The laboratory's ventilation system was still emitting a piercing hum. Lin Yi's knuckles pressed against the workbench, and drops of blood seeping from between his fingers dripped onto the metal surface, making a soft, rustling sound.
The wind stirred up by Long Wu's dragon scale battle suit brushing against his arm caused the wisps of hair on the back of his neck to tremble slightly—this was the clearest tactile sensation he could perceive at that moment.
Ripples suddenly appeared at the point where the crack closed, like the surface of a still lake where a stone had been thrown in.
Lin Yi's pupils contracted sharply. Just as he was about to raise his arm to form a hand seal, half a human face appeared from the ripple.
It was a face that almost overlapped with his own features.
The location of the beauty mark at the corner of the other person's eye was exactly the same, and even the faint scar on his left eyebrow bone from playing basketball in high school was identical.
He could even see the dark gold patterns flowing in the other person's pupils—exactly the same as his own eyes in the mirror when he used the power of spacetime.
"Who are you?" Lin Yi's voice was as heavy as lead, and his right hand had already quietly pressed against the time-space compass at his waist.
Long Wu instantly took half a step forward, the scales on his dragon scale battle suit making a fine friction sound, and three dragon claw-shaped energy blades popped out from his palm, drawing pale blue arcs in the air.
"I am your future, and also the destiny you once rejected." The other person's voice was like two pieces of metal rubbing together, with a distorted echo.
His figure broke free from the ripples, his translucent body churning with stardust-like particles of light. "Three years ago in Starfall Valley, you should have received the inheritance of the 'Time-Space Decipherer,' allowing me to descend completely."
Lin Yi's temples throbbed.
Memories from three years ago suddenly surged back—in the torrential rain of Starfall Valley, he knelt before the charred meteorite crater, the system notification sound exploding in his mind: "Mythical inheritance opportunity detected, do you want to fuse?" At the time, he inexplicably chose "no," thinking it was just a system bug, but now it felt like being struck by a heavy hammer.
Chu Yao's projection suddenly unfolded between the two, her hair tips shimmering with the blue light characteristic of data streams: "Mainframe analysis in progress—energy structure is non-physical, a quantum afterimage of the trajectory of fate." Her fingertips traced the air, and countless green codes appeared in the projection: "He is a 'possibility manifestation' on one of your branch timelines. If you merge, your existence will collapse due to a causal paradox."
"A paradox of cause and effect?" Long Wu's dragon claw blade trembled slightly. "Boss, can we eat this thing?"
If I can't eat it, I'll tear it apart right now!
"Don't rush." Lin Yi stared at the other's translucent chest—where a ghostly green light pulsed eerily, the same color as the eyes of the figure in the rift earlier. "He's connected to the previous strange figure."
"Clever." A cold smile curled at the corner of the future projection's lips. "That figure was my anchor point left in the lower dimension. Now..." His hand lightly touched Lin Yi's heart. "It's time to close the net."
The temperature in the laboratory suddenly dropped by ten degrees.
Lin Yi felt as if an ice needle was drilling down his spine toward his brain. Dark gold spacetime power under his skin automatically surged out, forming flowing light patterns on his body surface.
Chu Yao's projection suddenly displayed a red alert: "Detected that the degree of entanglement of fate has exceeded 30%!"
The stability of the entity has decreased to 67%!
"Ivan!" Lin Yi suddenly turned his head to look at the corner of the laboratory.
Ivan, who was standing in the shadows at some unknown time, was sensing the air with his eyes closed. His pale fingertips glowed with a faint blue light—the resonating life energy remaining in the core of the mother nest.
"Interference field." Ivan opened his eyes, his pupils swirling with nebula-like light. "The resonance frequency of newborn life forms can disrupt the quantum state of destiny projection."
"It will take three minutes to deploy the device." He ripped off the silver chain around his neck, and the pendant engraved with ancient runes suddenly unfolded, revealing a sophisticated mechanical structure within. "Long Wu, borrow your dragon blood."
Long Wu didn't ask why; he simply bit his fingertip, and a drop of dark red blood dripped onto the pendant.
The runes instantly lit up with golden light, and Ivan's figure transformed into a streak of light as he rushed towards the equipment warehouse behind the laboratory.
"Trying to stall for time?" The voice of the future projection was tinged with impatience, and his body began to overlap with Lin Yi's figure. "You think...?"
"Chu Yao, locate his quantum anchor point." Lin Yi gritted his teeth, his spacetime power condensing into a lightsaber in his palm. "Long Wu, use Dragon Roar to suppress his frequency!"
Long Wu roared to the sky, the sound so loud that the glassware in the laboratory shattered.
Cracks appeared on the body of the future projection. Lin Yi took the opportunity to swing his sword. The lightsaber pierced through his chest, but it felt like it was piercing through a cloud of mist.
