356: Chapter 357 When the crack grew, someone was watching.

On the one hundred and forty-third day of the fissure plan, New Homeland welcomed its first true "autumn harvest"—not an autumn harvest from the farmland, but the first batch of "understandable" images sent back by that echo telescope in the technology center.

Senior Brother Zhang was so excited he almost dropped his glasses.

On the screen, the energy map, which was originally just flowing lines and light spots, showed a "shape" for the first time—not a geometric shape, but a blurry, dream-like outline. In the direction of the Central Law Hall, one could vaguely see a giant tower suspended in the Void Realm. The tower's body was covered with flowing runes, with countless tiny light spots interspersed between the runes; those were Heavenly Court units performing missions.

In the direction of the Pool of Reincarnation was a churning, dark-golden sea of clouds. In the center of the sea of clouds was a huge vortex, and new light spots were constantly being "born" in the vortex, like manufactured Souls.

The Total Library of Heavenly Mandate Annotations was the most eerie—it was a boundless "wall" with countless grids arranged densely upon it. Each grid contained a ray of light. The light squirmed, struggled, and eventually extinguished within the grid, and then a new light was stuffed in.

“This is... a living Hell,” Mu Wanqing's voice trembled. “Those lights are the consciousnesses of Cultivators marked as 'Children of Destiny,' the last remnants before being harvested.”

No one in the technology center spoke.

This was the first time they truly "saw" the internal operations of the Creation Heavenly Court. It was colder, more precise, and more... inhuman than any imagination.

Wen Youyi stared at those grids, suddenly remembering the Geniuses marked by the destiny system back in the Ranch World. They lived glorious lives, the center of attention, thinking they were the favored darlings of heaven. Only at the final moment would they discover they were just a ray of light about to be extinguished, stuffed into a grid.

“Has Little Girl been going to the technology center lately?” he suddenly asked.

“Yes,” Aila answered. “Every afternoon, she holds Bright Fur Ball and sits in the corner folding leaves. Sometimes as she folds, those leaf telescopes glow, and she giggles at the light.”

Wen Youyi was silent for a few seconds and said, “Let her continue. Let her see whatever she wants to see and go wherever she wants to go. No one is to stop her.”

No one objected.

When the fissure grew to the one hundred and fifty-sixth day, an accident occurred—not an accident in New Homeland, but an "anomaly" three thousand light-years away captured by the echo telescope.

That day, Senior Brother Zhang was eating dinner (this time at a normal hour; the cafeteria lady had gratifiedly given him two extra dishes) when Silver Thorn's emergency alarm echoed through the entire technology center.

On the screen, in the direction of the Central Law Hall, the fissure marked as "A-7" suddenly contracted violently and then, as if forced open by some power, erupted with blinding golden light.

“Someone inside the Heavenly Court is attacking that fissure!” Silver Thorn's voice carried a hint of urgency for the first time. “It's not our people! It's... a third party!”

Wen Youyi stared at the screen, his pupils slightly contracting.

The golden light lasted for about three seconds and then dissipated. The fissure did not disappear, but a circle of charred marks was clearly visible around the edges—like a cauterized wound.

“It's a purging operation,” Lin Jiang said, standing at the door at some point, her face pale. “The Heavenly Court discovered the existence of those fissures and is using 'Law-grade purification' to try and erase them.”

“Did they succeed?” Senior Brother Zhang asked.

“Not completely, but...” Lin Jiang paused. “They've been 'marked.' Next, the Heavenly Court will track these marks to find the source of all the fissures.”

A deathly silence filled the technology center.

The source of the fissures was New Homeland.

It was the echo telescope.

It was that Little Girl who hid in the corner of the technology center every day folding leaves.

Wen Youyi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his gaze had calmed down.

“Silver Thorn, can you calculate the speed at which the Heavenly Court will locate the source?”

“Calculating...” Silver Thorn's “eyes” flickered wildly. “Fastest possible path: In one hundred and ninety-seven days, the Heavenly Court's reconnaissance fleet will arrive within 0.5 light-minutes of New Homeland's periphery. Slowest: Three hundred and four days.”

The three-year countdown had two hundred and one days left.

In the slowest case, they still had three hundred and four days.

In the fastest case, only one hundred and ninety-seven days remained.

“The gap is too large,” Senior Brother Zhang's voice was dry. “In one hundred and ninety-seven days, our defense system will be at most 70% complete.”

Wen Youyi didn't speak. He was thinking about something else.

Who was that third party attacking the fissure?

Why attack? Was it to help the Heavenly Court eliminate a hidden danger, or... did they have another purpose?

Three days later, the answer was revealed in an unexpected way.

The echo telescope captured a segment of "encrypted information" from the heavenly dao law layer—it wasn't in the Heavenly Court's communication format, nor was it the Star People's legacy protocol, or any known civilization's signal pattern. It was like a pile of scrambled puzzle pieces scattered in the gaps of the energy network, impossible to find without careful observation.

