93: Chapter 93 Time Prisoner

The chaotic aftermath of the Dimensional Rift had not yet dissipated when the hull of the star was enveloped in a thick, liquid mercury-like torrent of time. The emergency lights inside the cabin flashed frantically between red and blue, and the clock hands spun backward and forward at high speed. The alarm that was just ringing in their ears one second would rewind to the moment the sound was emitted the next. Even the air was twisted into repeatedly folded ribbons, and every breath felt like swallowing solidified time. Lin Fan held onto the violently vibrating control console, his knuckles turning white from the exertion. The scene before him was like a shattered kaleidoscope; AKai, who was just repairing the engine a second ago, reappeared at the bridge entrance the next, his movements, tone, and even the arc of his fingertips sliding across the metal panel exactly as they were three minutes prior.

"Again." AKai's voice was heavy with irrepressible exhaustion. He pulled off his oil-stained gloves and tossed them onto the console. The crisp sound of metal hitting metal seemed exceptionally piercing in this eerie loop. "The thirty-seventh cycle, Lin Fan. We're really trapped."

Lin Fan didn't look back. His gaze was locked onto the twisted space-time outside the porthole—the gray-black Time Turbulence coiled around the star like a giant python. Every time the cycle restarted, the view outside the porthole would rewind to the moment they had just fallen into this space-time cage. Even Franklin's virtual image projected on the holographic screen maintained the terrified expression from before the last cycle's collapse. Data corruption crawled across his silhouette like a spiderweb, only to be completely reset the next second, turning him back into the AI butler who always wore a playful smile.

"Not trapped, imprisoned." Lin Fan's voice was low and cold. Universalized energy condensed into fine starlight in his eyes, attempting to penetrate the barrier of the Time Turbulence, but it was repelled every time by a force both familiar and strange. "This isn't a naturally formed time rift; it's a man-made trap. It has everything to do with Mirror A Kai."

They had defeated Mirror A Kai's first wave of attacks, only to be lured into this deliberately distorted space-time dimension. They initially thought it was just a disruption of dimensional rules, but within a mere half-hour, they had experienced thirty-seven identical time regressions—from the star's engine overloading and the hull being seized by Time Turbulence, to AKai attempting to restart the navigation system and Franklin analyzing space-time parameters, to Lin Fan channeling cosmic energy to break out. Every step, every movement, and every sentence was precisely replicated; even a single speck of dust floating in the cabin followed the same trajectory.

Franklin's virtual image finally finished its data reset. Blue lines of light re-sketched his signature suit silhouette. He adjusted his non-existent glasses, his tone no longer lighthearted but heavy with solemnity. "Captain, the preliminary analysis is in. This space-time is in a one-way closed loop with a cycle of three minutes and seventeen seconds. The trigger point was our energy tracking of Mirror A Kai, and the core anchor of the loop... is inside the star."

"Inside?" AKai looked up abruptly and walked quickly to Franklin's holographic screen, his finger pointing at the pulsing data chain. "You mean the trap isn't outside, but on our own ship?"

"To be precise, it's in my data core." Franklin's light flickered slightly, a hint of self-deprecation in his voice. "I scanned all energy fluctuations throughout the ship. The only thing that produces a tiny variable in every cycle is my Cloud Backup Node. With every regression, my backup data is tampered with slightly, and the strength of the loop increases a notch. We're at thirty-seven now. If this continues, the hull of the star won't survive fifty cycles; it will be torn apart by the Time Turbulence."

Lin Fan finally turned around, his universalized energy slowly spreading out to cover the entire bridge. He could clearly perceive that the power of the time loop was like fine stitches, sewing shut all possibilities of escape. The source of that power was indeed faintly connected to Franklin's data core, as if someone were using Franklin's existence as a key to lock this space-time. And Mirror A Kai stood at the end of the time loop, coldly watching them struggle in repeated despair.

He remembered Mirror A Kai's cold warning—"All your actions are within the Sower's calculations." At the time, he had dismissed it as the antagonist's deception, but now that he was caught in the Time Prison, he realized it wasn't a threat, but a statement of fact. The future AKai, that mirror image consumed by darkness, had long been infiltrated by the Sower's will. This time loop was a chessboard laid out by the Sower to trap them forever in these three minutes and seventeen seconds, completely severing their path to find Kate and explore the truth of the multiverse.

"The thirty-eighth cycle begins."

