Chapter 292 It's not spiritual energy, it's something colder than spiritual energy.

On the surface, in the joint control room of Kyoto's second fortress city.

The extremely piercing air raid siren had been manually shut down, but the suffocating tension in the hall was even greater than before.

The air was thick with the smell of coffee, the slightly acidic odor of coolant, and the anxiety emanating from countless people who had stayed up all night.

The enormous holographic main screen was brutally split in two.

On the left screen, various data streams from the Chang Geng's peripheral operations were scrolling rapidly like a waterfall; while on the right screen, a set of extremely strange band images were transmitted in real time from the high-orbit main platform 200 kilometers away through the highest-level military encrypted channel.

Wang Mingyuan stood in front of the main screen, his gaze fixed on the curve that was so smooth it was almost lifeless, yet every peak exuded a strange sense of oppression. He remained silent for a long time.

"Has the high-orbit node been confirmed? Rule out electromagnetic storms, filter array misalignment, and main platform hardware aging errors."

His voice wasn't loud, but it immediately put everyone in the hall on edge.

From the small window at the bottom of the screen, Lin Feng's tired but extremely clear voice came from the high-orbit main platform: "Professor Wang, we're not crazy. The main platform's filter array is not damaged. This is definitely not some kind of cosmic noise. Team Leader Qin was outside the cabin just now, and his true essence shield only briefly grazed the edge of this wave's dissipation. He was almost frozen."

Through the communication channel came Qin Lie's heavy breathing: "Professor Wang, we absolutely cannot touch that thing now. With our current array formations and physical strength, trying to catch it is tantamount to suicide. Just a moment ago, I even felt that it wasn't trying to tear me apart, but rather to directly assimilate me into a cold stone that had been floating in a vacuum for billions of years."

Wang Mingyuan nodded slightly, his deep gaze fixed on the data, his brain working at lightning speed.

"Since the main body cannot be touched, let's start by verifying it through data and indirect evidence."

Wang Mingyuan quickly turned around and gave instructions to the technical team behind him, "Immediately import the band parameters transmitted back by Lin Feng into the 'Kunlun' supercomputer! Retrieve all known surface spiritual energy models; I need to conduct the most extreme collision simulation! Hurry!"

He understood perfectly well that the inability to directly touch it did not mean humanity was helpless. The greatest advantage of the fusion of cultivation civilization and technological civilization lay in the fact that as long as this energy could leave a band in space, it could be reconstructed into a virtual mathematical model in a supercomputer.

"Lin Feng, where are the titanium crystal plates and interface fragments you brought back from the perimeter of the Chang Geng?" Wang Mingyuan asked in a deep voice into the communicator.

"It has been moved to the highest-level physical isolation chamber on the main platform. Basic pressure and radiation disinfection is underway," Lin Feng replied. "Professor, although we didn't dare to capture the main body of that mysterious energy, I just discovered while organizing the components that when that abnormal wave swept across these outer metals, it left some very faint 'cold corrosion marks' on their surfaces. It feels like... like water stains left on the reefs after an extremely terrifying icy sea tide recedes."

"Good! Very good!"

A glint flashed in Wang Mingyuan's eyes. This was definitely a crucial breakthrough. "You must not have any direct physical or true energy contact. Activate the high-frequency psionic scanner on the main platform and, through the explosion-proof glass of the isolation chamber, synchronize the real-time feedback data of the debris to the surface! Immediately!"

A joint simulation exercise spanning two hundred kilometers in the air, representing the current wisdom and cultivation of humankind, has begun.

"The 'Kunlun' supercomputing model has been established and is ready to conduct the first set of simulations: conventional spiritual energy collision simulations!" the surface technician reported loudly.

"start!"

On the large screen, the red data stream representing the earth's warm and spiritual energy collided violently with the deep blue curve representing that mysterious waveband in the virtual three-dimensional space.

There was no extremely explosive energy explosion as expected, nor was there any intense numerical clash.

Everyone was astonished to see that the red stream of spiritual energy data, upon contact with the blue line, seemed to have struck an invisible and insurmountable wall of sighs. Immediately afterwards, the previously active spiritual energy data began to "collapse" precipitously.

"It's not devouring..." Wu Di slammed his hands on the table, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. "It's suppression! Absolute superior suppression! The quality level of this stellar waveband is too high. It brutally and utterly extinguished the active, restless characteristics of the surface spiritual energy!"

Almost simultaneously, Lin Feng on the high-orbit platform also sent out chilling test feedback.

"Professor Wang, I scanned those titanium crystal fragments through the glass using a miniature spirit-gathering array. The array's operation wasn't disrupted, but... it couldn't move those fragments at all. It showed absolute 'indifference' to our surface spirit-gathering system. It's like an elephant not caring about an ant's pull."

"It rejects conventional spiritual energy and possesses extremely high suppression power of superior physics and laws." Wang Mingyuan picked up the electronic pen and wrote the first line of conclusion heavily on the holographic tactical board.

"The second set of simulations involves importing the high-orbit micro-array base model!"

Following Wang Mingyuan's command, the image on the supercomputer screen shifted. A formation node composed of extremely complex data was slowly enveloped by that dark blue wave.

"Warning! The array's operating speed is plummeting! Decreasing by 20%... 30%... 40%!" The surface technician's voice betrayed a hint of uncontrollable panic.

"Don't just focus on the speed! Look at the structural strength and damage tolerance of the formation!" Wang Mingyuan shouted.

"This...how is this possible?!"

The technician stared at another set of rapidly escalating green data, his voice cracking as if he'd witnessed some utterly supernatural miracle. "The array's operation has slowed down, but its structural stability has increased by a full three orders of magnitude! This energy... this energy is like some kind of terrifying high-dimensional coagulant; it's 'welded' all those originally extremely loose spiritual energy nodes within the array shut! This array is now a hundred times stronger than the finest solid steel ingot!"

