135: Chapter 135 The Truth About the Sowers

The darkness of the void had never felt so real.

Before this, Lin Fan thought he had long since grown accustomed to the coldness and desolation of the universe. From the training grounds of the Interstellar Academy to the battlefields spanning galaxies, from the first awakening of his dark matter body to his several head-on collisions with the shadow of the end, he had seen stars shatter, fleets annihilated, and civilizations turn to dust in the blink of an eye. But this time, as he truly stepped inside the flagship of the shadow of the end, a chill originating from the depths of his soul climbed up his spine and tightly gripped his heart.

This wasn't a warship.

At least, it wasn't a weapon of war built by any known civilization.

There were no portholes, no corridor markers, and none of the coarseness of exposed energy conduits inside the flagship. As far as the eye could see was a flowing, liquid abyss of dark matter fluid. There was no solid ground beneath their feet; every step taken stirred up ripples of blackness that spread outward. In the center of these ripples, fragmented star maps, broken civilization symbols, and countless pairs of closed eyes—as if slumbering for eons—continually surfaced.

The air was thick with an indescribable scent—not gunpowder, not metal, nor the scorched smell of cosmic radiation, but the scent of time itself decaying. It was as if billions of years of silence had been forcibly broken, as if sealed history had been crudely unveiled; it was ancient, heavy, and oppressive, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"Data matching failed... Structural analysis failed... Energy attributes unknown."

Franklin floated at the front of the group, his semi-mechanized body trembling slightly in this eerie space. The prosthetic eye on his left flickered with a high-speed stream of pale blue data. His voice, usually calm to the point of indifference, now carried a hint of gravity that was hard to conceal. "I've searched the three major databases—the Interstellar Council, the Light Sphere Race ruins, and Ancient Civilization Fragments—and not a single record matches the construction of this flagship."

He paused, his mechanical hand pointing toward the churning dark-black fluid all around them.

"This isn't a hull composed of matter; it's more like... a space condensed from concepts."

"Concepts?" Little Kate followed closely behind Kate, her small body wrapped in a protective film of light. Her hands moved rapidly in the air before her as countless lines of code and data jumped at her fingertips. Yet, no matter how she tried to hack, analyze, or establish a connection, everything before her was like a stone dropped into the ocean, yielding no response. "I tried to hack into its command system, but I can't even find a firewall... It's like... a living organism."

Kate didn't speak.

From the very first second she stepped into this flagship, her body had been uncontrollably resonating.

Deep in her chest, the light orb that shared the same source as her life was beating frantically at an unprecedented frequency. It wasn't the excitement before a battle, nor a warning before an energy rampage, but a calling.

A distant, ancient calling that spanned countless eras.

It was as if she were born to arrive here, as if her soul had been tethered to a certain point deep within this darkness since its inception.

She raised her hand and gently pressed it against her chest.

Pale gold light spilled from her fingertips, forming a stark contrast with the boundless darkness around her. The moment the dark-black fluid near her touched her light, it actually receded like melting snow, revealing the hidden metal floor below, which was carved with strange patterns.

The patterns wound and twisted like the trajectories of galaxies or the original genetic chains of life. Every line flowed with a faint yet incredibly pure energy, sharing the same origin as the Light Orb Energy within Kate's body.

"Kate."

Lin Fan noticed her abnormality and immediately took a step forward. His arm, condensed from dark matter, gently supported her shoulder, his tone carrying undisguised worry. "Are you okay? Your energy fluctuations are very unstable."

The man's palm was warm and strong. Even though his body had long been semi-energized, the sense of security unique to him could still easily penetrate layers of barriers to reach the softest part of Kate's heart.

Kate took a deep breath, suppressing the strange feelings churning in her heart. She looked up at Lin Fan and forced a smile.

"I'm fine, it's just... the energy here is so familiar."

"Familiar?" Lin Fan's brow furrowed slightly.

"Yes." Kate nodded, her gaze falling on the patterns beneath her feet with a complex expression. "It's like... I've returned to the place where I was born."

As those words fell, the team instantly lapsed into silence.

Franklin stopped his operations, and Little Kate also looked up. Both of their gazes landed on Kate simultaneously, filled with shock and confusion.

