boyutpedia 9. Morton's fractal horsehair worm [2-in-1]
9. Morton's fractal horsehair worm [2-in-1]
The last glimmer of light before it was swallowed up.
Luo Ya's expression froze instantly, and an absurd smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.
He was almost so angry at the scene before him that he laughed!
In his incredibly detailed, godlike perspective overlooking the minuscule world, the "great genius difference engine" that Colonel Rogge spoke of was now mechanically operating at a constant speed of three hundred revolutions per second, with its gears driving mechanical operators.
There is no nebula-like array of pigment dots as imagined, no complex sensing system, and no fuzzy computing power that surpasses the times and resembles the human brain...
Millions of cold, precise brass gears, like metal beetles nailed to the pillar of fate, stacked one on top of the other, engaged in monotonous rotation and meshing within a dark, enclosed cube.
The subtle hum of gears meshing is enveloped by steam and absolute stillness, creating a breathtaking sense of order.
It was a classic gear difference engine!
Admittedly, this may be the most sophisticated and quietest large gear differential machine that Roja has ever seen.
But in terms of computing power, it's not even as good as Blue Dragonfly's miniature difference machine, let alone the great Little Genius.
Not to mention artificial intelligence, emotional responses...
We're still a long way off!
The reason why Colonel Rogge mentioned "intelligence" was because the difference engine had an extra wire with a diameter of less than three millimeters, a main line length of more than one kilometer, and multiple forks in the middle.
The wire was bent, wrapped, and folded, covering all the gears and mechanical operators in critical positions.
However, when Roya's connecting divine sense tried to probe into the inside of the wire, it was blocked by the life pheromones that resembled a mist.
This means that the wire is a kind of burning spirit!
A parasitic spirit with a blood energy level of only one rank, yet possessing cunning wisdom!
Based on the complete "Illustrated Compendium of the Burning Spirit of the Cloud Sea" that Luo Ya crammed before bed last night, this is most likely a—
Horsehair worm!
Scientific name: Morton's fractal horsehair worm.
The Morton fractal horsehair worm is an atypical parasitic worm that primarily parasitizes the body of mantises, taking over their nervous system through hard-core physical penetration.
"I never imagined it could be used to parasitize the Difference Engine!"
The horsehair worm manipulates millions of mechanical operators within the difference engine to output a torrent of commands that mimic human thought.
This flame of intelligence does not come from cold gears and operators, but from the spirit of the horsehair worm itself.
As the bio-fuels accumulate within the body, the wisdom and power of the Burning Spirit grow like wildfire, and may even awaken extraordinary talents.
Roya even speculated that the so-called psychic ability did not come from Colonel Rogge, but from the horsehair worm in front of him!
The horsehair worm may have indirectly controlled Colonel Rogge by manipulating the two-colored mushroom, leading to Wendell's misjudgment.
This isn't some genius difference engine, it's practically a brilliant horsehair worm!
"This worm comes from the distant Principality of Morton, which shows that the difference engine was parasitized by the horsehair worm before the airship made an emergency landing, which matches the colonel's statement that the difference engine was out of control."
Luo Ya breathed a slight sigh of relief.
As if sensing Roya's connection to his divine will, the horsehair worm suddenly contracted and emitted a strange trembling sound.
Luo Ya felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and a soreness in his teeth.
at the same time--
The massive boulder at the cave entrance crashed down!
The entrance to the cave was sealed off.
Almost simultaneously, the glow of all the bicolor mushrooms in the cave went out.
It was as if the light source had been cut off by an invisible hand...
A thick, greasy, and fishy hallucinogenic fog silently spread.
Darkness, like thick ink, surged in like a tidal wave, smearing everyone's faces.
Even though the poisonous fog was blocked by Wendell's wind barrier, Roya still felt a faint sense of hallucination.
The trilling sound of the horsehair worm sent chills down his spine...
Roya is not afraid of the dark or hallucinations, but she has good reason to worry about the out-of-control horsehair worms and Colonel Rogge.
And the problems of air and toxic gases in enclosed spaces.
He didn't turn around, leaving his back completely to Wendell.
"I'll handle the psychological attacks, and you can handle the air pollution problem, okay?"
"certainly."
Wendell's tone was calm, but too calm, as if he was suppressing something.
In the darkness, Roya seemed to hear a faint tremor coming from the Wendell armor.
Meanwhile, inside the Red Widow's cockpit.
Faced with the sudden darkness and claustrophobia, Giles and Eamon tried their best to remain calm.
The two then realized that the entire cave was a complete controlled ecosystem.
"Damn it, the colonel really has been parasitized!"
Red Widow immediately activated her flamethrower.
Orange-red flames erupted violently, instantly dispelling the nearby poisonous fog and illuminating the entire cave.
In the instant the light appeared—
Colonel Rogge has made his move!
The steam-powered sword emitted a piercing metallic hum as it forcefully sprang from the scabbard on the cane.
His left leg's mechanical joint unleashed astonishing power, and he transformed into a blurry afterimage, like a mutated ghost, leaping onto the airship's gantry and appearing behind the Red Widow.