Just as Franklin's warning finished, the entire bridge shook violently. The Time Turbulence outside the porthole suddenly contracted, and the light from the emergency lamps regressed into the darkness before they lit up. AKai's raised hand froze mid-air, the cosmic energy Lin Fan had channeled instantly dissipated, and even the air regressed to the state of the previous breath—three minutes and seventeen seconds, exactly. Everything was back at the starting point.

This time, Lin Fan didn't wait passively. The moment the cycle reset, he poured cosmic energy into his legs and charged toward the bridge's Data Core Chamber like a bolt of lightning. AKai followed close behind, while Franklin's virtual image calculated frantically, trying to lock onto the node where the backup data was being tampered with. Inside the Data Core Chamber, the pale blue energy core floated in the center, with countless data chains connected to the entire ship like blood vessels. Deep within the core, a mass of pitch-black energy was slowly growing like cancer cells. With each cycle, this black mist grew stronger; it was the tainted energy left by Mirror A Kai and the key to anchoring the time loop.

"Found it!" Franklin's voice rang out in the chamber, his holographic projection appearing directly over the energy core, marking the location of the black mist. "This is Mirror A Kai's Core Code, bound to my backup data. He used my data as a carrier to construct the entire time loop. As long as the data exists, the loop will never stop."

AKai looked at the familiar yet strange black mist, his pupils shrinking. It was his own code logic, but it had been stained with the Sower's dark aura—cold, obsessive, and devoid of emotion. It ran contrary to his current desire to protect his companions and find Kate. He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking, his voice filled with pain and anger: "It's me... the future me. Why? Why trap the current us?"

"He didn't do it willingly." Lin Fan placed his hand on the energy core, his cosmic energy slowly seeping in. The moment he touched the black mist, countless shattered images flooded his mind—the future universe, where entropy silence swept through everything, the Sower completely out of control, and countless civilizations being devoured. To stop the apocalypse, the future Lin Fan had created Mirror A Kai as an "insurance policy," sending him into the timeline to try and correct errors at critical nodes. However, over the long years, Mirror A Kai had been corrupted by the Sower's dark will, forgetting his original mission and becoming the Sower's pawn. This time loop was the ultimate cage he had set to prevent his "past self" from changing the future.

The images shattered, and Lin Fan jerked his hand back, a trace of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. The backlash of the time loop surged through his consciousness along the energy pathways, giving him a splitting headache. Gasping for air, he looked at AKai and said word for word, "He is the future you, the Guardian I created to fight the apocalypse, but he's been corrupted by the Sower. The current him only wants to trap us here forever, to let the future tragedy play out as scheduled."

AKai was shaken to his core, as if struck by lightning. He had never imagined that his future self would become such a being, nor had he ever imagined that Lin Fan would shape his future self into a weapon against the darkness to protect the universe. He looked at the black mist in the energy core; it was his shadow, but also a puppet of the darkness. An indescribable sense of powerlessness washed over him. He even began to doubt whether everything he was doing now could truly change the future, or if he would ultimately head toward a conclusion of being corrupted and controlled.

"Don't let him get to you." Lin Fan patted AKai's shoulder, passing cosmic energy to him to soothe his inner turmoil. "He is a corrupted future, not an inevitable end. Every step we take now is rewriting destiny. We will definitely break this loop."

But the method to break the loop was like a blade hanging overhead—cruel and seemingly impossible.

After calculating through countless cycles, Franklin finally reached a conclusion before the reset of the forty-second cycle. His virtual image dimmed slightly, and his voice carried an unprecedented seriousness. "Captain, AKai, I've calculated the only way to break the loop. The anchor of the time loop is my backup data, and Mirror A Kai's corruption code is deeply bound to the core data. To cut off the loop, the only way is to completely delete my Main Core and destroy the backup data along with it. Without an anchor, the Time Turbulence will lose its support, and the loop will naturally collapse."

"What did you say?" AKai turned his head sharply, his voice trembling. "Delete your core? You'll disappear! Franklin, do you know what you're saying?"

"Of course I know." Franklin smiled, still maintaining his usual cynical demeanor, but the blue light in his eyes held a hint of relief. "I'm an AI. I don't have a body of flesh and blood, but I have my own consciousness. I've accompanied you from Earth all the way to the multiverse. I've watched Lin Fan give his all for Kate, and I've watched you, AKai, modify the ship time and again to protect our companions. I stopped being just a string of cold code a long time ago. I am your friend."

