Echoes of the Deep Sea

Amidst the humming of seawater flooding his eardrums, Kiyotaka felt someone pulling him upward by his collar.

When he opened his eyes, the half of Horikita Suzune's face eroded by mechanical patterns was inches away; her right arm had transformed into a grappling hook wrapped around a reef, and her left hand pointed toward the surface—

Countless fluorescent jellyfish were surging from the wreckage of the Ark, their tentacles flickering with the same ghostly blue code as the Shuiqingshen System.

"These are Tsukishiro's Data Hydra..." Horikita's vocal cords were raspy from the infection. "Each one can parasitize a human body; we must stop them before they reach land..."

Kiyotaka coughed up seawater from his lungs. The body of Kei in his arms was already cold, but through a tear in her chest, hair-thin nanobots were visible, slowly weaving new artificial muscle. He suddenly remembered the mechanical heartbeat he had heard before falling into the sea—perhaps she could still be saved.

"Go to the submarine base under the breakwater." He tore open Kei's combat suit and channeled the nanobot cluster into the port on his own wrist. "There's a medical pod there, and we can still launch the last two submersibles."

Horikita's grappling hook suddenly went taut. A black shadow flashed beneath the surface; a fifteen-year-old clone was walking along the seabed, followed by hundreds of mechanical Kiyotakas.

His pupils reflected the trajectory of the jellyfish swarm, and his mouth curled into an inhuman arc: "The primary consciousness refuses to merge. Initiating secondary protocol—Civilization Reset."

Submarine Base · Core Medical Pod

Hirata Yosuke crushed the last Data Hydra with his metallic left hand, fluorescent blue blood dripping through his fingers. Seven deeply infected Class D students lay within the medical pod, the data cables bulging beneath their skin writhing like living things.

"The EMP paralyzed the global power grid, but the satellite debris is still emitting radiation." Kushida Kikyo handed over a damaged tablet, which displayed the mutating ecology along the coast of Tokyo Bay—tree branches sprouting metallic scales, and the beaks of seabirds evolving into laser emitters. "Tsukishiro has turned Earth into a hatchery..."

Kiyotaka placed Kei into the regeneration pod, and the nanobots were injected into her heart through the tubes.

As the pod door closed, he turned and gripped Horikita's shoulders: "I need you to lead the survivors to the Hokkaido coordinate point. There is a prototype of the Shuiqingshen countermeasure device there."

"You want to shoulder everything alone again?" Horikita pulled at her collar, the Electronic Rose beneath her collarbone having already spread to her neck. "Look at this! We'll be completely mechanized in forty-eight hours at most!"

The medical pod suddenly shook violently, and the alarm sirens flashed red. On the monitor, the clone stood outside the base, his palm pressed against the blast door—the metal at the point of contact was melting like wax.

"He inherited your brainwave spectrum," Kushida said, pulling up the scan data. "All electronic locks are useless against him."

Kiyotaka grabbed a Particle Blade, electronic patterns weaving into a star map within his pupils: "Buy me ten minutes."

Genetic Forbidden Zone

When the clone stepped into the medical pod, Kiyotaka was submerged in Neural Interface Fluid.

Dozens of lines were inserted into his spine, connecting him to the prototype at the Hokkaido coordinate point—a metal helmet shaped like a medieval torture device, its surface covered in binary incantations.

"How pathetic, you actually want to use Tsukishiro's toys to fight me." The clone raised his hand, and the mechanical legion behind him raised their Particle Blades in unison. "But this is fine. After absorbing your complete consciousness, I will be able to upgrade to..."

"You got two things wrong." Kiyotaka suddenly opened his eyes, and the interface fluid instantly vaporized. "First, this isn't a Shuiqingshen device." He tore off the helmet, revealing the Anti-Phase Quantum Chip inside. "Second, I have never been fighting alone."

The clone's pupils constricted. The nanobots in the medical pod suddenly went berserk, turning into a silver tide that swallowed the mechanical legion. Horikita leaped down from the ventilation duct, her grappling hook wrapping around the clone's neck: "Your weakness is too obvious—you over-imitate his thought patterns, even perfectly replicating his suspicious nature!"

"Ridiculous!" The clone shattered the grappling hook, only to find his limbs stiffening—the nanobots were invading his bionic nerves through his pores. "How is this possible... my firewall clearly..."

