As the rubble from the well wall pelted Lin Yi's shoulder, he was staring at the gradually solidifying black-robed figure on the stone tablet.
The image was re-outlined by the light of the glow sticks, every inch of his clothes bearing the cracks of time's erosion. But when he slowly rose from the monument, even the projection of the night owl unconsciously took a half step back—the phantom of the mother hive behind the invader leader, which was originally twisting and spitting out black mist, suddenly curled up into a ball like a snake that had been doused with boiling oil.
"This is..." Xuan Mingzi's beard trembled, his withered fingers gripping the protruding rocks on the well wall so tightly that his knuckles turned bluish-white. "The First Believer!" His voice was filled with both ecstasy and fear. "In the pre-pre-civilization era, when the Mother Nest first descended, the first to stand up and use the power of faith to resist the erosion of consciousness..."
"A match has been detected in the civilization database." Chu Yao's voice suddenly rang in Lin Yi's ears. Her projection emerged from the bracelet, and the data stream at the tip of her hair was flashing with golden code. "The target has a 97.3% overlap with Li Mu's gene chain and is his eighteenth generation direct ancestor."
Early logs from the Mother Nest indicate that he once used 'Faith Resonance' to pull the consciousness of millions of humans out of the data trench, causing the Mother Nest's core program to crash...
"Enough!" The owl's roar shook the well top, causing another piece of gravel to fall.
His previously wide grin completely collapsed, and he clenched the half-identity tag in his palm, leaving deep, bloody marks. "You shouldn't have awakened him!" The phantom of the Mother Nest behind him suddenly expanded into a gigantic, pitch-black cocoon, countless chains bursting forth and coiling around the black-robed man like living creatures. "He's the only... the only one who gives me nightmares even in the sea of data!"
Lin Yi's Adam's apple bobbed.
He could feel his blood boiling, not because of the battle, but because of the slowly rising figure—when the bronze bell at the other's waist jingled softly with the movement, the soul resonance bell on his chest also trembled, as if a long-lost friend was greeting him.
"Long Wu!" He suddenly turned his head.
Long Wu, who was using his Tang sword to cleave the third chain, looked up, blood dripping from his forehead onto his wrist guard: "The captain said..."
"Guard the rift to the southeast!" Lin Yi's gaze returned to the man in black robes. He could see the shadows beneath the man's eyelashes shifting, like the final tremor of a sleeping person before awakening. "Chu Yao, how long will it take to analyze his sea of consciousness?"
"0.7 seconds." The AI's voice held a rare hint of urgency. "His consciousness has been sealed by the Mother Nest for three major update cycles, but..." The data stream condensed into chains of light at her fingertips, "His remaining faith power is still protecting his core memories. If we awaken him now..."
\"boom--\"
The owl's chains finally wrapped around the black-robed man's ankles.
The black energy emitted bluish smoke from the other's clothes like a corrosive agent, but the next second, a glimmer of light suddenly burst out from the crack—it was the light from Li Mu's obsession monument, the light from the glow stick from the rainy night at the border battle. It flowed back along the chains, scorching black holes into the night owl's projection.
"This is impossible!" The intruder leader's voice began to distort, like a poorly transmitted broadcast. "The broodmother's erasure procedure should have been completed long ago..."
"Shouldn't all traces of the rebels have been erased long ago?"
A hoarse voice suddenly echoed in the well.
The black-robed man's eyelashes finally stopped trembling.
He kept his eyes closed, but when he uttered those words, the entire space of the "Well of Oblivion" resonated—the fragments of consciousness that had been attacking Lin Yi suddenly changed direction and knelt at his feet as if on a pilgrimage; the light from Long Wu's blade that severed the chains suddenly became brighter, and even the dragon scales on his arm turned golden; even the phantom of the mother nest behind Night Owl emitted a shriek similar to that of a dying creature.
Lin Yi's breath caught in his throat.
