In the command center of the Alliance's frontline base, the holographic star map was constantly zooming in and out in response to Lin Yi's gestures.
His knuckles pressed against the coordinates of the owl's nest, projecting a cold blue light that shone into his eyes.
The fragmented data stream from Chu Yao three hours ago was still flashing through his mind, and the Star Key was burning hot against his chest, as if reminding him that time was running out.
"Report, the advance teams of the three major forces have arrived." The adjutant's voice came through the communicator.
Lin Yi released the star map control key, and the tactical glove pressed a shallow mark on the table.
The moment the door was pushed open, he looked up—an elderly man in a blue robe from an ancient martial arts family, a mechanically prosthetic general from the Technological Federation, and a silver-haired chairman from the Superpower Alliance filed in, the sound of military boots and wooden clogs creating a chaotic rhythm on the metal floor.
"Commander Lin, this battle is against the Night Owl's lair, but your intelligence source..." The old man in the blue robe stroked his beard and began, "is just a few words from a data entity, and you're making us stake everything?"
“Chu Yao’s consciousness has just crawled out of the deep sea of data.” Lin Yi’s thumb stroked the patterns on the Star Key. “She has seen the core of the First Will and knows better than anyone else present what Night Owl is going to do.”
The prosthetic eye of the mechanical general flashed red: "But even epic-level void turbulence outside the Mother Nest can't last more than ten minutes. You're saying we'll launch a full-scale attack in three hours? What will we use as the vanguard?"
The murmurs exploded like water droplets in hot oil.
Lin Yi watched the generals whispering among themselves in the crowd and suddenly noticed a lieutenant colonel in the Tech Federation's ranks rapidly tapping his fingers on his trouser seam—Morse code, a variant of SoS.
“Long Wu.” His voice was as soft as a sigh.
Almost simultaneously, a dark figure burst through the ventilation duct window.
Long Wu's tactical dagger, still dripping with undried blood (left over from clearing out traitors half an hour earlier), was pressed against the lieutenant colonel's throat: "Night Owl's snake, well hidden."
The lieutenant colonel's pupils contracted sharply, and his other hand reached abruptly to his waist—where was not a federal sidearm, but a black crystal short blade engraved with otherworldly runes.
Long Wu's dagger moved forward half an inch, and blood flowed down the blade into the tactical glove's weave: "Commander Lin is asking you a question."
"They...are trying to buy time!" The lieutenant colonel's voice suddenly changed, a metallic shriek emanating from his throat. "The Matrix of the Mother Nest is only twenty minutes away from..."
The words came to an abrupt halt.
With a flick of his wrist, Long Wu's dagger precisely severed his throat.
As the body fell, everyone noticed the purple scales on the back of his neck—the mark of the "Blood Leech Clan" under Night Owl's command.
The command center fell into dead silence.
Lin Yi bent down and picked up the black crystal short blade. The moment his fingertips touched the hilt, a cloud of blood mist shot out from the blade, condensing into the phantom of a night owl in mid-air: "You little bugs have indeed become smarter, but..." The phantom's red eyes swept over the crowd, "You think that killing a pawn can stop the chessboard?"
"A projection?" The chief engineer of the Tech Federation slammed his fist on the control panel. "The signal source is the mother hive! He's monitoring us in real time!"
"Then let him see it clearly." Lin Yi slammed the short blade on the table, causing the star map projection to distort. "Chu Yao, analyze the relic chip."
A pale blue stream of data poured down from the ceiling, and Chu Yao's figure appeared in the torrent of data.
Her hair still shimmered with the fluorescence of the data sea, and the crack on her left chest was deeper than it had been three hours earlier, like a star curtain ripped open by a sharp blade: "Your Star Key is required."
Lin Yi took the key off his neck and handed it to the data stream.
The moment the key touched Chu Yao's fingertips, the screens on the entire wall simultaneously lit up in a blood-red warning light—
[Void Rift Matrix Construction Progress Detected: 87%]
[Objective: To anchor the coordinates of Earth's civilization in an alternate dimension]
Upon completion, all real-world spaces will be integrated with the game world, becoming Night Owl's private domain.
"This is impossible!" The Speaker of the Superpowers slammed his staff into the ground, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear. "Our spatial barrier can hold for at least three days!"
