The moment the roar of the black energy pillar exploded in his eardrums, a chill ran down Lin Yi's neck.
He instinctively pulled Su Qing into his arms, but the starlight of the light blade seemed to be drained the moment it touched the energy pillar—the power of the Seven Keys was pouring out from his fingertips, making even his bone marrow feel hot.
"Hold on tight!" The shadowy figure's metal hand suddenly gripped his shoulder, and the energy field beneath the black robe trembled violently.
Before Lin Yi could respond, the scene before him twisted like crumpled tin foil: Long Wu's wide-open pupils, the sparks bursting from Su Qing's terminal, and the silver liquid at the broken tendrils were all swirled into a flowing speck of light.
The feeling of weightlessness came without warning.
When his vision cleared again, Lin Yi's knees slammed heavily onto the warm, biological-like ground.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up to see countless versions of himself floating above him—the one on the left was pulling Su Qing back, the one on the right hadn't even drawn its light blade yet, and the one furthest away hadn't even bled from its nose.
Space is like a shattered mirror, with each fragment reflecting them at different points in time.
"A time-space maze." The voice from the shadowy figure came from the right.
Lin Yi turned his head and found the man in black robes standing three steps away, but at the same time he heard the same words coming from his left.
His pupils contracted slightly—the shadowy figures appeared simultaneously in seven different locations, each speaking, their sound waves overlapping to create a piercing ringing.
"The ultimate test used by advanced civilizations to screen 'key holders'." One of the shadowy figures suddenly materialized, its fingertips slicing through the air, and the spatial fragments it touched were annihilated with a "sizzle".
His metal knuckles still bore the scorch marks from the energy pillars he had previously suffered. "Only those who pass through are qualified to touch the core of the Seven Keys of Creation."
"Then the previous owl nest was..."
"An appetizer." The shadowy figure interrupted him, his gaze sweeping over Long Wu, who was stabbing the ground with his broken blade not far away.
The broken edge of Long Wu's battle blade gleamed with a ghostly blue light, and every time it pierced the ground, it left the same mark at the same spot as three seconds ago—time was not linear here.
The healing orb of light from healer Xiaorou floated into the air, then suddenly reversed and returned to her palm; the arrow that archer Ajie had just shot was suspended in mid-air, with the arrowhead pointing simultaneously in the four directions of east, west, south, and north.
Lin Yi's temples throbbed.
He could clearly feel that the laws of spacetime were like a ball of yarn tangled by a child, and his [Spacetime Domination] skill was suppressed by 70% in this maze—just now, when he tried to locate Su Qing's position, his consciousness was almost pulled into a time bubble of some loop, trapped in himself who was killing monsters in the newbie village three days ago.
"Boss, this lousy place..." Long Wu's voice trembled unusually. He had just raised his head when his forehead bumped into the chin of another version of himself—three seconds later, Long Wu was bending down to pick up a knife.
The moment the two Long Wu figures overlapped, the broken sword fell to the ground with a clang, making a crisp sound at the same time on both occasions.
Su Qing suddenly gasped.
Lin Yi whirled around and saw her terminal screen flashing garbled text wildly, data gushing from the interface and condensing into a pale blue band of light at her fingertips. "Spatial curvature anomaly, time flow rate difference reaches 1:37..." Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as her fingertips traced data paths in the air. "The exit for each time bubble is..."
"Qingqing!" Lin Yi noticed that the whites of her eyes were bloodshot, and dark red blood droplets began to appear in the data stream—that was her mental energy overload.
He was about to rush over when he was bounced back by an invisible barrier.
Outside the barrier, Su Qing's figure suddenly became transparent, as if she were being stripped away by a higher-dimensional being.
"Don't come any closer..." Her voice echoed twice, one of weakness, the other of clarity from three seconds ago. "I need... to connect to Xuan Mingzi's system." Her fingers pressed against her temples, and the data stream on her terminal suddenly surged, enveloping her completely. "His system contains... spatial code from an advanced civilization..."
"Are you crazy?!" Lin Yi's light blade was drawn with a "hum," and the blade's edge only sparked a few flecks when it cut into the barrier.
He could sense that Su Qing's vital signs were weakening, and with each second of data transmission, a layer of her consciousness would be peeled away.
Three seconds ago, Su Qing was still frowning and typing on the terminal; three seconds later, she was kneeling on the ground, blood seeping from her hair.
The shadowy figure suddenly grabbed his wrist: "She's gambling." For the first time, the energy field beneath the black robe fluctuated. "Xuan Mingzi's system was modified from a discarded core of an advanced civilization; only his data can analyze the anchor points of this maze."
"Then you should have said so earlier—"
"She couldn't wait." The shadowy figure's voice lowered. "The energy pillar just now didn't absorb the Seven Keys, it absorbed... her life code."
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He recalled the last data stream from Su Qing's terminal a moment before, how she always silently adjusted the tactics panel while he was fighting, and the cup of hot cocoa she handed him in the torrential rain in the newbie village.
