The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

Once the decision was made, there was no more hesitation.

Loewe's thoughts were like the last stone thrown into hardened asphalt, stirring up resolute ripples in the absolute stillness created by deep slumber.

"Final preparations."

These five words carry the full weight of will that has been rekindled after a long period of cooling and wear.

As the thought was transmitted, within the dark gray information aggregate, the few clusters of faint light points representing individual consciousness began to be forcibly activated and condensed from their deepest dormancy with a slow yet determined pace that exceeded all limits.

This process itself is accompanied by unimaginable consumption and pain—like forcibly starting the core drive unit of a precision machine frozen for billions of years without preheating, lubrication, or energy depletion. Each arduous turn of the gears brings a sharp tearing and excruciating frictional pain to the very structure of the machine.

The soul crystal cluster structure of the Third Ring Star Speaker, Luo Wei, emitted a low groan of unbearable strain. The already cracked pale gold cluster began to peel and crumble at its edges during forced activation, turning into finer information dust that merged into the surrounding dark gray matrix, accelerating its own consumption and dissipation. But he ignored the pain and depletion, compressing and focusing all his remaining understanding and guiding abilities into a single point—perceiving, locking onto, and preparing to guide this aggregate towards the weak point in the rules that Ai Rui had sensed, created by the external pulse disturbance.

In the "perspective" of his soul's perception, the two star-like vortexes of rules, nearly extinguished by excessive consumption, reignited with a cold, sharp, yet deeply weary rational light. He could "see" that, about several hundred "information distance units" away in the direction Ai Rui indicated, the stability and inertia of the rules within a dark gray matrix region were exhibiting extremely faint but undeniably present dynamic and unstable ripples and loosening. That was the possible location of the window.

Ai Rui's state became even more dangerous and unstable. She forcibly activated the slow-rotating vortex of mixed information within herself, attempting to actively concentrate and guide her passive harmonization and perceptual qualities towards the window. This process caused the colors and lines representing different rules within her vortex to violently clash and entangle, trying to devour and cover each other. Her vision became extremely blurry and distorted, filled with indescribable noise and pain from the rules and information. She could feel the boundaries of her own existence becoming thinner and more unstable due to the intense internal conflict of rules, as if it would completely collapse into meaningless information chaos at any moment.

But she gritted her teeth, using the last bit of pure will belonging to "Airi" to forcibly fix the pale golden rule anchor point at the very core of the vortex—the final spiritual connection and promise with Luo Wei, the Star Key, the Fire Seed Crystal, and everyone else. Her rule perception was like locking onto a faint lighthouse light in the distance, about to be swallowed by a giant wave, in a stormy, lightning-filled ocean of information.

"The window is extremely unstable...it's healing rapidly..." Airi's thoughts were fragmented and filled with painful trembling. "I can see the slit getting thinner...being pushed back by the surrounding gray stuff...it has at most five or six heartbeats left...and then nothing..."

Five or six heartbeats. In this timeless graveyard, that could be seconds or even less. This is the window of their last chance.

"Verna! Annie! Path stabilization algorithm! Final optimization! Combine with Airi's real-time perception!" Luo Wei's thoughts cut through the chaos and pain like a cold scalpel, issuing precise commands.

"Computational overload... Model extremely simplified..." Verna's thoughts responded hoarsely and brokenly, like an overclocked processor about to melt down. She and Annie forcibly crammed the knowledge they had just retrieved about the settling and stress wave fracture of the underlying logic of the Wanwu Machine Hub, along with the real-time fuzzy perception data about the current state of the window transmitted by Airi, into the already overburdened rule information deduction architecture, frantically performing the final probabilistic path and timing calculations.

"The target point rule structure prediction is chaotic and contradictory... There may be high-dimensional information turbulence or incompletely settled logical fragments impacting it..." Annie added, filled with technical despair.

"Lilith! Anderson! Secure everyone! Prepare to withstand the impact and tearing of rules and information!" Rowe continued to issue commands.

"Understood!" In Lilith's mind, the emerald green life-preserving mark burst forth with its last gentle yet exceptionally resilient radiance, like the last life vines tightly binding and protecting the two faint marks of Barton and Lina, while also connecting the core consciousnesses of Verna, Annie, Anderson, Rowe, and Airi. She used all her spiritual convictions to construct the final spiritual buffer and connection network.

Anderson's deep gray, reef-like navigational markings exuded an ancient, steady composure, like the final calm and control of an old captain who had weathered countless storms. He poured all his instinctive senses about the environment and the situation into the overall sense of balance and order within this aggregate, providing Lowe with a final intuitive calibration for guidance.

"three."

