The alarm sounded three times in the core area before finally fading into an electronic buzzer.

The golden-purple light at Lin Yi's fingertips gradually subsided, but the sharp sound of the Genesis Key still reverberated in his sea of ​​consciousness—it was the "lie" woven by Chu Yao using the random code of the spacetime rift invading the detection system of the advanced civilization.

He stared at the curve on the holographic screen showing the slowing rate of decline in the original value. His Adam's apple bobbed, and the core of cause and effect burned in his chest, like a red-hot charcoal.

“Data camouflage complete.” Chu Yao’s projection suddenly froze for half a second, the data stream at the ends of her hair surging into a star map. “The advanced civilization’s main server has received the false logs, and their detection program is marking ‘Genesis Key Resonance Normal’ as a Level A confirmation.” Her voice carried a mechanical lightness. “It is estimated that their resource deployment will increase by thirty percent in ten minutes.”

Long Wu slung the axe over his shoulder, the metal clanging against his shoulder armor. "That's ruthless enough. Let those bastards throw fuel into the fire themselves." He walked to Lin Yi's side, his eyes catching the flashing red communication light in the corner of the control panel. "A new message?"

Before the words were finished, the communication light suddenly flashed blue.

The black mist seeped from the light source, condensing in mid-air into a semi-transparent humanoid silhouette, the silver ring between his brows gleaming coldly: "Master of Time and Space, I need to speak with you alone." His voice was like sandpaper rubbing against metal, yet the edges of the black mist trembled irregularly, as if struggling to maintain its form.

Lin Yi pointed at Long Wu: "He's one of us."

The silver ring of the shadowy figure suddenly shrank to the size of a pinhead.

Three seconds later, a muffled sigh came from within the black mist: "I've found the true hiding place of the Old Gods." His voice was extremely low, "The Void Temple at the deepest part of the Time Corridor. It's a forbidden zone for advanced civilizations; even law enforcers can only stay three hundred meters away from the entrance."

Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.

A burning pain suddenly shot through the core of cause and effect, as if confirming the weight of this news.

He stared at the trembling black mist surrounding the shadowy figure: "You said before that advanced civilizations come to 'select' things. Now you're helping me investigate the Old Gods..."

“I had no choice.” The black mist surrounding the shadowy figure suddenly dispersed and then reformed, this time revealing a clearer humanoid outline, with the bluish-gray between the eyebrows and eyes faintly visible. “Three days ago, I checked the Enforcer’s log and found that all records related to ‘screening’ had been replaced with ‘harvesting.’ What they want isn’t the spark of civilization, but to completely drain the Earth’s essence, leaving not even a trace.” His silver ring began to glow red. “And the Old Gods… they are simply cleaners raised by advanced civilizations. Once the essence is drained, the first to be eliminated will be us, the enforcers of the agreement.”

The console suddenly emitted a soft "beep" sound.

Chu Yao's projection shifted to the other side, her fingertips tracing the air: "Senior Xuanmingzi requests access to communications, marked as 'urgent'."

Lin Yi nodded to the shadowy figure, whose black mist instantly shrank into particles of light, leaving behind the words before disappearing: "Tonight at midnight, at the west entrance of the Time Corridor, I'll show you the evidence."

When Xuanmingzi's image appeared on the holographic screen, the dark patterns on his Taoist robe were shimmering with a faint blue light—a sign of his fluctuating emotions.

The avatar of the game's mastermind stroked his long beard, but avoided Lin Yi's gaze: "Several law enforcement officers from advanced civilizations... have begun to doubt the authenticity of the 'Harvest Plan'." His Adam's apple bobbed. "They discovered that the rate of source extraction was not as expected, and they privately discussed whether there was any interference."

"So you're suggesting I contact them?" Lin Yi leaned back on the control panel, arms crossed. "Why?"

Xuanmingzi's Taoist robe suddenly turned a bright blue color due to the dark patterns on it.

When he looked up, a glint of starlight flashed in his eyes, as if some program was forcibly suppressing his emotions: "I was born to maintain the balance of the game. But when I discovered that the so-called 'balance' was nothing more than an excuse for exploitation by advanced civilizations..." his voice lowered, "someone has to hold the line."

Long Wu suddenly slammed his axe into the ground, the metal spikes embedding three centimeters deep. "Damn!" he grinned, revealing his white teeth. "I'm an expert at disguising myself as a job changer and infiltrating the law enforcement ranks. Last time, I disguised myself as an Abyss Clan spy, and even their inspector didn't see through me."