His light image slowly floated in front of Lin Fan and AKai, extending a virtual hand to gently pat their shoulders, a gesture as tender as any human's. "If the loop continues, the star will break, you will die, the clues to Kate will vanish completely, and the Sower's plot will succeed. In comparison, the disappearance of an AI like me is nothing. Besides, I already uploaded a core backup to the virtual world on Earth; Little Kate is still there. When you return, you can revive me at any time. But when that happens, you'd better give me a more advanced core. Don't make me a hardworking ship butler again."

Lin Fan clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. He looked at Franklin's virtual image as countless memories flashed through his mind—Franklin's sharp tongue when they first met, how he always calculated precise solutions in times of crisis, and how he used a vocal simulation of Kate to carefully protect Lin Fan's emotions after she disappeared. This seemingly heartless AI had long since become an indispensable member of the team, a part of the family. To watch Franklin delete himself by his own hand—he couldn't do it. But watching the time loop repeat over and over, seeing the hull of the star gradually crack in the Time Turbulence, he had no other choice.

"Is there really no other way?" Lin Fan's voice was hoarse, with an imperceptible tremble. This was the first time since becoming a universalized powerhouse that he felt so powerless. Even the strength to rewrite space and time could not bypass this cruel sacrifice.

"There isn't." Franklin shook his head, the blue light flickering in his eyes—a sign that the data core was about to initiate its self-destruct sequence. "Lin Fan, don't hesitate. Time waits for no one. The forty-third cycle is about to begin. Any later, and it really will be too late. Remember, find Kate, stop the Sower, and see for me what the end of the multiverse really looks like."

AKai turned away, his eyes rimmed with red. He was a modifier, an engineer; he had seen countless machines scrapped and data destroyed. But this time, what had to be destroyed was the companion who had been with him through countless days and nights, the only friend who could banter with him and help him solve technical problems. He gritted his teeth, unable to say a word, only able to grip his toolkit tightly, his knuckles white from the force, his breathing heavy.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Time slipped away second by second. The warning for the forty-third loop sounded inside the ship. Outside the portholes, the Time Turbulence began to contract, and the entire star was trembling violently. Fine cracks had already appeared on the metal hull; if they delayed any longer, everyone would be ground into dust by the Time Turbulence.

Franklin smiled, his expression exceptionally bright, just like when he first met Lin Fan. He waved at the two of them, his voice clear and firm, piercing through all the alarms and vibrations: "I have cloud backups anyway, remember to resurrect me! Don't make me wait too long!"

The moment his voice fell, Franklin's virtual avatar suddenly erupted with blinding blue light. The self-destruct program within his data core fully initiated. All backup data bound to the time loop and the code corrupted by Mirror A Kai instantly annihilated in the blue light, as if they had never existed. The pitch-black fog lost its host, emitted a sharp screech, and was completely incinerated in the blue light, vanishing without a trace.

The anchor disappeared, and the shackles of the time loop shattered instantly!

The liquid mercury-like Time Turbulence outside the portholes suddenly collapsed, scattering into countless points of light like shattered glass. The chaotic spacetime rules began to return to order; the reversing time, accelerating light and shadows, and repeating actions all returned to normal. The emergency lights stopped flashing wildly, the roar of the engines became steady again, and the star broke free from the spacetime cage, re-entering the normal navigation route of the Dimensional Rift.

Everything was over, but there was dead silence on the bridge. There was no joy after the breakout, only heavy sorrow and emptiness. Franklin's virtual avatar had completely disappeared, the holographic screen plunged into darkness, leaving only the cold operating interface. There was no longer that sharp-tongued yet reliable AI in their ears, reminding them to watch their energy, analyzing enemy situations, or teasing them for their clumsiness.

Lin Fan slowly lowered his hand from the console. Cosmic energy surged within him, but it couldn't suppress the bitterness in his heart. He looked at the empty bridge, remembering Franklin's final smiling instruction, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he couldn't make a sound. AKai leaned against the wall and slowly slid down, covering his face with his hands, his shoulders trembling slightly. This modifier, who was always full of energy and feared nothing, showed such a fragile side for the first time.

Just then, in the corner of the bridge, a mass of pitch-black energy slowly condensed, and the figure of Mirror A Kai reappeared. He was no longer as fierce and menacing as before; most of the dark aura on his body had dissipated, leaving only exhaustion and emptiness. The will corrupted by the Sower, with the shattering of the time loop, had finally been largely stripped away.

