bookbashuk Chapter 375 The Upper-Level Agreement!
Chapter 375 The Upper-Level Agreement!
Nie Qingcheng's voice arrived four seconds later.
"What decision?"
Zhang Yan stared at the line of golden text. "The system has detected something called 'Upper-Level Protocol Interface.' It's asking if I want to connect."
silence.
A silence longer than a four-second delay.
Then Nie Qingcheng asked, "What about the risks?"
The system has marked it as 'unknown'.
"Then don't answer."
Zhang Yan did not answer immediately. He turned his head and looked around the spherical space.
The runes on the inner wall were glowing faintly, but there were three distinct differences.
The runes in those three positions were dim and lifeless, as if they had been forcibly torn apart by some force.
The broken edges are jagged, contrasting sharply with the surrounding intricate engravings.
The liquid flow on the surface of the black sphere is also uneven.
In the directions corresponding to the three fractures, the flow became turbulent, like three eddies on a calm surface of water.
"There are three points of damage," Zhang Yan said. "The runes are broken. The corresponding positions on the sphere's surface are disordered."
"Is it related to the ruins?"
"I'm not sure. But Xu mentioned 'the first door.' If this is the door, then the three fractures might be the reason why Xu can penetrate in."
Nie Qingcheng remained silent.
Zhang Yan continued reading.
There was a very thin layer of dust on the ground of the spherical space.
He looked down and noticed traces in the dust.
footprint.
The footprints were very old, so blurred they were almost invisible, but they were definitely human footprints.
There is only one group, which extends from the entrance to directly below the black sphere and then returns along the same path.
Someone came here 30,000 years ago.
He walked to the bottom of the sphere and then left.
He did not connect.
Zhang Yan looked at the set of footprints.
"A beauty that could topple a city".
"exist."
"That person came here 30,000 years ago, but he didn't connect."
"So you shouldn't answer it either."
Zhang Yan paused for a moment. "At that time, he wasn't facing 'what was outside the door'."
Nie Qingcheng's voice changed. It wasn't anger, but a suppressed anxiety.
"Zhang Yan, listen to me. You're 1,200 meters underground right now, and there's a four-second communication delay. If something goes wrong, there's nothing I can do."
"I know."
"Then you shouldn't make an irreversible decision under these circumstances."
Zhang Yan looked at the golden interface.
She's right.
He took a deep breath, preparing to close the interface.
As soon as I moved my finger, the system automatically added a line of information.
"Additional explanation: The upper-level protocol is the original code layer of the underlying architecture of Tiangongxin. After accessing it, you will obtain the complete design intent and original functions of Tiangongxin."
Zhang Yan stopped.
Original function.
All the abilities displayed by the Heart of Heaven at 100% completeness—sealing, purification, and the synergy of the Four Spirits—may only be a part of its functionality.
"The system provided supplementary information," Zhang Yan said. "After accessing it, we can obtain the original functions of the Heavenly Craftsman's Heart."
"What was its original function?"
"I don't know, but it means that the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart is currently being used at a downgraded level."
There was another long silence on the phone.
When Nie Qingcheng's voice rang out again, her tone had changed. It was no longer a protest, but a confirmation.
Will you lose your mobility during the access process?
"uncertain."
Is there a time limit?
"Not marked."
"If something goes wrong, can you stop it?"
"uncertain."
Nie Qingcheng said, "Three 'uncertainties'."
Zhang Yan said, "Hmm."
You still have to answer.
Zhang Yan stared at the black sphere. He looked at the three broken runes. He looked at the set of footprints from 30,000 years ago.
"Xu said something is approaching outside the door," he said. "If the door is broken, I need to know how to fix it."
Nie Qingcheng remained silent.
Five seconds... ten seconds... fifteen seconds.
"I counted to one hundred."
Her voice was very soft.
If you don't respond within a hundred days, I'll have Qin Xiao bring his men down.