Luo Wei began the final countdown in his mind. All his mental energy was compressed and condensed into a point of pure rule information, locking onto the rule window that was rapidly healing.

"two."

Verna and Anne forcibly injected their extremely simplified path stabilization algorithm into Lovi's guiding consciousness. It was an extremely crude yet condensed version of all their technical and knowledge essence, a vague dynamic guide on how to move forward in a chaotic, rule-based turbulent flow along the theoretically most stable rule information gradient and flow direction inside the window.

"one."

Ai Rui's chaotic and painful vision focused for the last time on the very core of the window, on the regular gap that was about to close completely.

"Now!"

Luo Wei's soul emitted a final, silent roar that resonated throughout this desolate graveyard, a roar of rules and information!

He poured all his understanding and guiding power of the rules of his three rings into the core driving concept of this information aggregate without reservation! That driving force was not a physical force, but a strong intention and anchoring of the rule information itself—intending to go to that window; the rule information structure anchored itself moved along the fuzzy path calculated by Verna and Annie!

At the same time, he guided and detonated the last bit of primordial rule information from the Star Key in his arms, which had long since dimmed and almost fallen silent, and the three fire-seed crystals! The pale golden light of the primordial seed, the milky white recording patterns, the emerald green flow of life, and the dark golden structure of engineering mixed and burned together, transforming into a weak but condensed shock wave of rule information light that contained the last ideas and ancient imprints of the Cradle Civilization, which slammed into the core crack of the window that Ai Rui had seen!

This is not an attack, but a knock! It is a verification! It is an attempt to pry open that unstable door formed by the underlying rules of the entire structure and external impulse disturbances using the same source of rule information and concepts!

"boom--"

This time, the roar of rule information did not originate from them or from simply opening a window.

Rather, it was a violent, fundamental collision and interconnected echo between two completely different rule information structures and states at that extremely tiny point!

The other end of the window was not the expected space or interlayer of regular information.

Instead, it is a surging, chaotic, violent torrent or storm of rules and information, filled with indescribable, cold, inanimate, yet so intricately complex as to drive one mad!

This torrent differs from the chaotic information pollution of the Abyss, filled with the will to devour and annihilate. It is more ordered, yet it is an absolutely inanimate, ordered chaos filled with logical conflicts, self-contradictions, frantic calculations, and constant annihilation and rebirth! It is like the leakage and echo of the core computational storm of a cosmic-scale computer or logic processor that has run out of control beyond all physical limits, yet is frantically operating under the drive of absolute logic!

Just as Luo Wei's shockwave struck the window crack, forcibly and briefly prying open a channel of rule-based information that was billions of times thinner than a hair—that terrifying torrent of rule-based information, like a flood bursting through a high-pressure dam, surged wildly out along that brief channel! It slammed heavily onto Luo Wei and his group, this mass of information that had just begun to move!

"ah--"

The moment everyone's consciousness came into contact with the torrent, they simultaneously emitted a silent scream of rules that surpassed all the previous pain at the soul level!

It wasn't physical pain, nor was it a simple mental shock.

Instead, it is an extreme form of information torture—the existence itself—that is forcibly invaded, analyzed, overwritten, and rewritten by a cold, absolute logical information storm far exceeding its own comprehension and tolerance limits!

Under the impact of the torrent, large sections of the already cracked, pale gold crystal clusters on the surface of Luo Wei's three-ring soul crystal cluster structure began to peel off and shatter, swept away and assimilated by the torrent! He could feel his understanding of the rules and his perception of existence being frantically washed away and questioned by the cold, absolute yet contradictory logic and information contained in the torrent! It was as if it was forcibly formatting him from a cradle of star speakers into an insignificant logical unit or information redundancy within the system to which this torrent belonged!

"Hold on! Follow the path!" Luo Wei's will roared in its final moments as his soul teetered on the brink of total collapse! He forcefully grasped the vague path that Verna and Annie had calculated, using the last vestige of guiding power to drag the aggregate, about to be swept away by the torrent, upstream along the edge of the channel from which the torrent surged forth! He slammed into the eye of the storm of rules and information on the other side of the window, a storm filled with unknown terror!

Airi's chaotic vortex reached its peak in an instant under the onslaught of the torrent, the internal clash of colors and the disorder of rules reaching their climax! She felt her peculiar ability to harmonize was like trying to balance a boiling ocean of sulfuric acid with a cup of water before this absolute storm of logic—instantly evaporated, decomposed, and swallowed up! Her vision was completely filled and torn apart by an endless storm of frantically flashing geometric shapes, mathematical formulas, logical symbols, and highly compressed information encoded in light! Her consciousness began to rapidly dissolve, blur, and inactivate under the frenzied analysis and coverage of this storm…

"Brother Luo Wei..." Her faint thoughts drifted away amidst the roaring storm of rules, "I can't see... I can't feel myself anymore..."

