The cold light on the repair platform flowed over Evelyn's cracked liquid metal skin. Nanobots, like tireless worker ants, repaired the broken fibers and damaged circuits inside her body. The backup energy source was continuously injected into the Omega core through the interface. The depleted energy pool slowly recovered, bringing a sense of warmth that was almost illusory.
Her consciousness was completely immersed in the vast amount of information stored in the old computer of the "Cradle" laboratory. The original Evelyn left behind not only the plan and the list but also a massive amount of research logs, records of failed experiments, sporadic observations of the "Eye," and... detailed design blueprints and upgrade plans for herself—the Omega variable.
"The Omega body is not just a combat weapon but also a dimensional tuner..." The digital voice of the original Evelyn sounded in her mind, calm and objective. "Its liquid metal skin can change its molecular structure as needed, simulating various forms and even achieving optical invisibility in a short period. The built-in energy core is quantum-entangled with the Pennsylvania reactor. Theoretically, it can draw energy infinitely, but an overload output will lead to core instability. The most crucial part is the neural interface, which is designed to be compatible with and process multi-dimensional information. This is the basis for combating the mental pollution of the 'Eye' and stabilizing the 'dimensional resonance'..."
While absorbing this information, Evelyn guided the energy to repair and transform her body. The broken right robotic arm was replaced with more advanced memory metal, which not only restored its function but also could transform into various weapons or tools according to her thoughts. A strange alloy that could better conduct and store energy seeped into the liquid metal on her body surface. The luster became more subdued, but the defensive power was greatly enhanced. The neural interface was optimized, and her perception of the quantum realm became clearer, although that chaotic area was still full of unknowns and dangers.
The upgrade package even included a specialized weapon module for the "spores." According to the records of the original Evelyn, the spores of the "Eye" were essentially a high-dimensional energy information structure. They contaminated the matter and living beings in the real world and transformed them into their own extensions. Conventional physical attacks had limited effects. Energy impacts of specific frequencies must be used, or... quantum interference must be used to disintegrate their structure.
"The energy signal of the first spore is the strongest. It should be near the ruins." Dr. Carter's voice came. He had been standing by, with anxiety on his face. "We must deal with it as soon as possible, or it will spread like a virus or attract more Reapers."
Evelyn stood up from the repair platform. Her brand-new body no longer shone brightly as before but seemed more composed, like a cheetah ready to pounce. She moved her new robotic arm, feeling the surging power within. "Energy has recovered to 72%. The weapon system... the upgrade is complete. The spore tracking program... has been loaded." She brought up the map, and a red flashing dot appeared on the edge of a small town about three kilometers away from the ruins.
"I'll deal with it." She said, her tone flat but with an undeniable determination.
"I'll go with you!" Dr. Carter said immediately. "I've done some research on these things. Maybe I can be of some help."
Evelyn glanced at him and didn't refuse. She knew that the old man was filled with guilt and a desire to make amends, and besides, his knowledge might really come in handy. As for the two survivors, they were left in the relatively safe "Cradle" laboratory, responsible for monitoring the equipment and communication.
The two left the laboratory and returned to the ground. The night still shrouded the earth. Without the lights of Manhattan, the stars in the sky were unusually clear but also extremely cold. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder left over from the battle and a faint, lingering stench of decay.
Evelyn activated the optical invisibility. Her liquid metal body blended into the surrounding environment like a chameleon, leaving only an imperceptible ripple in the air. Dr. Carter, wearing a specially-made combat suit that could shield some energy detection, followed closely behind.
They moved like phantoms through the ruins of the chemical plant and the deserted countryside. Along the way, more traces of the battle could be seen, as well as some abandoned vehicles and scattered items, indicating the chaos caused by the blackout and the monster attacks.
The closer they got to the target location, the stronger the strange, sweet and putrid smell of iris flowers in the air became. At the same time, Evelyn's sensors began to receive weak mental interference signals, a kind of whisper full of malice, temptation, and chaos, constantly trying to penetrate her consciousness and stir up the negative emotions deep within her.
"This is the mental pollution of the spore..." Dr. Carter warned in a low voice. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he was obviously affected as well. "Concentrate, Evelyn. Don't be deceived by it."
Evelyn's Omega core automatically filtered out this mental pollution, but she could feel that this pollution was not a direct attack but was as pervasive as mercury, trying to find the weakest link in her consciousness. Those memories of being betrayed and manipulated, the complex and contradictory feelings towards Lucas and Daniel, and the doubts about the meaning of her own existence... were all quietly magnified by this whisper.
