The cold light from the laboratory made Lin Yi's pupils contract. His back was pressed against the nearest culture chamber, and the warmth of his palm seeped through the glass, touching the chip on "his" neck inside the chamber—the same chip that had just disappeared in the mental link space, with even the engravings being exactly the same.
"Hoo." He took a deep breath, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, his knuckles turning white from clenching his fists.
The shock I felt earlier receded like the tide, replaced by a calmness etched into my very bones.
As the master of time and space, he had seen too many scenes that defied perception, but the sight of the cabin full of "himself" each with the exact same crescent-shaped scar behind their ears still made his temples throb.
"Chu Yao, connect to my optic nerve," he whispered, his fingertips pressing on the communicator behind his ear.
Almost instantly, a pale blue stream of data seeped from his pupils, and the girl's projection solidified in the void, her hair still carrying the faint, unstable static of electricity: "Location locked. Current coordinates are below the Earth's core mantle layer. The spatial structure perfectly matches the 'Deep Laboratory' from the old era of 'Infinite'."
Lin Yi's gaze swept over the neatly arranged incubation chambers. Each clone had the same dark pattern tattooed on its chest—the totem of the "God of Destiny" that he had slain on the battlefield of another dimension.
He reached out and touched the nearest hatch, and the metal surface immediately rippled, reflecting his distorted face like water.
"Try time travel." He closed his eyes, and silver light gathered at his fingertips.
This is the basic skill of [Time and Space Domination], which can recall images of the target location within 72 hours.
But as the silver light seeped into the culture chamber, his brow furrowed sharply—all he could see were fragmented afterimages: the hem of a white lab coat swept across the floor, a robotic arm raised a blue-glowing reagent, and a muffled electronic voice: "...Sample No. 99...Consciousness stability rate 92.3%...Final testing phase..."
"The rewind has been interfered with." Lin Yi opened his eyes, a cold glint in them.
"It's not interference." Xuan Mingzi stood beside him at some point, his Taoist robe cuffs stained with slightly dark brown marks, and if you got close, you could smell the rust—fresh human blood.
He raised his hand and placed it on the incubation chamber, where pale purple program code appeared in his palm. "The timeline here is covered by the 'Destiny System' itself."
What you see is what they want you to see.
"The predecessor of the Destiny System was the 'Human Evolution Project'." Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze, and the data stream surged wildly. "According to the residual data in the chip, this project was launched in 2015, with the participation of top scientists from around the world. Its goal was to create a 'perfect evolved being' through gene cloning and consciousness transplantation."
"And you..." Her voice suddenly stopped, "are the 99th test subject."
The air in the laboratory suddenly froze.
Lin Yi's fingers unconsciously traced the jade pendant around his neck, where fragments of Su Qing's consciousness lay dormant.
He remembered that when he first saw the jade pendant, the system message was "A Gift of Fate," which now seemed like a mocking label.
"You are not the only awakened one," Xuanmingzi's voice was like being immersed in ice water, "You are the only individual who has broken through the 'destiny template'."
Those lying in the capsules are replicas locked at the 'mythical' level bottleneck—their souls have been implanted with program locks, forever unable to touch the true laws of spacetime.
\"cough!\"
A muffled groan shattered the silence.
Lin Yi turned around instantly and saw Ivan kneeling on one knee, his forehead touching the ground, his blond hair stuck together in clumps with cold sweat.
Dark green veins appeared on the back of his neck, markings left over from the core of the mother nest.
"They...are copying me too..." Ivan's voice was broken with sobs. "I can feel...hundreds and thousands of 'Ivans' struggling in different times and spaces...the Nesting consciousness is devouring their humanity..."
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He teleported to Ivan's side, placed his hand on the back of Ivan's neck, and the warm, spacetime power immediately enveloped the wildly spreading green patterns.
He recalled why Su Qing's fragments of consciousness kept dispersing in space and time, and why Long Wu's true dragon bloodline would experience a strange "repair delay" after each serious injury—it turned out that the so-called "chosen one" was just the experimental subject's number.