"Airi! Grab me!" Luo Wei's mind responded frantically, trying to use the resonance of the last bit of pale golden light core of his soul to connect with and anchor Airi's fading mark.

The consciousness imprints of Verna, Annie, Lilith, and Anderson also flickered and trembled violently under the onslaught of the torrent, as if they might be extinguished completely at any moment. Their constructed mental buffer networks, pathways, and state perceptions were as fragile as paper before this absolute storm of rules, instantly torn to shreds!

The information imprints on the wreckage of the Stargazer were completely annihilated and dissipated under the first wave of the torrent, turning into one of the countless meaningless information dust particles in the torrent.

This information aggregate, which embodied the last hope of the cradle, was like a small, riddled boat in a storm in this terrifying torrent of rules and information, and was violently slammed into the endless abyss of dark rules and information by the raging waves!

In an instant, the light and darkness of the storm of wildly flashing rule information were completely swallowed up!

Consciousness rapidly sank, diluted, and dissipated under the overwhelming and chaotic flow of information and rules...

however--

In the final moments before everyone's consciousness was about to be completely formatted and assimilated by the torrent—

Just as Luo Wei's soul core began to show signs of rule collapse—

That surging torrent of rule information suddenly stopped without warning!

It was as if the frantic internal logic and information flow had suddenly encountered an insurmountable logical paradox or a system crash!

The flow direction and intensity of the entire torrent experienced extremely brief but exceptionally violent chaos and distortion, and even localized backflow and annihilation!

Immediately afterwards—

At the very core of that endless storm of rules and information deep within the torrent—

A point of light, distinctly different from the surrounding crazed, cold, logical light—purer and more restrained, yet radiating an indescribable glow of rule-based information that transcends order and chaos, bordering on sorrow and heaviness—lit up again!

That radiance shared the same origin as the pale golden radiance of rules emanating from the Core of Eden! Yet it was much fainter and more distant, as if it were the last echo coming through countless layers of veils and barriers of rule information!

In that echoing radiance—

A calm, ancient, weary, yet ineffable sense of understanding and sighing rule-related information did not arise directly, but rather, like a pre-programmed final response or log entry, vaguely emerged and drifted past against the backdrop of this torrent of rules:

"A forced access attempt by a similar source of fire was detected..."

"Underlying logical conflict triggers system overload and logical paradox..."

"Error...Error...Error..."

"Deep-level feedback guidance for implementing the final agreement..."

"The coordinates are blurred, pointing to the remaining area of ​​the secondary beacon of the Garden of Origin..."

"Warning: The path is extremely unstable; environmental rules have been severely distorted and polluted..."

"Those who come after..."

"May the guidance of the Source be with you..."

"End of record..."

The thought, like an ice cube thrown into boiling water, quickly dissipated and melted into the torrent of rules and information that had begun to surge wildly again.

But in that instant when that thought dissipated—

That pale golden light of the same origin suddenly burst forth with its final dazzling brilliance! Then it contracted inward, transforming into an extremely condensed yet exceptionally stable beam of pale golden rule information or a signpost, briefly opening up an extremely narrow but relatively calm channel or crack of rule information in that frenzied torrent of rules!

The other end of this passage is no longer the depths of an endless storm of rule information, but rather faintly connects to a more distant and unknown level of rule information or coordinates outside this deep rule storm region of the myriad structures!

Furthermore, the entrance to that passage was located just a few meters away from Luo Wei and his group of information aggregates that were about to be completely swallowed by the torrent—a distance within the bounds of regular information!

Is it a trap? Or a last chance for survival?

Loewe had no time to think.

The moment his consciousness shone again in that same pale golden light, it was like a drowning person grasping at the last straw, bursting out with a final instinctive struggle!

"That's it!" His soul roared silently! Using the last bit of guiding power of the rules, he dragged the nearly dissipated aggregate behind him and lunged fiercely towards the entrance of the pale golden passage!

next moment--

The frantically flashing rules and information storm of light and roaring light once again completely engulfed everything.

Consciousness was completely plunged into a deep darkness and nothingness amidst the violent switching and tearing of rules and information.

Only that last remaining vestige of awareness of rules was vaguely sensed—

They seemed to have passed through something.

From a frenzied storm of rules...

We plunged into a completely different realm of informational silence and emptiness...

And in that silent depths...

It seemed as if something extremely, extremely distant was being faintly heard...

Like the sobbing of the wind...

It's like metal rubbing together...

It sounded more like the snoring of some enormous machine in its slumber…