bioinnovel Chapter 420 She needs you!
Chapter 420 She needs you!
After the plane took off from Algeria, Zhang Yan connected the storage device to the system from his seat.
Three hundred years of observational data.
The file size is not large.
The observation method of the gate openers is very primitive. Each generation of members uses their senses, ancient tools, and physical reactions when they get close to the gate to record data. The handwritten records are transcribed by successive generations and eventually stored in this storage device.
Zhang Yan instructed the system to capture key nodes.
The first node, three hundred years ago.
The one who opened the gate had just split off from the Heavenly Viewing Pavilion.
Guantiange believes that the door is a protective barrier and must be repaired; Qimenzhe believes that the door is a cage and must be opened.
The second point is 240 years ago.
The third generation of core members of the Gate Openers guarded the area near the second gate for seventeen years, recording four thousand six hundred "knocks" from outside the gate.
Statistical conclusion: The force of the knocking never exceeded 32% of the door's withstand limit.
Zhang Yan paused on this number.
32%.
The Pioneer's energy is 47 times that of the Ruins, and a full-power attack is enough to physically destroy any gate, but it has never exceeded 32%.
It's not that we can't break through, it's that we don't want to.
The third node, 180 years ago.
The one who opened the door observed unusual behavior at the fourth door—that something outside the door had actively repaired the minor damage it had caused after a knock.
The people outside are repairing the door.
The system verified the authenticity of the data, and the residual energy characteristics embedded in the record matched the rune frequency of the fourth gate.
The fourth node, ninety years ago.
The Gatekeeper proposed the "Harvesting Hypothesis": the density of civilizational information within a closed system continues to accumulate, and once it reaches a threshold, it is harvested by the entire community.
Open systems do not accumulate resources and cannot be exploited.
Zhang Yan had the system run through the accompanying mathematical model.
The model holds true, and the conclusions are robust within the given parameter range.
However, the parameters themselves are provided by the gatekeeper.
Zhang Yan closed the file and leaned back in his chair.
The source of all data is the Gatekeeper, and there has been no third-party cross-verification for three hundred years.
The lamplight's words echoed in his mind: it requires you to live until you reach the seventh door.
If this is true, then all the actions happening outside the door make perfect sense.
Biting at the door is to create panic and force maintainers to speed up the repair; pushing the door is to create a sense of urgency and force maintainers to increase efficiency until the jump protocol is triggered.
It never really intended to break down the door.
It is herding sheep.
Zhang Yan is a sheep, and the seventh door is the destination.
My phone vibrated; it was a message from Nie Qingcheng.
"Arrival time?"
"Six hours left."
"Have you finished reviewing the data?"
Zhang Yan compressed the summary report generated by the system and sent it over.
Three minutes later, Nie Qingcheng replied to the message.
"The 32% upper limit matches the filamentous material you found in the ice layer from 100,000 years ago. At that time, the door was 97.4% intact. The infiltration continued for 70 years before being cut off. During those 70 years, there was no attempt to force the door open."
She performed the cross-validation herself.
The next message was a screenshot of the ancient book restoration record sent by Guanxing half an hour earlier.
"Lead without seizing. Govern without destroying."
This is one of the earliest handwritten copies from Guantiange, and it has been covered up.
People from 30,000 years ago already knew this. The thing outside the door wasn't a hunter, it was a shepherd.
Zhang Yan dialed Nie Qingcheng's number.
"The data could be true," he said.
There was no surprise on the other end: "I know. I was thinking about this when the ancient records of stargazing were sent over three hours ago."
What do you think?
"Two possibilities." Nie Qingcheng's voice was steady. "First, what the lamp said is all true. The purpose of the gate outside is to lure you to the seventh gate, and then use the connection channel of the Heavenly Craftsman's Heart to infiltrate the gate network in reverse. Repairing the gate is suicide."
