Darkness gnawed at the edges of consciousness like a living thing.
Lin Yi's fingertips had begun to become transparent, as if they would completely dissipate into this distorted dimension in the next second.
He knelt amidst the ruins built from fragments of memory, three semi-transparent images floating before him—
At the age of 17, his right leg was torn off by a mutated beast in the starting village. He lay in a pool of blood, looking at his own reflection as the system message "Mission failed" appeared.
At 23, the Time Legion faced the interdimensional vanguard for the first time. Chu Yao shielded him from the annihilation ray, and her data core disintegrated into stardust.
The clearest image is from three days ago, the moment Su Qing's hand slipped from his palm.
A smile still lingered in the corners of her eyes, her lips hovering over the last syllable of "I believe in you," but the data particles vanished like melting snow, leaving not even a complete farewell.
"Look, you're losing with every step you take." The icy voice vibrated against my eardrums. "So-called masters of time and space? Nothing more than puppets kept on strings by an advanced civilization. You can't protect Su Qing, you can't protect Chu Yao, you can't even protect your own will—"
"Shut up!" A broken growl escaped Lin Yi's throat.
He tried to catch Su Qing's afterimage, but his fingertips pierced through the pale blue mist.
The fragments of memory suddenly twisted into countless mirrors, each reflecting his face, his expression shifting from pain to despair, finally settling into a numb emptiness: "Give up, you can't win anyway."
The burning pain in the consciousness suddenly intensified.
He then realized that those black tides contained tiny fragments of rules, which were cutting through his consciousness like razors.
The Anchor of Time fell to the ground, its once flowing golden-red light reduced to a tiny speck, like a candle flickering in the wind.
"I promised to take you home..." he repeated through gritted teeth, but his voice was swallowed by the darkness.
Just as her spiritual consciousness was about to collapse, a clear and melodious female voice suddenly rang out from the deepest part of her sea of consciousness.
The voice was so soft, yet it pierced through the fog with the precision of a fine needle.
"Xiao Yi, look at the cherry blossoms."
Fragments of memory were suddenly reassembled by some force.
He saw Su Qing standing under the cherry blossom tree downstairs in the spring of 2035, her hair adorned with a pink cherry blossom petal, handing him the game helmet of "Infinite".
Her eyes shone like stars: "I heard that this holographic game can synchronize with your real-world physique, and maybe it can cure your headaches that you've had since you were a child."
"Later you always said that I dragged you into this vortex." The voice continued, tinged with a faint laugh, "But do you know what? I've never regretted it. Because when you shielded me from the first mutated beast in the starting village, when you used the Anchor of Time to repair my broken quest panel, when you said, 'I will find a way to materialize data life'..."
In her memory, Su Qing suddenly turned around, and the dissipated particles reformed into a complete outline.
Her hand touched Lin Yi's face; it was cold, yet it sent scalding ripples through his consciousness: "You are not fighting for others, but for yourself, for everything you cherish. True fear is never about losing, but about not daring to protect anymore."
"Su Qing?" Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He saw the mirror behind her cracking, and the mockery on the faces of those replicated "selves" began to waver.
"It's the resonance of lingering memories." Su Qing's figure began to fade, but her smile became clearer. "They used your guilt to create illusions, but isn't guilt itself proof that you care?"
Before the words were even finished, all the mirrors shattered into pieces at the same time.
A sharp hiss suddenly came from the black tide, like the anger of something that had been exposed.
Lin Yi's consciousness was jolted backward, but at the moment of impact, it grabbed something—the hilt of the Time Anchor.
"I see." He chuckled softly, a golden-red light bursting from his eyes.
The wounds inflicted by the fragments of rules began to heal, with tiny starlight seeping from each crack. "What you fear is never my power, but my determination to protect."
The Anchor of Time suddenly roared, and countless time-space inscriptions appeared on the sword's body.
The black tides sizzled as they were burned by the light, and the eyes of the vortex of rules contracted violently deep within.
Lin Yi stood up, supporting himself on one knee, his fingertips tracing the lines on the sword hilt: "Now, it's my turn to tear off your disguise."
At the same moment, in the core area of the real world's "Infinite".
Chu Yao's data body vibrated violently on the control panel, and the pale blue light and shadow almost scattered into starlight.
She stared at the "Dimensional Connection Anomaly" warning flashing on the holographic projection, and for the first time, her mechanical voice trembled with tears: "Master, please come back! The Time Legion needs you, the Reality Alliance needs you... I need you!"
The alarm was suddenly ripped apart by the sound of an explosion.
The figure of Night Owl pierced through the energy barrier, and the other-dimensional totem behind him exuded dark mist, corroding the alloy on the ground with every step.
