The metal floor of the mother nest cracked like a spider web as it trembled. Lin Yi's palm was cut by the wall, and the blood dripped onto the key but was instantly absorbed.
Su Qing, who was in his arms, suddenly let out a soft groan. Her eyelashes trembled as she was about to wake up, but she was gently pressed back onto the stretcher by the medic who was protected by Long Wu's dragon scales. That was the last safe zone in the team. Long Wu's world-destroying dragon pattern surged into a crimson torrent on his back, and even the broken dragon blade was humming.
"Spatial turbulence!" The shadowy figure's particle cannon suddenly turned overhead, the blue light at the muzzle shrinking to a pinpoint. "They're... tearing dimensions apart!"
Before he could finish speaking, the scene before Lin Yi's eyes was distorted like crumpled tin foil.
Long Wu's dragon pattern suddenly swelled three feet, enveloping the entire medical team in a blood-red cocoon; the sound of A-Jie's assault rifle jamming, mixed with Su Qing's murmur, shattered into pieces on the eardrums; even the mask of the shadowy figure cracked, revealing the taut jawline below—it was the first time he had shown a human expression since joining the team.
The next second, all senses were put on pause.
When his vision cleared again, Lin Yi found himself kneeling in a cloud of stardust.
Above them was a swirling galaxy, and beneath their feet was a floating mass of pebbles, each engraved with the same runes as those on the walls of the Mother Nest.
The most striking sight was the floating megacity directly in front of them—it was ten times closer than it had been in the Mother Nest. The runes on the city walls were flowing faster, and with each ray of light, rubble was reduced to dust in the intense heat.
"This is..." Xuan Mingzi's voice came through Lin Yi's communicator, crackling with static, "The edge of the starry sky, a blind spot for advanced civilizations. They want to cut off our retreat, but the mother nest's teleportation array has been interfered with by the key."
Lin Yi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up to find Long Wu kneeling on one knee to his right. The dragon pattern had shrunk into a red mole on his neck. The broken blade was stuck in the rubble, and half a piece of melted extradimensional alloy was still stuck to the blade.
A-Jie crouched five steps away, inspecting the guns, the spent cartridges drifting in the stardust like silver raindrops; the shadowy figure stood the furthest away, his particle cannon always aimed at the giant city, a ghostly blue light seeping from the cracks in his mask—his energy core was overloaded.
Su Qing is still asleep.
Her stretcher, supported by dragon patterns, floated in mid-air, her hair dusted with stardust, like the frost on a cup of hot cocoa in a snowy night in the beginner village.
"An advanced civilization has personally intervened," Lin Yi said softly, his fingertips tracing the key to his chest, where the warmth of the silver-robed figure from the fragments of memory still lingered. "Without our..."
“Not enough,” the shadowy figure suddenly interjected, the blue light from the particle cannon dimming slightly. “But we have allies.”
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
He recalled the chip Xuanmingzi had given him before his death, Chu Yao's words that the "Skynet Protocol" required the resonance of three forces, and he also thought of the ancient martial arts families of the Reality Alliance and the defectors of the Interdimensional Resistance Army—those who reached out to him in the newbie village, in the ruins battle, and in every desperate situation.
He took out his communicator and hovered his fingertip over the "full-band broadcast" button.
"This is a blind spot for advanced civilizations; their listening will be delayed by three seconds." Chu Yao's voice suddenly came from the communicator, carrying the calmness unique to mechanical voices, yet hiding a slight, imperceptible tremor. "Xuan Mingzi's backup data channel is still usable. I'm hacking in now... Alright, frequency docking complete."
Suddenly, the stardust was stirred by some force, and Lin Yi's communicator screen lit up, with countless points of light surging in from different directions—those were response signals from various forces.
The first to arrive were Long Wu's clansmen.
A bloody gash appeared in the void, and twelve crimson figures strode in from the stars.
The leader was Long Wu's cousin, Long Zhan. He had nine dragon-scale swords hanging at his waist, each of which was wrapped with dragon tendons that looked like living creatures.
Long Zhan clasped his hands in a fist salute to Lin Yi, paused when his gaze swept over Long Wu's broken blade, and then laughed loudly: "Fifth Brother's dragon markings have deepened again. I brought the True Dragon lineage's 'World-Destroying Sword Formation,' so we should take the vanguard position!"
Long Wu stood up, the broken blade humming as it flew back into his hand: "I want to be the vanguard."
Long Zhan raised an eyebrow: "Your injuries haven't healed yet—"
“The World-Destroying Dragon Mark can devour wounds.” Long Wu interrupted him, pressing his palm to his chest, and the dragon mark instantly covered half of his face. “Last time on the Abyss Battlefield, I used this move to tear apart seven star beasts.”
Looking at the two cousins, Lin Yi suddenly remembered the spoiled brat in the beginner village who smashed a wine bottle over his head.
