Chapter 42: Storm on the Return Journey

The blue-gold transport corridor resembled a turbulent river of stars, casting Kain and his companions from the orderly domain of the Gardener’s Ring into the chaotic ocean of the physical universe. Kain felt his quantum perception distort and stretch during the dimensional transition, finally reanchoring with a low hum that only he could hear.

His boots touched solid ground—the lawn of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The familiar scent of fresh grass mingled with the fragrance of tricolor roses rushed toward him, but a discordant metallic tang tainted the air, irritating Kain’s evolved olfactory senses.

"We are back," Lena’s crystalline left hand automatically expanded into scanning mode, sending seven micro-probe units scattering into the night sky like fireflies. "Abnormal energy residuals detected in the atmosphere... traces of the Seventh Iteration, but more advanced than before."

Hassan’s obsidian totem pulsed with an ominous dark red under the moonlight: "The earth is trembling in agony. Something is gnawing at its foundations."

Ada’s entropy conversion imprint reacted even more directly to the air, automatically shifting into a defensive posture: "The Scorched One’s infection has entered the second phase. It is no longer dormant; it is actively replicating."

Kain’s quantum vision pierced the surface, plunging deep into the crust. There, the leyline energy channels originally purified by the rose network were entwined with wisps of dark red energy, resembling parasites inside blood vessels. More concerningly, these energies exhibited traits similar to those of the lunar adjudication device when it had been contaminated—a hybrid characteristic of both the Seventh Iteration and the Scorched Ones.

"The situation is worse than Mentor Omega predicted," Kain said in a low voice. "The Scorched Ones have accelerated their timetable. They are no longer content with infiltration; they are preparing to take over Earth directly."

Lights suddenly flickered on inside the main observatory building, followed by a rush of hurried footsteps. Marcus’s assistant, the young physicist Zhang Lan, rushed out of the door, her face a mixture of relief and panic.

"Mr. Walker! Thank you goodness you're back!" She stopped, panting, her eyes behind her glasses bloodshot. "Twelve major rose nodes worldwide have been attacked successively over the past six hours! New York, Cairo, and the Sahara have suffered the heaviest losses!"

Kain instantly tensed: "Casualties?"

"Miraculously low. It seems the attackers' target wasn't people, but the nodes themselves." Zhang Lan pulled up the data on her tablet. "The strange thing is, the weapons they used... looked like our technology, but distorted. A dark variant of blue-gold energy."

Lena immediately understood: "The Scorched Ones obtained technological intelligence through the infected researchers. They knew conventional weapons were useless against the rose network, so they developed a corrosive version specifically targeted at the First Root’s energy."

"And the Planetary Council?" Ada asked anxiously.

Zhang Lan’s expression grew even grimmer: "They were evacuated to the underwater pyramid in an emergency. Three hours ago, a physical altercation broke out in the UN Security Council chamber, and seven senior officials suddenly... mutated. Their skin turned silver-gray, their eyes glowed, and they possessed superhuman strength. Security forces had to resort to heavy weapons to regain control."

This was precisely what Kain feared most—the Scorched Ones' dormant sleeper agents had been activated. Those infected high-ranking officials were no longer hiding and were beginning to act openly.

"Contact the underwater pyramid immediately," he ordered. "We need a comprehensive scan of all personnel who have ever come into contact with the infected. Ada, prepare the purification protocol for the New York node; Hassan, stabilize the Sahara leyline; Lena, come with me to the council evacuation point. Zhang Lan, notify Marcus and Erica's team within the Ring to request emergency technical support."

The team immediately split up. Utilizing short-range jumps through the rose network, Kain and Lena arrived instantly above the waters of the Bermuda Triangle. The moonlit sea should have been as calm as silk, but right now it churned with an unnatural vortex. Water several kilometers in diameter was stirred by some force, forming a massive funnel-shaped depression. At the center of the whirlpool, the golden apex of the underwater pyramid radiated resistant pulses of light.