“Night Owl used the remnants of the First Will.” Chu Yao’s voice began to distort, and the data stream was dissipating at a visible speed. “That’s what advanced civilizations use to… reboot…”
"Enough." Lin Yi gripped the Star Key tightly, and the key's starlight shone again, as if responding to his emotions. "Everyone, now should we wait for the matrix to complete and watch our wives and children become game NPCs, or should we go and destroy his lair right now?"
The old man in the green robe was the first to stand up, and the ancient bronze sword at his waist hummed as it was drawn from its sheath: "Three hundred elite warriors from the ancient martial arts family will follow you to slaughter through the mother nest."
The prosthetic limb of the mechanical general unfolded into a cannon barrel: "The Quantum Fleet of the Technological Federation is fully charged."
The silver hair of the Speaker of the Superpowers moved without wind: "My mental power can tear open gaps in the void turbulence."
As everyone pressed their blood seals onto the joint agreement in turn, the alarm in the command center suddenly blared.
"The frontline supply line has been attacked!" The communications soldier's voice trembled with tears. "It's...it's mind puppets! They can control corpses to fight, and the defenses are collapsing!"
Lin Yi's tactical boots scraped against the ground, sending sparks flying.
He grabbed the Tremor Gauntlets (Whitebeard's relic, reforged from meteorite iron) from the table and put them on: "Long Wu, take the first squad of the Time-Space Legion and come with me to provide support. The rest of you continue to refine the battle plan—I want to twist off Night Owl's head and kick it like a ball before the Matrix is completed."
The moonlight on the supply line battlefield was stained dark red by the blood mist.
Hundreds of corpses staggered to their feet, dressed in Federation soldier uniforms but with bone spurs on their faces, a trait unique to the Night Owl Clan.
The puppet commander, who was in the lead, raised his bone blade and roared, "Kill Lin Yi! Destroy the supplies!"
"Shake it." Lin Yi shouted in a low voice.
Pale gold patterns appeared on the surface of the boxing gloves, and the air condensed into tangible ripples in front of his fist.
The moment he threw his punch, the entire battlefield trembled as if a stone had been thrown into a lake—the puppets' bones shattered inch by inch in the shock, and even the commander's bone blade was pulverized.
"Retreat!" the surviving alien soldiers screamed as they turned around.
Long Wu's tactical dagger was already embedded in the back of the last man: "Run? Too late."
As the battle ended, the first rays of dawn were climbing the horizon.
Lin Yi crouched down and tore off the collar of a puppet—at the collarbone, a black crystal chip was oozing purple blood.
“These are locators,” Chu Yao’s voice suddenly rang in his ears. “They can use these chips to monitor our deployment in real time.”
During the debriefing meeting, Lin Yi slapped the black crystal chip onto the tactical map: "The defensive loopholes in the supply line are because we relied too much on automatic sentries." His fingertip traced the red dot on the map, "From now on, every key node must be guarded by at least one epic-level powerhouse—including me."
The generals' notebooks rustled as they took notes.
The general of the Tech Federation suddenly stood up and saluted: "Commander Lin, I was too cautious before. You have proven with your fists that we can win with you."
As night fell over the base again, Lin Yi climbed the highest command tower alone.
The wind lifted his tactical cloak, revealing a bloodstained dagger at his waist (a gift from Long Wu, engraved with "Together in life and death").
The Star Key burned in his palm, and the starlight was no longer stable, flickering as if pulled by some force.
“The resonance frequency is decreasing by 0.3% per minute.” Chu Yao’s data stream wrapped around his wrist. “Someone is remotely controlling the key… and the manipulator’s mental fluctuations… are very familiar.”
Lin Yi's eyes suddenly turned as cold as a knife.
He looked into the base—in the brightly lit command post, generals were still checking the battle plan; on the training ground, new recruits were taking an oath while holding torches; in the medical bay, the groans of the wounded mingled with the hum of the medical equipment.
“It seems there are still snakes left in our ranks that haven’t been cleared out,” he said softly, tracing the patterns on the Star Key with his fingertips. “But it doesn’t matter… I’ll turn over every stone and take a look after this battle.”
Before he could finish speaking, the communicator vibrated at his waist.
An anonymous message popped up: "Watch out for your right and left arms."
Lin Yi stared at the words on the screen, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.
He tucked the communicator back into his pocket and looked toward the Mother Nest—where the void currents were churning, like a wild beast poised to pounce.
Meanwhile, deep within the base, in a secret room, a dark figure was inserting the last black crystal chip into a communicator.
He stared at Lin Yi's image on the screen and licked his lips: "Commander Lin, you might not be able to drink at tomorrow's victory celebration banquet."
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