279: Successfully breached! But the defenses of the Genesis Engine are unimaginable!

Light.

Boundless, pure white light, without a single trace of impurity.

The moment Lu Chen stepped through the light gate, he felt as if he had passed through a layer of viscous mercury. There was no sense of weightlessness, no dizziness; even the physical sensation of his body vanished instantly.

He lowered his head, wanting to look at his hands, but found that he had no "hands" at all.

In this projection of Six-Dimensional Space, composed of pure logic and data, physical form was an extremely low-level and cumbersome existence. He was currently just a mass of consciousness, a thought wave wrapped in the golden radiance of the "Tinder."

"Is this the interior of the genesis engine?"

Lu Chen's thoughts fluctuated in the void.

The surroundings were not empty; instead, they were filled with various geometric shapes that defied human description. They were constantly transforming, folding, and reorganizing, with every change containing a massive amount of information sufficient to deduce the birth and death of a galaxy.

If an ordinary person came here, they would likely be fried into an idiot within a millisecond because their brain couldn't process such a terrifying information flow. But Lu Chen was different; his brain development had reached an astonishing 35%, and with heavenly craft's full-power assistance, he barely managed to maintain his "self" form in this bizarre world of light.

"heavenly craft, scan the environment."

Lu Chen instinctively gave the command.

However, this time, the familiar clear female voice did not respond.

A deathly silence.

Lu Chen's heart sank. Was even heavenly craft, the super AI born from the world of data, completely isolated here?

"It seems I can only rely on myself."

Lu Chen did not panic—or rather, panic was meaningless in a world where even "emotions" were objectified as data. He controlled his consciousness entity, swimming toward the deepest part of this ocean of light—the place radiating primitive fluctuations.

That was the core.

However, just as he had "moved" less than a micrometer (on a conceptual level), an anomaly suddenly occurred!

"Buzz—"

The originally calm and peaceful white space suddenly trembled.

Immediately afterward, the surrounding geometric shapes, which represented the universe's underlying logic, suddenly stopped transforming. Like countless indifferent eyes, they simultaneously turned and fiercely "stared" at Lu Chen, the intruder!

An unprecedented terrifying pressure, enough to freeze the soul, descended instantly!

That was neither killing intent nor rage.

It was a rejection.

Just like the human body's immune system detecting a virus, or a grain of sand falling into a precise gear train.

The internal rules of the entire "genesis engine" suddenly came alive at this moment and launched a full-scale "antivirus scan" against Lu Chen!

[Unknown low-dimensional logical entity detected invading.]

[Judgment: Contaminant source.]

[Execution: Formatting.]

A vast, icy, and completely emotionless wave of thought fluctuation slammed directly into the depths of Lu Chen's consciousness.

The next second, Lu Chen felt himself "disappearing."

Not physical annihilation, but conceptual erasure.

His memories concerning the name "Lu Chen" began to blur. All his emotional connections regarding Earth, humanity, and Su Qingying were being forcibly severed, cleansed, and reset by an overwhelmingly tyrannical force!

"This... this is the defense mechanism of the Six-Dimensional Civilization?!"

Lu Chen's consciousness trembled violently. His proud "causality interference device" was completely ineffective here! Because every rule here was Causality itself!

You want to modify Causality?

Sorry, this is the source of Causality. Whom do you modify?

"Damn it, I was careless!"

Lu Chen felt his thoughts becoming increasingly sluggish, like a computer undergoing a forced system reinstallation, watching the progress bar near its end.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the expedition in the real world.

"Beep—Beep—Beep—!!!"

The piercing red alarm instantly stretched everyone's nerves to the limit.

"What's going on?! What happened?!"

Zhan Lang rushed to the console, staring at the frantically spiking red data stream, dripping with sweat. "Commander Lu went inside, didn't he? Why are his vital signs suddenly plummeting off a cliff?!"

"It's mental collapse!"

Su Qingying stared intently at the brainwave map on the screen. The curve was rapidly flattening at an alarming speed. Her face was as pale as paper, and she had bitten her lip until it bled.

"His consciousness is being 'devoured'! No, it's being 'assimilated'!"

"The engine's internal defense mechanism has activated! It wants to turn Lu Chen into a part of itself, into a piece of code without self-awareness!"

"What do we do?! Can we pull him out?!" Zhan Lang roared.

"We can't pull him out."

Su Qingying shook her head in despair, tears streaming down her face. "Once the Soul Link is established, unless he wakes up himself or dies completely, external forces cannot interfere! We... we can only watch!"

An atmosphere of despair instantly enveloped the entire fleet.

They had just defeated the Star Devourer, and had just thought they had welcomed the dawn of victory. But in the blink of an eye, was their spiritual pillar, that omnipotent young god, about to fall on this smokeless battlefield?

