The owl's bones cracked with a teeth-grinding sound, his swollen body was like an inflated balloon, and his skin was covered with eerie green veins, each one oozing a stardust-like fluorescence.
The ball of light in his palm spun faster and faster, and the sound of the collision between the star trails and the fragments of rules gradually turned into a sharp buzzing sound. Even the air was torn apart into tiny black holes, like countless hungry little mouths.
"The spatial tear index has been detected to have exceeded the critical value." Chu Yao's voice rarely showed any emotion. The pale blue data stream condensed into a semi-transparent humanoid shape beside Lin Yi, its hair trembling slightly with the airflow. "If it is allowed to spread, the spacetime structure within a radius of fifty kilometers will completely collapse—including the entire city center and two-thirds of the survivor resettlement area."
Lin Yi stared at the ball of light, but the warmth of Su Qing before she disappeared echoed in his ears.
Her hand on his chest was so light, yet it felt like a burning flame.
He touched his chest; there was no burning heat of divinity, only the sound of his heartbeat, one after another, blending with the panting of the heavily armored warriors in the distance, the sobs of the civilians, and the hum of the priests' healing spells.
"Use the power of faith to seal the rift?" He repeated Chu Yao's suggestion, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing against the blood-stained cuff—it was from when he shielded the old woman from the falling rocks.
The power of faith can indeed temporarily stabilize the space, but three days ago, in order to purify the Seed of Chaos, all the class changers in the entire alliance had already overdrawn 70% of their spiritual power reserves.
He closed his eyes briefly. "Not enough."
"Why?" Fragments of gold suddenly appeared in Chu Yao's pupils, a characteristic she displayed when simulating human confusion. "According to real-time calculations, the current faith resonance value..."
"Because they've pushed themselves to their limits." Lin Yi interrupted her, glancing at the priest kneeling not far away.
The girl's hair tie came undone, and a few strands of wet hair clung to her pale face, yet she continued to tremble as she channeled healing energy into the wounded, even as her own knee wound bled.
Then he looked at Long Wu, the big guy who always loved to smoke cigars, who was stuffing explosive devices into his clothes. The metal armor scraped against the ground, making a screeching sound. "Faith is not an inexhaustible spring, but the light they burn with their lives."
I can't let them burn for me again.
The owl's shriek suddenly rose, and spiderweb-like patterns cracked on the surface of the ball of light. The overflowing energy directly blew away the armored vehicle twenty meters away.
Long Wu was thrown against the broken wall by the shockwave, and the explosive device crashed to the ground. He got up, spitting out blood, and gave Lin Yi an "okay" sign—his goggles were cracked into a spider web, but they couldn't hide the light in his eyes.
"Your Excellency, Master of Time and Space!" Aizen's voice boomed from the communicator. She and her Shadow Guards had just evacuated the last group of civilians to the underground shelter; her hair still stained with lingering purple mist. "All civilians have been evacuated. The Shadow Guards are ready at any time..."
"No need." Lin Yi looked up and saw a dark figure descending from the torn clouds.
It was a humanoid figure shrouded in black mist, its face obscured, yet it caused all those who sensed it to instinctively hold their breath.
The appearance of the dark figure was like a boulder thrown into the center of a lake, causing even the owl's ball of light to pause slightly.
"A law enforcer of a higher civilization." Chu Yao's data stream suddenly contracted into a thin line, then "swish" expanded into an information panel. "He violated the principle of non-interference—but energy fluctuations indicate that he carries..."
"It's not interference." The shadowy figure's voice was like two pieces of metal rubbing together. He opened his hand, revealing a dark gold pocket watch in his palm.
The watch case is covered with star charts, and there are no numbers on the dial, only two hands made of light. "This is the 'Anchor of Time,' the first relic our civilization forged at the beginning of the universe."
It doesn't belong to any god, but only to those willing to risk their lives for civilization.
Lin Yi reached out to take it, and the moment his fingertips touched the watch case, countless images flooded his mind: nebulae collapsing into stars, single-celled organisms crawling onto land, and primitive humans raising torches for the first time—in each image, there were different hands, some rough, some slender, some stained with blood, some with tears, but all of them gripped the pocket watch tightly at the crucial moment.
"Its power?" His voice was hoarse.
"Not power." The black mist in the shadowy figure rippled, as if laughing, "It is witness."
It has witnessed the will of countless civilizations to rise from the brink of despair.
Now, it needs new witnesses.
The pocket watch felt hot in Lin Yi's palm, and he suddenly understood what Su Qing meant by "true power".
It wasn't the power of divinity, nor the gift of advanced civilization; it was Long Wu's gesture of wiping away the blood and foam, the priest biting his lip as he continued to deliver healing power, and all the people supporting each other in the purple mist—their eyes all held a fire as bright as a pocket watch.
The owl's ball of light finally coalesced.
His body began to disintegrate, leaving only his head hovering above the orb of light, his eyes glowing terrifyingly bright: "Even if you can withstand this attack, my homeworld fleet will arrive in three hours..."
"Three hours?" Lin Yi looked down at his pocket watch, and the two hands suddenly began to reverse.
