The moment his consciousness was sucked into the golden rift, Lin Yi's senses underwent a revolutionary reconstruction.

He had expected to feel the stinging pain of his body being stretched, like when he traveled through a time rift, but at this moment all his sense of touch collapsed into something more abstract—there was no hot or cold, no weight, and even the question of whether he still had a body became a proposition that needed to be reconfirmed.

The surrounding "space" resembled a crumpled star map, with each streak of light representing the operating principles of a certain universe. Some were silver chains of mathematical formulas, others were flames of magical runes, and still others... were just like the untranslated ancient civilization songs in Chu Yao's database.

"Welcome to the 'Primordial Sea'."

The sounds came from all directions, but they were older and more chaotic than the previous ones.

Lin Yi's consciousness instinctively contracted, but suddenly relaxed when it touched a warm ball of light—it was the vibration frequency of the Dragon Five Heavy Sword in his memory, the molecular structure of the jasmine fragrance in Chu Yao's hair, and the rhythm of the mechanical rabbit gears turning.

These "specific" fragments coalesced in the primordial sea into a translucent shield, separating him from the surging, rule-bound waves around him.

"You're carrying an 'anchor point'." There was a hint of surprise in the voice. "All beings that attempt to reach this place will be dissolved into the most basic conceptual particles by the Sea of ​​Rules. But your anchor point..."

“Because they deserve to be remembered.” Lin Yi spoke, his voice rippling across the primordial sea. The orbs of light representing “Long Wu,” “Chu Yao,” and “Ivan” began to absorb energy from the waves of rules. “I came not to become part of the rules, but to ask clearly—who set these rules? Who is watching our ‘trial’ from behind?”

The primordial sea suddenly boiled.

Countless silver chains shot out from the darkness, each one engraved with runes that Lin Yi had never seen before.

They entangled his consciousness anchor, attempting to dismantle the "Dragon Five" orb of light into single concepts such as "power," "loyalty," and "protection," and to peel away the "Chu Yao" orb of light into fragments of "computation," "logic," and "data."

For the first time, Lin Yi's consciousness felt pain—not physical pain, but a more fundamental tearing, as if someone was trying to pry the most precious piece of the puzzle from his soul.

"Stop!" he roared, the emblem of the Time and Space Ruler burning on the back of his neck, his previously diluted authority suddenly surging.

Cracks appeared in the chains of rules in the primordial sea, and the disassembled orbs of light reformed. The afterimage of a heavy sword slashing appeared in the orb of light of "Dragon Five," and the orb of light of "Chu Yao" overflowed with data streams that smelled of jasmine.

"You are fighting against 'Source Matter'." The voice finally showed emotion. "Since the opening of the Civilization Trial Grounds, no creature has ever been able to retain a complete self-awareness in the Primordial Sea, let alone..."

"Let alone using 'emotion' to fight against the rules?" Lin Yi laughed, and more orbs of light suddenly surged from his consciousness anchor point—the leaky thatched hut in the newbie village, the golden light bursting forth during his first awakening, and the star banner rising in the interdimensional battlefield. "When you made the rules, did you forget to consider 'humans' as a species? We will trample all the 'consequences' under our feet in order to protect each other."

The boiling of the primordial sea came to an abrupt halt.

Just then, a beam of blue light pierced through the sea of ​​rules, like a silver needle precisely piercing Lin Yi's anchor point of consciousness.

That was Chu Yao's communication frequency, carrying the urgency of the real world: "Lin Yi! The parallel world structure index has exceeded the critical value, three dual-memory individuals have appeared in the New York area, and the spatial folding rate in the Tokyo area has exceeded 200%!"

Lin Yi's consciousness jolted slightly.

