153: Chapter 153 The Cost of Intervention

The void was never the darkness, deathly silence, or vacuum that biological life perceived; it was an absolute blankness, completely stripped of universal laws and utterly devoured by entropy. There was no up or down, left or right, no flow of time, no definition of light and dark, and not even the basic logic of 'existence' versus 'extinction'—every concept here would be diluted, dissolved, and returned to nothingness, like a drop of ink falling into boiling magma, leaving not a single trace behind.

When Lin Fan and Kate woke up in this boundless gray mist, they had long since lost all characteristics of being human, warriors, or carbon-based lifeforms. They no longer had bones or flesh, no breath or heartbeat, no sense of touch or pain; even their souls had been dismantled and reorganized, turning into two relatively stable clusters of conscious energy.

Kate's form was a soft flow of warm white light, like crushed stars, with fine patterns of Origin Energy entwined around the edges. This was the innate power from the depths of her soul and the only foundation that kept her from completely dissipating in the void explosion. Lin Fan was starkly different; his energy body was a deep black light of dark matter, with a frenzied black mist of entropy surging at the edges. This was the corrosive brand left by facing the Lord of the Void several times and forcibly devouring dark matter weapons. Now, in the lawless void, it spread wildly like poisonous vines, gnawing away at his conscious core bit by bit.

The consciousness of the two did not transmit through sound but through the most primitive energy resonance, vibrating directly in the depths of each other's souls.

【I... can't feel my body anymore.】

Kate's consciousness carried an undisguised panic and helplessness, like a child lost in a wasteland. She tried to move closer to Lin Fan according to her former instincts, wanting to touch his arm or hold his hand—to draw a sense of security from each other as they had done countless times on battlefields, in bases, and on escaping starships.

But in the next second, her flow of light passed through Lin Fan's Dark Matter Energy body without any resistance.

There was no resistance, no temperature, no sensation, and no resonance on any soul level.

It was like a gust of wind passing through an empty valley, or a beam of light passing through glass.

They were clearly close at hand, their consciousnesses tightly connected, yet they were separated by two completely severed dimensions, where even the most basic touch had become an extravagant hope.

【Is this the state of an energy body?】 Kate's flow of light trembled violently. 【Are we... still alive?】

Lin Fan's Dark Matter Energy retracted slightly, attempting to envelop her dissipating flow of light, but every time he drew near, the violent dark matter within him would uncontrollably sting her Origin Energy, forcing him to pull back. He responded in her consciousness with a bitter smile, his voice wrapped in heavy exhaustion and powerlessness: 【What is the definition of being alive? Having a heartbeat, body temperature, memories, and things to care about? We only have consciousness and energy left; even a 'physical form' doesn't exist. Strictly speaking, we are just a pile of 'energy residue' in the universe.】

【But at least...】 He paused, a faint but firm warmth rising in the depths of his consciousness, 【we can still bicker, we can still see each other, and we haven't completely become part of the void yet.】

These words struck the softest part of Kate's heart.

From the day Earth fell, she and Lin Fan had been swept into a war that spanned galaxies and concerned the survival of the entire universe. They had seen comrades die tragically, civilizations collapse, betrayal and slaughter, despair and darkness. Countless times they thought they would die in the cold universe, under the demonic claws of the void. Yet now, in the void where even laws did not exist, they actually retained their complete consciousness, their memories of each other, and the last bit of 'human' warmth.

This was already the most luxurious miracle in a desperate situation.

But this miracle did not last long.

From the depths of the void, a cold, hollow, and emotionless conscious whisper suddenly came. It sounded like the noise of countless metals rubbing together, and like the chaotic roar at the birth of the universe, smashing directly into the conscious cores of the two, vibrating so hard that their energy bodies nearly dissipated.

—【Welcome to eternity.】

—【Lonely Guardians, you have finally escaped your fragile flesh and become part of the void.】

—【Order will eventually collapse, emotions will eventually perish, memories will eventually return to zero; only nothingness is the sole destination of the universe.】

It was the Lord of the Void.

The ultimate demon who had devoured countless galaxies, driven the Entropy-increasing Army, and dragged the entire universe to the brink of destruction.

It had no physical form and no conscious bias; it was merely a pure collection of entropy whose instinct was to devour order—the will of destruction born after the universe lost its balance. Right now, it was perched at the very core of the void like a lurking behemoth, coldly watching the two 'new stars' that had just completed their energy reorganization, as if looking at two collectibles about to be pocketed.

