bacchusnovels Chapter 297 Towards the Silver Heart
Chapter 297 Towards the Silver Heart
In the first month after establishing continuous communication with the listeners, Zuo Cheng did something he had wanted to do but hadn't had time for since gaining control of the Web. He connected all of the Web's interstellar communication links to the control console and conducted a passive scan of the entire Milky Way galaxy. One hundred and seventy-seven node planets were distributed across various corners of the Milky Way. He wanted to know how many of them were still emitting signals. The scan results prompted him to display the data on the panel three times. The first time was because he didn't believe it. The second time was for confirmation. The third time was because he needed others to see it too. Of the one hundred and seventy-seven node planets, ninety-two were active. Not dormant, not with residual signals, but active. Each one was broadcasting in its own way. Ninety-two civilizations were making their voices heard in the universe. And humanity had just learned how to listen.
Yu Ying was feeding Zuo Weiyang baby food at home when she received Zuo Cheng's call. She put down the bowl and rushed to the control center, stopping when she saw the 3D Milky Way star map on the wall. One hundred and seventy-seven node planets were marked with different colored dots. Gold represented active planets (92). Gray represented lost contact (68). Blue represented dormant planets (9). Red represented destroyed planets (8). Next to the red dots was the same line of text: Host species extinct. The network node has entered permanent silence. The timestamps ranged from one hundred million to three billion years ago. Yu Ying stared at the eight red dots for a long time. Eight planets. Eight civilizations. All extinct. Then she began to look at the distribution of the gold dots.
Yu Ying spent an entire night studying the distribution of all the nodes projected onto the wall. She discovered a pattern: the active nodes weren't evenly distributed. They were concentrated in three regions of the Milky Way: near the solar system at the end of the Orion Arm, within a 3,000-light-year range towards the galactic center, and at the outer edge of the Perseus Arm. Lost and destroyed nodes were concentrated on the outer periphery of the Milky Way. In other words, the center of the Milky Way was where the Web-Weaving Civilization was most densely concentrated. Zuo Cheng asked a question: What is the most densely populated node in the center direction? The system panel displayed a special label: Web-Weaving Node 001. Location: Outer orbit of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Status: Active. Label: Core hub of the Web, home port.
Home Port. Zuo Cheng murmured the name to himself. The system panel displayed detailed data for Node 001. It wasn't a natural planet, but a massive, artificial structure built around a black hole. Its diameter exceeded one astronomical unit, and its mass was equivalent to a small star. It served as the central router and time center of the network, responsible for providing standard clock signals and routing table updates to all network nodes. Looking at these structural parameters, a picture flashed through Zuo Cheng's mind: something larger than the Earth to the Sun, orbiting the black hole at the center of the Milky Way for five billion years.
A system note appeared. The home port was built approximately five billion years ago. The builders were not the founders, but the first civilization in the web to complete full node activation. They called themselves the First Generation. The First Generation civilization disappeared after the home port was built. No record of their demise was left, only a message. This message was stored on the public channel of node 001, containing only one line. Zuo Cheng retrieved the message and read it three times. We have built the central hub. The central hub needs a brain. We are not the brain. We are looking for a brain.
Yu Ying stood behind him and read the line as well. She asked, "The central hub needs a brain. Whose brain?" Zuo Cheng said, "Not anyone's. All of them. The home port isn't a data center; it's a space of consciousness waiting to be filled. Whoever connects all the nodes becomes the brain of the home port. The first generation built it. But they didn't connect all the nodes. They connected about thirty. Then the civilization perished." Yu Ying was silent for a moment. Thirty. Ninety-two active nodes. Sixty-two short. The first generation took the first step, but didn't finish.
Zuo Cheng continued reviewing the data packets from the home port. The home port broadcasts a standard time signal to all network nodes every 42 hours and 17 minutes. Zuo Cheng paused, stunned, when he saw this number. 42 hours and 17 minutes. A heartbeat signal from the direction of Centaurus. A cycle of 42 hours and 17 minutes. He turned to look at Yu Ying. Yu Ying also realized what was happening. The heartbeat signal from Centaurus wasn't a product of the Listener civilization; it was a relay from the home port. After receiving the time signal, the Listener relayed it to the solar system. This was the heartbeat they had detected. The true source was at the center of the Milky Way.
Zuocheng can now directly receive the time signal from the home port. The signal isn't a timestamp, but a countdown lasting five billion years. The countdown's endpoint is the full activation of the Galactic Web. The countdown has approximately three hundred million years remaining. The countdown notes indicate that if the Web isn't fully activated before the countdown reaches zero, the home port will automatically shut down. The Web's core hub will become permanently silent. At that time, all Web nodes will lose their standard clock signals, and interstellar communication will cease. The Web will become a wasteland composed of isolated nodes.
Yu Ying did the math. Three hundred million years. It sounds incredibly long. But the web took five billion years to build, and the countdown started five billion years ago. Humanity first heard about it when there were three hundred million years left in the countdown. She paused. It was like walking into an exam room in the last twenty seconds of an hour-long test. Zuo Cheng looked at the number on the panel. Approximately three hundred million years. He didn't speak. Yu Ying didn't urge him either. The control center remained silent for a long time.
Zuo Cheng projected the countdown to the home port onto the main screen. The 200-square-meter screen displayed only one number: approximately 300 million years. Han Lu had entered without her noticing. She stood in front of the screen, looking up for a long time, before asking a question. "Do you need me to issue a press release? Humanity has discovered ninety-two alien civilizations, some of which are already extinct. One core hub is counting down; if left unattended in 300 million years, the entire galaxy's web will break." Zuo Cheng said no. "The press release we issue now needs to be revised tomorrow." Han Lu asked why. Zuo Cheng pulled up a hidden line of small print in the home port's data package.
The line of text was the home port's priority call list. There were only three names on the list. The first name, Web Node 001, Home Port, awaiting the brain. The second name, Web Node 177, Solar System, awaiting the eighth host. The third name, Web Node 177, Solar System, eighth host status, connected. Calling level: highest priority. The second-to-last line of the 300 million-year countdown read: Node 177, Home Port is calling you. We have waited for five billion years. Please hurry.
Zuo Cheng looked at the sentence and replied with a message on the panel. The message contained only four words: On the way. Forty-two hours and seventeen minutes later, the next heartbeat of the home port would broadcast this reply throughout the entire galactic network. Zuo Cheng's four words. Multiplied by ninety-two living node planets. Yu Ying stood beside him, her hand gently resting on the back of his chair. On the panel, ninety-two golden dots flickered, like heartbeats.