Chapter 582: Perfect Prison, Home in the Mirror

That voice carried an irresistible magic.

It does not spread through sound, nor through the soul network, but resonates directly in the deepest consciousness of every Yanhuang descendant.

It perceives each person's deepest desires and softest memories.

For warriors who have lost relatives and comrades in countless battles, this voice is the summons of their departed loved ones.

For scientists who have exhausted their efforts to preserve civilization, this voice is the ultimate answer that fulfills all their dreams.

For ordinary people who have been away from their homeland, wandering the stars for countless generations, this voice is the very notion of "home".

The dark‑golden nebula, an array formed by trillions upon trillions of steadfast wills,

at this moment, a brief stasis appeared.

Qin Wu's gaze flickered with a momentary daze.

He saw in the mirror those comrades who had sacrificed themselves to cover the main force's retreat, now smiling and waving at him,

their bodies intact, their eyes filled with peace and tranquility.

Qin Zheng also saw.

The grand blueprints of cosmic cities he had designed but were abandoned due to lack of resources all became reality in the mirrored world.

Countless civilizations settled peacefully in his world, venerating him as the greatest creator.

Even Qin Si, renowned for absolute rationality, showed a slight fluctuation in her data stream.

In the mirror, she deciphered every ultimate secret of the cosmic sea; all unknowns lay before her like patterns on the palm.

The pleasure of her thirst for knowledge being fully satisfied nearly made her drown in it.

This is the most perfect illusion.

Because it is not fabricated from nothing, but built upon each person's truest wishes.

It is not deception, but a form of fulfillment.

"That's not right…"

Just as everyone was about to sink, a faint voice rang through the soul network.

It was Qin An.

His power stems from the most genuine emotions.

Love, hatred, sorrow, joy…

These emotions may bring pain, but they are vivid, scorching.

And now,

what he feels from the mirrored world is an absolutely perfect "happiness".

In this happiness,

there is no impurity, no turbulence.

It is like a cup of warm water, constantly at the most comfortable temperature, yet it will never boil nor freeze.

"This happiness… is dead."

Qin An's thought, trembling yet crystal clear, was transmitted to everyone.

"Look,"

Qin An's thought guided everyone's gaze.

"The comrades in the mirror, though smiling, no longer have that fierce, unyielding glint in their eyes. They are satisfied; they no longer advance."

"Elder Brother, look at your world; though grand, every person's life trajectory within it is set to flawless perfection—no accidents, no quarrels, and no… surprises."

"Fourth Sister, you may perceive everything, yet you have lost the joy of exploring the unknown. When all becomes known, what meaning does wisdom itself retain?"

Qin An's words fell like a bucket of cold water over everyone's heads.

Everyone jolted awake.

They looked again at the mirror and saw not a perfect homeland but an exquisitely crafted specimen box.

Inside, displayed were their selves stripped of all possibilities,

leaving only a soul of the single concept "satisfaction".

"That was close…"

Qin Wu broke out in cold sweat.

He had almost stepped forward into it a moment ago.

"This is not an illusion."

Qin Si's data stream steadied, but with lingering fear.

"This is a stranger reality overlay; it seeks to replace our true definition with a perfect one. Once we accept it, we will truly become as we appear in the mirror, forever frozen at the happiest moment."

Becoming a living fossil.

Qin Hao never spoke from start to finish, merely staring coldly at the mirror.

His will was steadier than anyone's.

Because he knew clearly that true happiness is not given, but earned by oneself.

"It seems this is the hatchery's way of receiving guests."

Qin Hao's thought was laced with sarcasm, "Think a single candy can buy a pack of starving wolves?"

He stepped forward, and the entire Yanhuang Nebula pressed forward with him.

The gentle summons vanished.

In its place was a will devoid of any emotion.

【Refuse containment... classified as high‑intensity resistance sample... initiating maze protocol.】

The moment the words fell, the surface of the Mirror of Truth rippled like water.

In the next second, the entire Yanhuang Civilization, together with the void space they were in, was sucked into the mirror.

Everything happened silently.

When everyone came to their senses, they found themselves already in a strange space.

Here, the sky and the ground are both pieced together from countless huge mirrors.

Each mirror reflects a different scene.

Some reflect a galaxy ablaze with fire, some reflect a silicon-based civilization marching toward the pinnacle of technology,

some reflect a fantastical continent brimming with magic and deities.

And the nebula of the Yanhuang Civilization was split into countless portions, each trapped in a narrow space made of mirror surfaces.

Qin Hao discovered that his soul link with most of his people had been severed.

He could barely stay in contact with only a few, such as Qin Zheng and Qin Wu.

"Dad, we've been separated!"

Qin Wu's anxious voice came through.

"I'm trapped in a creepy place, surrounded entirely by mirrors, and the mirrors reflect countless versions of myself attacking me!"

"Same here."

Qin Zheng's voice was a bit steadier.

"The logic and power of these mirror-image attacks are exactly the same as our own.

I am trying to build a rule matrix, but whenever I establish a node, the mirror produces an identical node that cancels out mine."

This is an unsolvable dead end.

The stronger you are, the stronger your enemy becomes.

Whatever method you use, your enemy uses the same method.

Qin Hao looked around.

In the space he occupied, the mirrors reflected not enemies, but countless branching paths.

Each path leads to an unknown mirror world.

He tried choosing a path to move forward, but soon discovered he had returned to the starting point.

This is an endless looping maze.

A prison that traps you with your own power.

Even more terrifying, Qin Hao could feel that, as time passed, each of their powers was being slowly absorbed by this mirror world.

This maze not only imprisons them, but also treats them as batteries, drawing energy from them.

"This is the interior of the hatchery..."

Qin Hao understood.

What is imprisoned here is not only the Yanhuang Civilization.

In those billions of mirrors, each civilization reflected is a specimen captured by it.

They, in their respective mirror worlds, undergo eternal cycles, providing the hatchery with a continuous supply of energy and data.

And now the Yanhuang Civilization has become one of them.

"Everyone stay calm, conserve energy, and do not make futile attacks."

Qin Hao's order struggled to penetrate the layers of mirror barriers, reaching only the few who could receive it.

Conventional methods absolutely cannot get us out of here.

To break the mirror, you must first find where the real mirror is.

And in this place where everything is a mirror image, what is real?