Chapter 130: Passing the Torch, The Self-Cycle

Chapter 130: Passing the Torch, The Self-Cycle

He was not surprised by his assessment of Lu Xianfeng; it even seemed logical to him.

Frankly speaking, according to historical records, the guitar accompaniment for the English version of “Self-Combustion” was originally composed by the great music creator, “Master Chen Feng” himself.

That was a fact.

Chen Feng’s creative talent might have been barely noticeable, and his playing did not have much soul either.

His playing had only one specialty: precision, born from dull, tedious, yet highly focused and professional training.

Therefore, he could ensure that every performance was exactly the same in terms of execution and level.

Committee Member Lu: “Chen Feng, speak plainly. What exactly do you want to do? What is the second detonation plan?”

Chen Feng’s expression suddenly turned solemn. “I know your type well. Empty words mean nothing. If I just talk, you won’t believe me. So I’ll act first. After I act, you can judge for yourself. By the way, let me remind you, there might be some unexpected changes in the Quantum Network soon. Be sure to pay attention. Also, don’t let anyone else know what we are discussing, or you’ll be a criminal for all time.”

After saying this, Chen Feng began his second performance.

Unlike the first time, this time he played the score backwards, starting from the last note and moving toward the first.

The resulting music was very bizarre.

It was no longer stirring and passionate, but instead eerie and sinister.

Lu Xianfeng quickly connected to the external network, but he only enabled one-way data transfer. External data and reports could come in, but nothing from his side could leak out.

When Chen Feng reached about one-third of the piece, an important report came from the external network monitoring department.

The neutrino signal transmitter on the heavy spacecraft of the Escape Faction was broadcasting a signal of a specific frequency to the entire globe.

The method of signal diffusion closely resembled the DDoS network attacks from a thousand years ago.

It was a primitive, yet very effective and extremely difficult-to-block form of network attack.

After the Quantum Network received this signal, a portion of the underlying code in the Central AI, which had long been in a dormant state, suddenly and unexpectedly became active.

Two more seconds passed, and a new analysis report was generated.

This active underlying code was self-replicating at an extremely rapid pace, mobilizing more resources, and beginning to transmit signals toward the Earth’s Core.

Another second later, another report appeared before Lu Xianfeng.

The technical department attempted to decode the signal that was launching the DDoS attack on the global Quantum Network, but the attempt failed. Its encryption method was exactly the same as the mechanism Dr. Sergey used in the Quark bomb.

Based on the current speed of signal amplification, if the DDoS attack continued, the bomb at the Earth’s Core would be detonated within three minutes.

“I believe you! Stop! Stop now!”

Clack!

Chen Feng stopped the guitar strings.

The external crisis quickly subsided on its own, and the code left by Sergey fell silent again.

Chen Feng looked at the pale-faced Lu Xianfeng and smiled. “Just as you have seen. The second detonation plan for the bomb is precisely playing the guitar accompaniment of ‘Self-Combustion’ in reverse. Actually, the process itself is irreversible. There is only one activation method: releasing the entire musical code as a data packet, spreading it completely into the Quantum Network. That will trigger the mechanism.”

“Once released, the code left by Sergey will instantly read the entire code, fully awaken, and Earth’s life will enter a countdown. This process cannot be paused or stopped. I believe you understand Dr. Sergey’s purpose in doing this. It just so happens that there is someone here who can manually play the guitar backwards to communicate with you. That someone is me, so I could stop it.”

“I now solemnly warn you, in five minutes, my spacecraft will officially leave the atmosphere. My finger will remain on the data packet send button. If I detect any sign of trouble, I will press the button, and everything will be settled.”

After saying this, Chen Feng actively cut the communication, walked out the door, and issued his orders.

The rest was now entirely up to Lu Xianfeng.

“Departure!”

In the Command Cabin, Chen Feng looked up at space and said loudly.

He was holding a small electronic box he had just made in his right hand.

