The fleet sailed through the sea of stars, like a silent brush tip, stroking toward that pure white gate spanning the depths of time and space.
The closer they got, the clearer the details of the gate became.
It was not a physical structure, but a boundary woven from countless flowing codes, its height unknown and its width boundless.
The gate frame was engraved with dense experimental protocol clauses, every character emitting a cold light of rationality.
And in the center of the gate, beneath the inscription proving you are not an error, new words quietly emerged:
【Examination Hall Opening Countdown: Seven Standard Sky Island Hours】
The countdown ticked with precise numbers; with every second lost, the flow of code around the gate quickened, as if some massive system was warming up.
"Seven hours." Qingniao stared at the countdown, lightning flickering in his lone eye, "Enough for us to rush in and tear up that scrap of a protocol book."
"It's not that simple." Enoch's voice came from the Hybrid Civilization flagship, the data stream in his mechanical right eye rapidly analyzing,
"The spatial structure behind the gate exhibits high-dimensional folding characteristics.
The moment we rush in, we might be scattered into different examination partitions.
The Council... no, the Observer Group loves to use divide-and-conquer strategies."
Bai Cheng stood at the very front of the dawn bridge, her silver eyes quietly gazing at that gate.
The oath of starlight earring grew slightly hot, creating a secret resonance with some existence deep within the gate.
She could feel that behind the gate was not cold machinery, but... something more complex.
"Sage Abraham," she suddenly spoke, "the tear you tracked two thousand one hundred years ago, can you still sense it now?"
Abraham was silent for a moment, his withered fingers lightly tapping on the armrest of his wheelchair.
Extremely weak fluctuation curves appeared in the gray light mirror.
"It's there." His voice was very /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ soft, "And it's... clearer than back then.
Not one drop, but many drops. They are suspended in the depths of the code ocean, like imprisoned starlight."
Enoch's voice suddenly broke into the communication channel: "I've scanned an anomaly here—among the energy readings behind the gate, 0.3% cannot be classified as pure rational structures.
The fluctuation patterns of those components... are highly similar to the residual spectrum of emotional variables."
Everyone on the bridge was stunned.
"You mean," Zi Yuan gripped her sword hilt, "those who set the rules also carry 'errors' themselves?"
"Or," the light of the sunstone in Aurora's hand flickered,
"they aren't high-and-mighty gods at all, but a group of... similarly trapped experimental subjects, just trapped in a higher-level cage."
The countdown jumped to six hours and fifty-nine minutes.
Bai Cheng suddenly raised her hand, and the light of the oath of starlight surged toward the entire fleet like a tide.
"Adjust formation." Her voice was clear and firm, "Not for the purpose of a surprise attack, but with resonance as the bond."
"The Thunder God Island fleet to the left, condensing the power of thunder into a Spear of Questioning—we will question the legitimacy of this experiment."
"Emerald Sea and Nest of a Thousand Mirrors in the center, weaving the life network and mirror reflections into a Mirror of Truth. We will reflect all hidden truths."
"The Hybrid Civilization fleet to the right, using three thousand years of scars as ink to write survivor testimonies.
We must prove that lives judged as unqualified also have the value of existence."
"The dawn in the center," the speed of the starlight rotating in Bai Cheng's silver eyes reached its peak, "with the oath of starlight as the guide, the Seal of Judgment as proof, and the Light of the Undefined as the blade."
She spoke word by word:
"We will push open that gate, but not to enter the Examination Hall as examinees."
"But as plaintiffs, entering a courtroom."
The fleet began to change formation.
The light of three hundred ships interlaced in the air, no longer just for battle, but to complete a grand, space-time-spanning presentation of evidence.
Thunder condensed into a massive spear-like phantom above the Thunder God Island fleet, the spear tip pointing at the experimental protocol clauses on the gate, every arc of electricity questioning: 'Who gave you the power to define right and wrong?'
The Flower Boats of the Emerald Sea Spirit Race bloomed with billions of Emerald Network light points, interlacing with the historical images reflected by the Mirror Shuttles of the Nest of a Thousand Mirrors, forming a giant mirror across the sea of stars in front of the fleet.
In the mirror, the final echoes of all cleaned-up civilizations, all archived possibilities, and all lives judged as 'invalid' were rapidly flashing past.
On the surface of the Hybrid Civilization flagship, that book emblem suddenly detached from the hull and floated into the void.
The pages turned automatically, each page revealing a memory image of a hybrid life's struggle for survival over three thousand years.
The pain of genetic conflict, the confusion of cultural tearing, the disability caused by technical incompatibility, and finally, the wisdom learned while supporting each other on how to live on in an erroneous posture.
Countdown: Five hours.
The gate suddenly vibrated.
Below the inscription 【Examination Hall Opening Countdown】, a new line of silver code emerged:
【Detected variable set exhibiting high synergy】
【Emotional resonance intensity breaks historical peak】
【Recommendation: Initiate the first stage of the final trial ahead of schedule—Logic Labyrinth】
The moment the code settled, the pure white gate crashed open.
No light gushed out, no energy impact.
Behind the gate was a boundless labyrinth composed of pure logic.
The walls of the labyrinth were flowing mathematical formulas, the floor was constantly reorganizing geometric patterns, and cold evaluation standards and probability calculation models floated in the air.
At every fork in the road, a light screen floated, with real-time evaluations of the intruders' every step rapidly refreshing on the screen:
【Path A: Survival rate 87%, estimated emotional variable loss 42%, estimated rational gain +15%—Recommended】
【Path B: Survival rate 63%, emotional variable retention rate 91%, estimated rational loss -8%—Not recommended】
【Path C: Survival rate 31%, explosive growth of emotional variables, 99% risk of rational structure collapse—Prohibited】
At the entrance of the labyrinth, a synthetic voice devoid of emotion sounded:
"Welcome to the Logic Labyrinth."
"Please prove that your rationality is sufficient to command your emotions, rather than being enslaved by them."
"Clearance condition: Find the 'optimal solution exit' in the labyrinth, and the emotional fluctuation value must remain below threshold 3 throughout."
"Any emotional outburst exceeding the threshold will trigger the cleanup protocol sub-program: Logic Correction."
Qingniao slammed a fist on the control console: "That damn optimal solution again!"
"Calm down." Bai Cheng's voice spread through the fleet via the resonance network, "They want to use the labyrinth to divide us and wear down our will with cold calculations. Then let them see—"
She raised her hand, and the light of the oath of starlight connected every ship like threads.
"The first characteristic of a variable set: we refuse to be evaluated individually."
"The fleet will maintain a state of resonance and enter as a whole."
"They want to evaluate emotional fluctuations? Then let them evaluate the flames burning together from these three hundred ships and ten million lives."
"They want the optimal solution? We'll show them—when all 'wrong answers' unite, what kind of unsolvable solution will be born."
