Chapter 429: Starform |
Reading Bai Li Qing’s message, Yu Sheng blinked, then immediately lifted his head to scan their surroundings.
Class IV cognitive remolding. Planetary-scale reality reconstruction.
He muttered under his breath: “Dammit, now this is getting serious.”
Taking advantage of the restored signal, Yu Sheng dialed Bai Li Qing straight away. The line seemed to have been waiting; it connected almost instantly. He skipped pleasantries. Hearing a single hello on the other end, he opened directly: “Sentinel Silence has reconstructed reality.”
“As expected, though still the worst-case scenario,” Bai Li Qing’s voice was steady, carrying that field of calm she always seemed to project. “But given that a signal can still connect, the reconstruction on that planet has not fully ‘closed.’ The Starform’s eclosion is not yet complete.”
“Tell me what this is,” Yu Sheng said quickly. In the corner of his eye, cold wind and rain once more sheared through the lobby roof yet seemed to brush past from another dimension without interacting with anything inside. Several color silhouettes, glitching like a bad projection, appeared in the rain outside, walked while talking, and passed through the screen wall by the front desk. “I need everything on the ‘Starform.’”
“I’ve sent over the data we have, and I will keep this brief,” Bai Li Qing answered, calm and rapid. “A short while ago I received a sample from Garrison-3 along with the recovery team’s report. We can now be fairly certain that the Dark Angel parasitizing Sentinel Silence is the ‘Starform,’ and that the parasitic stage is somewhere between late eclosion and the Ascension form. Owing to external stimulus, it likely completed eclosion ahead of schedule and forced an ‘Ascension’ from within the planet. That process will complete within a matter of days.
“As for the Starform, it may be among the oldest Dark Angels we know. We even suspect it may have appeared in our physical universe before the First Angel, the ‘Forest Angel,’ descended, but we lack direct proof.
“Compared with other Dark Angels, the Starform has many peculiarities. Most important are two. First, its activity appears strongly purposive, namely to seek new planets to ‘parasite.’ Second, it seems to follow a ‘life cycle.’
“After landing, it bores rapidly underground and transforms into a crystal-like structure able to expand swiftly within the planet. This stage is the ‘Submergence phase.’ We don’t know how long it lasts, but we are certain that in the latter Submergence the spread accelerates geometrically.
“Following Submergence, the Starform prepares for its next ‘transfer.’ It ‘eats’ everything in the planet that can be used, including geolines and high-energy minerals. In this stage it no longer expands but rebuilds a new ‘core’ within the nest it has formed. We call this the ‘Eclosion.’
“The duration of Eclosion is likewise unknown. At its end, the Starform’s essential part contracts into a new core and breaks out from within the planet to fly into space. This ‘Ascension’ is very fast. The portion that departs the planet is the ‘Ascension form.’
“The Ascension form can move faster than light, perhaps even ‘teleport’ via hyperspace or other unknown means. Its core enters dormancy during transit. Upon reaching the sky of a new target world, the Ascension form reverts to the ‘Seed Entity’ and begins a fresh cycle.”
Flattened against Yu Sheng’s shoulder, Irene listened to Bai Li Qing’s voice on speaker and murmured: “So in simple terms it’s an eat-sleep-run loop.”
Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched: “That… actually tracks.”
Another thought hit him at once, and he asked: “All this on such a scale in the real world, and no one notices it?”
“That is precisely the next point,” Bai Li Qing replied swiftly. “The Starform’s eeriest and most dangerous trait is not its parasitism, but its reality-covering power of ‘cognitive remolding.’
“From the very start of Submergence, the Starform releases cognitive interference of immense range. Within it, ordinary people cannot perceive the Starform’s existence, nor anything ‘abnormal’ it causes. People will live next to the crystal growth the Starform spreads, and after it has bored underground they will build homes and cities above it.
