101: Chapter 101 The Calamity of the Rift

The moment the star pierced through Earth's atmosphere, the entire ship fell into a nearly suffocating silence.

There were no cheers for surviving the ordeal, no sense of relief at returning home; even the hum of the engines was suppressed to the lowest level, like a sigh choked off in one's throat.

Outside the porthole, that blue planet—once so familiar that it couldn't be more so—now slammed into everyone's view in a hideous, twisted, yet eerily static posture.

Lin Fan sat in the co-pilot's seat, his fingertips gripping the ship's alloy armrest so tightly that his knuckles turned deathly pale, and he deliberately kept his breathing extremely light and slow.

He dared not take a deep breath, nor make any unnecessary sound, as if the slightest movement would cause the last shred of self-deceiving hope deep in his heart to shatter into dust at this very moment.

He had imagined returning home on countless weary nights.

He imagined pushing open the hatch to smell the familiar air, seeing the familiar city skyline, and stepping onto solid, secure ground; he imagined Kate leaning on his shoulder, smiling and saying they were finally back; he imagined having a proper meal of Earth food with AKai and Franklin, without having to face the dangers and unknowns of the void again.

But he had never imagined that the return journey he had given everything to achieve would be an apocalypse that had already begun.

Kate sat quietly beside him, like a fragile glass statue.

She still had that gentle, clean appearance, her long hair hanging softly in front of her shoulders, her skin fair to the point of being nearly transparent, but those eyes that once held starlight and warmth, that would gently crinkle while looking at him with focus, were now excessively calm.

Deep within her pupils, a faint layer of galactic silver light flickered from time to time; it was not the warmth of life, nor human emotion, but the cold light of universal laws flowing uncontrollably within her.

Since returning from the battle in the Domain of the Gods, Kate had changed.

It was not estrangement, not distance, not a lack of love, but a more terrifying state—loss of control.

The rule fragments left behind by the light orb prototype, the core universal energy forcibly injected by Lin Fan, and her own data-life foundation were all wildly intertwining, colliding, and merging within her consciousness and body in a way that no one could understand or control.

She was still Kate, yet she was no longer just Kate.

She was slowly, irreversibly, becoming the universe itself.

"Lin Fan."

Kate suddenly spoke, her voice very light, as light as a feather landing on the water, yet it made Lin Fan's entire being tense up instantly, his heart shrinking sharply.

He turned his head almost immediately, the irrepressible panic in his eyes nearly overflowing: "I'm here, I'm right here."

She did not look at him, her gaze piercing straight through the porthole, landing on the twisted and fractured sky below; her long eyelashes fluttered gently, as if reading some kind of cosmic information that humans were fundamentally incapable of perceiving.

Her tone had no ripples, no worry, no fear, like an extremely precise cosmic observation instrument, cold and objective.

"Space... is fracturing."

"The Dimensional Wall is thinning, entropy is rising abnormally, and this planet's stable structure... is about to shatter."

Lin Fan's heart sank to the bottom at this moment.

The thing he feared most, the thing he least wanted to face, had happened after all.

In the battle of the Domain of the Gods, they had used the most extreme emotions to forcibly rewrite the universe's ultimate rules, saving Kate and temporarily stabilizing the universe's balance, but in doing so, they had invisibly torn apart the most fundamental stable structure of the dimensional foundation.

Those pitch-black Dimensional Rifts spreading wildly in the depths of the void had ultimately crossed the endless starry sky and chased them to Earth.

They had chased them to the home where they all lived, cared for, and had fought with their lives to protect.

"Hold on tight."

AKai's voice came from the pilot's seat, low and tense, having completely shed his usual slacker attitude and banter, replaced by a gravity and cold hardness never seen before.

His hands danced rapidly over the control console, the star's engines let out a low and powerful roar, and it forcibly lowered its flight altitude, diving toward the most severely affected area of the North American continent.

Franklin stood in the center of the bridge, his physical body made of silver mechanical sand slightly tense; this was the first time he had displayed such obvious caution since gaining a physical form.

He waved his hand gently, and countless data screens instantly unfolded in the void, densely covering his entire field of vision: real-time energy fluctuations on Earth, data on the damage to the dimensional structure, the scope of global disasters, life signal decay charts... all the most cruel and real information was presented before everyone without reservation.

"Los Angeles."

Franklin's voice was calm to the point of being cold, every word like an ice cube smashing onto the ground, "Coordinates 34°N, 118°W, the most severely affected area globally."

