Zhou Yi carefully observed his surroundings.

There was no path ahead, and behind him lay a narrow path leading downwards.

Around the stone platform where the player was located, lay many skeletons in a star-encircled-moon-like formation. Numerous fireflies draped on these bones emitted specks of light, making the cavern not seem dim.

Zhou Yi pondered that the intruders who had fallen into the BGM world must have been eaten by these insects.

He then looked toward the black player.

Better to go back and examine it more carefully, to avoid additional complications.

Zhou Yi took off his sports jacket, wrapped the player inside, and held it in his hand before walking out.

Following the path he had come by, after passing two bends, he saw the light.

Back at the metal hut, Zhou Yi handed the player over to Jade City, asking it to seal it in its metal arm, and then Zhou Yi stepped out of the cave.

On the ground at that moment, the Hunter had transformed into an attacking trapezoidal prism posture, emitting a red light in the air.

Twelve Hammerhead Soldiers equipped with translators and transmitters, each carrying hammers and picks, stood ready for action.

The Black Hand Mushrooms lined up neatly, each one carrying a wooden box on their back.

Red Kestrel gave orders in the sky, "All units, prepare..."

Upon seeing Zhou Yi emerge, it rushed to his side, "Are you alright?"

Five electronic eyes scanned over him.

"No sign of damage to the mechanism."

"The signal is stable."

"It seems you're unharmed."

Zhou Yi asked, "What's all this?"

"You've been inside for over three hours. I've mobilized all the personnel the company could, preparing to have the Black Hand Mushrooms blow up the mountain with explosive mushrooms, then have the Hammerhead Soldiers dig through it."

Only then did Zhou Yi realize what the little Black Hand Mushrooms were carrying were explosive mushrooms.

"I'm fine; everyone disperse."

Upon the chairman's orders, the assembled team then dispersed in batches.

...

Zhou Yi returned to Jade City's 3101, and Lord Sha Hai, despite his injured body, hurried over to greet him.

"Mr. Zhou, I knew you would be fine."

Lord Sha Hai, shaped like a great seal, fluttered his long whiskers while speaking, and the squinted seal's mouth looked rather simple and honest.

Appearance was also a talent.

As a sea lord, he took the popular approach, indeed making good use of his innate advantages.

Zhou Yi opened a can of cola and asked the other, "What would you like to drink? Something sweet, light, or just water?"

"Sweet is good."

Lord Sha Hai took the cola that Zhou Yi passed to him, pulled the tab, and took a sip, looking instantly refreshed, "I actually really like sweet drinks, it's just that Dead Sea Aged isn't cheap, and it hurts a bit to spend money on it."

"The Sand Port Region has been poor for too long and hasn't fully recovered. Every industry needs Light Seed for subsidy and development, so I don't dare to spend too much. I have to calculate each time in my mind."

Zhou Yi could relate to that.

Take Farming for instance; it requires continuous investment of Light Seed. The current output can hardly be called profitable; it's considered a success if crops just grow fruits smoothly.

If he didn't start out with a "Zhanjiang Bay No.1" like Duke Baili, creating an industry from nothing would be extremely difficult.

Lord Sha Hai took two sips of something sweet and then started probing, "Mr. Zhou, what kind of Alien was in that cave?"

"There were no Aliens."

Zhou Yi shook his head, "Inside, there was only an Electromechanical Life. It could conduct Consciousness attacks, causing various lives that entered to be controlled. I found many skeletons deep in the cave; they must have been those people and Guangna Species who never returned."

Lord Sha Hai was astonished, "So that's what happened."

"I initially thought that for an area underground that couldn't be surveyed, plus the fact that Guangna Species couldn't escape from there, the likelihood was that a Dead Sea Alien sleeping underground..."

"This time, it's truly an embarrassment, a pointless trip for you."

Lord Sha Hai quickly said, "I didn't handle this well. I'll look up my connections to continue collecting information on the Dead Sea Alien, and I'll find a definite Alien to present you with an apology."

The other party was very cooperative.

Zhou Yi replied, "I thank you for that. Truth be told, I don't have many hobbies, just a liking for collecting Dead Sea Aliens."

"Understood, understood."

A glint of light flashed in Lord Sha Hai's eyes, though it was unclear what he was thinking.

Zhou Yi added, "Given the current situation, I'll escort you back to Sand Port now."

"Alright."

...

Jade City returned to the company, resuming tranquility.

Only then did Zhou Yi begin to closely examine the black rectangular box in his hand.

Its chassis was made of aluminum metal material, with a brushed panel, and a small display screen on the front that had a transparent sticker with "Please remove the protective film before use" written on it.

On the right side was a cylindrical large knob, which served as both the power switch and the volume control, while on the left side there was a golden "EverSolo" logo, and below it, DMP-A6 was inscribed, apparently representing the model.

Zhou Yi didn't recognize this brand.

Let's just call it A6.

The back of A6 had digital and analog output jacks, two blue USB ports, and three very short antennas.

This machine was very well preserved.

Zhou Yi turned the knob.

Click.

The screen lit up, displaying a changing spectrum graph, and music sounded from the machine once again.

It was still "Summer Wind."

What puzzled Zhou Yi was that, whether he tried to communicate or input energy, he met with failure, as if sinking into the sea.

The playback device was just playing songs.

Zhou Yi asked the Red Kestrel.

The drone hovered above the black metal player, its electronic eye scanning the device.