He could "see" scenes in reality: Chu Yao was standing in front of the holographic control panel, her hair tips glowing blue due to neural overload, her fingertips leaving afterimages in the air, each trajectory corresponding to the start-up instructions of a stable program; Long Wu guarded the entrance to the base, the dragon scales wrapped around his greatsword glowing with blood, vigilantly scanning the suddenly appearing spatial ripples; and in the deepest part of the data torrent, Xuan Mingzi's figure was faintly visible, his right hand pressed on the main brain interface, silver code was flowing from his fingertips, like a river of light connecting reality and the primordial sea.

"Are you connecting two dimensions?" Lin Yi asked the blue light.

“It’s ‘Bridge’.” Xuanmingzi’s voice was mixed with electrical noise. His face appeared sometimes clear and sometimes blurry in the data, but the struggle in his eyes had been replaced by a kind of relief. “I was once a fragment of the game’s mainframe, a branch of fate’s code. But now…” His torrent of code suddenly became brighter, “I want to become your helper.”

The chains of rules in the primordial sea suddenly broke.

With the dual support of blue light and code, Lin Yi's anchor point became more solid than ever before.

He could sense that the "existence" hidden behind the rules was retreating, and something was awakening in the depths of the primordial sea—not hostility, but more like a resonance that had been dormant for too long.

Meanwhile, in another part of the real world, Ivan, who was inspecting the core of the Mother Nest, suddenly stopped what he was doing.

His palm pressed against the metal surface, and the purple particle stream in his pupils suddenly condensed into a star map.

A warm tremor rose from the palm of my hand, traveling along my veins to my heart—a vibration that resonated with a golden light in the primordial sea.

He closed his eyes and remained silent for a moment. When he opened them again, there was a sharp glint in his eyes that he himself did not notice.

The metallic surface of the mother nest core was burning hot in Ivan's palm, and the particles that should have been cold were now climbing up his veins like living things.

In the last second before he closed his eyes, the afterimage of that golden light in the primordial sea remained on his retina—it wasn't light, but something beyond sight, like a heartbeat, like breathing, like the war song that humans roared for their comrades that he had heard on the battlefield of another dimension.

"Buzz—"

The buzzing in my head suddenly condensed into a single point.

Ivan's eyelashes trembled violently, his Adam's apple bobbed twice, and when he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse, like a rusty gear: "There..." His fingertips unconsciously dug into the metal, carving spiderweb-like cracks into the surface, "There is a 'name' calling us." In his pupils, streams of purple particles were recombining in a sacred rhythm, "Not language, but the essence of existence."

The base communicator suddenly exploded with a piercing ring. The instant Long Wu's greatsword cleaved through the third projected creature, Chu Yao's urgent report came through the earpiece: "Team Leader Long!"

Manhattan's spatial wrinkling rate has exceeded 300%, and those things are starting to materialize!

Long Wu's tiger's mouth was cracking from the tremors, but the dragon scales on his heavy sword shone even brighter from the battle.

The "enemy" before him was a man in a suit, whose left profile resembled that of a Wall Street elite, while his right profile was superimposed with the mouthparts of a tentacle monster from another dimension—this was a "multi-projection creature" born from spatial distortion, existing simultaneously in the same entity across three parallel universes.

When Long Wu's sword pierced it for the third time, the monster suddenly let out three different screams, and its body began to twist like a melting wax figure.

"Everyone, step back behind me!" Long Wu slammed his heavy sword into the ground, causing the windows of the entire building to vibrate.

He could feel the true dragon blood within him boiling. Those scales he had once considered a burden were now climbing up his arms, each one burning hot. "Xiao Yi said, true protection isn't about strength, it's..." He bit his tongue, the sweet, metallic taste of blood exploding within him, and the dragon scales on his chest suddenly glowed with a golden light, "...it's the ruthless determination of 'I'll protect you no matter what!'"

The ground was rumbling.

Long Wu's pupils have completely turned into vertical pupils, and the dragon scales covering his entire body are no longer dark red, but flow with star-like golden spots.