“Historically, various powers have noticed the Starform’s parasitism, usually by detecting anomalous planetary parameters from far away with probes. But once they closed in, investigators concluded that ‘everything is normal.’ Scholars across factions spent years and enormous effort, and, with luck, confirmed the Starform’s existence and roughly summarized its ‘cyclic changes.’ No one has ever managed to ‘catch’ it during Submergence or Eclosion. You are the first.”
A peal of muffled thunder rolled across the sky. In the wind and rain came a distant, uncanny howl. Yu Sheng looked toward the lobby entrance and saw the street outside lift off the ground as if gravity had failed. Buildings broke apart and drifted midair. New roads “grew” from nearby structures, winding to link several buildings together.
He moved to the doorway and, watching the changes carefully, spoke quickly: “It looks like its ‘cognitive barrier’ has a problem. The world before us has gone completely off the rails and is getting more chaotic.”
“You are seeing a boundary fault in the barrier,” Bai Li Qing said, her tone grave. “False reality and true reality are compressing and warping each other. Observations lose reliability in that process. What you see is neither the real Mo City nor a pure illusion. That is also why the ‘depth’ of your surroundings is unstable. If my read is right, this will continue to worsen.
“The Starform’s cognitive interference has a dangerous property. It exhibits ‘stacked resonance’ as the minds of nearby sapient beings are affected. Put simply, every mind influenced by the Starform becomes part of the barrier. The ‘hallucinations’ its victims experience further strengthen the degree of reality reconstruction.
“This is another key reason its parasitism is so hard to detect. The deeper the Starform’s grip, the more people believe that everything around them is normal, and that very ‘belief’ feeds back to alter the ‘truth’ of the world. By late Eclosion, even if you possess ‘true sight,’ entering a world parasitized by the Starform, you will see nothing amiss, because…”
Her voice broke up, as if the ‘depth’ of Yu Sheng’s surroundings had again shifted. Before the signal died, a faint line of speech reached the phone: “You are… inside a dream manufactured by everyone on the entire planet…”
Static hissed. Bai Li Qing’s voice vanished. The phone screen flashed new alerts about a depth shift and a lost connection.
Irene and Foxy exchanged looks.
Luna tilted her head toward them.
Yu Sheng stared at the dead signal, pondered for two seconds, slid the phone back into his pocket, and pulled open a small door beside him.
On the other side was Bai Li Qing’s desk. She was setting her own phone on it with a sigh.
Leaning halfway through the doorway, Yu Sheng flopped over the front of her desk and said: “I didn’t catch your last sentence.”
Bai Li Qing shot to her feet.
For the first time, Yu Sheng learned that the cool-faced bureau chief could jump, and that she would bare her teeth when she banged her leg on the desk.
The two of them stared at each other for two seconds.
Yu Sheng felt a bit awkward. Bai Li Qing’s expression was a complex blend—three parts embarrassment, two parts simmering but restrained indignation, five parts wary doubt, and the remaining ninety parts were anyone’s guess. Given her usual deadpan, she might have used up a lifetime’s quota of expressions in those two seconds.
After a beat of silence, Yu Sheng offered, apologetic: “Should I step back out and restart the scene?”
“No.” Bai Li Qing sat down again, face stern as she kneaded her leg under the desk and said: “I said you are inside a dream made collectively by everyone on the planet. The hundreds of millions on Sentinel Silence are using their ‘cognition’ to help the Starform finish its eclosion. You had better find a way to interrupt this before that thing’s Ascension form matures.”
“Uh, okay,” Yu Sheng said, drawing back.
As he was about to close the door, Bai Li Qing lifted her head, gaze severe: “Do not underestimate it. Even if you… just be careful.”
Yu Sheng froze, glanced at the Mo City outside the lobby, which had gone mad beyond measure, then turned back: “Don’t worry. I won’t underestimate it. Looking at that mess out there, I’m panicking plenty.”
Perhaps Bai Li Qing smiled, or perhaps pain made the corner of her eye twitch. Yu Sheng did not get a clear look.
He closed the door, drew a deep breath, and stepped toward the absurd nightmare outside the lobby.
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation