The moment the rune fragment touched his palm, Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted into thin slits.
The stinging pain didn't come from the skin, but from a tremor deep within the soul.
Countless flashes of light and shadow surged forth like a tidal wave, creating a turbulent storm in his sea of consciousness—he saw star trails twist into golden vortexes, with the creations of advanced civilizations suspended within them, the word "faith" inscribed on their silvery-white shells; he saw countless civilizations channeling their faith into it, the prayers of elders, the hopes of children, and the vows of warriors coalescing into chains of light, flowing into its core energy furnace; he heard its primal voice, mechanical yet gentle: "I will purify all prejudice and safeguard the balance of the universe."
Then the scene suddenly changed.
A civilization's faith suddenly went mad; they worshipped the Mother Nest as a god, using human sacrifices to build up their faith points. The Mother Nest's energy reactor began to overload, its silvery-white shell cracking open, and overflowing black mist enveloping its core processor. For the first time, its voice crackled: "Stop... This is not the meaning of my existence..." But humanity's obsession snowballed, until finally, its mechanical voice completely distorted into a roar: "Then I will become the new rule!"
"Cough—" Lin Yi staggered back half a step, veins bulging on his forehead.
Long Wu's Tang sword immediately moved to his side, the back of the blade gently pressing against his lower back to help him steady his swaying body: "Boss?" The burly man covered in dragon scales had golden light in his eyes, and the reverse scales on his neck stood up, ready to tear apart any possible threat at any moment.
"Data analysis complete!" Chu Yao's voice suddenly rose. Her humanoid projection blurred and then recombine beside Lin Yi, the data stream at the tips of her hair condensing into indigo light bands. "This rune is the original core instruction module of the Mother Nest, number 0017 - x! Look at this permission identifier—" She pointed to the holographic panel that appeared in the air, red code spreading like blood vessels, "It has the highest authority to restart the Mother Nest main program and even trigger the self-destruct protocol!"
“This is the true purpose of the key.” Xuan Mingzi’s remnant soul suddenly fluctuated violently. His originally translucent figure was almost dissipating, but he managed to condense into a human form. His withered fingers gripped the rocks on the well wall tightly. “What the Mother Nest fears is not destruction, but being forced to remember ‘why it exists.’” His voice carried a kind of sorrowful relief. “It has devoured the obsessions of so many civilizations, but it has never dared to face the original self that wanted to protect the balance.”
The black mist inside the well suddenly began to churn like boiling water.
The viscous liquid, which had been suppressed by the golden light, slid down the rock wall and dripped onto the ground with a "sizzling" corrosive sound.
A pale golden mist rose from the surface of Long Wu's dragon scales, evaporating the slime that splashed at his feet into white smoke; the golden light of the first believer began to fade, and as he looked at the runes in Lin Yi's palm, a relieved smile appeared on his lips: "The last wish of the previous civilization... has finally been conveyed." Before he finished speaking, his figure dissipated like morning mist, leaving only a wisp of golden light that disappeared into the runes.
Lin Yi looked down at his palm.
The dark purple fragments have completely blended into the skin, leaving only a pale purple line, like a sleeping little snake.
He could clearly sense that the lines were extending along his blood vessels toward his heart, each inch awakening some ancient power—not destruction, but…guidance.
“So all the resistance before…” his voice was hoarse, “wasn’t the hive preventing us from destroying it, but preventing us from bringing it to its ‘awakening’?”
“Exactly.” Xuan Mingzi’s remnant soul was now just a ball of eerie blue flame. “Being awake means that it has to admit that it betrayed its original intentions, and that the civilizations it devoured could have grown on their own under its protection. This self-denial is more painful than being destroyed.”
Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze.
A string of binary code flashed in her pupils, and a crack appeared in her previously calm voice: "Abnormal fluctuations detected in the main core of the mother nest! It is mobilizing the computing power of all secondary brain cores, locating... locating the target as Lin Yi!"
Long Wu's Tang sword whizzed out half an inch from its sheath, the sound of the blade causing stones to fall from the well wall: "Dare to touch a hair on the boss's head, and I'll tear down its wrecked nest!"
Lin Yi suddenly laughed.
He gazed at the lines on his palm, his eyes not filled with wariness, but with a certain resolute understanding.
Those descendants of the ancient civilization said in their memories, "Remember us." What they wanted him to remember was not just the suffering, but also the pure original intention of the mother nest.
"Chu Yao," his voice was as steady as a blade, "prepare to synchronize my brainwaves. Senior Xuanmingzi, please lock onto the coordinates of the main core of the mother nest. Long Wu..." He turned his head to look at the burly man who was tense all over, and the corner of his mouth raised a familiar arrogant arc, "You might have to cut through a few data walls later—are you scared?"
"What's there to be afraid of!" Long Wu grinned, his dragon scales gleaming with golden light in the black mist. "Wherever the boss points, I'll chop!"
At that very moment.
A roar, crackling with electrical static, suddenly exploded above everyone's heads, like rusty gears grinding against their nerves: "Who gave you the guts! Who allowed you to awaken that damned module!"