But Chu Yao's projection suddenly flashed: "Anchor point positioning successful!"
The eerie green core at the location of his heart!
A dark golden light flashed in Lin Yi's pupils.
He recalled the bronze compass he had found in the spacetime rift three days ago—it was now pressed against his heart, radiating a burning heat with each heartbeat.
He abruptly ripped off the necklace, and the compass automatically floated between the two of them. Twelve beams of starlight shot out from the compass, precisely piercing the eerie green core on the future projection's chest.
"You..." The voice from the future projection began to distort, "This is... the power of the very essence of spacetime..."
"You yourself exposed the anchor point." Lin Yi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "That ghostly green, like the eyes of the strange figure, is a mark of your higher dimensions."
Chu Yao's projection suddenly emitted a notification sound: "Ivan has been deployed. Interference field activated."
A faint purple ripple appeared in the air of the laboratory.
The projection of the future began to shatter into pieces, and before it completely dissipated, it screamed: "You can't stop all possibilities!"
There will eventually be a timeline...
Before he could finish speaking, his figure had completely vanished.
The laboratory fell silent again, except for the sound of Ivan's footsteps as he ran back from the armory.
"Done?" Long Wu flicked the afterimage fragments off his dragon claw blade. "This thing was even harder to fight than the Abyss Lord we encountered last time."
"For now." Lin Yi touched the bronze compass on his chest, feeling a faint response from within. "What he said about 'a fate of rejection,' and the inheritance from three years ago..." He paused, then looked up at Chu Yao, "Help me access all the data from Starfall Valley three years ago, including the system notifications from that time."
"Retrieved." An image popped up on Chu Yao's projection—a meteorite crater in a rainstorm, his virtual character kneeling on the ground, the system prompt clearly stating: "Detected the inheritance of the mythical hidden class [Time-Space Decipherer]. Fusion?"
"So, the rejection back then actually made him a 'possible afterimage'?" Ivan stroked his chin. "The branch of fate that wasn't chosen manifested in a higher dimension."
Lin Yi gripped the compass tightly, his knuckles turning white.
He could feel the residual unknown energy within his body beginning to stir again—it shared the same origin as the fluctuations when the future projection dissipated.
"Boss, the communicator." Long Wu handed over the tactical headset. "The patrol outside the city said a group of people in black robes appeared at the Dongshan intersection, holding..." His voice suddenly lowered, "...like relics of the Destiny System."
Lin Yi's gaze suddenly sharpened.
The Fate system was the core of the mainframe that was destroyed early in the game, and its relics should have been reduced to dust in the explosion three years ago.
He looked at Long Wu: "Take two squadrons of Time-Space Regiments over there, and remember to bring anti-fate jammers."
"Understood." Long Wu patted his chest, his dragon-scale battle suit making a crisp sound. "I'll go right now."
As he turned to walk towards the lab door, Lin Yi stared at his retreating figure and suddenly said, "Be careful."
Long Wu paused, then turned back with a grin: "Boss, I'm someone who has awakened the true dragon bloodline."
The moment the door was flung open, a withered leaf was swept in by the draft.
Lin Yi watched the leaf twirl and fall to his feet, and suddenly remembered the last sentence of the future projection—"There will eventually be a timeline."
He looked down at the back of his left hand, where, under the dark golden light, he could vaguely see a mark similar to that of a bronze compass.
This is just the beginning.
Long Wu's combat boots rolled over the gravel on Dongshan Road, and behind him, twenty members of the Time and Space Army Corps dispersed in a formation of geese.
He could smell a faint metallic rust in the air—the residual energy unique to the relics of the Fate System, like rotting metal soaked in blood.
"The boss said this thing can interfere with the trajectory of fate." The team's sniper, Xiao Wu, touched the anti-jamming device on his waist, his voice trembling. "But why do I feel... this smell is even more terrifying than the acid mist from the abyss creatures last time?"
Long Wu didn't respond.
His dragon-scale armor was burning hot, and the dragon claw blade hummed in his palm—a warning sign from his bloodline.
Under the sycamore tree at the corner ahead, seven figures in black robes suddenly appeared. Their hoods were pulled down very low, revealing bluish-gray chins, like corpses preserved in formaldehyde.
"Believers in Destiny." The leader's voice was like sandpaper scraping across a blackboard. His raised left hand held half a charred chip, its edge still tattered with gold wire. "You cannot stop the Lord's awakening."
Long Wu's pupils suddenly contracted.
He knew the shape of the chip all too well—three years ago, when the Destiny System exploded, he had personally dug out similar fragments from the rubble. "Who do you want to awaken?" His dragon claw blade extended three inches. "Is it that future projection?"
Or something even more disgusting?
His response was seven black rays that struck simultaneously.
