In the dark space, when the silver-purple light at Lin Yi's fingertip resonated with the faint crack, the entire space suddenly trembled violently, like the surface of a lake tossed with a stone.
Before the owl's roar was even out of his throat, the spacetime power around Lin Yi burst forth like a living thing, outlining star-like patterns on the edge of the gaps—the embodiment of the laws of spacetime, each silver line tearing at the walls of the dark prison.
"Boss!" Long Wu's Tang sword cleaved through the last wave of shadow monsters, and the dragon pattern on his neck surged into a torrent of crimson gold. "I can't hold on any longer!"
"These monstrous things keep multiplying no matter how many you kill!" Before he could finish speaking, a dark claw ripped open his chest, but instead, he threw his head back and laughed, dragon flames gushing from the wound. "I've already sold my life to the Time-Space Legion, Lin Yi, you better hurry up and finish this!"
Lin Yi's pupils shone with a starlight that seemed to reverse.
He could clearly sense that this gap was not a naturally occurring spatial glitch, but rather a "test point" deliberately left by some advanced civilization—like a hidden dungeon entrance in a game.
Previously, the research of the Time and Space Corps had vaguely mentioned such special "test sites," but no one expected to encounter them here.
The moment the silver-purple light touched the crevice, he heard an ancient resonance, like countless fragments of time whispering in his ear.
"Grab me!" He grabbed Aizen behind him with one hand and held Chu Yao's wrist with the other.
The blue-dyed gold-rimmed glasses gleamed coldly in the darkness, and the Hōgyoku at her fingertips was slightly warm: "The spatial frequency of this rift matches the interdimensional coordinates I've been researching." Chu Yao's virtual projection blurred slightly amidst the violent fluctuations, yet she still placed her palm on Lin Yi's back: "Your spatiotemporal positioning has been synchronized. Emergency teleportation will be initiated in three seconds."
Long Wu's dragon flames suddenly surged three zhang, burning the approaching shadow monster to ashes.
He charged over the charred remains of shadowy figures scattered on the ground, dragon patterns spreading from his back to his entire arm: "Count me in!" He reached out and grabbed Lin Yi's shoulder, his muscular arm taut like an iron chain.
The next second, a silver-purple light exploded like a nuclear bomb.
Amidst a dizzying spin, everyone felt as if time and space had been twisted into a tangled mess.
The barriers of the dark space emitted a crisp sound like shattering glass, and the scenery before our eyes began to distort—broken shadows, the distorted face of the night owl, and the faintly visible black altar in the distance were all crushed into fragments, and then reassembled under the pull of the power of spacetime.
When their vision cleared again, they were standing in the secret base of the Time Legion.
The holographic projection dome here shimmers with a soft blue light, surrounded by busy researchers and neatly arranged experimental equipment.
The holographic projection dome was flashing a red alarm light. Chu Yao's projection instantly materialized, her fingertips drawing data streams in the air: "Residual extradimensional energy detected in the dark space, analyzing..."
Aizen removed his glasses to wipe them, his gaze behind the lenses growing even sharper: "That gap just now was the anchor point Night Owl used to connect to the main universe." He took a piece of dark blue crystal from the experimental kit. "I discovered this energy core within the Shadow Monster, and in our previous research, we knew that the 'Spark of Civilization' had unique energy fluctuations. The composition of this crystal is completely identical to the 'Spark of Civilization' that disappeared three years ago."
"The spark of civilization?" Long Wu ripped off his blood-stained battle armor; the wounds healed at a visible speed thanks to the dragon patterns. "I remember it was a trial reward left to Earth by an advanced civilization, saying it could help us break through dimensional limitations."
"That's not all." Chu Yao's projection suddenly pulled up a long-forgotten video—the scene was of a laboratory twenty years ago, with a young Xuan Mingzi standing in front of a floating ball of light. "According to the residual data from the mainframe, the true purpose of Earth being chosen as the 'Civilization Trial Ground' was to cultivate warriors capable of fighting against the 'Primal Invaders'."
"And Night Owl..." Her voice suddenly deepened, "He was an advance force sent by the Primal Invaders, to devour the Earth's origin and open a passage to a higher dimension."
Lin Yi leaned against the tactical command console, his knuckles lightly tapping the surface.
He could feel the spacetime power he had brought back from the dark space still circulating within his body, as if a voice was reminding him: "The Ragnarok" plan should be launched.
During his previous exploration of time and space, Lin Yi had vaguely sensed that he had a special connection with time and space, as if a mysterious force was guiding him.
"So all our previous actions were to help advanced civilizations screen combat forces?" Long Wu's fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "What about that old bastard Xuan Mingzi?"
He previously claimed to be the game's mastermind, but now it seems he's just a supervisor overseeing the trial's progress!
Aizen placed the crystal on the projector, and a dark blue halo enveloped everyone: "But the key point is that the Primal Invaders behind Night Owl need the Earth's origin as a 'key'."
Before they gather all seven source nodes, we must destroy the last node—the Night Owl's lair, the Shadow Altar.
"When do we make our move?" Long Wu's dragon tattoo shone brightly.
"Tonight," Lin Yi's voice was like a blade tempered with ice, "Night Owl thinks we're trapped in the dark space, which is when his defenses are at their weakest."
Chu Yao, locate the coordinates of the Shadow Altar.
Aizen, prepare your Hogyoku Amplifier.
"Long Wu..." He looked at his best friend, a faint smile playing on his lips, "Feed your Tang sword with dragon flames; tonight, it will cut through half of this alternate dimension."
