I will burn books and slay gods.

Chen Ye lay in the medical room for two whole days.

When I woke up, my first feeling was "emptiness".

It wasn't physical weakness, but a void in consciousness. It was like a room filled with books being emptied, leaving only the echoes of the walls.

He tried to recall his cognitive blueprint, but the model in his mind became blurry.

Of the original eight anchor symbols, only four remain, still faintly glowing: the light core representing the self, the "book" card representing the foundation of knowledge, the "hand" card representing emotional connection, and the recently acquired "bridge" card.

The other four—including the "Heartbeat" card used to construct the laws—were as dim as extinguished ashes.

"Cognitive overdraft".

Old Li sat on a chair by the bed, twirling a screwdriver in his hand. "You went too far. Constructing temporary laws is a technique only A-level ability users can attempt, and you dared to use it right after you lit up your light core."

Chen Ye wanted to speak, but his throat was so dry that he couldn't make a sound.

Lin Su handed him a glass of warm water, which he sipped slowly, and he felt a little better.

"What about the others?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Lin Su said. He looked a little tired, but his overall condition was much better than Chen Ye's. "Wang Xiaoming's causal overload needs time to sort out, but it didn't damage the root cause. As for me... I'm just exhausted."

Chen Ye noticed a new bandage wrapped around her right wrist. "Your hand..."

"I was burned by the backlash of concepts when I forcibly extinguished the flames," Lin Su said calmly. "It's a minor injury; it'll heal in a few days."

Old Li stood up and walked to the medical equipment to check the data: "Your soul fire has stabilized, but the concentration of karmic fog is still very high. The most important thing is the damage to your cognitive blueprint... This cannot be cured by medicine; it needs time to repair itself."

"How long?" Chen Ye asked.

"It depends. A few weeks for a short time, a long time..." Old Li didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

Chen Ye closed his eyes. A few weeks? The Order's Thunderstorm Operation was imminent; they didn't have a few weeks.

"The core of the signal center has been destroyed, but the cult certainly has a backup plan."

The instructor, holding a tablet, entered the medical room. "The 'Blinds' have detected an abnormal increase in conceptual fluctuations at three other locations in the city over the past forty-eight hours. The cult is accelerating."

She pulled up a map, and three red dots flashed: the sewage treatment plant to the north, the old TV tower to the west, and... the municipal children's hospital to the south.

"Children's Hospital?" Chen Ye sat up.

"Yes." Instructor Gui said seriously, "This is the most troublesome. The first two are infrastructure, which we can attack head-on. But the hospital has over two hundred inpatients, as well as medical staff and their families. If a battle breaks out there..."

The consequences could be disastrous.

"The religious group chose that location because they knew we wouldn't dare to act rashly," Old Li said. "Using children as hostages, those bastards."

Silence fell over the medical room. A faint rumble of thunder came from outside the window; the thunderstorm predicted in the weather forecast was approaching.

"How much time do we have left?" Chen Ye asked.

"Based on the energy accumulation rate, the peak of the thunderstorm will be reached after the 48th day has passed. The cult is most likely to activate all three nodes at that time."

Instructor Gui said, "Headquarters has mobilized Night Watchmen from surrounding cities for support, but the main force will take at least 24 hours to arrive. In other words, we need to formulate an action plan and begin execution within 16 hours."

Sixteen hours.

Chen Ye looked at his still slightly trembling hands. He couldn't even fully mobilize his cognitive blueprint; how could he fight?

"My abilities..." he said with difficulty, "can they be restored?"

Old Li and the ruler instructor exchanged a glance.

"There's a way, but it's very risky," Old Li said slowly. "The damage to the cognitive blueprint is essentially damage to the 'cognitive structure.' Conventional repair relies on self-awareness to slowly rebuild it, like a wound healing. But if we use external forces to accelerate it..."

"What external force?"

"Conceptual resonance," Instructor Guichi continued, "Find someone with a similar cognitive structure to you, establish a deep conceptual connection, and use their cognitive framework as a template to help you quickly rebuild the blueprint."

"Who are we looking for?" Chen Ye had barely asked the question when he realized the answer.

All eyes in the room were on Lin Su.

"Chen Ye and I... have similar cognitive structures?" Lin Su frowned.

"It's not similar, it's complementary," Old Li explained. "Your 'Nirvana Fire' is an emotion-driven ability, while Chen Ye's 'Sword in the Book' is a rational one. But your core—the will to protect—is the same. Like two sides of a sword, one sharp, the other resilient."

He looked at Chen Ye: "Moreover, you have fought together many times and have already established a basic conceptual connection."

"While you were unconscious, Lin Su's flames spontaneously formed a protective circulation around you, which indicates that there is a natural resonance between your cognitive fields."

Chen Ye looked at Lin Su. She was also looking at him, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"What are the risks?" Lin Su asked.

"Two." Instructor Marks held up a finger. "First, if the process gets out of control, it could contaminate both of you—Chen Ye's rational structure might erode your emotional drive, and your passion might burn down his knowledge framework."

"Secondly, there's a deeper risk... Resonance can expose each other's most core cognitive privacy. You'll see Chen Ye's deepest memories and beliefs, and he'll see yours too."

The room was so quiet that the rhythmic ticking of the medical equipment could be heard.

"I accept," Lin Su said.

"Lin Su—" Chen Ye wanted to say something.

"There's no time," Lin Su interrupted him, her tone calm but firm. "We need to move out in sixteen hours. You need to recover your fighting strength. And if something really happens at the hospital, we need all the resources we can."

She looked at the instructor, who was in charge of measuring the ruler: "How exactly do I do it?"

The resonance ceremony was held in a deep, quiet room at the Night's Watch headquarters.

This is a room completely isolated from external conceptual interference. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all covered with absorbent material, and there is only a white platform in the center.

Chen Ye and Lin Su Mian sat facing each other on the platform, about a meter apart.

Both of them changed into simple white training suits, with sensors attached to their bodies to monitor vital signs and consciousness fluctuations.

Old Li and Instructor Guidance monitored the entire process from the observation room, through one-way glass and instruments.

Wang Xiaoming was also there, and his presence was somewhat restored; he was now nervously watching the screen.

"Remember," Old Li said through the communicator, "resonance isn't about how things are done, it's about learning from each other. You need to maintain clear personal boundaries, and only temporarily use each other's cognitive structures as a reference."

"Chen Ye, you need to use Lin Su's flame framework as 'scaffolding' to rebuild your own blueprint. Lin Su, you need to hold onto your core and not be led astray by Chen Ye's rationality."

The two nodded.

"Let's begin."