Outside in the sky, the Mothership and numerous Cruisers and Combat Ships were hurriedly turning around.

“Report! Abnormal energy detected outside our spacecraft! This energy radiation is moving outward from inside the spacecraft!”

At the same time, a notification came through the Military communication channel. It was Lu Xianfeng’s voice.

“Do not panic! Do not make a big deal out of nothing! We are retrieving our spy-type super-nano robots!”

Chen Feng grinned. “Not bad. Pretty slick.”

As expected of the Military, to have completed such deployment around him without his knowledge in such a short time.

Super-nano robots had even infiltrated.

If Chen Feng hadn’t succeeded in the negotiation, the spacecraft might have been hijacked in an instant without anyone noticing.

Chen Feng’s threat had worked.

He was one hundred percent confident about this.

The people on the other side were too logical in their thinking. It seemed to make their thought process flawless, always leading to the correct decision, but it actually allowed Chen Feng to easily predict their actions.

Having no flaws was the biggest flaw.

After about half an hour, many leaders in the Executive Committee watched as the giant spacecraft, trailing long plumes of fire, broke free from Earth’s gravity in the Universe and headed straight out of the Solar System. They all breathed a long sigh of relief.

Chen Feng also finally relaxed a little and slumped into the Commander’s chair.

He looked back toward the Medical Capsule, feeling a surge of complex emotions in his heart.

Sergey Ponomarenko was a ruthless man. This scheme of his spanned generations, spanning five hundred years all the way to the present.

Back then, Sergey hid his diary in a paper format deep within the library archives of Kirov University, which he himself founded.

It was ultimately discovered by the founder of the Escape Faction, who was the president of Kirov University at the time.

That president, after seeing this diary, gained a deeper understanding of Sergey’s ideas and knowledge, finding the logical connection perfectly closed.

He no longer doubted Sergey’s judgment, founded the Escape Faction, and passed the diary down as the faction’s greatest secret through generations. It reached Lin Bu and ultimately played a major role in aiding Chen Feng’s actions.

Chen Feng realized another layer of meaning behind Sergey’s bomb.

He was threatening not just humanity, but also the Invaders.

Sergey was half successful.

But mere threats could not completely change humanity’s fate.

Chen Feng believed that when the Invaders truly arrived, they would have a way to prevent the detonation.

The only way to stop them from succeeding was to detonate it early.

But humans always have a will to survive. They wouldn’t give up until the last moment. No one had the right to make that decision.

So it became an unsolvable deadlock.

Chen Feng was not disappointed, because the responsibility for the other half of the success now fell on him.

History was like a poem rich in meaning, ending where it began.

Chen Feng inspired Zhong Lei to create “Self-Combustion,” a song that enlightened Sergey across five hundred years.

Although Sergey was still deceived and tricked, leaving behind a signal amplifier that aided the enemy, the diary he left behind, in turn, helped Chen Feng across five hundred years.

The story started with Chen Feng, and it ended with Chen Feng here.

Time had formed a beautiful closed loop on him.

Chen Feng recognized the power of the time cycle once again.

It was like a never-ending turbocharger.

As long as he himself did not die, this cyclically strengthening power would have no upper limit; it was infinite.

As long as he did not give up easily, victory would eventually come one day.

Gazing at the stars, Chen Feng’s thoughts were endless.

He began planning again how much he could accomplish with one month’s time after returning this time.

How great it would be if he could train a few more people like Sergey to share his burdens and help shoulder the responsibility.

In the endless, inevitably recurring future ahead, he finally no longer felt alone.

Although they had never met, Chen Feng still felt he had received support from many like-minded members of his species.

“Ahead, Pluto! After a brief rest at Pluto, we head for the edge of the Solar System! I want to see up close what kind of existence that is!”

A Blockade Barrier with a radius of two light-years.

Just imagining it was enough to make his heart race and his breathing quicken.