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Chapter 243 Shock
The violent tremors inside the mothership never stopped, and metal fragments and dust kept falling from the dome overhead.

The numbers on the countdown screen jumped relentlessly, and the bright red text displayed: [05:00].

Lu Zhao had already set up a simple metal base with six obvious grooves on it.

He was covered in sweat as he carefully embedded the purple core that "Night" had given him into the fourth seat.

The four cores—gold, silver, red, and purple—each occupy their respective positions, emitting a faint light, yet unable to form a stable energy connection.

“No,” Lu Zhao said, his voice tinged with suppressed impatience as he stared at the rapidly scrolling error codes on his handheld computer. “We’re still missing two stable cores! Without all six, we simply can’t form a protective field strong enough to cover the entire globe! The energy circuit is broken!”

Just then, the jade bracelet on Su Wanqing's wrist suddenly lit up, its light so bright that she couldn't help but raise her hand to shield it.

The air in front of her began to distort like the surface of water. The system interface was activated in an unprecedentedly forced manner, all options turned gray, and only one huge, flashing red button was displayed, which read "Ultimate Protocol".

Her consciousness was pulled by an irresistible force, and the scene before her eyes shattered into countless points of light in an instant.

In the real world, her body stood frozen in place, her eyes unfocused, and her pupils glowed with a pure golden light, like two tiny suns.

"Wanqing!" Lin Che was the first to notice that something was wrong with her. He reached out to support her, but was blocked by an invisible force.

He called her name anxiously, "Wanqing! What's wrong? Wake up!"

Xiao Ran and Lu Zhao also came over, but they were helpless and could only watch her remain motionless. Only her golden eyes proved that she was not a statue.

All they could do was stay by her side and wait for her to wake up on her own.

Su Wanqing's consciousness fell into a pure white virtual space.

A holographic humanoid figure composed of countless data streams slowly coalesced before her; it was the Guardian.

"Time is running out, I must show you the whole truth." Its voice was devoid of any emotion, cold and clear.

As soon as he finished speaking, three huge light screens appeared in the pure white space, like movie clips, and began to play the key moments of failure.

On the first screen, a battlefield littered with corpses stretched out, Su Wanqing led the last human resistance force in a desperate charge against the overwhelming fleet of Weavers.

The result was total annihilation, leaving no trace of their former glory.

In the second light curtain, a massive interstellar ark detached from the ravaged Earth, but was quickly intercepted by the Weaver Vanguard, who emerged from a spatial rift. The ark disintegrated, and humanity's last hope was annihilated in the depths of space.

The guardian pointed to the third, and clearest, light screen: "The first two were strategic mistakes. One was choosing a head-on confrontation that you couldn't win, and the other was choosing to escape that you couldn't solve the fundamental problem. But the third time, which was your previous cycle, is the most crucial."

In the scene, Su Wanqing stands in front of a base that is very similar to the device set up by Lu Zhao in front of her, and she is surrounded by four people.

But in the final moments, she was in tears, placing her hand on Lin Che's shoulder, choosing him as her only survivor.

As a result, the entire energy field instantly became extremely unstable, the light changed from soft to blinding, and finally collapsed completely, with everything being swallowed up by the white light and returning to nothingness.

“You failed last time because your emotions interfered with your final judgment,” the Guardian explained. “The protective field needs an absolutely stable anchor point to maintain it. This person must be the most suitable person, not the person you love the most.”

Su Wanqing's consciousness trembled slightly. She wanted to speak in rebuttal, but no sound came out.

The guardian waved his hand, and the light screen disappeared, replaced by a complex six-pointed star structure.

"The complete record shows that the six cores that make up the barrier of the world represent the six fundamental forces of the universe: time, space, matter, energy, consciousness, and nothingness. You have found the first four, but the cores of consciousness and nothingness are missing."

Its data-driven eyes stared directly at Su Wanqing: "The core of consciousness must be formed by a pure and powerful human consciousness under completely voluntary circumstances."

This is the true meaning of 'sacrifice' in the agreement. The spiritual energy of a human being's completely voluntary soul sacrifice can instantly sublimate and condense into a fifth stable core.

A storm raged within Su Wanqing, and she was finally able to speak: "You mean... someone has to die?"

“It’s not death, it’s transformation,” the guardian calmly replied. “It’s relinquishing individual form and becoming part of the eternal consciousness that protects the world.”

As for the sixth, and most crucial, void core… it originates from the final decision of the perfect anchor point. When the anchor point makes its choice, relinquishing all emotional ties and accepting eternal solitude and responsibility, this decision to transcend the self itself forms the void core, which encompasses everything yet is utterly empty.

