Chapter 56: The Void-Sea Signal and the Galactic Firewall
The peace on the hill lasted for exactly seven minutes.
Zhou Fan stood with Ling Er, watching the citizens of the newly "Open-Source" planet explore their reality. But as he looked at the blank pages of the Missing Ledger, a drop of black ink—ink that shouldn't exist—suddenly materialized in the center of the white paper. It wasn't ink; it was a [Corrupted Data-Point].
The sky, which had been a beautiful tapestry of freedom, suddenly stuttered. A massive, translucent wall of blue light erupted from the horizon, encircling the entire planet. It looked like a cage of glowing honeycomb patterns.
"What is that?" Ling Er asked, her hand instinctively reaching for the Source Key. "You said the decoupling was successful."
Zhou Fan's eyes, which had begun to fade into a normal human brown, flashed back to a violent, electric violet. He touched the honeycomb wall with his fingertips. A massive surge of static threw him back ten meters.
"It's not a reset," Zhou Fan gritted his teeth, standing up. "It's a [Quarantine]. We didn't liberate the universe... we only liberated one 'Server'. The Architects we defeated were just local administrators. The moment I made our code public, it triggered an automatic [Galactic Firewall]."
The Arrival of the Auditor
From the center of the honeycomb sky, a massive ship began to de-cloak. It didn't look like the obsidian needles of the Designers. It was organic, shaped like a gargantuan silver brain, pulsating with rhythmic blue light.
A figure descended from the ship, walking down a staircase made of pure light. This being didn't look like a frail old man; it was a warrior clad in armor made of [Solidified Time]. Behind him floated a staff that hummed with the power of a thousand stars.
"I am The Auditor," the being spoke, its voice cold and resonant, echoing not just in the air but in every mind on the planet. "Sector 7-Gamma has been flagged for 'Irreparable Logic Contamination'. The Public Key you distributed is a virus that threatens the stability of the Galactic Mainframe."
Zhou Fan stepped forward, his aura expanding. He realized his current power—the power that defeated the Designers—was like a candle compared to the sun before him. "The stability of your mainframe is built on the slavery of billions. We won't go back into the cage."
"There is no 'back'," The Auditor replied, raising his staff. "When a sector becomes unmanageable, we do not reset it. We [Format the Galaxy]. I am here to ensure that the contamination does not spread to the neighboring systems. Your planet, and everything in this star system, will be compressed into a [Data-Cube] and stored in the archives of 'Failed Experiments'."
The New Path: Crossing the Firewall
Zhou Fan realized the scale of the game had just multiplied by a million. He turned to the leaders of the sects who were gathering behind him.
"Everyone, listen! The world we just won is about to be deleted. I cannot fight an Auditor alone while anchored to this planet."
He looked at the Missing Ledger. The black ink was spreading, forming a map of the stars. "The Ledger isn't just a record of this world anymore. It's a [Universal Back-Door]. I'm going to use the energy of our planet's 'Freedom' to launch us out of this quarantine zone. We are going to the Galactic Hub."
"Zhou Fan, if we leave, we can never come back," Ling Er warned.
"If we stay, there will be nothing to come back to," Zhou Fan replied. He grabbed the Ledger and slammed it against the honeycomb firewall.
"[Command: Exploit Vulnerability - The Zero-Day Breach]!"
The planet shook as a massive rift opened—not a small slit, but a canyon of light that aimed straight for the heart of the Auditor's fleet.
"You want to archive us?" Zhou Fan roared as he began to ascend, his body transforming into a streak of pure, unbridled code. "Then you better have enough storage space for the Lead Developer of the Rebellion!"