Chapter 59: The Ghost Protocol and the Registry of Souls
The [Nebula of Sighs] was a graveyard of ionized gas and frozen memories. It was here, amidst the swirling violet mists, that the "Aethel-Class" Transport moved—a monolithic ship of white porcelain and humming gravity-wells. This vessel carried the [Registry of Souls], a massive database of every sentient life-sign in the sector, encrypted with a 128-bit quantum sequence that changed every millisecond.
Zhou Fan, Ling Er, and the mysterious De-compiler, who went by the name "Null," drifted in a small, stealth-shroud vessel. They were powered down to 1%, relying on cold gas thrusters to avoid the transport's [Mass-Proximity Scanners].
"The Registry is held in the [Sub-Atomic Vault] at the ship's core," Null whispered, her holographic face flickering with green streams of code. "If we trip a single alarm, the ship will initiate a [Mass-Deletion]. They'd rather erase every soul on board than let a rebel touch the data."
"We won't trip the alarm," Zhou Fan said, his eyes fixed on the massive ship. "We're not going to 'break' in. We're going to [Synchronize] in."
The Breach: Digital Phase-Shift
As they reached the hull, Zhou Fan didn't use a drill. He placed his hand on the porcelain surface and closed his eyes. He tapped into the Missing Ledger, using it as a "Universal Driver." He wasn't forcing the door; he was convincing the ship that he was part of its own internal hardware.
"[Command: Neural-Link Handshake - Protocol 000]"
The hull didn't open; it became [Permeable]. The three of them stepped through the solid metal as if it were water, entering the silent, clinical hallways of the transport. The air inside felt heavy, saturated with the "Static" of a billion archived consciousnesses.
"The vault is three levels down," Null pointed toward a shaft of blue light. "But we have company. The [Silencers] have detected a 'Desynchronization' in the local atmosphere."
From the shadows, four figures emerged. They didn't have bodies; they were cloaked in [Null-Fields] that absorbed all light and sound. These were the Silencers. They carried long, thin rods of [Stasis-Energy]. If those rods touched you, your consciousness would be "Compressed" into a static point, frozen forever.
Battle in the Data-Stream
"Ling Er, cover the flank! Null, get to the terminal!" Zhou Fan roared, his Void-Blade igniting with a dark violet flame.
One Silencer lunged, moving with a jerky, frame-by-frame motion that made it impossible to predict its trajectory. Zhou Fan didn't try to block with strength. He used [Frame-Rate Manipulation]. He overclocked his own perception, seeing the Silencer's movement not as a blur, but as a series of discrete data-packets.
He swung the Void-Blade, slicing through the Silencer's Null-Field. The [Logic-Eating Virus] on his blade instantly began to devour the creature's programming. The Silencer didn't bleed; it turned into a shower of "Unresolved Exceptions" before dissolving into the floor.
Meanwhile, Ling Er was dancing through a hail of Stasis-Bolts. She wasn't fighting; she was [Ghosting]. She projected hundreds of holographic decoys, each one broadcasting her own bio-signature. The Silencers, programmed for perfect accuracy, were confused by the sudden influx of "False Targets."
"I have the terminal!" Null shouted, her fingers moving like lightning across a holographic keyboard. "But the encryption is too deep! I need a [Seed-Input]! Zhou Fan, the Ledger!"
Zhou Fan kicked the last Silencer back and slammed the Missing Ledger onto the console. "Take it all!"
The Ledger didn't just provide a key; it acted like a [System Overload]. The ancient, raw data of the first simulation flooded the ship's modern systems. The porcelain walls began to display "Error 404" in every language ever spoken.
The Core: The Kernel Access Key
The vault door shattered. Inside, floating in a sphere of liquid light, was the [Encryption Module]—the Kernel Access Key. It looked like a pulsing, golden heart, containing the "Root Permissions" for the entire sector.
Zhou Fan grabbed it. The moment his hand touched the module, he felt a massive surge of information. He saw the faces of a trillion souls, saw the connections between every star system, and saw the [Source-Code of the Galaxy].
"Warning," the ship's AI boomed, its voice now distorted and deep. "[Kernel Breach Detected. Initiating Sector-Wide Format. T-Minus 60 Seconds.]"
"They're going to delete the whole ship!" Null screamed. "We have to jump!"
"Not yet," Zhou Fan said, his eyes now glowing with a golden light that matched the Key. He didn't run for the exit. He plugged the Kernel Key into his own tactical suit.
"[Command: Forced-Partition - Save State!]"
He wasn't saving the ship; he was "Backing Up" the entire Registry of Souls into the Missing Ledger. He was stealing a billion lives right out from under the Galactic Mainframe's nose.
The ship began to disintegrate, the porcelain turning into dust. Zhou Fan, Ling Er, and Null sprinted toward their stealth-shroud vessel just as the transport vanished into a void of deleted data.
The Aftermath: The New Map
Back at Station 404, the air was thick with tension. Zhou Fan sat in the hardware forge, the Kernel Key now integrated into his suit's core. The Missing Ledger was no longer blank; it was glowing with a soft, pulsing light, holding the data of a billion souls.
"You didn't just get the key," Old Man Cache said, his optical lens shaking with fear and awe. "You stole the [Registry]. The Galactic Hub won't just be looking for you now... they'll be at war with you. You have the 'Citizenship' of an entire sector in your pocket."
Zhou Fan looked at the map of the galaxy. A path was now highlighted in gold, leading straight to the [Central Processing Core] of the Hub.
"They wanted to archive these souls as 'Failed Data'," Zhou Fan said, his voice cold and resolute. "I'm going to use them as my [System-Override]. We're not just reaching the Hub anymore. We're going to [Re-write] the Galactic Constitution."
Ling Er looked at him, noticing that the violet in his eyes was being slowly replaced by a deep, regal gold. "Zhou Fan... what are you becoming?"
"I am becoming the Administrator they should have feared," he replied.