As soon as the door to the medical pod slid open, the smell of gunpowder mixed with scorched earth rushed in.
Lin Yi stepped over the shattered glass and looked at the battlefield a hundred meters away—the once neat defensive line was collapsing, the mechs of several tech-savvy professionals were stuck in the distorted spatial rifts, and the sword energy of ancient martial artists was sluggish as if it were cutting into a swamp when it struck the purple-spotted air.
"Their energy link has been contaminated." Chu Yao's projection floated beside him, the data stream at the tips of her hair glowing an uneasy crimson. "During the separation of the divine essence, there was a 0.3-second gap in the faith link..."
"Enough for the owl to slip through." Lin Yi clenched the fragments of faith in his chest, his palms aching from the sharp edges.
Three days ago, he was a god who could crush stars with a wave of his hand, but now he can hear his own heartbeat with every step he takes—strong and powerful, with the warmth of a mortal.
"Commander!"
A cry, choked with sobs, came from the right.
A heavily armored warrior stumbled over, his visor cracked, blood dripping from his chin onto his tactical boots.
Behind him followed seven or eight other job-changers, some with missing arms, others with half their faces charred black, yet they all used their remaining strength to raise their weapons: "We knew you'd come!"
Lin Yi stopped in his tracks.
The soldier's eyes no longer held the fervor of the past, only the tremor of relief after surviving a close call: "That purple mist... our skills suddenly stopped working, but a voice inside told us, 'Hold on for three more minutes, the commander will come.'"
"So you held on." Lin Yi reached out and pressed on the soldier's shoulder armor. The body heat under the metal seeped through the gloves, making his nose sting.
This is not a connection between God and believers, but a support between people of the same kind—he suddenly understood the weight of Su Qing's last words.
"Chu Yao, connect to the battlefield system." As he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Long Wu leading a team of demolition experts rushing out from behind the ruins. The explosive pack that Lao Hei was carrying was still dripping with slime, obviously having just blown through an alien tentacle monster.
Aizen's shadow guards, like a swarm of black butterflies, flitted between the broken walls, and wherever their blades flashed, the purple mist was forced back half a foot.
"Attempting to reconstruct faith permissions." Chu Yao's fingertips inserted into the interface on the wall, her entire arm transforming into a flowing ribbon of light. "But Night Owl released the 'Seed of Chaos'... 37 spatial nodes have been contaminated; the spiritual power of the job changer is being corrupted."
The alarm suddenly pierced the air.
A purplish-black mushroom cloud rose in the southeastern sky. Three priests who were healing their teammates suddenly sprang into action, their fingernails turning into sharp spikes that pierced their companions' throats—the purple spots under their eyes were exactly the same as the swirling crystal at the center of the mushroom cloud.
"That's the manifestation of the Seed of Chaos." Lin Yi narrowed his eyes, the remaining power of faith burning in his veins. "It's using our link to contaminate us..."
"We need to cut off the source of the pollution!" Long Wu strode forward, the explosive charge at his waist swaying dangerously. "I'll lead the assault team and charge in—"
"No." Lin Yi pressed down on his shoulder. "The fluctuation frequency of the Chaos Seed is in sync with the Faith Link. Forcing it will only accelerate the contamination." He looked at the purple mist that was gradually spreading in the distance. The contaminated job changers were attacking their own people, but even in their frenzy, several warriors still bit off their own wrists to stop their out-of-control limbs from harming their teammates.
"Their beliefs..." Lin Yi closed his eyes, and the fragments of faith in his chest suddenly shone brightly.
Countless flashes of light appeared before my eyes: a heavily armored warrior, clutching a broken blade, crawled toward the purple mist, trying to shield his teammates from the corrosion; a shadow guard smashed his own temple with the back of his blade before stabbing his companion; even the priest whose throat had been pierced was still stuffing healing potions into his teammates' mouths before he died.
"Their faith is stronger than any god's." Lin Yi opened his eyes, a golden current flowing within them. "Chu Yao, I need everyone's faith to converge at one point, creating a resonant impact."
"Calculating resonant frequency!" Chu Yao's data stream suddenly surged, enveloping the entire medical pod in blue light. "Requires 3000 people to simultaneously inject their beliefs; the error cannot exceed 0.01 seconds—"
"I've come to summon them." Aizen's shadow guards appeared on the rooftop unnoticed, their katana unfurling a blade of uncorrupted light. "All shadow guards can synchronize their mental fluctuations."