"Fifth Brother." Lin Yi looked up at Long Wu.
The latter was standing at the entrance of the laboratory, his dragon-scale boots churning the ground, his gaze scanning every corner like a knife.
Hearing the call, he turned his head, his dragon-patterned earring swaying slightly: "There's a spatial fluctuation, very weak, but it lasted for three minutes." His hand rested on the hilt of his dragon-patterned sword at his waist. "Someone's spying."
"Then let them watch to their heart's content." Lin Yi suddenly laughed, a laugh sharp as a lone wolf. "I want to see if those hiding behind the scenes dare to confront the true 'Breakthroughist'."
With a light tap of his fingertips, a pale golden time anchor spread from the soles of his feet, and the air in the entire laboratory instantly froze—the eyelashes of the replicants in the culture chamber stopped trembling, the red light from the overhead lamp stopped in mid-air, and even the green markings on the back of Ivan's neck froze into a still painting.
"Time anchored, for ten minutes." Lin Yi's voice was low. "Chu Yao, hack into the core control room; Xuan Mingzi, guard Ivan; Fifth Brother, come with me."
Long Wu's response was a clear ringing sound as the hilt of his sword was drawn half an inch from its sheath.
The two moved almost against the wall, and in the space where time seemed to stand still, every scratch on the metal floor was clearly visible.
The control room door was hidden behind the last incubation chamber. Lin Yi kicked it, and the heavy alloy door crashed down, revealing a terminal inside that was flashing red light.
"Found it." Lin Yi rushed to the terminal, his fingers flying across the holographic keyboard.
The encrypted log data stream poured out wildly; he scanned the first few lines, and his breath hitched—
"On July 15th, the consciousness stability rate of sample number 99 exceeded 95%, and fluctuations in the laws of spacetime were detected."
"On July 20th, the sample awakened [Space-Time Dominator], increasing the probability of program lock failure to 83%."
"On July 25th, 'Fate Reset' was initiated. Objective: To erase the sample's independent consciousness while preserving its fighting instincts."
"Warning! The sample has come into contact with the core chip, and the system defense program has crashed—"
"Fate reset failed; sample number 100 is about to be uploaded."
As soon as the last line of text appeared, the terminal suddenly burst out with a blinding white light.
Lin Yi subconsciously raised his hand to cover his eyes. The jade pendant around his neck suddenly became incredibly hot. The chip that had just disappeared reappeared in his palm and automatically inserted into the terminal's slot.
\"boom!\"
The laboratory alarm shattered the barrier of frozen time.
Lin Yi was thrown over by the blast wave, his back hitting the incubation chamber, and the glass shattered with a crack.
He saw thick black smoke billowing from the terminal, countless fragments swirling in the air, and the last line of text flickering in the firelight, like a countdown to death.
"Number 100...coming soon..."
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and glanced at the mess on the ground.
Long Wu was protecting him with his dragon scale arm armor, while Ivan was being held in Xuan Mingzi's arms. Neither of them looked too good.
Chu Yao's projection, now showing only half her face, screamed with her last data stream: "Spatial coordinate disorder!"
Mirror space detected... Transfer... Start...
A severe feeling of dizziness struck.
Lin Yi's vision went black, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself kneeling on a mirror-like floor.
All around were towering mirrored walls, each reflecting his image—some in battle armor, some covered in blood, and some showing the same shocked expression as him.
"This is..." He reached out and touched the nearest mirror. The moment his fingertips touched it, all the mirror images suddenly raised their hands at the same time, and ripples appeared where his fingertips touched him.
"Welcome to... the real game."
A familiar, weathered voice descended from above.
Lin Yi looked up and saw a line of words written in scarlet paint on the topmost mirror surface—
"Destiny Experiment Field, Sample No. 100 is ready."
Before his consciousness began to fade, the last thing he saw was a reflection of himself in the mirror suddenly smiling, his knuckles pressing against the mirror surface, slowly drawing a crack.
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