The candlelight in the stone chamber flickered in the cold wind, casting the shadows of everyone on the wall in a distorted, ghostly fashion.
The residual fluctuations of laws from when Xuanmingzi disappeared had not yet dissipated, and a faint smell of burning lingered in the air—the aftereffects of a high-level energy collision.
Lin Yi stood in front of the stone table, his knuckles pressing against the scroll "Nine Heavens Strategy," his gaze piercing Su Qing like a knife.
The arrow she shielded him from three days ago was still stuck in his storage space, and the thought of the poison on the arrowhead made his heart ache; the star map drawn on the bronze plate by the blood seeping from her fingertips when she deciphered the ancient star track mechanism with her bare hands in the ruins labyrinth seven days ago was now floating in his mind.
"Su Qing." His voice was like a sword tempered with ice, "Speak now."
Su Qing, who had been hanging her head, suddenly looked up, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes, which was then replaced by a deep sorrow.
The jade pendant in her hand suddenly emitted a faint blue light, leaving a pale blue mark on her palm. "You...already know?"
"The essence of spacetime doesn't lie." Lin Yi flicked his finger on the stone table, and the surface cracked with a spiderweb pattern. "The frequency with which it pulsed when you approached was exactly the same as the 'Ragnarok' resonance I felt in the interdimensional rift."
In the stone chamber, you could hear a pin drop in an instant.
Long Wu's dragon scales "whooshed" from his neck to his shoulders, stretching his black Tang suit taut: "Alright!"
"I knew this woman was acting strangely—so she's some kind of spy sent by that damned plan?" He strode up to Su Qing, his dragon claw forming at his fingertips. "I'll tear her apart right now!"
"Long Wu!"
Lin Yi's shout, mixed with the vibrations of the laws of space and time, struck everyone's eardrums like a heavy hammer.
When he raised his hand, the flow of time in the entire stone chamber suddenly slowed down—Long Wu's dragon claw stopped three inches from Su Qing's face, and even the trembling of her eyelashes could be clearly seen.
"The person you're going to kill is the teammate who shielded you from three fatal attacks." Lin Yi walked up to Long Wu, placing his hand on his shoulder. "The person who used the jade pendant to extend your life by three quarters of an hour when the Shadow Beast bit off your right leg." His voice softened, yet carried an undeniable force: "Or are you willing to trust your temper rather than the comrade who fought alongside you for three months?"
Dragon Five's dragon scales visibly faded away.
He abruptly shook off Lin Yi's hand, but also took a half step back, his chest heaving violently: "Then you tell me!"
If she's connected to Ragnarok, can we still believe her?
That plan was to sacrifice the entire Earth as a source of ignition!
Su Qing suddenly laughed, her eyes reddening from the laughter.
She raised her hand, and the blue light of the jade pendant climbed up her wrist and across her arm, outlining complex incantations in the air: "You think 'Ragnarok' is the invaders' plan?"
"No." Her voice trembled. "It's...it's an ultimatum from an advanced civilization to Earth."
Everyone held their breath.
Chu Yao's holographic projection suddenly unfolded in mid-air, and a stream of pale golden data flowed from her eyes: "Detected that Su Qing's brainwave frequency matches the 'Civilization Trial Grounds' core database with a 87.3% match—this is a characteristic only found in beings who have come into contact with the original texts of advanced civilizations."
Su Qing closed her eyes, and two lines of clear tears slid down the incantation lines: "Three hundred years ago, Earth was chosen as the 'pool of the spark of civilization'."
The Infinite game is a selection mechanism, but... however, advanced civilizations have discovered that Earth's civilization is evolving faster than expected.
They feared we would slip out of their control, so they initiated Ragnarok. "When she opened her eyes, her pupils shimmered with a starlight-like light," she said. "This plan, ostensibly a sacrifice, was actually... a chance for Earth's civilization to retaliate."
"Bullshit!" Long Wu was about to rush forward again, but his ankle was entangled by Chu Yao's data stream.
The AI girl's voice rarely carried emotion: "Based on the behavioral modeling of Su Qing over the past three months, all her actions are aimed at 'enhancing team strength' and 'delaying the expansion of the rift'."