"The Dimensional Rift began expanding 72 hours ago and has currently swallowed more than half of the city center, with the engulfment area still steadily expanding at a rate of 0.7 square kilometers per hour."

On the data screens, the real-time footage was shocking.

The once bustling and noisy city of Los Angeles, where the lights never went out, had now turned into an absolute living hell.

The sky had been forcibly torn open with a huge, pitch-black gash, like a cold, wide-open single eye looking down condescendingly at the earth below.

Around the rift, space presented a static storm that defied all physical common sense—gales were frozen in mid-air, fragmented buildings hovered in chunks, and cars, streetlights, billboards, and fleeing civilians were all frozen in the final moment before destruction, as time and space here were completely chaotic, entangled, and collapsing.

The pitch-black energy of the rift, like thick and cold ink, continuously oozed slowly from the cracks; wherever it passed, all matter was silently swallowed, even light could not escape, leaving only absolute nothingness.

On the ground, countless survivors fled in panic, their crying, screaming, and desperate roars mixed together, yet they were fragmented and torn apart by the eerie spatial stillness around the rift, appearing exceptionally shrill and miserable.

"That is not a naturally formed Dimensional Rift."

Lin Fan stood up abruptly, the galaxy in his pupils suddenly brightening, the power of cosmic transformation uncontrollably manifesting fine golden patterns on the surface of his body, his entire aura instantly becoming sharp and powerful, "It's artificial... something is actively and consciously tearing apart Earth's Dimensional Wall."

"Anti-Emotion Alliance."

Franklin enunciated every word, slowly spitting out the name that instantly covered everyone's hearts with a layer of ice, "I have detected signal characteristics at the base of the rift energy that are completely identical to the previous void broadcasts—absolute rationality, no emotional fluctuations, highly unified erasure commands; there is no mistake."

AKai piloted the ship, skimming at a low altitude along the edge of the frozen storm, looking at the devastated city below, his voice as cold as ice: "They dare not show themselves to confront us directly, so they use this insidious method to slowly tear the dimensions, drain Earth's blood, and drag us all into the void to die."

The star did not pause for even a second, slowly landing at the temporary joint rescue base on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The hydraulic sound of the hatch slowly rang out; the moment it opened, air mixed with smoke, dust, the smell of blood, and despair rushed in, pressing heavily on everyone's chests.

On the ground, dense rescue tents stretched as far as the eye could see; wounded soldiers, refugees, medical personnel, and various rescue teams ran back and forth, while crying, shouting, emergency sirens, and the strange sounds of spatial distortion wove into a huge and heavy net that made it almost impossible to breathe.

What brought Lin Fan a slight sense of relief was that there were not only humans among the rescue teams on this ruin.

Translucent figures made of pure light particles were darting rapidly through the ruins.

They had no fixed form, yet they could easily lift collapsed buildings, heal injured civilians, and stabilize the spatial fragments about to collapse.

It was the Light Sphere Race—those data lives that had once emerged from the virtual world and had conflicts and confrontations with humans, but now they had set aside all barriers and had become one of the most solid and reliable lines of defense protecting Earth.

"The Human and Light Sphere Race joint rescue team has been conducting non-stop rescue operations for three days and three nights."

A crisp and incredibly familiar voice came slowly from the front of the crowd.

Little Kate stepped out from the crowd, wearing a pure white Guardian dress, her figure slender yet upright, her face exactly the same as Kate's, but carrying the purity, firmness, and calmness unique to a data aggregate.

Behind her followed the Great Elder of the Light Sphere Race and the highest commander of the human military; although she was the youngest of them all, she had become the most trusted and stable bridge connecting humans and the Light Sphere Race.

"Sister."

Little Kate looked up at Kate, who was slowly walking off the ship, a flash of undisguisable heartache and worry instantly passing through her clear eyes, "You're back."

Kate looked at the young girl in front of her whose appearance was identical to her own, her eyes fluctuating slightly, and the galaxy in her pupils flickered gently.

She subconsciously reached out, wanting to touch Little Kate's cheek, but her movement carried a hint of imperceptible stiffness, as if she were struggling to adapt to this body that was constantly becoming cosmic and moving further and further away from being "human."

"I... am back."

She said softly, her tone still flat and waveless, yet hidden in the subtle tail of her voice was a trace of extremely faint, extremely gentle emotion.

Little Kate immediately reached out, gripping Kate's slightly cool hand tightly, then turned to look at Lin Fan, all the softness on her face instantly fading, leaving only extreme gravity and seriousness: "Brother Lin Fan, the situation is even worse than our worst-case scenario."