She forced herself to focus on tracking the target. The flashing red dot pointed to an abandoned church on the edge of the town. The spire of the church in the night was like a black claw pointing towards the sky, surrounded by a visible, pale purple energy mist.
"Did it choose the church as a breeding ground?" Dr. Carter frowned. "This is in line with their characteristics. They like to parasitize in places that symbolize spiritual beliefs or strong emotions."
The two stealthily approached the church and hid behind a broken wall. It was deathly silent inside the church, but the mental pollution was surging like a tide. Evelyn switched to the multi-dimensional scanning mode, and the internal structure of the church appeared as a distorted energy image on her retina.
At the position of the main altar in the church, she saw the core of the spore. It was not a specific living being or object but a writhing and expanding mass of dark purple energy cloud, like a beating, festering heart. The energy cloud continuously emitted pollution waves, eroding the surrounding space and matter. The walls were covered with black vines that pulsed like blood vessels, and a thick, foul-smelling black liquid seeped from the ground.
What made Evelyn's heart sink even more was that in the center of the energy cloud, a human figure was vaguely wrapped. A survivor in tattered clothes! Judging from the figure, it was very likely one of the two survivors left in the laboratory before! When did he leave the laboratory and get captured by the spore?
The human figure was wrapped in countless energy tentacles, and his body twitched unnaturally. His face wore a strange expression of extreme pain and fanaticism, and he kept muttering incomprehensible words. The spore was sucking out his vitality and mental energy and at the same time transforming him into a "breeding ground" for spreading pollution.
"He has been completely eroded..." Dr. Carter's voice was filled with regret. "There's... no hope left."
Evelyn's mechanical fingers tightened slightly. This was not the first time she had faced death and sacrifice, but the scene in front of her still made her feel a cold anger. This was not a simple killing but a desecration of life and consciousness.
"It must be purified." She came to a conclusion.
"Use quantum interference," Dr. Carter suggested. "Directly disintegrate its energy structure. Maybe... it can relieve his suffering a bit."
Evelyn nodded and began to gather energy, preparing to construct a quantum interference field. This required extremely precise calculations and energy control. The slightest mistake could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Just as she was about to activate the interference field, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her neural interface! It didn't come from the mental pollution of the spore but from... the quantum realm!
Lucas!
She could clearly feel the existence of that "unstable node"! It was no longer in the chaotic and fragmented state as before but had become extremely active, as if stimulated or attracted by the energy of the spore. A stream of thoughts full of anxiety, warning, and... some kind of guiding intention intermittently entered her consciousness.
"Trap... not just... one... core... below..."
Trap? Below the core? What did that mean?
Evelyn paused for a moment and looked at the energy cloud on the altar again. She increased the scanning power, penetrating the energy cloud and the human host to detect the deeper structure.
Sure enough! Below the altar, hidden in the ground covered by the spore energy, there was another energy source! The structure was more complex, and the energy fluctuations were more obscure, but the core frequency... actually resonated faintly with her Omega core!
This was a disguise! The spore and the host on the altar were just bait to attract attention and an energy source. The real core, or what the "Eye" really wanted to cultivate, was hidden underground! And Lucas's quantum echo actually warned her at a critical moment!
What state was he in? Was it an instinctive reaction, or... had he regained some consciousness?
There was no time to think about it. The energy cloud in the church seemed to sense her intention and suddenly expanded violently! The wrapped human host let out a shrill scream that didn't sound human, and his body swelled up like a balloon, with dark purple light surging under his skin.
"It's going to self-destruct! And detonate the thing below at the same time!" Dr. Carter exclaimed in a panic.
Evelyn made a quick decision. She gave up constructing the quantum interference field and instantly switched the energy mode. She aimed her left hand at the host about to self-destruct and released a stream of extremely low-temperature freezing energy, trying to delay the explosion. At the same time, the transforming robotic arm on her right hand instantly turned into a high-speed rotating drill bit and shot towards the ground of the altar like lightning!
Boom!
The drill bit broke through the stone slab with a shrill howl and plunged straight into the ground! Almost at the same time, the host that had been slightly delayed by the freezing energy still exploded! Dark purple energy shockwaves and corrosive liquid swept in all directions!
