Reading progress 1%: Whose memory was hidden in this stone?

After the black characters spread out along the observation ring, the data flow on the surface of the main computing core suddenly slowed down, and ten dark spots moved towards Zhou Yu's feet at the same time, almost touching the edge of his slippers.

Aalto pressed the game coins into her palm, raised her hand to terminate the observation privilege, and the transparent ground darkened.

"That's enough for today. If you stand there for a few more minutes, Tethys might register you as internal equipment."

Are there any technical consultant subsidies for registration? What is the standard for calculating temporary overtime pay?

Zhou Yu looked down at the dark spot at the bottom of the star chart for a moment.

Even without a digital watch on his wrist, he could still discern the direction of those frequency movements. When mimicking a heartbeat, he was a half-beat slower, a delay that perfectly matched the rhythm of Aleph One squeezed into the communication channel.

Aalto pressed the return button on the elevator platform, and the game coin was tossed up again.

"Let me figure out whether it's a problem with the equipment or a malfunction first, then we can talk about the subsidy later."

When the platform returned to the restaurant, five empty bowls were already stacked in front of Dania.

Encore was lying on the table telling her the story of the sheep fighting the sea monster. The Wooly was sitting on the back of the chair, while the Cosmos had its face buried in the bread basket.

Seeing Zhou Yu return, Dania immediately handed him the remaining half of the seashell bread.

"The Xiao Yu must be hungry after being underwater for so long. There's coral jam in this piece."

Zhou Yu took a bite, then pulled out a digital watch from the canvas bag and glanced at it.

The watch face did not display any error message, and he did not put the digital watch back on his wrist, but stuffed it back into the innermost part of the bag as it was.

Aalto didn't mention a word about what was going on inside the core, only asking Chisaki to seal the dual-carrier log first, and then go to check the access records on the ground.

The word "jam" reached Encore's ears, and her eyes lit up.

"Speaking of coral, the Black Shores has the sweetest kind of coral ever! Let's go treasure hunting now! Whoever finds it will receive a grand prize from Captain Sheep!"

"Can the grand prize be exchanged for dinner?" It was Dania who asked this question earnestly.

"The grand prize is the sweetest piece of the prize – that's the most important rule of the treasure hunt!"

The two hit it off immediately and quickly reached an agreement.

Encore pulled Dania out of the restaurant, Cosmos, covered in crumbs, chased after them out the door after rummaging through the bread basket.

Wooly lagged behind, tilting her head at the canvas bag as she passed Zhou Yu before hopping down the steps.

The purple flowers along the shore grew taller than knee-high, their petals edged with tiny water droplets, and they all bent over in the same direction when the sea breeze blew.

Encore held up a coral branch she had picked up and parted the leaves in front of her, while Dania followed closely behind, carrying a small basket of snacks.

Zhou Yu and Sigelica walked behind, Chisa carried a knife and kept an eye on the movements among the rocks, while Chisaki used a tablet to record frequencies along the coast.

What did you see when you went downstairs?

Sigelica lowered her voice, her gaze falling on his empty wrist.

"They found ten malfunctions hidden in their world-class equipment, and they still want to put me on the equipment list."

"I have a feeling that Tethys would rather put you on the list of dangerous items."

Suddenly, cheers for Encore erupted from ahead.

She crouched down amidst a patch of purple flowers, dug through the damp soil with both hands, and unearthed a palm-sized black stone from beneath the roots.

The surface of the black stone is covered with fine sand, the edges are curved, and several light-colored lines are engraved on the front.

Dania, who had been squatting next to Encore for a long time, was being examined closely, and Anke even gestured with her fingertips.

"This is clearly a piece of pork rib, and there's a layer of fat around it."

Encore, who had been holding the black stone and stunned for a moment, laughed and squatted down in the flower bushes.

The Cosmos followed her into the flowers and leaves, and even the Wooly tilted its head twice towards Dania.

"How could Dania mistake a treasure for ribs? The Memory Stone would be heartbroken if it heard that."

Dania took a small bag of jerky from the basket and carefully compared it to the black stone.

"The shapes are really similar, but the ribs smell a bit better."

Zhou Yu, who had parted the flower branches to walk past, took the black stone from Encore's palm.

The pattern on the front appears chaotic, but when you turn it over, it is divided into several equally spaced areas. Each fine line has a clear start and end position, and the arrangement is very similar to the compressed underlying code.

Just as Chisaki brought the tablet probe closer, Encore's coral branch blocked her way.

"Stones with patterns are rare. Aalto said they represent memories, and told us not to touch them if we encounter them."

"Whose memory is this? How did it end up buried among the purple flowers?"

Encore, hugging her knees and tilting her head, thought for a long time before giving an answer.

"I don't know either. Aalto always tells me not to worry about it, but sometimes I feel like those patterns are talking to me."

Sigelica immediately looked at Blackstone, her hand already resting on the edge of the holster.

"If it really can talk, you'd better ask if there's any danger first."

"It speaks without a sound; it's like someone is telling a story from a very, very far away place. I can only sense a little bit of it."

The coral branch gently touched the back of the black stone, and Encore's light-colored veins lit up for a moment.

Wooly suddenly jumped to Dania's feet, looked up at the black stone, and slowly unfolded her ears to the sides.

Dania put the dried meat back in the basket, then held the black stone to her ear and listened for a moment.

"There was still no sound when I put it to my ear, but it stayed warm, almost like freshly baked bread."

Zhou Yu reached out and touched the stone surface; it was still icy cold to the touch.

Chisaki, whose scanning probe did not approach any further, simply used the non-contact temperature measurement module on the flat plate to scan the stone surface, which showed a temperature similar to that of the surrounding sea breeze.

The lighter-colored lines only light up briefly when Dania's fingertips touch the patterns.

"Can I keep this for now?" Zhou Yu asked. "I won't read the patterns inside; we'll deal with it when Aalto returns."

Encore glanced at the black stone, then looked towards the black stone beach that had already run far away.

"Sure, but we can't damage it. Once we find the sweetest coral, we'll show it to Aalto together."

Encore quickly remembered the treasure hunt game and pulled Dania to continue searching the rocks.

The two sheep chased after them and ran far away. Before leaving, the Wooly looked back at the black stone one last time.

After getting Encore's consent, Zhou Yu stuffed the stone into the side pocket of the canvas bag.

The stone slid to the bottom of the bag and bumped into the old-fashioned digital watch that was already turned off.

The blue screen lit up on its own, revealing a line of thin text through the canvas.

[Unknown memory carrier, reading progress 1%.]