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Chapter 238 The Awakening of Memories

The warning of "Night" hovered like a ghost in the corner of Bunker B7. Lu Zhao's hand holding the tool froze in mid-air, his mind a complete mess.

That familiar sense of regret left him momentarily unsure whether to trust his innate design instincts or the catastrophic consequences described by the mysterious man before him.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the inexplicable emotion, and buried himself back in the final debugging work of the "core resonance amplifier".

Lin Che's gaze, however, was drawn to the device. Not to its overall structure, but to the silver metal fragments that Lu Zhao had just embedded in it, fragments brought back from the ruins.

An inexplicable impulse, like a thirsty person seeing a source of water, drove him step by step toward it.

He reached out, trying to touch one of the fragments that was flickering with a faint arc of electricity.

"Be careful," Su Wanqing warned, "we don't know what effects those things will have."

Lin Che nodded to her to indicate that he had heard her, but the hand did not stop.

His inner desire overwhelmed his reason; he had to touch it. The instant his fingertips touched the cold surface of the fragment, a dazzling blue light leaped out from it, not attacking anyone, but precisely darting into Lin Che's arm, instantly illuminating all the Hunter sequence patterns hidden beneath his skin.

Lin Che felt as if he had been struck by a high-voltage electric shock, and was violently thrown backward, crashing heavily to the ground.

He curled up, clutching his head tightly with both hands, and a suppressed groan of pain escaped his throat: "I...remember...everything..."

The silver lines beneath his skin shimmered wildly, their light flickering as if liquid metal were surging and colliding in his veins, reshaping every inch of his nerves.

A few seconds later, the groans stopped. Lin Che slowly released his grip and raised his head.

His eyes had completely changed. They were no longer filled with the confusion and struggle of before, but with a deep, timeless pain and ancient memories.

He looked at Su Wanqing, his voice hoarse, each word carrying a heavy weight: "I am not... a complete human being. I am their discarded... failure."

Everyone around was stunned, and Xiao Ran and Lieutenant Cui looked on in surprise.

Ignoring the stares of others, Lin Che struggled to his feet and continued, “The Weavers have been watching Earth for a long time. Instead of coming immediately, they incorporated humanity… us into a long ‘racial evolution and adaptation experiment’.”

They wanted to test how humans would evolve and cope with different types of apocalyptic disasters.

He gave a bitter smile and looked around the narrow underground bunker: "The virus that once spread across the globe, the extreme winters that lasted for decades, the permanent torrential rains that flooded the continents... none of those are natural phenomena; they were all carefully designed experimental conditions."

He raised his hands, looking at the patterns on them that were slowly losing their light. "And I... I am a product of their early experiments."

At the time, they were attempting to integrate an alien gene called the 'Orion Sequence' into human DNA to see if they could create a hybrid species better adapted to extreme environments.

He walked step by step toward Su Wanqing, tears welling in his eyes. It wasn't weakness, but an uncontrollable torrent of emotions after his memories were unlocked.

“In the previous cycle, I existed... I was not only a product of experiments, but also chosen by Dr. Morris because of the sequence in my body to assist him in researching the technology of the Weavers.”

He clutched his chest in anguish, as if an old wound was being torn open. "I... loved you in my past life too. Until the very end, I died protecting you and the Doctor's data... Parts of my consciousness and memories were stored by the Doctor's system and then reactivated in this cycle."

However… to minimize interference, the system didn't return my memories completely, only retaining the most crucial part… which was my… feelings for you.”

At this moment, countless fragmented and inexplicable pieces of information suddenly spliced ​​together in Su Wanqing's mind.

Her inexplicable familiarity with Lin Che, those moments of tacit understanding during the crisis, the deep affection and sorrow that occasionally appeared in his eyes when he looked at her, which did not belong to this young body... everything became explained.

Lin Che's awakening of his memories also unveils more about the enemy.

“The weavers are not evil, at least not evil by human standards.”

They were simply cold-blooded scientists; to them, the demise of a civilization merely meant the end of an experiment… unless that civilization revealed something unexpected and of exceptional research value to them.

His gaze shifted to Xiao Ling, who was being held protectively in Xiao Ran's arms. "Xiao Ling was the most special being in the previous cycle. Without any external intervention, her genes spontaneously produced a mutation that could resist and even neutralize the Weaver's energy."

They were shocked by this, which is why they didn't directly collect samples from the entire Earth, but instead extended the experimental period and initiated this cycle.

