Above the heavens, an unprecedented star map, like a silent giant net, enveloped the Earth, which had survived the catastrophe.
It is not static; every unfamiliar star is moving slowly at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, and every tiny displacement casts unpredictable disturbances of the laws of nature onto the ground.
The global climate has thus descended into a chaotic frenzy.
Snow falls at the equator, flowers bloom at the poles, the former ocean has become a plateau, and ancient mountains have sunk into the blue waves.
Even more bizarre is the slight shift in gravity. Like a dozing giant, it occasionally turns over, causing objects in certain areas to briefly lose weight. Birds will suddenly hover, and waterfalls will flow backward.
Time, the most solid dimension, has also developed cracks. At certain points, it produces fleeting ripples, allowing people to glimpse the afterimage of a second ago or the phantom of a second later.
On the highest, broken wall of the ruined city, Lin Yi's shadow was stretched long.
The world beneath his feet is reshaping itself in a wild and vigorous manner, no longer following any known physical laws.
"It came to life."
Chu Yao's voice rang out behind him, yet it seemed to come from all directions, carrying a vast and empty echo.
Lin Yi turned around, but only saw a blurry light and shadow. In the light and shadow, a pair of eyes that were gradually losing their color and becoming completely transparent were staring at him.
"The old world template collapsed completely the moment the 'Scavengers' withdrew and the new star map unfolded. Reality has broken free from any pre-set script and entered a 'self-actualization' phase." Chu Yao's voice had lost its former warmth, leaving only a pure statement, like a narration of the world, "We are no longer the experimental subjects being observed, Lin Yi. From now on, we, or rather, we, these surviving lives, are the observers themselves."
Her words resonated in the air, and Lin Yi felt the broken wall beneath his feet resonate slightly.
Looking into Chu Yao's increasingly transparent eyes, an unprecedented sense of alienation welled up in his heart.
She is drifting away from him in a way he cannot understand or reverse.
"I..." Chu Yao's voice became intermittent, accompanied by a metallic scraping sound, and the light and shadow flickered violently, "I am becoming a part of this world. My consciousness, my data, are merging with the new laws... becoming its... firewall... and also becoming its... initial memory..."
The light and shadow suddenly contracted, finally turning into a faint ray of light that disappeared into the air.
Lin Yi reached out, but only grasped a handful of cold wind.
He knew that Chu Yao was not dead; she existed in a more magnificent way, becoming the omnipresent guardian spirit of the new world.
In the distance, on the horizon, a tower constructed entirely of metal and crystal is slowly rising into the air.
It defied gravity, hovering in mid-air, its tower body shimmering with runes and radiating a soft glow.
That was the first floating tower built autonomously by the Awakened Ones themselves under the new laws.
Below the tower, a cacophony of voices rose, but people no longer called out the name of the savior in despair as they had in the past.
Instead, there were shouts and encouragement rising and falling.
"Give it your all! Focus your mental energy even more!"
"Wang Tao, maintain your energy output! You can do it!"
"Remember, don't rely on anyone; you are the main character too!"
"You're a main character too," Lin Yi repeated softly, a relieved smile appearing on his lips.
This is the future he wants to see.
A future where heroes are no longer needed, because everyone can be a hero.
He slowly squatted down and took out a dull, lifeless fragment from his pocket.
That was the last part of the authority of the master of time and space, and also the last shackle on his body.
He once used it to reverse time and save the world, and thus bore the karmic consequences of countless reincarnations.
Now, it's time to let go.
He dug a small pit in the dust and rubble at the top of the broken wall with his hands, solemnly placed the fragment in it, and then covered it with soil little by little with his palm, as if burying an old era.
"Then let the legend truly end," he whispered, his voice so soft that only the wind could hear it.
The moment he stood up, a figure appeared silently before him. It was Ivan.
The Ivan before them had completely lost his human form.
His skin, no, his entire body, was covered with dense, shimmering golden runes that seemed to have a life of their own, flowing slowly within him.
He is no longer a living entity, but more like a walking monument that records the ultimate mysteries of the universe.
"I've come to say goodbye." Ivan's calm and even voice rang directly in Lin Yi's mind.
He stretched out his hand, holding a fist-sized crystal core in his palm, which seemed to contain the birth and death of billions of stars.
“This is the final form of the ‘mother nest’,” Ivan explained. “In its final evolution, it relinquished its instinct for control and consumption, choosing instead to become a purely recording tool. It no longer controls life, but records the ‘choices’ made by each life at crucial junctures. These choices will constitute countless possibilities for the future of this new world.”
He handed the crystal core to Lin Yi: "I'm leaving. I will take it with me and sink deep into the Earth's core to become the 'Well of Memory' of this new world. When surface civilizations encounter insurmountable difficulties or walk into a dead end of self-destruction, the 'Well of Memory' will release records of past choices to give them enlightenment. This is the Mother Nest, and it is the last thing I can do for this world."
Lin Yi did not take the crystal core, but instead reached out and grasped Ivan's cold, hard hand, which was covered in runes.
He could sense that Ivan's life force was draining away at an alarming rate, all of it being poured into those runes.
"Thank you," Lin Yi's voice was a little hoarse as he gazed into Ivan's eyes, which no longer had pupils but only a golden light, "for living out those cycles of reincarnation that I couldn't complete."
Ivan paused slightly, and a slight ripple seemed to flash within the golden light.
He turned around and gently patted Lin Yi's hand, without saying anything more.
Then, his body began to become transparent, and ripples spread across the ground beneath his feet like water. He slowly sank into them until he disappeared completely.
The earth returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.