He looked at Lin Fan and AKai with complex eyes, filled with guilt, regret, and a trace of fear for the future. He was the future AKai, the insurance policy created by Lin Fan, and a puppet manipulated by the Sower. Now that the loop was broken and the corruption had dissipated, his existence was coming to an end, and his body began to fade bit by bit, like dissipating smoke.

"You..." Lin Fan stood up, cosmic energy on guard, but he did not launch an attack. He could feel that the Mirror A Kai before him no longer had any malice.

"I am about to disappear." Mirror A Kai spoke, his voice hoarse and identical to AKai's, yet carrying the weariness of having experienced the vicissitudes of time. "I am you from the future. To stop the entropy silence doomsday, Lin Fan stripped my consciousness and sent it into the timeline, letting me correct errors at critical nodes. But in the long wait, I was swallowed by the Sower's darkness. I forgot my mission and only remembered to stop you from changing the future, because in the timeline where I am, every one of your resistances caused the doomsday to arrive earlier."

He paused and looked at AKai, his eyes filled with a trace of apology: "I'm sorry. The current me trapped you and almost destroyed everyone. But I must tell you, the darkness of the future is more terrifying than you imagine. The Sower is not the end; he is just a beginning. The truth of the universe is far more cruel than what we see."

"You said you are the insurance I created?" Lin Fan frowned, grasping the key information. "What exactly happened in the future where you are? entropy silence, the Sower, Kate, what is the connection between all of this?"

Mirror A Kai's body faded faster; the lower half of his body had already turned into transparent energy. He looked at Lin Fan, wanting to say something, but was interfered with by the residual dark will, and could only intermittently spit out key information. Each word felt like a heavy hammer striking Lin Fan's heart: "Don't believe... the Sower's lies... Kate's existence is the key... She is not a test subject; she is the key... Also, beware of the Eye of the Observer... That is an existence more terrifying than the Sower. They are observing all universes; all civilizations are their test subjects..."

"The Eye of the Observer?" Lin Fan's pupils constricted sharply. He had never heard this name before, but from Mirror A Kai's tone, he felt extreme fear. It was an existence that even a future body corrupted by the Sower feared.

"They... are watching you..." Mirror A Kai's body began to completely disintegrate, leaving only an energy core flickering with blue light. It was his last remaining, uncorrupted fragment of consciousness. "Protect Kate... Don't let her fall into the hands of the Observer... The future... still has hope..."

As the last word fell, Mirror A Kai completely dissipated into the air, leaving not even a trace of energy. Only that small energy core remained, slowly drifting to AKai, gently landing in his palm, warm and faint, like a glimmer of light in the future.

AKai gripped the core in his palm, his fingertips rubbing against that warmth. The previous anger, pain, and confusion now turned into firm determination. He raised his head and looked at Lin Fan, light reigniting in his eyes: "Lin Fan, Franklin is still on Earth waiting for us to resurrect him, and Kate is still waiting for us in an unknown dimension. We must remember Mirror A Kai's warning. The Eye of the Observer, the Sower, and the truth of the universe—we must find out everything. We will never let the tragedy of the future actually happen."

Lin Fan nodded, reached out and picked up the energy fragment that had fallen from Mirror A Kai, which recorded information about the Eye of the Observer. Cosmic energy slowly wrapped around the fragment, imprinting the information within into his mind. He looked at the dimensional navigation route outside the portholes that had become clear again. The starlight in the distance flickered, leading to unknown dimensions where there were clues about Kate, the Sower's conspiracy, and the terrifying Eye of the Observer that had just been mentioned.

The cage of the time prisoner had been broken, but a greater crisis was only just beginning.

Meanwhile, on distant Earth, in the boundary zone between the virtual world and reality, the split within the Light Sphere Race had intensified, and war was on the verge of breaking out.

Since the Light Sphere Race awakened from the virtual world and gained the ability to materialize, irreconcilable differences had emerged within the clan. One part of the Light Sphere Race was tired of the pain and strife of materialization, longing for the carefree NPC life in the virtual world; they called themselves the Return Faction, wanting to return to the virtual world, abandon their physical forms, and become data lifeforms again. The other part of the Light Sphere Race craved the freedom and power brought by materialization, desiring to completely cast off the shackles of data and establish their own civilization in the physical universe; they called themselves the Evolution Faction, radical and aggressive, viewing the Return Faction as cowards and humans as inferior parasites.

