Elegy from Another World

The Drais, like a scarred behemoth, floats silently on the edge of the void of the "Netway." We moor it in a relatively stable spatial fold, hoping to reduce the continued erosion of its comatose companion by the conflicting rules.

After Xiaobei's thorough inventory, bad news followed one after another. Of the seven escape ships with different functions that were urgently built to fight against the "Guardians," only three remained intact.

"The Ring," Xiao Bei projected the image of the first ship, a perfectly structured metal ring with a constantly writhing, pulsating mass of flesh suspended in the center, radiating an ominous life force. "It combines biotechnology and mechanical engineering, with outstanding defensive capabilities. That mass of flesh can release highly corrosive energy beams, making it our strongest assault unit to date."

"Night Eye," the image shifted, and a ship that looked like a transparent amoeba appeared, almost blending into the background. "Specializing in stealth and reconnaissance, its hull can simulate the surrounding environment. It can mass-produce miniature unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, making it most suitable for intelligence gathering."

"Finally, there's 'Comma'," Xiao Pei showed the third ship, which resembled an elongated egg with a smooth surface. "It's a pure logistics ship with a highly efficient energy compression and storage matrix inside, which can provide us with additional energy support, but it has almost no self-defense capabilities."

The current situation forces us to take the initiative. "Use the Night's Eye to release drones and search for nearby worlds with relatively stable rules that may harbor advanced technological civilizations," I ordered. "The key is to find experts who can handle 'consciousness coding conflicts' or 'existential compatibility issues.'"

The search operation commenced immediately. The Night's Eye silently infiltrated the darkness, like a hunter, dispatching waves of miniature reconnaissance drones to potential "world coordinates" in the surrounding area. This process was fraught with difficulty; many world rules were extremely bizarre, and the moment the drones entered their boundaries, they instantly disintegrated into elementary particles, as if hitting an invisible wall. We could only helplessly mark these "dead worlds" as forbidden zones.

After screening, we packaged the relatively safe world coordinates and the preliminary scan data from Zoymem and Kawei (non-core parameters that Xiaobei might be able to extract) and attempted to establish contact with the intelligent life in those worlds via drones. We sent out a distress signal, inquiring whether it was possible to treat this special kind of "coma".

The atmosphere was somewhat somber as we waited for a reply. Looking out the porthole at the eternal darkness, I suddenly asked, "Edsis, Xiao Pei, Yisen, Noreljun... do you regret leaving your original world?"

Edessis gently took my hand, her eyes tender yet resolute: "Lady Lysia, for me, that place only holds painful memories of the time before our fusion. To follow you in pursuit of the truth is a shared wish of both Edessis and Cesis."

"Your Majesty, my core command has been changed to 'Assist you with all my might.' So wherever I go, as long as you are here, that is my world." Xiao Pei's response was concise and absolute.

Yi Sen rubbed his hands together, a shrewd businessman's face breaking into a broad smile: "Boss, that world has too many rules, and it's easy for those higher-ups to erase them. This place is dangerous, but the unknown also means infinite possibilities!"

Noreljon's magical doll let out a muffled groan: "Regret? That world where 'players' treat you like a monkey? I'm sick of that. It's a bit troublesome now, but at least... it's exciting enough." Although his tone was rude, his meaning was clear.

Hearing everyone's answers, I felt a little relieved. We are a group that has been forced together, but at least for now, we share the same goal.

A week passed in anxious waiting. Most of the worlds' responses were either "incomprehensible," "helpless," or even hostile. Just when we were about to give up, a signal from world number T-917 was captured by the Night's Eye.

The source of the signal was an individual who called himself a "data healer," speaking with a calm curiosity: "The 'case' you provided is very interesting. I have some theoretical ideas for repairing this kind of cross-rule consciousness chimera's collapse symptoms. As for the price... we can discuss it after the treatment is effective. However, I must warn you that the world I live in... has a rather special environment; it's a large-scale 'computer worm virus incubator.' You assume all risks."

"A computer worm incubator?" Noreljung's electronic eyes flashed a dangerous red light. "That doesn't sound like a good place. I have little interest in saving people, and I hate environments where you could die at any moment."

I understand his concerns. As a former demon king, destruction and domination are in his nature, so asking him to risk going to a virus-infested area to save "strangers" is indeed asking too much.

I turned to him, my tone earnest: "Noriljohn, I know this goes against your nature. But I need your power. If... if you're willing to help me this time, I can grant you one request after it's done. As long as it doesn't harm my other companions, even if you want to 'torture' me for a while, I'll accept it."

Noreljon's mechanical head turned, its crimson electronic eyes fixed on me, seemingly assessing the truthfulness of my words. After a long silence, it let out a low laugh: "Heh... interesting. Lydia, you're certainly willing to go to such lengths. Fine, I'll accompany you to that virus den and see how you withstand my 'hospitality'."

"It's a deal." I breathed a sigh of relief. Although the price might be high, waking up my companions was the top priority.

Ultimately, we decided that I would pilot the most heavily armored Ringbelt, carrying Noriljohn, Yisen (responsible for negotiating and assessing the "price"), and the unconscious Zoimem and Kawi, to that dangerous world of T-917. Edseysis and Little Paradox would stay on the Drei, monitoring the situation and ready to provide support at any time.

The Ring's engines hummed low, and the mass of flesh and blood at its center pulsed uneasily. We detached from the Dreil and headed resolutely toward that unknown world, a world rife with data viruses. A new adventure, or rather, a new crisis, lay ahead.