Ripples of time flowing backward spread across the ruins of the Forgotten City.
The blood droplet that had frozen in mid-air with Long Wu retracted back into the wound. Su Qing's trembling eyelashes slowly closed. The last line of text jumping on Chu Yao's projection was torn into a data stream and poured back into her core program.
Only Lin Yi's pupils remained clear.
He could clearly see the moment the shadowy figure's "footsteps" stopped—that being shrouded in black mist was not completely swept away in the tide of time reversal, but rather like a shadow puppet show that had been paused, its limbs maintaining a forward-moving posture, yet unable to advance any further.
"interesting."
A hoarse male voice suddenly boomed in Lin Yi's mind.
The sound didn't travel through the air; it was imprinted directly on his nerves, like rusty gears grinding against his brain.
The black mist of the shadowy figure began to churn, and the originally chaotic outline gradually condensed into a human shape: well-defined fingers, a high nose bridge, and a hideous scar running from the brow bone to the jaw—this face was indistinguishable from a human's, except that the eyes gleamed with a cold silver-gray, like two daggers coated with icy poison.
"Time travel is ineffective against me?" The spacetime blade at Lin Yi's fingertips was slightly hot. He could feel the other party's mental power trying to invade his sea of consciousness. "Or rather, you don't belong to this timeline at all?"
“A clever little fellow.” The shadowy figure raised a hand, a hint of approval flashing in his silver-gray pupils. “You’re far more interesting than those fools who only know how to brandish weapons.” His voice carried a certain condescension of a superior, yet also contained a barely perceptible urgency. “I’ve come to tell you the truth about Ragnarok—you think it’s a selection mechanism of an advanced civilization? Wrong. It was a purge.”
A sudden smell of rust filled the air.
Su Qing's fingernails dug deeply into her palms, and blood dripped from between her fingers, spreading into dark red patterns on the bluestone slab.
She lowered her head, her wisps of hair obscuring her expression, but Lin Yi could clearly see her Adam's apple move, as if she was trying to hold back something.
"Cleanse?" Dragon blood surged beneath Long Wu's skin, scales spreading from his arms to his neck. "I slaughtered three otherworldly lairs before, those bastards dare to talk about cleansing?"
"What you killed were nothing but expendable pawns." The shadowy figure's gaze swept over Long Wu, a cold light flashing in his silver-gray pupils. "True advanced civilizations are beyond the reach of even god-level advanced beings. And 'Ragnarok' is their final ultimatum to Earth's civilization—either give birth to something that can threaten them within a century, or..." He lightly tapped the air with his knuckles, and a pitch-black spatial rift opened in response. The aura leaking from it caused the white-bearded old man's bronze sword to groan, "Eraseed."
Lin Yi's illusory hourglass of time and space suddenly trembled violently.
He noticed that Su Qing's right hand was slowly reaching towards her waist, where a short blade inlaid with star patterns was tucked—it was something Su Qing had "accidentally" picked up three days ago in the ruins of the far north ice plains.
She had said it was an ordinary relic, but now the surface of the short blade was shimmering with the same silver-gray light as the shadow's pupils.
"So you're here to stop us from passing the test?" Lin Yi suddenly teleported to Su Qing's side and grabbed her wrist.
The short blade was deformed by his grip, but Su Qing seemed not to feel the pain. A hint of panic flashed in her eyes: "Lin Yi, you're hurting me!"
"He's lying." Su Qing's voice suddenly became hoarse, completely different from her usual sweet voice.
The same silver-gray light appeared in her pupils. "What advanced civilizations want isn't threats, it's...it's..."
"Shut up!" The shadowy figure's voice suddenly rose, and the black mist swept over like a living thing.
Lin Yi pushed Su Qing toward the white-bearded old man and simultaneously activated a spacetime barrier—the black mist actually pierced through the barrier, carving three deep, bone-revealing wounds into his chest.
"The power of the master of spacetime can indeed interfere with the rules." The shadowy figure suddenly appeared behind Lin Yi, his fingertips pressing against the back of his neck. "But you haven't learned how to use these eyes yet."
The excruciating pain surged forth like a tidal wave.
Countless fragments flashed before Lin Yi's eyes: the scene of being abandoned in an orphanage as an infant, the sudden awakening of his sense of time and space on his seventeenth birthday, and the silver-haired man he saw in his dream the night before the arrival of the "Infinite" game—that man's face was seven parts similar to the shadowy figure at this moment!
