307: Chapter 307 The Key Returns to Its Place

All exhaustion, pain, doubt, and sorrow were temporarily suppressed at this moment, transforming into an absolute, focused, and refined will, as if about to ignite the final fuse.

He did not look at the remains again.

It was not that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

He feared that if he stopped, those suppressed emotions would burst forth, shaking the absolute calmness and focus he had to maintain at this moment.

He could only use his peripheral vision to deeply imprint that peaceful posture into the depths of his Soul.

Then, he concentrated all his mind on his fingertips and the "the key" mark on his chest, which was resonating strongly with the crystal.

Slowly, he touched his fingertip to the floating, warm, polyhedral crystal.

"Hum..."

A clear, long, resonant, bell-like sound—as if coming from the depths of the Soul or the very beginning of the Universe—suddenly rippled out from the point where his fingertip touched the crystal!

Visible ripples of pale golden Order energy, like a pebble dropped into a calm lake, spread out from the crystal across the entire circular room!

Immediately after, the polyhedral crystal erupted with a pale golden light that was thousands of times brighter than before—pure, warm, yet not blinding!

The light, like a living tide, instantly filled the entire room, dyeing every corner and every speck of dust with a layer of sacred, pale golden radiance!

Under this light, the remains sitting against the wall seemed to be draped in a solemn, golden cloak, and the long-dimmed mark on its chest also seemed to flicker extremely faintly, as if in response.

And the "the key" mark on Ling Ye's chest, like an ignited star, erupted with an unprecedented, intense, yet warm and pure pale golden light, just like the crystal's radiance!

The two lights intersected, underwent Fusion, and resonated in the air, as if they were originally one!

Countless streams of information, like thawed, surging rivers, poured mightily into his consciousness along the fingertip Ling Ye used to touch the crystal!

This information was no longer the fragmented, blurry snippets from before, but a complete, orderly, and clear holographic historical record and operation guide, as if carefully compiled, detailing the Seventh Star Gate from its construction, operation, and the outbreak of contamination to the activation of the final emergency measures!

He "saw" the original, magnificent blueprint and construction process of the Seventh Star Gate, one of the greatest projects in collaboration between the Court of World Purification and the Monument Guardian, aimed at connecting distant Star Domains to promote exchange and exploration.

He "saw" the truth behind the abyssal eye contamination—it did not come from outside the Star Gate, but was a leakage of pure, highly infectious, and assimilative primordial Chaos energy of the Universe, accidentally "awakened" or "released" when the Star Gate connected to some unknown, extremely ancient, and chaotic cosmic ruin or dimension!

This energy, like a living, malicious cancer, rapidly eroded, twisted, and assimilated the Star Gate itself, and began to spread to the surrounding space-time.

He "saw" his parents—Ling and Wei—as the chief engineers of the Seventh Star Gate maintenance sequence, how they immediately activated emergency protocols after the contamination broke out, attempting to isolate and conduct Purification on the contamination, but ultimately discovering that with the technology and power of that time, it was impossible to reverse the contamination, and they could only... delay it.

He "saw" the final decision they made—utilizing the highest authority of the Dual Keys System, and their own status as "the key" holders and chief maintainers, to initiate the "Star Gate Silence Protocol."

This protocol did not close or repair the Star Gate, but rather, with "the key" mark as the core and their own lives and Souls as the price, forcibly "folded" and "Sealed" the Star Gate's core area (including the source of contamination) on a spatial level, temporarily isolating it from the main material plane and setting a final "Anchor-α" (the room and console they were currently in) that could only be reopened at a specific time by a specific "the key" (the mark inherited by Ling Ye).

And they themselves, having completed this final protocol, exhausted their power and their lives withered away.

One of them (judging by the posture of the remains, likely his mother, Wei) remained in this final control room as the last Guardian, waiting for... the return of "the key," which perhaps would never come.

As for his father, Ling, the information did not explicitly mention his final whereabouts.

But vague information hinted that, at the final moment of the protocol's initiation, he might have taken a portion of the key data or energy used for the final "repair" or "restart" of the Star Gate and entered the "folded" and contaminated core area, attempting to... find a theoretically possible glimmer of hope to completely resolve the contamination.

And now, Ling Ye had returned.

With "the key" mark, he stood before this final control console.

In the crystal, besides this complete historical record, it also contained subsequent steps for initiating the "Star Gate Silence Protocol"—or rather, several different final response plans that could be chosen once "the key" returned:

Plan One: Maintain the Seal.

Using "the key" mark as an energy source, continuously provide energy support for the existing "folded Seal" to maintain the status quo.

The cost is that "the key" mark will be permanently locked to this console, and Ling Ye will lose "the key" mark, becoming an ordinary person.

How long the Seal can be maintained depends on the remaining energy of "the key" mark, but eventually, the Seal will still collapse due to energy depletion, and the contamination will break out again.

Plan Two: Limited Purification.

Guide "the key" mark and the final Order energy left by his parents stored in the crystal to conduct a "limited" Order Purification strike on the source of contamination inside the Seal, weakening its activity and extending the life of the Seal.

However, this move might stimulate the source of contamination, triggering an unpredictable counterattack, and would consume the last energy left by his parents, making the Seal more fragile.

Plan Three: Final Protocol—the 'Return to Void' program.

This was the final, forbidden plan in the information stream, marked as "Highest Risk / Highest Reward / Requires Complete 'Dual Keys' Resonance."

Its content was: utilize "the key" mark and the "Anchor-α" console to reversely activate the remaining, final space jump function of the "Star Gate," performing an irreversible, directional space teleportation on the entire contaminated Star Gate core area (including the space inside the "folded Seal"), along with the source of contamination—tossing it into a pre-set, distant, desolate, lifeless Star Domain, into a black hole or a star, to end the contamination through complete physical destruction.

But the prerequisite for executing this plan was the need for complete "Dual Keys" resonance—that is, "the key" mark and a complete, stable, non-contaminated "interface" must be present at the same time, and both must inject energy simultaneously to initiate this final space jump protocol.

Old Shi... its "interface" was damaged and had been eroded by contamination.

Although it had undergone multiple repairs and Purification, it was clearly still far from the standard of being "complete, stable, and non-contaminated."

Ling Ye's heart sank.

Slowly, he moved his hand away from the crystal.

The crystal remained floating, emitting a warm, pale golden light, as if waiting for his final decision.

He turned around, his gaze passing through the open metal door, looking downstairs in the direction of Old Shi, who he had temporarily placed in a corner of the ruins, unconscious.

"Dual Keys" resonance... a complete "interface"...

He lowered his head, looking at the "the key" mark on his chest, which was still emitting a warm light.

Then, he raised his head again, his gaze becoming like the coldest, tempered blade, determined to bet everything.

He walked to the doorway, facing the dark ruins downstairs, and with all his might, shouted the first sentence since entering this building:

"Old Shi!!! Wake up!!! I need you!!!"