Back then, Long Wu would always say, "My dad is the head of the Long family." Now, the dragon tattoo on his head reads, "I am Lin Yi's knife."
"Approved." Lin Yi patted Long Wu on the shoulder and turned to the reports coming in one after another through the communicator—the ancient martial arts master of the Reality Alliance had arrived with the "Heavenly Gang Formation," the quantum fighter group of the Technology Group was breaking through the boundary; the black sail warship of the Interdimensional Resistance Army tore through space, and the traitor who had once tried to take his life stood at the bow, now raising his sword to perform the alien salute.
The runes on the floating megacity flowed faster, and countless black dots appeared on the city walls—those were the vanguard forces of an advanced civilization.
"Chu Yao." Lin Yi suddenly spoke, looking at the holographic projection in the communicator.
The AI girl who always wears a white dress is standing behind the virtual command console, her hair shimmering with the unique glow of data streams. "The United Network needs you."
Chu Yao's fingertips traced across the control panel, suddenly stopping on a red button engraved with "Skynet Protocol".
When she looked up, the data stream in her pupils showed a brief disruption—a hesitation that only humans experience.
"All channels are synchronized, and real-time battlefield data is being shared." Her voice regained its steady, mechanical tone, but she added softly at the end, "Lin Yi, do you remember the newbie village? You said back then..."
"I remember." Lin Yi looked at her, recalling the snowy night in the beginner village when he squatted by the campfire and told her, "Humans will take risks for those who are important to them."
Back then, Chu Yao said, "There is no such logic in the data." Now, her fingertip is hovering over the "Skynet Protocol," and the protocol description states: "The initiator will be permanently integrated into the network, and the form of consciousness will change."
The black dot of the floating megacity drew closer, and Long Wu's dragon markings covered his entire body. The dragon breath condensed on the broken blade burned a crimson chain in the stardust.
Ajay's assault rifle was fitted with new armor-piercing rounds, and the spent cartridges made a crisp sound when they hit the ground; the shadowy figure's particle cannon emitted a burst of blue light, and the light seeping from the cracks in the mask formed a galaxy.
Su Qing stirred on the stretcher, her eyelashes dusted with stardust, and finally opened her eyes.
She gazed at the countless warships and figures gathering in the sky, then looked at Lin Yi, and suddenly smiled: "So... this is the 'us' you were talking about."
Lin Yi gripped the key tightly to his chest. The key was burning hot, as if responding to his heartbeat.
"This is just the beginning." He gazed at the floating megacity and the allied forces churning in the stardust, his voice carrying the intensity of a wildfire. "The real war is about to begin."
Chu Yao pressed down gently with her fingertips.
On the virtual screen, the startup progress bar for the "Skynet Protocol" began to jump.
In the stardust, just as the progress bar of the "Skynet Protocol" jumped to 37%, Chu Yao's holographic projection suddenly started to show snowflakes.
The edges of her white dress began to disintegrate into streams of data, and the glimmer of light at the tips of her hair turned from silvery-white to fiery blue—a sign that consciousness was peeling away from its physical form.
Lin Yi subconsciously reached out, but his fingertips passed through her shoulder and touched a void of electricity.
"Chu Yao?" His Adam's apple bobbed, and the mechanical voice in the communicator suddenly changed tone, like scraps of paper scattered by the wind: "Main program...is reassembling neural links...all battlefield terminals...will share my field of vision." In her pupils, the data stream was no longer orderly code, but surged into a vortex of emotions unique to humans. "Lin Yi, what you said by the campfire in the newbie village...I understand now."
The progress bar has jumped to 50%.
Long Wu's dragon markings suddenly contracted, and cold sweat seeped out from under his crimson scales—he could sense that the spatial fluctuations of the entire Stardust Battlefield were being organized by some invisible hand, and the originally chaotic energy flow had now become clear and tangible.
A-Jie's assault rifle automatically ejected its magazine and precisely inserted a new type of armor-piercing round, with a pale blue tactical route map appearing on the surface of the weapon; the black shadow's particle cannon muzzle no longer blindly aimed at the giant city, but slightly adjusted its angle as the star map changed, and the eerie blue light in the crack of the mask resonated with Chu Yao's data stream.
"The protocol has been loaded." Chu Yao's voice regained its composure, yet it carried a vastness that echoed through the valley. "The current battlefield coverage area has increased by 400%, and the synchronization delay of friendly forces has been reduced to 0.01 seconds."
"Lin Yi, your heart rate is 87 beats per minute, 12 beats faster than three minutes ago—" Her voice suddenly trailed off, almost like a sigh, "But I know it's not fear."
Before the holographic projection completely dissipated, the last stream of data swept across the back of Lin Yi's hand, much like the faint warmth she felt when she secretly touched the campfire with her virtual hand on a snowy night in the beginner village.
"Lin Yi!"
A chilling voice pierced through the communicator.
