission delay, and the attenuation amplitude of psychic waves. Not every time we encounter a triangular phantom array will we have sufficient conditions to calmly set up three instruments. If we accidentally stumble into one, we won't have the chance to deploy this plan at all."
This was the cruelest reality. Today, they had discovered it in advance, locked onto it from a distance, and had ample time to wait for equipment and deploy tactics. But in the future, there would be patrol squads that, in fog or sandstorms, would blunder directly into the interior of a triangular phantom array. By the time they realized it, they would already be firmly wrapped in the triple corridor, without even a chance to retreat.
All the samples were loaded into the vehicles and sealed. The disposal team took the phantom seed embryos back to the laboratory for dismantling and to record all the parameters of the triangular resonance. Lu Heng's squad remained on the high ground to continue completing the investigation of the remaining small section of the branch road.
However, after experiencing that complete triangular cage, everyone's nerves were pulled even tighter. During the subsequent investigation along the road, every time Lin Yan and Gu Shen's perception swept over a rock pit or soil crevice, they would subconsciously prioritize searching for terrain that could form triangular points.
They pushed forward until dusk fell, without encountering a second triangular phantom array.
On the way back, the cabin was very quiet. Zhao Kai repeatedly reviewed the resonance spectrum recorded by the detector earlier. Chen Ye noted the characteristics and risk points of the triangular phantom array in his notebook. Lu Heng stared at the slowly retreating wasteland outside the window and said in a low voice:
"The matrix is still stacking nodes. Today it was three-point resonance. Next time, it might be a multi-node illusion web with four or five points. The resonance links will be more complex, the compensation ability stronger, and the threshold for breaking it will be so high that we simply won't be able to cope."
Lin Yan leaned against the car window, eyes closed as he regulated his breathing, slowly calming the core of his Sea of Consciousness.
In his mind, he replayed the entire process of the resonance field struggling, compensating, and collapsing. The matrix was not a beast; it was conducting precise psychic engineering experiments, using the wasteland and human patrol squads as test benches, optimizing this cage designed to trap the Sea of Consciousness over and over again.
Deep within the darkness of Rift No. 79.
A complete feedback report of the triangular phantom array being synchronously suppressed and its link collapsing traveled back to the matrix core along the hyphae network.
The massive fungal carpet undulated slowly. It noted the method of breaking the lock: [Synchronous Neutralization Suppression].
The next round of phantom array models had already begun to be deduced.
It planned to add secondary bypass links inside the phantom array. Even if the main resonance chain was synchronously cut off, the secondary branches could still activate the corridor independently.
If one lock couldn't hold, it would stack a second lock on top.
End of Chapter.
Lu Heng had already reported the complete coordinates, the azimuths of the three anchor points, and the triangular closed-loop structure to the command center. The dispatcher's voice on the other end of the communication channel was heavy as he informed them that the disposal team, carrying three suppressors, was on its way and would need at least fifty minutes to arrive.
"Three instruments, corresponding exactly to the three phantom seeds." Lu Heng looked at Lin Yan and Gu Shen. "The risk lies in the fact that the links of the triangular phantom array are interconnected through resonance. With ordinary dual phantom seeds, we can suppress them sequentially. But here, as long as even one phantom seed remains unneutralized, the other two can rely on resonance to maintain their trigger authority. If the suppression order is wrong, it is highly likely that the entire corridor will be activated on the spot."
This was the key difficulty highlighted in the consultation documents. Paired phantom seeds were merely simple signal synchronization, whereas the triangular closed loop formed an independent psychic resonance field. The three anchor points served as mutual fulcrums; touching one affected the whole.
Gu Shen frowned deeply, his perception threads hovering at the periphery of the triangular area, not daring to cut into the closed loop. "I tried gently touching the edge of the resonance field. The psychic waves inside have been slowly circulating, like a continuously spinning ring. If we suppress any one of them first, the waves from the other two locations will instantly compensate and strengthen to fill the void."
Lin Yan slowly retracted part of his perception, leaving only extremely fine threads skirting the outer edge of the resonance field, carefully feeling the rhythm of the internal flow. That old hidden injury in his Sea of Consciousness was still present, so he didn't dare to rashly thrust his perception into the core of the resonance. He could only slowly trace the rules of this cycle from the outside.
"They don't simply trigger simultaneously. The waves of the three phantom seeds have minute time differences, with one ring pushing the next in a continuous flow. To lock them down at once, we cannot suppress them point by point. We must start the three suppressors synchronously, with three neutralizing waves falling simultaneously, cutting off the resonance link at the exact same instant. Being off by even half a second will result in failure."