"Underwater combat!" Lena’s probe transmitted visuals back. "At least twenty Seventh Iteration underwater units are attacking the pyramid’s defenses!"

Kain’s quantum vision pierced the turbid seawater, making out the attackers—streamlined mechanical creatures shaped like a hybrid between a shark and a submarine, their hulls covered in a dark red energy coating. They did not fire ordinary torpedoes or lasers, but a type of spacetime distortion weapon; each hit caused localized temporal stagnation on the pyramid shield, thereby weakening the overall defense.

More unsettlingly, marine life surrounding the pyramid—from tiny plankton to massive cetaceans—exhibited erratic behavior, frantically ramming the exterior walls of the pyramid as if controlled by some external consciousness.

"Biological contamination by the Scorched Ones!" Lena exclaimed. "They’ve weaponized even the marine ecosystem!"

Without hesitation, Kain activated the highest clearance of the candidate imprint. The tricolor symbol on his forehead instantly expanded across his body, forming a shimmering, iridescent suit of energy armor. He plummeted like a meteorite into the center of the vortex, generating a massive cavity effect the moment he touched the water's surface—the seawater was repelled, forming a temporary corridor leading straight to the top of the pyramid.

Lena followed closely behind, her crystalline left hand morphing into a miniature phase cannon, precisely sniping the three nearest mechanical sharks. The targets she hit did not explode; instead, they began to crystallize from the inside out, ultimately turning into harmless underwater sculptures.

Kain landed directly atop the pyramid, pressing his palm against the ancient metallic surface. With his imprint energy fully engaged, he poured pure tricolor energy into the pyramid’s core system like a blood transfusion.

"In the name of the Gardener, awaken Defense Protocol 7-9!"

Every First Root symbol on the pyramid's surface lit up, shifting from an ancient gold to a dazzling blue-white. The entire structure began to transform, hidden weapon platforms deploying from beneath the smooth shell to fire neutralizing beams specifically calibrated against entropy-polluted energy.

The school of mechanical sharks quickly adjusted their tactics, forming an offensive array. But it was too late—the awakened pyramid resembled an enraged ancient behemoth as a ten-meter-wide pillar of purifying light erupted from its apex, sweeping across the entire maritime sector. Mechanical units directly struck were instantly dismantled, while the surrounding controlled marine life ceased their attacks, swimming about in a daze as if jolted awake from a nightmare.

"Pyramid stabilized!" Lena’s scan confirmed. "But the council members... they aren't inside!"

What? Kain’s quantum vision scanned the interior of the pyramid once more. Zhang Lan had been right—inside the structure were only routine researchers and security personnel, with no sign of politicians or high-ranking military officials.

"Retrieve the pyramid logs!" he commanded.

Holographic records showed that the council evacuation team had indeed arrived at the pyramid, but three hours ago—precisely coinciding with the outbreak of the UN conflict—they had boarded an "improved" deep-sea transport vehicle, claiming they were transferring to a "safer backup location."

"The energy signature of the transport!" Lena sharply noted the anomaly. "It’s not standard blue-gold energy, but... some kind of hybrid. The pyramid system didn't even trigger an alarm!"

Kain understood immediately: "Because clearance was overridden. Those 'council members' included high-level infected individuals who deceived the pyramid’s security system using the Scorched Ones' code."

"Where did they go?"

The pyramid’s tracking data revealed a spine-chilling answer—the transport had not headed toward any known human sanctuary, but sailed straight into the deepest part of the ocean: the Mariana Trench.

"What's down there?" Lena pulled up the seabed topography chart. "There are no records showing we have any facilities in..."

"We do." Kain’s quantum vision pierced layers of seawater, looking toward that fathomless darkness. "Not human facilities. First Root facilities. The Bermuda pyramid was never isolated."