The birthplace of the Light Sphere Race was their long-lost home planet. At the very moment the shadow of the end descended, it was completely destroyed, leaving only scattered fragments of ruins across the universe. This was a fact known to the entire Interstellar Alliance, yet now, Kate said that this flagship of the shadow of the end—a symbol of destruction and death—gave her a sense of familiarity like her birthplace.

The implications of this were terrifying to ponder.

"Keep moving."

Kate didn't explain much. She took the lead, walking in the direction the patterns extended. The light at her chest grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the boundless darkness ahead. "The answer should be up ahead. The shadow of the end deliberately lured us in; it wouldn't be just to trap us."

Lin Fan followed immediately, his Dark Matter Armor slowly unfolding around him to form an airtight defensive barrier, protecting Kate in the center. Franklin and Little Kate exchanged a glance and also quickly followed the team.

As the four of them moved through this eerie space, time seemed to lose its meaning.

There was no alternation of day and night, no concept of distance, and no sound could be heard. Only their own heartbeats and the hum of the light orb's resonance were infinitely amplified in the silence.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the darkness ahead was suddenly torn apart by a piercing white light.

That light wasn't gentle like Kate's, nor was it blazing like a star. It was a sort of primordial light that reigned over everything. Pure, vast, and boundless, it was as if the initial light of the entire universe had gathered at this single point.

Within the light was an incredibly vast space.

The diameter of the space was at least ten thousand kilometers. Looking up, one couldn't see the top; looking down, one couldn't see the end. The surrounding walls were covered with dense light screens and data chains, and countless golden rays of light crisscrossed in the air, weaving a giant web that covered the entire space. At the very center of the space, a golden pillar of light connected heaven and earth, and inside the pillar floated a giant light orb with a diameter of over a thousand meters.

That light orb was exactly the same as the one inside Kate's body.

Only it was more massive, more ancient, and more... divine.

"That's..." Little Kate covered her mouth, her eyes wide as tears fell uncontrollably from the corners. "Home planet... That's the core of our Light Orb Clan Home Planet!"

"The Light Orb Clan Home Planet wasn't destroyed?" Franklin's prosthetic eye flickered frantically as a massive amount of data refreshed before him. "Impossible... According to the Interstellar Council's observation records, the home planet's star system completely collapsed into a black hole three hundred years ago. All matter and energy were swallowed up. It's impossible for such a complete core to remain!"

"This isn't the home planet."

Kate's voice rang out softly, carrying a near-numb calmness. Her gaze was locked onto the central golden pillar of light, and her body trembled slightly. "This is... a laboratory."

"A laboratory?"

Lin Fan turned to look at her, his face full of confusion.

Kate didn't answer. She once again floated forward uncontrollably. This time, no one stopped her, as if an invisible force was gently lifting her up and sending her toward that golden pillar of light.

Her feet left the ground, and the golden light around her echoed the light of the central pillar, forming a brilliant bridge of light. Lin Fan instinctively wanted to chase after her, but he was blocked by an invisible barrier. No matter how he pushed his Dark Matter Energy, he couldn't move forward a single step.

"Lin Fan!"

"Kate!"

Little Kate and Franklin also tried to move forward, but they were similarly blocked by the barrier.

The three of them could only watch helplessly as Kate's figure gradually vanished into that primordial golden pillar of light.

The moment Kate's fingertips touched the light pillar, countless pieces of information flooded into her consciousness like a bursting galaxy.

There was no pain, no dizziness, only a sense of weight from being wrapped in the memories of the entire universe.

A history that had been sealed for billions of years slowly unfolded before her eyes.

It was an era more ancient than any known civilization.

There were no stars, no life, and no rules; the entire universe was just a chaotic ocean of energy. And in the center of this ocean, the first sliver of will was born.

That will had no form, no consciousness, and no concept of good or evil; it was just a torrent of energy pure to the extreme, yet it contained the power to create and destroy everything.

The Sower Civilization called it—the sound of origin.

The sound of origin was the original heart of the universe, the source of all emotion, consciousness, life, and rules. It was violent, chaotic, and unrestrained. It could create billions of stars in a single thought, or it could reset all civilizations to zero in a single thought.

The Sowers were the first intelligent civilization born in the universe.

They possessed peak technology and controlled the mysteries of time, space, and matter. They took "regularizing the universe" as their mission, attempting to turn the chaotic sound of origin into a controllable force.

They didn't dare destroy the sound of origin.