"Seventeen simultaneously expanding spatial rifts have already appeared globally; Los Angeles is just one of them, and all the rifts are devouring the surface at the same speed."

She took a deep breath and raised her hand to unfold a virtual projection, which displayed the full-parameter simulation results run by the virtual world engine; every line of data was filled with despair.

"Thirty days."

Little Kate's voice was light, yet it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, smashing hard into everyone's hearts, "In thirty days, Earth's Dimensional Wall will completely shatter, and the entire planet will be forcibly pulled into the void turbulence, completely disappearing from this universe, not leaving even a trace."

As these words fell, all the chaotic sounds on the scene instantly fell silent at this moment.

Thirty days.

They only had a short thirty days.

Thirty days to repair all the Dimensional Rifts, stop the Anti-Emotion Alliance's conspiracy, stabilize Kate's out-of-control cosmic transformation process, and save this planet that carried all their memories and attachments.

Lin Fan slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, all the panic and uneasiness in his eyes had faded, leaving only a desperate determination and resolution.

"I will not let Earth be destroyed here."

"I will not let anyone lose their home again."

At this very moment—

Boom—!!!

A deafening spatial explosion suddenly erupted from the center of the rift in downtown Los Angeles!

The originally stabilizing pitch-black rift suddenly expanded wildly, and a slender, silver-gray aircraft with extremely cold lines, like a dagger drawn by the Grim Reaper, charged fiercely out from the depths of the rift, carrying a destructive aura, and plummeted straight toward the rescue base!

The aircraft was constructed entirely of ultra-high-density mechanical metal, with no windows, no markings, its surface engraved with cold and eerie logical runes, and its body exuding an oppressive sense of emotionlessness, absolute rationality, and existence solely for erasure.

"It's an advance reconnaissance aircraft!"

Franklin reacted instantly, raising his hand to unfold layers of data barriers, "The Anti-Emotion Alliance's advance force, they have found us!"

"Intercept!"

Lin Fan let out a low shout, his body instantly turning into a brilliant golden stream of light, his cosmic power erupting with full force without reservation; he raised his hand to condense a beam of energy that pierced through heaven and earth, and with an earth-shattering momentum, he smashed it fiercely toward the falling reconnaissance aircraft!

Boom—!!!

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

A violent explosion boomed as the reconnaissance plane took a direct hit. It tumbled out of control in the air several times before finally crashing heavily into the open ground outside the rescue base, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel. The fuselage was severely deformed and twisted, the engine had completely stalled, and all power and attack systems were fully paralyzed.

Lin Fan, AKai, and Franklin immediately rushed forward, surrounding the crashed reconnaissance plane in a tight defensive formation.

Little Kate held Kate's hand and followed closely behind, not daring to relax for a moment.

Under everyone's tense gaze, the hatch of the reconnaissance plane slowly opened amidst a series of mechanical stutters.

Walking out from inside was a bizarre lifeform covered in metallic patterns, half-human and half-mechanical.

It had a basic human silhouette but possessed no skin or flesh. Its eyes were two bone-chilling red laser beams, and its entire body emitted a familiar and disgusting energy fluctuation—it was a remnant of the Mechanical Divine Kingdom they had previously destroyed!

"Seventh Cleaning Unit, subordinate to the Eye of the Observer."

The mechanical lifeform spoke. Its voice was cold, stiff, and devoid of inflection; there was no fear, no anger, only absolute rationality and the drive to execute. "Ordered to cooperate with the Anti-Emotion Alliance to purge the emotional pollution source—Designation S-739, Planet Name: Earth."

AKai's eyes instantly turned cold. He took a step forward, his tone carrying undisguised killing intent: "The Mechanical Divine Kingdom has been completely destroyed by us. You dregs actually dare to appear before us again?"

"The Mechanical Civilization has merely entered a dormant state; it has not perished."

The mechanical remnant spoke indifferently. Its red eyes scanned everyone present before finally locking onto Kate, instantly erupting with a strong and greedy energy fluctuation. "light orb prototype core detected... target confirmed, recovery priority: maximum. The Anti-Emotion Alliance has promised that recovering the light orb core will assist the Mechanical Civilization in restarting the Eye of the Observer's main brain."

Lin Fan instantly stepped forward, firmly blocking Kate. His cosmic power spread out completely, a golden energy barrier protecting everyone behind him. His gaze was as sharp and cold as a blade: "As long as I'm here, none of you will touch a single hair on her head."

"Interferors shall be eliminated without exception."

