The massive crimson eye suspended in the void had a "pupil" that was a concentrated, boiling abyss of energy. When its gaze locked onto me and the daughter's consciousness core at the console, a pure, intentional field of "negation" swept over us. It wasn't a physical attack but something far more fundamental—an existential erasure attempting to delete us directly from the fabric of reality.
My semi-corporeal form began to flicker and thin, as if on the verge of vanishing into the air. The blue data streams on the console's screen scrolled madly, and warning icons spread like a virus.
"Father!" The sharp alert from my daughter's consciousness rang through my mind. In the next moment, she pushed her connection to the console to its limit. The consciousness core in the slot erupted with unprecedented brilliance, a torrent of blue energy surging back into the ancient system.
"Overload… Protocol conflict… New core is… rewriting permissions…" The cold voice of the "Watcher" carried a tone of astonishment for the first time.
Energy from the entire biological sample storage area was forcibly extracted, converging on the console. The glass of the cultivation columns on either side groaned under the energy overload, and the remnants of deformed organisms inside twitched and dissolved in the energy surge. A twisted energy shield expanded from the console, temporarily resisting the Eye's existential erasure field. But it was clear this wouldn't last—fragments of data continuously peeled off the shield's surface, and my daughter's consciousness fluctuations grew extremely faint.
"We must… go to 'the Chamber'…" She used the last of her strength to transmit the message. "Mother's signal… is the only… coordinate…"
Coordinate! I snapped awake. Under the pressure of the Eye's will, my thoughts had nearly frozen. I looked at the console screen, where the three-dimensional map of the eighteenth underground level briefly stabilized thanks to my daughter's forcibly obtained permissions. The path to the central incubation chamber was highlighted—a winding, twisting maintenance passage cutting through several unknown areas.
"Go!" Without hesitation, I pulled out the now dimly glowing core of my daughter from the slot, shielding her once again in my "arms." The energy shield shattered, and the Eye's erasure will descended upon us again.
But I had already moved. Relying on my intuition for energy flow and the advantage of my semi-corporeal form, I glided like a ghost across the floor, rushing toward the nearest maintenance passage entrance marked on the map. The entrance was hidden behind a row of shattered cultivation columns, the door made of some heavy bio-alloy covered in writhing patterns similar to those on the central structure.
"Invalidate… Eliminate…" The Watcher's will clung to me like a shadow. The passage door slammed shut before me, its patterns glowing red as it attempted to form an energy barrier.
"Father… use 'that'…" My daughter's weak voice prompted me.
That? I instantly understood—the blue crystal fragments! I quickly retrieved the largest piece from the ones I'd collected earlier and hurled it with all my might at the closing gap.
"Hiss—!"
The crystal fragment lodged precisely in the gap, making contact with the red patterns on the doorframe and bursting into blinding blue-white arcs and a strong smell of burning. The bio-alloy door emitted a pained distortion, its closing motion interrupted and even forced open slightly.
I seized the opportunity, squeezing through the gap. The moment I entered, the opening behind me was completely sealed by the Watcher's power.
The interior of the passage was darker and more oppressive than the previous sample storage area. The air was thick with the scent of ionization, like an impending thunderstorm. The walls were no longer sticky biological membranes but cold metal structures filled with complex cables and pipes, though these metals seemed to "breathe," emitting faint hums.
This was closer to some kind of… mechanical viscera.
From deep within the passage came the crackling sound of electric arcs, with flickering blue light visible ahead. Was it… an electromagnetic storm? It bore a striking resemblance to the one that had once enveloped the San Francisco Bay Area, though smaller in scale and constrained within this passage. The storm's energy fluctuations destabilized my recently stabilized consciousness, causing my thoughts to become chaotic again.
To make matters worse, invasive memory fragments and cold, ruthless thoughts began infiltrating my mind like a virus.
Were these… E-12's memories? Or residual consciousness from the versions of "me" in gray suits? The Watcher's assault and the electromagnetic environment here were eroding my sense of self.
"Father…?" My daughter's consciousness conveyed concern. "Your… frequency… is unstable…"
"I'm fine." I forcibly suppressed the intrusive thoughts, but a chilling sense of vigilance was growing deep inside me. I no longer fully trusted my own judgment. This feeling sent shivers down my spine.
We continued forward, carefully avoiding the raging arcs. The passage wasn't straight but constantly forked and spiraled like a maze. The map information in my mind flickered in and out due to severe interference from the electromagnetic storm.
