51: The Gift of Nothingness and the End of the Hunt

Within the Information Singularity, there was nothingness.

No light, no sound, no time, no space, not even a real sense of "existence."

Lin Mo's consciousness was like dust suspended in an absolute vacuum, having lost all reference points. He couldn't feel his body, couldn't feel energy, and even his thoughts became slow and ethereal, as if they could merge into this eternal "nothingness" at any moment.

The editor, the seed of source blood, information-side fragments… all connections to the outside world were severed. The only thing he could still perceive was a faint, almost extinguished pull originating from the Eastern logic anchor point; it was like an invisible spider silk, barely maintaining his concept of "self" and preventing him from completely dissipating.

In this absolute void, a peculiar "calm" descended. There was no ferocity of a law storm, no despair of the wasteland, no pressure of survival, only the most primitive "potential," undefined by any rules.

Who knows how long passed, perhaps an instant, perhaps an eternity. The spider silk connecting to the logic anchor point suddenly trembled slightly.

Immediately after, Lin Mo "saw"—no, not with his eyes, but with a more fundamental perception—things beginning to emerge on this void "canvas."

Not images, not sounds, but… the rudimentary forms of "concepts."

The self-definition of a "point."

The extension and boundaries of a "line."

The initial chain of "causal relationships."

The faint inclination of the "arrow of time"… They were like transparent geometric shapes and symbols, faintly glowing and floating in the void, colliding, combining, and separating, depicting the most primitive scene before the birth of rules. This place seemed to be the "source" or "return to ruin" of reality's rules, a singularity that, under the influence of the logic anchor point's power, had coincidentally formed in extreme chaos, tracing back to the primordial state of all things.

Lin Mo had a sudden inspiration. He gave up resisting, gave up thinking, and simply "observed" and "felt" these most fundamental "logical units." The power of the information-side fragment, in this environment, seemed like a fish returning to water, spontaneously becoming active, no longer analyzing data, but like a sponge, greedily absorbing and recording these fleeting rule prototypes.

He "understood" why "existence" needed "definition."

He "touched" the "direction" in which "time" flowed.

He "witnessed" the "fragility" and "resilience" of "causal" chains.

This was an ineffable comprehension, a baptism that directly affected the cognitive level. He felt that his understanding of the word "edit" was undergoing a qualitative change. It was no longer just modifying parameters or structures, but closer to… participating in the weaving of rules.

Just as he was immersed in this profound state, the spider silk connecting the logic anchor point trembled violently again! A strong "repulsive force" was born from the void—the Information Singularity was about to end, and the rules of reality were about to re-cover this area!

"Return!" A thought exploded in his core.

In an instant, endless sensory information surged back like a burst dam!

Deafening sounds of metal twisting!

Intense dizziness from uncontrolled spinning!

Wu Yong and Xiao Li's terrified shouts!

The mournful cry of Ling Shuang's psionic shield shattering!

The gray fin shark transport plane was violently "spit" out of the singularity by the aftershocks of the law storm, like a broken doll thrown out, tumbling and crashing towards a relatively stable hilly area covered with sharp rocks!

"Boom—!!!!"

A violent impact sounded. The transport plane's belly violently scraped against the rocks, sending out countless sparks, plowing a deep gully, and finally overturning and getting stuck between two giant rocks, completely losing power. The cabin was a mess, and the alarm bells wailed incessantly.

Lin Mo was thrown against the cabin wall by the enormous inertia; the sharp pain instantly sobered him. He didn't bother to check his injuries and immediately sensed the status of the entire plane.

"Structural damage 65%, main energy depleted, auxiliary energy remaining 8%, life support system emergency switched to backup battery, estimated duration: 4 hours."

Wu Yong and Xiao Li had multiple bruises but no life-threatening injuries. Su Xi's life pod, miraculously, maintained basic functions due to Ling Shuang's desperate protection in the final moments.

Ling Shuang lay in the corner, her breath weak, psionic energy completely exhausted, in a deep coma.

They were alive, but at their last gasp.

Lin Mo struggled to unbuckle his seatbelt, trying to activate the emergency rescue procedure. However, misfortunes never come singly—

The editor sent the most unwelcome alert!

"Detecting high-threat energy signal approaching at high speed! Energy signature match 99%: Zhou Weian (Predator)! Distance: fifteen kilometers, estimated contact time: 3 minutes!"

He actually chased them here! Through the edge of the law storm?!

Lin Mo's heart sank to the bottom. In his current state, he could barely stand, how could he fight that monster?

He glanced at the unconscious Ling Shuang, at the terrified and helpless Wu Yong and Xiao Li, and at Su Xi, whose fate was uncertain in the life pod. Despair, like cold rock, pressed on his chest.

No! He couldn't give up!

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the severe pain in his body and his mental exhaustion, and shakily stood up. He walked to the damaged cabin door of the transport plane and manually pried open a gap.

