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The moment Chen Mengzhou stepped into the passage, it felt as if the very laws of the universe were shattering and reorganizing around her. It wasn't a sensation of high-speed movement, but rather a feeling of existence itself being forcibly pulled and twisted, thrown into a seething vortex of indescribable colors and counterintuitive geometry. Time lost its meaning, space lost its dimensions. Only the faint light of the "Key of Time" stood as a lone beacon in the storm, firmly anchoring her fading consciousness and resisting the cold and frenzied encroachment of laws from all sides.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe a moment, maybe eternity.
Bang!
She fell heavily onto something… something that couldn't be described as "ground." It felt cold and smooth, yet constantly flowing and shifting, as if she were stepping on frozen time or the very concept of life.
A strong sense of dizziness and nausea overwhelmed her, and she collapsed on the ground (if it could even be called ground), retching violently, but nothing came out. Her spatial ability operated autonomously to its limit, forming a layer of defense around her that constantly twisted and shattered, resisting the ubiquitous and malicious pressure of rules.
After calming down a little, she raised her head with difficulty.
Everything in front of her almost made her brain shut down.
There was no sky, no earth, no up or down, no left or right. Only an endless, swirling, intertwining, annihilating, and reborn hues and forms. Geometric structures appeared out of thin air, twisting and folding in ways that defied logic. The shadows of indescribable "creatures" (if they could even be called creatures) flashed fleetingly within the depths of color, emitting a soul-shaking aura. In my ears, I heard a million incomprehensible noises, as if they came from the beginning or end of the universe, impacting the depths of my consciousness.
Is this the "other shore"?
A dimension composed entirely of chaotic rules and unknown energy, beyond the limits of human understanding?
She subconsciously glanced at the "Key of Time" in her hand. The compass's light had dimmed, and the needle spun wildly and erratically, as if it had lost its way in the chaos. The connection to the "lighthouse" fragment had become extremely weak and unstable, as if it would be severed at any moment.
The situation was worse than she had expected.
She suppressed her discomfort and tried to concentrate, following the extremely brief "Prometheus" plan instructions provided by her father, to sense the existence of the "Patrons" or to look for any "source" information that might be related to the stability of the "Wall".
However, her perception was like a drop in the ocean, instantly swallowed and assimilated by the boundless chaos around her. Finding her target, even maintaining her consciousness became extremely difficult. The rules of this place seemed to be constantly eroding and rewriting her cognition, and all kinds of crazy illusions and whispers began to flood into her mind uncontrollably.
She saw the stars weeping, saw time flowing backwards, and saw herself dissolving into nothingness...
"No!" She bit her tongue hard, the sharp pain instantly sobering her up. She couldn't get lost here!
She concentrated all her will on the "Key of Time", trying to forcibly stabilize the connection with the "Lighthouse" fragments, and with the help of the relatively stable power from the dimension of her hometown, she opened up a small temporary "safe zone" in this chaos.
The compass's light stabilized for a moment, forming a faint, rippling shield of light less than two meters in diameter around her. Beyond the shield lay the same despairing sea of madness.
But this was already the limit. She felt the energy from the Lighthouse fragments being rapidly consumed by the laws of this place, and the Key of Time itself seemed to be under tremendous pressure, with tiny lines on its surface that seemed to be about to break.
What should she do? Was the Prometheus Project a mistake from the start? Was she going to be silently annihilated in this unknown dimensional turbulence?
Just as despair began to grow—
The compass in her hand, with its madly spinning needle, suddenly stopped!
It was not pointing in a certain direction, but at the constantly flowing, indescribable "ground" right below her!
Immediately afterwards, a weak energy fluctuation with a certain strange sense of order was transmitted from deep within the "ground", and resonated with the "Key of Time" for an extremely short time!
This feeling... is completely different from the overall chaos of "The Other Shore"! It's more like... the remnants of a man-made artifact?!
Chen Mengzhou's heart suddenly moved! Could it be that... this place isn't pure chaos? Is there something else... existing?