If she were the enemy, she could have easily closed the safety passage during the Ruins Labyrinth, causing us all to perish in the Star Trail Storm.
The stone chamber fell into a deathly silence.
Someone's black iron sword clattered to the ground, the echo making one's eardrums ache.
Lin Yi suddenly reached out and grasped Su Qing's hand, which was glowing with blue light.
The very essence of time and space burned within him, yet he felt no repulsion; instead, it resonated softly like the warmth of a long-lost friend. "You should have said so sooner," he said, his thumb tracing the mark on her palm. "From the day you shielded me from the knife, I've never considered you an outsider."
Su Qing's fingers suddenly curled up, her nails almost digging into Lin Yi's palm. "I'm afraid... afraid that if you knew I had the 'Seed of Twilight' sealed within me, you would treat me like a threat that must be destroyed, just like advanced civilizations do." Her voice was as soft as a sigh, "But now... now the interdimensional invaders have bypassed the screening mechanism and directly infiltrated reality."
What they want is not sacrifice, but the complete erasure of Earth's civilization.
"So you've been hiding the jade pendant all this time." Lin Yi released her hand but grasped her wrist. "It's sealed with a warning from a higher civilization, isn't it?"
Su Qing nodded, and the jade pendant suddenly emitted a blinding light.
Everyone instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes, and when they opened them again, a star map floated in the air—the very one that Su Qing had drawn in blood in the ruins labyrinth.
"This is the jump route of the interdimensional army." Chu Yao's fingertips traced the star map, data streams flashing wildly. "They will complete their assembly through the rift in the Northern Ice Plains in seventy-two hours." She suddenly paused, "But... according to calculations, with our current strength, it's impossible for us to resist head-on."
"That's why 'Ragnarok' is needed." Su Qing pointed to the red dot in the center of the star map, "That's not the sacrifice point, it's the detonation point."
"Use the last weapon left to Earth by an advanced civilization to destroy the invaders' jump portal." She looked at Lin Yi, a fire burning in her eyes, "But activating it requires the primal power of a mythical-level professional—only you can do it."
Long Wu snorted heavily, but sheathed the dragon scale knife at his waist: "Fine, I guess I have a bad temper."
"But if they dare to mess with us..." He glanced at Lin Yi, "If Brother Lin believes you, then I believe you too."
The other team members nodded in agreement.
A heavily armored warrior patted Su Qing on the shoulder: "Back in the swamp, if you hadn't used the jade pendant to lure away the shadow beasts, I'd be two meters tall on my grave by now."
Lin Yi looked around at everyone, and finally felt relieved.
He turned and walked out of the stone chamber. The cold wind, carrying snowflakes, stung his face, but it made his mind exceptionally clear.
"Seventy-two hours," he said to the night sky, his voice filled with unwavering determination, "enough time for us to prepare."
Just then, Chu Yao's alarm suddenly blared in everyone's ears: "Abnormal energy fluctuations detected!"
In the northern region, the concentration of dark attribute source energy is rising exponentially—it's Night Owl's 'Shadow Erosion Project'!
Chu Yao then added, "Night Owl is the most mysterious and powerful being in the dark forces. He is skilled at manipulating dark attribute source power and has been secretly plotting conspiracies. The 'Shadow Erosion Project' is an evil plan he has been brewing for a long time. This plan is centered on dark attribute source power. Once activated, it will cause the dark attribute source power to frantically erode everything around it, leaving no life in its wake. It will also open a passage to a dark alternate dimension, allowing more dark creatures to flood into Earth."
Lin Yi suddenly looked up.
A layer of black mist had somehow enveloped the distant sky, like a spreading ink stain, even turning the moonlight into an eerie purple.
He could clearly sense that some evil entity was approaching the Forgotten City. The aura felt like countless fine needles piercing the back of his neck, even more piercing than the corrosive force of an interdimensional rift.
"Prepare for battle." He clenched his fist, the very essence of time and space surging within him. "What was bound to happen has finally arrived."
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