Traces of dark blue condensate still lingered on the metal floor of the Entropy Balance Center. The spiral mark on Lin Yue's back, momentarily silent after resonating with the Order Core, still beat like a dormant heart every seven seconds. Lu Li's golden code wove a spiderweb-like defense matrix across her skin. Each time the mark pulsed, the code emitted dazzling arcs of light—dark purple energy attempting to penetrate the cracks in the matrix, transforming her cells into anchor points for spacetime coordinates.

"The defense matrix can only hold out for seventy-two hours." Lu Li knelt on one knee, code seeping out from the cracks in his armor, outlining the star track of the Ancient God spitted out by the calico cat on the ground. "The coordinates of the Observer Legacy are at the edge of the dark matter nebula in the Orion Arm, but the curvature of spacetime there will distort all conventional jump signals." He ran his fingertips across the star map, and an area corroded by chaotic energy suddenly lit up red. "The calico cat's star track points here, but the records of the first generation of guardians show that this area was engulfed by the entropy storm three hundred years ago."

The calico cat curled up at Lin Yue's feet, the gears in its mechanical chest making a soft click. It suddenly leaped up, its claws smacking at the star map Lu Li had drawn. The area marked by red light suddenly began to reveal a gear-like pattern, identical to the structure of the Core of Order. "Meow!" The kitten's whiskers erupted, and sparks flew from the remains of its gear collar, burning a crack in the chaotic energy on the star map. "The Observer... is hidden within the gears."

Lin Yue clenched the memory gear fiercely. A faint light seeped through the cracks on its surface, projecting a fragmented image: a silver-haired Guardian embedding a gear-shaped crystal into the coordinate hub of a dark matter nebula. The crystal's surface was engraved with flowing ancient divine script, each line absorbing the surrounding entropic energy. "This is the 'Order Anchor,'" she said, as the thread of time penetrated the gear's core. Fragments of the first Guardian's memory exploded. "The Observer used it to record the data of the entrance beyond the rift, but it requires a specific frequency of resonance to activate."

Before she could finish her words, the mark on Lin Yue's back suddenly erupted with a sharp cry. Dark purple tentacles emerged from beneath her skin, wrapping around the memory gears and attempting to drag them into the rift between time and space. Lu Li's code transformed into chains, wrapping around her wrists, but they broke apart under the corrosive energy of the tentacles. The calico cat suddenly opened its mouth and sucked in the remains of the gear collar. Its mechanical body expanded again, and blue light shone from the clenching of its gear teeth. "Use my core... to overload the mark!"

The moment the blue light and dark purple energy collided, Lin Yue's thread of time pierced his palm. Blood dripped onto the memory gears, which suddenly reversed their rotation, replaying a forgotten scene: the Observer stood before the Nexus of the Dark Matter Nebula, binding the Order Anchor to his consciousness and then detonating the surrounding entropy storm. "They're not trying to destroy the Nexus," Lin Yue said, the star map spinning violently in his eyes. "They're using the storm to disguise the Order Anchor as Chaos debris!"

Lu Li's code instantly locked onto the coordinates within the cracks in the star map. "The nebula's entropy storm persists, but the frequency of the Order Anchor can create a safe passage." He injected the final stabilizing code into the calico cat. The mechanical beast's gear heart hummed, resonating with the memory gears. A miniature stargate unfolded in the void. Beyond it lay not a dark matter nebula, but a metallic space dotted with countless gear debris. The Order Anchor, suspended in the center, was covered in cracks, and the ancient divine script was gradually eroded by the chaotic energy.

"Quick! The Mark is interfering with the Stargate!" Lu Li pushed Lin Yue into the Stargate, only to be pulled toward the fissure in the Entropy Core by a powerful suction force. A giant dark purple claw emerged from the crack and grasped the shoulder of his armor, corrosive energy spreading along the metal lines. Lin Yue turned to rescue him, but saw the calico cat suddenly explode into a rain of gears, each engraved with the memory symbol of the First Guardian, and they shot towards the giant claw like a barrage of bullets.

"Go!" Lu Li's code transformed into a blade of light, severing the giant claws. The stargate closed behind him. Lin Yue fell beside the Order Anchor. The moment the thread of time touched the crystal's surface, all the ancient divine texts transformed into streams of light and poured into her consciousness. She witnessed the forgotten twilight of the universe: when the giant eye in the primordial sea opened, countless space-time anchors replicated across the multiverse like a virus. Observers used the Order Anchor to record the frequency of the entrance, attempting to forge an "anti-entropy key" from the chaos.

"The key is made of... the resonance of the observer's consciousness fragments and the Order Anchor." Lin Yue's voice trembled. The memory gears resonated with the Order Anchor, and a shadowy key composed of light fragments floated out of the cracks. But at this moment, the star map space shook violently. Dark purple tentacles emerged from the cracks in the ground and wrapped around the key. The shadowy claw pierced through space and slammed into Lin Yue's shoulder. The mark on her back suddenly erupted with a strong light, shaking all the tentacles into data streams.

"Is the seal protecting the key?" Lu Li's voice echoed from the crack in the stargate. His code was battling the claw's energy. "The first guardians designed the seal to be a container for the key!" Lin Yue suddenly realized and pressed the memory gear into the core of the Order Anchor. Seventeen-colored gems and golden code simultaneously injected energy, and the shadow of the key solidified in the light stream. The surface was engraved with flowing ancient divine characters, each stroke absorbing the surrounding chaotic energy.

But just as the key was about to take shape, the star map suddenly collapsed. Dark purple energy surged in like a tide, scattering the key into tiny fragments of light. Lin Yue instinctively reached out to grasp it, but felt the mark on her back pulsating violently—all the light fragments transformed into tiny streams, seeping into her body along the mark. Lu Li broke through the star gate and grabbed her wrist. The three of them fell through the collapsing space, eventually landing in a nebula of floating gear debris.

"The key... is within me." Lin Yue panted, the star map beneath her eyes resonating with the mark, each marker pointing to the fragments of light within her body. The calico cat transformed back into its kitten form, and the remains of the gear collar fell into her palm, suddenly emitting a faint blue light, resonating with the fragments of the key within her body. A crack suddenly appeared in the dark matter nebula in the distance, and a fragment of metal plate floated out of the crack. On it was engraved half of the star map and a line of ancient divine characters: "The Observer's Legacy, in the Resonance of the Gears."

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