The booming sound of metal clashing came through Long Wu's communicator, mixed with his booming shout: "Boss! The last two turrets are stuck in the rubble, hurry up!"
On Lin Yi's tactical goggles, the red warning circle was shrinking at a visible speed.
He grabbed Su Qing's slightly cool wrist with his other hand, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the end of the group—Xuan Mingzi, who should have followed, had somehow fallen into the shadows five meters away.
"Wait." He suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Su Qing's data stream condensed into a blue ball of light at her fingertips, and swept over his gaze: "Xuan Mingzi's vital signs are normal, but his movement speed is 0.3 seconds slower than average."
Long Wu's voice boomed again: "I have piles of junk here, if you dawdle any longer, I'll even take the door hinges off!"
Lin Yi didn't reply.
Three hours earlier, when the key resonated, Xuan Mingzi's unconscious action of pressing his chest suddenly flashed back in his mind—half a silver badge, exactly the same as the runes on the Black Shadow Stargate disc.
More importantly, the black shard that had been stuck to his fingertips at the maintenance entrance just now matched the material of the Night Owl fragment perfectly.
"Su Qing, pinpoint his last coordinates." Lin Yi rubbed his thumb against the knuckles of his tactical glove. "Now."
"Three seconds required." Data streams appeared in Su Qing's pupils. "Locked in—abandoned energy room on the east side of the third floor of the ruins."
"Long Wu, hold out for another five minutes." Lin Yi said into the communicator, then turned to the shadowy figure. "Please go to the temple entrance and keep watch. If there are any abnormalities, cut off the external power supply immediately."
The shadowy figure nodded, and the stargate disc at its waist glowed faintly before disappearing around the corner.
"Let's go." Lin Yi pulled Su Qing and ran in the opposite direction. Long Wu's "Hello, hello" in the communicator was cut off by the sound of the wind.
The door to the energy room was ajar, and a faint blue light seeped through the crack.
Lin Yi's tactical goggles automatically scanned the lintel, where a semi-transparent data barrier was crumbling, with fragments falling like melting ice crystals—a residual trace that only a high-level data manipulator could create, and in the entire team, only Xuan Mingzi could achieve this level of skill.
“He left it there on purpose.” Su Qing reached out and caught a piece of light. “The barrier’s strength is constantly decreasing, so he obviously wants someone to come in.”
Lin Yi drew his tactical knife from his waist and used the tip to pry open the half-closed door.
The first thing you see is a wall covered with holographic projections, the images resembling the surface of a lake hit by pebbles, rippling with twisted waves.
In the central image, Night Owl's mechanical arm is pointing at a figure with their back to the camera, and a metallic voice, distorted and sharp, says: "You say the First Will can restart the selection of civilizations? But it's clearly a soul-locking chain of an advanced civilization!"
"Soul-Locking Chains?" Long Wu had somehow caught up, peering over the doorframe. "This old bastard has more secrets than I have hidden braised chicken legs!"
"Shh." Lin Yi raised his hand.
The mysterious figure in the video finally turned half of his face—although it was covered by static, the silver badge on his Adam's apple was glaringly clear, exactly where Xuan Mingzi had just pressed.
"He knew the secret of the key all along." The shadowy voice sounded from behind. He had returned without anyone noticing, and the star gate disc cast a cold white light in his palm. "From the first time we met in the beginner village, he was guiding us to collect key fragments, but he always backed down at crucial moments... So he was waiting for this image."
"Smack."
The projection suddenly went out.
Everyone turned their heads at the same time.
Xuanmingzi stood at the door, the hem of his Taoist robe stained with undried blue energy liquid, and water dripping from the ends of his hair—clearly, he had just emerged from some charging pipe.
His eyes were no longer unfocused; instead, they shone with an astonishing brightness, like a sword that had been tempered: "You came faster than I expected."