He could feel the fire within him—a fire fueled by his heartbeat, his breath, and the gazes of his companions—burning through the last layer of mist. "That's enough."
He raised his head, the battlefield wind lifting the hem of his blood-stained clothes.
In the distance, heavily armored warriors were carrying the last wounded soldier to the safe zone; Ryuu picked up the explosive device again and flashed a smile with a missing front tooth; Aizen's shadow guards spread out in a fan shape, their blades gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Chu Yao's data stream softened again, and she gently touched Lin Yi's shoulder: "Do you need me to calculate the resonant frequency of the Anchor of Time simultaneously?"
"No need." Lin Yi gripped his pocket watch tightly, the golden light in his eyes mingling with the trajectory of the watch's hands. "This time, we'll do it ourselves."
The owl's ball of light began to release gravity, and the rubble, broken swords, and even overturned armored vehicles on the ground slowly floated up.
But this time, even more rose to the surface—the priest's healing spell transformed into a pale golden rain of light, the warrior's battle cry shattered the remaining purple mist, and even the corrupted who had been kneeling stood up. They raised their weapons, their hands still trembling, but more determined than ever before.
Lin Yi looked at all of this and suddenly smiled.
He raised his pocket watch, facing the approaching darkness, and shouted: "Faith is not dependence, but..."
His words were swallowed by the roar of the ball of light, but everyone could see his lip movements.
--trust.
The owl's ball of light condensed into a vortex-shaped black hole in mid-air, and gravity, like an invisible giant hand, turned the entire battlefield into a tangled mess.
Gravel flew past Lin Yi's ears, yet he managed to make out every face in the chaos—Long Wu's explosive device was burning hot in his palm as he pressed the safety pin with his bloodied thumb, his eyes behind his goggles shining like two small suns; Aizen's shadow guards simultaneously drew their blades, purple mist condensing into ice crystals on the blades, refracting twelve chilling beams of light; the priestess in the front row finally collapsed, but was caught by the shield warrior beside her before hitting the ground. The warrior's shield was already dented and deformed, and half a bone spur was still stuck in his arm, yet he still used his intact left hand to support her waist.
"Faith is not dependence, but trust!" Lin Yi's roar pierced the thunder, his voice devoid of divine majesty, carrying only the burning passion of mortals. "Today, we rely not on God, but on each other!"
Long Wu was the first to respond.
The burly man, always puffing on a cigar, suddenly threw his head back and burst into laughter. The explosive device in his palm erupted in a blinding flash—not an explosion, but rather he had ignited the device's core with his mental power. A stream of orange-red energy shot up his arm into the sky like a burning chain. "I believe you!" His roar caused even more cracks to appear in his goggles. "Back in the newbie village, when we were being chased by monsters and had to crawl through dog holes, you threw me a broken knife and said, 'Let's fight!' Now you're fucking back down?"
The priestess struggled to sit up from the shield warrior's embrace, and the healing spell at her fingertips no longer became a scattered rain of light, but condensed into a golden pillar of light.
Her lip was bitten until it bled, and drops of blood dripped onto the beam of light, making it shine even brighter: "Our teacher said that the power of healing comes from those who believe in hope... I believe in everyone!"
Aizen's shadow guards simultaneously sheathed their swords.
Twelve figures transformed into twelve streaks of purple lightning, swirling rapidly around the battlefield. The whistling of blades cutting through the air overlapped with the warriors' battle cries, weaving a net of light in mid-air. "The Shadow Guards have no intention of retreating," Aizen's voice came from the center of the net of light. Her hair still clung to remnants of purple mist, but a smile played on her lips. "But the Shadow Guards' loyalty is reserved only for a leader they can trust."
Chu Yao's data stream suddenly glowed with a warm pinkish-gold hue.
She didn't speak, but simply placed her palm gently on Lin Yi's back.
A band of light, interwoven with pale blue and pinkish-gold, flowed from her fingertips, tracing down Lin Yi's spine and into his brain—she had synchronized the computational core with his nervous system. "Collective will resonance value detected, exceeding historical peak." Her voice was as soft as a sigh. "Their trust is reshaping the rules."
The owl's head trembled violently at the center of the black hole, the fluorescence in its eerie green veins beginning to dissipate. "Foolish!" his roar cracked, "Even if you survive this attack, the homeworld fleet..."
"There's no need to endure it," Lin Yi interrupted him.
He gripped the Anchor of Time tightly, and the star map on the pocket watch suddenly came to life. Countless points of light floated out from the watch case, merging into the burning energy, golden pillars of light, and purple nets of light in the air.
He could feel that every bit of power from his companions was leaving its mark on his body—the heat of Long Wu, the warmth of the priest, the sharpness of Aizen, and the faint warmth in Chu Yao's data stream.
"This is... a barrier of will?" Chu Yao's pupils reflected the translucent light membrane that appeared in mid-air.
The light membrane was an irregular rhombus shape, with the shadows of everyone flowing across its surface: there was the silhouette of a heavily armored warrior raising his shield, the gestures of a mage chanting, and even the image of the old woman who had just been transferred stuffing a boiled egg into a warrior's hand.