Because they knew that the moment the sound of origin perished, the entire universe would collapse with it.

They could only choose to imprison it.

The Sowers gathered the strength of their entire civilization and spent billions of years creating a perfect energy container.

With a fragment of the sound of origin as the core, the rules of time and space as the skeleton, and pure energy as the flesh, they gave it a stable form, eternal life, and... the mission to seal the sound of origin.

This container was named—the Light Sphere Race.

Every member of the Light Sphere Race was a mobile prison.

For generations, they were born as prisoners and died as locks, using their own lives and souls to suppress the violent power of the sound of origin and maintain the stability of the universe.

But the Sowers were not satisfied.

Imprisonment was only a temporary measure; what they wanted was control.

They wanted to completely make the power of the sound of origin their own; they wanted to become the true masters of the universe.

Thus, a forbidden experiment was quietly launched.

The Sowers turned their gaze toward the Light Sphere Race they had created.

They wanted to strip away the divinity and rule-based constraints within the Light Sphere Race and inject the emotions, desires, joys, and sorrows of mortal beings, creating an individual who possessed the Light Sphere Race's ability to seal the sound of origin while also having the free will of a mortal.

A "perfect weapon" that they could control at will, yet possessed world-destroying power.

This experiment violated the cosmic rules they had set themselves and the bottom line of life's creation; it was an absolute taboo.

The failure rate of the experiment was infinitely close to one hundred percent.

Countless test subjects were reduced to ashes the moment they were born due to energy rampages; countless test subjects turned into nothingness the instant emotions were injected due to consciousness collapse; and some test subjects became monsters that were neither human nor ghost, only to be ruthlessly destroyed by the Sowers.

The Sowers invested all their resources and exhausted countless efforts, yet they never obtained the result they wanted.

Until that day.

The final test subject opened her eyes in the laboratory's incubation chamber.

She possessed the pure energy body of the Light Sphere Race, the core power to seal the sound of origin, and even more so, the most complete and vivid emotions of a mortal.

She could cry, laugh, feel fear, be brave, stand up for strange lives, and risk everything for the justice in her heart.

She was the only survivor on the experimental table.

She was also, in the eyes of the Sowers, the only successful human-nature test subject.

Her designation was Zero.

Her name was—Kate.

And the shadow of the end, from the very beginning, was never some destroyer of the universe.

It was a cleanup tool created by the Sowers.

The Sowers created the Light Sphere Race to imprison the sound of origin, created experimental subjects to attempt to control power, and simultaneously manufactured the shadow of the end to purge the products of failed experiments, suppress rebellions from the Light Sphere Race, and guard their Forbidden Laboratory.

The shadow of the end possessed no self-awareness or concept of good and evil; it was merely a command-executing program, a cold scalpel loyally carrying out the Sowers' directives.

Until Kate was born.

This experimental subject, who possessed humanity, shattered all of the Sowers' calculations.

Her emotions, her consciousness, and her very existence were like a stone cast into a calm lake, stirring up monstrous waves at the core of the sound of origin. The imprisoned sound of origin awakened because of her humanity and grew restless due to her emotions; the originally stable seal began to crack.

Consequently, the shadow of the end's programming spiraled completely out of control.

It no longer obeyed the Sowers' commands or merely purged failed products; it locked its target onto Kate.

It determined that this experimental subject with humanity was the calamity that broke all rules and the root cause of the sound of origin's rampage; only by completely destroying Kate could the sound of origin be resealed and the universe return to 'order.'

And in this loss of control, the Sower Civilization perished completely.

They created the cage, the weapon, and the out-of-control destroyer; ultimately, they died at the hands of their own creations.

Leaving behind only this Forbidden Laboratory floating in the depths of the universe and a sinful history buried for billions of years.

All the truth, all the secrets, all the origins and endings were presented in their entirety within Kate's consciousness at this moment.

As it turned out, she was not a natural-born Guardian.

As it turned out, she was not a miracle born by chance.

As it turned out, from the very beginning, she was the product of a sinful experiment.

Her life was data in the Sowers' hands; her power was the shackle imprisoning the sound of origin; her emotions were a tool they used to try and manipulate power; her existence itself was a mistake that should never have happened.

She had lived for so long, resisted for so long, fought the shadow of the end countless times, and protected countless civilizations and lives, only to find out in the end that she was the source of all disasters.