"Explain." Lin Yi took a half step forward, his figure casting an oppressive shadow under the light. "The black shavings on the Night Owl fragment, the badge on your chest, and this video."
Xuanmingzi looked down at his fingertips, where a few specks of black dust still clung.
He reached out and tore off the silver badge from the collar of his Taoist robe, placing it in his palm: "This is the certification of law enforcement officers of a higher civilization; I was once one of them."
Long Wu's eyes widened: "So you're some kind of unofficial deity?"
“Three hundred years ago, I was sent to oversee the selection of Earth’s civilizations.” Xuan Mingzi’s voice was as soft as a sigh. “But I discovered that the so-called ‘First Will’ was not a selection mechanism at all, but rather…” He paused, looking at Lin Yi, “a straw used by advanced civilizations to extract the fortune of lesser civilizations. The key is the valve that opens the straw.”
The temperature in the sealed room seemed to drop ten degrees.
Su Qing's data stream suddenly trembled violently, condensing into the words "Warning: Abnormal Energy Fluctuation" in the air.
"So you've been hiding it all along." Lin Yi stared at him. "From guiding me to awaken in the beginner village to deliberately backing down at crucial moments, you've been waiting for me to grow strong enough to fight against advanced civilizations."
Xuanmingzi smiled, his eyes glistening with tears: "Young friend Lin, do you know why I always say 'the game's mastermind wants to transcend'? Because the so-called mastermind is nothing more than a surveillance system left on Earth by an advanced civilization. Those who truly want to transcend... are us, the pawns bound to the chessboard by fate."
He took out a diamond-shaped chip from his sleeve, its surface swirling with the same patterns as Lin Yi's key: "These are the coordinates of the 'Star Key' I found in the core of the ruins. But it's been locked with three layers of encryption—the first requires mythical-level mental power, the second requires the primal fluctuations of a spacetime rift, and the third..." He gently placed the chip in Lin Yi's palm, "...requires someone who won't use it to rule the world."
Lin Yi gripped the chip tightly, feeling a familiar warmth at his fingertips—the same frequency as the divine voice of creation in his mind when he awakened as the master of space and time.
"If the key can truly reshape the rules," Xuanmingzi suddenly asked, "what would you use it for?"
The air in the sealed room seemed to freeze.
Long Wu opened his mouth, but was quietly pulled back by the shadowy figure.
Su Qing's data stream wrapped around Lin Yi's wrist, sending out a subtle vibration, as if conveying some kind of expectation.
Lin Yi stared at the chip in his palm, his mind flashing back to the old man besieged by monsters in the beginner village, the backs of the members of the Time Legion who shielded civilians from attacks, and Su Qing's surprise when she first pieced together a human expression from the flood of data.
“I will make it a bridge of choice.” He looked up, his gaze like sunlight piercing through layers of mist. “Not a tool for one person’s rule, but a means for every civilization to choose its own future.”
Xuanmingzi's shoulders trembled slightly.
He reached out and patted Lin Yi's arm, the gesture reminiscent of the old carpenter at the alleyway in his hometown who always gave his grandson candy: "Very good." He turned and walked towards the projection wall, his fingertips pressing on the now-extinguished holographic panel. "Go to the temple, the key is waiting for you. As for the Star Key's encryption lock..." He smiled and tilted his head, "The spacetime rift on your wrist is the best key."
Lin Yi gripped the chip tightly, and could clearly feel something awakening inside.
As he led the group out of the secret chamber, a thunderous roar echoed from the depths of the ruins as the bronze doors of the temple were fully opened.
Long Wu's communicator erupted in cheers: "Boss! The key is glowing! Come quick!"
Behind them, Xuanmingzi gazed at the blurry image that had relit on the wall and said softly, "It's time to wake up, old friend."
The chip was burning hot in Lin Yi's palm. The originally obscure encryption patterns were slowly revealing a line of small golden characters as they flowed through the spacetime rift on his wrist: "Please enter the resonance frequency of the mythical spacetime law."
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