The room fell into silence after Su Manli's words.
The world was destroyed.
The sentence echoed in Lin Cheng's mind like a death knell.
He looked at her carefully, searching for exaggeration, misinterpretation—anything that might soften the meaning. But her eyes were steady, filled not with fear, but with solemn certainty.
"How destroyed?" he finally asked.
Su Manli exhaled slowly. "Not in the sense of complete annihilation. Civilization collapsed. Continents shifted. Entire species vanished. History was forcibly reset."
Lin Cheng frowned. "Reset by what?"
"By the Observers."
The words carried unimaginable weight.
"Their role," she continued, "is to monitor the development of intelligent life across cosmic cycles. When a civilization reaches a certain threshold—when it gains the potential to threaten higher-dimensional order—the Observers intervene."
"Intervene how?"
"By erasing the timeline branch."
A cold shiver crept up Lin Cheng's spine.
"That's genocide on a cosmic scale."
Su Manli nodded faintly. "Yes. And the First Epoch was erased because someone challenged their authority."
Lin Cheng felt the Origin System stir faintly within him.
"Who?"
She met his gaze. "You."
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Lin Cheng's pupils contracted. "That's not funny."
"I'm not joking," she said quietly. "The inheritance memories don't give me your name—only a title."
She spoke the ancient phrase slowly.
'The First Observer.'
Lin Cheng's breath caught.
"You were the one who broke free from their system. The one who tried to seize control of causality itself. And the one who almost succeeded."
Almost.
"Then why did I fail?"
Su Manli hesitated.
"Because someone betrayed you."
…
…
The Betrayal
Her words struck like lightning.
Lin Cheng clenched his fists. "Who?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "My inheritance memories fragment around that point. There's interference—deliberate obfuscation."
She paused, choosing her words carefully. "But one detail is clear. The betrayal didn't come from the Observers."
That narrowed the possibilities drastically.
"Someone close to me," Lin Cheng murmured.
A friend.
An ally.
A lover.
The thought unsettled him far more than facing cosmic entities.
Before he could speak again, a sharp warning pulse surged through his consciousness.
ALERT: HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED.
SOURCE: 1.2 KM — SUBSURFACE MOVEMENT
THREAT CLASS: HIGH
Lin Cheng's eyes snapped up.
"They're here."
…
…
The Underground Breach
The ground shook.
Not violently, but with deliberate precision, like something massive was cutting through layers of reinforced earth and steel.
Outside, emergency sirens wailed.
Red warning lights flickered across the city skyline.
Su Manli's expression hardened. "Artificial Awakened."
"So Zhao Minghao has made his move."
They didn't have time to evacuate.
The floor split open.
A circular section of reinforced concrete peeled back like the lid of a tin can, revealing a vertical shaft descending into darkness.
From that darkness, figures rose.
Humanoid.
Tall.
Their bodies were wrapped in sleek black combat armor, surfaces pulsing faintly with purple bio-energy. Where their eyes should have been burned two cold, amethyst lights.
Five of them.
Each radiated power comparable to a high-tier Awakener.
They hovered silently in the air, forming a loose semicircle around Lin Cheng and Su Manli.
One stepped forward.
"Target confirmed: Lin Cheng."
Its voice was flat, emotionless, and synthesized.
"Objective: Capture alive. Secondary target: Su Manli. Termination authorized."
Lin Cheng exhaled slowly.
"System," he thought, "combat simulation."
SIMULATION ACTIVE.
SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 17.6%
So low?
His lips curled slightly.
"Then let's raise it."
…
…
First Clash
He moved.
No warning.
No buildup.
One moment he was standing still—the next, he vanished.
The air detonated where he'd been, shockwaves ripping through the apartment as his fist slammed into the chest of the nearest Artificial Awakened.
Metal screamed.
The figure was hurled backward, smashing through three reinforced walls before embedding itself into the far side of the building.
Su Manli didn't waste the opening.
Golden starlight erupted around her, forming intricate sigils that rotated like celestial gears.
"Star-Seer Technique: Fate Distortion."
The space around two of the enemies warped, their movements suddenly sluggish, as if trapped in invisible quicksand.
Lin Cheng followed instantly.
His body blurred.
In a single breath, he crossed the distorted zone, palm striking down.
Crack!
The head of one Artificial Awakened shattered like glass.
But there was no blood.
Only cascades of glowing data and broken circuitry.
The remaining three reacted instantly.
Purple energy surged.
A concentrated beam of destructive force lanced toward Lin Cheng, ripping through space itself.
Su Manli thrust out her hand.
"Star Barrier!"
A golden shield flared into existence, barely deflecting the beam. The impact still blasted her backward, slamming her into the wall.
"Manli!"
"I'm fine!" she shouted, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
The three enemies split formation.
One charged Lin Cheng head-on.
The other two targeted Su Manli.
"Damn it."
Lin Cheng felt a pressure build behind his eyes.
The Origin System pulsed violently.
WARNING: Causality Load Exceeding Safe Limits.
Unlock Observer Fragment?
His heart skipped.
Observer fragment.
Unknown risk.
Unknown consequence.
But if he hesitated—
"Unlock."
Observer Fragment: Active
The world slowed.
Not time itself.
Perception.
Reality peeled back, revealing countless shimmering threads stretching through space—fate lines, causality chains, probability flows.
Lin Cheng saw them.
Understood them.
And for a brief, terrifying moment, he could touch them.
OBSERVER FRAGMENT – 0.3% AUTHORIZATION
DURATION: 12 SECONDS
Twelve seconds.
More than enough.
He stepped sideways.
Not physically.
Causally.
The enemy's charge missed—not because Lin Cheng dodged, but because the path it had taken was suddenly… wrong.
Its fist passed through empty air where Lin Cheng should have been.
Lin Cheng appeared behind it.
His hand closed around a glowing fate-thread.
And pulled.
The Artificial Awakened froze.
Then collapsed into lifeless metal, its energy core extinguished.
The remaining two hesitated—just for an instant.
That was their mistake.
Lin Cheng moved again.
Every step rewrote probability.
Every strike shattered inevitability.
Within three heartbeats, both enemies fell.
The entire battle lasted less than ten seconds.
The Observer Fragment faded.
Reality snapped back into place.
Lin Cheng staggered.
Pain exploded through his skull.
Blood trickled from his nose, ears, and eyes.
He barely remained standing.
Su Manli rushed to him, catching his arm. "Lin Cheng!"
"I'm okay," he rasped. "Just… side effects."
But deep down, he knew—
He had crossed a line.
…
…
The World Reacts
Across hidden bases and secret organizations, alarms erupted.
Energy spikes that defied all models flooded monitoring systems.
Deep-sea ruins vibrated.
Ancient satellites realigned.
In a sealed chamber beneath Antarctic ice, a colossal eye slowly opened.
"Observer…"
In Zhao Minghao's prison, the chains cracked further.
He laughed softly.
"So you've remembered how to play, old friend."
…
…
A Warning From the System
As Lin Cheng leaned against the wall, the Origin System issued a rare unscheduled alert.
CRITICAL NOTICE:
OBSERVER FRAGMENT USAGE DETECTED
RISK: OBSERVER DISCOVERY PROBABILITY — 31%
31%.
That was dangerously high.
"If they find me now…" Lin Cheng murmured.
Su Manli squeezed his hand.
"Then we move faster."
He looked at her.
She smiled faintly, determination blazing in her eyes.
"We don't wait for fate anymore. We outrun it."
Outside, emergency response teams converged.
But Lin Cheng knew—
This was only the beginning.
The first ripple had become a wave.
And soon, it would become a storm capable of drowning the world.