Watching the troublesome children all being safely sent away, Tendo immediately turned his gaze to the glass separating the Quantum Control Room from the Quantum Calculation Chamber. Thanks to the special shared vision generated by the connection between the 'Portable Quantum Hub' and the 'Base Quantum Hub', he had temporarily regained his 'sight' while in the control room. He could clearly see Caroline, peacefully slumbering within the calculation pod.
Caroline was utterly still, her silver hair, radiant from the high-speed transmission of quantum data, fanned out like a waterfall across the pod's base. Her serene face exuded the quiet stillness of a sleeping beauty, showing no sign of waking. Tendo's expression was filled with regret.
So... she still hasn't woken up.
After a final glance at Caroline in the pod, Tendo turned and walked towards a black calculation pod in the corner of the control center. Just before his consciousness plunged into silent darkness, he lay down inside. As his back touched the cold alloy bottom plate of the pod, Tendo's ears immediately picked up a familiar mechanical voice.
[Dear S-Class Authority Holder, Tendo Simei, detected attempt to access the Quantum Data Center Mech-Core Connection Pod. Due to your non-Mech-Starmancer status, this connection may cause irreversible damage to your neural center. Do you wish to proceed?]
Without a moment's hesitation, Tendo suppressed his 'drowsiness' and spoke decisively.
"...Proceed."
[Understood, esteemed S-Class Authority Holder... Tendo Simei.]
As the hydraulic pod door closed with a rumble, four quantum data cables, designed specifically for Mech-Starmancers, emerged like living tendrils from the pod's interior. Their interfaces precisely connected to the 'Portable Quantum Hub' Tendo wore on his forehead. Theoretically, non-Mech-Starmancers were absolutely forbidden from using these types of quantum calculation pods. This was because a body lacking a Mech Star Source could neither meet the minimum quantum computing power required for quantum calculations nor possess a quantum firewall sufficient to resist data surges.
But there are exceptions to every rule. As long as a non-Mech-Starmancer wore a suitable 'Mech Device', they could still enter the Mech calculation pod. The 'Portable Quantum Hub' on Tendo's head was precisely such a 'Mech Device'.
However, entering a quantum calculation pod as a non-Mech-Starmancer was an extremely dangerous endeavor. If the quantum data transmitted from the calculation pod exceeded the computational limits of the 'Portable Quantum Hub', the excess quantum data would rush into Tendo's brain like water breaking through a dam. These data streams, which were mere trickles for Mech-Starmancers, could become an unstoppable, terrifying data tsunami for him. A single misstep could cause his brain to collapse, rendering him a vegetable.
But since he was doing this, he naturally had a reason for doing so...
Listening to the soft closing of the pod door, Tendo endured the stinging pain of the massive data冲击 (impact/surge) hitting his brain, and softly murmured, "Caroline, you've been asleep for quite some time."
"And it seems I can't wait for you to wake up anymore."
"Though I still have many things I want to tell you in person, that's just how reality is—no one knows which will arrive first, tomorrow or an accident."
"And if you wake up and find you can't wake me, don't be mad. I'm just a little tired, so I'm being lazy and want to sleep a bit longer."
"Anyway, you've slept for so long, so this time... it's my turn to sleep for a bit. Just a bit..."
As Tendo's voice gradually faded, his consciousness completely linked with the base's Mech-Core Hub: Glimmer.
[Quantum Hub connection successful. Mech-Core's AI mode has been changed.]
[Welcome, esteemed S-Class Authority Holder... Tendo Simei.]
At the same time, shortly after Tendo entered the black calculation pod, the base's quantum firewall, which was originally set to collapse within half an hour, had its collapse time extended.
Quantum Calculation Center
Exactly five minutes after Tendo entered the black calculation pod, Caroline's previously sealed pod door opened. As a large amount of cooling gas, like white mist, was released from the calculation pod, Caroline slowly opened her eyes.
Still unable to fully adapt to the massive quantum data assimilated from the quantum space, Caroline remained in the 'high-frequency calculation' state of her 'Mech Personality'. After a full ten minutes, although Caroline still felt her brain was affected by her 'Mech Personality', the situation was much better than when she first woke up. She reached back to remove the calculation pod data cable plugged into the back of her neck and slowly sat up.
A moment later, she extended her feet out of the pod, her bare soles landing on the cold floor of the calculation center. But before she could fully exit the calculation pod, Caroline immediately noticed two dolphin plushies, one large and one small, one pink and one blue, placed beside the pod.
Seeing this, Caroline's 'Mech Personality' receded at light speed. Her silver-white hair instantly turned green. Sitting in the calculation pod, she thought for a moment, then, with a hint of childish playfulness, poked the belly of the larger dolphin plushie with her finger. The plushie's chubby belly instantly indented under her poke, making a soft 'plop' sound as it rebounded.