It took Silver Thorn two whole days to piece together the first complete message:

[Watching by the fissure appearing to help the purgers, but actually marking coordinates. They have discovered New Homeland. Evacuate or engage, decide quickly.]

At the signature was a symbol never seen before—a closed eye with a thin crack on the eyelid.

“This is...” Lin Jiang stared at the symbol, her body trembling slightly.

“You recognize it?” Wen Youyi asked.

“My mentor's notes mentioned it,” Lin Jiang's voice was tight. “Inside the Creation Heavenly Court, there is an underground organization. Its members are 'Awakened Ones' who have come to doubt the harvesting system. They have no names, no headquarters, and no contact information; they only use this 'Cracked Eye' symbol to pass messages at the most dangerous times. My mentor back then... might have been one of them.”

The technology center fell silent again.

The third party attacking the fissure was not the Heavenly Court's purge force, but the Awakened Ones within the Heavenly Court.

They attacked intentionally to give the fissure a fake "processed" mark, letting the Heavenly Court believe the crisis was resolved and stop investigating further.

But at the same time, they also exposed the true source of the fissure—New Homeland.

So they sent this message: We have done our best to delay, but your position may have been exposed. Decide quickly: evacuate or engage.

Wen Youyi stared at that Cracked Eye symbol, silent for a long time.

Then he asked, “Can we reply?”

Silver Thorn shook its head. “Impossible. Their communication protocol is one-way, sending only and not receiving. This is to prevent being tracked.”

“Then how do they know if we received it?”

“They don't. They might... never know.”

Wen Youyi fell silent again.

How long had these nameless people been lurking inside the Heavenly Court? Hundreds of years? Thousands of years? Risking discovery to pass this message, and then never knowing if the message arrived, nor how the recipient would choose.

This was a one-way, unrequited trust.

He stood up and walked to the window. Outside, the sunlight was bright, and Little Girl was running on the grass holding Bright Fur Ball, chasing a particularly large glowing butterfly.

Evacuate? Or engage?

Evacuating could save the current people, but it meant abandoning this land cultivated for three years, abandoning those growing fissures, and abandoning the information those nameless ones had traded their lives for.

Engaging meant gambling the lives of a hundred thousand people on less than two hundred days of preparation time, gambling on A-70% complete defense system, and gambling that those fissures could truly "erupt" before the Heavenly Court's army arrived.

He remembered his feelings when he first decided to resist in the Ranch World. At that time, he hadn't thought about anything, just felt: If it continues like this, I'd rather be dead.

Now that he thought more, it was harder to decide.

“Wen Youyi.” Aila's voice came from behind him.

He turned around. Aila was standing at the entrance of the technology center, flanked by Zhao Iron Pillar, Senior Brother Zhang, Mu Wanqing, Wang Wu, Yun Zhi, Luo Chen, Lin Jiang, Blood Fiend Old Demon, Sword Maniac, Mountain Roar Lord... and a crowd of council representatives and commoners who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

Aila said, “The emergency council meeting is ready. But before that, someone wants to say a few words to you first.”

The crowd parted, and a person stepped out.

It was Madam Liu. The Mortal mother who had been holding an infant and was the last to rush into the teleportation gate back then.

She walked up to Wen Youyi, took a deep breath, and said:

“Council Speaker Wen, I don't understand anything about fissures, or the Heavenly Court, or some hundreds of days of preparation time. I only know one thing.”

“Three years ago, when I rushed into that teleportation gate holding Little Girl, I thought I was just changing places to continue running for my life. I didn't expect to escape to a place where I could farm, build a house, and let my child go to school. Even more, I didn't expect that I could vote in the council, earn contribution points for farming well, and... be treated as a 'human being.'”

She paused, her eyes reddening slightly:

“So I've come to speak for those commoners who can't speak for themselves—we aren't leaving.”

“These three years, we haven't been hiding behind you waiting to die. We've farmed the land, built houses, raised chickens and ducks, and had children. This place is already our home.”

“Whoever comes to snatch it, we will fight them with our lives.”

After she finished, she took a step back.

In the crowd, someone echoed, “Right! We aren't leaving!”

“Let's fight!”

“Let those bastards taste our New Homeland's hedgehog set meal!”

Wen Youyi looked at each face. There were Cultivators, Mortals, Yao Race, elderly, young people, and children.

He suddenly smiled.

It wasn't a bitter smile, but the kind of smile peculiar to a programmer who finds that although there are many bugs, they can all be fixed—a smile with a bit of madness.

“Good,” he said.

“Then we engage.”

On the echo telescope's screen, that Cracked Eye symbol was still quietly flickering.

No one knew if those Awakened Ones inside the Heavenly Court would receive a reply.

But at least, on this nameless planet three thousand light-years away from the Creation Heavenly Court, a group of people decided—

To live on in the way they chose for themselves.

(End of Chapter)