He suddenly recalled the historical records he had seen in the Gardener’s Ring—when Earth was seeded, the First Root had buried infrastructure at seven critical locations. The Bermuda pyramid was merely one of them; the locations of the other six had remained undiscovered. Now it seemed a second facility was hidden deep within the Mariana Trench, and the Scorched Ones had learned of this secret through the infected.

"Contact Hassan and Ada, change the original plan," Kain’s voice sounded like frozen flame. "We need to head to Mariana immediately. The council members may have become hostages, or worse... conversion vectors."

Lena’s probe suddenly emitted a piercing alarm! "Airborne threat! Approaching at high speed!"

The two of them broke the surface of the water just in time to see three Seventh Iteration wedge-shaped warships breach the clouds, their hulls coated with the same dark red energy as the mechanical sharks. They had not descended from space, but leaped directly from some spatial fold—evidently, the Scorched Ones had shared high-order spatial technology with the council.

"They're too late," Lena raised her weapon. "The pyramid has awakened."

"No," Kain’s quantum perception caught a more dangerous signal. "They're making a feint!"

Sure enough, the three warships did not attack the pyramid. Instead, they suddenly dispersed, launching dozens of peculiar missiles in different directions. Those missiles disintegrated midway through flight, releasing countless micro-swarms of nanomachines that drifted on the wind toward the continents!

"Atmospheric disseminators!" Lena instantly analyzed the threat. "They're going to spread the Scorched Ones' ideological plague on a massive scale! Ordinary humans lack the resistance of 'Changers'; once infected..."

Kain did not hesitate. He closed his eyes, directly connecting to the global rose network through his candidate imprint. This move was extremely dangerous—carrying a planetary-level data stream with an individual consciousness could easily fry the brain if mishandled. But there was no other choice.

The moment the imprint resonated with the network, pain like millions of searing steel needles pierced every inch of Kain's nerves. Yet he gritted his teeth, forcibly initiating the highest defense protocol of the rose network—"The Garden Wall."

Tricolor roses across the globe lit up simultaneously, releasing an ability never before displayed: every single flower became a miniature energy transmitter, weaving together in the air to form a defensive net enveloping the entire planet. The drifting nanomachine swarms collided with this net and were instantly identified, tagged, and neutralized!

The warships seemed unprepared for this level of defense, hastily adjusting tactics and using their main cannons to bombard surface rose nodes directly. A dark red energy blast struck a node on the outskirts of Cairo, causing horrifying corrosion—all roses within a one-kilometer radius withered instantly, and the earth turned charred black.

"They found a way!" Lena angrily shot down a low-flying fighter plane. "Targeted entropy weapons!"

Kain withdrew from the global network, his face as pale as paper, a trace of golden blood seeping from the corner of his mouth: "The network can hold them off temporarily, but it's not a long-term solution. We must strike at the head of the snake—the secret facility in Mariana is the key."

At that moment, Hassan and Ada transmitted an urgent communication via the rose network. Their voices were intermittent, accompanied by severe interference:

"The Sahara node... has suffered heavy damage! Not the Seventh Iteration... it's... Earth's own military! Certain units suddenly mutinied, using our weapons to attack the node! Repeat, internal mutiny!"

The situation was far worse than imagined. The infection of the Scorched Ones was not limited to the upper echelons; it had penetrated key military units. Earth was crumbling from within.

"Split up," Kain made the difficult decision. "Lena, go support Hassan and Ada, stabilize the African and American nodes. I'll head to Mariana alone."

"Too dangerous!" Lena objected. "If there really is a First Root facility there, the Scorched Ones will surely have heavily guarded it!"

"Precisely because of that, I need mobility and stealth," Kain pointed toward the retreating Seventh Iteration warships. "Steal one of their ships. Are you good at space warfare?"

Lena’s crystalline left hand transformed into a kind of energy claw: "Not at space warfare. But I'm very good at taking things apart."