The steam blade tore through the air in an instant, slashing horizontally towards the Red Widow's cockpit with a piercing shriek!
The blade gleamed with a ghostly blue flame; its material was something only the Imperial Headquarters could forge, capable of cutting through iron like mud.
Blue flame burns steel.
click-
Like a hot knife through butter, even the strongest armor is as fragile as paper in the face of absolute power and sharpness.
The Red Widow's massive body let out a metallic groan as it was cleaved in two by the raging blade!
The blazing blade, wreathed in blue steam, whistled past Giles and Amon, barely grazing their scalps.
Eamon felt a piercing heat rush over his head, and his fingers trembled as he reached up to touch the top of his head.
"Thank God, the head is still intact!"
The two knew that if a blade of that caliber were to strike them, their vests and airbags would be completely ineffective.
The bizarre stroke of luck made the two realize in an instant that Colonel Rogge's humanity might not have been completely extinguished.
In his final moments, his remaining will compelled him to raise the deadly blade upwards.
They had just escaped death.
The two men immediately turned to Colonel Rogge, who was panting from the sudden maneuver, and shouted at the top of their lungs:
"Colonel, you're a revolutionary!"
"In the name of freedom, wake up! The greatest revolutionary cause awaits you..."
Completely exposed to hallucinogenic gas, the two gradually weakened, their resistance melting away like ice and snow.
Her body went limp, and she fell into a dream woven from poisonous gas.
As the Red Widow split in two, the flamethrower quickly went out, and the cave was plunged into darkness once more.
"How can you awaken others when you yourself are asleep?"
Colonel Rogge chuckled.
He turned and disappeared into the darkness.
next moment.
Like a ghost with its arms hanging down, it appeared silently three meters to Roya's side.
I'm torn between killing Roya or controlling him...
Suddenly, Wendell's merciless iron hand swept across the air!
In an instant—
The cold wind howled, slapping my face like a knife!
The wind didn't seem strong, but it blew upwards to the side.
Colonel Rogge, wielding a steam-powered knife, instantly lost his balance.
Its 300-pound weight caused it to fly backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the rough rocky cave wall.
At the point of impact, the cluster of eerie purple mushrooms behind them was instantly crushed to a pulp, with viscous juices mixed with stone chips flying everywhere.
Colonel Rogge suffered a splitting headache and even experienced phantom pain.
My head felt like it was going to explode, and then everything went black.
Immediately, bizarre and fantastical hallucinations surged forth.
His consciousness sank, seemingly merging with the cold armor in the laboratory, floating in an endless ocean shimmering with blue and purple starlight...
Without the control of the fungal mother that had been parasitizing Colonel Rogge's back, clusters of companion mushrooms along the cave wall once again lit up with their glow.
The cave was once again enveloped in a bluish-purple glow.
the other side.
Loya holds the moss-covered differential machine casing.
Concentrate intently on finding the core of the horsehair worm.
To be precise, we need to find the brain of the horsehair worm.
Strangely, the horsehair worm has sharp spines at both ends, is generally the same thickness as its body, and does not clearly show the location of its brain.
It can also branch out in the middle, forming a network-like root structure that covers almost all the gears and key operators.
"This is too abstract. Is this thing really a living organism?"
Just moments before the cave was illuminated again—
The seemingly harmless hollow tube that had been hanging on the ground suddenly rose up like a venomous snake, silently approaching Roya from Wendell's blind spot...
At the opening of the tube, a gleaming, needle-sharp iron wire shot straight at Roya's unsuspecting left ear with a speed beyond visual perception.
However, just a foot away from Roya's left ear, it was held firmly in place by an invisible force, as if it had crashed into a transparent wall of sighs, causing it to tremble violently.
It can't go any further!
Just then, the cave was lit up.
Roya turned around and stared at the sharp mouth of the horsehair worm:
"If you dare to extend your claws at me after noticing my gaze, it only proves that your poor little brain hasn't fully developed yet."
His voice was icy and piercing, like sand whipped up by the polar wind, each syllable striking the frozen air.
Horsehair worm:
"..."
Even so, Roya was also extremely panicked.
He couldn't run away because his physical speed was far slower than that of a first-tier Burning Spirit Ironhorn Worm, so he couldn't escape at all.
Secondly, there was no time to ask Wendell for help, because he had previously warned Wendell that if he encountered similar worms, he should deal with them first, and if he couldn't handle them, then it wouldn't be too late for Wendell to step in.
Using only the control force of mechanical connections, through rotating gears and operators, the body of the horsehair worm is forcibly locked.
The power of a single gear is far from enough, but millions of gears are enough to stop the horsehair worms that are moving through it.
Like two hundred-page books with their pages overlapping, the friction is strong enough to resist the pull of two large vehicles capable of transporting humans to another world.
This allowed Roya to fight against a first-tier Burning Spirit with a mortal body!
The horsehair worm's pointed mouth trembled and hissed as it struggled incessantly, trying to pull its body apart from the layers of friction of the mechanical operators.
It wasn't until Wendell saw Roya's forehead sweating that the trembling wires made her feel inexplicably nauseous.
Then, she suddenly drew her sword.