"Demolition team, listen up!" Long Wu yelled, the fuse of the explosive charge crackling between his fingers. "I'll count to three, everyone, etch the person you most want to protect into your minds—"
\"one!\"
\"two!\"
\"three!\"
His response was a chorus of roars.
The heavily armored warrior ripped off his visor, revealing a blood-stained face: "I want to protect my sister!"
She's still waiting for me at the shelter!
The pastor, with his arm severed, coughed up blood: "I want to protect the children in the church!"
They haven't learned healing magic yet!
The shadow guard's blade slashed through the purple mist, his voice like icicles clashing together: "I must protect... Master's grave."
Lin Yin could clearly feel those beliefs flowing into his body along with the fragments of faith—not the power needed by a god, but the most fervent obsession of a mortal.
He raised his hand, and the golden light in his palm transformed into solid chains, piercing straight towards the Seed of Chaos in the southeast: "Everyone, resonate with me!"
The purplish-black crystal suddenly trembled violently.
Just as it was about to shatter, a metallic rumble echoed through the void.
A dark shadow, like an ink droplet falling into clear water, appeared directly in front of Lin Yi.
It was a figure shrouded in a long robe, their face obscured by shadow, revealing only a pair of cold, gleaming eyes: "Behind the Night Owl..."
Before the words were finished, the dark figure was swept away by a spatial turbulence.
At this moment, the tremors of the Seed of Chaos reached their peak, and the purple mist began to shrink wildly, revealing a huddled, screaming night owl within.
"That voice..." Chu Yao's data stream suddenly stopped. "Is it an enforcer from an advanced civilization?"
Lin Yi did not answer.
He gazed at the gradually collapsing Seed of Chaos, then at the job changers still struggling on the edge of the battlefield—this time, no god was needed.
Because they themselves are the sharpest sword.
Amidst the trembling hum of the purplish-black crystal, the dark figure, like ink scattered by the wind, solidified again three meters in front of Lin Yi.
This time, he wasn't swept away by the spatial turbulence. His Adam's apple bobbed in the shadows, and his voice cracked like a fissure in ice: "Behind Night Owl, there's a higher-dimensional being controlling all of this."
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
The searing pain from stripping away his divine status three days ago suddenly exploded in his temples—it turned out that Night Owl was nothing more than a puppet pushed to the forefront.
He gazed at the rapidly shrinking purple mist in the southeast, from which came the howls of night owls. He suddenly remembered the abnormal energy fluctuations that Chu Yao had detected—those fragments of rules that shouldn't have appeared on the low-dimensional battlefield had a source all along.
"A higher dimension..." Chu Yao's data stream suddenly surged violently, and the scarlet at the ends of her hair faded to dark gold. "Is it the creator of the 'Civilization Trial Grounds'?"
still......\"
"It's not important." Lin Yi interrupted her, the fragments of faith in his palm radiating heat with the fluctuations of his conviction on the battlefield.
He gazed at the priest in the distance, his arm severed, still tearing at the healing potion with his teeth, then at the explosive charge at Long Wu's waist, now reduced to half a fuse—the obsession of these mortals was clearer than any divine decree: "No matter who's behind it, anyone who dares to touch my people will pay the price."
"Resonance frequency locked!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly covered the entire battlefield, blue light stringing together the mental energy of all the job changers into golden threads. "Attack in three seconds!"
Long Wu's explosive charge burned scorch marks on his palm. He grinned, revealing his blood-stained mouth, and said, "The hardest wall I've ever blasted in my life is this damn thing!" Before he finished speaking, all thirty members of the demolition team simultaneously pressed the fuse into the ground. Sparks flew onto the purple mist, burning and making a hissing sound.
Aizen's Tang sword was plunged into the soil, and dense incantations appeared on the blade—the mental synchronization technique passed down by the Shadow Guards for thousands of years.
When she looked up, all the shadow guards' pupils turned the same deep blue as hers, as if thirty pairs of eyes were looking in the same direction at the same time.
