Serial numbers.
Gray, cold serial numbers were engraved on every inch of Shandora's land.
On the bricks of the Golden City's streets, 【Specin Area-07】 erged;
Beside the runes flowing on the surface of the bell tower, a line appeared: 【Observation Node-Core】;
Even the dust floating in the air revealed the words 【Experintal dium-Gaseous】 when the gray light swept over it.
Bai Cheng looked at the small line of words on the back of her hand.
【Subject ST-774321-Ω】
The last letter, the Greek letter Oga, represented "End" or "Final" in ancient sky island script.
"Ω..." The data stream in Leng Ningxue's icy eyes refreshed frantically, but all the conclusions pointed to the sa suffocating fact,
"This serial number format is identical to those previously used by the Observer Council, but the sequence number... is earlier than any enemy number we have encountered."
Zi Yuan's long saber was trembling.
Not from fear, but from rage.
"So from beginning to end," she said word by word, her blade pointing at Abraham in the sky,
"The shattering of the golden bell, the splitting of the Federation, the Millennium War, all the sacrifices and struggles were just... experintal records?"
Abraham sat back down in his wheelchair.
Deep exhaustion appeared on his aged face, an exhaustion so heavy it felt as if he carried not two thousand years of ti, but the fate of an entire civilization being toyed with.
"Not just," he corrected. "But it was so from the very beginning."
He raised a withered hand, and a gray halo condensed in his palm once more.
This ti, the halo did not explode but turned into a mirror.
Reflected in the mirror was not the scene of the present, but the Grand Hall of the Sky Federation's Supre Council two thousand three hundred years ago.
But the scene in the hall was different from Elvia's mories.
It was more... exquisite here.
Exquisite to the point of being eerie.
Every seat floated in a precisely calculated position, every beam of light shone at a Golden Ratio angle, and even the breathing rhythm of the councilors was marked in the air by data streams.
And the council's do was not a starry sky mural, but a flowing, silver-gray structure resembling a biological cerebral cortex.
"This is the true core of the Sky Federation," Abraham's voice rang out beside the images in the mirror. "The Temple of Reason, which we call 'Before the Veil.'"
The image zood in.
The young Abraham was not yet the Ash Sage back then, but the youngest genius scholar of the council, sitting in the last seat.
He was heatedly arguing about sothing, his hands tracing complex calculation trajectories in the air.
But the other councilors around him, including the young Norton, the predecessor of Mirror Pupil, and Elvia... everyone's expressions were blank.
Not indifferent, but... in a standby state.
"The first ti I realized sothing was wrong was during the seventh hour of the one thousand and seventh eting."
Abraham spoke calmly, but every word was soaked in a chill that pierced through ti,
"Norton proposed a mathematical model regarding the evolutionary path of civilization. It was perfect, impeccable.
It passed unanimously.
But I discovered that the premise of that model... contained a self-referential paradox."
He paused the image and pointed to a line of code so tiny it was almost invisible, floating in the air when Norton spoke.
The content of the code was:
【if Civilization Autonomous Selection of Evolution Direction = true, then Experintal Validity = 0】
"If the civilization can choose autonomously, the experint is invalid." Bai Cheng understood that line of code, the starlight in her silver eyes oscillating violently. "So..."
"So the Sky Federation was never a product of free will from its birth."
Abraham took up the thread. "It is a ticulously designed large-scale social experint site, aid at observing whether the evolutionary path of a god-like civilization would approach a preset optimal solution after being given a certain degree of autonomy."
He waved his hand, and the images fast-forwarded.
Every major decision of the Federation, every war, every technological innovation... dense observation data appeared beside them all.
【Variable: Emotional Resonance Intensity】 【Variable: Sacrifice Willingness Threshold】 【Variable: Irrational Choice Probability】...
And at the very top of all the data, a title always floated:
Experintal Project: ST-774321
Experintal Subject: sky island civilization (God-made Biological Cluster)
Experintal Goal: Verify the deviation tolerance between autonomous evolution and preset evolution
Experintal Cycle: 3000 Standard Years
Remaining Ti: 700 Years (23.3%)
At the top of the Golden Bell Tower, everyone froze in place.
The lightning in Garel's right eye flickered violently. It was no longer anger in that light, but sothing deeper... absurdity.
"Lord Rego's sacrifice... Jaya's millennium of perseverance..." His voice was hoarse. "Were they all just... experintal data?"
