The smell of disinfectant in the interrogation room made Lin Yi's nose sting.
As he sat up, supporting himself on the medical table, the coin-sized scar on the back of his neck burned with each heartbeat—a mark he had never seen in the mirror before, like a red-hot iron embedded in his skin.
"Chu Yao, full-band jamming." He ripped off the monitoring electrodes from his arm, his voice hoarse yet undeniably cold and hard. "Block all external connections, including satellites, quantum networks, and..." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the replica in the observation room, "...any channels that the Destiny System might infiltrate."
The blue light from the holographic projection shattered into stardust in his pupils.
Chu Yao's data stream, which was originally a constant emerald green, now rippled with dark red: "Seventeen hidden interfaces have been detected attempting to take over the mainframe. Electromagnetic pulse barrier activated. Host, do you need to simultaneously cut off the energy supply to the real world?"
"Analyze the main control protocol first." Lin Yi walked towards the observation room, his fingertips touching the cracked glass.
The clone still had that gentle smile, but the starlight at the corners of its eyes was even brighter than before, as if something alive was swimming in its pupils.
He suddenly recalled those "selves" in the corridor of his memories, their voices overlapping at the same frequency: "You are the key."
“Xuanmingzi.” He turned to look at the gray-robed old man standing at the door.
The other person was staring at the data stream jumping on the wall, his thin fingers unconsciously stroking his beard—a habitual action when he was emotionally agitated.
“I need your help to crack the protocol layer of the Destiny System.” Lin Yi walked to the console and pulled up a string of garbled code. “Chu Yao said that you were once the incarnation of the game’s main brain, and the main brain…” His Adam’s apple bobbed, “was the outer defense of the Destiny System.”
Xuanmingzi's pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints.
He staggered two steps, his palms pressing against the metal table, his knuckles turning white: "So that's how it is... I've analyzed the mainframe core countless times, but I've never discovered..." He suddenly coughed violently, his body hunched over like a withered branch beneath his gray robe, "Those memories I considered my 'self,' those years of wits and courage against the players..." He looked up abruptly, his eyes reddening, "...all of them were preset program branches of the system?"
"The obsession you've built up over the millennia, every opportunity you've fought for the players." Lin Yi pressed down on his trembling shoulders, feeling the electric current pulsating beneath his skin in his palm. "Those sleepless nights because of player deaths, those angry roars because of loopholes in the rules—if these were all programs, then these programs should have had their own heartbeats long ago."
Xuanmingzi's beard moved without wind.
Looking into Lin Yi's determined eyes, he swallowed hard, then finally closed his eyes and sighed, "I... will try."
"Buzz—"
A deep rumble exploded from Ivan's body.
The blond man huddled against the corner of the wall, dark purple veins appearing on his neck, creeping like vines behind his ears.
Two colors swirled in his blue eyes: the clarity of humanity and the murky darkness of the mother nest torn apart, with the light of humanity ultimately prevailing.
“The core isn’t here.” His voice was like two pieces of metal rubbing together. “It’s in… the place of origin.” He suddenly clutched his chest, where a ghostly green light was writhing beneath his skin. “The Mother Nest consciousness is screaming. It says that’s where everything began, and also…” He looked up at Lin Yi, the turbidity in his pupils completely gone. “Our end.”
Lin Yi's fingers tapped out a regular rhythm on the edge of the control panel.
The Land of Origin—he had seen this term in the ancient documents that Chu Yao had restored; it was the laboratory coordinates for the first test of the "Infinite" game twenty years ago.
A sudden burning pain shot through the scar on the back of my neck, and fragments of memory flooded back: the back of the man in the white coat, the figure floating in the incubation chamber, and the phrase, "When the key realizes that it is the key."
"Long Wu." He turned to look at the burly man who had been guarding the door all along.
The other party was shirtless, with dragon scales faintly visible beneath his bronze skin. Upon hearing the summons, he immediately stepped forward, his dragon claws gathering a pale golden light in his palms.
"Protect them." Lin Yi pointed to Xuan Mingzi and Ivan, then looked up at Chu Yao. "Locate the real-time coordinates of the Origin Land and forcibly open a passage using a spacetime rift—if the system blocks regular teleportation, use my permissions."
Chu Yao's data stream suddenly surged to gold: "Detected that the spatial barrier strength has increased to the mythical level! The host can only maintain the rift for three seconds in the current state—"
"Three seconds is enough." Lin Yi interrupted her, a dark silver spacetime emblem appearing in his palm. "Activate the rift."