"Foolish AI, your master has been devoured by the conceptual dimension." He raised a spear that glowed eerily, its tip pointing directly at the energy matrix at the very center of the core area. "Once I destroy this thing, not even ashes will remain of Earth's civilization—"
"presumptuous!"
The dark figure stepped out of the void, its body wrapped in silver-white chains of rules.
His right hand transformed into a longsword, clashing with the Night Owl's spear and unleashing a blinding light.
But this time, a dark red pattern appeared on Night Owl's spear, which directly shattered the chains: "A lackey of a higher civilization? You think you can still suppress me like before?"
The shadowy figure had a deep, bone-revealing slash on its left shoulder; the blood droplets that fell to the ground congealed into tiny, regular crystals.
He narrowed his eyes and realized that the aura emanating from Night Owl was completely different from before—it had clearly incorporated the corrosive power of the conceptual dimension.
"That brat Lin Yi..." he cursed under his breath, about to make another move, when he heard a sharp shriek of space tearing apart from above.
A golden-red streak of light shot out from the dimensional rift.
Lin Yi stood in mid-air, the tip of the Anchor of Time hanging down, dripping with dark purple corrosive liquid.
The marks of the Black Tide still lingered on his left cheek, but the flames in his eyes burned brighter than ever.
“Night Owl.” His voice was like a war drum rolling through thunderclouds, shaking the entire core area. “You’ve chosen the wrong time to strike.”
The owl's pupils contracted sharply.
He could clearly sense that the fluctuations of rules emanating from the human in front of him had completely surpassed the boundaries of the mythical level—it was an aura that truly touched the realm of "Dominator".
"Anchor point seal." Lin Yi opened his palm, and a seal with flowing spacetime ripples appeared in his palm. "This is an anchor point tempered with the faith power of three million job changers and my own spiritual consciousness."
His figure suddenly transformed into countless particles of light, appearing in front of Night Owl the next second.
The hilt of the Anchor of Time slammed heavily into the opponent's chest, and golden-red light poured into Night Owl's body like a torrent: "Now, it's time to send you back to where you belong."
The owl let out a piercing scream.
The extradimensional totems on his body began to disintegrate, and the corrosive power of the conceptual dimension was frantically devoured by the anchor point runes.
The shadowy figure seized the opportunity to deliver a final blow, piercing his heart directly.
"Master!" Chu Yao's digital body finally stabilized, and she transformed into a streak of blue light, rushing into Lin Yi's arms. "You're finally back..."
Lin Yi touched the top of her head, his gaze fixed on the dimensional rift above the core area.
The lingering shadows of the vortex of rules still remain there, but they are as weak as a candle flickering in the wind.
He took a deep breath and raised the anchor point seal above his head.
The power of faith surged in from all directions.
The will of three million job changers condensed into a golden band of light in the void, wrapping around the rune.
Lin Yin could sense that something beyond the existing rules was taking shape—an "anchor" that could connect reality with all dimensions.
"This is just the beginning." He gazed at the gradually calming battlefield, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Once the anchor point is established, I will make sure that all that attempts to lay a finger on Earth..."
Before the words were finished, the talisman suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light.
Amidst intense spatial fluctuations, a pitch-black rift slowly opened above everyone's heads.
(Ending setup: A deep rumble came from the depths of the crack, like the snoring of some ancient being awakened.)
Lin Yi gripped the Anchor of Time tightly, and the golden-red light and the golden light of the runes intertwined behind him to form a huge spacetime totem—this time, he would not give any enemy a chance.
The owl's screams were like rusty gears grinding against everyone's eardrums.
The other-dimensional totem on his chest was disintegrating at a visible speed, and dark purple corrosive liquid dripped down the spine of the Time Anchor sword, burning sizzling holes in the alloy ground.
Lin Yi's knuckles turned white from the force, and as the golden-red light flowed into Night Owl's body along the talisman's veins, he clearly heard Su Qing's voice echoing in his sea of consciousness—"True fear is not daring to protect anymore."
"You...you're not human at all!" Half of Night Owl's body was already transparent, revealing twisted energy veins within. "The conceptual dimension is a prison set up by advanced civilizations; even their enforcers can't escape it..."
"That's why I want to break down all the cages." Lin Yi's voice was extremely low, like thunder rolling from his chest.
He recalled the last trace of data warmth remaining in his palm when Su Qing dissipated three days ago; he recalled the broken echo of Chu Yao's words, "Master, this time it's my turn to protect you," as she collapsed; he recalled the mechanical voice of the system notification, "Hidden quest triggered," as he gritted his teeth and crawled towards the mutated beast's nest in the Blood Pool of the newbie village—all the past he had regarded as shackles now transformed into the flowing light on the talisman.
The Anchor of Time suddenly emitted a clear, melodious hum.
The power of faith from three million job changers poured down along the dimensional rift, condensing into a golden band of light in the void, binding the Night Owl tightly into a cocoon.
