Scobio's consciousness moved through the dark abyss. The light of the Scorpio Mark sliced like a sharp dagger through layer after layer of deception in the Concept Parasites' memories.
Each deeper probe brought an even more shocking discovery.
"Let me see your true past." Scobio's voice echoed through the consciousness space as his power of insight mercilessly tore apart the memory barriers the parasites had painstakingly constructed.
The parasites' collective consciousness let out a pained hiss. "No... don't look at those... those memories will destroy you..."
But Scobio had already reached the core of their memories.
The scene before him completely overturned his understanding of the Concept Parasites. In the final moments of the Zero Universe, five Guardians sat around an enormous conceptual analysis device. There was no madness on their faces, only desperate resolve.
"The spread of conceptual contamination is far too precise," one Guardian said, pointing at the analysis results. "This isn't naturally occurring chaos. It's a carefully designed viral program."
"What evidence do we have?" another Guardian asked.
"Look at these infection pathways." The first Guardian enlarged the display. "The contamination always attacks the most stable parts of a conceptual system first, then gradually spreads outward. This pattern could never emerge from random chaos."
"More importantly," an older Guardian added, "the contamination shows clear adaptability. Every time we develop a new cleansing technique, it rapidly develops resistance to that technique."
Scobio's insight delved into the details of the memory, revealing the crucial evidence they had discovered: conceptual contamination left special "marker codes" during infection. The structure of these codes was far too complex to have arisen naturally.
"This is an artificially engineered conceptual weapon." The older Guardian's voice was thick with anger. "Some higher-dimensional being deliberately released this virus into our universe."
"What's the purpose?" someone asked.