MTLNOVEL Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The Entropy Core of the Antarctic Ice Dome
Antarctica, Lake Vostok, 1967. Alison through the metal corridors of a Soviet research station, her cold-weather suit coated in frost from the temporal blade. Silver marrow core particles began oozing from her left retina—after the pocket watch's meltdown, part of its energy had backlashed into her biological nerves. Soviet scientists paced the lab, "neural anchors" of the embryo implanted in their ,incantations squirming beneath the skin like capillaries.
"Dr. Jones, welcome to our 'Ice Layer Laboratory'." A Soviet scientist with goggles suddenly turned, his Adam's apple splitting as embryonic tentacles wrapped in Russian incantations surged forth. "The KGB has long known your identity—Gorbachev's traitor, a spy colluding with the embryo!"
Alison activated the watch's new ability—temporal mirror replication. Three identical mirror clones collapsed from the void, each with independent existence values, but any damage to the clones would inversely erode the original. She formed a nanoscopic serum barrier while the clones launched temporal blades simultaneously, slicing through the lab's lead-alloy walls to reveal the embryonic neural hub beneath the ice.
"Cost: existence value reduced by 2%." Alison's consciousness split across the mirrors as an arc burn from the clones' battle appeared on her original left arm. Cursed bullets fired by embryo puppets pierced the nanobarrier, shattering her right knee. The serum regeneration system frantically drained countdown energy—each 1% injury healed consumed an extra 1% existence.
Deep in the ice dome, Charles' hologram materialized in the glow of hydrogen bomb fission energy. "Welcome, Alison. The entropy core I buried in Antarctica's ice awaits your 'marrow energy' to complete the rebirth ritual—every embryo puppet you kill feeds its entropy into my crystal."
The neural hub's structure was : Giant crystal veins coiled around a Soviet-era hydrogen bomb core, incantation neural tentacles piercing the ice like blood vessels to connect the global parasite coordinate network. Alison discovered the hub's core embedded a "temporal anchor"—Charles had formed a closed loop between the Antarctic entropy core and the 1955 Moscow archive marrow anchor, constructing a "rebirth circuit for the temporal matrix".
"Must destroy the anchor, but embryo puppets are reconstructing the H-bomb fission program!" Mirror clones shouted from different ice dome quadrants, their bodies crystallizing—below 5% existence, mirrors would collapse automatically, inflicting double erosion on the original.
Alison injected serum into the temporal blade, stabbing it into a puppet scientist's skull. Embryo fragments shrieked, releasing a "neural corrosion wave" that dissolved the clones' right arms and vanished the original's right ear auditory nerve in the mirror, existence value plummeting to 18%. Gritting her teeth, she activated a second wave of mirror replication, dropping existence by another 4% for new clones, but tactical advantage surged—four clones cut incantation veins from all sides as the original charged the core.
"The entropy core is devouring global nuclear missile fission energy!" The watch's spirit warned in her mind. "Charles' rebirth countdown has only 48 hours left—fail to sever the temporal anchor, and the embryo will hosts across all historical timelines!"
Alison formed a microscopic serum probe, stabbing it into the anchor's quantum interface. The anchor erupted in a mirror storm, sucking her into memories of the 1955 Moscow marrow anchor: When Gorbachev destroyed the marrow in the archive, Charles had already implanted the entropy core loop into the temporal structure, waiting for Alison's revenge to become the "rebirth catalyst".
"Every resistance weaves my rebirth's tapestry!" Charles' hologram laughed in the memory storm as the embryonic crystal began fissioning, ice dome temperature plummeting to absolute zero. All clones froze, existence value dropping to 12%.
She activated the watch's final marrow resonance, her original body crystallizing from the fingertips. Serum fused with the temporal blade, unleashing silver-snake resonance waves to sever the anchor-core connection. The embryonic crystal wailed as the global parasite network lit red on the coordinate screen—Charles' rebirth plan was temporarily frozen.
The cost was : Alison's existence value hit zero, her body collapsing into sand in the ice dome. Yet new marrow energy oozed from the watch's dial cracks—the embryo's entropy feedback mechanism activated again, countdown rebounding to 15%. As sand ,her left arm retained all clones' death scars: vanished auditory nerve, hollow right knee, marrow-veined left retina.
"My rebirth is delayed, not ended!" Charles' fragments hissed in the ice dome. "The Antarctic entropy core has absorbed enough fission energy. Next time, the embryo will descend as the complete temporal matrix—you, Alison, will be my first host."
Alison picked up the reconstructing watch, new coordinates emerging: a British underwater nuclear dock where the embryo's "neural seeding pod" was hatching. She injected serum into the core, liquid gold repairing cracks as existence slowly rose to 20%.