"it is good."
Zhang Yan walked directly beneath the black sphere.
The resonance of the Heart of Nature is growing stronger.
The light shone from his chest, casting a blue-white halo around the ground.
He stretched out his hand.
"Access".
The gold interface disappeared.
Information flooded in.
It is not words, not images, but a kind of "understanding" that is directly instilled into consciousness.
It's like suddenly learning a language—not memorizing vocabulary and grammar, but directly gaining the ability to think in that language.
Zhang Yan saw the complete picture of the Heart of Heaven's Craftsmanship.
It is not a weapon.
It is not a sealing tool.
It is not an energy core.
It is a key.
Its original function was to maintain the stable operation of the "door".
door.
A barrier that isolates this dimension from the outside world.
It's not one, it's seven, distributed around the world.
Shennongjia is the first line of defense and the main control point.
The seven gates form a complete shielding network that envelops the entire dimension.
Thirty thousand years ago, the Mohist civilization discovered the Heart of Heaven, but failed to find the door.
Unaware of the true purpose of the Heart of Heaven, they transformed it into the core of the Sealed Ruins.
Use it at a lower level.
And the ruins—
Zhang Yan's consciousness jolted suddenly.
Ruins are not a product of this world.
It seeped in through a crack in the door.
Three runes broke, leaving three gaps.
Ruins seeped in through the cracks, were discovered by the Mohist civilization, and were sealed away, but the cracks in the door remained.
The sealed ruins are merely a temporary solution.
Repairing the door is the only way to solve the problem.
The information flow has reached the last segment.
Zhang Yan's consciousness was pulled back to reality.
He found himself kneeling on one knee, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
"—Seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty—"
Nie Qingcheng's voice was counting.
"exist."
Zhang Yan spoke, his voice a little hoarse.
"I am here."
The counting stopped.
"Are you alright?"
"It's alright." Zhang Yan stood up. His legs were a little weak, but he could stand steadily. "Connection complete."
"What did you see?"
Zhang Yan took a deep breath.
"The Heart of the Celestial Craftsman is not a weapon," he said. "It is the key to this door. The Sealed Ruins are merely its degraded function."
There was no sound in the communication.
"There are seven gates in total, distributed around the world. This is the main control gate."
Zhang Yan continued.
"The ruins seeped in through the cracks in the door; the three broken runes are the cracks."
Nie Qingcheng's voice was very soft.
"So the sealed ruins..."
"That's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause," Zhang Yan said. "If the door isn't fixed, things will keep getting in."
Another silence.
Then Nie Qingcheng asked a question.
"Can it be repaired?"
Zhang Yan looked at the system interface.
A new module appears on the panel.
"Door Maintenance Agreement".
Gray. Unavailable.
The label next to it reads: "Activation is only possible after three breaks have been repaired."
Zhang Yan stared at the line of text.
"It can be repaired," he said. "But I need to fix three breaks first."
"How do I fix it?"
Zhang Yan looked at the three dim cracks on the inner wall of the sphere.
The system provided the answer.
Repairing each break requires taking the Heart of Heaven to the corresponding door location and rewriting the runes with its original function.
Seven doors. Three broken sections.
The three coordinates have been marked on the system map.
Zhang Yan looked at the three coordinates.
One is on the seabed of the North Atlantic.
One is underground in the Sahara Desert.
One is under the Antarctic ice sheet.
He closed his eyes briefly.
"A beauty that could topple a city".
"Um."
I'm going to three places.
Nie Qingcheng's voice was unusually calm.
"I know," she said. "You come up first."
Zhang Yan nodded. He turned and walked towards the Black Scorpion.
He took two steps, then stopped and looked back at the black sphere.
It is still flowing slowly. The three disturbances remain.
But Zhang Yan now knows—it wasn't disorder.
It is bleeding.
The door is bleeding.
And what was outside the door was approaching step by step, following the scent of blood.