103: Chapter 103 A Place Where Sorrow Gathers

The haze of Los Angeles still pressed overhead, and the Damocles' sword of the Anti-Emotion Alliance hanging in the sky had not yet dissipated. The twenty-four-hour life-and-death countdown was already throbbing frantically in everyone's hearts. Lin Fan gave the high-level Federation officials on the command platform no time for debate or hesitation. The moment The Nihilist's aircraft retreated into the rift, he grabbed Kate's wrist and turned toward the star's docking bay. Beneath his palm, her fingertips were slightly cool, like a piece of crystal losing its temperature. Her starlight-colored pupils were calm without a single ripple, but the more it was like this, the deeper Lin Fan's heart sank into a bottomless abyss. He didn't dare to think too deeply; if this continued, it wouldn't be long before the girl in front of him completely transformed into a dimensional lifeform without joy or sorrow, without thoughts or desires, forgetting all memories, forgetting all bonds, and forgetting their life-and-death encounter within the Star Abyss.

Franklin immediately understood. His silver-gray mechanical body followed closely behind. The intelligent system that had been performing global monitoring instantly switched to interstellar navigation mode. All engines preheated simultaneously, and pale blue energy streams flowed over the hull's surface like a sleeping giant beast slowly opening its eyes. Little Kate, clutching her miniature computing core, followed with quick, short steps. The usual ease in her round, bright eyes was gone, replaced by a solemnity unbefitting her age. Through a faint resonance with the light orb prototype's source, she had locked onto the coordinates of the place known as where sadness gathers—a planet long marked as destroyed on star charts: Tear Star.

No one raised an objection, and no one dared to. Everyone knew that staying on Earth would only lead to a hopeless death match in twenty-four hours. Only by finding the Light Sphere Fragment and stabilizing Kate's increasingly universalizing consciousness could they truly have the confidence to confront the Anti-Emotion Alliance. Lin Fan's pace didn't pause for a moment. The heartbeat in his chest was heavy and hurried, each step feeling like treading on cracking ice. He could clearly perceive the dissipation of human consciousness within Kate, like starlight extinguishing bit by bit in the dark night. That sense of powerlessness almost swallowed him whole.

The star's hatch slowly closed, isolating the apocalyptic scenes of Earth outside. The internal gravity system started smoothly. Lin Fan released Kate's hand and turned to look at the giant light screen in the cockpit, which already displayed detailed data on Tear Star. It was a rocky planet located in a peripheral star system that once possessed a highly developed emotional civilization. However, tens of thousands of years ago, the entire civilization vanished overnight. There were no traces of interstellar war, no marks of dimensional disaster; all life was extinguished instantly like a receding tide, leaving only a deathly silent planet shrouded in endless sadness. According to ancient records left by the Light Sphere Race, because emotions had overflowed to the extreme on that planet, it eventually triggered a mental collapse within the civilization. All life was immersed in extreme pain, obsession, regret, and reluctance, unable to extricate themselves, finally leading to self-destruction. The entire surface of the planet was covered by liquid emotional crystals, forming an infinite lake—the Lake of Memories mentioned in the light orb prototype's guidance.

"Tear Star coordinates locked. It's 7.2 light-years from Earth. We can arrive after crossing one small star belt. Total jump flight time is eleven minutes." Franklin's fingers danced rapidly across the control console, data streams flashing frantically on the blue light screen. "But I must warn you, Lin Fan, the environment of that planet is extremely dangerous. Liquid emotional crystals will forcibly intrude into a living being's mental level. Those who touch them will be forced to experience the lives of the deceased, enduring all their pain and obsessions. Those with slightly weaker mental strength will be directly drowned in endless memories, never to wake up."

Lin Fan nodded slightly, his gaze unwavering, but only he knew that his nerves were stretched to the limit at this moment. "Even if it's a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, we must go. The fragment is there, and Kate's hope is there."