Qin Lie's voice came from the sky at just the right time, carrying a hint of enlightenment after surviving a disaster: "No wonder... no wonder when I encountered it outside the cabin just now, I felt that it was not trying to tear my true essence apart like a demonic beast, but rather to freeze my true essence, along with my meridians and flesh, into an extremely dense, inanimate object that could exist forever in a vacuum."

The control rooms in both locations fell into a deathly silence that lasted for half a minute.

Only the faint sound of instruments running echoed in the air.

Through extremely careful data analysis and indirect scanning, the cold, cruel, yet incredibly powerful veil of this mysterious energy has finally been lifted slightly to reveal a corner of its secrets to humanity.

Wu Di's chest heaved violently as he abruptly straightened up.

"We've been wrong all along... We've all been trapped by the inertia of our thinking on the surface!"

Wu Di turned his head and looked at Wang Mingyuan, his eyes burning with an extremely intense flame. "We always think about going to the sky to find more concentrated spiritual energy, trying to pull down the energy from the sky to improve our cultivation, to power our flying swords, and to alleviate the depletion of spiritual veins on the ground."

"But this thing isn't meant for cultivators to 'eat' at all!"

Wu Di practically roared, "It's cold, heavy, and rigid. It extinguishes the activity of true essence and destroys a cultivator's meridians. But... it can make extremely fragile formations and metals indestructible!"

Wang Mingyuan slowly closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath.

In his mind, a scene from many years ago involuntarily flashed before his eyes. It was the day the main cable of the space elevator was successfully connected, and the annotation left in an extremely confidential old file that everyone thought was just a charade.

The breath of the stars, cold and austere, forges bones.

Only today, now, through these cold and impersonal data, has Wang Mingyuan realized with extreme horror that this is not some vague philosophical metaphor at all!

The earth's surface energy is warm, moist, and vibrant, used to nourish the body, clear the meridians, and give birth to all things.

Starlight energy is cold and heavy; its effects certainly go beyond this!

"If this energy could be introduced as the underlying framework into the pressure-resistant array of the second-generation heavy-load transport pod..." A chief engineer from the surface gasped, instantly realizing the terrifying value behind it. "Even a tiny fraction would prevent the transport pod from disintegrating when passing through the turbulent spiritual pressure of the ionosphere! It would be like a wall of sighs that could rampage through a vacuum!"

This is the ultimate answer to completely open up the space-to-ground transportation line and even usher in the era of human space industry.

"But all we have now is a little bit of useless 'water stains'."

On the communication channel, Qin Lie's cold, hard voice was like a bucket of ice water, pulling everyone's fervor back to the harsh reality.

"Professor Wang, we've figured out its 'temperament,' but the amount is too small. With just this little bit of 'water stain' scraped off the sheet metal, we can't even build an escape door for a transport pod." Qin Lie paused, his voice revealing the decisiveness of a soldier. "We need to find its source."

"The depths of the Chang Geng are absolutely off-limits."

Wang Mingyuan suddenly opened his eyes, swiftly extinguishing any dangerous thoughts that might arise in the crowd. His gaze swept rapidly across the screen, his brain working at its maximum capacity.

"The contents inside have absorbed this high-level energy like a sponge over the past few years, and now they're like a high-pressure container that could explode at the slightest touch. If we try to forcibly open it with our current technology, the entire main platform will be destroyed along with it."

He braced his hands heavily on the control panel, his eyes blazing with an extremely cold and sharp scientific fervor.

"But on the other hand, since the things inside the Chang Geng are 'charged,' it means that there must be a living 'space current' in this seemingly lifeless high-orbit space!"

Wang Mingyuan turned his head sharply and gave the order in a stern voice.

"Lin Feng! Initiate full-band reverse tracking! Avoid the Chang Gung, scan deep space! Has the radar locked onto the natural convergence zone of this 'ocean current'? Give me precise coordinates!"

"have!"

Without any hesitation, Lin Feng immediately synchronized an extremely high-frequency star radar image to the large screen on the ground.

Four hundred kilometers away from the main platform in geosynchronous orbit, in a completely silent deep space, an extremely faint but extremely regular red dot of light is slowly flickering against the dark cosmic background.

"That is the site of an abandoned high-orbit meteorological observation station that was codenamed 'Tianyan-04' in the old days."

Lin Feng's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement and an extremely strong desire for challenge. "That place is extremely far from the ionosphere, constantly exposed to the most extreme cosmic radiation. Moreover, the co-frequency response there is extremely stable; it's definitely not a passing cosmic ray, but more like a long-standing localized enrichment region."

Wang Mingyuan stared intently at the red dot, tapping his fingers heavily on the table twice.

We can no longer rely on theoretical discussions alone.

The boundaries of human civilization must not be limited to studying a puddle of "water".

Now that we know its properties and that we can't touch it with our bare hands, let's build an extremely sturdy "iron cage" that can contain it!

"Qin Lie, listen to my command!" Wang Mingyuan suddenly stood up straight, his voice carrying an unquestionable authority.

"Here!" On the high-speed rail platform two hundred kilometers away, Qin Lie stood upright, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"In the main platform's backup warehouse, there are three high-purity titanium crystal sealed containers. Have the array formation team inscribe a reversed 'Spirit-Suppressing Heavy Array' inside the containers as quickly as possible."

"You're not going to fight, you're going to hunt! To hunt this wondrous power!"

"Prepare the first-generation light escort airships. I need you to detach from the main platform and head to the 'Sky Eye-04' ruins!"

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