The heavily armored warrior suddenly roared, "The Northern Frontier Battle Song!" The twenty-seven other heavily armored warriors behind him immediately followed, their off-key melody mixed with blood and foam, yet it shook the purple mist to shatter layer by layer.
That was a folk song from their hometown, which every soldier had to sing three times by the campfire before enlisting.
Lin Yin could clearly feel those beliefs surging in like waves: there was concern for his sister, protection for his child, and a promise to the deceased.
These originally scattered particles of light strung together into a galaxy within Chu Yao's blue light, rushing down his arm into the fragments of faith in his palm—not the immense divine power required for divinity, but the human power that carried body temperature, felt pain, and trembled.
\"go!\"
The golden chains in his palm suddenly swelled tenfold, piercing through layers of purple mist and precisely nailing into the core of the Seed of Chaos.
The purplish-black crystal emitted a scream like a baby crying, and its surface cracked with spiderweb-like patterns.
The owl stumbled out from behind the crystal, half of its face was transparent, and the writhing extradimensional tentacles below could be seen.
\"No!
"You ants!" His voice was harsh and metallic as he raised his hand to gather new energy, but the moment his fingertips glowed with purple light, they were shattered by the explosives from the demolition team.
Long Wu charged forward, stepping over the still-smoking debris, and slammed the explosive charge into Night Owl's chest: "My explosives don't have eyes!"
\"boom--\"
The explosion shattered windows throughout the city.
The purplish-black mushroom cloud was torn into pieces, revealing the scorched ground below.
The owl huddled at the bottom of the pit, its body covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and with each breath, fluorescent green blood seeped from the cracks.
His pupils were already dilated, yet he still hissed, "Our lord will not let you go..."
"That's enough."
A soft voice echoed in Lin Yi's mind.
He suddenly turned his head and saw Su Qing floating in mid-air, her form translucent.
She was wearing the white dress she often wore in college, stardust clinging to the ends of her hair, but her gaze was clearer than ever: "You've done it. The rest of the journey is up to you."
Lin Yi's throat suddenly tightened.
Three days ago in the medical ward, Su Qing's consciousness began to fade, and she only had time to say half a sentence.
Now her figure is fading, like a dandelion seed swept away by the wind: "You always say you want to be a god, but true power..." Her hand rests on Lin Yi's chest, "Here."
"Su Qing!" Lin Yi reached out to grab her, but only touched nothingness.
Su Qing's smile lingered in his eyes before completely disappearing into the air.
He looked at his trembling fingertips and suddenly remembered the first time he met her. She was squatting in the corner of the library, bandaging the wounds of a stray cat. It turned out that the most precious thing was not divinity, but these people who were willing to risk their lives for each other.
The shouts of the heavily armored warriors pulled him back to reality.
The warrior's visor shattered completely, revealing a blood-stained face, but his eyes shone like stars: "The Seed of Chaos has been destroyed!"
The purple mist began to dissipate!
Lin Yi turned his head to look.
Sure enough, the purple mist that had enveloped the battlefield was dissipating at a visible speed. The corrupted job changers knelt on the ground, some crying, some laughing. A priest hugged a teammate he had accidentally injured earlier, and his tears dripped onto the wound on the other's chest, which miraculously healed.
"The power of faith..." Chu Yao's data stream returned to a soft blue, "Their belief repaired the corrupted mental energy links."
The owl suddenly let out a sharp screech.
His curled-up body began to swell, and the fluorescent green blood seeping from the cracks condensed into a glowing sphere that slowly rotated in his palm.
Inside that sphere, star trails flowed and regular fragments collided, making it ten times more dangerous than the previous Seed of Chaos.
Lin Yi narrowed his eyes.
He could sense that the energy contained within the sphere was enough to overturn half a city, but the Night Owl's life force had already been exhausted—this was his last counterattack.
"Chu Yao, calculate the evasion route." Lin Yi's voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable firmness. "Long Wu, prepare for the second explosion. Aizen, take the Shadow Guards to protect the civilians." He gazed at the sphere in Night Owl's palm, the golden currents in his eyes coalescing back into flames. "This time, I'll take over."
The wind on the battlefield whipped up scorched earth, blowing past Lin Yi's blood-stained clothes.
He stood in the center of the ruins, gazing at the light that the Night Owl had gathered with his last ounce of strength—a light powerful enough to rewrite the rules.
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