"Not just data." Abraham's gaze softened for the first ti, a softness that was more painful than coldness,
"They are extrely precious samples. Every irrational choice you make, every emotion-driven sacrifice, every ti you do sothing knowing it is impossible, you increase the variable richness of the experint."
He pointed to the serial number on the back of Bai Cheng's hand.
"ST-774321 is the main experint number. And your suffix Ω ans you are marked as the Termination Variable. A special individual who might end the entire experint ahead of schedule."
Bai Cheng slowly raised her head.
The oath of starlight earring at her ear grew slightly hot, but this ti, what it transmitted was no longer the Lord of the Sky's mories, but a... more ancient whisper that seed to co from the beginning of all things.
There was only one word in that whisper, repeated constantly:
Escape
Escape
Escape
"The Lord of the Sky knew the truth," Bai Cheng said suddenly. "That's why He divided His authority, and why He left behind the oath of starlight."
"He knew a part of it," Abraham admitted,
"He was an early creation of the experint, one of the first batch of observation nodes endowed with pseudo-divinity.
But during the operation, He developed an unplanned self-awareness and began trying to... protect His own creations."
He paused.
"This was a major accident in the experint, and the real reason I cast a dissenting vote back then. Once the creation begins to rebel against the creator, the experint loses its objectivity."
High Priest Aurora's staff dropped to the ground.
The wooden staff shattered, revealing its internal structure. It wasn't wood, but a sophisticated silver tal flowing with data streams.
He stared blankly at the holy object he had held for half his life, his °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° voice trembling:
"So Shandora's sun... Shandora's faith..."
"Are preset emotional anchors," Abraham finished for him,
"Used to test the impact of man-made faith systems on civilizational stability in a rational environnt.
You were very successful. Shandora has the most stable emotional variable control among all experintal zones."
In Lu Duo's erald eyes, pure fear appeared for the first ti.
She hugged her trembling shoulders:
"The Erald Sea... the star track network..."
"Are evolutionary path comparison groups." A hint of apology finally seeped into Abraham's voice,
"To observe the differences between natural evolution and preset evolution.
The birth of your Spirit Race... was an accident within an accident, a beautiful mistake that even the experint designers failed to foresee."
He looked at Lu Duo, warmth appearing in his gray eyes for the first ti:
"You are one of the most precious variables in this experint.
Because you proved that even under the strictest control, life will still find its own way."
But this comfort was useless.
Yu Nian's pure heart vines grew frantically, trying to purify the despair perating the surroundings,
But when the vines touched those gray serial numbers, they were instead assimilated, and numbers began to appear on their surface as well.
Elune's light wings vibrated violently, her divine radiance flickering between bright and dim.
Blue Bird smashed a fist onto the bell tower's railing; the railing shattered, and a new serial number appeared on the back of her hand: 【Aggressive Reaction - Recording Complete】.
"Enough!" Zi Yuan's long saber was fully unsheathed, her Tide-Breaking Blade Intent tearing through the air as she slashed at Abraham!
But before the blade light could touch the old man, it automatically decomposed into billions of data points, reassembling into a line of text in front of her:
【Variable: Anger-Driven Attack】
【Emotional Intensity: 8.7/10】
【Attack Efficiency Assessnt: Low】
【Suggested Response: Do Not Respond】
Zi Yuan was stunned.
Her saber intent, her anger, her everything... were just a line of data in a table.
Abraham sighed softly.
"This is why I opposed it." He pushed his wheelchair, slowly descending to the bell tower platform to look everyone in the eye,
"When every one of your tears, every smile, every bit of anger and love is quantified, analyzed, and categorized... are you still you?"
He looked around at everyone.
"So two thousand three hundred years ago, I cast a dissenting vote. And then..."
He brushed aside the thin white hair on his forehead.
At the hairline, beneath a deep scar that had never healed, a silver chip embedded in the skull was faintly visible.
"I was marked as an out-of-control variable and forced into hibernation until—"
He pointed toward the sky.
In the depths of that gray area, sothing was now slowly erging.
It wasn't a building, nor a starship, but a... concept.
A geotric body composed of countless parallel lines, infinitely extending, so cold it made one's soul freeze.
That geotric body had no color, or rather, it presented an absolute state where the concept of "color" had been extracted.
"Until the main experint system determined that the experint had entered its endga phase."
Abraham said, "And so it awakened , this faulty sample, to execute the final..."
He paused, then spat out the word:
"Inspection."
Bai Cheng took a step forward.