He turned to look at Kate. The girl stood quietly in the corner of the cockpit, looking up at the boundless universe outside the window. Starlight-colored pupils reflected the dots of starlight, as if merging with the entire galaxy. Hearing Lin Fan's words, she slowly turned her head. She didn't speak, but only blinked gently—a subtle human movement, so faint it was almost invisible, yet it allowed Lin Fan's tense heartstrings to loosen slightly. He knew that Kate's human consciousness was still struggling, still holding on, and had not been completely consumed.

The star's engine emitted a low roar, the spatial jump device began charging, and a pale blue energy shield enveloped the entire hull. The surrounding starlight began to distort and stretch, turning into blurry bands of light. Just a few seconds later, space rippled like the surface of water, and the massive ship instantly vanished from Earth's orbit, leaving only a faint trail of energy that went unnoticed. No one knew that this small team was rushing toward a destroyed planet of the dead, fighting for that tiny, insignificant chance of survival for Earth, for Kate, and for all emotional civilizations.

The eleven-minute spatial jump passed in an instant.

When the star reappeared in normal space, the sight before them plunged everyone into silence.

The planet known as Tear Star hung quietly in the pitch-black universe. Without the protection of an atmosphere, its surface was completely covered by a pale blue liquid substance. Viewed from space, it looked like a crystal ball filled with tears—quiet, beautiful, yet permeated with a suffocating despair. There were no life signals, no energy fluctuations, only a sadness so thick it couldn't be dispersed. Even from a great distance, it could be clearly perceived, as if the entire planet were weeping silently.

"This is... the place where sadness gathers." Little Kate hugged her knees, her small body trembling slightly, her voice thin and shaking. "Such thick, thick sadness, even more painful than the darkness in Earth's rifts... I think I can hear them crying."

Franklin's detectors alarmed frantically, the blue light screen filled with red warning signals. "Mental interference intensity has broken the threshold! The mental radiation of the emotional crystals is intruding into the ship. Everyone, activate mental protection immediately! Lin Fan, Kate's universalizing physique will strongly resonate with this emotional energy. Her state will become extremely unstable!"

Lin Fan immediately stepped forward, shielding Kate. The golden light orb energy within him surged frantically, forming a thick energy barrier to isolate the desperate aura of sadness from outside. He could clearly feel Kate's body trembling slightly. In her originally calm starlight-colored pupils, a faint mist began to rise. That was her consciousness passively resonating with Tear Star's emotional energy; she was enduring the pain of the deceased from tens of thousands of years ago.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Lin Fan spoke in a low voice, his tone gentle yet firm. He reached out and gently held her hand, the warmth of his palm transferring over bit by bit. "I will stay with you always; I won't let you be drowned by those memories."

Kate did not speak, but only gripped his hand tightly in return, her fingertips exerting a bit of force. This was her only reliance in her helplessness, and the final anchor for her fading humanity.

The star slowly lowered its altitude, passing through the cloudless sky and landing on the shore of the Lake of Memories. The liquid emotional crystals were calm and without ripples, like a mirror reflecting the pitch-black universe and dots of starlight. Above the lake's surface, faint phantoms constantly emerged. These were the obsessions of the deceased from the Tear Star civilization. Their figures were blurry; some wept in each other's arms, some reached out toward the distance, and some stood with bowed heads in silence. Every phantom carried a life that could not be let go, a past full of regret.

The hatch opened, and a cold, desperate aura rushed toward them. It wasn't the coldness of the air, but a sadness that struck directly at the soul, as if it could instantly strip away all of a person's joy, leaving only endless pain and oppression. Lin Fan was the first to step out of the hatch, golden light orb energy circulating around him to form a protective shield, guarding Kate, Franklin, and Little Kate in the center. The ground beneath their feet was not rock but solidified emotional crystals. It felt slightly soft when stepped on, and every step left a faint blue ripple. Within the ripples, memory fragments of the deceased constantly flashed—the pain of losing loved ones, the reluctance of parting, obsessions that could not be fulfilled, and weeping in despair. Scene after scene, segment after segment, they surged into everyone's minds like a tide.

Franklin's mechanical body trembled slightly, his blue light screen flashing incessantly. Although he was an AI, he possessed programs to simulate emotions, and at this moment, he was also being struck by this massive emotional energy, causing his programming to malfunction. "This is terrifying... the sadness of an entire civilization is all gathered here. This is no longer a planet; it's a giant mental tomb. Once you fall in, even your soul will be eaten clean."