He then turned to Lu Zhao: "And you... in your previous reincarnation, you did indeed create this device, and it did indeed severely damage the Weaver's vanguard in an instant."

But the price it paid was that the immense energy it released completely tore apart the structure of reality.

Finally, Lin Che's gaze fell on "Night" in the corner.

"You're right, but not entirely. At the end of the last cycle, at the final decision, Su Wanqing did choose to save only me."

"But that wasn't out of selfishness." Lin Che's voice became firm. "It was because my body carried the crucial data and sequence samples that Dr. Morris used to restart the entire cycle plan. She did it to prolong hope... but in the end, we still failed."

Throughout Lin Che's recounting of all this, "Night" maintained his signature indifferent expression.

But when Lin Che mentioned "Dr. Morris sacrificed himself to protect humanity," his hands, which had been behind his back, unconsciously clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He muttered to himself very softly, almost inaudibly: "He always chose to sacrifice himself... and I, his most imperfect copy, inherited all his knowledge, but not his..."

He stopped before he finished speaking, as if he couldn't bring himself to say the word.

This subtle reaction did not escape Su Wanqing's notice. She slowly walked towards "Night," her voice soft yet sharp like an awl piercing his facade: "What didn't you inherit from him? A sense of morality? Or... humanity?"

She stared directly into the inhuman eyes of "Night": "If you are really just a monitor of the Weavers, why are you telling us such crucial information as the existence of 'blind spots'?"

And why did you bring out that quantum stabilizer to help Lu Zhao complete this device that could potentially threaten you?

Su Wanqing's questioning caused "Night" to avoid eye contact for the first time.

He remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "Perhaps... I'm just tired of this eternal cycle."

Five cycles have passed, watching the same group of people make various different choices, but the final result is always destruction…

He raised his head, and in his eyes flashed a deep weariness that only humans possess.

"Perhaps I just want to see if you can truly break this cycle this time."

The air inside Bunker B7 seemed to freeze. After the weary words of "Night" faded away, only silence remained, along with the immense shock brought about by Lin Che's awakening memories.

Everyone is processing this disruptive truth in their own way—reincarnation, experimentation, failures, and the cold logic hidden behind the enemy.

Xiao Ran's gaze shifted back and forth between Lin Che and "Night" in the corner, finally settling on his younger sister, Xiao Ling.

He wanted to say something comforting, but found his throat dry and he couldn't utter a single word.

Just then, Xiaoling, who had been quietly watching her brother, suddenly covered her head.

The pale purple third eye on her forehead began to flash uncontrollably and violently, its light blinding.

"Ugh..." she let out a painful sob, her small body curled up, then her eyes rolled back and she fell straight backward.

"Xiao Ling!" Xiao Ran was the first to react, rushing over and catching her in his arms before she hit the ground. He patted her face, his voice filled with barely suppressed panic: "Xiao Ling! Wake up! What's wrong with you!"

Lu Zhao quickly squatted down, placed his fingers on Xiao Ling's carotid artery, looked at her flickering third eye, and frowned.

"Her vital signs are relatively stable, and she is not in any immediate danger. However, her energy fluctuations are very abnormal, as if she is experiencing mental overload."

Everyone inside the bunker gathered around, their faces filled with worry.

Lieutenant Cui immediately shouted through the communicator, "Medic! Bring medical equipment over here quickly!"

A short while later, a military doctor arrived with a box and conducted a series of examinations using portable equipment. In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly: "Reporting to the lieutenant, her heart rate and blood pressure are normal, but her brain waves... I have never seen brain wave patterns before. Conventional methods are simply not enough to determine her current condition."

About ten minutes later, just when everyone was at a loss and the atmosphere was extremely tense, Su Wanqing's personal terminal interface on her wrist suddenly lit up.

The guardian icon expanded on its own, projecting a three-dimensional holographic image.

A more human-like synthesized voice sounded: "High-intensity resonance of historical memory fragments detected. Advanced permissions activated."

Before he finished speaking, some blurry scenes began to play in the video.

In the first scene, a massive energy burst spreads from the city center, obliterating everything in its path. Ultimately, the entire planet is completely enveloped and collected by a silver stream of data.

In the second paragraph, a lone spaceship escapes Earth, while the blue planet behind them is quickly covered by ice, turning into a lifeless ice ball.

The third image is the clearest. Su Wanqing sees herself, or rather, her previous self, standing in the center of an energy field composed of three cores.