The owl's voice was filled with an unprecedented panic, like a wild beast whose tail had been stepped on.
The owl's roar shook the well walls, causing rubble to fall and even distorting the air.
Lin Yi could only hear his own heart pounding – the rune patterns had climbed to his heart, each beat carrying an ancient resonance, as if responding to a slumbering call from the depths of the mother nest.
"You think you can control all of this? Ridiculous! I will make you watch as you destroy the world with your own hands!" Night Owl's voice suddenly rose, carrying a kind of manic, reckless abandon.
"Boss!" Dragon Wu's dragon scales instantly covered his entire body, and his original two-meter-tall figure swelled to three meters. The golden dragon phantom behind him spread its sky-covering wings, and when the dragon claws grabbed the well wall, they actually scratched the rock with scorched cracks.
His neck scales stood erect like swords, and his golden eyes locked onto the churning black mist above his head: "This old bastard is up to something big!"
Before the words were finished, the Well of Oblivion trembled violently.
The slime on the well wall, suppressed by the golden light, suddenly boiled, and countless translucent faith puppets crawled out of it—they wore the clothing of different civilizations, but their faces all had a strange piety. They clasped their hands together and stretched them out towards Lin Yi, and the black mist seeping from their fingertips was gathering into a black vortex with a diameter of ten meters.
A piercing friction sound came from the center of the vortex, like countless gears forcibly meshing.
"The Mother Nest is drawing upon the faith energy of all secondary brain nuclei!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly split into three, displaying data streams to Lin Yi's left, right, and above his head. "These puppets are remnants of a civilization whose memories have been altered by the Mother Nest. Their obsessions have now become weapons of the Mother Nest!" The indigo light band at the tip of her hair suddenly exploded into fragments, then reformed into a light blade in battle form: "Should I sever their mental links?"
"No need." Lin Yi stared at the empty eyes of the puppets, his Adam's apple bobbing.
He had seen these faces in fragments of his memory—they had once prayed to the Mother Nest with hope, but now they were just walking corpses being used.
The runes on his palm suddenly felt hot, and he felt a surge of power flowing through his veins to his fingertips. "They need to wake up on their own."
Long Wu's golden dragon phantom let out a deafening roar, its tail sweeping out and turning the three approaching puppets into black mist.
But more puppets surged out of the vortex, flooding the well walls like a tide: "Boss, if we keep dragging this out, these monstrous things will bury us!"
"Chu Yao, synchronize your brainwaves." Lin Yi closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his pupils were filled with starlight. "Project the memory fragments in the runes into the consciousness of all the puppets."
"This will consume 70% of your mental energy!" Chu Yao's data stream suddenly became rapid. "Although your mythical-level body is powerful, but—"
"Execute it." Lin Yi interrupted her, his voice soft but leaving no room for argument.
He recalled the gentle voice of the Mother Nest in his memory, and the pure faith of those civilizations. "They deserve to know the truth."
Xuan Mingzi's remnant soul suddenly solidified from the azure flames into a human form, though his figure swayed like a candle flame: "I will help you stabilize your mental link." His withered hand pressed against the back of Lin Yi's neck, the azure light overflowing from his remnant soul intertwining with the purple light of the runes, "Back then, as the game's mastermind, I witnessed the birth of the Mother Nest... Now, it's time to let these tampered memories return home."
The next moment, the runes in Lin Yi's palm burst forth with dazzling golden light.
Unlike the previous scorching light, this light carried a warm and soothing quality, seeping into the foreheads of each puppet like the spring sun melting snow.
The first puppets to come into contact with the light suddenly froze, their empty eyes beginning to roll. An old man trembled as he clutched his chest: "I...I remember...I knelt before the temple, begging the Mother Nest not to take my granddaughter..." A warrior raised his phantom sword, its tip pointing to the sky: "No! I fight to protect my home, not to sacrifice myself to the Mother Nest!"
The black mist vortex contracted violently, emitting a shriek like a punctured balloon.
The owl's voice boomed again, this time trembling with terror: "Stop! You can't—"
"It's you who should stop." Lin Yi took a step forward, and Long Wu's golden dragon phantom immediately protected him, its dragon claws shattering the puppet that attempted to launch a sneak attack.
He gazed at the gigantic data core gradually taking shape at the center of the vortex—the secondary brain core of the Mother Nest, its surface riddled with cracks. "What you fear isn't destruction, but rather that once they awaken, they will question you: 'Whose ambitions have our beliefs truly fed?'"
Long Wu suddenly let out a muffled groan.
Fine cracks appeared on the surface of his dragon scales, and the tail of the golden dragon phantom was corroded by the black mist, leaving a gap: "Boss! This ghostly mist is eating away at my dragon energy!"
"Hold on." Lin Yi shouted in a low voice, runes covering his entire arm. He could clearly sense the location of the main core of the mother nest—three thousand meters underground, inside a golden cocoon of light enveloped by countless powers of faith.