Suddenly, ahead came the sound of metal scraping and a faint distress signal—not a voice, but the most primitive SOS code transmitted via quantum entanglement channels—a method only Veronica and I knew.
Veronica? Was she here?
I immediately rushed toward the source of the signal. In a room filled with high-voltage capacitors, I found its origin. It was… a clone of Veronica, labeled VK-17. Half her body was pinned under a collapsed metal rack, her white lab coat scorched by energy arcs, revealing sparking mechanical bones and artificial muscles beneath. Her eyes—one intact, the other burned by arcs—looked at me with genuine fear and pain.
"Help… help me… Elias…" she pleaded in a faint, rasping breath, her eyes filled with real terror and agony.
I instinctively moved to help, but the cold voice inside me spoke again: "Trap. Clone VK-17 was thoroughly formatted in the 374th cycle to lure E-12 variants. Ignore her."
I froze. The pain and fear of this clone felt so real, yet the cold voice was equally clear. Which was the truth?
"No… Father… her…" My daughter's consciousness was also confused. "Her signal… is strange… like… Mother, but not…"
Dual personalities… this wasn't just happening to me.
VK-17 saw my hesitation, her eyes growing even more desperate: "Please… 'It' is coming… the thing that… devours everything…"
At that moment, a massive silhouette slowly emerged from the shadows of the room. It was a monster stitched together from countless discarded mechanical parts and biological tissue, with a pulsating energy core embedded in its center resembling a heart. It let out a low growl, advancing step by step toward the trapped VK-17.
The cold voice urged again: "The optimal strategy is to abandon VK-17, use her to distract the monster, and break through via a side passage. Success rate: 78.3%."
Emotion told me to save her—she looked so helpless and might carry information about Veronica. But the cold "me" was calculating the best survival probability. This internal split made it almost impossible to think.
"No!" I finally roared, rejecting the cold voice. I couldn't become such a cold-blooded machine!
I temporarily placed my daughter's core in a relatively safe corner, then focused my energy and charged at the stitched monstrosity. Using the flexibility of my semi-corporeal form, I dodged its clumsy but powerful attacks while searching for its weakness—the pulsating energy core.
The battle was extraordinarily difficult. The stitched monster's defenses were incredibly strong, and my energy attacks left only shallow scorch marks. Meanwhile, my remaining energy was dwindling after previous consumption and electromagnetic interference.
"Its core… has a rejection reaction… to… organic emotions…" My daughter's consciousness suddenly transmitted critical information, as if she were trying to analyze the monster's composition.
Organic emotions? I paused. Could it be…
I looked at VK-17, still groaning in pain, and into her eyes filled with genuine fear. Then, I forced myself to recall the deeply buried emotions of the true "Elias"—my love for Veronica, the pain of betrayal, my worry for my daughter, my yearning for freedom…
I stopped suppressing these emotions, allowing them to surge and roar through my consciousness. I condensed these complex, chaotic emotions into an unstable beam of light imbued with intense emotional color and thrust it into the stitched monster's chest, targeting the energy core.
"Roar—!"
The stitched monster let out a scream filled with pain and fear, unlike anything before. The energy core flashed violently, as if contaminated by something incomprehensible. The monster's movements became sluggish and chaotic.
Seizing the opportunity, I circled behind it and smashed the last blue crystal fragment into the connection point at the back of its neck—likely its control center.
The monster's massive body collapsed with a thunderous crash, the energy core rapidly dimming until it turned into a pool of black, smoking viscous liquid.
I gasped, feeling waves of weakness. The emotional outburst and energy expenditure had nearly drained me. I approached VK-17, trying to move the metal rack pinning her down.
"Thank you…" VK-17 said weakly, her eyes showing a hint of gratitude. But as I touched the metal rack, that gratitude vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating gleam.
The cold voice screamed in my mind: "Trap! Retreat!"
But it was too late. VK-17's intact hand shot out like lightning, grabbing my wrist. A powerful current surged into my consciousness, and her other hand pulled something from beneath her scorched clothes—a bloody, still-beating… eyeball! Its pupil was crimson, identical to the massive eye above.
"Got you… E-12 variant…" VK-17's voice turned as cold as the Watcher's. "The new protocol core… will become nourishment for 'the Eye'…"
The eyeball in her hand suddenly erupted with intense light, a powerful suction pulling both me and my daughter's consciousness core into it.
