As the golden light of the source core crawled along the scepter of cause and effect into the crack of the seed of destiny, Lin Yi felt a burning pain in his fingertips.
This pain was unusual, more like a long-sealed resonance—those “selves” that overlapped with him in folded spacetime were injecting their beliefs into his sea of consciousness through causal lines.
"Ding! The cross-dimensional energy overflow rate has exceeded the critical value." Chu Yao's voice was filled with electrical noise. "Timeline overlap has occurred in the region from the real coordinates (30.2°N, 120.1°E) to (31.7°N, 121.4°E). It has been detected that... the Hangzhou University Library and the third combat zone of the Mother Nest coincide."
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
He clearly saw a semi-transparent scene appear in the void to his left: a boy in a white shirt carrying a stack of books walked through the corridor, and the next second the figure was blasted to pieces by the splashing energy cannon; on the metal wall to his right, the charred bullet marks overlapped with the brick wall covered with ivy outside the library, and even the dew on the tips of the leaves refracted two different kinds of light.
"Is this what timeline disorder is?" He chuckled softly, and the scepter in his palm suddenly vibrated. "So our reality is just a frame on the observation screen of an advanced civilization."
"laugh--"
A sharp tearing sound rang out from above.
Night Owl's figure reassembled thirty meters away like a shattered holographic projection. His right eye was completely digitized, flowing with purple and black code, while his left face retained its human contours, his mouth stretching to his ears: "You think you can win by shaking the Fire Seed? Ridiculous!" He raised his arm, viscous dark purple energy seeping from his ten fingertips, "Final Protocol, activate!"
An alarm in the core area of the mother nest instantly pierced the air.
Lin Yin could clearly feel the metal floor beneath his feet twisting, and the space seemed to be crumpled into a ball by an invisible hand—the hatch in the southeast direction, which should have been twenty meters away, was now right next to him; the originally floating energy matrix suddenly crashed to the ground, and bounced back into the air just before it touched the metal, repeating the cycle.
"Space folding begins; the closed time domain is expected to take shape in 137 seconds." Chu Yao's projection suddenly materialized, her hair glowing blue, her fingertips drawing countless data streams in the void. "The main power source of the mother hive needs to be cut off, but Night Owl has bound the protocol core to his vital signs—"
“Simulating Xuanmingzi’s consciousness frequency.” Lin Yi suddenly spoke, looking at Night Owl’s digitized right eye. “When you were cracking the intruder’s communications, you recorded the old Taoist’s brainwave characteristics, right?”
A glint flashed in Chu Yao's eyes: "Data retrieved 0.3 seconds ago!" Her fingertip pressed down sharply in the air, and the purple energy that had been wrapped around the night owl suddenly rippled with golden light. "Interference program implanted... Delay folding process by 41 seconds!"
"Bastard!" Night Owl's left cheek contorted with human rage as he slammed his fist into the control panel beside him, instantly denting the metal into scrap metal. "You think that old bastard's remnant soul can hold me back?" His body began to swell, countless writhing tubes bulging beneath his skin. "Even if it means mutual destruction, I will ensure this spacetime is forever trapped in a loop—"
"Then let me show you what a true variable is." Lin Yi's source core suddenly erupted with dazzling golden light, and the veins on his hand gripping the Causality Scepter bulged. "Chu Yao, locate the folded core!"
"Locked!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly split into three, each connecting to a terminal in a different area of the Mother Nest. "The Folded Core is located in the heart of Night Owl; that's his last connection point to the Mother Nest!"
Lin Yi's figure transformed into a stream of light.
He could hear his own heartbeat overlapping with the hum of the Scepter of Cause and Effect, each step shattering a distorted space—just as his toes were about to touch the Night Owl's chest, the tangled purplish-black energy suddenly erupted, coiling around his wrist like a venomous snake.
"Does it hurt?" Night Owl's voice turned shrill. "This is the most primal devouring energy of the Mother Nest. Your source core... will be slowly corroded—"
“It hurts, but it feels even better.” Lin Yi suddenly grinned, looking at Night Owl’s digitized right eye, which reflected the golden light dancing on his forehead. “Because I know that the moment faith is infused, all the calculated ‘inevitability’ becomes invalid.” He shuddered, and the golden light of the source core shattered the purplish-black energy like a volcanic eruption. The tip of his scepter pressed precisely against Night Owl’s heart. “Including your so-called End Protocol.”
"Snap—"
A crisp sound mixed with electrical noise.