Little Kate clung tightly to Lin Fan's leg, closing her eyes, not daring to look at the phantoms on the lake. Her small body wouldn't stop shaking. "Brother Fan, they are in so much pain... I can feel their sadness, I can't breathe..."

Lin Fan didn't speak. His jaw was clenched tight, and his gaze was locked onto the center of the Lake of Memories. There, a faint golden light flickered amidst the pale blue liquid crystals. That was the aura of the Light Sphere Fragment, their only goal for this trip, and Kate's only salvation.

"The fragment is in the center of the lake," Lin Fan said in a low voice. He gripped Kate's hand, his steps steady but carrying a desperate resolve. "Let's walk over."

Step by step, they entered the Lake of Memories. The liquid emotional crystals rose past their ankles, and an icy sensation instantly invaded their souls as countless memories of the deceased flooded into their minds. Lin Fan grit his teeth, forcibly resisting the mental impact. He could see one life after another from the Tear Star civilization—their lives, their love, their pain, their regrets, all forcibly stuffed into his consciousness as if he himself had lived ten million times and suffered ten million times. But he did not retreat; his steps remained firm because he knew that Kate, behind him, was suffering even more than he was.

Kate's state was undergoing a violent change.

The moment her feet stepped into the liquid emotional crystals, her body jolted violently. Her starlight-colored pupils contracted sharply, and the human memories that had been suppressed by her universalizing consciousness frantically awakened within this extreme emotional energy. Countless memories surged into her heart like a tide—the encounter in the Star Abyss, the protection in desperate straits, the warmth of fighting side by side, the tenderness of day-to-day companionship. Those images she had gradually forgotten, those joys and sorrows belonging to the human Kate, all clearly surfaced in her mind.

She remembered her name, she remembered the youth in front of her, and she remembered all the bonds and promises between them.

Tears fell uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, dripping into the liquid emotional crystals beneath her feet and stirring up circles of blue ripples. This was the first time she had shed tears since her universalization, the first time she possessed human emotions, and the first time she felt the actual beating of her heart.

[part:deepseek-chat]

"Lin Fan..." she whispered, her voice carrying a long-lost sob and tenderness. It was no longer the cold language of the cosmos, but a human, familiar call. That soft call was like a key, unlocking all the emotions Lin Fan had suppressed.

Lin Fan's body jolted violently. He turned to look at her, his heart instantly filled to bursting, then instantly clenched tight. He saw the starry color gradually fade from Kate Rollins' pupils, her eyes returning to their once-clear gaze. He saw a long-lost, fragile expression appear on her face. He saw her finally transform back into the girl he knew—the one who could cry, laugh, and depend on him.

"I remember..." Kate Rollins' tears kept falling, yet the corners of her mouth lifted slightly in a tearful smile. "I remember everything, Lin Fan. I remember you, I remember everything about us... I remember you saying you would take me home..."

Lin Fan held her tightly, his heart pounding violently. All his worries and fears vanished in that moment, only to transform into an even more turbulent unease the next second. He knew it was Tear Star's emotional energy that had awakened her dormant human consciousness, temporarily freeing her from the cosmic erosion. But he understood even more clearly that this clarity was fragile, like a candle flame in the wind.

But this warmth did not last long.

As they reached the center of the lake and approached the golden Light Sphere Fragment, Kate Rollins' body suddenly began to tremble violently. Her face instantly turned deathly pale, devoid of all color. A torrent of memory fragments—not from the deceased of Tear Star, but from the future, from visions of cosmic law—forcibly flooded her mind.

She saw a vision that chilled her to the bone and froze her blood.

On a certain day in the future, the Dimensional Rift spiraled completely out of control, threatening the collapse of the multiverse. And the root of it all was her, constantly undergoing cosmic transformation. To save her, to prevent the universe's collapse, Lin Fan exhausted all his power and detonated his own light orb origin. Standing alone against the entire collapsing dimension, he ultimately saved her but destroyed the entire universe. stars shattered, galaxies vanished, countless civilizations perished. And Lin Fan disappeared into endless darkness, leaving behind only a faint, gentle whisper: "I'm sorry."