"It's not an electromechanical life form, just an ordinary machine from the age of deities."

Zhou Yi listened and frowned.

Such a digital device should have been damaged over the long span of time, completely unable to remain in such perfect condition in a cave environment. It could only be an electromechanical life form to maintain a brand-new and perfect state and be able to continue operating.

"Although I don't know how it operates, it's definitely not electromechanical life," Red Kestrel insisted.

Could there be someone else intercepting his consciousness?

But Zhou Yi had checked all around the cave and found no other suspicious objects. The bones next to the stone platform were normal, and the fireflies didn't exhibit any unusual behavior...

Zhou Yi summoned Xiao Fu, his number two drone.

The Reverse Flow said, "This machine is not the entity itself, it is a Concept Life that has chosen this machine as its host. The machine remains intact because the Concept Life chose it, much like its shell and house... It's the Concept Life that operates and maintains it."

"Concept Life? What is that?"

"Concept Life is a general term; they exist in various civilizations and are considered mid- to high-level life forms."

Xiao Fu pondered. "Like the Fire Seed Life we've collected, each of them carries a significant amount of consciousness information. That information is created by many individuals, usually as part of a civilization."

"They can influence more life forms through their conceptual form, gaining more consciousness accumulation and fire seeds."

"Fire Seed Life is an extension of civilization, like branches growing from the civilization's main trunk. Concept Life goes a step further; they are the leaves, closer to the Great Holy Spirit."

"Normally, the closer you are to the Great Holy Spirit, the higher your energy utilization and conversion rates... But I don't know what's going on with you. You clearly have a physical form, yet you also have such a high conversion rate."

Xiao Fu's words left Zhou Yi somewhat perplexed.

"What is the Great Holy Spirit?"

"Eh, doesn't your civilization refer to the Great Holy Spirit? It seems you have a different term... Most mid- to high-level civilizations call it that."

Xiao Fu said, "The Great Holy Spirit is the connection point of billions of consciousnesses."

"Every world where life has emerged has a Great Holy Spirit. Whether it created the world or the world evolved it, it exists either way."

The Reverse Flow explained, "The closer to the pure form of consciousness information, the more efficient the energy utilization, because it is freed from the material carrier that would otherwise result in loss and internal support. This brings it closer to the Great Holy Spirit."

"The Great Holy Spirit cannot be observed directly or touched, but it exists. The closer to the Great Holy Spirit, the stronger the fire seed; the further from the Great Holy Spirit, the dimmer the fire seed."

In the understanding system of the Reverse Flow, the Great Holy Spirit objectively exists in every civilization, and its intrinsic strength is also a measure of a civilization.

It can be simply understood as, the Great Holy Spirit is the collective consciousness of all things in a world.

Zhou Yi silently noted the term, focusing on solving the immediate problem: "So you mean Concept Life is a special form of consciousness, like the one I encountered. How do I make contact or interact with it?"

"That... I don't know."

Xiao Fu's voice suddenly became quieter.

"..."

Zhou Yi felt his teeth itch with annoyance.

So confident at first, he had thought Xiao Fu had everything under control, but it turned out he was just a theorist, faltering when it came to practical application.

"Isn't that asking the impossible? The forms of Concept Life are wildly diverse, and their mechanisms vary, each belonging to a separate category. I can't possibly know how to deal with them..."

Xiao Fu tried to defend himself: "However, Concept Life often have their Concept Core. Like this one, the core is sound, or music. Approaching from this angle is unlikely to be wrong, and then you can try connecting through the Conscious Key."

"Will it run away?"

"Usually not. Concept Life has its carrier, and unless the carrier is broken, they will not look for a replacement unless necessary."

Zhou Yi began to try.

Although the music from A6 had been playing continuously, he was no longer intercepted by consciousness, dragged into a fictitious realm of consciousness.

He spent several days trying all the methods he knew, to no avail.

Zhou Yi had to temporarily give up.

For now, he used A6 as a regular music player.

Sitting on the balcony, listening to songs, enjoying the evening breeze, and having a beer felt quite pleasant.

Zhou Yi hummed along with the music.

"The breeze of a summer night

Caresses you in my arms

Your hair, lush and flowing

Enveloping me, swaying with the wind..."

However, as he sang, he suddenly felt a wonderful resonance, connecting himself with some force.

Could it be... the key to communicating with A6 was to sing along?

Zhou Yi didn't care and started to hum along with the player.

A6 had hundreds of songs stored, and fortunately, most of them were classic hits from the past—hard not to have heard them. He only had to learn a few new ones.

His body gave clear feedback when he sang in tune, but there was no response when he was off-key, like an invisible scoring system.

After completing his studies, Zhou Yi had never sung so earnestly, leaving his mouth dry and throat burning.

Thankfully, he could fast-forward time on the screen, and he focused on learning the songs he didn't know.

Despite the struggle, four days later, Zhou Yi mastered them, managing to keep up with all 120 songs.

He successfully finished the sing-along cycle.

Suddenly, a strange synthetic tone sounded in his ears: "Hello there, Singer, thank you for liking my songs."

Zhou Yi's heart stirred, and he tried to say, "Actually, I know many other songs too."

"Sing one, sing one."

Zhou Yi sang "Stubborn."

"Sounds good!"

The other party was interested: "Can I record it? I want to learn."

An idea sparked in Zhou Yi's mind.

There might be a chance.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.