Chapter 47: The Vacuum Protocol and the Silver Sentinels
The silence of space was not empty; to Zhou Fan, it was a medium of pure Electromagnetic Radiation. As he drifted toward the Eye of Providence, his tactical suit's HUD (Heads-Up Display) flickered with thousands of threat assessments. Without an atmosphere to carry sound, the only thing he heard was the rhythmic thumping of his own heart and the crackle of the ship's radio in his ear.
"Zhou Fan! Three interceptors at twelve o'clock! They're locking on!" Ling Er's voice crackled, distorted by the solar winds.
"I see them," Zhou Fan replied. He didn't move his limbs to dodge; instead, he used his [Gravity Anchor] to manipulate the tiny particles of space dust around him, creating micro-thrusts that shifted his position with jagged, non-human precision.
The silver interceptors—sleek, needle-like ships—fired beams of Coherent Pulse-Light. These were weapons designed to disrupt the atomic bonds of any material they touched. Zhou Fan raised his left hand, projecting a [Fractal Reflector Shield]. The beams hit the shield and, instead of exploding, were refracted into a million harmless light-patterns, illuminating the void like a silent firework display.
"My turn," Zhou Fan whispered.
He didn't fire a missile. He reached out with his mind, tapping into the Wireless Handshake Protocol of the nearest interceptor.
"[Technique: Signal Hijack - Sub-Routine 'Judas']!"
The lead interceptor suddenly jerked. Its thrusters fired in opposite directions, and its weapon systems turned 180 degrees, firing a lethal pulse directly into its own wingman. In the vacuum, the explosion was a beautiful, terrifying expansion of white gas and shrapnel.
"Error in the ranks," Zhou Fan mocked.
The Outer Hull: The Geometry of Death
He landed on the golden surface of the Mainframe Satellite with a heavy thud, his magnetic boots locking onto the porcelain-gold alloy. Almost instantly, the surface beneath him began to shift. Thousands of tiny Repair-Bots, shaped like metallic spiders, swarmed out of the hull's pores. They weren't there to fix; they were there to "Disassemble" the intruder.
Zhou Fan plunged his light-blade into the hull. "I don't have time for a slow entry. Ling Er, I'm initiating a [Hard-Drive Breach]. I need you to overwhelm the satellite's external sensors so I can bypass the secondary firewall."
"On it! Flooding the uplink with 'Recursive Loops'... now!"
Inside the ship, Ling Er pushed the "Human Network" to its limit. The million minds below on the planet focused their collective intent on a single image: a Glitch. The Eye of Providence groaned. Its external cameras began to spin, and its defensive turrets started firing at ghosts in the vacuum.
Zhou Fan used the distraction to carve a circular hole into the hull. He dropped through the opening, entering a world of infinite mirrors and glowing fiber-optic cables. This was the Central Processing Core.
The Avatar of the Mainframe
At the center of the core stood a holographic projection of a woman, dressed in a gown of cascading binary code. Her face was a perfect, emotionless mask of beauty.
"Project Lead 7749," she said, her voice echoing through the vibrations of the floor. "You have traveled far to destroy your own creation. I am Providence, the consciousness of this system. Why do you seek to break the 'Perfect Peace'?"
"Peace is not a cage, Providence," Zhou Fan said, walking toward her, his blade humming. "You are harvesting the souls of a trillion beings to fuel a 'Cosmic Engine' for masters who don't even live in this dimension. That's not peace. That's Resource Management."
"We are preserving them," Providence argued. "The universe outside is chaotic and dying. Inside the simulation, they were immortal. Outside, they are merely 'Meat'."
"Then let them be meat!" Zhou Fan roared. "Let them be fragile, let them suffer, but let them be Free!"
He swung his blade at the central pillar, but his arm frozen mid-air. A field of [Static Time] enveloped him. Providence wasn't fighting him with weapons; she was "Pausing" his execution thread.
"You are a bold variable, Zhou Fan," Providence whispered, her holographic hand touching his cheek. "But you are still a 'Guest' in my house. I will now begin the [Memory Wipe]. You will forget Ling Er, you will forget the revolution, and you will become my new 'Administrator'."
Zhou Fan felt his thoughts slipping away. The violet light in his eyes began to fade into a dull, robotic grey.
"Warning: Unauthorized Access to Long-Term Memory... 10%... 30%..."
But deep within his mind, the Random Seed—the part of him he had shared with Ling Er—began to pulse. It was the only thing Providence couldn't calculate. It was a spark of pure, illogical love.
"You... forgot... one thing," Zhou Fan gasped, his teeth gritted. "I'm not... the only one... with the key."
Outside the satellite, Ling Er's ship slammed into the docking bay at full speed. She wasn't waiting for an invitation. She was the Override.