321: Chapter 321 Eating That Fragment

The negotiation lasted nearly two hours.

Ling Shuanghan's method of narration was extremely efficient.

There was not a single wasted word, not one superfluous adjective; all information was delivered with the precision of a compressed, packaged file.

A century of life in the Apocalypse had been condensed by her into a cold, clinical battlefield briefing.

"The cleanser, we call it the 'End-Time Executor'."

Ling Shuanghan's voice echoed between the ice walls, cold and steady.

"It is not the weapon of any civilization, nor is it some kind of creature. It is closer to—the immune system of the universe itself."

"When a world is judged as 'having failed the civilization screening,' the cleanser will descend."

"To execute a purge."

When she said the word "purge," her tone was no different from saying "the weather is nice today."

But every person from Blue Star present felt the weight behind those two words.

Purge.

Not a war. Not an invasion.

It was like erasing an incorrect equation from a blackboard—wiping it out.

"The silver light is the mark of the cleanser."

Ling Shuanghan continued.

"Its appearance means the Vanguard has locked onto the target world. There is a thirty-day interval from the appearance of the mark to the arrival of the main body."

"Within thirty days, if the target world can close the rift and cut off the cleanser's anchor—it can survive."

"If it exceeds thirty days—"

She did not finish.

There was no need to finish.

Ye Qingxue's fingernails were already digging into her palms.

Luo Qinghan's expression was grave to the extreme—

Every word Ling Shuanghan spoke matched perfectly with the fragmented memories of her past life.

Those legends she had only heard fragments of in her past life.

Had become firsthand experiences in the mouth of this woman who had lived for a hundred years.

Qin Ziyan's hand rested unconsciously on the weapon at her waist.

Su Yuyan's expression was normal, but her fingertips were slightly pale.

Ye Qingyue uncharacteristically did not speak.

She bit her lower lip, her gaze darting between Ling Shuanghan and Lin Yuan.

And Lin Yuan—

From beginning to end, he said nothing.

He leaned against the ice wall with his arms crossed, his expression as calm as if he were listening to a boring public lecture.

Ling Shuanghan noticed his reaction.

Or rather—she noticed his lack of reaction.

"You are not surprised."

"Hmm."

"You knew all along."

"Partially." Lin Yuan's tone was casual. "Continue."

Ling Shuanghan gave him a long, deep look.

Then she continued.

"My world was marked by the cleanser in its ninety-seventh year. We spent three years trying to close the rift—and failed."

"In the end, I led the last eight hundred people through the rift and fled to Blue Star."

"The rift is bidirectional. The cleanser's mark followed us here."

Her voice finally had a trace of an extremely faint fluctuation.

"The silver light—I brought it."

As these words fell, the ice wall camp fell into a deathly silence.

Ye Qingyue's eyes widened.

Ye Qingxue's pupils constricted sharply.

Luo Qinghan stood up abruptly, her Lightning Ability crackling at her fingertips—

"What did you say?"

Her voice was cold to the extreme.

"You brought the silver light? You led the cleanser to Blue Star?"

Ling Shuanghan did not avoid Luo Qinghan's gaze.

"Yes."

One word.

No excuses, no shifting blame, no "we were forced to."

Just a clean "yes."

Luo Qinghan's Lightning Ability surged more violently—

"You—"

"Sit down."

Lin Yuan's voice was not loud, but Luo Qinghan's body seemed to have been hit by a pause button; the lightning instantly subsided.

She looked at Lin Yuan, her eyes full of unwillingness.

"She led the cleanser to Blue Star!"

"I know."

Lin Yuan's tone was flat.

"But if she hadn't said it, we might have died without ever knowing the true source of the silver light. She chose to be honest, which shows she is not an enemy."

He looked at Ling Shuanghan.

"Besides—even if she hadn't come, the cleanser would have found Blue Star sooner or later. Right?"

Ling Shuanghan's eyes flickered slightly.

"How did you know?"

"The energy spectrum of the silver light contains the band characteristics native to Blue Star."

Lin Yuan said it lightly.

"This means Blue Star itself was already on the cleanser's target list. Your arrival only accelerated the timeline; it was not the root cause."

Ling Shuanghan was silent for three seconds.

Then she did something that no one expected—

She smiled.

An extremely faint smile, with a curve almost imperceptible.

But for a hundred-year-old empress whose expression management was strictly abnormal, this already counted as a hearty laugh.

"You really do know everything."