That was her future fate. That was Lin Fan's future end.

That was an ending she could never, under any circumstances, accept.

"No... Don't..." Kate Rollins shoved Lin Fan away, her face as pale as paper. Her eyes were filled with despair and terror as tears streamed down wildly, completely blurring her vision. "Don't do this... Lin Fan, you can't... You can't destroy everything... for me..."

"Kate Rollins, what's wrong?" Lin Fan's heart clenched. He reached out to grab her, his voice carrying panic for the first time. "What did you see? Tell me! Whatever it is, we'll face it together!"

Kate Rollins took a step back, shaking her head. Tears blurred her vision as she looked at the youth before her—the one willing to sacrifice everything for her, the one she fought with all her might not to lose. Her voice trembled with despair, filled with endless pleading. Every word seemed wrenched from the depths of her heart with all her strength, carrying a tearing pain. "Lin Fan... I saw the future..."

"To save me... you will destroy the entire universe..."

"You will disappear... vanish forever... I'll never find you again..."

She raised her hand, gently stroking Lin Fan's cheek. Her fingertips were icy cold, her eyes brimming with reluctance and agony—a longing as if facing an eternal farewell.

"If one day... you must choose between me and the universe..."

"If one day... I become a disaster, a monster that destroys everything..."

"Lin Fan... promise me..."

"If that day truly comes... you must kill me..."

"Don't hesitate..."

"Please... don't hesitate..."

These words pierced Lin Fan's heart like a million steel needles, hurting him so badly he couldn't breathe. He looked at Kate Rollins' despairing eyes, at her tear-streaked face. His heart felt as if it were being torn apart. He wanted to refute her, to tell her that day would never come, to tell her he would protect her forever, to tell her he would never give up on her. But his throat felt blocked, unable to utter a sound.

He could feel Kate Rollins' human consciousness burning intensely. This brief clarity was bought with the last of her humanity.

"I won't let that day come." Lin Fan finally spoke, his voice hoarse yet carrying an unwavering firmness. He held Kate Rollins tightly, pulling her into his embrace with a force as if to meld her into his very bones and blood. "I will protect you, and I will protect the universe. I will find a way to save both. I will. I swear."

Kate Rollins leaned against his chest, weeping openly. Her tears soaked his clothes and merged into the Memory Lake beneath their feet. She wasn't threatening or forcing him; she was just too afraid of losing him, too afraid of becoming the one who destroyed everything.

At that moment, the golden Light Sphere Fragment floating at the lake's center suddenly erupted with a dazzling light. It flew of its own accord toward Kate Rollins, merging into her forehead. A warm, powerful force instantly swept through her entire body, stabilizing her agitated consciousness. Yet, her brief clarity also began to fade. The starry color in her pupils slowly covered her clear eyes once more. Her sobs gradually quieted, her gaze growing calm again, though tears continued to stream from the corners of her eyes.

Lin Fan knew the brief clarity had ended.

The girl he had just recovered had once again drifted away from him.

A tremendous sense of powerlessness washed over him, nearly crushing him.

But before he could recover from this pain and reluctance, a cold, familiar presence suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping all of Tear Star like a pitch-black curtain devouring all light.

Pitch-black aircraft tore through cosmic space, appearing above Tear Star.

The banner of the Anti-Emotion Alliance slowly unfurled over the dead planet.

The voice of The Nihilist resounded once more in every corner—cold, merciless, without a ripple of emotion, like a death sentence.

"The remnants of the emotional civilization have indeed gathered here."

"The Light Sphere Fragment is to be handed over to the Alliance."

"All lifeforms must immediately undergo emotional purification. Otherwise, you will be eradicated on the spot."

An ambush.

The Anti-Emotion Alliance had actually tracked them directly, cutting off their retreat at the most critical, most vulnerable moment.

Franklin immediately turned around. His blue light screen was filled with killing intent and gravity. "Lin Fan! Their fleet is approaching. The numbers far exceed our estimates. We're surrounded! They've already locked onto the Light Sphere Fragment's energy signature. They won't give us any chance!"