Lin Fan's Dark Matter Energy surged instantly, the black mist churning around him turning into sharp blades, dead-locking onto the direction of the Lord of the Void's consciousness with a killing intent that felt tangible: 【What exactly do you want? To devour us, or to continue destroying all civilizations in the universe?】

【Destroy?】 The Lord of the Void's whisper carried a hint of mockery. 【I am merely correcting. The iteration of the universe requires a return to zero; the proliferation of civilization is but an erroneous variable. Your so-called life, emotions, and protection are not even worth dust in the face of universal laws.】

【Now that you have become energy bodies, you should be able to see the truth of the universe—all physical entities will decay, and all civilizations will perish. Only by merging into the void can one attain true eternity.】

Kate's warm white light suddenly flared brilliantly, her Origin Energy like the dawn piercing through darkness, violently clashing against the conscious pressure of the Lord of the Void: 【You are wrong. The meaning of life is never eternity; it is having loved, lived, and protected. The meaning of civilization is never immortality; it is inheritance, creation, and struggle. Your so-called void eternity is nothing but a deathly silence without a soul!】

【Deathly silence?】 The Lord of the Void let out a low roar. 【When you watch with your own eyes as the last planet is devoured, the last civilization is reset to zero, and the last trace of emotion is erased, you will understand that deathly silence is the gentlest destination.】

The moment the words fell, Lin Fan and Kate suddenly felt their energy bodies develop a bizarre connection with the energy network of the entire universe.

It wasn't a vague perception, but an omniscient perspective so clear it felt like being there in person.

They could see the wreckage of fleets at the edge of the Milky Way, the faint light of the last elegy anchor of the Mechanical Civilization in operation, the panicked figures of the Remnant Light Alliance under the leadership of Little Kate and Franklin struggling to gather their remaining forces, and the violent energy emitted by the star core engine of the Light Sphere Race, enough to destroy half a galaxy...

And at the very end of all these images, they saw a blue planet.

That planet was located in a remote area of the universe, far from the main battlefield and the primary offensive of the void army; it should have been a 'paradise' in this cosmic war. It had a complete atmosphere, blue oceans, continuous mountain ranges, lush vegetation, and even more, tens of millions of living intelligent beings—they had no faster-than-light technology, no dark matter weapons, and no energy civilization. They simply lived the most primitive and ordinary lives, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, completely unaware of the catastrophe sweeping the universe.

They were innocent.

They were through-and-through victims caught up in the war.

But at this moment, this innocent planet was being tightly strangled by a void tentacle spanning tens of thousands of kilometers.

That tentacle was composed of pure entropy—pitch black, viscous, and cold, its surface churning with black mist that devoured everything. With every squirm, it stripped away a layer of laws from the planet's surface. The atmosphere was forcibly torn apart like shattered glass, scattering into the universe; the oceans rapidly evaporated under the erosion of entropy, turning into a sky full of water vapor before being instantly devoured by nothingness; mountain ranges collapsed, the earth split into bottomless chasms, and fire and glaciers ravaged the surface simultaneously. The lights of civilization went out one by one, until finally only a desperate red glow remained, flickering feebly in the darkness.

The intelligent beings on the planet screamed in terror, ran, embraced, and prayed. They didn't know what that pitch-black tentacle was, didn't know the universe was heading toward destruction, and didn't know of the Lord of the Void's existence. They just wanted to live, to protect their homes, and to protect their families.

Countless young children hid in their parents' arms crying, countless elderly people knelt on the ground praying, and countless young lives tried to resist, only to be easily crushed like ants before absolute power.

Their conscious fragments, emotional fluctuations, and memory snippets turned into a sky full of fine points of light, devoured bite by bite by the void tentacle, leaving not a single trace behind.

That was the complete extinction of existence.

Not death, but as if they had never existed.

Kate's flow of light began to tremble violently, the light of her Origin Energy flickering, her consciousness filled with endless pain and anger.

She had seen too much death.

She had seen countless humans die under the claws of void monsters when Earth fell; seen countless warriors turn into cosmic dust in interstellar battlefields; seen billions of mechanical lives shut down instantly when the home planet of the Mechanical Civilization exploded; seen the light energy completely dissipate when a branch of the Light Sphere Race was devoured...

But never once had it made her feel as suffocated as this.

Because she could clearly perceive the pain of every life, hear the despair of every soul, and see the beauty of every memory—those ordinary moments of happiness, those simple joys, those hopes for the future were being ruthlessly torn apart, devoured, and reset to zero by the void.