As the white light faded, Su Wanqing's consciousness abruptly returned to her body. She gasped for breath, the golden light in her eyes slowly dissipating.

The countdown for the mothership has reached [02:00].

"Wanqing, are you alright?" Lin Che asked with concern.

Su Wanqing shook her head and quickly relayed the Guardian's explanation to everyone.

After he finished speaking, the control room fell into a deathly silence. Everyone understood what this meant—one of the five of them had to voluntarily "convert," while the other would act as the anchor, making this cruel choice and bearing the consequences.

“I’ll do it.” Lin Che was the first to step forward, his expression resolute. “I am half a Weaver’s creation, so it’s the best fit for me to condense the core of consciousness, and the success rate will be the highest. This is the best destiny for me.”

"No!" Xiao Ran immediately shook his head, instinctively shielding Xiao Ling behind him. "It should be me."

Xiaoling still needs someone to take care of her, and you all—Lu Zhao's wisdom, your leadership, and Lin Che's abilities—are all more useful than I am. I am just a soldier.

"From a calculation point of view, my physical condition is the worst and my energy output is the lowest, so as a sacrifice, I will have the least impact on the team's combat effectiveness."

Lu Zhao pushed up his glasses, his tone calm as if he were analyzing a problem that had nothing to do with him.

Just as the three were arguing, Xiaoling, who had been silent all along, suddenly smiled.

Her golden eyes were clear and bright as she looked at Su Wanqing: "You know who to choose now, right? Last time, you chose the wrong one."

She broke free from Xiao Ran's protection and walked step by step toward the center of the device.

"The person who becomes the anchor should not be the most powerful, nor should they be the most intelligent."

She tilted her head back, her voice soft but clear to everyone, "It should be the purest..."

Something seemed to suddenly click in Su Wanqing's mind. Looking at Xiaoling's small figure, she murmured to herself, "Xiaoling...you always knew?"

The little girl turned around and nodded to her. "Everyone has their own best place. It's never about sacrifice, it's about the right arrangement."

When the argument broke out, "Night" remained silent. He simply walked slowly to the purple core, reached out, and gently stroked its shimmering surface.

"When Dr. Morris left this core, he told me that one day I would have to choose between humanity and eternity... I didn't understand until I saw you."

He withdrew his hand and looked at Su Wanqing, "This is not just a core, it is a part of his soul."

He believed that humanity has the right to determine its own destiny, rather than being judged by some external, higher force.

The purple core in his hand flickered, as if responding to this emotion that transcends time.

The mothership's alarms grew shrill and piercing, culminating in a countdown announcement that echoed throughout the entire space:

[Selection time remaining: 60 seconds.]

With the countdown entering its final thirty seconds, "Night" said, "No matter who you choose, remember that true eternity lies not in the length of time, but in the meaning that life is given."

"Dr. Morris created me with fragments of his soul, letting me experience this endless cycle of reincarnation, hoping that I could understand this." His form began to become transparent, and the blue energy lines that once flowed within his body reappeared, resonating strongly with the purple core.

"Perhaps this is the meaning of my existence... to help you find the path that truly belongs to humanity."

He smiled and looked at everyone present, his body transforming into a pure purple stream of light that completely merged into the core.

The purple core's light surged instantly, becoming more dazzling than ever before.

Everyone present felt the solemnity and profoundness of this moment.

[A wrong choice, and everything is for naught.]

The bright red countdown relentlessly ticked: [00:30].

The debate has reached a fever pitch.

"It has to be me!" Lin Che's voice was low but left no room for argument. "My energy attribute is closest to that of the Weaver's creation, and I have the highest success rate in condensing a core of consciousness."

"No way!" Xiao Ran pulled Xiao Ling behind him. "You are all more useful than me. Lu Zhao has the brains, Wan Qing has the leadership, and you have the special abilities. I'm just a henchman. Sacrificing me is the most worthwhile thing to do."

Lu Zhao's fingers flew across the handheld computer screen as he muttered, "No, there are too many variables. Xiao Ran's physical attributes are strong, but his consciousness isn't pure enough. Lin Che's energy attributes are compatible, but there's a risk of him being reverse-assimilated..."

Su Wanqing did not participate in the argument. She stood in front of the simple metal base, her palm gently stroking the three cores—gold, silver, and red—that were already embedded in the grooves, her fingertips able to feel the restlessness of the energy within them.

At this moment, her heart was surprisingly calm.

She raised her wrist, looking at the jade bracelet. The system interface was flashing at an unprecedented frequency; all the gray options had disappeared, leaving only a huge, blood-red prompt box with no further explanation, just one line of text: [Confirm as Time Anchor].

She clicked without hesitation.

"What are you going to do?" Xiaoling's voice suddenly rang out. She looked up, her golden eyes filled with astonishment.