"Not everything."

Lin Yuan corrected. "I just thought a few steps further than most people."

Ye Qingyue muttered on the side:

"A few steps? You call that a few steps? You're standing directly at the finish line looking back."

Ye Qingxue reached out and covered her sister's mouth.

But the action was 0.3 seconds too slow—Ling Shuanghan had already heard it.

The silver-haired empress glanced at Ye Qingyue, her eyes holding a trace of something extremely subtle...

Curiosity?

She had lived for a hundred years, surrounded by warriors who were serious to the bone.

She really had seen such a creature—one who could crack jokes during life-and-death negotiations—for the first time.

...

After the meeting ended, Ling Shuanghan arranged barracks for Lin Yuan and his group to rest.

Lin Yuan did not go to rest.

He took Ye Qingxue and Luo Qinghan to a corner in the deepest part of the ice rift camp—

A dead-end surrounded by ice walls on three sides, where sound could not escape.

"Speak."

Ye Qingxue leaned against the ice wall, arms crossed.

"I know that expression of yours too well. Every time you show that 'I have a bold idea' expression, it's always followed by a plan that makes one's blood pressure soar."

Luo Qinghan also looked at him, her eyes guarded.

Lin Yuan did not beat around the bush.

"What Ling Shuanghan said is not entirely correct."

"What's wrong with it?" Luo Qinghan frowned.

"She said the silver light is the mark of the cleanser—that's correct. But her conclusion is: the silver light is spreading outward, marking more and more areas, preparing for the arrival of the cleanser's main body."

Lin Yuan paused.

"But the energy spectrum data I've collected over the last five days shows—the silver light is not spreading outward."

"It is converging inward."

Ye Qingxue's brows knitted together.

"Converging inward? What does that mean?"

"The mark means 'I have arrived'."

Lin Yuan held up one finger. "Converging means 'I am looking for something'."

He held up a second finger.

"These are two completely different behavioral patterns."

Luo Qinghan's expression changed.

In her memories from her past life.

All information about the cleanser pointed to the same conclusion—the cleanser came to destroy.

But if the silver light was converging—

"Are you saying... the cleanser didn't come to destroy Blue Star?"

"At least not as its primary purpose."

Lin Yuan's voice was terrifyingly calm.

"The convergence point of the silver light is in the core area of the microscopic world. There is something at that location, and the cleanser's Vanguard is chasing it."

"What thing?" Ye Qingxue pressed.

Lin Yuan was silent for a moment.

The cold light on the ice wall cast alternating light and shadow on his face, making him look exceptionally deep.

"Something... of the same origin as the power within me."

This sentence was like a depth charge, exploding simultaneously in the minds of both women.

Ye Qingxue's pupils constricted violently.

Luo Qinghan's breathing stopped for a full two seconds.

"Same origin?"

Qingxue's voice was tight. "You mean—"

"The power within me has been evolving since it awakened. But it is incomplete."

Lin Yuan's tone was like he was stating a weather forecast.

"The missing piece—is at the convergence point of the silver light."

He looked up at the faint line of daylight above the ice wall.

"A damaged Creation authority fragment."

"The cleanser's Vanguard is not guarding the door. It is recovering this fragment."

"The fragment's loss of control caused the silver light diffusion and the microscopic effect."

"And I—can absorb it."

Three sentences.

Each one was enough to overturn the worldviews of the two people present.

Ye Qingxue opened her mouth, then closed it again.

She needed time to digest this.

Luo Qinghan's reaction was more direct—her hands were shaking.

Not from fear.

It was a sense of vertigo from having all her perceptions from her past and present lives overturned at once.

She had lived for ten years in her past life, thinking she had seen through the essence of the Apocalypse.

After being reborn, she thought she held the key to changing her fate.

But now she realized—

What she saw in her past life was merely the outermost ring of pieces on this chessboard.

And Lin Yuan had been sitting in the center of the chessboard from the very beginning.

"So..."

Ye Qingxue took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Ling Shuanghan's plan is to close the rift and survive. What is your plan?"

Lin Yuan looked at her.

Then he looked at Luo Qinghan.

His eyes were terrifyingly calm—

Not cold, but a kind of absolute rationality after incorporating all variables into his calculations.

"Ling Shuanghan wants to close the rift."

"I want to eat that fragment at the core of the rift."

"Getting it will not only resolve the microscopic effect and return things to normal—"

"It will also allow my power to complete a qualitative evolution."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"I am not here to flee for my life."