The shadowy figure seized the opportunity to wrap its silver chains around the owl's neck, with crystals of rules shimmering on the chains, each engraved with a sanction inscription from a higher civilization.
"This is... a reality anchor array?" The shadowy figure's wound was still bleeding, but it suddenly opened its eyes wide.
He saw complex spatial patterns emerge on the ground beneath Lin Yi's feet. These patterns spread outwards like living things, enveloping the entire core area and even the battlefield within a hundred miles in a golden net of light.
Wherever the light network passes, the originally distorted spatial folds are forcibly flattened, and the charred marks left by the alien erosion are being restored at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Using the power of faith as the guide, and spiritual consciousness as the foundation." Cold sweat beaded on Lin Yi's forehead, yet his smile was like a sword tempered in fire. "Since advanced civilizations use rules as chains, then I will forge the key with the will of humanity."
The owl's voice suddenly rose, sharp and piercing: "You think sealing me will stop the Mother Nest?"
They had long ago...
The words came to an abrupt halt.
His body transformed into millions of black rays, and the instant he was swallowed by the rune, a muffled rumble came from the sky—the echo of the collapse of the interdimensional mother nest.
Chu Yao's data body suddenly trembled violently, and pale blue light flickered back and forth between the control panel and Lin Yi, finally settling beside him. The virtual cherry blossoms at the ends of her hair were trembling: "Master!"
The mother nest's coordinates have failed... Are they... are they self-annihilating?
"Just a death throes." The dark figure tore off a piece of his shirt to wrap around the wound on his left shoulder. A crystal of rules condensed into a tiny rhombus in his palm. "The Mother Nest relies on the intruder's mental link. With Night Owl dead, the link is broken." He looked up at the sky, his silver pupils reflecting the fading black light. "However..."
"But what?" Lin Yi's gaze remained fixed on the sky. The light of the Anchor of Time dimmed slightly, but he still held it firmly in his hand.
Chu Yao's mechanical voice suddenly crackled with electrical noise: "Detected... high-dimensional fluctuations!" Her fingertip jabbed at the holographic projection, and the screen that was originally displaying the star map instantly distorted. When it lit up again, it showed a pair of dark red "eyes".
Those eyes had no specific shape, yet they sent a chill down everyone's spine—as if they had been "seen" by some incomprehensible being.
"It...smiled." Chu Yao's voice was as soft as a sigh.
The eyes on the screen slowly narrowed, and an eerie light seeped from the creases at the corners of the eyes, as if responding to some kind of joke that only it could hear.
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
He could feel the anchor of time deep within his consciousness burning hot; it was the power of the rules issuing a warning.
Three days ago, when Su Qing disappeared, he also felt the same burning sensation—it was the gaze of a higher-level being.
"We won this battle." He turned to look at the ruins of the core area. Members of the Time Legion were rushing over from all directions, their armor still wet with blood, yet they were all waving vigorously at him.
Chu Yao nuzzled against his hand, like a cat begging to be petted; the shadowy figure stood a few steps away, the chains of rules hanging to the ground, but no longer maintaining a fighting stance.
"But the real war has only just begun," he added in a low voice, so that only he could hear it.
The wind swept across the ruins, carrying with it the smoke of gunpowder.
Lin Yi looked up at the sky. Gao Wei's eyes were already closed, leaving only a dark red afterimage.
The golden-red light of the Anchor of Time flowed around him, casting a long shadow that covered half of the scorched ground.
Not far away, Cheng Ye, the deputy commander of the Shikong Legion, was running over, dragging a broken blade, his armor still stained with the invaders' dark green blood: "Boss!"
The hive was completely destroyed, and the remaining minions were all disarmed! His voice trembled with relief, "That light network just now... was it you who set it up?"
That's fucking amazing!
"Cheng Ye." Lin Yi suddenly spoke, interrupting his cheers.
The young man paused for a moment, then followed his gaze to the horizon.
There, where Gaowei's eyes were closed, extremely faint black lines were spreading like a spider web.
"Bring the medical team over." Lin Yi withdrew his gaze, patted Cheng Ye's shoulder, and said, "Have everyone check their equipment and repair their spiritual wounds." His fingertips lightly traced the hilt of the Anchor of Time. "Starting tomorrow..."
He didn't finish speaking.
Chu Yao's projection suddenly appeared between the two of them, and the star map on the screen lit up again, but with a few more flashing red dots—those were newly appeared dimensional rifts.
The wind grew colder.
Lin Yi gazed at the gradually brightening morning light outside the core area, his shadow stretched even longer, almost touching the newly appeared cracks.
He gripped the Anchor of Time tightly, and the golden-red light and the golden light of the runes intertwined behind him to form a huge spacetime totem.
This time, his eyes no longer held the panic of three days ago, only a resolute determination.
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