Standing beside her was a figure, none other than Lin Che, who had just awakened his memories.

At the moment when the energy reached its peak, she hesitated in the image, and her hand reached out to Lin Che instead of the core itself.

The next second, the energy field went out of control, causing a violent backlash that engulfed the two of them.

The Guardian's voice rang out again, with an analytical tone: "First round: a full-scale confrontation strategy, resulting in total annihilation."

Second cycle: Partial escape strategy, resulting in planetary destruction, and the fate of civilization is unknown.

The third round: An anchoring strategy was attempted, but emotional conflicts at key junctures led to flawed decision-making, resulting in a backlash and the plan's failure.

The system image turned to Su Wanqing and said directly to her, "Last time, you chose Lin Che as a co-survivor instead of the optimal anchor point candidate calculated by the system."

These are understandable human emotions, but in the face of ultimate crisis, emotions interfere with optimal logical judgment. This time, you must make choices based on logic.

Su Wanqing's heart was in turmoil as she looked at those tragic endings.

She asked in a low voice, "So...who is the best candidate for anchor point?"

The system and the "night" in the corner fell silent at the same time.

Just as this question remained unresolved, Xiao Ling, who was in Xiao Ran's arms, suddenly opened her eyes.

But those eyes were no longer the purple they used to be; instead, they shone with a strange yet calm golden light.

She gently pushed away the hands of her brother and the people around her who were helping her up, and stood up on her own. Her movements were smooth and steady, and she didn't look like a child who had just fainted.

She spoke, her voice mature and steady, carrying a transcendence beyond her years: "There isn't enough time left, I must convey crucial information."

Xiao Ran stared in astonishment at his younger sister, unable to reconcile the calm "little adult" before him with the Xiao Ling he remembered.

Lin Che stepped forward and cautiously asked, "Who are you?"

A faint smile appeared on Xiaoling's lips, a smile that held a wisdom beyond a child's comprehension.

"I am still Bell, but I also contain fragments of memories from the previous cycle."

The Weaver never completely erased me…a part of my consciousness has always existed within the core.

She walked to the center of the bunker, her golden eyes sweeping over everyone present, signaling them to listen.

"The final collection requires the voluntary sacrifice of five key samples in exchange for a perfect and constant time anchor."

In past cycles, we have consistently failed because we lacked the most crucial element: 'voluntary participation.'

Her gaze fell on Lin Che, Su Wanqing, Lu Zhao, Xiao Ran, and finally on "Ye" in the corner.

"The rebel, the container, the guide, the guardian... and the anchor. All five roles must exist simultaneously, and each one must voluntarily accept their fate."

Her hand gently touched the "core resonance amplifier" that Lu Zhao had placed aside.

"This is not just a weapon, but also a linker. It can concentrate the life energy and will of the five of us into a single point, forming a special spacetime structure that is strong enough to resist the Weaver's collecting force field. However, the prerequisite for activating it is that the five key samples... completely sacrifice themselves."

"No!" Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran could no longer remain calm. He rushed forward and hugged his sister tightly in his arms, as if trying to shield her from those terrible words with his own body.

"I will never let you get hurt again! This is absurd!"

Sacrifice? I disagree!

Xiaoling raised her head in his arms, a hint of human tenderness flashing in her golden eyes.

“Brother, you said the same thing last time.”

These words were like a cold awl, piercing Xiao Ran's heart and making him tremble all over.

Xiaoling's voice was as soft as a sigh: "Then you died at the hands of the advance officer while covering for me."

"I survived and became their most important sample," she continued. "I was partially 'collected' by them and experienced a state of... 'semi-eternity'."

That feeling is indescribable. My consciousness floated beyond time, seeing countless possibilities of failure, and also seeing that one and only path to victory.

She turned to look at Su Wanqing. "Last time, you chose the wrong anchor point."

It's not up to any one person to decide who to sacrifice or who to protect. Rather, it requires all five of us to collectively choose an anchor point and place all our hopes on that one point.

We must be willing, because only the purest sacrifice, stemming from free will, can generate the spiritual force to resist that collecting force field.

Xiao Ran hugged his sister even tighter, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"There must be another way... there must be... I can't lose you..."

Little Bell reached out her little hand and gently stroked her brother's cheek.

“Sometimes, brother,” her voice regained a childlike softness, but the content of her words was incredibly heavy, “the greatest love is allowing the other person to fulfill their own mission.”