"No! I don't believe it!"

Su Qingying fiercely wiped away her tears, a trace of madness flashing in her eyes.

She rushed to the Communication Console and opened the full-spectrum broadcast—a special frequency directly connected to Lu Chen's "Tinder" system.

"Lu Chen! Can you hear me?!"

"You said you'd come back! You said you'd take me to Mars to watch the sunrise! You liar!"

"If you dare to die in there, I'll... I'll really detonate the expedition, so you won't find peace even as a ghost!!!"

The mournful cry penetrated the dimensional barrier, transforming into a persistent ripple of conviction that rushed toward the distant white vortex.

High-Dimensional Space, Sea of Data.

Lu Chen's consciousness was already on the verge of dissipation.

He felt like a drop of water about to merge into this vast ocean; like a speck of dust about to return to the tranquility of nothingness.

That feeling was actually very comfortable.

No pain, no responsibility, no heavy burden of civilization. Just letting go would bring eternal peace.

"Sleep... just sleep like this..."

A tempting voice sounded in the depths of his heart.

However, just as he was about to completely surrender resistance.

A familiar, tearful cry, full of anger and attachment, suddenly struck his Sea of Consciousness like a bolt of lightning piercing the darkness!

[If you dare to die in there, I'll detonate the expedition.]

"Qingying?"

Lu Chen's Tinder of consciousness, which was about to be extinguished, suddenly pulsed fiercely.

Immediately following, an anger and unwillingness belonging to a "human" erupted from the depths of his soul!

"To hell with your peace!"

"My wife is still waiting for me! I still have to lead humanity to conquer the starry sea! I haven't lived enough yet!"

"I am Lu Chen! I am the Navigator of Earth! I am the Master of this starry sky!"

"Get lost!!!"

Boom—!!!

A golden Psychic Storm, filled with ferocious will, erupted centered on Lu Chen's remaining consciousness!

That was the power of the "Tinder"!

That was the highest authority left by the Six-Dimensional Civilization, the only thing capable of countering this defense mechanism!

"You are just a program! A dead object!"

Lu Chen's consciousness entity reformed. He roared in the white void, golden flames burning around him, like an unyielding God of War!

"And I am life! I am the variable with infinite possibilities!"

"You want to format me? Then let's see who breaks whom first!"

Lu Chen suddenly stretched out his "hands," no longer defending passively but attacking actively! His system-enhanced brain, combined with the "Tinder" authority, transformed into billions of data tentacles that fiercely stabbed into the surrounding geometric shapes representing "rules"!

Corrode!

Tamper!

Assimilate!

"If you won't recognize me as your master, then I'll beat you until you do!"

"Causality Weapon, full power activation!"

"Set Outcome: I am your sole authorized user!"

"Kneel before me!!!"

This was a desperate struggle between will and rules.

One was a Cosmic-Level Engine with infinite computing power, representing absolute order.

The other was a human youth with infinite potential, representing the miracle of life.

On that unseen High-Dimensional Battlefield, golden light and white light violently collided, tangled, and devoured each other!

The space-time structure at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy visibly trembled due to this fierce microscopic conflict!

Who knows how much time passed.

Perhaps a second, perhaps an epoch.

The overwhelming white light finally dimmed.

Replacing it was a submissive, docile, stream-like golden ripple.

[Authority confirmed.]

[Welcome back, inheritor.]

The cold voice sounded again, but this time, it was no longer a lofty Judge but a humble servant.

In the real world.

Lu Chen, whose eyes had been tightly closed, suddenly opened them!

Two beams of substantial golden light shot out from his pupils, instantly illuminating the entire dim bridge!

"Hoo—"

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. He was drenched, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

"Lu Chen!"

Su Qingying disregarded everything else, screaming as she threw herself into his arms, crying like a baby.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Lu Chen gently patted her back, feeling the real warmth in his embrace, a weak but immensely proud smile playing on his lips.

He raised his head, looked at his Comrades around him, whose faces were filled with concern and tension, slowly raised his right hand, and snapped his fingers crisply.

"I have some good news for everyone."

"Although this big guy has a bit of a stubborn temper, fortunately..."

"I've tamed it."

As his voice fell silent.

Outside the window, the black hole that was originally dead silent—the "genesis engine" that once radiated destructive aura...

Suddenly lit up.

It was no longer the terrifying dark purple, nor the violent pale white.

Instead, it was a warm, soft color, full of vitality and hope—

Azure blue radiance!

It was like an incredibly gigantic sapphire, embedded in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, announcing the birth of a New King to the entire universe!

"Starting today,"

Lu Chen looked at the beautiful blue light and said softly.

"The Milky Way Galaxy..."

"...belongs to Lu."