"Secondly, the lamp's guidance is only half true. The beings outside the door do not want to break down the door and are indeed guiding you, but their purpose is not to invade in reverse. The door openers have been observing for three hundred years, but three hundred years is too short for a community that has existed for more than 100,000 years. They may have seen the real behavior and deduced the wrong motive."
Zhang Yan paused for a moment, then said, "There is a third possibility."
"What?"
"Everything the lamplighter said is true, but the solution isn't 'opening the door' as she suggested."
"She said that after the door is opened, the community will not eat live animals and will leave, but this rule is derived from external observation. No one has ever entered the world outside the door to verify it. An unverified rule is a gamble on the entire earth."
"You don't know how to gamble," Nie Qingcheng said.
"Won't."
"So what do you plan to do?"
Zhang Yan looked at the clouds outside the window: "Deng Yin said something: if I don't go to the Seventh Gate, the community will resort to a different method, mass killing, until I have no choice but to go."
There was a three-second silence on the other end of the communication.
"The exact words?" Nie Qingcheng's voice dropped half an octave.
"The exact words."
"If the community really has this ability, then I have no choice but to go to the Seventh Gate; it will force me with lives."
Zhang Yan said, "So the situation is... going might be a trap, not going might result in death."
"right."
Nie Qingcheng lowered her voice, revealing a chilling killing intent.
"Zhang Yan, listen to me."
"Um."
"Regardless of whether we go to the seventh gate or not, before making this decision, let's have the locksmith and the stargazer independently verify the data from the three hundred years of the lamp."
"The locksmith has the agreement log of the 'lock,' and the stargazer has the parallel monitoring data of the Observatory."
"The three data cables must be cross-calibrated; at least two must match for the data to be accepted."
"Yes." Zhang Yan nodded; he should have thought of that.
"The second thing," Nie Qingcheng continued, "is that the community can kill people."
"What is the scale? What method? What region? If she can't provide details, it's a short-selling threat."
"If she can tell you, you'll need specific data to prepare your defenses, so you'll have to see her again with the verification results."
Zhang Yan leaned back in his chair.
"There's one more thing. The Lamplighter said the community needs me to survive until the seventh gate."
"If that's true, then no matter how I fix the door, it won't kill me."
Nie Qingcheng was silent for a moment.
"On the other hand," she said softly, "it will target the people around you."
Zhang Yan tightened his grip on his phone.
"Won't."
"Zhang Yan".
"I won't let it touch you."
There was silence on that end for a long time.
"...Come back first." Nie Qingcheng's voice held a gentle warmth that only Zhang Yan could understand. "We'll arrange the data verification after we land. I'll contact the locksmith and the stargazer. You can sleep once you're on the plane."
"it is good."
"Also, there's no food left in the fridge."
Zhang Yan paused for a moment, his tense nerves relaxed, and a smile appeared on his lips.
"Go to the supermarket first after landing."
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yan removed the storage device from the system and put it into his inner bag.
If the verification results prove that Deng Yin was not lying, then the question he faces is not "whether to go or not", but "how to go and come back alive".
My phone vibrated again; it was Qin Xiao.
"Brother Yan, the locksmith just sent word that there's a sealed record in the Sixth Gate's protocol log, sealed 30,000 years ago. He hasn't been able to unlock it, but he said if you're willing to try with your Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart, you might be able to open it."
Records sealed 30,000 years ago are locked away in a "lock".
The maintenance workers back then hid something in a place that even locksmiths couldn't open.
Zhang Yan replied with a single word: "Okay."
The clouds outside the window moved slowly below, and the only sound in the cabin was the low hum of the engine.
Zhang Yan clenched his left hand. The birthmark on his wrist was below his sleeve, and it didn't hurt or itch.
A mark left from 30,000 years ago; an orphan was chosen, traversing 30,000 years.
Now another orphan has to decide whether to go up or stop.
He didn't know the answer.
But he knew Nie Qingcheng was right.
First, buy the groceries.