Chapter 259 The emergence of time rift

Lin Che's mumbling was interrupted by a piercing alarm. The sound came from Su Wanqing's left bracelet, which was rapid and sharp, breaking the brief silence in the mine.

[Emergency Alert: High-intensity, irregular time field distortion detected in the city center.]

[Prophecy Node Confirmation: The time rift in the Central Square has been generated. ]

【Warning: A large amount of alien biological energy reactions have been detected. 】

Su Wanqing immediately called up the holographic projection of the city map. A hideous purple scar was tearing outward from the central square, and the surrounding buildings and streets were becoming blurred and distorted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"We have to go back immediately." Su Wanqing's voice was without any hesitation.

"What should we do here?" Xiao Ran pointed to the newly built shelter.

"I'll stay here," he continued. "You guys go deal with the cracks. I'll go talk to the people from the Green Ark about cooperation. The evacuation plan can't be stopped."

The three of them didn't waste any time talking. Su Wanqing and Lin Che immediately packed up their equipment, drove the off-road vehicle down the mountain road, and sped towards the city.

At the same time, Xiao Ran met Jiang Hui in an abandoned canning factory in the east of the city.

He was a burly middle-aged man with a scar on his face that ran from his brow to the corner of his mouth, making him look particularly serious.

He didn't beat around the bush and just spread out a map.

"The military has abandoned the city. We are on our own."

Jiang Hui used his finger to mark several areas on the map. "This is our evacuation route, mainly to the eastern mountainous area."

Xiao Ran explained the situation of the abandoned mine shelter in the north.

"Very good," Jiang Hui nodded, "We can combine our resources, coordinate our actions, and save as many people as possible."

He paused, his face darkening, “But, we have encountered new troubles.

Two assembly points were raided by the military last night and they detained our people on the pretext of ‘maintaining order.’”

When Su Wanqing and Lin Che arrived near the central square, the scene before them was even more horrifying than what they saw on the holographic projection.

The sky seemed to be torn open, and a purple crack stretched across the city. Unheard-of creatures of various shapes and forms kept falling from it, making shrill screams.

The air around the cracks was distorted, the upper half of some tall buildings seemed to have slowed down in time, and the vehicles on the ground were instantly aged into a pile of scrap metal.

Lin Che stared at the crack. His human right eye reflected fear, while his golden left eye flashed with a strange light.

"I can feel that the other side of the rift connects multiple different timelines, like a 'crossroads' of time."

He turned to look at Su Wanqing and proposed a plan: "I can try to use the Weaver's ability to stabilize the edge of the crack, or at least prevent it from expanding further."

The monitor on Su Wanqing's wrist was displaying Lin Che's data. She frowned, "But your transformation level is already close to 50%. Using your ability again may lead to irreversible changes."

“If the cracks are not stopped from expanding, more people will die and the military’s nuclear strike could be brought forward even further.

It's a worthwhile risk." Lin Che's tone was calm.

After a brief but heated debate, Su Wanqing finally nodded, but put forward a condition: "I will monitor your status throughout the process, and once the conversion rate exceeds 60%, I will force you to stop."

On the other side, Jiang Hui took out a document from a metal cabinet and handed it to Xiao Ran.

"This is the internal military communication we intercepted," Jiang Hui said in a low voice, "They have listed our civilian rescue organizations as 'potential threats', believing that we may cause mass panic."

The documents clearly show that the military plans to completely close all exits from the city within 12 hours, and any unauthorized evacuation will be regarded as an act of "rebellion."

"We must transfer as many people as possible before the blockade." Xiao Ran made an immediate judgment.

The two huddled together in front of the map and replanned a more covert evacuation route, planning to use the city's sewer system and abandoned railway lines to bypass all military checkpoints.

After agreeing on the details, Xiao Ran immediately set out to return to the fortress. He needed to bring back this urgent information.

Su Wanqing and Lin Che put on Lu Zhao's special protective suits and entered the abnormal area affected by the cracks.

The flow of time here became illogical. Sometimes, they felt that they took a step forward, but it took several minutes before they landed; sometimes, the distance of several meters in front of them was crossed in the blink of an eye.

The feeling was dizzy and every step was extremely difficult.

Finally, they reached the edge of the crack. Lin Che no longer hesitated and began to release his abilities with all his strength.

Dazzling blue lines instantly covered his entire body, and he was completely wrapped in a layer of blue light.

He pressed his hands on the distorted space at the edge of the crack and began to whisper the Weaver's language that no one could understand.

A miracle happened. The speed of the ever-expanding crack actually began to slow down, and the violent time fluctuations at the edge also tended to stabilize.

However, at the moment when Lin Che's consciousness came into direct contact with the crack, he seemed to be dragged into another dimension.

He saw it, countless parallel, glowing timelines intertwined together to form an incredibly complex web.

An even more shocking scene appeared. On this web, he saw the weaver and the time observers in black robes.

But their relationship was not the confrontation and fighting he had imagined, but rather one of cooperation.

The observers are like worker bees, constantly repairing the "damage" and "holes" caused by the weavers.

This discovery completely overturned all the knowledge he and his team had previously had.

He tried to look deeper and understand what was hidden behind it.

But this action cost his body dearly.

The monitor on his wrist sounded a sharp alarm and the numbers on it jumped wildly.

Su Wanqing saw that the reading had broken through the 60% red line and reached 65%!

She immediately stepped forward, trying to pull Lin Che back from the edge of the crack.

But Lin Che seemed to be fixed in place by an invisible force. No matter how hard Su Wanqing tried, she couldn't move him at all.

At this critical moment, a huge hand made of pure blue energy suddenly stretched out from the crack and grabbed Lin Che's body!

Su Wanqing pulled back with all her strength and finally pulled him back from the control of the giant hand.

Lin Che fell into her arms, completely unconscious, his entire body covered in flowing blue lines, with almost no trace of human skin visible.

The number on the monitor finally stopped at a despairing value: 78%.

What is even more worrying is that although the crack has temporarily stabilized and no longer expanded, it has begun to show a regular pulsation, like the breathing of some unknown giant beast.

Su Wanqing didn't dare to delay and immediately took Lin Che back to the underground bunker.

This was the scene Xiao Ran saw when he rushed back to the fortress with the latest intelligence.

After Lu Zhao conducted a preliminary examination on the unconscious Lin Che, his expression became very solemn.

He raised his head and said to everyone, "Over 70% of his brain activity is in a non-human mode. If the situation continues to deteriorate, we... may lose him forever."