The dampness seeping from the stone walls of the secret room enveloped Long Wu's heavy breathing.
The shadowy figure's fingers remained pressed on the badge. The moment the metal surface met the engravings on the stone table, his Adam's apple bobbed, as if something was choking him.
“Three years ago, I knelt in the courtroom of an advanced civilization for three days and three nights.” He suddenly spoke, his voice as low as if it were submerged in water. “They said I was the ‘most promising executor,’ and that the ‘Harvest Plan’ could allow lower civilizations to skip the trial-and-error phase and directly enter the interstellar age.”
Lin Yi leaned against the stone wall on the other side, the light in his golden and purple eyes dimming.
He could see the bulging veins on the back of the shadowy figure's neck—marks that only appear when emotions are running high.
Long Wu's heavy sword left a half-inch mark on the ground. This man, who was never afraid of anything, fell silent and simply pushed the hilt of his sword towards Lin Yi's feet.
Chu Yao's data suddenly began to flicker violently, and the light spots crawled along the patterns on the stone table toward the star map on the wall.
"Detected...memory residue." Her voice crackled with static. "Fragments of Lord Shadow's logbook that were not erased by the advanced civilization."
Before the words were finished, a pale blue light appeared in the center of the secret room.
It was a shattered starry sky.
The young, dark figure was dressed in a crisp law enforcement uniform, and the muzzle of his particle gun was still smoking.
A pale golden cocoon floated before him, and the creature curled up inside had a distinct human-like outline, yet it was constantly emanating a starlight-like radiance—a sign of the awakening of world consciousness.
"According to Article 322 of the Civilization Purification Regulations," the young shadowy figure's voice was clearer than it was now, "civilizations that fail the trial are not allowed to retain consciousness."
The cocoon of light suddenly trembled, and a faint sound, like a baby crying, came from inside.
The young man's finger hovered over the trigger for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbed twice, and finally he pulled it.
The moment the particle beam pierced the cocoon of light, he turned his face away, his military boots leaving a white mark on the starship deck.
As the light and shadow faded, the air in the sealed room seemed to freeze.
The shadowy figure's knuckles clenched so tightly they turned white, and the edge of the badge pressed a red mark into his palm.
“That was the first time I…” He suddenly laughed, his laughter like the crackling of rusty gears, “the first time I felt that their talk of ‘for the good of civilization’ was nothing more than a gilding for the massacre.”
"cough......"
A sudden cough came from the deepest part of the secret room.
Everyone turned their heads at the same time.
Xuanmingzi was leaning against a stone platform in a dark corner. His body under his green robe was semi-transparent, and the silver-blue data stream flowing inside could be seen.
He raised his hand to cover his mouth, tiny particles of light seeping through his fingers. "I apologize for using your spacetime energy without permission... My existence was originally an experiment of an advanced civilization, and I should have dissipated when I was sealed."
Lin Yi took two steps forward, and the core of cause and effect trembled slightly in his sea of consciousness.
He could sense a mixture of resentment and relief within the data stream emanating from Xuanmingzi—like a firefly trapped in a bottle, finally getting its chance to break free.
“They made me the game’s mastermind, to monitor the growth of Earth’s civilization.” Xuan Mingzi looked up, the data stream in his eyes suddenly swirling into a vortex. “But when I saw you supporting each other in the newbie village, taking hits for strangers in dungeons…” He reached out and lightly touched Lin Yi’s burning palms with his two keys. “I realized that the ones who should really be monitored have never been us.”
Long Wu's heavy sword clattered to the ground.
He strode up to Xuan Mingzi, reached out and tore off the wolf fang pendant from his neck—his most treasured trophy. "Since you know you were wrong, then fight us. I don't believe in any advanced civilization, I only believe in brothers who have fought side by side."
Xuanmingzi was stunned.
He gazed at the wolf tooth that still carried the warmth of Long Wu's body, and gently placed his translucent fingers over it.
The gloom in the data stream seemed to dissipate somewhat. "I... I can help you crack the Temple's defense system. But it requires..."
“It requires the energy of the causal core,” Lin Yi replied, his golden-purple eyes gleaming warmly. “I believe you.”
Just then.
Fine black mist suddenly seeped out from the cracks in the stone above the secret chamber.
The once regular dripping sound became chaotic, like someone tapping the stone bricks with their fingernails above their head.
Chu Yao's data body suddenly tensed, all the light spots converging into sharp arrows pointing towards the dome: "Detected...abnormal resonance..."
The dark figure suddenly looked up, his forehead still damp with cold sweat, but he had already gripped the particle gun tightly.
Long Wu bent down and picked up the heavy sword; the blade hummed and emitted a bluish light.
