Lin Yi's consciousness, like crumpled pages of paper, slowly unfolded in the darkness.
The first thing that surged in was a dull pain, spreading from the depths of his soul to every part of his body, as if someone were carving new patterns in every inch of his consciousness with a rusty carving knife.
He heard Chu Yao's voice, her sobbing voice still crackling with static: "Vitality is stable!"
Heartbeat, brainwaves, soul fluctuations... all returned to normal thresholds!
"You brat, you're finally awake." Long Wu pressed his palm heavily on his shoulder, the force almost crushing his shoulder blade.
Lin Yi barely opened his eyes, and what came into view was Long Wu's reddened eyes—this man, who had always been as calm as Mount Tai after awakening his true dragon bloodline, still had tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes. "I've been watching over you for three days and three nights. If it had been half an hour later, I would have torn down this lousy lab and carried you to jump into the Dragon Spring."
Three days?
Lin Yi was slightly taken aback.
He remembered that before his consciousness sank into darkness, the primordial sea of rules was collapsing, with golden fragments pouring down like a torrential rain.
But in reality, so much time has passed?
"It's not just a matter of time flow." Chu Yao's holographic projection lit up on his bedside table. In the pale blue light, her pupils showed a frantic surge of data. "According to feedback from the global monitoring system, in the seventy-two hours since your consciousness left your body, more than 20,000 spatiotemporal anomalies have occurred in the real world—the Statue of Liberty in New York appeared simultaneously in 1984, 2023, and 2077; the cherry blossoms and blizzards on Mount Fuji in Tokyo overlapped seventeen times in spacetime." Her voice suddenly lowered, and she lightly tapped the air with her fingertips to bring up a stream of fluorescent green data. "But the moment your consciousness returned, all the anomalies vanished."
It's like... someone gently erased the gibberish on the blackboard.
The data stream unfolded before Lin Yi's eyes. He stared at the dancing particles of light and suddenly smiled.
Those fragments of memories that once tore his heart apart—the burning pain of being scalded by the rules when he went against the timeline to save Chu Yao, the hand cut by spatial turbulence when he smuggled the special medicine through a spacetime rift, the trembling he felt when he knelt outside the operating room when Long Wu was seriously injured—all of these now transformed into a warm current, surging in his chest.
It turns out that the so-called "true name" was never a label given by the rules, but rather a mark he personally carved on the book of destiny with every choice and every act of perseverance.
"Congratulations, Lin Yi."
A voice, both unfamiliar and familiar, rang out in the laboratory.
Lin Yi looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xuan Mingzi's figure emerging from the void.
The original game mastermind's avatar was no longer wrapped in a Taoist robe, and the cold, hard edges between his brows and eyes had softened considerably, like an ancient jade whose sharpness had been worn away by time. "You not only pierced the cracks in the rules, but also planted new seeds in its wounds."
From this day forward, the fate of this land will no longer be written by some high and mighty being.
Long Wu immediately placed his hand on the dragon scale short blade at his waist, but stopped the moment he touched the hilt—he could sense that there was no threatening aura emanating from this suddenly appearing man.
Instead, a warm, protective aura was spreading from Xuanmingzi's feet.
"Don't be nervous." Xuanmingzi nodded to Long Wu, then turned his gaze back to Lin Yi. "My mission is complete."
"The Primordial Sea, the Sea of Rules, needs a new guardian, and I..." He raised his hand and pressed it against his chest, his figure beginning to become transparent, "more suited to be a shadow hidden within the folds of the rules."
"Wait a minute!" Chu Yao suddenly raised the terminal. "You said before that the core data of the game's mainframe needs to be maintained regularly—"
"It's not needed now." Xuan Mingzi's voice carried a hint of amusement. "Because here, there's already a better 'mainframe'." His fingertip lightly touched Lin Yi's brow. "His consciousness has been etched with spacetime laws more precise than any program."
Before his transparent figure completely vanished, he left behind his last words: "May you continue to write your own story in the new world."