Outside, it was the barren rocky ridge at the edge of the Thunder Peak Mountain Range. The sky was still gloomy, but the law storm had passed, and the rules had returned to "normal." In the southwest direction, a cloud of dust was rapidly approaching; that familiar, violent aura filled with destruction and greed, like a tangible oppressive force, rushed towards him.

The Predator had arrived. It seemed to have also suffered some injuries in the storm, with several charred spots and cracks on its carapace, but its eerie green eye-fires burned even more fiercely, locked onto the overturned transport plane and Lin Mo standing at the cabin door.

It let out a triumphant roar, a mix of excitement and cruelty, and increased its speed again!

Lin Mo closed his eyes. He wasn't waiting for death, but recalling and mobilizing.

Recalling those most fundamental "logical units" he had felt in the Information Singularity.

Mobilizing the power of the editor in his sea of consciousness, which, after the baptism of the singularity, seemed more refined and closer to the essence of rules.

The light of the seed of source blood was faint but firm; the rule prototypes recorded by the information-side fragment were being rapidly called upon and combined.

He didn't have enough energy to go head-to-head.

He also didn't have time to set up complex traps.

His only advantage was that brief contact with, and a little bit of "understanding" of, "rules" themselves.

The Predator rushed into the thousand-meter range! Its bony scythes were raised, with an aura of tearing everything apart!

Five hundred meters! It pawed the ground with its four limbs, preparing to launch the final pounce!

Three hundred meters! Lin Mo could even smell its foul stench, a mix of blood and corrosion!

Now!

Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes! There was no fear, no anger in his eyes, only a cold calm, like looking down at code.

He raised his hand, not pointing at the Predator, but at a seemingly empty spot on the ground in front of it. He did not release an energy shock, nor did he construct a barrier, but merely, with an extremely specific frequency, gently "plucked" the "causal chain" and "existence definition" there.

This was his first attempt in reality, based on his understanding from the Information Singularity and combined with his own authority, an intervention that surpassed all previous methods—

[Reality Edit · Logic Overwrite — Local Causal Prepositioning]

No light, no sound.

The Predator, charging at full speed, about to pounce on the transport plane, suddenly seemed to hit an absolutely invisible and extremely elastic wall!

"Bang!!!"

A thud, far more muffled and eerie than any previous collision, erupted!

The Predator's massive body was sent flying backward, faster than it came, as if struck by an invisible giant fist! It let out a roar of shock and anger in mid-air, completely unable to understand what had happened! It clearly hadn't felt any energy obstruction!

This wasn't an energy obstruction! This was Lin Mo forcibly "prepositioning" and "fixing" the "result" of a "violent collision" at a certain point on the Predator's charging path, an instant before it occurred! He temporarily altered the local causal sequence of that area, forcing the event of "collision" to happen as soon as the "cause" (the Predator reaching that point) was established!

Simply put, he made the Predator "collide" with the "fact" that "it would inevitably collide with something"!

"Pfft!" Lin Mo spat out a mouthful of blood, his body softly kneeling to the ground. This seemingly effortless intervention consumed his most fundamental mental power and understanding of rules, far more deadly than energy depletion. The light of the jade slip in his sea of consciousness dimmed to the extreme, as if it could shatter at any moment.

Meanwhile, the Predator, blasted away, heavily crashed onto rocks hundreds of meters away, shattering them. It struggled to get up, a spiderweb of cracks appearing on its carapace, and for the first time, its eerie green eye-fires showed… uncertainty and a hint of fear! It couldn't comprehend this method of attack! This was beyond all its understanding of power!

It stared intently at Lin Mo, who was kneeling at the cabin door, letting out a threatening growl from its throat, but not daring to advance easily. The unknown brought hesitation.

Lin Mo struggled to raise his head, meeting its gaze without fear. He held no weapons in his hands, and beside him were the shattered transport plane and unconscious companions, but his eyes at this moment seemed to contain the weight of the entire world's rules.

He slowly, again, raised his hand.

Even though his arm trembled uncontrollably, even though his consciousness was already blurring.

But this action made the Predator instinctively take half a step back!

It was afraid.

Afraid of this incomprehensible, undefendable attack.

The standoff continued in the desolate rocky ridge. On one side was a guardian at the end of his rope, on the other a scarred Predator hesitant due to the unknown.

Finally, the Predator let out a roar filled with unwillingness and malice, giving Lin Mo a deep look, as if to engrave his image into its soul. Then, it suddenly turned around, dragging its injured body, and disappeared among the scattered rocks in a few bounds.

It chose to temporarily retreat. Until it understood the true nature of that strange attack, it dared not risk the power it had so painstakingly acquired.

Only when the Predator's aura completely disappeared did Lin Mo's taut nerves suddenly relax. His vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness, collapsing by the cabin door.

The desolate ridge returned to silence.

Wreckage, injured, a comatose leader.

But they were alive.

And they had finally temporarily escaped the relentless pursuit.

The path to the East, after paying a heavy price, had cleared its last trailing obstacle.