Chapter 225: The Decision of Origin

Clang—

A clear, resonant bell chime entered his ears, each vibration carrying an indescribable sorrow.

Lin Yu's chest tightened; a suffocating sensation washed over him like a tidal wave, nearly causing him to collapse on the spot. The silver bell in Xuanyuan Qing's hand shook incessantly, transforming into a ruthless death sentence in this moment.

"No—" he roared, his voice colliding back and forth within the hollow, vast space.

"Uncle Lin... farewell..." Xuanyuan Qing's voice was ethereal and wavering.

Something suddenly cracked within the darkness. The line of defense Lin Yu had been steadfastly holding in his heart collapsed with a crash.

A massive tremor struck without warning; hideous cracks appeared continuously throughout the surrounding pitch-black space, and blinding white light surged out from between the fissures.

"What's happening?" Lin Yu became instinctively alert.

"The Zero-Returner... has awakened early..." That voice, which had once been high and mighty, now carried a hint of panic.

The cracks widened, and the cold white light grew increasingly intense, instantly illuminating the entire dark space.

In the center of the white light, a familiar figure slowly floated upward.

It was Xuanyuan Qing, yet not entirely her.

Her eyes had turned completely white, devoid of pupils, expression, or the liveliness of the past. Intense energy fluctuations radiated from her body, causing the gold and black energy within Lin Yu to immediately churn in agitation.

"The Zero-Return Master..." that voice sounded again, "She has been completely controlled by the Zero-Returner..."

"Impossible!" Lin Yu wanted to rush over, only to find his entire body unable to move.

"It's useless; everything is over."

The white light became increasingly blinding, gradually devouring Lin Yu's consciousness. His final gaze fixed on Xuanyuan Qing's face—a face that had once been full of vitality and smiles, now left with only cold nothingness.

Anomalies appeared simultaneously all over the world.

The sky was shrouded in an eerie purple, with massive fissures spanning the horizon, from which black mist continuously surged, rapidly spreading to cities, villages, forests, and oceans.

People fled in all directions, yet they could not escape the encroachment of the black mist.

Void Conversion Stations activated one after another, transforming humans into Void creatures. The world fell into unprecedented chaos.

Inside the "Extreme Mirror" headquarters control room, alarms blared one after another.

"The Void Fusion has been accelerated!" a staff member's voice trembled.

"The Zero-Returner has awakened; we are finished!" another collapsed into their chair.

Everyone understood that this meant the end of human civilization was imminent.

On the Arctic ice sheet, a massive metal pyramid stood silently. At the top of the tower floated an energy sphere a hundred meters in diameter, with Xuanyuan Qing drifting within it, her eyes still that same pure white, as powerful energy fluctuations began to alter the rules of the entire world.

Several streaks of light descended from the sky, landing in front of the pyramid—Lin Yu, Void Lin Yu, Qin Tianluo, and Yan Xiao.

Their spacecraft had been attacked by the "Zero-Return Eye" while passing through the atmosphere, forcing them to crash-land on the ice sheet. After a difficult trek, they had finally arrived.

"The Land of Origin..." Lin Yu looked up at the pyramid.

"We must stop her; the Zero-Returner has completely controlled her," Void Lin Yu said.

"No, she isn't being controlled; she is executing a certain program."

"What program?" Qin Tianluo asked.

"Restart... restart the entire universe."

Yan Xiao exclaimed, "Are you crazy?"

"I'm not crazy," Lin Yu took a deep breath. "This is the truth I saw in the Void Core. Zero-Return is not destruction, but a restart. The existing universe is nearing energy exhaustion and must return to zero to be reborn. Xuanyuan Qing is the key to executing the restart program."

"Then what should we do? Stop her?" Void Lin Yu asked.

"We don't stop her; we must guide her."

"How do we guide her?" Qin Tianluo and Yan Xiao looked at each other in dismay.

"Fusion—fuse with her and become the Destiny Guide." Lin Yu walked step by step toward the pyramid.

Void Lin Yu wanted to say something, but was interrupted: "This is the only way; trust me."

The interior of the pyramid was a vast space, its four walls covered in complex runes and patterns, recording the complete history of the universe's origin, the birth of the Void, and the invasion of the Zero-Returners.

The entire pyramid was actually a prehistoric supercomputer, and humans were merely pawns in this cosmic war.

Lin Yu walked to the center of the space, looked up at the floating energy sphere, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

"Void-Reality Unification..."

The gold and black energy within his body surged madly, and the Tianyuan Sword flew out from behind him, hovering before him, the blade radiating a dazzling light.

"Fusion..."

The Tianyuan Sword slowly merged into his body, and gold and black patterns instantly covered him from head to toe.

His eyes changed, one gold and one black.

His hair changed as well, half white and half black.

The Ultimate Combat Form was thus completed.

"Come... let us open a new era together."

Lin Yu walked step by step toward the energy sphere, his figure gradually overlapping with Xuanyuan Qing's, finally merging into one.

A brand-new existence was born.

"This is not the end, but the beginning."

The blinding white light dissipated.

Lin Yu opened his eyes, and the aroma of hot oil hitting his face nearly made him sneeze. At a street stall, the owner was nimbly stir-frying dough sticks, while several office workers waited in line nearby.

He was all too familiar with this street.

"I'm back?"

Lin Yu looked down at his hands. Ordinary hands. No gold and black patterns, no power to tear through space—just the hands of an ordinary human.

He clenched his fists.

The school's iron gate creaked open, and students in blue and white uniforms poured out, chatting and laughing. Lin Yu's gaze was drawn to a girl with a high ponytail. She was holding a silver bell, laughing and talking with her classmates.

Xuanyuan Qing.

Lin Yu walked over in a few steps, nearly blurting out "Qing-girl," but swallowed the words back down.

This Xuanyuan Qing was different from the one he knew. This girl hadn't experienced life-or-death battles, hadn't awakened any bloodline—she was just an ordinary high school student.

Lin Yu followed silently behind them. The group of girls chatted about celebrity gossip, exam scores, and who had broken up with whom in the next class.

"Lin Yu! Over here!"

A shout interrupted Lin Yu's thoughts. A bespectacled boy waved at him.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Zhang Wei, don't you recognize me? Didn't we agree to go to the internet cafe to game?"

Internet cafe? Gaming?

Lin Yu was stunned for a moment before realizing this must be a friend of "himself" on this timeline.

In the internet cafe, the sound of keyboard clacking and game effects was deafening. Lin Yu operated his character absent-mindedly while quietly opening a browser to search for "Tianming Technology."

The search results showed it was just a newly established small company doing software development, with a founder named Qin Tianluo.

He searched for "Xiao Chengzhou" again, finding him to be a history professor at a certain university, researching ancient texts.

Nothing matched up.

On this timeline, Tianming was still just a small company, and Qin Tianluo and Xiao Chengzhou were just ordinary people.

Lin Yu closed the webpage and opened a news site. The headline was about global warming; there was no news whatsoever about a Void invasion.

"Is it all over?"

"Over? Not even close!" Zhang Wei leaned over. "This game just launched; we have to level up quickly, or how are we going to make it later?"

Lin Yu smiled and stood up to leave the internet cafe. ===== CHAPTER 226 =====