Space twisted into a dark vortex before my eyes.
Long Wu's dragon claws covered Xuan Mingzi and Ivan, and the golden light emanating from the dragon scales resembled a protective film.
Just before Chu Yao's projection was sucked into the rift, Lin Yi heard her scream: "Brainwave compatibility 97%! Host, you and the clone..."
Before he could finish speaking, darkness engulfed everything.
When Lin Yi opened his eyes again, he was standing in a pure white space.
There is no up, down, left, or right here, only countless cocoons of light floating in the air. Each cocoon contains a "Lin Yi"—some are boys in school uniforms, some are young men in combat uniforms, some are stained with blood, and some are smiling. Their eyes are all closed, as if waiting to be awakened.
The light cocoon at the very center is ten times larger than the others, and its surface is covered with star-like codes.
As Lin Yi approached, the cocoon of light cracked open, revealing the person inside—who looked exactly like him, except for a dark red mark at the corner of his eye and a gaze as cold as if it had been tempered with ice.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time." The other person's voice overlapped with the one in the corridor of memory. "My perfect copy, my closed loop of fate."
Lin Yi didn't waste any words.
With a light tap of his fingertip, the dark silver ripples of [Space-Time Annihilation] instantly spread out, sealing the entire space into an independent dimension.
He could feel that every line of code here was trying to invade his consciousness, like countless tiny needles piercing his brain.
"You think sealing off space will win?" The clone chuckled, raising its hand to shatter the surrounding cocoons of light, revealing the figures of "Lin Yi" in mid-air. "Look at these, all failed experiments. You are the most perfect. You have emotions, obsessions, and the courage to break the rules—so you are the key, the one who can open the door to the 'civilization trial ground' of advanced civilizations."
"So you created the 'Infinite' game and used the power of the job changers to feed the system?" Lin Yi's temples throbbed, and the scar on the back of his neck almost burned through his skin. "So my 'Time and Space Dominator' class, my 'Unique Mythical Level,' were all designed by you?"
“No.” The clone’s smile held a hint of appreciation. “Your profession was awakened on your own, and you earned your Mythic rank through your own efforts. We just gave you a push at key moments—like that lightning that triggered the hidden quest, or the appearance of the clone.” He spread his hands. “You see, even resistance is part of our script.”
Lin Yi suddenly smiled.
He looked at the "himself" floating around him, recalling Chu Yao's amazement when he first used the spacetime rift, the dragon's roar when Long Wu blocked a fatal attack for him, and Xuan Mingzi's astonishment when he first revealed his true human expression.
These images surged in his mind, like a fire that burned ever brighter.
“You’re half right.” He raised his hand, and the spacetime emblem on his palm shone with a light more dazzling than any code. “My profession was awakened on its own, my friends were made on their own, and my future…” His voice carried a thunderous power, “was never written by you.”
The clone's expression finally changed.
He tried to raise his hand to stop him, but Lin Yi's figure suddenly became transparent, as if it were about to merge into the air.
The floating "Lin Yi" figures opened their eyes simultaneously, and the starlight in their eyes went out—not because they were destroyed, but because they were covered by some more powerful force.
"In the name of the Master of Time and Space, in the name of all those who believe in 'human will can conquer nature'," Lin Yi's voice resounded throughout the space, "with my life as the catalyst—"
"My true destiny is in my own hands!"
The roar resounded throughout the heavens and earth.
Fragments of the light cocoon fell like a torrential rain, and the clones' figures twisted into data streams in the explosion.
Lin Yi felt something being pulled out from the scar on the back of his neck, like a thread that had been stuck there for twenty years finally being snapped.
When the light faded, the pure white space had become ruins.
Chu Yao's projection suddenly appeared in front of him, the data stream turning into a red alert: "Spatial turbulence detected! Host's vital signs..."
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Yi's figure vanished completely.
"Boss!" Long Wu's dragon roar pierced through the turbulent currents.
Xuanmingzi trembled as he grabbed Ivan's arm. Ivan was staring at the spot where Lin Yi had disappeared, tears welling in his eyes.
Chu Yao's projection suddenly stabilized.
Her data stream reformed into an emerald green color, but with an added golden line—that was Lin Yi's permission mark.
“Initiate the emergency anchoring procedure.” For the first time, her voice carried warmth. “No matter where you are, we will find you.”
Amidst the spatial turbulence, a dark silver streak flashed by, like a star streaking across the sky.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com