Aizen was standing on a pile of rubble ten steps away, his black cloak billowing in the stardust, his fingertips holding a rhomboid crystal that shimmered with iridescent light—the very Hogyoku he had been studying for many years.
His glasses were fogged up, but they couldn't hide the sharp glint in his eyes: "In the interdimensional laboratory, I discovered that the resonance frequency of the seven keys perfectly matches the energy wave left in your memory by the silver-robed man."
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He recalled the silver-haired figure in the Mother Nest dungeon who, when handing him the key, had said, "This is bait for the hunter."
"The key can open the door," Aizen tossed the Hogyoku into the air, the crystal splitting into seven streams of light amidst the stardust, each merging into the core warship of one of the seven allied forces. "But behind the door is not treasure, but a trap."
The silver-robed man... or rather, the entity behind him, doesn't want you to clear the game, but rather—"
The alarm blared, tearing through the stardust!
The Black Sail warship suddenly exploded with orange-red sparks, and the figure of Night Owl's trusted general rushed out from the aftershocks of the explosion. His armor was covered with magma-like cracks, his left hand held half of a burning bone spear, and the Night Owl totem tattooed on his right shoulder was oozing black blood.
"Are you still spouting nonsense, you scoundrels?" His voice was like the grinding of rusty gears, his bone spear pointing at Lin Yi's brow. "What Lord Night Owl seeks has never been this star field."
Long Wu's broken blade was drawn first, but the crimson dragon breath was blocked halfway by a dark golden barrier—that was the Heavenly Gang Formation of the ancient martial arts master automatically activated, accurately judging from the tactical data shared by Chu Yao that this was a diversionary tactic.
Lin Yi pressed his fingertips to his temples, and Chu Yao's voice immediately echoed in his mind: "Enemy general strength assessment: Legendary nine-star, skilled in spatial tearing, weak point is three inches below the left rib—there is an unhealed old wound there, the location where he was severely injured by the interdimensional resistance army three days ago."
"Thanks." Lin Yi chuckled, his figure shattering into millions of points of light on the spot.
As he reappeared to the left of the enemy general, the tip of the bone spear grazed his ear and pierced through the air.
"Time-Space Shattering - Instant Kill."
His right hand was placed under the other person's ribs.
Visible gray ripples spread from the palm of the hand, and the enemy general's armor, muscles, and bones disintegrated one by one, even his soul was torn to pieces.
But before it completely dissipated, the remnant soul suddenly condensed into black mist, wrapped in a hoarse, shrill laugh: "You think you can win by just holding onto the star field?"
The silver-robed man wants... for you to tear down your last line of defense yourselves!
The black mist shattered against Lin Yi's spacetime barrier, leaving only half a charred scale.
"The defense line he mentioned..." Lin Yi pinched the scale and looked up at the floating giant city.
At this moment, the runes on the city wall had formed a complete star map. When it overlapped with the battlefield data shared by Chu Yao, he suddenly saw the trajectory of those runes—it was the resonance route of the seven keys, the assembly coordinates of the allied forces, it was...
"Attention all units!" Chu Yao's voice rang out again, this time with a metallic and fleshy quality, "Detection indicates that the core energy of the giant city is matching the Seven Keys frequency. Immediate action recommended—"
"Pass on my orders." Lin Yi interrupted her, pressing the blood-stained key onto the communicator.
Amidst the stardust, all the allied forces' flags simultaneously lit up with a light synchronized with the key's frequency. "The Dragon Clan's World-Destroying Sword Formation guards the left flank, the Ancient Martial Heavenly Gang Formation protects the rear, the Tech Group's quantum fighter fleet prepares for spatial blockade, and the interdimensional resistance's black-sail warships follow me straight into the heart of the giant city."
He turned and walked toward the flagship floating in the stardust. Long Wu's broken blade had reformed, and the dragon pattern on the blade was clearer than ever before. A Jie was loading the last armor-piercing round into the rifle, with the abbreviation "Chu Yao · Tianwang" engraved on the bottom of the cartridge case. The shadowy particle cannon was completely repaired, and the eerie blue light from the crack in the mask resonated with the main star on the star map.
The moment the flagship cabin door opened, Lin Yi turned and glanced at Su Qing.
She was already standing beside the stretcher, the stardust in her hair trembling slightly with the Allied forces' war song.
Further away, Aizen's figure had vanished, leaving only fragments of the Hogyoku shimmering on each warship, like sparks scattered across the battlefield.
"Chu Yao," Lin Yi said softly as he stepped into the cabin, "help me receive the commanders of the various units."
The communicator crackled with the sounds of "Arrived" and "Ready."
Beyond the stardust, the runes of the floating megacity finally formed a complete circle.
At the center of the circle, a silver-white figure stood with his hands behind his back, his fingertips turning the seventh key. The curve of his lips was exactly the same as the person who handed him the key in Lin Yi's memory.
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