When his palm pressed against the spatial rift, the distorted light and shadow suddenly seemed to be paused—he could "see" the chaotic rules deep within the rift, like pages of paper scattered by a gale, and his bloodline was transforming into invisible threads, threading those pages back to their original positions one by one.

"The Scales of True Self..." Long Wu panted heavily, sweat dripping from the seams of his dragon scales, creating small craters in the ground. "So this is the true name of my bloodline."

The primordial ocean's regular waves suddenly solidified into deep purple crystals.

When that ancient voice rang out again, it carried a chilling air of bewilderment: "Why do you resist?"

You think freedom means having no rules?

Lin Yi's anchor point of consciousness shone as brightly as a star at this moment.

He could clearly sense the presence of every person he cared about in reality—Long Wu's dragon scales were burning hot, Chu Yao's hair was glowing even brighter with blue light, Ivan's palm still had a fragment of the Mother Nest core embedded in it, and even Xiao Kui, who was far away in the China base, was secretly adding sugar to his teacup while holding a mechanical rabbit.

These concrete forms of warmth act like sparks, igniting a sea of ​​fire within the ocean of rules.

"Rules can exist." Lin Yi's consciousness took a step forward, the emblem of the Time-Space Ruler unfolding into a massive star map behind him. "But they cannot determine who I am." He smiled, a smile containing the helplessness of a leaky thatched hut in the beginner village, the pride of a rising star flag on an alternate-dimensional battlefield, and the panic of first holding Chu Yao's hand—all the emotions deemed "disorderly" by the rules now solidified into tangible blades of light within his consciousness. "Just like you established the 'Trial of Civilization,' but couldn't have foreseen that someone would trample the 'impossible' into a path for their companions."

A muffled thunderous roar came from the depths of the primordial sea.

That existence finally revealed a crack—not a crack in space, but a flaw in the rules themselves.

Lin Yi's consciousness suddenly opened its arms, and all the fragments of memories about "Lin Yi" began to frantically reassemble: the golden light that burst forth when he first awakened, the price he paid to reverse the timeline to save Chu Yao, the special medicine he smuggled through the spacetime rift when Long Wu was seriously injured... These fragments were not dismantled by the rules, but instead condensed into a golden "name" in resonance.

Those are not Chinese characters, not letters; they are something older than language, the essence of him as a "human being".

When this "True Name" pierced the deepest part of the Primordial Sea, the entire conceptual space trembled.

Lin Yin could sense that the "being" that had always looked down on all civilizations was retreating, and whirlpools were beginning to appear in its sea of ​​rules, like a deep pool into which a boulder had been thrown.

The sky in the real world suddenly rippled, the Statue of Liberty in New York overlapped and separated in three different timelines, and cherry blossoms and blizzards fell simultaneously on the summit of Mount Fuji in Tokyo—but at the heart of all the chaos, a golden light was pouring down from a crack in the primordial sea.

The crystal barrier of the primordial sea emitted a piercing cracking sound.

Lin Yi's consciousness was thrown backward by the shock, but he laughed out loud as he fell.

He knew that his "name" had already been etched into the cracks of the rules.

Just as Long Wu used his dragon scales to stabilize the space, just as Ivan sensed the call, some things are beyond the definition of rules.

In the final moments before his consciousness was thrown back into reality, he heard that being whisper, with an unprecedented wavering: "What...are you?"

Lin Yi's answer, along with the ripples of "The Name of Truth," spread throughout the entire Primordial Sea—

"I am a rebel."

The collapse of the conceptual space was more severe than imagined.

Golden fragments rained down like a storm, and Lin Yi's consciousness tumbled within them, yet he clearly sensed that something far greater was awakening.

As his consciousness reconnected with reality, he heard Chu Yao's tearful scream: "Lin Yi!"

Your vital signs...

But he could no longer hear it.

In the last instant before his consciousness sank into darkness, he saw a pair of eyes slowly opening in the deepest part of the primordial sea.