Without hesitation, she concentrated the "Key of Time" and all her spatial energy, and stabbed hard at the "ground" position indicated by the pointer!
Buzz!
The spatial energy collided violently with the order energy below! A tiny, unstable spatial crack was forcibly torn open!
Beneath the rift lay not a deeper chaos, but a relatively stable, dark space filled with some kind of ancient, sophisticated mechanical structure! A stale, cold air, reeking of metal and engine oil, gushed out from it!
Sure enough, there is something!
Chen Mengzhou was ecstatic and had no time to think. He used up his last bit of strength, shrank his body, and suddenly drilled into the crack!
The moment she entered, the crack above suddenly closed, completely isolating her from the crazy "other side" scene outside.
Bang!
She fell again, this time hitting the cold, dusty metal floor hard.
It was pitch black before my eyes, with only the faint light from the "Key of Time" barely illuminating a small area around me.
She found herself in a narrow metal tunnel filled with various pipes and cables. The style of the tunnel was extremely ancient, unlike any Chronos or Foundation technology she had seen, more rugged and heavy, with an industrial feel from a distant era.
The air was filled with dead silence and a thick smell of dust. It seemed as if this place had been abandoned for countless years.
She struggled to her feet and looked around warily. Her spatial perception was still suppressed here, but it was much better than the sheer chaos outside.
What is this place? An ancient spaceship that crashed on the "other side"? Or... something else?
She walked cautiously deeper into the passage. The light of the "Key of Time" flickered like a candle in the absolute darkness, illuminating some blurry, long-faded warning signs and incomprehensible words on the walls.
After walking for about ten minutes, a huge, rusty metal door appeared in front of the passage. There was a manually operated rotary valve on the door.
She tried to turn the valve wheel, and unexpectedly, although it was extremely heavy and accompanied by a harsh sound of metal friction, the valve wheel actually turned slowly.
Rumble——
The heavy metal door slid inward, sending up clouds of dust.
The scene behind the door made Shen Mengzhou hold his breath instantly.
It was an immense circular hall with a towering dome, revealing a complex structure. In the center of the hall lay a breathtakingly large, intricate mechanical structure composed of countless gears, connecting rods, and crystals that shimmered with a faint glow!
Although most of this structure had ceased functioning, covered in rust and dust, one could still sense its former grandeur and sophistication. At certain key points, faint energy still flowed slowly through the crystals, proving it wasn't completely dead.
And in the very center of the mechanical structure, suspended was a massive, dark-red energy core, beating slowly like a heart. Its surface was covered in twisting veins resembling living blood vessels, emitting a kind of energy fluctuation... derived from the chaotic aura of the "other shore," yet more concentrated and ancient!
What shocked Chen Mengzhou even more was that on the base of this huge mechanical structure, she saw a huge etched logo that was ancient and abstract in style, but absolutely unmistakable!
A twisted bolt of lightning runs through an irregular circle!
The symbol of Kronos! And it was older than any she had seen on the Ark or in the ruins of the "Lighthouse"! It was filled with a wild and powerful aura!
Is this... a relic from the pre-Cronus era?! A base or spaceship that crashed on the "other side" from a civilization perhaps even older than present-day Chronos?!
Could it be that... Kronos wasn't the first civilization to attempt to explore or even confront the "Beyond"?!
This discovery made her scalp tingle!
She cautiously approached the huge mechanical structure in the center, and her eyes finally fell on the pulsating dark red energy core.
She could sense that the "Key of Time" was resonating faintly but surely with this core. It seemed... this ancient core also contained some power related to "Time"?
Could it be that... this was where the "Key of Time" had truly led her? Not to find the source of the "Patrons," but... to seek this even more ancient legacy, forgotten on the "other shore"?
She stretched out her hand and tried to pass a trace of spatial energy through the "Key of Time" and slowly reach the dark red core.
Just as her energy was about to touch the core—
Buzz!!!
The entire ancient ruins shook violently! Dust and debris fell from the dome!
The dark red energy core suddenly erupted with a blinding light! A vast, cold will, imbued with the vicissitudes of time, suddenly awakened from the core, like an ancient god that had slumbered for eons, opening its eyes!
