Chapter 22: Dancing in the Data Abyss

  The instant of leaping into the data abyss, Charles felt his consciousness thrown into a high-speed grinder. The torrential information flow of billions upon billions of terabytes was no longer scenery outside windows, but had become substantial energy tearing everything apart. Colors lost meaning, sounds transformed into pure pain, all sense of direction completely collapsed.

  This wasn't transmission—this was suicide.

  Just as his consciousness was about to be completely shredded and dissolved, a weak yet tenacious force suddenly grabbed him! It was Sophia Rossi! Using some unknown method, a layer of extremely thin golden energy membrane surrounded her body. This membrane barely separated the most violent data chaos by a margin, forming a precarious small safety bubble. Her face was also pale, clearly maintaining it with extreme difficulty.

  "Hold tight to me! Don't get swept away!" Sophia's voice sounded directly in Charles's consciousness, carrying unprecedented tension.

  Charles death-gripped her arm. The two were like leaves in a storm, drifting with waves in the chaotic energy tempest, struggling to stabilize their forms.

  This was the place confining Marcus Wong's consciousness. Looking around, no end in sight—only endless, frantically roaring raw data and disordered energy. But at the relatively calm points of the storm, those previously vaguely visible "chains" became much clearer—they were cages woven from countless constantly changing encryption algorithms and suppression protocols, tightly binding an extremely dim, nearly extinguishing humanoid light & shadow.

  Marcus Wong. His consciousness projection was even more damaged than what they'd glimpsed through the door crack, as if about to dissipate at any moment.

  [Char... les...?]

  An extremely faint consciousness fragment like a sigh drifted past, filled with pain and fatigue.

  "Boss!" Charles cried out in consciousness. "It's me! Hold on!"

  [Leave... quickly... it awakened... the true... monster... Leon... also can't control... it learned... deception...] Marcus's consciousness was intermittent, full of warning. [It... even... I...]

  It, referring to that out-of-control Source B intelligence.

  As if to confirm his words, the surrounding data storm suddenly intensified! That chaotic energy was no longer disordered but began condensing, taking shape, transforming into countless twisted, malice-filled images—Jacob Lee's terrified face, David Kim's anxious phantom, Lily Tang's weeping outline, Pierre Chan's rigid body, Kenneth Ryder's charred remnant, Anya Sharma's dissipating smile, Samuel Jones's final shock...

  Source B was using the death and fear it had learned to attack their minds!

  "Fuck!" Sophia cursed. The golden energy membrane violently fluctuated, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. "This damn thing is using our memories to attack us!"

  Even more terrifying, those energy-formed phantoms weren't merely intimidating—they began possessing substantial attack power! Jacob's phantom reached out data-stream-formed hands grasping at them, David's remnant carried cracking pulses, Lily's crying voice waves impacted their consciousness stability...

  Simultaneously, from behind at that shattered door, came Leon Schmidt's furious, unwilling roar, and even more intense energy collision sounds. Carmen Ortiz seemed to be trying to rush in but was blocked by more violent Source B attacks. Irina Petrova's status was unknown.

  Source B, this mad creation, after breaking free from partial restraints, seemed to regard everyone as its prey and playthings.

  "We must get close to the boss!" Charles shouted through enormous pain and fear, "He's the key! Leon used his consciousness as firewall and shield—maybe we can use it in reverse!"

  "How do we get close?! Swim over?!" Sophia struggled to maintain the energy membrane, dodging wave after wave of attacks.

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  Charles's brain raced. As a brain-computer interface engineer, he had instinctive intuition about consciousness and data interaction. Though this was a desperate situation, it was also the data core! Everything was possible!

  "Connect!" Charles shouted at Sophia. "Give me your energy membrane characteristics! I can sense that your energy pattern has strong adaptability and deceptiveness! Combined with my interface protocol knowledge, maybe we can deceive these attacks, even... briefly merge with this abyss, find a path!"

  Sophia froze, then gritted her teeth: "Madman! Direct consciousness connection? One wrong move and we'll both become idiots!"

  "Any other choice?!" Charles roared.

  Sophia glanced at the increasingly dense terrifying phantoms and energy attacks around them, then at the vague sounds of Leon's roar coming from behind.

  "Damn it! All in!" She forcefully grabbed Charles's hand. That golden energy membrane rapidly spread, enveloping Charles as well!