Countless black mechanical soldiers poured out of the aircraft, surging toward the Memory Lake like a tide. They emitted an aura of absolute logic—cold, emotionless, fearless, and without hesitation, only the resolve to execute orders. Pale-gray energy weapons were already aimed at Lin Fan and Kate Rollins at the lake's center. At a single command, they would be annihilated instantly.

Lin Fan immediately shielded Kate Rollins behind him. Golden light orb energy surged wildly within him as he prepared for a fight to the death. But he knew he had just undergone intense mental shock, and Kate Rollins was in a weakened state of consciousness. They stood no chance of winning. This time, they had truly reached a dead end.

At this critical moment, a silver-gray figure suddenly rushed out from the direction of the star.

AKai.

He had, at some unknown time, disembarked from the ship. In his arms, he carried the emotion stripping device he had secretly developed. His eyes held a trace of obsession, a trace of resolve, and a trace of irrepressible struggle and pain. He looked at the Anti-Emotion Alliance's mechanical army charging toward them, at Lin Fan and Kate Rollins trapped in the lake's center, at the planet drowned in sorrow. The last line of defense in his heart completely collapsed.

The pain of losing his sister in childhood, the pain of Kate Rollins gradually disappearing, the pain of Earth's impending destruction, the pain of his own powerlessness—all erupted in this moment.

He slammed his hand down on the device's activation button.

"I won't... let you destroy our last hope."

"I won't... lose anyone else."

Pale-gray logical energy erupted from the device, forming a massive energy barrier that blocked the mechanical army's advance, forcibly halting their attack. But this device, forged from sorrow energy and rift logic energy, began to tremble violently the moment it came into contact with Tear Star's boundless emotional crystals.

Countless liquid emotional crystals surged toward the device as if drawn by a force, forcibly absorbed by it. Sorrow, pain, obsession, despair, regret, wails... the emotional energy accumulated over tens of thousands of years on Tear Star was all sucked into this small device.

The device's casing began to crack. Its core gray crystal shifted from gray to pale blue, then from pale blue to deep red, finally turning pitch black. A terrifying, eerie aura erupted from within the device.

It was mutating.

Having absorbed the sorrow of an entire civilization, this emotion stripping device was giving birth to its own consciousness.

AKai's face changed dramatically. He tried to shut down the device, but it was already too late.

A shrill, sorrowful roar erupted from within the device—not a mechanical electronic sound, but a voice filled with pain and despair, belonging to a living being. It was a mournful cry formed from the wails of countless deceased souls, piercing through the entire planet.

The elegy was born.

The sky over all of Tear Star instantly darkened. Boundless sorrow energy erupted from the device as the center, sweeping across the entire area. The Anti-Emotion Alliance's mechanical soldiers, struck by this emotional energy, instantly paralyzed, collapsed, and turned into scrap metal. But this power did not stop. It began indiscriminately devouring all emotion, all life, all the planet's sorrow, growing stronger, more terrifying, more out of control.

AKai stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the chaos before him, at the disaster he had created with his own hands. His face was deathly pale, his eyes filled with regret and despair. He had intended to save the situation, to protect his companions, to make up for past regrets. Instead, he had personally opened Pandora's box, dragging everyone into a deeper hell.

He finally understood: the Anti-Emotion Alliance's ideology was poison, and he himself had brewed an even more terrifying disaster.

The liquid emotional crystals of the Memory Lake churned violently. The phantoms of the deceased let out agonized wails. The power of the elegy continued to expand, about to break free from Tear Star and sweep across the entire universe.

Lin Fan held the gradually fading Kate Rollins, standing on the wildly churning lake surface. He looked at the out-of-control elegy before him, at the Anti-Emotion Alliance watching menacingly from the sky, at AKai's face filled with regret. For the first time, a deep sense of powerlessness appeared in his eyes.

Layer upon layer of crisis. One dead end after another.

The place where sorrow coalesced had not brought hope. Instead, it had dragged them into an even deeper abyss.

And all of this had only just begun.