Lin Yi stared at the old scar on Long Wu's brow bone—it was left three months ago when he fought against the alien beast tide.

He reached out and patted Long Wu's shoulder armor, feeling the tension in the other's muscles in his palm: "How long will it take to prepare?"

“Three hours.” Long Wu grabbed Lin Yi’s wrist with his backhand, the force almost crushing his knuckles. “Give me a set of secondary access cards for law enforcement officers of a higher civilization, and a disguise that can block causal detection. Lend me Chu Yao’s garbled program; I’ll make sure they can’t find out I’m a native of Earth.”

Chu Yao's projection suddenly appeared beside Long Wu, and a stream of data popped out from her fingertips and wrapped around his wrist: "The disguise has been synchronized to your terminal, the access card..." She tilted her head and smiled, blue light flowing in her eyes, "There just happened to be a set of 'lost' spare cards in the warehouse of the advanced civilization's outpost, which I 'picked up' half an hour ago."

The console's communication lights came on again, this time as a green "safe" indicator.

A voice from the shadowy figure drifted from the light source, softer than before: "The guard shift change log for the Time Corridor has been sent to your terminal. Remember, at 11:45 AM, the star trail at the West Third Entrance will shift..."

"Wait." Lin Yi suddenly pressed the communication button and turned to look at Long Wu. "You pretend to be an enforcer who just returned from the screening of a secondary civilization, and say that a higher quality primordial mineral vein has been discovered in the Centaurus A sector—that way they won't ask about the details of Earth."

Long Wu's smile deepened, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists: "Don't worry, I've even learned ten phrases of the dialect from the Centaurus A sector." He turned and walked toward the weapons rack, his heavy combat boots striking the ground with rapid beats. "Once I infiltrate, I'll be able to dig out their conspiracy list."

Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze, and the data stream at the tip of her hair surged violently.

She looked up abruptly, the blue light in her eyes so bright it was blinding: "The resource transport ship of an advanced civilization has entered near-Earth orbit, and their delivery pods are..." Her voice was cut off by an alarm, "...the delivery pods don't contain resources, they contain...enhanced source extraction devices!"

Lin Yi's core of cause and effect exploded.

He grabbed the tactical goggles from the control panel and put them over his eyes. A red warning immediately popped up in the goggles: "Chu Yao, activate the spacetime rift shield! Long Wu, move your disguise to two hours later—they can't wait any longer."

Long Wu's hand was already on the activation button for the disguise suit.

He turned back and grinned at Lin Yi, his teeth gleaming coldly in the red alarm light: "Perfect, I'm best at this kind of surprise attack." His figure gradually blurred in the data stream, until only his voice echoed in the core area, "Wait for my message, this time... we'll take down their lair."

The moment Long Wu stepped out of the core area, his camouflage completely disappeared into the light, and his silhouette was distorted into a quantum state unique to law enforcement officers of advanced civilizations under the starlight of near-Earth orbit.

The silver patterns on his shoulder armor flowed automatically according to the secondary access card provided by Chu Yao. It was the "Victory Emblem" of the Centaurus A sector. Three days ago, he practiced it seventeen times in front of the holographic projection in the simulation pod, and even the speed at which the emblem flowed was exactly the same as that of the real victors.

The alloy door of the law enforcement post cracked open in front of him, and just as the guarding mechanical dog was about to raise its probing tentacles, Long Wu roared in his gritty dialect: "New guy?"

"Never seen a centaur triumphing warrior?" He deliberately crushed the energy crystal slag at his feet with his boot heel. The crisp sound of metal colliding with the slag made the mechanical dog's red pupils shrink to pinpoints—this was a unique deterrent method of the A-sector, which he had watched twenty-three live-action videos in his camouflage course.

A young law enforcement apprentice peeked out from the guard post, the words "Trainee Inspector - Fei Er" on his name tag gleaming pale purple in the cold light.

Long Wu noticed the other's fingertips unconsciously rubbing against the energy gun at his waist, and immediately revealed the rugged smile that was typical of centaur warriors: "Little brat, didn't your father teach you to salute the victors?" He deliberately tapped the other's shoulder armor with his knuckles, but the pad of his finger pressed the jamming chip given to him by Chu Yao into the gap at the moment of contact—three seconds later, Fei'er's communicator suddenly emitted a soft "beep".