A brief silence fell over the laboratory.
Long Wu released his grip on the knife hilt and wiped his face. "This old man... seems to have finally come to his senses."
Lin Yi touched the spot on his forehead and could clearly sense that something had been added there—not power, but a certain "perspective".
He can "see" the light trails traced by the subway three kilometers away in time and space, and he can "hear" the ripples stirred up in the river of time by the first cry of a baby thousands of miles away.
Rules are no longer a towering mountain pressing down on his head, but rather a thread wrapped around his fingertips, stretching or tightening as he pleases.
"You are no longer an individual, but... part of the rules," Chu Yao suddenly said softly.
On her terminal screen, Lin Yi's vital signs data suddenly disappeared, replaced by a line of flashing large characters: [Existence Form: Transcendent Level (Custom)].
Lin Yi turned to look at her, and a rare look of confusion appeared in the eyes of the girl AI: "All the previous definitions of 'job changer' are invalid for you."
Mythical level?
No, you are the 'definitive one' of mythology.
"That's fine too." Lin Yi sat up and lifted the medical blanket covering him.
His body was unharmed, and he felt even lighter than before. "At least in the future, if I encounter interdimensional invaders, I won't have to worry about being suppressed by their rules."
Long Wu suddenly stood up, walked to the window, and pushed open the blinds.
The afternoon sun streamed in, making the patterns on his dragon scale armor gleam with a golden light: "Look outside."
Lin Yi followed his gaze.
The sky was a clear, deep blue, without any overlapping shadows of time or space, or any disordered interweaving of seasons.
The New York skyline was clearly visible beneath the clouds, and the cherry blossom forecast for Tokyo progressed smoothly on the news feed—all the realities torn apart by the chaos of rules were gently healed the moment he returned.
"We should go see Ivan," Chu Yao suddenly said, her fingers flying across the terminal. "He's been in the observation room for three days, neither eating nor drinking, just staring at his own hands."
My sensors just detected that the energy fluctuations in the core of his uterus... have completely disappeared.
Lin Yi paused for a moment.
What does that man, who was once parasitized by the core of the nest and struggled between humanity and bestiality for two years, look like now?
The laboratory door was gently pushed open.
In the backlight, Ivan's silhouette was clearly defined.
He looked down at his palm, his fingertips slowly tracing the lines on his palm—there were no longer the purplish-black veins or wriggling tendrils, only the pale pink skin of an ordinary human.
"Lin Yi." He looked up, a strange yet familiar light flickering in his eyes. "I think... I can finally truly 'feel' myself again."
Long Wu strode over and patted him hard on the back: "Come on, I'll treat you to hot pot!"
Celebrating your complete escape from that rotten mother nest—
"Wait." Ivan pressed down on Long Wu's wrist, a bittersweet smile on his face. "I might have to leave for a while."
There are some things... I need to figure out.
Lin Yi looked at him and suddenly smiled.
He could sense that something far greater was awakening within Ivan—not the remnants of the Mother Nest, but his own truth, hidden by the rules for far too long.
"Be careful on the road," he said. "If you need help, the spacetime rift is always open for you."
Ivan nodded and turned to walk down the corridor.
His steps were light, yet each one was extremely steady, as if he had finally found his own land.
The laboratory's electronic clock ticked, showing 3:17 PM.
Sunlight streamed through the glass, creating a golden sea at Lin Yi's feet.
As he gazed out the window at the world that was now running again, he suddenly remembered the final question that remained in the primordial sea.
"What exactly are you?"
The answer is clearer now than ever.
He was a rebel.
Moreover, they are the writers of a new world.
The lab’s electronic clock had just ticked past 3:18 p.m. when Ivan suddenly stopped at the corner of the corridor.
His back straightened slightly, as if he had been gently tugged by some invisible thread.
Long Wu's hand was still hanging in mid-air, having missed its target. Just as he was about to make a joke, he saw Ivan slowly turn around.
