Chapter 957 - 25: Fatigue

Just as Sun Hang was planning to conduct some research into this Old Civilization Research Institute, the micro-terminal on his wrist suddenly emitted a piercing "beep beep" sound—this was a pre-set alarm, and its ringing meant that Sun Hang only had twenty minutes of "freedom time" left.

No matter what Sun Hang was doing at the moment, he had to put it aside and take the ghost train back to Chunming City.

"Just as well, I can take this information back for analysis to see what it really means."

Sun Hang did not share the news of the Priest's death with the other remnants in the settlement, and none of them dared to trouble him when they saw him emerge from the Holy Temple unharmed—even the Death Warriors of the Priest knelt respectfully on either side of the road, their foreheads touching the ground, as motionless as statues.

"Let's go." Sun Hang beckoned to Nuer, "Time is running out."

"Go... where?"

"To the world outside you long for." As Sun Hang spoke, a spark of excitement lit up in Nuer's eyes. He turned back to look at the palace atop Bone Mountain, and asked, "What about the Priest, over there...?"

"It's all been taken care of." Sun Hang replied.

Solved in a physical sense.

...

...

After swiping back into Chunming City and handing Nuer over to the researchers like him, Sun Hang went to the Primordial Palace, entering the room where the main brain was housed.

"Please put this reading device on your head. You may feel some discomfort while reading the information, but do not resist it, otherwise the extracted information may be distorted and the analysis results will differ greatly."

A robot presented Sun Hang with a helmet, the interior was packed with electrode suction cups like octopus tentacles, and from the back of the head extended a thick integrated cable that Sun Hang could not grasp fully with both hands, resembling some eerie apparatus that could siphon brain matter.

"No need, I can input the information directly into the main brain."

Sun Hang waved off the robot and then approached the large glass tank containing the main brain, pressing a palm against its surface.

The next second, the liquid in the tank suddenly began to bubble furiously, and alarms blared within the room.

"Warning, massive data input detected, initiating buffer program... Please slow the data input, or else the main brain may suffer irreversible damage..."

"So fragile?" Sun Hang was taken aback, "This is the information extracted from that Priest's mind. Both his and my human brain can handle it, but the main brain, which processes so much data every day, can't withstand it?"

"Preliminary analysis shows the information is self-replicating every moment... At the current rate, its magnitude is approximately 460 million times that at its birth..."

"By birth, what do you mean?"

"The information was born at the moment you extracted memory from that Priest's brain." the main brain replied, "In other words, this information did not originally exist in that Priest's memory but emerged as a 'mutation' in your sea of consciousness, currently undergoing meme detection to ascertain if it's a special kind of anomaly."

"Is it an anomaly?"

"No meme reaction detected... Unable to confirm for now." the main brain replied, "The self-replication speed of the information slows significantly after leaving your consciousness; it is estimated the main brain will receive all information in 147 seconds, after which the information will cease expanding and stabilize."

"Why does this information sound like some microorganism, and my brain's just the perfect culture dish for its wild proliferation?" Sun Hang quipped.

"Your analogy is quite accurate."

"Alright then... How long does it take to analyze this information?"

"This is an unprecedentedly massive project since the main brain's construction, requiring half a month's preparation to mobilize computing power and energy from across the Federation. At that time, a large-scale internet and power outage lasting three to seven days will occur across the Federation, halting society; all public facilities and institutions will cease operations, necessitating contingency plans to prevent chaos..."

"Stop stop stop... Just tell me how long until I get the results."

"The most optimistic estimate... Two months later."

"Alright." Sun Hang sighed deeply, "In two months, I could visit two more settlements of remnants, perhaps making new discoveries by then."

Before leaving that settlement of remnants, Sun Hang did one last thing—he implanted a special toxin in Nuer. This toxin wouldn't affect Nuer's body but would prevent the hunter mark on his arm from healing. So next time, when returning to the Desert Sea, there'd be no need to find the needle in a haystack to locate those immigrant settlements hidden beneath the sands.

Looking at the main brain that had just finished receiving the information data, Sun Hang couldn't understand why he felt a bit tired—he rarely felt tired, just as he rarely felt hungry. Eating, for Sun Hang, was merely for the joy of taste rather than a necessity for survival, and likewise, sleeping was only to maintain a human schedule... Or rather, to make him feel he was still human.

Only a workaholic like Yang Qi would wish for superpowers that exclude rest and sleep. But for Sun Hang, resting was more like punctuating a full day, just like three meals a day were more of a ritual of being human.

He'd never felt such drowsiness as he did now, though.

His exceedingly heavy eyelids drooped continuously, and his limb muscles began to relax involuntarily. Sun Hang felt that as long as his mind relaxed slightly, his whole consciousness would sink immediately into slumber.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter, sleep first." Sun Hang thought, reclining slowly against the glass tank containing the main brain.

Those apocalyptic imagery scenes reappeared, overlapping, but Sun Hang had no desire to think—he just let his brain idle like an audience watching a popcorn movie, focusing all his attention on the images.

As for the meaning of the images, Sun Hang had no intention of pondering... or thinking wouldn't lead to any use.

Those overlapping scenes were like cans of paint spilled over a canvas, with myriad saturated colors intertwining and covering, bizarre abstract patterns and lines kept flashing...

In a fitting comparison—like hallucinations induced after consuming certain fungi.