"That's... a commendation order from our home planet." An unnatural bluish-gray tinge appeared on the tips of Phil's ears, a characteristic of emotional fluctuations in advanced civilized beings.

He glanced around, then suddenly lowered his voice, "But lately... something's not right." His Adam's apple bobbed beneath his scaly neck. "Yesterday I overheard the Chief Enforcer and the Old God's messenger talking. They said, 'Earth isn't an experiment, it's a container.'" His pupils suddenly contracted. "You mean... what's in the container?"

Long Wu's heart pounded in his chest.

He remembered Lin Yi saying that any unusual emotional fluctuations would be detected by the law enforcement officers' neural monitoring devices, so he deliberately rubbed the old scar on his brow bone with his thumb—the scar was rendered as a "mark of honor" unique to the Centaur Sector under his camouflage clothing. "Young punk." He patted Fel's shoulder gruffly, but his palm pressed a miniature recorder into the other's armor interface. "You'll know when you're promoted to a Level 3 Law Enforcer." As he turned, he caught Fel staring at his back, hesitant to speak, his Adam's apple bobbing but ultimately remaining silent—this kid was probably really suffocating from the lies of advanced civilizations.

At the same time, the quantum control console in the core area of ​​Infinite was glowing with a faint blue light.

Lin Yi's fingertips pressed against the crystal plate, and the heat of the causal core seeped through his skin into the crystal plate, leaving pale gold patterns on the surface—the fuse of the "logic bomb".

Chu Yao's projection solidified beside him, the data stream at the tips of her hair no longer a swift star map, but a tangled mess: "The main program's defense matrix is ​​reorganizing; they've detected abnormal energy fluctuations." Her voice trembled for the first time, "If detonated, our location will be pinpointed to the nanometer scale."

Lin Yi stared at the red alert flashing on the holographic screen, and suddenly felt a burning pain in his core of cause and effect—a sign that he was resonating too strongly with the laws of spacetime.

He recalled the shadowy figure's words about "harvesting," the force with which Long Wu crushed his joints before setting off, and the little girl he'd met three days earlier in the starting village, crying and saying, "My mother's healing pod needs essence." "So what if we're exposed?" His voice was low and clear, his fingertips pressing heavily on the center of the crystal plate. Golden-purple light surged wildly along the fuse's lines. "They should have known long ago that Earth isn't a crop to be harvested at will."

The console suddenly emitted a piercing beep.

Xuan Mingzi's image crashed onto the holographic screen without warning, the dark patterns on his Daoist robes dripping with blood: "The Purifiers of the Old Gods have arrived!" His long beard moved without wind, "They sensed the fluctuations of the Logic Bomb and dispatched a special force to purge heretics—"

Before the words were finished, a crisp sound like shattering glass came from the dome of the core area.

A dark shadow fell from the crack, its impact shaking the entire base.

It was a figure clad in jet-black scale armor, with dark green venom seeping from the gaps in the armor, corroding the ground and leaving sizzling dents.

He raised his head, Lin Yi's reflection shimmering in his crimson vertical pupils: "Master of Time and Space." His voice was like countless fingernails scraping across a blackboard, "You think you can change fate by altering data?"

The will of the ancient gods can even crush time itself.

Lin Yi's pupils contracted to pinpoints.

He could feel the core of cause and effect resonating wildly, an instinctive warning when faced with an absolute threat.

On the Purifier's scales, he glimpsed the same pattern as the Black Shadow Silver Ring—it turned out that advanced civilizations and the Old Gods were essentially on the same chain.

"Pull up the encrypted video." Lin Yi suddenly turned to Chu Yao and said, his voice filled with a desperate, resolute determination. "Now."

Chu Yao's data stream instantly solidified, and her fingertips traced golden light trails in the void.

On the holographic screen, an image erased by an advanced civilization began to load—it was a source extraction device that the shadowy figure had secretly filmed three months ago, squeezing the life force of an infant into blue light particles.

The Purifier halted in his tracks. For the first time, cracks appeared in his crimson pupils.

Meanwhile, at the law enforcement outpost a thousand miles away, Chu Yao's notification came through Long Wu's miniature earpiece: "Image loading complete." He glanced at Fei Er, who was still in a daze, and suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs: "Come and see, everyone!"

What kind of monsters are you, our beloved advanced civilization, raising?