Night Owl's digitized right eye suddenly flickered. He looked down at his chest, where spiderweb-like cracks were spreading. "Impossible... I clearly... I clearly locked down all variables..."
“Variables are never locked away.” Lin Yi drew his scepter, and golden light flowed through Night Owl’s body, melting away the writhing pipes one by one. “They choose to appear when they are meant to.”
"Ding! The folding process has been delayed to 212 seconds." Chu Yao's voice finally returned to normal. "But the overlapping area of reality has expanded to the Yangtze River Delta economic zone. An abnormal fluctuation has been detected in the spacetime rift where Long Wu is located."
Lin Yi paused slightly.
He recalled the boy he had sent into the rift—when Long Wu was placed into the rift, the dragon pattern on his chest was only a pale gold color. Now, through Chu Yao's monitoring screen, he could clearly see that the dragon pattern was glowing with a blood-red light, as if it were alive, moving across the boy's skin.
“That is…” Lin Yi’s pupils contracted slightly.
He suddenly remembered what the old Taoist priest had said when Long Wu awakened his true dragon bloodline: "This bloodline will one day emit a light that surpasses all limits in the most desperate moment."
Night Owl's body began to disintegrate. He glanced one last time at the direction of the crack and laughed hoarsely, "Even if you win... that kid's dragon mark... will still..."
"Shut up." Lin Yi unleashed a golden ray of light, completely crushing Night Owl's lingering resentment.
He turned to look in the direction of the rift, the golden light of the source core condensing into a cocoon of light in his palm. "Chu Yao, prepare to open the rift passage."
"Do you need me to hack into the Rift Defense System?" Chu Yao's projection floated to his side.
“No need.” Lin Yi gazed at the faint reflection of the dragon pattern within the cocoon of light, a faint smile curving his lips. “Some powers need to awaken on their own.”
At this moment, Long Wu, who was enveloped by the spacetime rift, suddenly curled up.
In his unconscious state, the image of the old pine tree he had seen in Wudang Mountain when he was a child appeared—the ancient tree that had survived being struck by lightning seven times, and now it was pointing its branches at his chest.
And his dragon pattern was emitting an increasingly scorching temperature as the vibrations outside the crack became more and more intense.
"boom--"
An explosion could be heard coming from outside the rift, originating in the core of the mother nest.
Long Wu's fingers unconsciously dug into his palm, and a drop of blood fell onto the dragon tattoo.
The next second, golden flames suddenly rose from under his skin. The flames spread along his blood vessels and condensed into a complete dragon shape on his chest. The dragon's eyes slowly opened and shot out two dazzling golden beams.
Deep within the spacetime rift, Long Wu's consciousness was being scorched by golden flames.
Suddenly, the branches of the old pine tree materialized and pierced his heart.
In his excruciating pain, he recalled the book "Strange Tales of Mountains and Seas" that he had found in the Sutra Repository of Wudang Mountain when he was twelve years old—it contained the ancient saying, "The Yinglong with blood patterns awakens when it encounters blood, and cries out when it sees danger."
At this moment, the beads of blood seeping from his palm were flowing along the grooves of the dragon pattern, each drop like a key, knocking on the ancient rhythm sleeping in his blood.
"Aww—"
A silent dragon's roar exploded in his mind's sea.
Long Wu's pupils were instantly filled with golden light. The dragon-shaped flames that had been moving suddenly solidified, and the scales under his skin shone with a bronze luster. Even his eyelashes were reflected as gold.
His right hand pressed uncontrollably against the crack wall, and the spatial folds that his fingertips touched suddenly trembled violently, as if responding to some kind of call from the beginning of chaos.
"World Destruction... Roar!"
In the fragmented memories, the old Taoist priest's dying words suddenly became clear: "When the dragon's markings are soaked in blood, when the rift is about to collapse, you must roar out one last cry for it—that is the final echo left by the ancient divine dragon to protect the boundary."
A low groan, not belonging to a human, rolled from Long Wu's throat.
His chest heaved violently, and the dragon pattern spread from his chest to his neck, condensing into a pulsating golden core at his Adam's apple.
The next second, the spacetime turbulence within the rift was suddenly straightened by some force, and all the distorted light bands pointed towards his mouth—
\"roar!\"
This roar was silent, yet it was more penetrating than any sound wave.
The barrier of the spacetime rift was like glass struck by a heavy hammer, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading from Long Wu's palm; at the same time, countless cracks burst open in the metal floor of the core area of the mother nest, and the Night Owl, which was trying to rebuild, was knocked back thirty meters by this invisible impact, the data-driven code in its right eye flashed wildly, and the human skin on its left cheek began to peel off, revealing the writhing black tentacles underneath.