"Correct. This is also the only reliable plan given by the psychiatry department." Instructor Wen's voice came through the channel; she was traveling with the disposal team. "We have rehearsed simulations of the triangular phantom array, and timing synchronization is the key. I will personally control the release nodes of the three instruments. All operators must listen to my command and activate them uniformly."
The long wait began.
Zhao Kai set up the detector to continuously monitor the overall psychic spectrum of the triangular area. On the screen, three slowly flowing waves connected into a closed-loop circular graph, cycling back and forth, stable to the point of being almost cold. Chen Ye gripped his shock baton, pacing back and forth along the edge of the high ground, his gaze fixed dead-set on the entrance of the karst cave deep within the quarry pit. Everyone knew that the matrix could easily arrange scaled beast scouts to ambush outside the phantom array, launching a sneak attack while they were focused on guarding the phantom seeds.
"The matrix is very skilled at stacking traps," Chen Ye said in a low voice. "The phantom array is responsible for trapping our Sea of Consciousness, while the scaled beasts are responsible for harvesting our flesh. When that distressed squad on the Northern Front broke out, they were ambushed by two second-tier scaled beasts. That's how the casualties occurred."
Lu Heng nodded, reaching up to flip the safety off his rifle. "We will take shifts rotating our guard. Half of us will watch the wave changes of the phantom array, and the other half will watch the rock piles and the cave exit. Once we see the shadow of a scaled beast, fire a warning shot immediately."
Time passed minute by minute. The wasteland was oppressively quiet, with only the sound of the wind rolling over broken stones. Lin Yan and Gu Shen continued to rotate their perception, exchanging every few minutes to avoid a single person drastically consuming their mental power. Every time Lin Yan opened his perception, he deliberately controlled his output intensity. The hidden pain brought by the old injury always lay dormant at the base of his skull; he didn't dare risk overexertion.
Over forty minutes later, dust rose in the distance. The convoy of the disposal team broke through the dust and rushed to the high ground.
After getting out of the car, Instructor Wen didn't delay. She immediately gathered the three instrument operators, marked the precise locations of the three phantom seeds on the terrain map, and repeatedly explained the operating rules.
"Remember, listen to my countdown. Three, two, one, press the release key synchronously. The neutralizing waves must reach the three anchor points simultaneously. If they are off by even a second, the resonance field will experience a stress outbreak, and the entire triangular area will directly open a triple corridor. At that time, we will all be on the edge of the radiation zone and will be dragged in just the same."
The three operators' expressions were tense, and they nodded solemnly.
The engineers carried the instruments, splitting into three groups. Following three pre-calculated safe routes, they moved in low postures toward the periphery of the triangular area. They would not step inside the triangle, only setting up the suppressors at an appropriate distance outside the anchor points. After the three instruments were in position, reports of readiness were transmitted through the channel one after another.
"Number one in position."
"Number two in position."
"Number three in position."
Instructor Wen took a deep breath. Her voice was steady and clear, broadcasting through everyone's communication earpieces:
"Prepare — three, two, one, activate!"
Three soft, heavy neutralizing psychic waves pressed down toward the three phantom seed anchor points inside the quarry pit almost at the exact same moment.
The next second, the resonance waves across the entire triangular area trembled violently. The circular graph that had been flowing smoothly on the screen suddenly distorted. The three phantom seeds compensated for each other, trying to maintain the closed-loop flow. The purple waves frantically crashed against the suppression of the neutralizing waves. Beneath the earth, it was as if invisible currents were spinning and struggling wildly.
"It's compensating!" Zhao Kai stared at the screen and cried out. "The resonance field hasn't broken immediately; it's redistributing energy!"
Lin Yan immediately spread out his perception, carefully capturing the nodes of the resonance flow: "It's not a failure; it's the self-preservation mechanism of the phantom array. It will use the energy from the other two locations to supplement the suppressed position. This will last for about ten seconds. As long as our neutralizing waves can hold on for these ten seconds, the resonance chain will completely collapse."
The channel fell silent. Everyone was silently counting down.
Ten seconds. Every second felt suffocatingly long. The fluctuations of the resonance field became increasingly chaotic, and the psychic links connecting the three phantom seeds were ground apart bit by bit by the neutralizing waves. The wave chain that had originally cycled in a closed loop first developed gaps, then collapsed section by section.