At this moment, her figure overlapped into seven or eight phantoms in the time bubble, each bleeding and each persisting in typing on the virtual keyboard.
"Enough!" he roared, slamming his fist on the barrier. The power of the [Time and Space Dominator] surged wildly, ignoring any attempts to suppress it.
The blood vessels beneath his skin bulged out, and he saw his palm pierce through the barriers of three time layers, grasping Su Qing's bleeding wrist.
"Catch it." Su Qing suddenly laughed as blood splattered on the back of his hand, burning hot.
Her terminal emitted a blinding white light, and a stream of data carrying a diamond-shaped ball of light rushed into his forehead—it was the maze path map that she had obtained at the cost of half her life.
The next second, all the time bubbles began to vibrate violently.
The spatial fragments, like pieces of paper scattered by the wind, revealed dark cracks deep within the labyrinth.
Lin Yi held Su Qing, who was gradually losing consciousness, and saw the path map flashing on his retina, with each ray of light pointing to a certain point in the center of the rift.
"Thirty seconds until spacetime closes." The shadowy voice suddenly became clear. His figure was no longer overlapping; his metallic fingertips pointed towards the rift. "Take her, and use your ultimate skill."
Lin Yi looked down at Su Qing in his arms.
Blood still clung to her eyelashes, but before she lost consciousness, she tugged at his sleeve—it was their secret signal that "I'm alright."
His throat tightened, the light blade automatically rose, and the starlight of the Seven Keys flowed through the blade once more.
This time, a touch of pale blue appeared in the starlight—it was Su Qing's data stream.
A rumbling sound, like gears meshing, came from deep within the crevice.
Lin Yi took a deep breath and shielded Su Qing behind him.
The last point of light in the path diagram lit up at the center of the crack, like a guiding star.
The countdown to the closure of spacetime exploded in Lin Yi's ears like a thunderclap.
He could clearly hear Su Qing's heartbeat—a regular "thump, thump," which gradually weakened as the time bubble vibrated.
The girl in his arms trembled slightly, her blood-stained fingertips still clung to the hem of his clothes, like a fine needle piercing his heart.
"Ten seconds." The shadowy voice was like icy metal. "Your seven-key resonance frequency must overlap with the path diagram, or the rift will shred us into atoms."
Lin Yi bit his tongue, and the taste of blood exploded in his mouth.
The pain caused his pupils to refocus—the path map on his retina was flashing along with Su Qing's data stream, each blue light pointing to the faint light at the center of the rift.
His left hand rested on the terminal interface on the back of Su Qing's neck, and he could feel the energy within her body draining away, slipping through his fingers like sand through an hourglass.
"Long Wu!" he suddenly roared.
Long Wu, who was slicing through the afterimage of time with his broken blade, suddenly looked up, his forehead still bearing the bruise from his collision with himself three seconds earlier. "Here!"
"Take Xiaorou and Ajie with you, and follow the trajectory of my blade!" Lin Yi's light blade hummed as it rose, and all seven keys suddenly lit up in the starlight flowing across the blade. The halo of the sixth key even had a faint blue tinge—that was the data stream that Su Qing had injected with half her life.
He could feel the power of the [Time and Space Dominator] rampaging through his meridians, and the blood vessels under his skin bulging into a bluish-purple color. "A dark shadow!"
Protect Su Qing!
"I don't need protection." The shadowy figure's metallic hand suddenly gripped Lin Yi's wrist, which was holding the blade. An energy field emanated from beneath the black robe, enveloping Su Qing in a pale golden cocoon of light. "Your mental energy is already 37% depleted. I'll help you stabilize the Seven Keys Resonance."
Lin Yi was taken aback.
This usually impeccably calm and collected enforcer of the laws of advanced civilization now had blood seeping from the scorch marks on his metal knuckles—injuries sustained while shielding him from the flow of time. "Why?"
"Because of the girl in your arms." The shadowy figure's voice took on warmth for the first time. "Her data says, 'If Lin Yi dies, this damn game will truly be meaningless.'"
The moment the countdown reached zero, Lin Yi's light blade sliced through the air.
The spacetime rift emitted a dying shriek.
The time bubble that was originally suspended burst into pieces like a punctured soap bubble.
Lin Yi could see his afterimage from three seconds ago being swept away by the rift, see Xiao Rou's healing light suddenly solidify in the reverse flow, and see Long Wu's broken sword shatter into even finer fragments in mid-air—but none of that mattered anymore.
His consciousness was completely immersed in the trajectory of the light blade. The resonance of the seven keys and the blue light of the path diagram perfectly overlapped, tearing open a golden crack the width of an infant's palm at the center of the rift.
"Go!" he shouted, and the light blade shot forward.
The excruciating pain shot from my spine to the top of my head.
Lin Yi heard the sound of his bones breaking and saw blood gushing from his nose, eyes, and ears at the same time.
The skill [Spatial Distortion] is draining his life force—for every centimeter of space torn open, ten years of his lifespan needs to be burned.
