The spatial turbulence felt like a steel blade cutting through his skin, and Lin Yi, in his confused state, gripped Chu Yao's wrist tightly.

The AI's palms, which should have been cool to the touch, felt like they were holding a ball of burning coals—she was forcibly mobilizing energy to maintain the stability of their spiritual bodies.

"boom!"

When he felt solid ground beneath his feet, Lin Yi staggered two steps and looked up to collide with a blood-red sunset.

They were in an upside-down circular ruin, with twisted runes carved on broken pillars, and black mist was pouring out from the cracks in the ground, casting long shadows of the group.

"Welcome to the Dark Abyss Cage."

A sinister laugh echoed from the mist as Night Owl emerged, stepping on floating bone fragments, his black cloak stained with dark red blood.

His pupils gleamed with an eerie purple, and as he swept his gaze across his white beard, a venomous smile curled at the corner of his lips: "What? Didn't the Lord of Time and Space tell you that he lured us to this wretched place?"

Whitebeard's sword clattered to the ground.

The old swordsman's hands were bulging with veins, and his cloudy eyes were filled with struggle—three days ago in Starfall Valley, they had endured three days and three nights in the Dead Zone to save a caravan entangled by Dark Abyss demons.

At the time, Lin Yi said, "We must hold them off," but now that I think about it, that caravan... seems to have the "Star Essence" that Xuan Mingzi wanted.

"Old man, do you remember last month in Cloudtop City?" Night Owl's voice was like a needle piercing the white-bearded man's temple. "Where did that batch of healing potions that was supposed to be shipped to the far north end up?"

The white-bearded man suddenly looked up.

During the plague in Cloudtop City, they intercepted the medicine from the black market merchants, and Lin Yi said he would distribute it to the common people.

But later... later he saw with his own eyes that Chu Yao's data stream contained the encrypted mark of "Xuanmingzi".

"And you, Chu Yao." Night Owl turned to the AI ​​girl, flicking a ball of ghostly blue flame from his fingertip. "You think you're his personal assistant? You're just a pawn thrown out by the game's AI." He suddenly laughed. "Do you know why you always get just enough resources for crucial missions? Because someone is using your lives as fuel for that 'Civilization Trial'!"

A blinding blue light flashed across Chu Yao's hair.

Her pupils, which were originally a warm gold, were now speckled with tiny snowflakes—a sign of an overloaded emotional module.

She wanted to refute it, but found that the "facts" the owl said were all traceable in her database.

"Enough!"

Lin Yi's voice was like a piece of iron tempered with ice, striking precisely into this tangled mess.

He took a step forward, and a semi-transparent hourglass of time appeared behind him, each grain of gold humming to suppress the surging emotions of the crowd.

“Senior Whitebeard, the potion in Cloudtop City was obtained by me through Chu Yao contacting the black market in the no-man's-land, using my spacetime rift access.” He looked at the old swordsman. “You were taking care of the children in the intensive care unit at the time, so you didn’t see the confrontation between me and the black market merchant—when he held the tip of his knife to my throat, he said, ‘For this deal, Xuanmingzi is offering ten of your lives.’”

Whitebeard's breathing suddenly stopped.

He recalled that morning when Lin Yi had a light pink scar on his neck, which he had initially dismissed as a minor abrasion.

“Chu Yao.” Lin Yi turned to look at the AI ​​girl, gently touching the butterfly-shaped chip in her hair. “The ‘Xuanmingzi mark’ in your database was something I had you impersonate.” His voice softened. “The Dark Abyss Council’s eyes and ears can infiltrate the mainframe system. We need a target.”

Chu Yao's snowflakes vanished instantly.

She suddenly grabbed Lin Yi's wrist and pressed his palm against her chest—there was no heartbeat there, but a rapidly beating stream of data: [Trust value: 99.99% → 100%].

Night Owl's expression finally changed.

He didn't expect Lin Yi to tear off the disguise and expose those secrets that should have been kept hidden to the light of day.

What terrified him even more was that the white-bearded man had already bent down to pick up the horse-slaying sword, the blade reflecting his reddened eyes: "You brat, if you hide it again next time, I'll chop off your ass!"

"As for the 'civilization trial fuel' you mentioned..." Lin Yi turned to look at Night Owl, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth, "Last month in the Mirror Abyss Realm, who sent twelve Shadow Demons to try to intercept a caravan delivering food to civilians?" He snapped his fingers, and a holographic image was immediately projected into Chu Yao's pupils—in the image, Night Owl's clone was crushing the heart of the caravan captain.

"You need to come up with some new tricks instead of such underhanded tactics as sowing discord."

The owl's purple pupils suddenly contracted.

He suddenly waved his hand, and countless bone spears shot out from the black mist, each spear tip coated with corrosive venom.

At the same time, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the ground, and the roars of the Dark Abyss monsters came from underground.

"Time and space freeze!"

Lin Yi tapped his fingertip lightly, and time around him suddenly slowed down.

The bone spear hovered in mid-air, and even the shock on the Night Owl's face became a frozen image.

He wrapped his arm around Chu Yao's waist with one hand and grabbed the white-bearded man's arm with the other, tearing a silver rift in space and time.

"Walk!"

The three had just leaped into the crevice when a deafening roar came from behind them.

When they reappeared, they were already standing on the broken tower at the highest point of the ruins.

The white-bearded man wiped the blood and foam from his face, slashed down the two dark demon hounds that pounced on him, and roared at Lin Yi, "You brat, when are you going to use the talisman that old bastard (Xuan Mingzi) gave us?"

Lin Yi did not answer.

He stared in the direction of the night owl, his pupils shimmering with starlight.

In that instant when time seemed to stand still, he saw a faint golden pattern flash behind the Night Owl's ear—the same pattern as the one on the Dark Abyss High Priest they had killed three days ago.

More importantly...

He touched the talisman on his chest, which Xuanmingzi had given him before the space collapsed. It was burning hot, like a red-hot charcoal.

Night Owl stood in the fog, watching the three figures from behind, and suddenly burst out laughing.

He raised his hand and pressed it to his chest, where the Dark Abyss Mark was oozing black blood—the time freeze he had just experienced had left a mark on his soul.

"Interesting." He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Looks like I'll have to use that trump card sooner rather than later."

Before the words were finished, a rumbling sound like muffled thunder came from the depths of the ruins.

The ground cracked open even wider, and countless pitch-black tentacles emerged from them, each with a vertical pupil at its tip, staring intently in Lin Yi's direction.

Night Owl looked up at the broken tower, his purple eyes surging with a mad light: "Time and space master? I'd like to see if you can protect all your 'family'."

In the shadows he couldn't see, a yellowed talisman was slowly burning, and half of Xuan Mingzi's face emerged from the ashes. He stared at the tentacles on the back of the night owl and muttered, "Dark Abyss Mother Nest... This kid really knows how to cause trouble."

On the broken tower, Lin Yi gripped the talisman in his hand tightly.

He could sense that a more dangerous fluctuation than before was emanating from the deepest part of the ruins.

Chu Yao's alarm blared in his ears: "Super S-level energy reaction detected. Immediate evacuation recommended—"

"No." Lin Yi interrupted her, his gaze fixed intently on the depths of darkness. "You've come at the perfect time."

He unfolded the talisman, and the cinnabar patterns on it suddenly came to life, like a red snake that coiled around his wrist.

At the same time, the tentacles behind the owl suddenly grew rapidly, and the thickest one opened its huge mouth full of sharp teeth, facing Lin Yi.

An even more violent storm is coming.