"This is impossible!" The owl's voice crackled with electronic noise, dark green slime oozing from the tips of its tentacles. "That kid is just... ah!"
His voice was cut off by another chilling breath.
A dark figure appeared beside Lin Yi without him noticing.
His black robes fluttered without wind, his left hand formed an ancient hand seal, and his right hand pressed lightly on the void above the owl's head—where countless golden chains were appearing, each chain engraved with the seal script characters for "cause and effect".
"Causal Sealing Technique." The shadowy figure's voice pierced to the bone like an ice pick. "With the authority of a higher civilization's enforcer, I anchor your consciousness to this spacetime node." He turned to look at Lin Yi, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes. "Now, end it."
Lin Yi's fingertips traced silver trails in the air.
He could feel the surging power within the source core—the psychic power of all the job changers on Blue Star who believed in him, the true energy of the ancient martial arts masters in the Reality Alliance, and the loyalty of the interdimensional resistance army, all flowing into his meridians along the patterns of the Scepter of Cause and Effect.
"This is... the weight of faith," he murmured, his hands forming the final mudra.
A golden beam of light burst forth from his palm, piercing through layers of distorted space and precisely striking the core of the seed of destiny.
\"boom--\"
The entire nest began to tremble violently.
Purple smoke billowed from the cracks in the Spark of Destiny, fragments of Night Owl's remaining consciousness; the alarm lights on the metal ceiling all went out, replaced by dark red emergency lights; the previously suspended energy matrix fell one after another, smashing deep craters into the ground.
Lin Yin could clearly hear the crisp sound of the Fire Seed Core shattering, just like the sound of the old bell in the starting village being rung when he first entered the game—
\"bite--\"
"Snap!"
The spark of destiny exploded completely.
The purple smoke was dispelled by the golden light, revealing the owl's true form curled up inside: a fleshy mass composed of countless eyeballs, each reflecting a scene from a different time and space.
The tentacles on the surface of the tumor waved wildly, but were bound tighter and tighter by the chains of cause and effect.
"Is it over?" Chu Yao's projection appeared on Lin Yi's shoulder, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly.
"No." Lin Yi's source core suddenly sank.
He gazed at the collapsing dome of the Mother Nest, then at the still-struggling mass of flesh. "His laughter... hasn't stopped."
Sure enough, hoarse laughter came from all directions, as if it came from countless parallel universes at the same time.
"You think... destroying the spark will stop the Mother Nest?" Night Owl's voice was filled with a maniacal laugh. "You've broken the cycle of fate, but you haven't discovered... the true core of the Mother Nest has never been the spark."
Suddenly, all the eyeballs on the surface of the tumor turned towards Lin Yi, and every pupil reflected the same face—himself.
"It's you, my 'variable'." The night owl's laughter grew louder and louder. "You thought those overlapping timelines were accidents?"
No, that's a gift I prepared for you...
The moment the Mother Nest collapses, these timelines will completely merge, and you...
"They will be trapped in an endless cycle."
As the last word fell, Lin Yi suddenly felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
He turned to look to his left—where another version of himself had appeared out of nowhere, holding the Scepter of Cause and Effect, with the exact same expression as him at that moment.
The metal floor of the mother nest began to melt, churning like boiling molten iron.
In the midst of this chaos, the owl's tumor suddenly transformed into black mist, slipped through the gaps in the causal chain, and disappeared into the gradually closing spacetime rift.
"Chu Yao!" Lin Yi suddenly grabbed the projector's wrist, "Detect all overlapping areas of the timelines!"
quick! \"
"Scanning... The Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone, the Sichuan Basin, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration... all human settlements are showing timeline overlap!" Chu Yao's projection began to flicker. "Worse still... the Hangzhou University Library in reality is overlapping with the Mother Nest Ruins!"
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He recalled the boy in the white shirt who had been blasted apart by the energy cannon earlier—now, in the space-time where reality and virtuality overlapped, that boy's figure reappeared, carrying a book as he walked down the corridor, while in the void behind him, the energy matrix of the third combat zone of the Mother Nest was emerging and slowly falling.
"This is not the end." Lin Yi gripped the Scepter of Cause and Effect tightly, the golden light of the Source Core enveloping his entire being. "This is... a new beginning."
The Mother Nest Dome let out a final roar and collapsed completely.
Amidst the collapsing dust, the "other self" who was staring at Lin Yi suddenly raised the scepter of causality.
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