What the shadow of the end wanted to destroy was her.

The sound of origin grew restless because of her.

The crisis of the universe arose because of her.

How ridiculous.

How absurd.

How... hopeless.

Standing within the pillar of golden light, Kate looked at this cold and cruel history and suddenly began to laugh.

The laughter was light, hollow, and fragmented, like colored glass crushed by a gale, echoing softly in the empty laboratory; it made one's heart tighten and nose sting.

As she laughed, tears rolled down without warning.

Golden teardrops slid from the corners of her eyes and dripped into the light pillar, stirring up circles of tiny ripples.

She lowered her head and looked at her hands.

Those hands that could condense light, heal pain, and protect companions now seemed to her only as the labels of an experimental subject, the shell of a cage, and the proof of an error.

“So that's how it is...”

She murmured softly, her voice as light as a breeze that would scatter with a puff, “It turns out that from the very beginning, I shouldn't have existed.”

“My birth was an error, my living is an accident, and my emotions... are nothing more than the data echoes of the Sowers' failure.”

“I thought I was protecting the universe, but it turns out I am the disaster star bringing destruction.”

“I thought I was the hope of the Light Sphere Race, but it turns out I am just a weapon they manufactured.”

“I thought I possessed free will, but it turns out every breath, every heartbeat, and every choice I made was written into the experimental records long ago.”

She slowly raised her head, looking toward the golden light pillar that pierced heaven and earth, toward the core of the home planet that symbolized the origin of the Light Sphere Race; the light was gone from her eyes, leaving only a deathly silent desolation.

“Then what exactly am I?”

“A failed product?”

“A... vessel used to imprison the sound of origin?”

“A sacrificial lamb destined to be destroyed to compensate for all the errors?”

Every word was like a knife tempered in ice, cutting into her heart stroke by stroke, and also cutting into Lin Fan's heart outside the barrier.

Lin Fan stared intently at the figure in the light pillar, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed hard by an invisible giant hand, the pain making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

He didn't understand all the details of Kate's words, but he could clearly feel her despair and breakdown at this moment.

The girl who was always gentle, always steadfast, and always at the forefront in times of peril; the girl who would disregard everything to protect him; the girl he had risked his life to protect—at this moment, her every conviction and pride were being destroyed by a cold history.

He couldn't let her be like this.

Absolutely not.

“Kate!”

Lin Fan suddenly roared, Dark Matter Energy rampaging wildly within his body. The barrier around him vibrated violently under the impact of his power, letting out an overburdened creak. “Don't listen to it! Don't believe those things!”

“That's not true!”

“Your existence was never a mistake!”

Kate seemed not to hear his voice, still immersed in her own despair, her smile becoming more fragmented and her eyes more hollow.

Just then, the dark matter core inside Lin Fan suddenly erupted with an unprecedented intense light.

His body completely transformed into an energy state within the light, and he broke through the invisible barrier, charging recklessly toward the golden light pillar like a falling meteor.

Without any hesitation, without any fear.

He passed through layers of light and the barriers of space-time, grabbing Kate's shoulder.

His grip was so strong it almost embedded itself into her light-matter body.

Kate was snapped back to her senses by his sudden pull, looking up blankly at the man before her.

Lin Fan's face was pale, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead—clearly, breaking through the barrier had cost him immense strength—but his eyes were startlingly bright, as steadfast as eternal stars.

He didn't speak empty words of comfort or hollow platitudes; he just stared into her eyes and roared with all his might, enunciating every word.

“No!”

“None of that is true!”

“The Sowers created your shell, decided your origins, and planned your birth, but they never had the right to define your existence!”

“You step forward for civilians you've never met, you bet your life to protect the Interstellar Alliance, you sacrifice your own memories for your companions, and you did everything to pull me back when I forgot you.”

“You cry, you laugh, you get scared, and you are brave; you possess the most vivid, warm, and precious emotions in this world.”

“You are not a vessel, not a failed product, not a weapon, and not data!”

“You are Kate.”

“The person I, Lin Fan, will risk everything to protect.”

“The true soul of the Light Sphere Race.”

“The most unique miracle in the entire universe.”

His fingertips trembled slightly, yet he pressed down on her heart with extraordinary firmness, pressing against that beating light orb:

“You are the only variable they failed to calculate.”

