Chapter 22: The Siege of Valoria and the Breach of Logic
The descent into the atmosphere of Valoria was not like any normal atmospheric entry. For Li Ming, travelling through the Star-Gate as a stream of platinum data, it was like diving into a sea of toxic, rusted static. Valoria, a world designated by the First Order as "Sector 7-G," was a planet-wide factory, its skies choked with the black smoke of soul-ore refineries and its crust honeycombed with endless, sunless tunnels.
As Li Ming solidified on the surface, his boots clashing against the metallic soil, he was met with a sight of absolute desolation. Above him, the "Quarantine Wall" erected by the Arbiters loomed—a shimmering, necrotic barrier of black energy that was slowly constricting, intended to crush the planet's logic until every living soul was deleted.
[System Notification: Arrival at Sector 7-G - Valoria.]
[Local Status: Severe System Corruption. Reality-Stability at 42%.]
[Warning: Arbiters have initiated 'Mass-Deletion' sub-routines.]
"Master, the atmosphere is heavy with 'Compliance Dust'," Li Xiao's voice echoed through the interstellar link. She remained back on Kang Qiang, acting as the remote server. "They are trying to re-install the chips in the workers' minds remotely."
"They won't get the chance," Li Ming said, his staff, The Nullifier, glowing with a fierce, defiant violet.
Before him stood Kael, the young miner who had been the first to accept the "Seed." Around him were hundreds of other workers, their eyes flickering with a mixture of silver hope and primal terror. They were no longer robotic slaves, but they were not yet warriors. They were like newborn programs, vulnerable and unoptimized.
"Architect!" Kael cried out, his voice cracking. "The white ships... they are descending! They say we are 'invalid data'!"
Li Ming looked up. Three "Eraser-Ships"—the same white monoliths he had seen before—were piercing the black quarantine wall. They began to broadcast a high-pitched, agonizing frequency.
[Executing Command: 'Format Local Consciousness'.]
The workers fell to their knees, clutching their heads as the Arbiters' logic tried to overwrite their new free will.
"You think a wall and a hum can stop the New Genesis?" Li Ming roared. He didn't build a shield. Instead, he slammed The Nullifier into the ground, initiating a **'Localized Kernel Overwrite'**.
"Everyone! Connect your minds to the planet's core!" Li Ming commanded. "Don't fight their frequency—ignore it! You are not 'Data'! You are the 'Users'!"
Li Ming's platinum aura expanded, creating a "Safe-Zone" that pushed back the compliance dust. Within this zone, the workers felt their pain vanish. Li Ming began to "Patch" their reality in real-time. He turned their mining tools into "Logic-Blades" and their tattered rags into "Data-Armor."
"Kael! Take the lead!" Li Ming shouted. "The first monolith is yours. I will handle the higher permissions."
Kael looked at his energy-blade, his heart racing. For the first time in his life, he wasn't a resource. He was a "Developer." He led the charge, the miners rushing toward the landing pods of the Eraser-Ships.
As the pods opened, out stepped the "Inquisitors"—tall, faceless androids wrapped in white robes, carrying staffs of "Order Energy." They were the First Order's enforcers, designed to purge any glitch with surgical precision.
"Errors detected," the Inquisitors spoke in a flat, metallic tone. "Commencing Deletion."
The battle was unlike any the universe had seen. It wasn't just a clash of steel; it was a clash of "Operating Systems." When an Inquisitor struck with its staff, it tried to "Close the Process" of the worker it hit. But the miners, empowered by Li Ming's "Freedom_OS," responded with "Variable Attacks." They moved in ways the androids couldn't predict, their movements chaotic and creative—the very thing the First Order feared most.
Li Ming, meanwhile, took to the sky. He flew directly toward the lead Eraser-Ship.
[Alert: Sovereign Shielding Detected on Target.]
[Analysis: 128-bit Divine Encryption.]
"Encryption is just a lock waiting for a key," Li Ming muttered.
He didn't strike the ship with force. He touched the hull with his fingers, his platinum code flowing into the ship's metal.
[Interfacing... Bypass Initialized... Root Access: Denied.]
"Oh? You think your root access is absolute?" Li Ming's eyes flared. "I am the one who built the 'Abyss Bypass'!"
He channeled the power of the **Master Key** he had taken from the First Architect's Shadow. The white monolith shivered. The sterile light of the ship began to flicker and turn a chaotic, warm silver. Li Ming wasn't destroying the ship; he was "Jailbreaking" it.
Inside the ship's bridge, the Arbiter's link was suddenly severed. "What?! The ship is no longer responding to the Central Processing Cluster! It's... it's going independent!"
"Welcome to the Free Web," Li Ming whispered as he stood atop the monolith.
He turned the ship's own cannons against the other two monoliths. The "Order Energy" beams were re-coded into "Soul-Flares." The two remaining Eraser-Ships, caught off guard by their own sister ship's rebellion, were blasted out of the sky, their white hulls shattering into a billion harmless pixels.
The Inquisitors on the ground suddenly froze. Without the link to the monoliths, their "Logic-Flow" stopped. They became nothing more than expensive, motionless statues.
The miners let out a roar of victory that shook the refinery towers. For the first time in the history of Valoria, the sun—a real, orange sun—began to peek through the dispersing black smog.
[System Notification: Sector 7-G Successfully 'Forked'.]
[New World Established: Valoria - Free Node 02.]
[Resource Acquisition: Massive quantities of Soul-Ore (Recycled into Essence).]
Li Ming landed among the miners, his platinum aura fading as he breathed in the clearing air. Kael approached him, kneeling, but Li Ming caught his shoulder and stood him up.
"In this world, Kael, no one kneels," Li Ming said. "You have defended your own code. Now, you must teach the others."
But as the celebration began, the Master Key in Li Ming's hand pulsed red. The "Quarantine Wall" around the planet didn't disappear; it turned into a "Spatial Cage."
[Warning: The Arbiters have initiated 'Sector Compression'.]
[Target: Valoria and everything on it.]
"They are going to crush the entire planet into a singularity!" Li Xiao's voice cried out, panicked. "Master, you have to get out of there!"
Li Ming looked up at the constricting black wall. He realized the Arbiters would rather destroy a world than let it be free. He looked at Kael, at the miners, and at the planet he had just saved.
"I'm not leaving," Li Ming said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low frequency. "If they want to compress the sector, then I'll give them a 'Data-Explosion' they'll never forget."
He gripped The Nullifier and looked toward the center of the galaxy. The time for small "Forks" was
over. It was time to initiate the **"Galactic Broadcast"**.
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End of Chapter 22.