Purple mist rose from the surface of the chip, which condensed into seven bone swords in mid-air, their tips pointing directly at the throat of the Time and Space Legion.
Long Wu let out a low roar, and his dragon scale battle armor instantly covered his entire body. The dragon roar was like thunder, causing the three nearest bone swords to shatter on the spot.
He lunged at the leader, his dragon claw blade slicing open the man's hood—below was no human face, but a mass of writhing eyeballs, each pupil reflecting a different version of Long Wu.
"Something's weird!" Xiao Wu's sniper rifle burst out with blue light. The moment the anti-jamming device was activated, the eyeball suddenly contracted, and the trajectory of the bone sword became skewed.
Taking advantage of the moment, Long Wu grabbed the leader's wrist, his dragon claw blade piercing the man's arm, but only bringing out black slime. "Not a living person!" He flung the man against the wall, the body under the black robe shattering into a pile of black butterflies, each butterfly's wing engraved with the same eerie green patterns as the future projection's chest.
\"retreat!
"They're trying to lure us out!" Long Wu suddenly realized.
The dragon's roar just now shattered the windows of half a street, and those black butterflies are spreading outwards along with the sound waves—this is a location signal.
Just as he was about to give the order, Chu Yao's urgent alert came through the communicator: "Abnormal spatial fluctuations detected. The coordinates of Long Wu's location have been marked in a higher dimension!"
"Xiao Wu will lead a team to cover the rear!"
"Everyone else, charge with me!" Long Wu swung his claws and severed the black butterflies that were attacking him. Dragon blood splattered on the butterfly wings and rose into the air.
He could feel his back burning; it was the burning sensation from being marked.
When the last man in black robes was pierced by the Dragon Claw Blade, the opponent's chip suddenly burst out with a blinding white light. Long Wu subconsciously closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the street was deserted, with only broken butterflies scattered on the ground, glowing with a ghostly green in the moonlight.
"Reporting, boss, the enemy is wiped out, but we've been located." Long Wu ripped off the communicator, drops of blood running down his chin onto his battle suit. "Their relics... smell just like the core of the future projection."
In the laboratory, Lin Yi's knuckles pressed against the control panel, the bronze compass burning hot in his palm.
Chu Yao's projection was playing a video of Long Wu's battle. When the image of the ghostly green butterfly wings appeared, his breath hitched—it was exactly the same as the energy fragment before the future projection dissipated.
"These are tracking markers from a higher-dimensional civilization," Ivan's voice came from the armory, as he held a newly debugged jamming device. "They're locking onto our timeline through the Fate Branch."
"So Long Wu is now..." Lin Yi's words were interrupted by the beeping of the communicator.
When Long Wu's image appeared, he was leaning against a charred sycamore tree, his battle suit torn in many places, and fragments of black butterflies still hanging on his dragon claw blade: "Boss, the enemy is using relics as beacons. My location here... may have already been transmitted to a higher dimension."
"Return immediately, with full coverage using anti-jamming devices." Lin Yi's fingers tapped on the control panel, dark gold patterns spreading from the back of his hand to his wrist. "Chu Yao, activate the reality shielding protocol to distort all electronic signals in the Dongshan area."
"Protocol initiation... 3, 2, 1 —"
Chu Yao's notification sound suddenly stopped.
The laboratory lights began to flicker, and the hum of the ventilation system abruptly stopped.
When Lin Yi looked up, all the neon lights outside the window went out, and the entire city was plunged into darkness.
He could hear shouts of alarm coming from afar. Cell phones, streetlights, and even the emergency lights in the laboratory were all out of service, as if everything that relied on electricity had been put on pause.
"Reality overlay phenomenon." Ivan's voice was unusually tense, and his pendant emitted a faint glow. "This isn't a power outage... it's some higher-dimensional force overlaying our reality layer."
Lin Yi touched the bronze compass on his chest. This time, it wasn't hot; instead, it was bone-chillingly cold.
In the darkness, he saw the dark gold mark on the back of his left hand glowing, perfectly aligning with the patterns on the compass.
The projected voice suddenly echoed in my ears: "There will eventually be a timeline..."
"Chu Yao, check the stability of the reality layer." Lin Yi's voice was unusually calm. He could feel the ground beneath his feet trembling slightly, as if something was squeezing in from another dimension. "Ivan, prepare the emergency passage for the spacetime rift."
Long Wu, how's the situation on your end?
There was no response from the communicator.
In the darkness, Lin Yi heard light footsteps outside the laboratory. It wasn't the sound of Long Wu's combat boots, but more like... the soft sound of countless black butterflies flapping their wings.
He looked down at his feet and saw a piece of eerie green butterfly wing lying quietly, exactly the same as the fragments from the scene of Long Wu's battle.
Something in the darkness has awakened.
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