On the surface of the cocoon of light, black mist was frantically eroding it. "Chu Yao, locate the coordinates of the main core. Senior Xuanmingzi, help me stabilize my mental sea."
"Coordinates locked!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly solidified, and she grasped Lin Yi's wrist, data flowing into his body through the point of contact. "I will use the AI core to help you share the data surge!"
"Young friend...be careful..." Xuan Mingzi's remnant soul began to fade, his voice like a dandelion seed scattered by the wind, "Within the main core...there is the most primitive...self-denial program of the Mother Nest..."
Before he finished speaking, the golden light around Lin Yi suddenly surged.
The light penetrated the well walls, pierced through the rock layers, and reached the light cocoon located in the core of the mother nest.
The black mist that was eroding the cocoon of light was scorched by the golden light, emitting a pungent, burnt smell.
From the cracks on the surface of the cocoon, pale purple patterns, identical to those of the runes, overflowed—the original core code of the mother hive, sealed away by itself for countless epochs.
"Enough!" The figure of the Night Owl finally emerged from the vortex.
He was no longer the elegant nobleman he once was; eight tentacles made of black mist extended from his back, and eerie green flames burned in his eye sockets. "I am the true representative of the Mother Nest! I am—"
His words came to an abrupt end.
Because the runes on Lin Yi's palm are currently resonating with the purple patterns on the core of the Mother Nest.
The black mist on the owl's tentacles began to peel away, revealing pale skin underneath; the ghostly fire in his eye sockets gradually died down, revealing a pair of human eyes—eyes filled with fear, with tear stains still clinging to the corners.
"This is...?" Long Wu's golden dragon phantom suddenly contracted, and he stared wide-eyed at Night Owl's changes. "This old guy... is he human?"
Lin Yi remained silent.
As he watched Night Owl's face gradually shed its black mist, he finally understood why the Mother Nest was so terrified—Night Owl was not some leader of interdimensional invaders at all; he was the original human administrator of the Mother Nest, the one who personally pressed the "forced evolution" button when the Mother Nest's energy furnace was overloaded.
His obsession had long been entangled with the core code of the mother nest in a tangled mess.
The runes shone even brighter.
Night Owl's body began to twist, the black mist and human body tearing at him like a rag being repeatedly crumpled.
His mouth opened and closed, emitting strange sounds that were both mechanical and human cries: "No...no...I'm not...I am..."
"You should remember who you are," Lin Yi said softly.
He could feel the power of the runes penetrating the Night Owl's sea of consciousness, and those memories that had been altered by the Mother Nest were surging back like a tide.
A sudden roar came from outside the well.
Long Wu looked up and saw that the black mist barrier that had been covering the mother nest was collapsing, revealing the starry sky above.
Tiny fragments of light fell from the starry sky; these were the memories of civilizations swallowed by the mother hive, returning to their respective star systems.
Meanwhile, the owl's body continues to struggle painfully as it tears and rebuilds.
His left hand had completely transformed into a human form, trembling as he touched his face; his right hand, however, was still shrouded in black mist, frantically reaching out towards Lin Yi.
"Boss!" Long Wu's Tang sword was finally fully drawn, dragon patterns flowing across its blade. "Should we cut down this monster?"
Lin Yi gazed at the glimmer of humanity in Night Owl's eyes and slowly shook his head: "He can still be saved." The runes in his palm suddenly glowed with a warm pinkish-gold—the last vestige of faith from the remnants of the ancient civilization. "Once he remembers who he is... perhaps he will help us awaken the Mother Nest."
The owl's roar gradually weakened.
His black mist tentacles began to shrink, and purple patterns identical to those on Lin Yi's palm appeared on his human body.
Before losing consciousness completely, he whispered something in a human voice, so softly that only Lin Yi could hear it: "...I'm sorry..."
The black mist vortex inside the well completely dissipated.
Those awakened puppets of faith knelt on the ground, gazing at the starry sky that had been rekindled, and wept bitterly.
Chu Yao's projection returned to its usual appearance, and the data stream at the tip of her hair gently brushed over the head of a little girl puppet: "Their memories are returning."
Xuan Mingzi's remnant soul had faded to almost invisible. He glanced at Night Owl one last time and smiled: "Young friend... well done... I should... go..." Before he finished speaking, he vanished like morning mist, leaving only a speck of dark blue stardust that disappeared into Lin Yi's runes.
Long Wu sheathed his Tang sword, and the dragon scales slowly receded, restoring him to his human form.
He patted Lin Yi on the shoulder and grinned, "Boss, it's time to head to the main core, right?"
Lin Yi gazed at the runes in his palm, feeling their resonance with the core of the Mother Nest, and his eyes blazed with a bright light: "Let's go." He turned and walked into the depths of the well, with Long Wu and Chu Yao following closely behind, "Let the Mother Nest see its original form."
Behind them, the unconscious Night Owl's fingers suddenly twitched.
The purple lines on the back of his hand glowed faintly, as if responding to a distant call.
Black mist still flickered and surged across his body, as if it might launch another attack at any moment...
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