The boy's eyelashes cast dappled shadows under his eyes, and his knuckles unconsciously pressed against his temples.
Deep within his pupils, starlight-like spots were gathering—not the purplish-black of the mother nest's core, but a purer, more golden light, like dawn piercing through the clouds. "I..." his voice trembled, like an infant learning to speak for the first time, "I can hear their breathing."
"Whose breathing?" Chu Yao's terminal suddenly beeped. Her fingertips flew across the holographic screen. "Your bioelectrical signals are being reorganized!"
Cell activity increased by 300%, but there were no signs of an energy overload...
Ivan raised his hand, palm up.
As everyone's gaze fell upon him, pale golden veins rose beneath his skin, resembling the river of light flowing within Lin Yi's spatial rift. "They are the civilizations devoured by the Mother Nest," his voice grew clearer, each word carrying a warm tremor. "They haven't disappeared, they're just... slumbering within the folds of my genes."
Long Wu's dragon scale armor made a soft sound—he had been so focused that he hadn't noticed his fingers had gripped the hilt of his sword.
He released his grip, his rough palm rubbing against Ivan's shoulder: "So you're leaving?"
“Go to where they were born.” Ivan smiled, tears welling in his eyes but not falling. “Truth isn’t about confrontation, it’s about understanding.” He looked at Lin Yi, his gaze filled with a steadfastness that transcended countless timelines. “Just like you taught me, every life should have its own story.”
Lin Yi leaned against the headboard, his fingers unconsciously stroking the space between his eyebrows where Xuan Mingzi had touched him.
He could "see" the river of light within Ivan's body extending, each tributary pointing to a different star orbit. "Do you need the coordinates of the spacetime rift?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of indulgent gentleness.
"No need." Ivan took two steps back, his figure beginning to become transparent. "They are guiding me." He glanced one last time at Long Wu, then turned to Chu Yao. "Please thank everyone for me."
The laboratory door closed gently behind him.
Long Wu stared at the empty corridor, his Adam's apple bobbing twice: "This kid... he's more like a chivalrous hero than I am."
"His departure aligns with the probability model." Chu Yao pushed up her non-existent glasses, and countless green dots appeared on the terminal screen. "The core of the Mother Nest is essentially a compressed carrier of civilization's memories. When the carrier and the host are completely integrated..." She suddenly paused, looking up at Lin Yi, "But more importantly, he has finally gained the right to 'choose'."
Lin Yi looked down at his palm.
Sunlight filtered through my fingers, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
Three days ago, he was still struggling with the Sea of Rules in the Primordial Sea, but now he can clearly perceive that the flow of time on the entire Earth is being adjusted to the gentlest frequency with him as the center.
"I'm going on patrol." Long Wu suddenly tugged at his armor. "Although the spacetime rifts have been stable lately, there are always some clueless guys trying to take advantage of the situation in the border city." He walked to the door, then turned back, grinning and showing his white teeth. "When I get back, I'll tell you about that kid's embarrassing story of crying from the spiciness of hotpot."
The footsteps in the corridor faded into the distance.
Chu Yao's holographic projection suddenly flickered twice, and a red alert exploded in her eyes: "The fifth district where Long Wu is located is experiencing abnormal spacetime fluctuations!"
...overlapping vital signs detected!
Lin Yi vanished from his spot in an instant.
When he reappeared, he was standing on the rooftop of the fifth district.
The crowds on the street below seemed to have been paused, and even the fallen leaves floating in the air were frozen into golden-red sculptures.
Long Wu knelt on one knee, his dragon-scale dagger stuck in the ground beside him, facing a man who looked exactly like him.
The man's dragon scale armor gleamed with a ghostly blue light, and he had a crescent-shaped scar at the corner of his left eye—a scar that Long Wu did not have.
His right hand was gripping Long Wu's throat, and the purplish-black energy seeping from between his fingers was spreading along Long Wu's blood vessels toward his heart.
