Bai Cheng looked silently at the three coordinates on the star chart.
The oath of starlight earring grew slightly warm, as three different resonances came from three directions:
From the Silent Sanctuary came suppressed sobs; from the Edge Echo Belt came a fading song; from the Place of the First Fire came... a hollow echo, like a massive question.
She remembered what Recorder Seven had said when handing over the pen:
"The exam questions are finished, but the test has only just begun."
"Freedom is not about getting answers, but learning how to make your own choices among countless questions that have no standard answers."
Bai Cheng slowly raised her hand.
The light at her fingertip did not point to any single coordinate, but instead traced an arc on the star chart, a route connecting the three locations.
"We will act separately."
She turned and looked at her companions:
"Zi Yuan, Qingniao, take the Thunder God Island's rapid response fleet to the Silent Sanctuary.
Use the Thunder Spear to break open the shackles. At the fastest speed, bring out those silenced souls and then immediately head to the Edge Echo Belt for support."
Zi Yuan nodded, her long blade returned to its scabbard, her battle intent awe-inspiring. Qingniao jumped up: "It's about time! This dawdling was driving me crazy!"
"Leng Ningxue, Lu Duo, Yu Nian, lead the joint fleet of the Emerald Sea and the Nest of a Thousand Mirrors to the Edge Echo Belt.
Use the Life Network to stabilize those echoes that are about to dissipate, and use mirror technology to record their stories as completely as possible.
Once Zi Yuan and the others arrive, work together to establish a Permanent Resonance Monument."
Data streams flashed in Leng Ningxue's icy eyes as she began planning the optimal route. Lu Duo and Yu Nian smiled at each other, the light of the Emerald Network and the pure heart vine gently intertwining.
"Sage Abraham, High Priestess Aurora, Elune." Bai Cheng looked at the three elders,
"Please go with Mr. Enoch and lead the Hybrid Civilization fleet and the twelve former Observers to the Place of the First Fire."
Abraham's gray eyes lifted slightly: "You want us to go... and excavate the origins of the experiment?"
"No." Bai Cheng shook her head. "Go to 'deconstruct' it. Use the wisdom of all of you—
The Sage's logic, the Priestess's faith, the Time Guardian's memory, the Hybrid Civilization's scarred experiences, and the former Observers' understanding of the nature of rules—
To convert that original base into the first History Museum of the Free Star Abyss."
She paused, starlight flowing deep within her silver eyes:
"Not to remember hatred, but for understanding: how the cage was built,
That way, we will know how to ensure it is never rebuilt."
The sunstone in Aurora's hand emitted a warm and firm light: "We will."
Elune's wings of light brushed gently: "Time will bear witness."
Enoch's voice came through the communication, carrying a long-lost excitement belonging to a scholar:
"Perfect, we have some theories on how to safely dismantle High-Dimensional Logic Constraint Devices, and we've been lacking a practice site."
Bai Cheng finally looked at the star chart, at the end of the route that would eventually converge in the center of the Star Abyss.
"And I will go to one place first."
She pulled up an extremely secret coordinate. There were no notes next to the coordinate, only a strange, heartbeat-like resonance coming from the oath of starlight earring.
"This is the aftershock captured by the oath of starlight during its last resonance in the deepest part of the Mirror Abyss.
It doesn't belong to any known civilization, nor does it belong to the Observer Network.
It's like... some kind of primordial echo that already existed here before the experimental field was established."
Garel's single eye narrowed slightly: "What could it be?"
"I don't know," Bai Cheng said honestly. "But its resonance frequency is completely consistent with the fluctuations of the blank pages of book of commonality. It's as if it's saying..."
She gently touched those coordinates:
"The first page of the story should start being written from here."
The Next Day: dawn Sets Sail Alone
The tolling of the Golden Bell Tower saw off the three fleets simultaneously.
Thunder God Island's Thunder Fleet tore through space, heading straight for the Silent Sanctuary.
The joint fleet of the Emerald Sea and the Nest of a Thousand Mirrors flowed like a river of light, gently surging toward the Edge Echo Belt.
The fleet of the Hybrid Civilization and the former Observers sailed steadily toward the Place of the First Fire in the depths of time and space.
Meanwhile, the dawn turned its course alone, sailing into the sea of stars toward those unknown coordinates.
Bai Cheng stood at the very front of the bridge, watching the passing stars outside the porthole.
Zi Yuan's blade intent, Qingniao's battle song, Leng Ningxue's composure, Lu Duo's gentleness, Yu Nian's purification, Garel's thunder, Aurora's blessing, Elune's time, Abraham's wisdom, Enoch's tenacity, and Recorder Seven's atonement.
Everyone's beliefs resonated through the oath of starlight network, like a warm current in her heart.
She was no longer alone.
She was the intersection of all variables, the resonance chamber for all echoes, the first reader of all unwritten stories, and she would be—the first author of the new chapter.
On the navigation screen, the secret coordinates grew closer and closer.
The oath of starlight earring grew intensely hot.
Bai Cheng slowly raised her hand, and the phantom of book of commonality appeared in her palm. The pages automatically turned to a blank space, waiting for the first word to fall.
Outside the porthole, the stars suddenly began to rotate and reorganize, turning into a door.
It was not a Pure White Gate, nor a Logic Labyrinth.
It was a simple yet warm door woven naturally from starlight.
There were no inscriptions on the door.
Only a shallow handprint, as if it had been touched by countless people.
Bai Cheng pushed it open gently.
Behind the door, there were no ruins, no secret rooms.
It was a small hillside covered ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ in nameless wildflowers.
On the hillside stood a rough stone tablet.
There was no name on the tablet, only a line of crooked words carved as if by fingernails:
"Here once was a child who believed the stars could speak."
Before the tablet lay a seashell, long weathered but still clean.
At that moment, the oath of starlight earring stopped being hot.
It resonated gently with the faint, almost undetectable... most primitive resonance deep within the seashell, beneath the stone tablet, and in every grain of dust on this hillside.
Bai Cheng knelt before the tablet, her fingertips gently brushing over that line of words.
Then, on the blank page of book of commonality, she wrote the first word of the new chapter:
"Believe."