"It's their trust." Lin Yi smiled, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth onto the light membrane, only to transform into tiny sparkles upon contact. "Every act of trust is a brick, every act of perseverance a tile."
The owl finally realized something was wrong.
His head snapped towards the light membrane, his eerie green pupils contracting to slits: "No!"
This is impossible... You are just mortals!
"But the trust of mortals can pierce through the arrogance of gods." Lin Yi lifted his leg and rushed into the storm zone at the edge of the black hole.
The torn space was like countless invisible knives, slashing his arms and back until they bled, but his steps were more steady than ever.
The Anchor of Time burned in his palm, and he could hear the faint clicking sounds coming from inside the pocket watch—the will of countless civilizations counting for him.
Chu Yao's data stream suddenly surged, transforming into millions of light chains that wrapped around Lin Yi's waist. "Synchronization rate 99.9%." Her voice held an unprecedented firmness. "I swear by the 'Starry Sky' core program that I will stand with my host through thick and thin." The light chains pierced through Lin Yi's skin, forming silver patterns within his body, and the wounds torn by space healed at a visible speed.
"Night Owl!" Lin Yi's roar drowned out all the other noises.
He stopped ten meters from the core of the black hole, the Anchor of Time raised above his head, "Look at your feet—"
The owl's head instinctively lowered.
Below, the rubble that was originally thrown by gravity is rearranging itself.
The warrior's broken sword was stuck in the front row, forming a defensive formation; the priest's holy book floated in mid-air, the pages automatically turning to the chapter on healing spells; the fragments of Long Wu's explosive device hovered, still hissing with orange-red energy—those were the battlefield traces forcibly fixed by all the job changers with their mental power, each crack engraved with their names.
"This is our battlefield." Lin Yi's fingertips pressed against the Time Anchor dial, and the two luminous hands suddenly exploded into a shower of stardust. "And we never abandon our battlefield."
The moment the stardust merged into the black hole, the entire space emitted a crisp sound like shattering glass.
The owl's head was the first to disintegrate, and the eerie green blood vessels went out one by one, like a string of lights whose energy had been drained.
His mouth was still opening and closing, but no sound came out; only fragments of his shattered consciousness drifted in all directions.
The black hole began to shrink.
Lin Yi felt an invisible hand tearing at his internal organs. The scene before him gradually blurred, but he could still see Chu Yao's light chains becoming transparent—she was burning her own program, using her last strength to reinforce the seal.
"Chu Yao..." he said in a hoarse voice.
"Host's vital signs detected as dropping to a dangerous level." Her data stream was almost invisible, yet it still managed to coalesce into half a human face. "But the rift seal is 99.7% complete... Hold on for three more seconds."
Three seconds later, the black hole completely closed.
The last ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and fell on Lin Yi's blood-stained shoulder.
He slumped onto the gravel-strewn ground, looking at his trembling hands—lacking the radiance of divinity, the power of advanced civilization, only the warmth of a mortal.
"It worked?" Long Wu limped over, fragments of the explosive device still clinging to his armor. "I told you... cough cough, I told you we could do it!"
The priestess knelt beside him, gently tracing his wounds with healing magic: "There's still a mild concussion, but..." She suddenly smiled, "But your heartbeat is stronger than ever."
Aizen's shadow guards silently formed a circle, blocking all curious glances that tried to approach.
She knelt down and held the water bottle to Lin Yi's lips: "The Shadow Guards have confirmed that the energy fluctuations in the rift have returned to zero." Her voice, unusually warm, said, "You should rest."
Chu Yao's data stream reformed into a human form, but it was three times less distinct than usual.
She stood atop Lin Yi's head and gently touched his forehead with her fingertips: "87% of the collective will has been detected, which is sufficient to support subsequent repairs..." Her voice suddenly stopped, and she looked up into the depths of the starry sky.
Lin Yi followed her gaze.
In the vast starry sky, a shadow that does not belong to any dimension is writhing.
The shadow had no specific form, yet it sent a chill down his neck—as if an invisible pair of eyes, across countless light-years, were watching this civilization that had just survived a crisis.
"That is..."
"Unknown existence." Chu Yao's data stream flashed a warning red, "But current priority: the host needs immediate treatment." Her voice softened again, "You promised me we'd go eat soy milk and fried dough sticks at the old alley entrance together."
Lin Yi smiled and reached out to catch a wisp of data that was drifting down from her.
In the distance, smoke was already rising from the survivors' resettlement area, and soldiers were clearing the battlefield. The laughter of children pierced through the smoke and reached his ears.
He didn't know what the shadows deep in the starry sky meant, nor did he notice that a few wisps of eerie green light were carried by the wind and seeped into the cracks in the rubble in the corner of the battlefield—those were fragments of the Night Owl's remaining consciousness, greedily absorbing the lingering energy in the air.
At this moment, all he knew was that the Anchor of Time in his arms was still burning hot, and the warmth of his palm, the warmth of Long Wu patting his shoulder, the warmth of Chu Yao's data stream, and the warmth of all his companions' gazes were gathering into a ball of fire in his heart.
That flame is called trust.
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