The mechanical remnant showed no fear. It raised its hand and condensed a cold energy cannon, the muzzle locking onto Lin Fan. "Emotion is the cancer of the universe. Your resistance is logically meaningless and will only increase pointless attrition."

The great battle was on the verge of breaking out!

The air became incredibly thick under the extreme confrontation of power. Everyone's nerves were taut, prepared to face this sudden battle.

But at this critical juncture, a sudden change occurred!

Kate suddenly took a step forward, gently pulling her hand away from Little Kate, and walked in front of Lin Fan without saying a word.

In that instant, the aura about her completely changed.

She was no longer a gentle human girl, nor a fragile digital lifeform, but the walking laws of the universe itself.

Her pupils turned completely into a deep, boundless galaxy. There were no whites, no pupils, only the endless flickering of starlight, as if the entire void of the universe had been packed into her eyes—cold, vast, and irresistible.

She raised her hand. Without any gathering of strength or explosion of energy, she simply pointed a finger toward the distant rift.

Just a single finger.

In the next second, something that defied all cosmic common sense happened—

The main Los Angeles rift, which had been frantically expanding and devouring everything, actually began to shrink, heal, and close at a speed visible to the naked eye! The frozen storms began to flow again, the shattered space slowly repaired itself, and the pitch-black void energy dissipated bit by bit. The outlines of the city buildings that had been devoured actually reappeared!

The entire field fell into a dead silence.

Everyone stared at Kate in stunned silence. Even the mechanical remnant, which had been preparing to attack, froze in place, its red eye lamps flashing frantically as it fell into a complete logical stutter.

She... had actually repaired a Dimensional Rift out of thin air with just one hand?!

Lin Fan was also completely stunned. His heart pounded wildly, almost bursting through his chest.

He knew Kate had awakened cosmic power, but he had never imagined this power would be so great—great enough to rewrite the damaged rules of a dimension.

But this power beyond imagination brought him no peace of mind. Instead, a bone-chilling, almost suffocating panic welled up from the bottom of his heart.

Because—

After repairing the rift, Kate's body suddenly swayed. Her face turned deathly pale in an instant, and her eyes became hollow, confused, and fragmented, as if countless strange memory shards and rule-based information were frantically colliding, tearing, and crushing within her mind.

"Kate!"

Lin Fan immediately rushed up and caught her swaying body, holding her tightly in his arms without hesitation. For the first time, his voice carried an unmistakable tremor and fear: "How are you? Don't scare me... Look at me, Kate, look at me!"

Kate leaned in his arms, her body as cold as a piece of winter jade. The galaxy in her pupils had not faded; instead, it grew brighter. She looked up blankly at Lin Fan's face so close to hers, her lips trembling slightly as if she were desperately trying to remember something, or passively reading some strange cosmic command.

Then, she spoke.

It was not a human language, nor the language of the Light Sphere Race, nor the language of the Mechanical Civilization.

It was a strange language with ancient syllables and a cold rhythm, as if it came from the very beginning of the universe's Big Bang.

The syllables were low and clear, echoing in everyone's ears with a rule-based pressure that made the soul tremble, penetrating all barriers and reaching directly into the depths of consciousness.

No one understood it.

Only Lin Fan, because of his deep cosmic resonance, vaguely captured the core meaning within.

It was the cosmic truth she spoke unconsciously while her consciousness was in chaos and completely out of control.

"Entropy... exceeding limits."

"Carrier... unstable."

"Fragments... about to awaken."

"Place of Sorrow... is calling."

With every syllable that fell, Kate's body trembled violently, and her gaze became more confused.

After finishing these few complete phrases, her eyes went dark, her head slumped, and she fell completely unconscious in Lin Fan's arms, losing all awareness.

"Kate!!"

Lin Fan let out a heart-wrenching cry. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed, kneaded, and torn by an invisible giant hand, the pain making it almost impossible to breathe. He held the unconscious girl tightly, feeling the cosmic energy colliding frantically and uncontrollably within her body, feeling her human aura growing weaker and thinner. For the first time, a near-desperate panic welled up in his eyes.

He thought he had saved her.

He thought he could finally take her home in peace.

But in the end, he had only pushed her from one abyss into another deeper, more terrifying, and more irreversible hell.

Cosmicization was never a gift; it was a curse.

She was bit by bit losing her humanity, her memories, and her self, eventually turning into cold, emotionless, and unconscious cosmic laws.

"Brother Lin Fan..."