“The Sowers calculated everything, but they didn't calculate that you would possess such a burning soul, such a steadfast will, and such a heart that loves, protects, and resists regardless of the cost.”

“Your existence is not a mistake.”

“It is salvation.”

Word by word, like thunder, exploded within Kate's consciousness.

She stared blankly at Lin Fan, looking at the unconcealed heartache and determination in the man's eyes, seeing how he disregarded everything for her sake; the emotions she had suppressed for so long completely burst through the floodgates at this moment.

Tears could no longer be controlled, surging out.

She threw herself into Lin Fan's arms, clutching his waist tightly and burying her face in his shoulder, weeping uncontrollably.

There was no suppression, no pretense, only the purest, most broken crying.

All the fear, confusion, pressure, and struggle from so long ago turned into tears at this moment, pouring out.

Lin Fan gently patted her back with incredible tenderness, whispering comforts in her ear over and over, using his own warmth to gradually melt the ice in the depths of her heart.

Outside the barrier, Little Kate was already covered in tears. Franklin lowered his head in silence, his mechanical body trembling slightly; usually calm, his eyes were also red now.

In this laboratory that had witnessed sin and taboo, amidst billions of years of darkness and cold, this emotion that crossed races, destiny, and all obstacles appeared exceptionally dazzling and precious.

But this warmth did not last long.

A sudden, violent vibration interrupted everything.

The entire laboratory jolted violently!

The light screens overhead all instantly lit up with crimson warnings, the piercing alarm sirens cutting through the silence. Countless data chains snapped in the air, golden light bridges began to shatter, the central light pillar shook violently, and the Mother Star Core emitted a pained hum.

“Not good!”

Franklin's expression changed drastically as he roared loudly, “It's the Self-Destruct Sequence! The laboratory's core is collapsing! Let's go, quickly!”

Little Kate immediately mobilized all her energy, trying to crack the Self-Destruct Sequence, only to find it was already too late.

The structure of the entire space was disintegrating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Dark-black fluid flooded in frantically from all directions, swallowing the golden light and destroying every trace of existence.

BOOM—!!

An earth-shattering explosion rang out.

The ceiling of the laboratory completely shattered, and countless rocks and metal fragments rained down. Space-time twisted, folded, and tore in the explosion, forming black hole vortices that swallowed everything.

Lin Fan immediately held Kate tight, his Dark Matter Armor fully deploying to form a solid defensive barrier, resisting the impacts from all sides.

“Hold on to me!”

He growled, charging with Kate toward the exit.

But just then.

A voice slowly descended.

That voice had no source, no cadence, and no emotion; it was indifferent, cold, and hollow, yet it covered the entire space, penetrating all the explosions and roars to drill straight into the depths of everyone's soul.

It was the voice of the shadow of the end.

“Thank you.”

“For intruding into the forbidden grounds, awakening the records, and uncovering history.”

“Letting my program, which has slept for billions of years, finally become complete.”

In the firelight of the explosion, a boundless shadow slowly condensed into form.

The shadow had no concrete shape, but it possessed a pair of dark pupils capable of swallowing the entire universe. Those eyes passed through the collapsing space, the surging firelight, and all obstacles to quietly lock onto Kate.

There was no anger, no killing intent, only a near-indifferent proclamation.

“I have searched for billions of years.”

“Searching for the key to open the shackles of the sound of origin.”

“The Sowers failed, the rules failed, and the imprisonment failed.”

“It wasn't until today that I understood.”

“To unlock the sound of origin's lock.”

“One must use... this heart of yours, which has gained humanity.”

“Kate.”

“You are the key.”

The moment the words fell.

BOOM—!!

The entire Forbidden Laboratory was completely annihilated into the void.

The golden light shattered, and darkness swallowed everything.

Lin Fan only felt an irresistible giant force strike him; he held Kate tightly but was still blown away by the shockwave, his consciousness gradually sinking into darkness under the violent impact.

Before completely losing consciousness, the last thing he saw was Kate's eyes, soaked with tears yet reignited with light.

And in the depths of the universe, that shadow of the end that had truly awakened, covering the entire galaxy.

The war has only just begun.

The shackles of fate have only just been unlocked.

And Kate's identity, her mission, and her entanglements with the sound of origin, the Sowers, and the shadow of the end have only just truly surfaced.

The endgame of the universe is slowly drawing its curtain in an irreversible posture.