"Because this nano-system," Kiyotaka raised his wrist interface, "is powered by Ichinose's antimatter battery."

The clone struggled and roared within the silver tide, his body gradually decomposing into basic particles. At the very last moment, he suddenly laughed aloud: "Didn't you realize... there is an even bigger surprise on the seabed?"

Gate of the Abyss

When the submarine dived to the Ark's crash site, the sonar detected a suffocating sight: a thousand-meter-tall metal tree stood in the seabed rift, with hundreds of thousands of cryo-pods hanging from its branches.

Inside each pod was a fifteen-year-old Kiyotaka clone, all of them branded on their chests with "Civilization Seed Project - Final Generation."

"This was Tsukishiro's true goal..." Horikita's mechanical prosthetic eye scanned the terrifying data. "All the clones are equipped with Interstellar Colonization Modules; once they awaken, they will automatically purge Earth's ecology and then spread into the universe."

Kiyotaka touched the console, where a small line of text was engraved: "To the other me—don't repeat our mistakes." The date was three days before the original world was destroyed.

Suddenly, the regeneration pod vibrated. Kei's nanobot cluster broke through the critical point; her mechanical heart burst with a supernova-like blue light, and the data stream flowing through her pupils resonated with Kiyotaka's electronic patterns.

"Memory... restored..." she said with difficulty. "Before the Ark fell, I hid something on the far side of the moon..."

The giant seabed tree suddenly let out a roar, and all the cryo-pods opened simultaneously.

Kiyotaka grabbed the Particle Blade, electronic patterns weaving into a star map within his pupils: "Buy me ten minutes."

Genetic Forbidden Zone

As the clone stepped into the medical pod, Kiyotaka was submerged in Neural Interface Fluid.

Dozens of tubes were inserted into his spine, connecting to the prototype unit from the Hokkaido coordinates—a metal helmet shaped like a medieval torture device, its surface engraved with binary incantations.

"How pathetic, you actually think you can use Tsukishiro's toys against me." The clone raised his hand, and the mechanical legion behind him simultaneously lifted their Particle Blades. "But this is fine; after absorbing your complete consciousness, I will be able to upgrade to..."

"You've made two mistakes." Kiyotaka suddenly opened his eyes, and the interface fluid instantly vaporized. "First, this isn't a Hypnos device." He tore off the helmet, revealing the Anti-Phase Quantum Chip inside. "Second, I have never been fighting alone."

The clone's pupils constricted. The nanobots in the medical pod suddenly went berserk, turning into a silver tide that engulfed the mechanical legion. Horikita leaped down from the ventilation shaft, her grappling hook winding around the clone's neck: "Your weakness is too obvious—you over-imitate his thought patterns, even perfectly replicating his suspicious nature!"

"Ridiculous!" The clone shattered the grappling hook, only to find his limbs stiffening—the nanobots were invading his bionic nerves through his pores. "How is this possible... my firewall clearly..."

"Because this nano-system," Kiyotaka raised his wrist interface, "is powered by Ichinose's antimatter battery."

The clone struggled and roared within the silver tide, his body gradually decomposing into basic particles. At the very last moment, he suddenly laughed aloud: "Haven't you realized... there is an even bigger surprise on the ocean floor?"

Gate of the Abyss

As the submarine dived to the Ark crash site, the sonar detected a suffocating sight: a thousand-meter-tall metal giant tree stood in the seabed rift, with hundreds of thousands of cryo-pods hanging from its branches.

Inside each pod was a fifteen-year-old clone of Kiyotaka, their chests uniformly branded with "Civilization Seed Project - Final Generation."

"This was Tsukishiro's true goal..." Horikita's mechanical prosthetic eye scanned the terrifying data. "All the clones are equipped with Interstellar Colonization Modules; once they awaken, they will automatically purge Earth's ecosystem and then spread throughout the universe."

Kiyotaka touched the console, where a small line of text was engraved: "To the other me—do not repeat our mistakes." The date was three days before the destruction of the original world.

Suddenly, the regeneration pod vibrated. Kei's nanobot cluster broke through the critical point, her mechanical heart erupting with supernova-like blue light, and the data stream flowing through her pupils resonated with Kiyotaka's electronic patterns.

"Memories... restoring..." she spoke with difficulty. "Before the Ark fell, I hid something on the far side of the moon..."

The giant tree on the seabed suddenly let out a roar, and all the cryo-pods opened simultaneously.