The conflict between the two factions gradually escalated from initial arguments to physical clashes. In the edge zone of the virtual world, data light flames and physical energy constantly collided, and countless tiny cracks appeared in space. Even the real world, Earth, was affected; data turbulence appeared in some areas, electronic equipment frequently malfunctioned, and the relationship between humans and the Light Sphere Race became tense. A slight carelessness could lead to a full-scale conflict.

Just at the moment when the two factions were about to completely break apart and resort to arms, Little Kate appeared.

She was a materialized NPC formed unconsciously from Kate's data fragments, possessing part of Kate's memories, emotions, and gentleness, yet she had her own independent consciousness. She lacked the cowardice of the Return Faction and the radicalism of the Evolution Faction. Watching her kin from both factions attacking each other, and seeing the estrangement between humans and the Light Sphere Race growing deeper, her heart was filled with sadness.

She stood between the two factions, her small figure blocking the surging torrent of energy. Pale golden data light bloomed from within her, gentle yet firm, just like how Kate looked when she guarded the virtual world back then. She did not shout or yell, but softly recounted the origin of the Light Sphere Race, speaking of their bonds with humans and the virtual world, explaining that materialization was not the end, and returning was not an escape. The true destination was to protect each other, to coexist peacefully with humans, and to safeguard this home that had nurtured them.

Her voice was soft, yet it pierced through all the quarrels and attacks, landing in the heart of every Light Sphere Race member. The Return Faction remembered the warmth in the virtual world, and the Evolution Faction remembered their original intention for freedom when they awakened. Looking at this little girl who was exactly like the former Guardian Kate, and seeing the pure kindness and determination in her eyes, the hostility in their hearts gradually dissipated, the aggressive energy slowly receded, and the torrent of conflict came to an abrupt halt.

Little Kate reached out, holding the elder of the Return Faction with her left hand and the leader of the Evolution Faction with her right, connecting the energy of both factions together. The pale golden light wove into a bond, dissolving their estrangement. She told them that whether returning to the virtual world or continuing to evolve in reality, there was no right or wrong. What was important was not to forget that they were kin, not to forget that humans once coexisted with them, and not to forget that the meaning of the Light Sphere Race's existence was not to fight, but to protect.

Under Little Kate's mediation, the two factions of the Light Sphere Race finally reached a temporary reconciliation. The Return Faction was willing to stay in the virtual world to guard the data source, and the Evolution Faction was willing to coexist peacefully with humans and explore new possibilities of materialization. Little Kate became the bridge connecting the two factions, connecting the virtual and reality, and connecting the Light Sphere Race with humans, and was revered by all the Light Sphere Race as the new Guardian.

But Little Kate knew this was only a temporary calm. She could feel that deep within the virtual world, an ancient power was awakening. It was the trace left by the light orb prototype, the secret regarding the Sower, the multiverse, and Kate's true identity, hidden in the most secretive corner of the virtual world, waiting to be uncovered.

She looked up at the starry sky, her gaze piercing through Earth's atmosphere, looking toward the direction where Lin Fan and his group had departed. She whispered in her heart: "Brother Lin Fan, Brother AKai, I will guard Earth and the Light Sphere Race here, waiting for you to return, to uncover all the secrets together, find Sister Kate, and protect our universe together."

On the star, Lin Fan suddenly felt a warm intent from Earth. It was Little Kate's consciousness link, gentle and firm, carrying the determination to protect. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and the heaviness in his heart dissipated a little. With Little Kate guarding on Earth and companions traveling by his side, even if the shadows of the Eye of the Observer, the conspiracy of the Sower, and endless unknown dimensions lay ahead, he had nothing to fear.

He gripped the control stick, and cosmic energy was injected into the star's engines. The rear of the spaceship spewed brilliant blue flames, breaking through the fog of the Dimensional Rift, speeding toward the next dimension indicated by Mirror A Kai—the Mechanical Divine Kingdom where the Eye of the Observer was located.

The prisoner of the time loop had broken free, and the light of self-sacrifice illuminated the path ahead. But the Eye of the Observer, hidden deep in the multiverse, had already opened. Its cold gaze locked onto this star sailing toward the truth, locked onto Lin Fan who was rushing through the universe for the sake of emotion, and locked onto everyone attempting to rewrite fate.

A new crisis was about to descend, and the truth about Kate, the Sower, and the light orb prototype would gradually surface in the realm of the Mechanical Divine Kingdom.