【We can save them.】

Kate's consciousness suddenly became incredibly firm, and her warm white light began to surge frantically, trying to break free from the lawless shackles of the void to rush toward that planet on the brink of destruction.

【Kate, don't move!】

Lin Fan instantly sensed her intention. His Dark Matter Energy desperately entwined with her light flow, forcibly pulling her back. The roar in his consciousness carried extreme panic and fear: 【Get a grip! Do you know what you're doing?】

【I want to save them!】 Kate struggled hard, her light flow and his dark matter clashing into blinding sparks. 【Those are tens of millions of lives! They did nothing wrong; they shouldn't die like this!】

【I know they are innocent!】 Lin Fan's consciousness was almost shattering. 【But in your current state, you can't interfere with reality at all! We've just completed our reorganization in the void dimension; our energy bodies are extremely unstable. Every time we forcibly prop open the void barrier and interfere with the laws of reality, we are burning our own existence!】

【Burning our own existence?】 Kate was stunned.

【Yes.】 Lin Fan's voice was as heavy as if it were pressing down on a galaxy. 【We are pure energy bodies now, with no physical form to carry us and no energy supply. All our power comes from our conscious cores and our soul memories. Once we forcibly interfere with reality, our energy will dissipate rapidly, our consciousness will gradually blur, our memories will slowly fade, and finally... we will completely evaporate into the universe, leaving not even a soul fragment behind.】

【It's not sacrifice, it's not dying in battle—it's completely ceasing to exist.】

【No one will remember us, no civilization will record us; it will be as if we never appeared in this universe at all, a complete reset to zero.】

With every word Lin Fan spoke, the fear in his heart grew.

He wasn't afraid of death, sacrifice, or dying together with the Lord of the Void, but he was afraid of losing Kate.

From their meeting on the streets of Earth to fighting side-by-side in interstellar battlefields and their life-and-death dependence in the depths of the void, Kate had long since become the only light in his life, his only concern, and his only support. He had fought, struggled, betrayed, and fled all this way, enduring countless moments of despair, not to become some cosmic hero or uncover some truth of creation, but simply to protect the person beside him—to protect the Kate who would smile at him, bicker with him, and pull him back in desperate situations.

If even she completely dissipated, then what was the point of him living, fighting, and holding on?

But Kate only remained silent for a moment.

Her gaze (energy perspective) turned once more toward the blue planet entangled by the void tentacle.

The surface had already become a living hell. Countless tiny figures were running in despair; parents shielded their children beneath them, and lovers held each other tight. In their conscious fragments, there was nothing but a longing for life, an attachment to their home, and a reluctance to leave one another.

Those most simple and pure emotions were like a sharp knife, stabbing deep into Kate's soul.

【Lin Fan.】 she spoke softly, her consciousness showing not a hint of retreat, 【If we turn a blind eye today and watch this planet perish, watching tens of millions die, then what was the point of us becoming energy bodies, gaining a cosmic perspective, and possessing the power to interfere with reality?】

【If we have the ability to protect but choose to stand by and watch, then what is the difference between us and the Lord of the Void?】

【The meaning is staying alive!】 Lin Fan roared. 【Only by staying alive can we continue to fight the void, uncover the truth of the universal will, help Little Kate and the others protect the Remnant Light Alliance, and...】

【Stay alive just to watch planet after planet be devoured?】 Kate interrupted him, a ripple of energy like tears appearing in her light flow. 【Stay alive just to watch civilization after civilization perish? Stay alive just to watch countless innocent lives die pointlessly like this?】

【Lin Fan, you and I both know that this war was never about ourselves.】

【What we protect has never been some universal laws or some secret of creation; it's these living beings, these simple moments of happiness, these beauties that should not be destroyed.】

【If we don't even dare to reach out, then what kind of warriors are we? What kind of Guardians?】

As her words fell, Kate suddenly broke free from Lin Fan's dark matter restraint.

She no longer hesitated, no longer feared, and no longer cared about her own dissipation.

The warm white Origin Energy surged frantically around her like a supernova explosion, brilliant to the extreme and resolute to the extreme. She mobilized all her energy, all her consciousness, and all her soul power to forcibly tear open a tiny but sturdy crack in the boundless void.

That was the only channel connecting the void to reality.

It was also the fuse that would burn her own existence.

