Chapter 6: Future Observatory
The main crack on the hourglass emitted a sharp buzzing sound as its gears instantly unraveled into countless silver threads of time, precisely piercing deep into the fissure!
Like a glowing soldering iron welding into steel—
Buzz!
A chime, as if from ancient times, reverberated through the frozen space-time!
The crack on the hourglass was temporarily fused!
The glaring dark red light instantly transformed into a profound and serene star-blue hue!
[Entropy value: 1 → 0!]
The star-blue light surged violently from the hourglass, sweeping across the entire frozen sand table centered on Su Liu!
The safe house’s freeze was lifted!
Su Liu immediately regained mobility and rushed out of the safe house at once!
As she departed, the safe house’s bubble vanished like a bursting soap bubble, leaving no black hole behind.
Outside, the chaotic battlefield seemed to slow down as if time had been put on slow motion.
However, wielding the power of the Chrono Hourglass was not without backlash.
A strong dizziness overwhelmed her; Su Liu felt as if a part of her mind was being torn apart. At the same time, the Time Gear, the cost of this restoration, had completely dissolved into nothingness.
This was her first profound experience of the price paid to manipulate such a high-level power—both in spirit and precious resources.
The star-blue radiance rolled like ocean waves, sweeping over the sand table before gradually fading away.
But what followed was a powerful pull from the depths of the void unlike anything Su Liu had ever felt.
Above her, the swirling data cloud suddenly split open with a dazzling rift, and a staircase made purely of white light extended downward, its end lost in the unfathomable starry sky.
The system returned to normal: [Core Time Node Capture: Path to the Final Observation Point. Due to entropy reset, partial unlocking of observation point permissions…]
After the star-blue glow receded, the sand table battlefield seemed to become “dulled,” with strange movements slowing, and the heartbeat of the nest growing heavy.
Yet, the crimson whirlpool markers in the distance remained, their threat merely postponed.
Su Liu took a deep breath, suppressing the dizziness and the lingering fear imposed by time’s dominion, her gaze sharp as it fixed on the far end of the luminous staircase.
The moment she stepped onto the stair, her body transformed into a streak of light, absorbed by the steps.
At the staircase’s end was no solid platform, but a sacred relic floating atop endless nothingness.
At its center stood a colossal, strangely split Light Tree.
It was not a complete Tree of Life, but two immense, phantom branches intertwined in fierce repulsion.
Each emitted starkly contrasting energy auras: one a piercing platinum brilliance, the other a twisted, beguiling violet-pink shimmer. The trunk’s core was a profound, chaotic darkness, as if representing the end of all possibilities.
Beneath Su Liu’s feet lay the shattered temple base, etched with long-faded star charts. The air was thick with cold particles of temporal dust and a soul-crushing pressure.
This was the torn-apart end of time by the entropic storm—a shrine for observing fate—the Future Observation Station.
The system’s prompt came cold and formulaic, with a faint, barely perceptible warning:
[Phase Three: Future Observation Station]
[Core Objective: Confront possibilities, complete observation]
[Warning: Time laws here are highly chaotic; observation will trigger reality erosion!]
[Observation Station Function: Presents the top three future outcomes based on the current path’s highest weight.]
[Entropy Status: Entropy value 0 – Station stability increased]
[Current Status: Health 85/100, TE 60/100]
Without Su Liu needing to approach, two illusions seemed to awaken with will, their vast images crushing toward her with overwhelming information streams and emotional impact:
In the platinum brilliance, Su Liu stood atop a towering peak, gazed upon and cheered by countless players below.
She wore the shining first-place server badge and donned an invincible armor woven from data streams, the grand Sky King City looming behind her.
Yet the camera suddenly zoomed in: in the shadow of her glorious throne, a rusted metal cage inscribed with thorny runes confined a small, dull-furred bundle. Its once lively eyes were now lifeless voids, emitting faint, mournful whimpers, weak as a candle flickering in the wind.
The caption appeared coldly: “Cost: Dust beneath the Eternal Throne.”
The violet-pink shimmering image instantly turned “warm” and deceptively inviting.
Around a hastily built bonfire for celebration, several “core members” with blurred faces but distinct temperaments surrounded Su Liu, their expressions radiating joy after surviving catastrophe.
A handsome, upright young man stepped forward, holding a wooden cup steaming with warmth, his smile infectiously sincere: “Deputy Leader, thanks to your command! To victory! Here, warm yourself—the drink was specially made to quickly restore your strength!”
The liquid in the cup glowed an enticing amber in the firelight.
But as Su Liu’s gaze fixed on the cup, the water’s surface suddenly reflected the young man’s twisted, jealous, and cruel sneer!
In the background, a whisper as subtle as a snake’s tongue hissed, amplified to the extreme: “Ha… beauty? A pity it’s an original sin!”
At the same time, a system warning label, dripping like blood, covered the cup: [Deadly Poison · Soul Corrosion Agent].
Su Liu’s body involuntarily felt the powerful gravitational pull radiating from the two illusions.
She understood that without touching, she couldn’t observe the details; without observation, she couldn’t comprehend the essence, much less find the key to breaking the cycle.
Contact!
As she fought back the pain and reached out toward the platinum brilliance—
Boom!
Not a visual shock, but a plundering of emotion and senses!
She felt herself forcibly shoved into that icy throne!
Beneath her was no soft cushion, but the cold touch of countless shattered bones of failures!
Around her ears were not cheers, but the feeble, nearly severed whimpers of the small bundle magnified and twisted, stabbing into her brain like a sharp spike!
Simultaneously, an overwhelming exhaustion as if her soul had been hollowed out, and a chilling loneliness from the heights flooded her consciousness!
[Health -5]
Within the violet-pink shimmer, the once gentle warmth instantly turned into bone-piercing cold!
The pain from trust shattered in an instant was far sharper than a blade!
The illusion of the “warm drink” in the cup was overlaid by the reality of a “poison” that burned through bone and heart!
Most viciously, a venomous envy targeting her appearance, filled with intense insult and destructive desire, stabbed deeply into her core pride like a poison needle!
It even caused a fleeting moment of self-doubt—“Is this my fault?”
[Health: 85/100 → 65/100!]
Su Liu’s face turned pale as she gasped sharply.
She realized that merely “looking” demanded such a heavy price.
But the truly terrifying choice lay ahead.
The core of the observation station projected before her a faintly shimmering, semi-transparent [Pen of Alteration], pulsing with temporal fluctuations.
[Warning: Drawing a new branch requires mortgaging TE (fixed cost: 20 points)]
[If drawing fails: triggers ‘Time backlash,’ randomly deleting one important player item/equipment/consumable.]
Su Liu stared intently at the pen, a fierce unwillingness swelling within her:
If both paths were dead ends, couldn’t she rewrite them? But spending 20 out of 60 TE left only 40 remaining!
In this perilous environment, it was almost a gamble with her life!
The sudden drop in health combined with the triple illusions’ mental assault dulled Su Liu’s thoughts.
Just as she fixed her gaze on the Pen of Alteration, lost in confusion and self-doubt about the future, her health silently slipped to [42/100]—