After the relentless shaking, even Argenti—who always carried himself with elegance—could no longer maintain his usual poise.
Or perhaps it was simply impossible to maintain it.
"Ah—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"This is fun!"
"This is too entertaining!"
"Little Zhuixing, Aha is going to make you an Emanator!"
"Aha absolutely must make you an Emanator!"
This time, Aha acted immediately.
Invisible Path energy poured into Zhuixing's body.
As promised, Aha bestowed a vast amount of Path power upon her.
Just as Aha had said—
Zhuixing truly became an Emanator of Elation.
But Aha also stopped allowing Zhuixing to control the arrow.
"Teacher, I can no longer control the arrow's direction."
"It was probably Aha."
Zhuixing spoke calmly.
Even becoming an Emanator of Elation caused no change in her expression.
After all—
Aha's reputation spoke for itself.
Still, the power Aha granted allowed Lin Yi and Zhuixing to finally confirm:
This entire situation had indeed been Aha's doing.
"I knew it," Lin Yi said.
"I've seen Lan's arrows before. They're nothing like this."
Fortunately, Aha's power provided a clue.
Otherwise, with the information available, they would never have figured out the cause.
They would have been lying awake at night wondering why.
As for accusing Aha unfairly?
That Aha would generously grant Emanator power just because something looked entertaining?
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
If Aha gave the power—
Then Aha definitely caused the situation.
Besides—
Even if they did wrongfully accuse Aha…
What of it?
Aha's reputation was already beyond saving.
Lin Yi began issuing commands.
"Attempt trajectory deflection again."
"Failed."
"Attempt interference."
"Failed."
"Attempt obstruction."
Zhuixing responded calmly.
"The pseudo-arrow already shattered a subspace crystal wall earlier."
"Teacher… I don't think obstruction will work."
"Deploy spatial corridor."
"Failed. It was pierced immediately."
"Our actions are actually accelerating the arrow's progress."
"Detonate an entire region of space. Calculate lead distance."
"Redirect the arrow into another phase."
"Failed."
"The pseudo-arrow ignores all spatial barriers."
As the experiments continued—
Lin Yi grew more excited.
A normal arrow of the Hunt meant the target was already destroyed the moment it was seen.
No one ever had time to run experiments on it.
Aha did something incredible.
I love you.
I love you to death.
(The way Boothill loves things.)
Lin Yi continued.
"Activate the wide-area particle accelerator."
"Engage neural synapse processing."
"Accelerate our relative time."
Zhuixing replied:
"The pseudo-arrow's speed increased along with our time acceleration."
"Warp."
"Let's see which is faster—the warp drive or the fake arrow."
"Conventional warp cannot activate."
"We are locked."
"Space itself is rejecting standard distortions. It's extremely stable."
"Rejecting?"
Lin Yi laughed.
"What a joke."
"Then destroy space itself."
"Activate the Decay Engine."
The Decay Engine worked like countless microscopic insects chewing through space.
If one had to explain it metaphorically—
Ratio said:
"Let's solve a basic problem."
"On a sheet of paper, what is the shortest path from point A to point B?"
Sushang replied confidently:
"That's easy."
"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line."
Aha answered:
"Tear the paper in half so A can never reach B."
March said:
"Draw a continuous line from A to B in the shape of Pom-Pom!"
Ratio: "..."
Aventurine spoke calmly:
"Fold the paper so A overlaps with B."
Ratio finally smiled with relief.
At last, a reasonable answer.
Then Lin Yi spoke.
"Wrong. Zero points."
"Take a knife and cut from A to B."
"Erase the concept of distance entirely."
"Erase space itself."
"Then A and B are naturally adjacent."
"No… actually…"
"More accurately, A and B become the same point."
Ratio: !!!
Normal warp travel used relative space as a coordinate system.
The Decay Engine did something else entirely.
It erased the space between the ship and its destination.
It did not rely on space itself.
But once space was erased—
It was gone permanently.
Even Lin Yi rarely used this device.
Use it too often and he worried Qlipoth might personally smash him with a hammer.
"Pick a region with fewer celestial bodies."
"Warp to the Tianhui Star Wall."
"Yes… that one."
"Echidna Heavenly Sector."
A simple distortion occurred.
Between the Rainbowlight Ship and its target location appeared a long, unnatural band of light.
Twisted distortions flooded the area.
Any biological brain trying to process the phenomenon would suffer overload.
If someone could observe it directly—
They would see two completely different realities occupying the same strip of space.
Both equally real.
Then—
The phenomenon disappeared.
Torn space could eventually close.
But erased space could never be restored.
Forcing it closed would cause intense folds and distortions.
Those distortions would cascade like dominoes—
Until they tore open void-like cosmic abysses.
Looking at the abnormal readings on the star map—
Lin Yi shook his head helplessly.
The casualties caused by this phenomenon likely exceeded the lifetime achievements of most Lord Ravagers.
And this disaster—
This mix of natural catastrophe and human action—
Was not yet finished.
The abnormal spatial shift occurred.
But instead of arriving at the star wall—
They entered the Path Interstice.
The Aeon of Destruction—
Nanook—
looked directly at Lin Yi.
But Nanook said nothing.
Did nothing.
Nanook merely glanced once—
And then disappeared.
Lin Yi left the Path Interstice.
Nanook neither praised the destruction Lin Yi had caused—
Nor attempted to destroy him.
Nor granted any blessing.
It was as if the Aeon had merely stopped by to take a look.
After exiting the Path Interstice—
They finally arrived at the true destination.
Time was limited.
Lin Yi had no chance to dwell on the encounter.
The maneuver had worked.
They had successfully widened the distance between themselves and the Elation-modified Hunt Arrow.
They had gained precious experimental time.
Using that time—
Lin Yi and Zhuixing conducted numerous targeted tests.
Recording extremely valuable data.
Finally—
Lin Yi said:
"Now for the final experiment."
"The climax."
"Counter-impact."
"We will attempt to destroy the arrow."
"Zhuixing."
"You should return now."
"You can't help with this part."
"Be obedient."
"I'll be fine."
"Go organize the data."
"Trust me."
"When have I ever lied to you?"
Zhuixing nodded.
She raised a small pistol.
And pointed it at her temple.
"Teacher."
"You have lied to me."
"Seven times."
"This time…"
"Please don't lie."
She smiled.
Gunshot.
Blood splattered everywhere.
The IPC employees aboard the ship—
Who had originally boarded simply to see Lin Yi off—
were completely stunned.
What had started as a cheerful farewell suddenly turned into news of a cosmic arrow of destruction.
Then Lin Yi's brilliant maneuvers rekindled their hope.
And now—
His student had just committed suicide.
Did that mean…
There was no hope?
Was this a signal that everyone should simply choose their own way to die?
Lin Yi didn't even glance at Zhuixing's body.
"Well then…"
"Perhaps this is the only opportunity in my life to confront a god."
"Phase Expansion."
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