"You... are my father?" Lin Yi blurted out.
The shadowy figure stopped moving.
The black mist surged wildly, and the cold light in the silver-gray pupils almost went out: "So you see, the truth has never been what you think. The Time-Space Ruler was not an accident, but a seed I left behind; 'Ragnarok' was not a test, but an opportunity I fought for for you."
"Bullshit!" Long Wu's roar shook the ruins, sending rocks tumbling down. He charged forward, brandishing his dragon claws. "I've investigated Lin Yi's background; he's an orphan!"
"What you're investigating are altered memories." The shadowy figure's gaze finally softened as he looked at Long Wu. "All of your memories have been tampered with by that old man. Including her—" He pointed to Su Qing, who was currently being restrained by the white-bearded old man, her short blade lying on the ground, "She's not some mysterious woman at all, she's a listening device sent by an advanced civilization!"
That's enough.
An aged voice came from the horizon.
Everyone froze instantly.
Xuanmingzi descended slowly on auspicious clouds, his Taoist robe fluttering without wind. With a gentle sweep of his whisk, the black mist on the shadowy figure melted away like snow meeting the sun.
His gaze toward the shadowy figure held a hint of helplessness: "Ah Jiu, you still can't hold your temper."
"You old fool!" The shadowy figure's voice was filled with gritted teeth and hatred. "You knew perfectly well that if we dragged this out any longer, that thing would wake up—"
“Now is not the time.” Xuan Mingzi raised his hand, and a golden barrier separated the shadowy figure from the others. “The truth only has meaning if it is uncovered by oneself. Lin Yi, take your companions and go to Starfall Island in the South China Sea. The answer you seek is there.”
"Wait!" Lin Yi tried to break through the barrier, but was bounced back by an invisible force.
He watched the shadowy figure gradually disappear, then looked at Su Qing, who remained silent with her head down, and felt as if a red-hot iron was stuck in his throat. "Senior, what he said about memory modification... is it true?"
Xuanmingzi did not answer.
His gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on the wound on Lin Yi's chest: "Some wounds, you can only understand the meaning of pain after you've licked them yourself. Remember, next time, don't let the enemy stand behind you."
Before he finished speaking, he and the shadowy figure vanished into the void at the same time.
The Forgotten City has fallen silent once more.
As the dragon blood in Long Wu gradually subsided, he squatted down, picked up the short blade, examined it from all angles, and suddenly slammed it to the ground: "Damn it, I knew something was off about this woman!"
Su Qing huddled in the corner, hugging her knees, tears streaming down her face as they fell onto the bluestone slab.
When she looked up, the silvery-gray in her eyes had vanished, replaced by panic: "Lin Yi, I really don't know anything... It felt like something was controlling me just now..."
Chu Yao's projection suddenly appeared on Lin Yi's shoulder, blue data streams flashing in her eyes: "Abnormal brainwaves detected in Su Qing. Between 17:32 and 17:35, there were traces of external mental intrusion." She paused, her voice carrying a rare hint of human hesitation, "But... her tears were real."
Lin Yi looked down at his palm—the warmth of Su Qing's wrist still lingered there.
He touched the back of his neck again; the skin there, touched by the shadow, was now strangely warm, as if something was stirring beneath it.
“Go to Starfall Island.” He looked up at the sky, where the sunset had dyed the clouds blood red. “No matter what the truth is, I will find out for myself.”
Long Wu patted him on the shoulder, and the white-bearded old man silently put away his bronze sword.
Su Qing stood there, hesitant to speak.
In the void unseen by the crowd, two figures stood facing each other.
“You shouldn’t have revealed too much,” Xuanmingzi said, his voice tinged with reproach.
“If we don’t speak up, that kid will be strangled by the advanced civilization’s backup plan.” The voice of the shadowy figure—Ajiu—was full of anxiety. “You and I both know that the Time-Space Master’s life box is hidden in the memories he least wants to face.”
Xuanmingzi remained silent for a moment, then sighed, "So be it. What's meant to come will come eventually."
The evening breeze stirred up a few withered leaves, brushing against Lin Yi's hair.
He gazed at the surging sea of clouds in the distance, feeling as if something was watching them from the darkness.
Next stop, Starfall Island.
What awaits them there—the answer, or an even deeper abyss?
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