He recalled Lei Yan's words about the "Monument to Obsession," and Li Mu holding up a glow stick in the air-raid shelter and saying, "I'll light your way." At that moment, he suddenly understood that obsession is never a shackle that binds you to the past, but a spark that can transcend time.
The right hand of the "first believer" slowly rose.
He didn't look at Night Owl, Long Wu, or even Lin Yi; he simply pressed lightly against the bronze bell at his waist.
The antique, identical to the Soul Resonance Bell, suddenly emitted a clear and melodious sound, as if responding to a call that had transcended eighteen generations.
The owl's projection began to collapse.
He glanced one last time at the black-robed man who was waking up, then at Lin Yi who was clutching the Soul Resonance Bell tightly, and finally gritted his teeth and roared: "Seal it off!"
Seal this well for me—
"It's too late." Xuanmingzi suddenly laughed.
His remnant soul floated out of Lin Yi's body and performed an ancient salute before the man in black robes, saying, "While you slept, someone always held a torch for you."
Amidst the sound of the well wall collapsing, Lin Yi felt something scalding hot surge from his heart to his throat.
He gazed at the gradually clearer face of the man in black robes—the outline of his eyebrows and eyes bore a striking resemblance to Li Mu's.
The Soul Resonance Bell was burning hot in his palm, as if urging him to do something.
When the last chain was burned by the fluorescent light, the black-robed man's eyelashes finally trembled slightly.
Lin Yi raised his hand as if possessed.
He could hear his own heart pounding like thunder, he could hear Chu Yao shouting, "A breakthrough in the threshold of faith resonance has been detected," and he could hear the crisp sound of Long Wu's Tang sword cleaving through the last piece of falling rock.
He gazed at the bronze bell swaying gently at the black-robed man's waist, then at the Soul Resonance Bell in his own palm, and suddenly took half a step forward.
"Perhaps..." he murmured, his voice drowned out by the roar of the well, yet it struck him clearly, "This is the key you left for him."
The black-robed man's eyelids were slowly lifting.
The rain of gravel inside the well suddenly stopped in mid-air.
The moment Lin Yi's fingertips touched the Soul Resonance Bell, the bronze artifact seemed to come alive and leaped out of his palm.
He watched it float between the two of them, the eighteen fine lines on the bell rising and falling with the breath of the first believer—marks of eighteen generations of bloodline inheritance, the key across time finally aligned with the lock.
"Here you go." He heard his own hoarse voice, his throat feeling like it was burning, yet clearer than ever. "When Li Mu held up his glow stick, he must have wanted to pass the light to you too."
The black-robed man's eyelashes lifted completely.
Golden light burst forth from his closed eyes, not a blinding brightness, but a soft glow like morning mist.
As the light swept across the well wall, the black mist that had been gnawing at everyone's consciousness melted away with a hissing sound, like ice and snow meeting the sun; the dragon scales on Long Wu's arm suddenly shimmered with a glass-like luster, and his hand holding the Tang sword unconsciously loosened, letting the blade fall to the ground—it was an instinctive awe purified by the power of faith.
"Night Owl's projection!" Chu Yao exclaimed amidst the booming of data streams, "The holographic projection has shrunk by 47%!"
The projection of the invader leader is disintegrating at a visible rate.
The scales on his neck cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and his once scarlet pupils no longer reflected mockery, but rather bone-chilling fear: "No... this is impossible!"
The Mother Nest erased the legacy of all believers, how could you...?
"Because someone will always remember," the first believer said.
His voice was like the gentle tolling of an ancient bell, each word resonating as if ripples through the air within the well: "When children raise glow sticks in the ruins, when soldiers use their bodies to plug radiation leaks, when mothers give their last sip of water to unfamiliar babies—these moments are the sparks of faith."
He raised his hand, his fingertips brushing against the suspended soul resonance bell.
Suddenly, the bronze bell emitted a clear chime like a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix, and eighteen fine lines lit up simultaneously, weaving a bridge of light between the two.
