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Chapter 242 The Weaver's Test
As Xiaoling's voice faded, everyone's attention focused on the red core floating in the giant crystal chamber in the distance.

The energy field there was more complex than any other fragment of time around it, with light distorting within it to form an inaccessible vortex.

They walked carefully through rows of crystal capsules displaying the past, each step taken with utmost caution, as if afraid of triggering some unknown alarm.

Lu Zhao took out a palm-sized black device from his backpack; it was a jammer left behind by "Night".

He held it in his palm and said to everyone, "This thing can only give us forty-five seconds of invisibility, during which time it can shield us from most of the mothership's conventional detection. We have to succeed on the first try."

The five men moved silently to the back of the group of crystal pods closest to the control room, using it as cover for their final push.

The red core was just a hundred meters away, spinning quietly like a beating heart.

Just as Lu Zhao was about to activate the device, a blinding silver beam of light shot down from the dome without warning, landing precisely between them and the core.

The beam of light did not dissipate after landing; instead, it began to condense and deform. Soon, a tall humanoid figure made of flowing silver liquid metal appeared before them.

It has no facial features, only a vague head outline, and its whole body gleams with a cold luster.

A voice devoid of any emotion resounded directly in everyone's mind: "Your value has been confirmed. Continuing to resist will only increase pointless suffering. Becoming a part of eternity is the best option."

This sudden turn of events brought everyone to a standstill. They all recognized the form—the Weaver Pioneer.

Su Wanqing took a step forward, and the backpack on her back made a slight sound as she did so.

"What do you mean by 'value confirmed'? Have you been testing us all along?"

The flowing metal surface of the vanguard rippled in layers, like pebbles being thrown into water.

"Five cycles have passed, and the assessment is complete. Humans are a rare 'self-evolving species.' In each cycle of near extinction, you have found new and unexpected paths to survival. Your core samples deserve to be preserved." Its shape shifted slightly, pointing towards the red core.

"This is not only an energy source, but also an assessment device. How you approach it and how you handle it will determine the final rating of your civilization."

Lin Che pursed his lips upon hearing this. "So all of this was a test?"

"They wiped out the entire city, killed so many people, just to see how we would react?"

"On a cosmic scale, the survival of a city is insignificant."

The vanguard's voice remained flat and even. "The only act of lasting significance is the one that can extract and permanently preserve the core values ​​of a civilization."

"You have no right to judge the value of anything!" Xiao Ran's jaw muscles tensed as he raised his standard weapon, aiming it at the advance officer. The advance officer merely raised his "hand" made of liquid metal.

The weapon in Xiao Ran's hand instantly disintegrated, turning into a handful of cold, metallic dust that slipped from his fingers.

"Violent reaction. Rating downgraded." The voice echoed in everyone's minds again.

Lu Zhao frowned and whispered to the person next to him, "It's scoring us... This is the final test."

Just then, Xiao Ling, who had been silent all along, suddenly stepped out from behind Xiao Ran.

She tilted her head back, her distinctive purple eyes staring directly at the faceless vanguard.

“We refuse to be rated, and we refuse to keep only the ‘core samples’.”

Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly: "Either our world remains intact, or you get nothing."

The vanguard's tall figure paused for a moment, its flowing surface seemingly freezing, as if processing an instruction beyond its comprehension.

"Unreasonable request. The energy required to completely preserve the current target world line exceeds the maximum threshold calculation range."

Only the core samples that pass the screening process can be permanently stored.

Su Wanqing understood. "You mean, you want the five of us to make a decision... to sacrifice everyone else in the city in exchange for our own immortality?"

The atmosphere reached a stalemate. The advance officers fell silent, standing still like arbitrators awaiting their final answer.

Lin Che suddenly thought of something. He turned to the side and said quickly in a voice that only Su Wanqing could hear, "My genes contain something of the Weavers. Perhaps I can directly contact the core and won't be rejected. Activate the jammer, I'll go try it."

He didn't wait for Su Wanqing's response. "Start!" he shouted to Lu Zhao.

Without hesitation, Lu Zhao pressed the jammer. An invisible wave instantly spread out, and Lin Che's figure immediately blurred in place before disappearing.

At that very moment, he shot out like an arrow, heading straight for the red core.

The vanguard noticed the anomaly almost immediately. Its metal arm suddenly stretched out and reached for the spot where Lin Che had disappeared.

But those forty-five seconds of invisibility gave Lin Che a valuable advantage.

Its capture attempt failed.

Lin Che's figure reappeared in front of the red core, his hand already pressed on the core's surface.

The moment they made contact, the Orion sequence pattern on his arm was fully activated, emitting a dazzling blue light that intertwined with the red light at the core.

“I was once a part of you!” he shouted to the core.

As if in response to his words, the core resonated intensely.

Immediately afterwards, the entire mothership began to shake violently, and a piercing alarm sounded throughout the vast space.

In the darkness of the control room above, a huge screen lit up on its own, flashing a series of Weaver symbols that no one could understand, but the two lines of text at the bottom were clearly legible:
[Final evaluation process initiated]

[Countdown to Mothership Self-Destruction: 10:00]

The vanguard's form became unstable amidst the violent tremors, with its silvery liquid metal churning continuously.

"Unacceptable interference... The mastermind will decide your fate."

It left behind these cold words, then its entire body transformed into a stream of silver light and vanished instantly from the dome.

While everyone was still in shock, the mothership's tremors grew even more intense.

Suddenly, the metal wall on one side of the control room twisted like the surface of water, and a figure slowly emerged from it.

"Night" appeared there. His body had become completely solidified, and his skin was no longer a translucent energy state. The blue energy lines that had flowed on his body were now rapidly fading away, turning into normal human skin color.

He looked at the five people staring at each other, a complex expression on his face.

"I made a choice. Perhaps this is the first time I've truly made a choice for myself."

Su Wanqing looked at him warily, her hand already on her backpack.

"What exactly are you? A replica of Dr. Morris, or an agent of the Weavers?"

"Night" gave a wry smile. "It's both, yet neither is entirely."

I am Dr. Maurice's final experiment… He copied a portion of his consciousness into a vessel incorporating Weaver techniques, hoping to create a tool that could understand and fight the Weavers from within. However, in cycle after cycle, I lost sight of my original purpose.

He pointed to the red core in Lin Che's hand that was still resonating with him, his expression solemn.

"The mastermind has begun making the final judgment. This mothership is both an assessment field and the final defense device."

If the assessment concludes that humanity is not worth preserving, it will complete the formatted collection of the entire planet the instant the countdown ends.

He strode over to Lu Zhao and pointed to the device sketch that Lu Zhao had drawn earlier.

“You see right, there are six core bases, not three. To form a complete barrier that can protect this world, three additional stable cores with different properties are needed.”

As he spoke, he took out a small core that emitted a faint purple light from his pocket. The energy aura of this core was different from any others that anyone had ever seen.

"This is my contribution, a core from a hybrid of weaver and human technology, which can serve as a fourth one."

He handed the purple core to Lu Zhao, then looked at Su Wanqing. "The remaining two... you must find them yourselves, or create them. There are less than ten minutes until the mainframe awakens."