[...As commanded.] Brush suppressed all its "irrational" computations and began devoting its full capacity to setting the trap.
It redefined the "marker" that unsettled it, changing it from a threat to be eliminated into "bait."
Yet it had no idea-
Almost at the very moment it received its new instructions, at the core of the New Era Network's concept furnace, a cold smile curved Lin Ye's lips.
"It took the bait, just as expected. And it even received instructions from a 'higher' level?" Through that logic fragment, he seemed able to glimpse faint ripples on the far side of a distant dimension.
"They aren't united internally. Brush itself is also being turned into a 'tool' by a higher will. That gives us an opening."
He looked at Prototype and communicated through his thoughts. Light flowed across Prototype as it began extracting subtler information from the fragment-"logical habits," "energy preferences," and even a faint trace of its "operating rhythm."
"Order's Dawn, Harmonic Rhythm, the Many-Faced Illusion Clan's core mirror," Lin Ye called on them. "Use this fragment as a blueprint to create something."
"What kind of thing?"
"A perfect 'logic virus.' But it won't destroy or alter anything. It will do only one thing-amplify and manifest 'contradictions.'"
A dangerous, knowing light gleamed in Lin Ye's eyes.
"It must be able to detect and amplify the conflict between 'instrumental rationality' and the 'instinct for self-preservation' within the Brush node's own logic; amplify its latent resentment toward 'sacrifice directives'; and even... attempt to establish a faint resonance with whatever potential for 'adaptive evolution' it might still retain."
"This virus will itself be an extreme form of 'contradictory data.' To Brush, it will be poison. To the deeper will of the Archivist, which craves the observation of contradictions, it will be an irresistible feast."