In the desolate wilderness shrouded in night, seven black spires rise from the ground, forming an inverted star map.
The Shadow Altar stands at the center of the star map, with countless translucent tentacles emerging from the ground, frantically absorbing the earth's essence—the soil is turning to sand, the rivers are drying up, and even the moonlight is stained with an eerie purplish-black.
"A 300% increase in the rate of source loss has been detected." Chu Yao's voice rang in everyone's earpieces. "Night Owl should have already initiated the final ritual."
"Perfect timing." Lin Yi took a step forward, and the power of spacetime condensed into silver ripples beneath his feet.
He could see seven dark red orbs floating above the altar, each bearing the vein patterns of the seven major tectonic plates of the Earth—the embodiment of the primordial nodes.
"Time Legion, listen to my command!" His voice echoed across the wilderness through the loudspeaker, and hundreds of figures suddenly sprang out from the distant jungle, including warriors wielding giant axes, mages controlling fire, and even cyborgs piloting mechanical war puppets.
These players, whom he rescued in the starting village, are now capable of fighting on their own.
"Long Wu leads his heavily armored team to break through the outer defenses!"
"The Indigo Belt research team has located the core of the altar!"
"The rest of you, follow me and charge the tower!"
Before he finished speaking, Lin Yi's figure had already disappeared from the spot.
When he reappeared, he was standing atop the first spire, his fingertips radiating a burst of silver light—time stood still at that moment.
All the Shadow Guardians froze into statues, even the black rain floating in the air seemed to hang suspended in mid-air.
"Time Cut." He murmured the skill name.
Seven silver blades of light burst forth from his fingertips, precisely slicing through the connection points of the seven spires.
When frozen time began to flow again, the spire collapsed with a deafening roar, smashing the Shadow Guards to pieces.
"Excellent technique!" Long Wu's Tang sword, wreathed in crimson dragon flames, cleaved through two shadow barriers. "Boss, the altar's protective shield here has weakened!"
The figure of the owl finally rose from the center of the altar.
His original human face has been completely transformed, and twelve pairs of bone wings have spread out behind him, each bone wing engraved with twisted runes.
His pupils were two bottomless black holes, and his voice was like fingernails scraping across a blackboard: "Lin Yi, you think destroying a few towers will stop me?" He waved his hand, and countless cracks appeared in the ground, from which crawled giant monsters covered in black scales. "These are the 'Abyssal Apostles' bestowed upon me by the Primal Corruptor. Each one is comparable to a Mythical-level class changer!"
"Mythical level?" Lin Yi's silver-purple battle armor automatically covered his entire body. "That's perfect. I'll test the upper limit of the Mythical level hidden class." He snapped his fingers, and several figures emerged from the spacetime rift behind him—these were versions of himself from different timelines that he had previously saved through time travel.
It turns out that during his previous time-travel adventures, Lin Yi had accidentally discovered that he could establish connections with his past selves in different timelines, but he had never had a suitable opportunity to use this power.
Each "Lin Yi" wielded a different weapon; some carried longswords, some carried heavy cannons, and some were even scholars holding ancient books.
"A time-space parallel!" Aizen gasped over the communicator. "He can summon his past selves from different timelines to fight simultaneously. This is no ordinary mythical-level ability..."
Seven identical entities launched an attack simultaneously.
Lin Yi, wielding a sword, cleaved through a spatial rift; Lin Yi, carrying a cannon, unleashed a time-collapse bomb; and Lin Yi, the scholar, unrolled an ancient scroll and chanted an obscure time-space incantation.
The owl's bone wings were torn open in several places, and for the first time, panic appeared in the black hole's pupils.
\"impossible!
"How could you...?" His words were interrupted by Long Wu's dragon flames.
Long Wu leaped into the air, stepping on the head of the Abyss Apostle. The dragon pattern on his Tang sword transformed into a giant dragon, which opened its blood-red maw and bit at Night Owl's throat.
"The boss said nothing is impossible in this world!" Long Wu's roar shook the wilderness. "I'll use my life today to give Earth a better tomorrow!"
Just as the tide of battle was about to turn, a figure in cyan suddenly stepped out of the void.
In fact, some subtle clues in the past had already hinted that Xuanmingzi was inextricably linked to this battle.
It was an old man dressed in a Taoist robe, with white hair and a youthful face, holding a whisk in his hand. He was none other than Xuanmingzi, who had been missing for many days.
His gaze swept across the battlefield, landing on Lin Yi and Night Owl. With a flick of his whisk, he simultaneously suppressed Long Wu's dragon flames and Night Owl's shadow.
"Young friend," his voice was as calm as if he were sipping tea, "it's time to make a move in this game of chess."
Night Owl's black hole pupils contracted violently, and Lin Yi's time-space counterparts simultaneously turned to look at him.
The wind in the wilderness suddenly stopped, and even Chu Yao's alarm sound disappeared into the eerie silence.
A faint light emanated from Xuanmingzi's floating dust, illuminating half a broken jade tablet in his sleeve—a core fragment of the Infinite game's main brain.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a much larger shadow was gathering in the clouds beyond the battlefield.
The silhouette of the shadow resembled the bony wings on the back of an owl, but it was hundreds or thousands of times larger, and every line of it flowed with terrifying energy that distorted space and time.
"The Primal Corruptors... have arrived." Aizen's voice trembled through the communicator.
At this moment, in the center of the battlefield, Xuan Mingzi's gaze met Lin Yi's.
A meaningful smile appeared on the old man's lips.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com