The pruning order's underlying erosion, the Department of Technology consultant's firewall
The cold, golden characters on the Central Holographic Display of the White Bone Hall were like a Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's heads.
The "Omnidirectional Pruning Order" has been activated.
The piercing alarm that had been blaring earlier had instead disappeared.
The entire Negative Zone fell into an eerie, absolute silence, as if shrouded by a higher-level will.
Small Conference Room No. 3, the air was so still it felt as if you could squeeze water out of it.
Hela had just withdrawn her murderous aura, but it has now reformed. The space behind her is subtly distorted, as if countless undead are roaring silently, ready to tear reality apart at any moment.
Gwen Stacy and Jean Grey's expressions were more serious than ever before.
They knew that this time, the other party had even abandoned the fig leaf of "procedure."
This is a direct crushing blow after the table is flipped.
Lynn remained leaning back in his chair, his fingers unconsciously tracing the cool rim of his glass. He wasn't looking at the light screen; his gaze was fixed on the table in front of him, as if studying its reflection.
"From a technical standpoint, what's the situation?"
His voice broke the silence, completely calm, and was directed at Wanda, the Director the Technology Integration Department.
Wanda kept her eyes closed, Scarlet energy flowing around her, isolating her from the outside world. Hearing Lynn's question, her long eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.
"Reporting to the Director." Her voice was slightly unsteady, but her enunciation was clear, following the standard format of a work report. "Monitoring data shows that a high-energy time ripple is penetrating our entire territory from outside the jurisdiction in a non-linear manner."
"This ripple has no physical form and acts directly on the underlying rules. In the area covered by it, all existing 'data' will be forcibly reset to 'zero'."
We call this ' Underlying Erosion '.
She used the calmest language to describe the most terrifying reality.
"Very good." Lynn nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the result. "The nature is clear: it's a special band with underlying data erasure capabilities."
He looked around, his gaze finally settling on Wanda.
"Comrade Wanda, as the Second Special Commissioner for the Protection of Core Assets and the Strengthening of the Underlying Structure, I now require you to immediately fulfill your duties."
I need a firewall.
Lynn's tone left no room for argument.
"A firewall capable of completely blocking this special frequency band outside our jurisdiction."
Wanda looked at Lynn, her Scarlet eyes churning with Chaos energy. She didn't ask why, nor did she question the feasibility.
She simply nodded slightly.
"Clear."
"I propose that we immediately activate the ' Chaos ' protocol to build a conceptual-level ' Data Firewall '." She paused, then added, "This will require all of my computing power."
"I approve." Lynn said decisively.
He then added, "But there are two principles you must adhere to."
"First, our actions are officially classified as 'passive defense.' Therefore, the construction of the firewall must be strictly controlled within the boundaries of our jurisdiction, without any proactive energy spillover, and certainly without revealing any characteristics of a counterattack."
"Secondly, to ensure the compatibility of this temporary firewall with our existing system and avoid structural incompatibilities, I authorize you to immediately invoke the Mutants Management Committee's ' Phoenix ' signature as a compatibility Patch for the Underlying Logic and incorporate it into your protocol."
Lynn's instructions were clear, explicit, and filled with unquestionable bureaucratic logic.
A life-or-death battle was completely redefined as a well-reasoned "system maintenance" operation that complied with internal regulations.
"Yes," Wanda replied.
She closed her eyes again.
This time, the Scarlet Energy around her no longer just floated around, but burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam!
But all the energy was restrained by an invisible force, and not a single ounce leaked out into the conference room. Centered on Wanda, it extended wildly into the Underlying Logic network of the entire Negative Zone.
On the Central Holographic Display of the White Bone Hall, the screen that had been displaying the golden decree suddenly changed its image.
A complex, three-dimensional network diagram covering the entire Negative Zone emerges.
A visible ripple, radiating Dark Gold light, is slowly eroding inward from the edge of the network. Wherever the ripple sweeps across, representing real-world network nodes, they are silently disappearing and Oblivion.
This is TVA's "cut order".
Unreasonable, intolerant of resistance, and capable of eradicating everything from the root.
Just then, from the Core Zone of the network diagram—the location of the White Bone Hall —an incomparably dazzling and brilliant Scarlet Data Stream suddenly burst forth!
Instead of Impact the golden ripple, it moved with incredible speed, erecting a ring-shaped barrier composed of pure Scarlet code along the boundary of the entire Negative Zone just before the golden ripple was about to reach the Core Zone.
Immediately afterwards, a deeper, more intense, golden flame-like code, seemingly capable of burning everything, flowed from Jean Grey's direction, perfectly merging into the Scarlet barrier and making it even more stable and unfathomable.
A temporary "Data Firewall" that does not belong to any known technological system has been constructed.
After all this was done, the golden ripples in front of the light screen finally spread to the outside of the firewall.
At the moment of contact, there was no earth-shattering explosion, no deafening roar of colliding energy.
There was only deathly silence.
The golden ripples representing the TVA's supreme authority came to an abrupt halt the moment they touched the Scarlet firewall, like a wave crashing against a dam.
The details of the light screen were magnified infinitely.
Each tiny code element that made up the golden ripples was forcibly dragged into a separate "Buffer Zone" by an incomprehensible force upon contact with the firewall.
Within the Buffer Zone, this code is frantically parsed, split, and reassembled, then given entirely new, chaotic, and meaningless definitions.
Ultimately, they are reduced to harmless, redundant gibberish, which is completely absorbed and digested by the firewall.
TVA's prized rule, capable of erasing Timeline, was thus forcefully intercepted and shattered by a completely unreasonable "firewall," without even a ripple passing through.
The entire process was quiet, efficient, and full of the aesthetic beauty of Dimensionality-Reduction Strike.
Inside the conference room, the murderous intent in Hela's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a complex expression that mixed shock and understanding.
Gwen Stacy and Jean Grey also breathed a long sigh of relief.
Lynn picked up the now-cold tea and took a small sip, as if everything that had just happened was just a routine rehearsal carried out according to plan.
In the shadows at the far end of the conference room, Sylvie, who had been granted special permission to listen in, witnessed the entire event.
The expression on her face had long since changed from initial tension and worry to utter blankness.
She had envisioned countless ways to deal with Negative Zone.
Or they fight to the death, bursting forth with brilliant sparks in their despair.
Or perhaps, under Lynn's leadership, they will use some kind of conspiracy to outmaneuver TVA.
But she never imagined it would turn out this way.
Calm, composed, and orderly.
Faced with TVA's ultimate weapon, there was no panic, no chaos, only calm commands and precise "technical maneuvers."
A "Omnidirectional Pruning Order" capable of destroying countless Timeline is here downplayed as an "extreme weather disaster," and then easily resolved by a "technical consultant" using a "compliance firewall."
At that moment, as Sylvie looked at the man sitting in the main seat, his expression calm as if nothing had happened, any thoughts of wavering or trying to use someone else's strength to her advantage completely vanished.
She suddenly realized how ridiculous all her previous tests and calculations were in the face of this unfathomable organization.
Her gaze had completely changed.