But when Long Wu's broken blade tip first pierced the golden crack, when Xiao Rou's healing light could finally float normally toward Su Qing, and when A Jie's arrow regained a clear flight direction, he gritted his teeth and pushed it forward another half inch.
"Boss!" Long Wu's voice was choked with sobs.
He had already squeezed through the crack, but grabbed Lin Yi's ankle with his other hand, "I'll pull you!"
"Don't let go!" Xiao Rou's healing spells were raining down on Lin Yi like they were free. In the pale green mist, he could see the skin on his back peeling away, revealing the silvery bones underneath—a divine physical characteristic unique to the [Time and Space Dominator] class.
The last half inch.
The moment the shadowy figure pushed Su Qing's cocoon of light through the crack, Lin Yi heard a crisp "crack" sound.
The force of the closure of the fissure struck his back like being slammed by a massive hammer.
His vision went black, and the last thing he saw before his consciousness faded was the blood droplet on Su Qing's eyelashes finally falling and dripping onto the inner wall of the light cocoon, blooming into a small red flower.
\"cough......\"
Lin Yi woke up with a violent cough.
He lay on the warm ground, where he could smell the rusty scent of bloodstains mixed with the fresh fragrance of some plant—this was a real, linear space.
Long Wu squatted beside him, prying something with the broken blade; Xiao Rou knelt beside Su Qing, her hands pressed against her chest, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead; A Jie had his back to them, his longbow fully drawn, the arrow pointing forward.
"Awake?" The voice of the shadowy figure came from above.
Lin Yi looked up and saw the man in black robes supporting himself on the ground with one hand. His metal left arm was completely severed, revealing the blue nerve bundles wrapped around it. "You burned twenty years of your lifespan in exchange for nine of our lives."
"Su Qing..."
"She's not dead." Xiaorou's voice was nasal. "But her terminal is ruined." She raised her hand, revealing a charred piece of metal in her palm. "All the data is burned, not even the system backup."
Lin Yi's heart clenched.
He struggled to his feet and knelt beside Su Qing.
The girl's face was as white as paper, and the bloodstains on her eyelashes had dried, yet she remained in the same position as before she fainted, tugging at his clothes.
He gently took her hand and found that her fingertips were icy cold, colder than the snow on a winter night.
"Don't blame yourself." The dark figure suddenly crouched down, his metal right hand pressing against the back of Lin Yi's neck. A warm current surged up his spine and spread throughout his body. "Her life code is protected by the Seven Keys; she just needs time to recover." He turned to look at the other side. "But him..."
Lin Yi followed his gaze and then realized that Xuan Mingzi was standing in front of everyone with his back to them.
The old Taoist priest's robe was torn to shreds, revealing skin covered in runes. His white hair moved without wind, and the cold sweat on his back left dark stains on the ground.
"Xuanmingzi?" he called out.
The old Taoist priest slowly turned around.
His pupils glowed with an eerie purple light, as if some force had forcibly implanted memories into them. "Just now..." His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping, "In the instant spacetime closed, I heard..." He suddenly grabbed Lin Yi's wrist, his nails almost digging into his flesh, "Not Night Owl, not an enforcer of a higher civilization, it was..." His Adam's apple bobbed, "It was the 'Guardian'."
"What guardian?" Long Wu gripped the broken blade and leaned closer. "Even more ruthless than Night Owl?"
"Night Owl is just a watchdog." Xuan Mingzi released his grip, took two steps back, and the runes under his Daoist robe suddenly lit up with red light. "The true guardians are those used by advanced civilizations..." He suddenly looked up at the sky, the purple light in his pupils intensifying. "Shut up!"
You cannot...
"Has the old man gone mad?" Long Wu asked in a low voice.
Lin Yi noticed that Xuan Mingzi's fingers were trembling—this was the first time he had seen the game's mastermind, who always orchestrated things behind the scenes, reveal a flaw.
Just as he was about to press for more information, Ah Jie suddenly growled, "There's trouble ahead!"
All eyes were instantly drawn to them.
A golden portal had appeared in the previously empty space ahead.
The gate was ten zhang high and five zhang wide, its surface covered with ancient runes, among which seven grooves were glowing with an eerie light, like seven eyes waiting for a key.
Lin Yi's breathing suddenly became rapid.
He could feel the seven keys in his chest burning, each key resonating as if responding to some kind of transdimensional call.
Seven beams of starlight surged from his body, condensing into chains of light in mid-air, pointing directly at the groove on the portal.
"The Seven Keys of Creation..." The shadowy figure's voice trembled unusually. "The location of their storage."
Lin Yi stood up, his steps unsteady yet firm.
He looked down at Su Qing in his arms, then looked up at the golden doorway.
A faint whisper came from behind the door, sounding just like Su Qing's voice when she handed out hot cocoa in the downpour in the newbie village, and also just like her last bloodstained smile in the time maze.
And the resonance of the Seven Keys was boiling in his veins.
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