At the ninth second, the waves of one of the anchor points collapsed first. A chain reaction followed; the remaining two lost their resonance fulcrums and were powerless to maintain compensation.
At the tenth second, the three silent waves belonging to the Corridor Phantom Seeds calmed down and dimmed one after another.
On the detector screen, the circular graph that had been entangled for so long completely dissipated.
"The resonance link is cut. The triangular phantom array is locked, and the trigger function is disabled." Instructor Wen breathed a sigh of relief. "You can excavate and take samples now. Move quickly and isolate the embryos in boxes as soon as possible."
The engineer squad carefully entered the triangular area, rushing separately to the three anchor points. They slowly cleared the stacked rocks and soil layers above. The first to be excavated was the phantom seed beneath the northern karst cave. The purple patterns on its semi-transparent colloidal surface had originally undulated slowly, but now, deprived of resonance nourishment, the patterns gradually dimmed, like a seed that had lost its vitality. The other two were successively extracted and placed into independent isolation boxes.
The moment the three boxes were closed, this quarry pit was finally no longer an invisible cage.
Instructor Wen walked over to Lin Yan and Gu Shen, her gaze falling on Lin Yan's face. "Your judgment of the compensation window just now was very accurate. Many fourth-tier cultivators, when facing a triangular phantom array for the first time, tend to panic during the resonance struggle phase, thinking the suppression has failed. They hastily withdraw their waves, which directly triggers the phantom array."
"I simply calculated it based on the flow rules of the waves." Lin Yan gently shook his head. "The design of the matrix's phantom array revolves entirely around resonance compensation. It is forcing us to achieve absolute synchronization. Any flaw in our coordination comes at the cost of everyone falling into the corridor."
Gu Shen sighed. "Synchronous suppression has extremely strict requirements for the disposal team's coordination, instrument transmission delay, and the attenuation amplitude of psychic waves. Not every time we encounter a triangular phantom array will we have sufficient conditions to calmly set up three instruments. If we accidentally stumble into one, we won't have the chance to deploy this plan at all."
This was the cruelest reality. Today, they had discovered it in advance, locked onto it from a distance, and had ample time to wait for equipment and deploy tactics. But in the future, there would be patrol squads that, in fog or sandstorms, would blunder directly into the interior of a triangular phantom array. By the time they realized it, they would already be firmly wrapped in the triple corridor, without even a chance to retreat.
All the samples were loaded into the vehicles and sealed. The disposal team took the phantom seed embryos back to the laboratory for dismantling and to record all the parameters of the triangular resonance. Lu Heng's squad remained on the high ground to continue completing the investigation of the remaining small section of the branch road.
However, after experiencing that complete triangular cage, everyone's nerves were pulled even tighter. During the subsequent investigation along the road, every time Lin Yan and Gu Shen's perception swept over a rock pit or soil crevice, they would subconsciously prioritize searching for terrain that could form triangular points.
They pushed forward until dusk fell, without encountering a second triangular phantom array.
On the way back, the cabin was very quiet. Zhao Kai repeatedly reviewed the resonance spectrum recorded by the detector earlier. Chen Ye noted the characteristics and risk points of the triangular phantom array in his notebook. Lu Heng stared at the slowly retreating wasteland outside the window and said in a low voice:
"The matrix is still stacking nodes. Today it was three-point resonance. Next time, it might be a multi-node illusion web with four or five points. The resonance links will be more complex, the compensation ability stronger, and the threshold for breaking it will be so high that we simply won't be able to cope."
Lin Yan leaned against the car window, eyes closed as he regulated his breathing, slowly calming the core of his Sea of Consciousness.
In his mind, he replayed the entire process of the resonance field struggling, compensating, and collapsing. The matrix was not a beast; it was conducting precise psychic engineering experiments, using the wasteland and human patrol squads as test benches, optimizing this cage designed to trap the Sea of Consciousness over and over again.
Deep within the darkness of Rift No. 79.
A complete feedback report of the triangular phantom array being synchronously suppressed and its link collapsing traveled back to the matrix core along the hyphae network.
The massive fungal carpet undulated slowly. It noted the method of breaking the lock: [Synchronous Neutralization Suppression].
The next round of phantom array models had already begun to be deduced.
It planned to add secondary bypass links inside the phantom array. Even if the main resonance chain was synchronously cut off, the secondary branches could still activate the corridor independently.
If one lock couldn't hold, it would stack a second lock on top.
End of Chapter.