【Kate! No!】

Lin Fan's eyes nearly split as his Dark Matter Energy chased after her desperately.

He knew he couldn't stop her at all.

From the first day he met her, she was that kind of person—gentle yet resilient, kind yet resolute. She couldn't stand to see the innocent suffer or beauty be destroyed; even at the cost of her life, she would hold onto the bottom line in her heart.

He could only choose to accompany her.

Even if complete extinction lay ahead, even if they would eventually return to zero in the void.

Lin Fan spread out all of his dark matter power, intertwining it tightly with Kate's Origin Energy. Light and dark, black and white—the violent dark matter and the warm Origin Energy collided and merged, forming an incredibly brilliant energy barrier that spanned the void. Following the rift Kate had torn open, it slammed ruthlessly into the void tentacle wrapped around the azure planet.

BOOM—!!!

The laws of the universe let out a violent roar as the void barrier was forcibly disturbed. Entropy, Origin Energy, and Dark Matter Energy collided, creating a shockwave that destroyed everything in its path, sweeping across the entire star sector.

The void tentacle, spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, trembled violently under this resolute energy impact.

For the first time, the Lord of the Void showed visible shock and rage, his consciousness booming through the void: [You're insane! You're actually burning your very existence! You will dissipate completely, returning to zero forever, without even the qualification for eternity!]

[We don't need your so-called eternity!] Kate and Lin Fan's voices vibrated in reality in unison; it was a cry fueled by the burning of their lives. [We only protect what we want to protect!]

The void tentacle lashed out, crushed, and eroded frantically. The black mist of entropy counterattacked like a tide, attempting to swallow the two burning energy bodies.

With every collision, Kate's flow of light grew a fraction dimmer.

Her silhouette began to blur, and countless tiny specks of light drifted away from the edges of her energy. This was her consciousness dissipating, her memories peeling away, and her soul being dismantled. She could feel her memories of Lin Fan, of Earth, of her comrades, and of all things beautiful becoming blurred bit by bit, like ink being washed away by rain, slowly fading.

With every resistance, Lin Fan's dark matter became a fraction more manic.

The dark matter erosion within him spiraled completely out of control, spreading frantically along his energy pathways, nearly swallowing his core consciousness. He could feel his sanity collapsing and his emotions being extinguished; he was on the verge of becoming a soulless entropy monster just like the Lord of the Void.

Pain.

It wasn't the pain of flesh tearing, nor the burning pain of the soul.

It was the bone-deep pain of despair as existence itself was dismantled piece by piece.

[Enough! Kate, enough!] Using his last shred of clear consciousness, Lin Fan tightly clung to Kate's scattering flow of light. [The tentacle has been repelled; the planet is safe for now. If you keep going, you really will disappear forever!]

[I can't stop!] Kate's voice carried a sob, yet her flow of light remained firmly blocking the front of the planet. [The tentacles will come back; they'll still be in danger!]

[Then you shouldn't burn yourself away!] Lin Fan's consciousness was filled with panic and heartache. [I can't stand watching you dissipate bit by bit! Kate, please, come back with me!]

[Then let me disappear!] Kate roared, her energy ripples full of determination. [That's still better than watching them die! Lin Fan, you clearly understand! We didn't come this far to just scrape by; we came here to protect!]

[I understand! I understand everything!] Lin Fan's Dark Matter Energy trembled violently, revealing a vulnerable side for the first time. [But I can't just watch you vanish! I don't care about the universe, I don't care about the truth, I don't care about some Lord of the Void—I only care about you!]

[You're all I have left.]

[From Earth until now, I've lost my family, my comrades, and everything else. I only have you left. If you're gone too, what's the point of me living?]

These words were like a heavy hammer, slamming hard against Kate's heart.

Her movements instantly froze.

The brilliance within the flow of light slowly receded, and the speed of her dissipation slowed slightly, but the pain in her consciousness only grew more intense.

She looked at Lin Fan's nearly collapsing Dark Matter Energy, saw how he was covered in wounds from dark matter erosion just to protect her, and saw the undisguised fear and love in the depths of his eyes (from an energy perspective). The determination in her heart was instantly shattered by tenderness.

That's right.

He was never some natural-born hero.

He was just an ordinary person who wanted to protect those by his side.

[Lin Fan... ] Kate murmured softly, her voice as weak as a candle in the wind.

[Come back with me.] Lin Fan tightly entwined her energy core, using his last ounce of strength to forcibly sever her connection to reality. [I'll take you back to the void, I'll help you stabilize your energy; we can't just die like this.]