This step was taken steadily; the serial number on the back of her hand did not change, but the scar mark on her forehead was burning frantically.
"Inspect what?"
Abraham looked at her, watching her for a long ti.
Then, he slowly raised his hand and pointed at the golden bell.
"To inspect the question the Sky Federation's Supre Council raised back then—"
His voice resounded throughout Shandora, throughout all the connected sky islands, and deep within the consciousness of every marked living being:
"When a civilization discovers its existence is aningless, its history is fictional, its emotions are preset, and its freedom is an illusion."
In his gray eyes, Bai Cheng's stubborn face was reflected.
"Does it still have the courage..."
"To continue existing?"
At this mont, the golden bell...
Rang of its own accord.
But that tolling was no longer a resonance of hope.
Instead, it was—
A sound spanning two thousand three hundred years.
The endga of the experint's...
Notification sound.
Shandora's rainbow began to fade.
It didn't disappear but was absorbed by that colorless geotric body.
A massive screen erged from the base of the Golden Bell Tower, displaying a complete data report of the entire sky island civilization over three thousand years.
The last line of the report was marked with—
【Experintal Conclusion: To Be Filled】*
And the authority to fill in the conclusion...
Was now floating in front of Bai Cheng.
It was a pen.
An inkless, gray pen.
The tip of the pen was pointed at three options:
▢ Experint successful, civilization tends toward the preset optimal solution
▢ Experint failed, civilization evolution out of control
▢ Experint terminated, request restart
And below the three options, there was another line of small text:
Chooser: ST-774321-Ω (Termination Variable)
Note: Your choice will determine the final state of all living beings in the sky island civilization.
Including yourself.
Bai Cheng reached out her hand.
She did not touch the pen.
Instead, she grasped the oath of starlight earring at her ear.
The earring shattered in her palm.
But it was not destruction.
It was a blooming.
Blooming with sothing that had never appeared in any experintal record—
An undefined light.
She raised her eyes, looking at Abraham, at that colorless geotric body, and at this false, numbered sky.
The starlight in her silver eyes stopped flowing at this mont.
Then, it flowed backward.
"I choose."
Her voice was very soft.
Yet it drowned out the noise of the entire world.
"The fourth option."
The mont her words fell—
All the serial numbers on the golden bell exploded simultaneously.
They were not erased.
They were by a more intense, uncategorizable existence...
Overwritten.
The mont the gray numbers on the golden bell exploded, the entire sky seed to be torn open by a pair of invisible hands.
Those shattered numbers did not disappear but turned into billions of gray dust particles, lingering briefly in the air before being swallowed by a light erupting from the top of the bell tower.
That light was not the starlight of the oath of starlight, nor the silver radiance of the Seal of Judgnt, nor the golden glow of the golden bell, nor even any kind of brilliance that could be defined by existing vocabulary.
It was... undefined.
It surged from the shattered earring in Bai Cheng's palm, initially just an insignificant wisp, yet it was like ink dropped into pure water,
Or like a spark igniting a dry prairie, spreading, multiplying, and qualitatively changing in a way that transcended physical rules, logical operations, and the law of causality.
Wherever the light passed, color appeared for the first ti on the surface of the colorless geotric body Abraham had summoned.
It wasn't any single color from the spectrum, but a visual distortion ford by the instantaneous collapse and simultaneous birth of countless possibilities, like the unspeakable chaos at the very center of a kaleidoscope.
"This is..." A violent tremor appeared in Abraham's gray eyes for the first ti, and his wheelchair even rolled back half an inch. "...What?"
"The fourth option," Bai Cheng's voice was steady, yet it carried a determination that pierced through all falsehoods.
The light in her palm was no longer limited to just light; it began to define the surrounding world in a way that was forceful, gentle, and yet utterly natural.
The line 【Subject ST-774321-Ω】 on the back of her hand was the first to change.
The gray characters twisted and blurred like low-quality ink washed away by rain, then in the new light, they re-condensed into a line of clear text with a completely different aning:
【Protagonist: Bai Cheng】
Imdiately after, the words 【Observation Node-Core】 on the bell tower's surface changed to 【Beacon of Hope: Shandora】.
【Specin Area-07】 on the street bricks turned into 【Ho District: Seventh District】.
【Experintal dium-Gaseous】 in the air quietly faded away, leaving only the most primitive scent of plants and dust as the breeze blew past.
This was not overwriting, nor was it deletion.
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