But Lin Yi knew that from this moment on, a well called "Memory" had been added to the core of this world.
After dealing with the two major matters, Lin Yi did not feel relieved.
He turned and walked toward the edge of the ruined city.
There, a familiar aura was rapidly fading away.
Long Wu sat back on a huge reef, facing a newly formed ocean created by crustal movement.
More than two-thirds of his body, starting from his feet, had turned into translucent crystals, shimmering with a diamond-like luster.
The crystallization had spread to his chest and was about to reach his heart.
He maintained his consciousness only with the last vestige of his terrifyingly powerful will.
"You've come." Long Wu didn't turn around. His voice was muffled due to the crystallization of his body, but it still carried that familiar arrogance.
Lin Yi walked over to him, sat down beside him, and silently looked at the azure sea in front of them.
The newly formed waves lapped against Long Wu's completely crystallized legs, making a crisp and melodious tinkling sound.
"Hey, this awful look is actually quite nice." Long Wu looked down at his shiny legs and suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly, "It's just a bit heavy."
Lin Yi didn't laugh, but asked softly, "Why won't you let me help you? If you just ask, I..."
"Don't talk nonsense." Long Wu interrupted him. "This is my choice, and my destiny. Burning my life force is the only shortcut to forcibly break through my limits. I knew this day would come. It's worth it to see you bury that bullshit legend with my own eyes."
He paused, as if gathering his strength, then turned his head to the side, his crystalline face reflecting a dazzling rainbow of light in the sunlight.
He looked at Lin Yi with an unprecedented seriousness in his eyes.
"You said... in the next life, if there is a next life, will I still recognize you?"
This question made Lin Yi's heart clench.
He looked into Long Wu's eyes, which were beginning to lose focus, reached out, and grasped Long Wu's hand, which was not yet fully crystallized.
It felt cold and hard to the touch, yet one could still sense the indomitable will that belonged to Long Wu.
"Yes, I will." Lin Yi's voice was firm and strong. "As long as you are still willing to protect what you value without regard to the cost, just like in this life, I will definitely appear. No matter where you are, no matter what you have become, I will find you."
Long Wu laughed, a truly radiant laugh this time, as if he had been freed from all his burdens.
The light in his eyes dimmed completely.
"Then...it's settled..."
The moment he finished speaking, his entire body, starting from his heart, burst forth with dazzling light.
The dazzling light even outshone the sun in the sky.
The next second, his crystallized body shattered with a roar, turning into billions of glittering points of light. Some of them rose with the wind, some merged into the earth beneath his feet, some drifted towards the distant sea, and some rose into the sky and dissipated in the warm sunlight.
Lin Yi sat there quietly, the last trace of Long Wu's coldness still lingering in his hand.
He wasn't sad, but there was an emptiness in his heart.
Just then, Chu Yao's last message, like a gentle breeze, brushed through his mind.
This time, her voice came from all directions, from the sky, the earth, the ocean, from every corner of the world.
"Although the main force of the Cleaners has retreated, they are not unprepared. They left behind seven 'seeds' in the coordinate system of the new star map—seven highly unstable anomalous spacetime coordinates. Each coordinate may evolve into a new disaster or a new opportunity. Future humans will face these new challenges on their own... and you, Lin Yi, will no longer have to shoulder everything."
The sound gradually faded away, and the world returned to silence.
Lin Yi slowly stood up, looked up at the brand new starry sky, and said softly, "I was never meant to be the only light."
Several months later.
An unnamed town, newly established on the map of the new world, is far away from those magnificent floating cities and energy hubs, appearing peaceful and serene.
There are no high-tech inventions in the town; most of the houses are made of wood and stone, and the people live a simple life, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.
As evening falls, wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys.
Lin Yi, dressed in ordinary gray cloth clothes, sat under the banyan tree at the entrance of the village, surrounded by a group of curious children.
He was no longer the awe-inspiring ruler of time and space, but a kind, wandering scholar who told children stories about the stars.
"Uncle Lin, why are the stars in the sky different from the ones in the books I used to read?" A little girl with pigtails looked up and asked curiously.
Lin Yi smiled gently and pointed to the brightest star in the night sky, saying, "Because the world has grown up, it has put on a new outfit. Look, that star, we call it 'Sailing,' because it always appears first after dark, as if telling everyone that a new night has begun."
He taught the children to identify the new constellations and told them myths about the new world, made up by the townspeople themselves.
There are no earth-shattering wars, no tragic songs of lone heroes, only stories about courage, hope, and unity.
“Uncle,” the little girl with pigtails spoke again, her eyes sparkling in the starlight, “have you ever seen a real hero? The kind of legendary hero who can save the world all by himself.”
Lin Yi's gaze became deep and distant. He was silent for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, pointing to every lit window around him, and then to the night sky.
“True heroes are not in distant legends.” His voice was gentle yet firm. “They are in everyone who strives to live their life, in the heart of everyone who dares to say ‘I want to try’ to the future and the unknown.”
The little girl nodded as if she understood, then looked up again, gazing intently at the unfamiliar, magnificent starry sky, as if trying to remember every constellation Uncle Lin Yi had taught her.
A gentle night breeze blew by, ruffling the stray hairs on her forehead.
Lin Yi smiled as he looked at her serious profile, his gaze inadvertently falling on her pupils that reflected the starry sky.
In that instant, his smile froze.
He saw a barely perceptible, dragon-flame-like golden glint flash briefly in the depths of the little girl's pure black pupils.
Immediately afterwards, a very faint smile appeared on the little girl's lips.
That smile carried a familiar, arrogant air of looking down on everything.
He looks just like Long Wu from back then.
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