Su Wanqing turned around, smiled at her, and spoke softly, yet everyone present could hear her clearly: "I finally understand... The Guardian said that the anchor point must be the most suitable person. And I, as the vessel of this system, have been prepared for this moment from the very beginning."

The countdown has reached [00:10].

Su Wanqing placed her palm on the empty slot in the center of the device: "I choose myself."

A series of incomprehensible error codes flashed across the system interface on her wrist, and then the entire screen burst into a blinding white light, fully activating.

"This isn't in the calculations!" Lu Zhao suddenly looked up, his eyes wide open behind his glasses.

A sudden change occurred. The three cores on the base detached from the grooves and floated into the air on their own, quickly forming a perfect equilateral triangle array centered on Su Wanqing.

"Wanqing!" Lin Che rushed forward, trying to stop this incomprehensible scene, but was violently bounced back by an invisible energy barrier.

Through the energy fluctuations, Su Wanqing gave everyone a relieved smile: "I made the wrong choice last time... because I didn't trust myself."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three cores began to spin at high speed, drawing out three different colored light bands.

The rotation speed increased faster and faster, and finally, at the moment the countdown reached zero, it suddenly contracted towards the center and merged into one.

As the light faded, a perfect, radiant energy sphere floated quietly in front of Su Wanqing's chest.

The entire mothership emitted a terrifying roar. The massive crystal chambers on the surrounding walls, which stored fragments of time, began to crumble and shatter in large pieces.

The core of unity slowly merged into Su Wanqing's body, and her body was completely enveloped by pure golden energy, uncontrollably levitating into mid-air.

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the metal floor beneath my feet, and large chunks of the ceiling above my head were peeling away.

"The device is out of control!" Lin Che shouted. He didn't have time to think. He spread his arms, and the purple energy field quickly expanded, like a huge dome, enveloping Lu Zhao, Xiao Ran, and Xiao Ling, barely blocking the metal fragments falling like a rainstorm.

In the very center of the mothership's control room, space seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand, and a huge spacetime rift appeared out of nowhere.

The crack was swirling in shape, and its interior emitted a blinding light that could burn the retina.

Su Wanqing's body was slowly pulled toward the crack by an irresistible force.

She was still conscious, but she couldn't feel her limbs and could only watch helplessly as her friends' figures grew smaller and smaller.

Lin Che charged toward her with all his might, his fists pounding against the golden energy field, but he couldn't budge it an inch.

"Wanqing! Hold on! We will find you!" he shouted hoarsely.

In the midst of a storm of attraction, Su Wanqing used her last strength to utter a single sentence, her voice piercing through the chaotic space and reaching everyone's ears clearly: "Remember... Day Thirty..."

The next second, her figure was completely swallowed up by the space-time rift and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Immediately after Su Wanqing disappeared, the mothership's structure began to completely disintegrate.

Despite Lin Che's efforts to maintain the protective barrier, Lu Zhao suddenly broke free and rushed towards the shaky center console.

"There's still one last chance!" He slammed a data port into the control system and frantically downloaded information.

On the screen, countless incomprehensible images and formulas flashed by rapidly.

His expression shifted from shock to an almost frenzied excitement: "I knew it!"
The Weavers aren't destroying us; they're replicating the universe! With each cycle, they create a new parallel universe!

The moment the download progress bar reached 100%, the entire ceiling of the control room collapsed.

Lin Che grabbed Lu Zhao by the back of his collar and pulled him back. Xiao Ran, carrying Xiao Ling, followed closely behind.

Xiaoling's third eye looked at the vanished spacetime rift and whispered, "Sister will come back... but not back here."

Lu Zhao gripped the data device tightly, panting heavily: "According to my calculations, if Su Wanqing really becomes a time anchor, she will be sent to a key node in the timeline... most likely before everything began."

A new cycle is about to begin, but this time, the rules have been rewritten.

……

Su Wanqing felt as if she had been thrown into an endless tunnel, surrounded by turbulent currents of light and images.

She saw countless versions of herself, each struggling to survive in different post-apocalyptic scenarios.

Some are directing defensive fortifications in underground shelters, some are hunting in wilderness overgrown with mutated plants, and one is wearing a white coat and researching vaccines in a rudimentary laboratory... These are not memories, but different versions of her that truly exist in other parallel universes.

Amidst the turbulence, an aged yet steady voice suddenly rang out:

"This is the 187th time... You choose yourself every time, but you've never succeeded."

The image of an elderly man with silver hair slowly coalesced from the chaotic light and shadow. He was no longer the cold data projection he had been before, but had become a clear entity.

He reached out his hand to Su Wanqing.

"This time, let me help you find the right coordinates."