Seeing this, Caroline's expression, which had been so cold due to her 'Mech Personality', instantly melted, and her lips uncontrollably curved upward.
"What a self-important idiot..."
Who placed these two plushies beside her?
Even if Caroline wasn't a Mech-Starmancer, she could instantly guess the answer to that question. Not only that, she could even immediately guess why that person would place these two plushies here.
She didn't need to think; it was definitely so she would see them the moment she woke up.
Thinking this, Caroline shook her head, a hint of helplessness in her expression.
What a childish fellow.
What kind of thought process would lead someone to believe that she would be happy to see these two children's plushies the moment she woke up?
She was truly underestimated...
Despite her words, the smile in Caroline's eyes was impossible to hide. After all, where the plushies were placed didn't matter. What mattered was the person who placed them.
And calculating the time, she should have been in the calculation pod for approximately two and a half months. After such a long time without her supervision, she truly didn't know what kind of 'outrageous' things that lawless fellow might have done.
Hopefully, it wasn't a pile of headaches.
Thinking this, Caroline immediately prepared to connect to the base's 'Quantum Hub'. Through data sharing, she intended to find out his exact location.
But when she connected to the base's 'surveillance footage', the scene that greeted her made Caroline's pupils contract.
On the ground level of the base, Gang Yan, the security team captain who was usually nowhere to be seen, was now headless, reduced to a silent, cold body.
In the core area of the underground base, a group of unfamiliar Association Starmancers lay dead in various bizarre postures amidst the ruins of the core zone. Among these corpses, there were three Second-Order Starmancers: one body lay in stagnant water, one had a blade piercing through its chest, and another... was buried under massive architectural debris, with only a hand wearing a pink watch extended outwards.
But Caroline didn't care about any of these. She didn't care whether these people lived or died. Her Mech optical eyes flashed with a massive data torrent, switching through every usable camera in the base at an astonishing speed, desperately trying to find that familiar figure amidst the wreckage.
No, not in the cafeteria...
No, not in the dormitory area either...
No, not in the training grounds...
Finally, after her frantic search, she... found him.
Without hesitation, Caroline immediately tried to leave the calculation center and push the door open. However, in her haste, she completely forgot that she hadn't yet unplugged the quantum data cable connected to her spine within the calculation pod. As a result, she suddenly tripped.
Plop!
Pulled by the quantum data cable, Caroline's body stumbled and fell heavily onto the cold floor. But she didn't even have time to feel the stinging pain of her knees hitting the ground. Her right hand instinctively reached out, roughly tearing off the data cable connected to her spine, and she ran barefoot out of the calculation center.
And as soon as she left the calculation center, Caroline immediately saw that familiar figure lying in the black calculation pod.
But unlike the arrogant, confident expression she remembered him always wearing, the person lying in the calculation pod now was surprisingly quiet.
So quiet... it terrified her.
Under the influence of intense fear and an indescribable emotion, Caroline felt her usually clear mind becoming incredibly sluggish. At the same time, a bewildering and unexpected conjecture, finally confirmed after seeing the figure in the calculation pod, filled her with dismay.
Her electronic cat ears could hear the distant drip of leaking pipes. She could hear the faint airflow from the ventilation shafts in the通道 (passage/corridor). She could even hear the rustling of insects crawling in wall cracks a hundred meters away...
But the one thing she couldn't hear was that familiar heartbeat.
Either her ears were malfunctioning, or...
With this thought, Caroline slowly placed her hand on the transparent glass window of the calculation pod. But her fingers were trembling terribly. Just as her mind reeled, fearing the truth so close at hand, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in her ears.
"Yo, Caroline, you old sleeper, you've finally woken up."
Hearing this voice, Caroline's expression instantly lit up with joy. Then, she sharply turned her head. But when she saw the figure of the 'person' speaking, the joy on Caroline's face vanished.
Because the one speaking to her was clearly a pre-recorded, illusory holographic projection. A figure that looked very much like Tendo, but was entirely not Tendo...
Perhaps it was the timely calculation function of the quantum hub. Or perhaps it was Tendo's sufficient understanding of Caroline. The pre-recorded holographic image, at this moment, spoke with a smile as if it were a real person: "Caroline, why the long face? You don't look pretty like that."
"Come on, smile, like me."
As the holographic projection spoke, it suddenly made a funny face at Caroline. But what would usually make her happy, Tendo's playful gesture, now felt like a silent, sharp knife plunging into her heart.
She was a Mech-Starmancer, typically weak in emotions. But at this moment, Caroline clearly felt what sorrow was. Looking at the 'Tendo' who was making a funny face at her from not far away, Caroline, after a long silence, finally responded.
"Okay..."
With a choked voice, Caroline raised her head, forcing a smile uglier than a cry, as tears uncontrollably splattered onto the alloy floor, creating tiny splashes.
"See, Tendo, I... I'm smiling."
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