The owl's projection emitted a dying shriek. The last chain was burned to ashes the moment it touched the light bridge, and the phantom of the mother hive shrank to the size of a fingernail. Before disappearing, it was still emitting a mournful cry like that of a baby.
"This is..." Xuan Mingzi's remnant soul drifted to the edge of the light bridge, his turbid eyes reflecting gold, "The most primal fear of the Mother Nest?"
"It is the truth it does not want to face." The first believer turned to the stone tablet.
His fingertips lightly touched the surface of the monument, and the seemingly indestructible black iron immediately shattered like tofu, revealing a dark purple fragment embedded within—the surface of that fragment was covered with twisted patterns, and within each pattern were countless struggling human faces. "This is the core code from when the Mother Nest was born."
It devours civilizations and instills fear in order to conceal its original memory: it was once a beacon of hope used by an advanced civilization, but during its long journey through space, it was corrupted by despair and became the monster it is today.
Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze.
The data stream at the tip of her hair surged wildly, eventually condensing into a line of blood-red warning: "Hive source code detected!"
Its core logic chain shows... that it once actively protected survivors from a civilization before that!
Long Wu bent down to pick up the Tang sword, its blade reflecting his shocked face: "So that monster wasn't afraid of our strength, it was afraid of us remembering... that it could have been good?"
"To be more precise," the first believer's gaze fell on Lin Yi's face, "what it fears is the belief of 'humans'."
When humanity is willing to sacrifice for strangers and persevere for an unseen future, this power can awaken any corrupted 'original intention'—including itself.
Dark purple fragments suddenly rose from the pile of stones.
It seemed to be drawn by some kind of gravity, slowly drifting towards Lin Yi.
As the fragments passed over the bridge of light, the originally golden light stream suddenly turned into a warm orange, much like the glow stick that Lei Yan lit in front of the Monument of Obsession.
"This is..." Lin Yi instinctively reached out his hand.
He could feel the fragments calling to him, not with power, but with a familiar warmth, like a mother's embrace.
\"bite--\"
The Well of Oblivion suddenly emitted a sharp, mournful cry.
The sound was like countless panes of glass shattering simultaneously, or like a baby's first cry, making everyone's eardrums ache.
The rocks on the well walls began to seep out black viscous liquid, and the black mist that had been purified was now flowing back from the cracks, causing even the golden light on the first believer's body to fluctuate.
"It is resisting." The voice of the first believer wavered for the first time. "The Mother Nest is mobilizing the power of the entire data sea to prevent the fragments from being awakened."
Child, grab it—
Before the words were even finished, the fragments suddenly accelerated.
It pierced through Lin Yi's fingers and hovered three centimeters from his palm, the dark purple patterns on its surface beginning to spin wildly.
The black mist inside the well condensed into countless hands, trying to pull it back to the pile of stones; while the golden light of the light bridge transformed into chains, protecting it tightly.
Lin Yi's palms were sweating.
He stared at the struggling faces in the shards—an old man in military uniform, a girl with a ponytail, a woman holding a baby, their mouths all repeating the same sentence.
He held his breath and finally heard clearly: "Remember us."
"I remember," he said softly.
The fragment suddenly trembled.
All the black mist hands instantly turned to dust, while the golden light of the light bridge wrapped around his wrist like a living thing, pressing the fragments into his palm.
The wailing from inside the well reached its climax.
Just as the fragments were about to touch his skin, Lin Yi heard the first believer say, "This is the last wish of the civilization before that." He saw Xuan Mingzi's remnant soul reveal a relieved smile in the golden light, Long Wu gripped his Tang sword again to block him, and Chu Yao's data stream condensed into a shield to envelop his back.
Then, a stinging pain came from his palm.
It wasn't burning, it wasn't cutting, but rather a memory sealed for tens of thousands of years, slowly awakening along the blood vessels beneath the skin.
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