Chapter 101 Guidance

The jeep sped across the Gobi Desert, its wheels rolling over the rough sand and gravel, raising a cloud of dim dust.

Xiaobai held the steering wheel with one hand and placed the other hand on the car window, squinting at the distorted horizon in the distance.

"The magnetic field interference is getting stronger." Tang Jingmo stared at the military compass in his hand. The needle was spinning wildly, as if it was torn apart by an invisible force.

Before he could finish his words, the sky in the distance suddenly darkened, and a wall of sand that blocked out the sun advanced towards them at an alarming speed.

That was no ordinary sandstorm—an eerie blue light flickered among the sand, like billions of fireflies dancing wildly in the storm.

"Hold on tight!" Xiaobai slammed the steering wheel and the car made a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding a sudden crack in the ground.

The sandstorm came crashing down, and visibility instantly dropped to zero. The car windows were crackling with the sand and gravel, and the car body was shaking violently, as if it would be torn apart in the next second.

Tang Jingmo grabbed Xiaobai and protected her under him. At the same time, a muffled "bang" sound came from the roof of the car.

Something fell on the car.

The sandstorm suddenly stopped, as if the pause button was pressed.

Xiaobai pushed Tang Jingmo away, and the saber had already slipped into her palm. She slowly rolled down the window, and her pupils suddenly contracted——

There was a "person" squatting on the roof of the car.

No, that's not a human being.

Its body is made up of sand particles, and flowing on its surface is an energy source identical to that of the S01 ring.

The featureless face slowly turned towards them, with the neck twisted into an incredible angle.

"Subject S-01, you are late." Its voice was like the hissing of millions of grains of sand rubbing against each other.

Tang Jingmo had his gun pointed at its "head" and asked coldly, "Who sent you here?"

The sandman's grin cracked open, as if he was laughing: "The observer is waiting for you."

Suddenly, it exploded into countless grains of sand, which reassembled into a line of floating text in the air:

【Coordinates: 40.2°N, 93.5°E】

The writing lasted for two seconds before disintegrating, and the sand fell to the ground, leaving no trace.

The coordinates point to a protruding black rock mountain deep in the Gobi Desert.

The two approached on foot and found a metal door hidden at the bottom of the mountain, with a pattern etched on the door that was exactly the same as the S01 ring.

As soon as Xiaobai touched the door, the entire rock mountain suddenly shook—

The door opened, but what was inside was not a cave at all, but an upside-down metal city.

Streets, buildings, vehicles...all are suspended on the "ceiling" in defiance of gravity, as if they are the ones standing upside down.

The air was filled with the smell of ozone and the low hum of machinery could be heard in the distance.

"Space folding technology..." Tang Jingmo's voice tightened, "This is not something that humans can build."

Xiao Bai stared at the S01 ring that was shaking in his palm and sneered, "It seems that the Observer has prepared a VIP sightseeing channel for us."

The entire upside-down metal city suddenly lit up, and dazzling blue light burst out from the surface of the building, like an awakened giant beast opening millions of eyes.

The air twisted and vibrated in the energy field, emitting a high-frequency hum, like some ancient alarm.

At the end of the street, space suddenly tore apart, and a holographic projection slowly condensed into shape.

It was a "person" wearing a white robe, with a body so slender that it was almost inhuman, and his face was obscured by a flowing halo, with only a crystal badge pinned to his left chest.

Inside the badge, a three-dimensional image of the earth is suspended in a transparent cube, rotating slowly, like a carefully sealed specimen.

"Welcome home, Subject S-01."

Its sound is like the superposition of tens of millions of electronic sounds, both distant and close at hand.

The moment his arms were spread out, the blue light of the entire city pulsated, as if responding to some kind of ritual.

Behind it, a metal hatch slid open silently, revealing a deep passage inside. A line of small words was etched on the hatch:

Project Lazarus

——The symbol of Dr. He, the retrospective plan that once tried to save the end of the world with a time machine.

The moment the hatch was fully opened, dazzling blue light gushed out like a tide, stretching Xiaobai's shadow to the point of distortion.

Mechanical sounds rang out from all directions, cold and without a single ups and downs:

"Welcome back, Subject S-01."

Xiaobai's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle tip.

The severe pain came without warning, and she pressed hard on her temples, her nails digging deep into the skin.

Fragments of memory rushed into my mind like a flood.

She saw herself floating naked in the incubator, with countless tubes connected to her spine.

Dr. He's face swayed outside the cabin. She held a pulsating blue crystal in her hand and stuffed it into her chest like a tool.

Dr. Chen smashed the console in anger, and glass fragments scratched her cheek, but there was no bleeding.

Finally, the observer's cold voice sounded like a judgement:

"The ninth fragment is not an object, but you - the last space-time anchor."

Tang Jingmo held on to the staggering Xiaobai, his palm touching the skin on the back of her neck - it was so hot that it almost burned his fingers.

The lines of the S01 ring were spreading up her spine, like something alive eating away at her body.

"I see..." Xiaobai looked up while panting. The golden light in his eyes had covered his entire pupils, and his voice was filled with an unprecedented chill.

"They don't just 'observe' humans."

She stared at the white-robed projection, a nearly ferocious smile forming at the corner of her mouth:

"They treat 'Earth' as ​​a playground, and playing until the end of the world is GAME OVER!"

"But they don't want the game to end here, so they want to change the course of history, and my body is the key to restart!"

The holographic screen inside the metal hatch suddenly lit up, showing a series of creepy operation logs:

[Player: Observer No. 7]

[Current round: 127th reset]

[Win rate: 0%]

[This experimental subject: S-01 (optimized version)]

"Do you understand?" Xiaobai's voice suddenly became unusually calm. "We are not even NPCs. We are just props in the game."

She waved her hand to call up a video: countless Earths in parallel time and space were arranged in the darkness, each marked with the word "abandoned" in red.

And the time and space they are in is being marked as the "final round".

"The observer made a mistake."

Xiaobai threw out the vines, which turned into sharp blades and dug out the SO1 ring bit by bit. "They forgot that once the game character awakens, it will become a virus."

"No!" Tang Jingmo covered her hand with heartache.

"No pain, this thing is a bug!"

"No, what if I hurt you..." Tang Jingmo hugged Xiaobai tightly, hoping she would calm down, "I don't want to lose you!"

Xiaobai slowly calmed down in her arms, and at this moment, strange changes began to appear on Xiaobai's skin.

Tang Jingmo saw the hidden code left by Dr. He emerging from under her skin - it was an ancient binary declaration, and the date showed that it was engraved into her core program on the eve of the apocalypse.

"This is the real ninth fragment." Xiaobai's golden pupils began to bleed. "It's not a time-space anchor point, but... a resistance program."