Clang——
The flexible hose wrapped with wire snapped instantly!
The horsehair worm instantly retracted.
The severed half-meter-long wireworm, like a lifeless snake, hung limply to the ground.
call……
Luo Ya finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"You did a great job!"
Sudden--
The horsehair worm, which had just retracted, convulsed violently, unleashing a chilling shriek that was a mixture of high-frequency vibrations and sharp friction!
The severed iron wire on the ground resonated with it.
A ghostly blue neural glow burst forth from the broken surface, flickering, leaping, and hissing wildly like liquid electric arcs...
The eerie blue light seemed to carry a sense of mental pollution.
Roya's vision distorted instantly.
In the flickering blue light, he saw his parents, who had passed away long ago in his previous life...
Luo Ya instantly activated the mechanical connection, the nightmare dissipated, and his consciousness returned to the difference engine!
While the horsehair worm was activating its psychic abilities, which resembled mental pollution, his mind acted like a precise probe, quickly locking onto the worm's decentralized neural center.
It's actually a dot matrix composed of every branching node!
Without the slightest hesitation, Luo Ya activated his will, like a puppeteer, instantly manipulating several gears next to each nerve node of the horsehair worm, locking them all in place!
The powerful mechanical gripping force acts like an invisible iron clamp, tightly clamping down on the nerve center of the horsehair worm.
Luo Ya gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.
The horsehair worm writhed wildly, emitting a desperate cry...
At the same time, Wendell's breathing became disordered.
Luo Ya turned his head to look.
Those eyes, once as bright as molten gold, are now being eroded by countless wildly spreading, serpentine dark patterns, until they are completely submerged!
A majestic, cold, and unfathomable aura of darkness emanated from Wendell.
She raised her right hand, which was holding a sword, and swung it at the difference engine!
"Stop! That's an order... Wendell!"
Luo Ya quickly turned around.
One hand held down the differential engine casing, while the other blocked Wendell's steam armor casing.
He has figured out the neural structure of the horsehair worm.
The neural transmission mechanism of horsehair worms is remarkably similar to the control mechanisms of their mechanical connections.
This means that by destroying the horsehair worm's central nervous system, its remains will become the perfect repair tool, serving as its tentacles to penetrate deep into machinery and complete emergency repairs without disassembling the outer shell.
If Wendell were to cut off the difference engine and the main trunk of the horsehair worm, the horsehair worm would break free of its restraints and escape.
Wendell hesitated for a moment, his eyes regaining some clarity, and then swung his sword at the difference engine again!
clang--
Sparks flew everywhere!
The clang of metal clashing together was deafening.
Roya initially thought Wendell had completely lost control and was disobeying his captain's orders, only to discover that Wendell was doing this to defend against the enemy.
A figure appeared like lightning, blocking the path before the sword's edge.
It was Colonel Rogge!
His hunched figure crouched on the edge of the difference engine, his hands gripping the steam blade tightly, using the blade to block Wendell's sword.
A swift, biting wind tore at his scalp.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, his voice was hoarse, and a last glimmer of clarity struggled to appear in his eyes:
"You are now a witch, don't you want to bury this decaying empire with your own hands? If so... then don't destroy this machine!"
Wendell's eyes, stained with black markings, remained unmoved, as if he had not heard a sound.
His long right leg suddenly shot into the air, delivering an extremely sharp side kick that swept away Colonel Rogge's body with a whistling sound that tore through the air!
boom!
With a heavy thud and a groan of his bones straining under the weight, Colonel Rogge was sent flying again, crashing heavily against the cave wall.
The impact force far exceeded that of the last one.
Colonel Rogge lost consciousness instantly.
The machine's left leg was broken, its right shoulder bone was cracked, and blood gushed out...
the other side.
Luo Ya, who had been forced to be distracted, breathed a sigh of relief.
He withdrew his right hand, which was holding back the Wendell armor, and placed both hands on the differential engine casing.
Both hands move together, mind and spirit in perfect harmony.
"Explode!"
Inside the differential engine, thousands of nerve centers of the horsehair worms, unable to withstand the pressure of the rotating gears, burst open one after another.
Like fireworks, it bursts forth with a dazzling blue arc of fire.
The outcome is already decided!
Luo Ya instantly took control of the horsehair worm's slender carcass.
"Wendell, I've got it done!"
He was covered in sweat, and as excited as a child…
However, the black demonic patterns spreading wildly in Wendell's eyes did not diminish in the slightest due to the death of the horsehair worm.
The robust body restrained by the steam-powered flying armor instantly tensed up, trembling slightly, as if fiercely resisting something within its body.
Luo Ya came to her senses and tried to regain her rationality.
"Wendel, are you alright?"
Wendell's eyes were completely black, but through his clenched teeth he managed to squeeze out a few broken yet clear syllables:
"...Kill me, kill me now."
Is it that serious...?
Fortunately, Roya sensed the last vestige of Wendell's sanity as he teetered on the brink of losing control, held together by his promise.
"Then you mustn't resist!"
With a gentle tone, Roya controlled the newly acquired horsehair worm carcass to suddenly shoot out from the differential engine hose.