"Interesting." The blue-scaled man tilted his head, his voice like two pieces of metal rubbing together. "You, in this dimension, have actually retained humanity?" His fingernails dug into Long Wu's neck. "The Mother Nest should have burned away the emotions of you ants long ago."
"Let...you go..." Dragon Five's scales began to glow with golden light, each scale vibrating. "My life...is none of your business."
Just as Lin Yi was about to make a move, he saw Long Wu suddenly smile.
His pupils reflected the blue-scaled man's face, his Adam's apple bobbing in the other's palm: "You smell."
\"What?\"
"It tastes fake." Long Wu pressed his left hand to his chest, and the dragon scale at the very center suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light.
That was the "Scale of My True Self" that he protected with half his life when his chest was torn open by spatial turbulence while saving Lin Yi.
Wherever the golden light passed, the blue-scaled man's figure began to distort, revealing writhing purplish-black tentacles beneath.
"Cross-dimensional projection?" Lin Yi instantly understood—the so-called Long Wu from another world was nothing more than a puppet created by the remnant consciousness of the Mother Nest using fragments of memory.
Long Wu grabbed the other's wrist and twisted it forcefully, his short blade slicing through the false outer layer.
The purplish-black energy emitted a shriek and was burned to ashes by the golden light of the "Scales of the True Self".
He staggered to his feet, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and grinned at Lin Yi: "I told you, who the hell can look more like Long Wu than me?"
"Well done." Lin Yi raised his hand, and time, which had been paused, began to flow again.
The panicked crowd scattered, clutching their heads, completely unaware that they had just narrowly escaped death.
The setting sun cast long shadows of the two of them.
Long Wu kicked at the remaining purplish-black debris on the ground, then suddenly said seriously, "This thing... is it related to Ivan?"
"Yes and no." Lin Yi looked at the gradually dissipating energy remnants. "The essence of the Mother Nest is fear. The greater the fear, the stronger it becomes."
But Ivan had already taken its 'roots,' leaving only a lingering shadow.
As night fell, Lin Yi stood atop the world's tallest time tower.
The wind lifted the hem of his coat, and below him lay a brightly lit city.
He could hear a million different sounds—the shouts of vendors selling kebabs, the whispers of couples, and old people telling their grandchildren stories of the past.
These voices intertwine throughout the long river of time, more moving than any rule.
"Chu Yao, remove all restrictions," he said softly.
"Confirm execution?" Chu Yao's projection appeared beside him. "This means the job change system will be fully open, allowing humans to freely choose their profession, level, and even create new professions."
\"confirm.\"
A golden rain of light poured down from the top of the Time Tower, covering the entire planet.
Players who were fighting monsters discovered that there was a "Custom" option in their skill bar, the aunt selling breakfast on the street suddenly awakened the "Master Chef" profession, and even the stray cats wagged their tails and had the title "Cute Pet Monarch" floating above their heads.
"From this day forward, fate is no longer a shackle." Lin Yi looked at the jubilant crowd below, his throat tightening slightly.
He remembered the little mage who was ridiculed in the starting village, the searing pain he felt when he went against time to save Chu Yao, and the trembling of Long Wu kneeling outside the operating room.
All the perseverance was for this moment—to allow every life to live its own legend.
Cheers surged forth like a tidal wave.
Long Wu squeezed through the crowd, beer bottle in hand. Ivan was standing next to him, and their shoulders bumped together with a loud thud.
Chu Yao's projection blended into the crowd, running alongside the children as they chased after the glowing butterflies.
But at that moment, Lin Yi's figure suddenly became blurry.
He looked down at his palms; his skin was becoming translucent, as if it were being gently wiped away by some higher-dimensional force.
"The real adventure has only just begun." His voice drifted on the wind as he glanced one last time at the bustling scene below. "Wait for me to return."
As his figure completely disappeared, in a fictitious dimension far at the edge of the universe, a ruin destroyed by war suddenly began to glow faintly.
The carvings on the broken wall began to peel away, revealing a new line of text underneath—
"Welcome home, writer."
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