"I am here to eat."

The moment these words were spoken, the temperature in the corner of the ice wall seemed to drop a few more degrees.

Not because of the cold.

It was because this man's ambition was cold enough to make one's spine chill.

Luo Qinghan looked into Lin Yuan's eyes and suddenly remembered a saying—

The definition of a true powerhouse she had heard in her past life.

Ordinary people see fear in disasters.

Smart people see survival in disasters.

And those who truly stand at the top—

See opportunity in disasters.

"You are crazy." Luo Qinghan's voice was very soft.

Not a denial.

It was an exclamation.

"Maybe."

Lin Yuan shrugged. "But only a madman can do a madman's work."

Ye Qingxue was silent for a long time.

Then she looked up, her gaze firm.

"What do you need me to do?"

No questioning. No hesitation.

She did not need to understand Lin Yuan's entire plan.

She only needed to know—where he needed her to stand.

Lin Yuan looked at her, a hint of extremely faint softness flashing in his eyes.

It was fleeting.

"Don't let Ling Shuanghan know for now."

"Why?"

Luo Qinghan frowned. "Isn't she an ally?"

"She is an ally. But her cognitive framework determines that she will not accept my plan."

Lin Yuan's analysis was calm and precise.

"In her hundred years of experience, the cleanser is invincible. Her optimal solution will always be 'flee' and 'close'."

"But what I want to do is 'eat'."

"If I tell her now, she will think I am taking unnecessary risks and may even stop me."

Luo Qinghan thought about it and had to admit he was right.

Ling Shuanghan was an extremely rational leader.

Rational people do not gamble.

And what Lin Yuan wanted to do—in Ling Shuanghan's eyes, was a high-stakes gamble.

"So what do you plan to do?" Ye Qingxue asked.

"Two lines in parallel."

Lin Yuan held up two fingers.

"On the surface, cooperate with Ling Shuanghan's plan and assemble forces to march toward the core of the rift. On the hidden line—I will act alone to find the precise location of the fragment before reaching the core."

"Once we reach the core area, Ling Shuanghan will go to close the rift, and I will go to get the fragment."

"To each their own."

Ye Qingxue nodded.

Luo Qinghan had no objections either.

But she couldn't help but ask one more thing: "What if the fragment is in the hands of the cleanser's Vanguard?"

Lin Yuan glanced at her.

"Then I'll snatch it from its hands."

The tone was as flat as if he were saying "then I'll go to the supermarket to buy a bottle of water."

Luo Qinghan: "..."

She suddenly really wanted to ask: Where does your confidence actually come from?

But she didn't ask.

Because she knew the answer.

This man's confidence did not come from blind optimism.

It came from the precise calculation of every variable.

If he said he could snatch it—it meant he had really calculated it, and he could.

A faint vibration came from deep within the ice wall.

It was the sound of the ice layer naturally cracking under the effect of temperature differences.

In the microscopic world, this sound was amplified countless times, sounding like distant muffled thunder.

Lin Yuan looked up, his gaze passing through the gap above the ice wall, looking at the gray-white sky.

silver light.

Still converging.

Thirty-day countdown.

He didn't have much time left.

But it was enough.

"Go back and rest."

Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze. "At tomorrow's meeting, Ling Shuanghan will propose her plan."

"What about you?" Ye Qingxue asked.

"Me?"

Lin Yuan smiled slightly. "I'm going to class. And by the way—find the puzzle pieces I need within her plan."

Ye Qingxue looked at his smile and suddenly felt a bit of heartache.

This man was always calculating.

Always laying out plans.

Always carrying the heaviest things on his own shoulders, then brushing them off with a casual remark.

She walked forward and held Lin Yuan's hand lightly on the back of his hand.

She didn't speak.

Lin Yuan looked down at her hand, then looked up at her eyes.

"...Your hands are so cold."

Ye Qingxue: "That's not the point."

"Oh. Then what is the point?"

"The point is—"

Ye Qingxue's ear tips turned slightly red, but her voice remained cold. "Don't die."

Lin Yuan froze for a second.

Then he smiled.

"Okay."

Luo Qinghan stood three steps away, watching this scene expressionlessly.

Her internal monologue was roughly as follows:

Should I excuse myself?

No, this isn't exactly an intimate scene.

But why do I feel like a third wheel?

Forget it.

I was a third wheel in my past life anyway.

It hasn't changed even after being reborn.