Lin Yi put the two keys into his palm, and the tremor of the Core of Cause and Effect transformed into a steady heartbeat—he could hear a strange echo coming from the depths of the temple, as if countless people with their mouths covered were speaking at the same time, saying the same thing:
"Key...back to normal..."
The black mist on the dome of the secret chamber suddenly solidified, as if it had been swirled by an invisible hand.
That eerie echo, carrying some kind of low-frequency vibration, crashed directly into everyone's consciousness—"Traitor, return."
The shadowy figure's particle gun slid half an inch across his palm.
The veins on the back of his neck bulged like snakes, his pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints, and a suppressed groan escaped his throat, as if countless ice picks were drilling into his brain.
The cocoon of light on the starship deck three years ago, the cold light of the Court of Higher Civilizations, and the baby's cry from the fragments of memory just now all shattered into pieces in his consciousness.
“The Old Gods…” he gritted his teeth, his knuckles pressed against his temples, “They’ve planted a resonant imprint on my soul…”
"Bullshit!" Long Wu's heavy sword slammed down between the two men with a clang, sending stone chips flying everywhere.
He strode up to the shadowy figure, his rough hand gripping the back of the neck—a common technique used by ancient martial artists, but without any force. "I've seen evil spirits in the sandstorms of the Northwest Gobi Desert, they always target the weakest among the weak." As he spoke, he pulled a wolfsbane-coated dagger from his waist, the blade still stained with the dark blood from the previous two days' extermination of the extradimensional beast tide. "Take this. If you're really obsessed with going back, stab yourself in the thigh—when the pain wakes you up, think about who stuffed half a compressed biscuit into your mouth when you were wanted by the advanced civilization."
The shadowy figure stared at the dagger, still warm from Long Wu's body, and his Adam's apple bobbed twice.
He suddenly looked up, and the pain in his eyes was replaced by a kind of burning heat—like a spark that had been sealed under ice finally breaking through a crack.
"Thanks." He chuckled softly, tucking the dagger into the innermost pocket of his tactical belt, his fingertips lightly brushing against the crooked wolf head engraved on the hilt by Long Wu.
"Warning! Abnormal fluctuations in the core energy of the temple!" Chu Yao's data body suddenly stretched into a red warning line, and light spots spun wildly around everyone. "Self-destruct program activated, remaining safe time... three minutes and seventeen seconds!" For the first time, her voice carried the urgency only a human could have. "The core area's energy is about to overload. All non-mythical level professionals exposed for more than thirty seconds will be vaporized!"
Lin Yi's golden-purple pupils suddenly contracted.
The core of cause and effect exploded deep within his consciousness, like a red-hot silver needle suddenly piercing through the fog—he finally understood why advanced civilizations hid the Third Key in the deepest part of the temple.
"Follow me!" He grabbed Xuan Mingzi's translucent wrist, the two keys in his palms blazing with intense light. "The clue to the third key is at the core altar! Chu Yao, locate the nearest teleportation node!"
Long Wu picked up his heavy sword and led the way, the blade cleaving through the stalagmites blocking his path, the green light scorching the stone wall.
The shadowy figure's particle gun swept across the falling rubble overhead, each bullet precisely shattering any dangerous rocks that might strike the team.
A faint blue light seeped from Xuan Mingzi's data stream, and with a light tap of his fingertip, he shattered the stone gate blocking the way into dust—he looked at the wolf tooth pendant swaying on Long Wu's back, and a very faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Ninety seconds left!" Chu Yao's alarm pierced through the dust-splattered passage.
As everyone rounded the last bend, the sweltering heat almost whipped their clothes off.
The altar at the deepest part of the temple was faintly visible in the firelight.
But even more striking than the firelight was the ancient stone tablet shrouded in ashes in the center of the altar.
Its outline is like a layer of frosted glass, and the scratches of the inscription appear and disappear. But the moment people step in, a few stars of eerie green fluorescence suddenly emerge from the cracks in the stone, like fireflies that have been awakened, drifting and rising towards the dome.
“That is…” The shadowy figure’s particle gun drooped slightly.
"Don't stop!" Lin Yi's two keys suddenly became hot, burning his palms red—he could feel the core of cause and effect resonating wildly, "There are spatial folds under the altar! The third key... is inside the stone tablet!"
Long Wu's heavy sword slammed into the ground, causing the entire altar to shake.
He turned around and grinned at the crowd, revealing his bloodied canine teeth: "I'll cover for you! You all better run faster!"
Deep within the stone tablet, unseen by them, the faint inscriptions were slowly becoming clear with the heat.
The top line reads: "When the three keys are returned to their rightful place, the forgotten will crawl out from the rifts of spacetime..."
"Five seconds!" Chu Yao's scream was accompanied by a deafening roar.
The massive stones of the altar's dome began to collapse.
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