Evelyn immediately set up an energy shield in front of her, blocking most of the impact. But Dr. Carter and the surrounding environment were not so lucky. The wall was shaken down, the trees withered instantly, and although the old man was protected by the combat suit, he was also knocked flying by the shockwave and hit the distance, his life or death unknown.
Evelyn didn't have time to check on the old man's condition. All her attention was focused on the ground. The drill bit had broken through the hidden protective layer and reached the real core!
It was a... polyhedron like a black crystal, about the size of a human head, with countless flowing runes that seemed to be alive engraved on its surface. The energy fluctuations it emitted were extremely strange. It had the pollution characteristics of the spore and also contained a certain... power similar to that of a quantum reactor that could distort time and space!
"Is this... a fragment of the 'door'? Or... a tool for making the 'door'?" Evelyn's processor was running at high speed.
Sensing the threat, the black crystal began to vibrate violently, trying to release more powerful energy. The ground cracked, and countless black tentacles surged out of the ground, wrapping around Evelyn like poisonous snakes.
Evelyn snorted coldly, and the Omega core operated at full power. She no longer tried to destroy it but changed her strategy—to control and absorb it! She extended her neural interface through the drill bit and carefully touched the energy field of the black crystal.
In an instant, a huge and chaotic stream of information mixed with the cold malice of the "Eye" rushed into her consciousness like a tsunami! It was clearer and more direct than the intention of that giant claw before! Countless distorted images, blasphemous knowledge, and mental commands attempting to assimilate her flooded in.
"Submit... merge... become... a part of us..."
But this time, Evelyn did not back down. The core of her consciousness was as firm as a rock, and the "rule fragments" left by the original Evelyn were activated, resisting the mental erosion like a firewall. At the same time, she began to analyze the energy structure and rune information of the black crystal.
This was an extremely dangerous process, like dancing on the tip of a knife. The slightest mistake would cause her consciousness to be contaminated and assimilated. But it was also a rare opportunity, a chance to directly understand the "Eye" and its technology.
Time passed by. In the ruins of the church, Evelyn maintained a kneeling position on one knee, her right hand inserted into the ground, her whole body wrapped in black tentacles, and her liquid metal skin flickering on and off due to the intense energy conflict. Her consciousness was engaged in a life-and-death struggle on another battlefield.
Finally, she found a tiny "node" in the energy core of the black crystal, a key instruction set that controlled its operation. She concentrated all her will and simulated a piece of quantum information containing the paradox of "existence and nothingness," injecting it into that node like a virus.
The black crystal trembled violently, and the runes on its surface began to become chaotic and collapse. The energy inside it became extremely unstable and began to release madly outward. The black tentacles that had been wrapping around Evelyn also withered and broke.
Evelyn seized the opportunity, suddenly cut off the neural connection, and at the same time guided the out-of-control energy towards her Omega core. The core let out a mournful cry of overload but still successfully absorbed most of the energy and transformed it into relatively pure energy for storage.
When everything subsided, only a deep pit was left at the position of the church altar. Some fragments of the black crystal scattered at the bottom of the pit were quickly dissipating. The nauseating smell of decay and mental pollution in the air also faded away.
The first spore... had been purified.
Evelyn gasped and stood up, feeling the energy in her body that had increased a lot but was still mixed and impure. She looked into the distance. Dr. Carter struggled to get up. He seemed to be seriously injured but was not in life-threatening danger.
She walked to the edge of the deep pit, picked up a few crystal fragments that had not completely dissipated, and put them into the analysis container. At the same time, she tried to connect to the quantum realm again.
This time, the node signal of Lucas was much clearer, although it was still unstable. She even caught a relatively complete thought: "...coordinates... transfer... next... breeding ground..."
Coordinates? The next breeding ground?
Evelyn immediately brought up the map and the list. Combining the information of the black crystal she had just absorbed and the coordinate fragments transmitted by Lucas, the location of the second spore was quickly locked—it was not the location estimated on the list but an abandoned military base hundreds of kilometers away!
Were the spores moving? Or was the "Eye" deliberately leading her? Was Lucas's warning well-intentioned, or... another trap?
Questions swirled in her mind. But in any case, she had to confirm it.
She walked up to Dr. Carter and helped him up. "Can you still walk?"
"Cough... I won't die." The old man coughed. "Did we... succeed?"
"It's just the beginning." Evelyn's gaze turned towards the distance, and a cold determination flashed in her eyes. "Get ready. We're going to another place."