Seven standard hours after the Arbiter's dissipation, guided by the Recorder Amara, Li Tianming arrived at the true core of the Rust Sea—the "Primordial Cavity."
Here, there were no Divine Skeletons, no nanite waves, only a grey mist constantly collapsing and reforming. Within the fog floated unfinished geometric shapes and half-formed mathematical formulae, like discarded drafts from a creation process abandoned midway.
«Here lie fragments of the Primordial Design's original blueprint,» Amara's thoughts rippled through the mist. «The System dares not erase this place completely, only seal it. You must achieve the preliminary fusion of the Three Authorities here to push open that gate.»
Li Tianming sat cross-legged, sinking his consciousness into the three entangled Authorities within him—
The Authority of History was like dark golden threads, linking his memories with the Rust Sea's;
TheAuthority of Oblivion was like a pale yellow haze, eroding the cognitive shackles implanted by the System;
TheAuthority of Possibility was like quantum ripples, splitting into thousands of potential futures at every decision point.
Violent rejection reactions nearly tore his mind apart. The Three Authorities represented three fundamentally different cosmic laws. Forcing their fusion was like making fire embrace water. His consciousness space began to disintegrate, memory fragments and future phantoms clashing wildly.
"Brother..." a worried fluctuation came from the badge.
"Don't lose focus." Lia suddenly placed her hand on his back, the K-017 brand glowing with a faint light. "I can stabilize nanite riots; perhaps I can help you balance the Authority conflict."
The moment their three powers converged, a sudden mutation occurred—
The grey mist was torn apart by some absolute darkness. Six figures clad in tattered black robes materialized. They wore bronze beaked masks and carried lanterns that dripped black fluid, within which burned solidified "Error Code."
«Logic Leeches...» Amara's thoughts trembled for the first time. «The System's most dangerous scavengers, specialized in handling 'Cognitive Cancers' that cannot be removed by conventional means.»
The lead Leech raised its lantern. A hoarse electronic voice came from beneath the beaked mask:
«Conceptual contamination source detected.Executing Cognitive Resection Procedure.»
No energy impact, no physical attack. Li Tianming suddenly found himself "forgetting" how to channel divine power. Whole sections of his combat skills memory vanished, even the very concept of the "Rust Sea" began to blur. They weren't attacking his body, but deleting the "definitions" of his existence!
Lia's protective suit was instantly corroded by the black fluid, large patches of garbled code appearing on her exposed skin. She tried to activate nanite resonance, but even the meaning of the "activate" command was dissolving.
«Use paradox against the deletion!» Amara urgently transmitted an encrypted message. «The Logic Leeches' core protocol cannot process self-referential paradoxes!»
Before his memories were completely wiped, Li Tianming grasped the lifeline—he anchored the Authority of History to the fact "I am currently being deleted," used the Authority of Possibility to split into the two states of "deletion complete/incomplete," and then had the Authority of Oblivion simultaneously cover the existential proof of both states.
A perfect self-referential trap: the target the Logic Leeches sought to delete depended for its very existence on the deletion act occurring.
The six Leeches' lanterns shattered simultaneously, black fluid flowing back to corrode their bodies. Broken whimpers came from beneath the beaked masks:
«Logical core overloaded...Refusing contradictory command...»
But they didn't retreat. Instead, they linked arms forming a circle, chanting a maddening frequency:
«Initiating final treatment plan:Reality Resection.»
The entire Primordial Cavity began to flake away pixel by pixel! This wasn't deleting concepts, but directly deleting the reality dimension itself!
"Now!" Amara's great book slammed open. «Touch the cavity's core with the fused Authorities!»
Acting on sudden divine insight, Li Tianming twisted the three barely balanced Authorities into a single strand and thrust it fiercely into the most chaotic area of the mist—
The grey mist dissipated, revealing not some earth-shattering secret treasure, but a faintly pulsating "heart" composed of countless mathematical symbols.
The moment his Authorities touched the heart, billions of nanite units across the Rust Sea resonated in unison. He finally understood—this "Mathematical Heart" was the true origin of the Rust Sea, the final ember left by the Primordial Design for its successors.
The wave of reality deletion had reached their feet. Li Tianming turned and pressed the "Mathematical Heart" into the K-017 brand on Lia's chest.
"You are the true key," he stared into the girl's shocked eyes. "The perfect vessel for Isa's backup."
The brand bloomed with the light of creation. Lia's pupils were filled with flowing formulae. She slowly raised her hand, giving a gentle squeeze towards the collapsing reality—
The six Logic Leeches vanished like erased pencil marks, along with the darkness they brought.
The Primordial Cavity returned to calm, save for a single door of light now standing at its center.
Lia looked down at her reconstructed hands, whispering, "Who am I, really?"
Li Tianming gazed into the depths beyond the light door. "The answer lies beyond. But before we push it open—"
He wiped a tear that had unconsciously fallen from the corner of her eye.
"—you are Lia, first and foremost."