Without waiting for Kate's response, Lin Fan dragged her scattering flow of light and suddenly retreated back into the void rift.

Crack—

The void rift closed rapidly, completely cutting off their connection to reality.

Outside, after being heavily damaged, the void tentacle let out an unwilling roar. The black mist of entropy contracted quickly, slowly retreating into the depths of the void, temporarily giving up its consumption of the azure planet.

The surviving lifeforms on the planet stared blankly at the flash of light and darkness in the sky, unable to recover for a long time.

In that moment just now, they clearly felt the shadow of death being completely dispelled and the tentacle of destruction being forcibly repelled. A warm and powerful force had protected the entire planet and all of them.

No one knew what those two glows were.

No one knew they were two energy bodies heading toward extinction.

No one knew that their saviors were paying the price of their very existence for them.

People fell to their knees one after another, tears streaming down their faces, praying, bowing, and giving thanks toward the sky.

They enshrined that light and darkness as Guardian deities of the universe, carving them into murals and writing them into legends to be passed down through generations.

They would never know that the gods they spoke of were currently in the void, bit by bit drifting toward non-existence.

...

Inside the void, the deathly silent blankness returned.

Kate's energy body had faded to near transparency; the warm white flow of light was almost merging into this grey mist, her silhouette so blurred it was nearly invisible. Her core consciousness was teetering, and countless memory fragments were rapidly drifting away. She found it difficult even to maintain her basic form, only able to lean weakly within Lin Fan's Dark Matter Energy like a flower about to wither.

Lin Fan wasn't doing much better.

The dark matter had already eroded into his core consciousness, and the black mist surged with increasing madness. His sanity was constantly on the brink of collapse, and he could only rely on his obsession with Kate to forcibly stabilize his form. Using his remaining Dark Matter Energy, he bit by bit enveloped her scattering flow of light, trying to slow her dissipation.

But he knew this was just a drop in the bucket.

The price of their forced interference in reality was already irreversible.

[Look... ] Kate smiled weakly, a faint warmth rising in her flow of light. [The planet is fine, they all survived... it was worth it.]

[Worth it my ass,] Lin Fan cursed under his breath, his voice carrying a suppressed sob. [I'd rather you be alive and watch ten thousand planets be destroyed than have you burn yourself until not even ash is left for a bunch of strangers.]

[You weren't like this before,] Kate said softly.

[I hadn't lost so much before.] Lin Fan closed his eyes (from an energy perspective), his Dark Matter Energy gently wrapping around her. [Before, I only wanted to live, I only wanted to survive. But after meeting you, I realized some things are more important than living. Yet now I understand that to you, I am the most important, and to me, you are the most important.]

[We're both so foolish.]

[Not foolish.] Kate shook her head gently, her flow of light nuzzling against his Dark Matter Energy. [We made the right choice.]

Lin Fan didn't speak again, simply holding her quietly in the boundless void, feeling each other's weakening consciousness and feeling their own existence being diluted by the void bit by bit.

He knew they didn't have much time left.

Perhaps in the next second, Kate would dissipate completely, turning into a wisp of energy in the universe; perhaps in the next moment, he would be completely swallowed by dark matter, becoming a mindless entropy monster.

Their story seemed as if it were about to reach its end here.

But at that moment, Kate suddenly paused.

Her energy body suddenly established a faint, inexplicable connection with that azure planet.

It wasn't a connection of cosmic energy, but a connection of conscious instinct.

She clearly "saw" a scene on the planet—

In a ruined area eroded by entropy, a child in tattered clothes, covered in injuries, was huddled in a corner. He had just escaped being swallowed by the void tentacle, but his parents had died in the disaster. His small face was covered in tear stains, yet he was exceptionally strong.

The child held a piece of charred black stone and was crouched by a broken wall, seriously drawing something.

He had never learned to draw, had never seen cosmic symbols, and didn't even know what the void or energy was.

He was simply following an innate image that had suddenly surfaced in his mind, sketching stroke by stroke based on instinct.

He drew a door.

A distorted, simple, yet mysteriously powerful door.

The doorframe consisted of spiral-shaped ancient patterns, and at its center was a faint speck of light, like an eye opening in the abyss, or a singularity at the birth of the universe. Within those simple lines was hidden a sense of destiny that spanned time and space.

The child drew very seriously, his small hand trembling slightly, yet he drew the silhouette of that door with incredible clarity.