An intermittent, highly noisy, yet extremely majestic ancient thought directly bombarded Chen Mengzhou's mind:
[——Detected…successor…bloodline…]
[——'Key of Judgment'...confirmed...]
[——Warning…'Exile Realm'…Rules erosion…exceeding 97%…]
[——Final Agreement…Start…]
[——The heir...accepts...the 'Final Legacy'...continues...the mission of 'protection'...]
Without waiting for Chen Mengzhou to react!
The dark red energy core suddenly shot out a thick beam of light, instantly engulfing her and the "Key of Time" in her hand!
A huge, chaotic flow of information, containing the final essence and despair of this ancient civilization, poured into her consciousness like a galaxy bursting through a dam!
She saw how this ancient civilization, known as the "Council of Judgment," discovered the secrets of dimension and built the "Tower of Laws" (similar to a "lighthouse") that connected the world...
We saw how they engaged in a protracted war with the "annihilation beasts" (the predecessor of the "patrollers"?) from the abyss (another name for the "other shore")...
I saw the "Tower of Law" collapse in the final battle, and the core fragments fell into the abyss...
We also witnessed how the last of this civilization's might built this "Exile Outpost," carrying part of the legacy of the "Tower of Law" and the "Key of Judgment" (a precursor to the "Key of Time"?), attempting to establish a stronghold in the abyss. Ultimately, however, they were eroded by the rules, and all were annihilated, leaving behind only the echoes and information that had waited for countless ages...
The core message of this "Final Legacy" is——
[…'Annihilation Beasts'…are not natural creatures…They are…the embodiment of loopholes in the rules…they are 'cancer cells' produced by the collision of dimensions…]
[…The power of the 'Tower of Law' ('Lighthouse')… can… mend the rules… and suppress the growth of 'cancer cells'…]
[…The ‘Key of Judgment’ (‘Key of Timing’)… is the authority… to locate and activate… the rules patch…]
[…Find…all the fallen fragments of the ‘Tower of Law’…collect them…activate…‘Final Purification’…]
The flow of information came to a sudden halt.
The glow of the dark red core quickly dimmed, eventually extinguishing itself completely, transforming into a massive, lifeless crystal. The ancient will also faded like a candle in the wind, completely fading.
The huge mechanical structure let out a final groan and completely stopped functioning.
The entire ruins returned to silence.
Chen Mengzhou collapsed to the ground, his brain seemed to be forced into the birth and death of the universe, the pain was excruciating, but his eyes were frighteningly bright!
The truth! Something older, more essential than anything she and her father had ever imagined!
The "Patron" (Annihilation Beast) is the embodiment of loopholes in the rules! The "Lighthouse" (Tower of Law) is the tool to patch the rules! The "Key of Time" (Key of Judgment) is the authority to start the program!
The crazy reverse anchoring of the Foundation and the "Overseer" is not saving the world, but exacerbating loopholes in the rules and attracting more "cancer cells"!
The real meaning of the so-called "Prometheus" plan may not be to search for the illusory "source", but to find these lost heritages of previous generations and obtain the knowledge and methods that can truly "fix the rules"!
She struggled to get up, looking at the "Key of Time" in her hand, which had temporarily stabilized after absorbing the last bit of energy from the ancient core, and then looked at the magnificent and silent ruins around her.
Hope is not extinguished.
It just presented itself to her in a more difficult yet more essential way.
The road ahead is still unknown and dangers are still everywhere.
But this time, what she holds in her hands is no longer the tragic sacrifice, but... the possibility of repairing the world.
She took a deep breath of the cold, stale air in the ruins, her eyes penetrating the metal walls, as if she saw the crazy "other side" outside, and beyond the "other side", the crumbling home waiting for her return.
Turning around, she walked towards the passage she came from.
The steps are more determined than when we came.
She had to go back, carrying this message of "the final legacy," back to the Ark, back to her father.
Then, go find all the lost fragments of the "Tower of Law".
To complete the real——
Final purification.
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