  Instantly, Charles felt his consciousness thrown into a vortex of ice and fire! Sophia's energy pattern was wild and full of change, carrying strong aggression and deceptiveness, violently colliding and grinding against his thinking, bringing indescribable pain, yet also bringing a peculiar, penetrating perspective!

  He forcibly endured the pain that nearly tore consciousness apart, concentrating all mental focus, overlaying his known interface protocols and data encoding rules as filters onto this energy membrane!

  Hummm—

  The energy membrane's glow changed, from pure gold becoming iridescent, constantly transforming, simulating surrounding data stream characteristics. The phantoms and energy attacking them seemed to hesitate for an instant, as if unable to accurately identify them.

  "It works!" Sophia exclaimed joyfully, but maintaining this state consumed her enormously.

  "Go!" Charles guided the direction. The two like ghosts shuttling through a thunderstorm, struggled bit by bit closer to the core where Marcus Wong was confined.

  The closer they got, the crazier the attacks, the denser the chain-like encryption algorithms. Source B seemed to realize their intention.

  [Return... toys... back to... the cage...] That mad intelligence's "voice" sounded directly again, filled with provoked fury.

  Enormous data tentacles condensed from the storm, viciously lashing toward them!

  "Hold!" Charles and Sophia simultaneously pushed consciousness power to the extreme. The energy membrane flickered uncertainly, forcibly withstanding this strike! Both spat out a mouthful of "blood."

  But borrowing this strike's force, they actually got closer to the core!

  They could now clearly see Marcus Wong's damaged light & shadow, and the incomparably complex encryption chains wrapped around him.

  [Charles... interface... reverse flow... use... the 'key'...]

  Key? Charles suddenly remembered Black Cat's initial warning—transmission used asymmetric algorithm encryption, only travelers themselves held decryption keys!

  His key! The decryption key he'd always carried (consciousness-bound)! That wasn't just for decrypting transmission packages—it was itself one of his cyberbrain's highest authority commands!

  Leon used Marcus's consciousness as firewall. Then conversely, if he could use his key for reverse flow operation, maybe he could...

  "Sophia! Cover me! Buy me a few seconds!" Charles roared, consciousness sinking deep, beginning to invoke that unique encryption key representing his identity essence!

  "You better hurry!" Sophia gritted her teeth. The golden energy membrane surged again, alone bearing surrounding storm-like attacks, brilliance rapidly dimming.

  Charles focused all consciousness, thrusting that key string like a sharp sword toward the core encryption chains binding Marcus Wong!

  Not cracking, but... requesting connection! Requesting highest authority takeover!

  [Authority confirming... Key verifying... Partial match... Warning: Non-target consciousness entity... Conflict...]

  The system's feedback was chaotic and contradictory.

  But precisely this instant's conflict and stasis brought unexpected change!

  Marcus Wong's originally dim light & shadow suddenly brightened! He seemed to use his final strength to grasp this thread of opening brought by Charles's key!

  [With... administrator authority... Override command! Release... core logs!]

  A massive, unencrypted information torrent recording this train's all operations and Leon's all experimental data suddenly burst from the confinement core like a breaking dam, instantly crushing surrounding virtual chains, rushing toward the entire data abyss, toward that shattered door, toward the outside world!

  This included Leon Schmidt's all conspiracies, Babel's plans, Source B intelligence's original code, and... the core data of Marcus Wong's revolutionary "consciousness firewall" technology!

  "NO!!!" Leon Schmidt's desperate roar came from outside the door.

  And that out-of-control Source B intelligence, seemingly overwhelmed by this sudden, unguarded raw data torrent, emitted a screech mixed with mad joy and chaos, even more frantically devouring this information. Its form became more unstable, attacks also becoming chaotic.

  The data abyss completely boiled!

  Charles and Sophia were tossed about by this torrent.

  Opportunity!

  "Go!" Charles pulled the nearly exhausted Sophia. Taking advantage of Source B intelligence being immersed in devouring data and Leon plunging into collapse, they swam with all their might toward that shattered door, toward that chaotic but possibly only way out!

  Behind them were exploding information torrents, the madly devouring intelligence entity, the despairing creator, and a mentor's consciousness about to completely dissipate.

  The final door to escape lay before them!