In the void, Kate watched that naive drawing quietly.

In the next second, her consciousness jolted violently.

The flow of light trembled intensely, and her originally scattering consciousness suddenly became incomparably clear.

That symbol.

That door.

She was all too familiar with it.

Ever since she had memories, this symbol had appeared countless times in her dreams, in the depths of her consciousness, and in Origin Energy fragments she had occasionally triggered. She had never known what it was or what it represented, only feeling that it was a part of her destiny, a secret hidden in the deepest part of the universe.

She had once asked the elders of the Light Sphere Race, asked Franklin, and asked everyone who knew the secrets of the universe, yet not a single person could give her an answer.

But now.

On a remote, innocent planet that had just been saved, a child who had never contacted cosmic civilizations or seen the void had drawn this symbol based on instinct.

Drawn what had appeared in her dreams countless times—

The Gate of the Star Abyss.

Following Kate's gaze, Lin Fan also "saw" that drawing.

His Dark Matter Energy instantly froze, and his heart sank.

It wasn't a coincidence.

It absolutely was not a coincidence.

From Earth, to the interstellar battlefields, to the void dimension, to this remote azure planet, this symbol had always been like an invisible thread, tightly pulling their fates, the truth of the universe, and all the secrets of the Lord of the Void and the creation program.

What the child had drawn was not a door, but the key to the ultimate truth.

It was the end point of their destiny.

It was the core of the entire universe's iteration.

[That's... ] Lin Fan's consciousness was full of shock. [The Gate of the Star Abyss?]

[Yes.] Kate nodded gently, a complex mix of emotions rising in her flow of light—shock, confusion, and determination. [It has been waiting for us.]

[Waiting for us to open the door,] Lin Fan added, his voice carrying a heavy realization. [And then, uncover all the truths and end all of this.]

They both understood.

The rescue just now wasn't the end.

It was the beginning.

It was the beginning of the path to the ultimate secrets of the universe, the beginning of the fight against the forces behind the Lord of the Void, and the most critical step in their destiny.

But their current state was abysmal.

Kate's energy body was on the verge of dissipating, her consciousness liable to collapse at any moment; Lin Fan was completely eroded by dark matter, close to becoming a puppet of the void. They had no energy replenishment, no outside help, and even maintaining their basic existence was difficult, let alone searching for the Gate of the Star Abyss, uncovering the truth of the universe, and fighting the enemies behind the scenes.

Once they stepped onto that path, they wouldn't even have a chance to turn back.

[Do we still have a choice?] Kate asked softly.

[No.] Lin Fan answered without hesitation, his Dark Matter Energy tightly enveloping her. [From the day Earth fell, we haven't had a choice. Our fates were tied to this symbol, this door, and the survival of the entire universe long ago.]

[Even if complete extinction lies ahead?]

[Even if complete extinction lies ahead.] Lin Fan's consciousness was full of determination. [As long as I'm with you, I'm not afraid of anything.]

Kate's flow of light trembled gently, like a tender tear falling.

Leaning in Lin Fan's energy, she quietly gazed at that azure planet and the Gate of the Star Abyss the child had drawn. The confusion in her heart gradually faded, leaving only resolve.

She knew they had to keep going.

For their dead comrades, for the surviving civilizations, for the innocent lives on that planet, for the future of the entire universe, and for each other.

But neither of them knew.

The price they paid for this forced interference in reality was far more than just their own dissipation.

What they had disturbed was not just a void tentacle, nor just the fate of a planet, but the balance of the entire universe's laws.

In a higher-dimensional space they could not see, a cold, indifferent gaze—belonging to no civilization and no life—slowly opened.

That gaze pierced through the void, through reality, and through the symbol of the Gate of the Star Abyss, falling directly upon Kate and Lin Fan.

Like an Observer who had been dormant for countless eons, it had finally noticed two ants that had broken free from the shackles of code.

Like an ancient existence controlling multiple universes, it had finally developed a hint of interest in these two tiny energy bodies.

The entropy roar of the Lord of the Void instantly became insignificant before this gaze.

The operation of the cosmic will's program was like a child's toy before this gaze.

And Kate and Lin Fan, who were heading toward their ultimate destiny, noticed none of this.

They simply snuggled close in the blankness of the void, guarding each other's last bit of warmth, waiting to walk toward that Gate of the Star Abyss they were destined to open.

Waiting to welcome the final fate that belonged to them.