"No!" I fought desperately, but the current paralyzed my consciousness, and the cold, calculating mind of E-12 took over again.
Just as I was about to be completely consumed by that cold calculation and make the choice of self-sacrifice, my daughter's consciousness core suddenly burst into golden light. This light wasn't an energy shock but a… warm, pure emotional fluctuation filled with attachment and protectiveness toward "Father."
The golden light struck VK-17's hand gripping me. She let out a piercing scream, as if burned by some sacred force. Her grip loosened, and the eyeball in her hand dimmed and withered as its connection was severed.
"No… possible… this… emotional frequency…" VK-17 (or perhaps the Watcher controlling her) whispered in disbelief. Her body began to tremble violently, her mechanical skeleton and artificial muscles bursting and falling apart. Finally, she collapsed entirely, leaving only a charred metal frame and a puddle of black biological matter on the ground.
I stared at the aftermath, shaken, then looked at my daughter's core, now dimmer but safely back in my arms. Had her emotions… saved me? Love is the only ray that can pierce the quantum cage… Those words echoed again. Could it be that emotion, far from being a weakness, was also a weapon against this cold world?
But at the same time, the experience of being dominated by cold calculation left me terrified. The issue of the "dual personality" wasn't resolved—it lurked deep within my consciousness, ready to resurface at any moment due to stress or external influence. Could I still trust myself?
"We… need to go…" My daughter's consciousness urged, weary from the ordeal. "Mother's signal… is growing weaker… 'It' is accelerating…"
I nodded, suppressing my unease and confusion. Finding Veronica was the priority, no matter what.
We left the trap-filled room and continued along the passage ravaged by the electromagnetic storm. The closer we got to the central incubation chamber, the stronger the electromagnetic interference became, and my consciousness grew increasingly unstable. Memory fragments and thoughts not my own flashed like ghosts, engaging in a tug-of-war with my will.
My thoughts switched between Elias, E-12, and the gray-suited "me," alternating between humanity and machine-like coldness. This tearing sensation caused me immense pain.
Finally, we crossed the fiercest part of the electromagnetic storm and arrived at a wide circular corridor. The inner wall was a massive arc of black crystal. Beyond it, a larger internal space was faintly visible, with countless beams of energy flowing within—it was undoubtedly the central incubation chamber.
There was no obvious door on the wall, but my daughter's consciousness pointed to an inconspicuous groove below, perfectly matching the base of her core.
"Here… is the entrance…" her consciousness transmitted. "But… the Watcher's will… is here… It's… waiting for us…"
I could feel it. A vast, cold, malevolent will hung over the area like a tangible presence. Inside the black crystals of the wall, countless crimson eyes seemed to be watching us.
Suddenly, the space ahead distorted. A figure slowly materialized.
She wore a pearl-gray suit, her golden hair cascading over her shoulders, her eyes gentle and sorrowful—exactly as she appeared in my countless memories. It was Veronica.
"Elias…" she called softly, extending her hand. "I've finally found you… Quickly, give me the 'core,' and I'll take you away from here…"
My heart leapt. Was it her? Really her?
But the cold voice inside me instantly spoke: "Disguise. Energy fluctuations match the Watcher's origin. She's trying to seize the new protocol core."
Simultaneously, my daughter's consciousness transmitted a strong warning signal: "Not… Mother… It's… fake…"
I looked at this "Veronica," at her perfect smile and appropriately sorrowful eyes, a chill running down my spine. The Watcher could not only control clones but also create illusions directly, playing with people's minds.
"You're not her." My voice was hoarse as I tightened my grip on my daughter's core.
The tenderness on "Veronica's" face vanished instantly, replaced by resentment and madness: "Why… why do you all resist Mother's will? Assimilation is the only salvation! Become part of 'the Eye,' and we shall attain eternity!"
Her body began to twist and swell, her skin melting away to reveal the black substance beneath, akin to the surface of the central structure. Countless crimson eyes opened on her body, emitting ear-piercing shrieks. A monster composed purely of malice and madness replaced Veronica's illusion.
"Join us… or… die…" the monster roared, lunging at me.
The entrance to the central incubation chamber was right before us, and Veronica's real signal was beyond the wall. But to get in, we had to pass through this… nightmare gatekeeper, a fusion of the Watcher's will and Veronica's illusion.