Little Kate walked to his side, her voice carrying an irrepressible sob. "Sister's consciousness is being rapidly devoured by the rules. If this continues, it won't be long before she completely forgets everyone and who she is. The message left by the light orb prototype was correct; only by finding the Light Sphere Fragments scattered across various dimensions can her cosmicization be stabilized and all Dimensional Rifts be completely closed."

"Where are the fragments?"

Lin Fan immediately looked up, his eyes bloodshot, but carrying a desperate madness and determination. "No matter which dimension, which planet, even if it's at the end of the universe, I will go and get them back."

"In the virtual world, I have completely analyzed the cosmic language Sister spoke unconsciously."

Little Kate took a deep breath and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes. Word by word, she spoke the name destined to be their next battlefield:

"The Place Where Sorrow Condenses."

"The first Light Sphere Fragment is on that long-destroyed dead planet—Tear Star."

Meanwhile, while everyone was immersed in panic and worry, the mechanical remnant forgotten in the corner quietly activated the hidden signal transmitter inside its body.

An extremely hidden, undetectable radio wave penetrated the closed Dimensional Rift and was instantly transmitted back to the Anti-Emotion Alliance's Deep Space Command Ship.

[Target: Light orb core has awakened.]

[Coordinates: Third Quadrant, Earth.]

[Fragment Location: Tear Star, Lake of Memories.]

[Request: Initiate full recovery plan, eliminate emotional variables.]

The moment the signal was sent, the mechanical remnant's body exploded with a boom, turning into a pile of worthless scrap metal.

There was no pain, no struggle, no fear—only the absolute rational completion of a task.

On the open ground of the rescue base, Lin Fan held the unconscious Kate, standing atop the scarred ruins. He slowly raised his head and looked toward the depths of the starry sky.

Tear Star.

The Place Where Sorrow Condenses.

The first fragment, the first battlefield, the first salvation in the name of emotion.

He looked down at the pale, senseless girl in his arms, gently lowered his head, and kissed her cold forehead. His voice was so soft that only the two of them could hear, yet it carried a vow that would not change across all dimensions and through all hardships:

"Kate, wait for me a little longer."

"This time, I'm not just going to take you home."

"I'm also going to find your humanity, your memories, your smile, and everything that belongs to you."

"Even if I have to make the entire universe my enemy, even if I have to tread through every dimensional abyss, even if I have to pay every price, I will never give up on you."

AKai walked silently to Lin Fan's side, looking at the unconscious and weak Kate in his arms, then turned to look at the distant rift that had stabilized but still left a faint trace. In the depths of his eyes, an extremely complex and contradictory light flashed.

The ideals of the Anti-Emotion Alliance... the experiment of the perfect carrier...

Emotion is a weakness, a source of chaos, and the beginning of destruction.

If stripping away emotion could grant absolute strength and stability...

Would there no longer be so much pain and sacrifice?

For the first time, a clear and dangerous wavering appeared in his heart.

Franklin put away all his data screens. For the first time, a truly heavy and serious expression appeared on his face made of mechanical sand.

The Anti-Emotion Alliance, the mechanical remnants, the soon-to-awaken Eye of the Observer, the out-of-control cosmicized Kate, the Light Sphere Fragments scattered across dangerous dimensions...

All the foreshadowing, all the crises, and all the conspiracies were at this moment completely locked onto Earth.

Thirty days.

Their doomsday countdown had already begun.

Little Kate looked up at the traces of the rift in the sky that had not yet completely dissipated, her small hands clenched tightly.

In her highest-authority simulation of the virtual world, she had also seen a hidden and ignored image—

In the deepest part of the rift, there was a figure exactly like her, desperately calling out to her for help, her voice hopeless and broken.

That was her from a parallel universe.

The last echo left by another world that had already been completely destroyed.

The wind blew through the ruins, swirling up a ground of dust and sorrow.

The star sat quietly on the open ground, its fuselage gleaming with a faint, weak starlight.

The unconscious Kate lay in Lin Fan's arms, her breathing weak but steady. The galaxy deep in her pupils still flickered silently, telling cosmic secrets that no one could understand.

Earth's disaster had only just begun.

The cross-dimensional battle for salvation had officially begun.

The collision of emotion and rules, the slaughter between humanity and rationality, was about to ignite the first fires of war on the dead soil of Tear Star.

And no one knew that in AKai's pocket, a small metallic device that was silently absorbing rift energy was secretly operating.

His perfect carrier experiment had quietly taken its first step under the giant shadow of Earth's doomsday.

There was light on the way back, but the road ahead was already an infinite astral abyss.