She soared into the sky, hurtling like a humanoid missile straight toward the nearest warship. Her crystal units detached, forming an energy net surrounding the warship to jam its defense systems. Lena landed directly on the hull, driving her left hand into the casing to initiate a form of "forced hacking."

The warship shook violently, trying to shake off this dangerous "parasite," but it was too late. Lena found the vulnerability in the energy core, and with a precise pulse injection, the entire vessel's dark red coating flickered erratically before dying out. Losing power, it tilted and plummeted toward the sea surface like an injured whale.

"Catch!" Lena leaped away at the last moment, tossing a crystal unit to Kain. "I extracted their navigation data. There is indeed an anomaly signal near Mariana, but it's not in the deepest part of the trench... it's in an adjacent secondary trench, at a depth of about 8,000 meters."

Kain caught the crystal, the data automatically flowing into his quantum mind: "Understood. You handle surface defense; I'll go to the depths. Maintain communication... if possible."

The two exchanged a brief glance, understanding each other's resolve without words. Lena turned and flew toward Africa, while Kain plunged into the water, swimming toward the downed warship.

The warship wreckage was slowly sinking, but the structure remained largely intact. Kain used his imprint energy to push back the water, entering the interior through a breach. The technology of the Seventh Iteration disturbingly blended mechanical and biological traits—consoles seemed grown from some crustacean-like creature, corridor walls were covered in muscle-like tissue, and even pulsed rhythmically.

The three crew members on the bridge were already dead—not from the impact, but from some self-destruction mechanism. Their cyborg bodies had dissolved into a pool of silver-gray slime that was attempting to corrode the ship's structure. Kain isolated these hazardous substances with his imprint energy, then took over the main console.

"Let's see what you've hidden..." He pressed his palm against the biometric panel, his imprint energy forcibly cracking the encryption system.

The navigation data confirmed Lena’s intelligence, but with greater detail—the signal near Mariana was marked as "Origin Point Omega," the primary target of the Scorched Ones on Earth. More disturbingly, the data mentioned an operation called the "Harvest Protocol," which planned to use the council members as "living keys" to activate a device within the facility.

There was no time to waste. Kain activated the remaining power of the warship, maneuvering the scarred vessel through the underwater expanse. The deep sea was as dark and silent as outer space, with only the ship's searchlights cutting through the eternal night.

Two hours later, a massive structure appeared on the sonar map—not a pyramid, but a perfect spherical module, half-buried in sediment, its surface covered in patterns similar to yet subtly different from the First Root symbols. Most unsettling of all, the sphere was surrounded by twelve corpses wearing deep-sea exploration suits, their remains twisted in horrifying postures as if they had witnessed something beyond comprehension at the moment of death.

"The 1947 French scientific expedition..." Kain recalled similar discoveries around the Ancestral Mirror in the Sahara. "They found something they shouldn't have."

The entrance to the spherical module was open—the wreckage of the council transport rested nearby. Kain cautiously approached, his quantum vision piercing the bulkhead to see that the interior was a vast spherical chamber, with a device resembling the "Well of Roots" inside the Gardener’s Ring floating in the center, though glowing a dark red.

More than twenty high-ranking Earth politicians stood around the device, their expressions vacant, their eyes glowing with an unnatural silver light. They held hands in a circle, chanting in a non-human tongue. As they chanted, the dark red on the surface of the device deepened, beginning to pulse rhythmically like a heartbeat on the verge of awakening.

And at the center of the circle stood a figure Kain had not expected to find here—the projection of Theta-7. But unlike before, this projection was far more substantial, almost like a truly existing living entity. Even more terrifyingly, its energy signature now completely matched that of Scorched One Alpha-1!

"Welcome, Gardener candidate," the voice of Theta-7/Alpha-1 echoed directly in Kain's mind. "You arrive just in time. Witness the rebirth of Earth's civilization—upgraded from a tool into a weapon."