During the two-hour voyage, the three people on the bridge each made their own preparations.

Lu Duo sat cross-legged on the resonance node, the Emerald Network rising and falling like breath, bit by bit repairing the parts eroded by the pale light stream.

Yu Nian carefully engaged in a deeper resonance with that speck of light; the glow of the pure heart vine was like a mother's lullaby, helping this existence born from nothingness establish a more stable self-awareness.

Bai Cheng stood before the viewport, the book of commonality floating by her side.

She flipped to the page recording Zi Yuan and Blue Bird, her fingertips lightly touching the script as the light of the oath of starlight attempted to pierce through distant interference to capture that faint trace of thunder and saber intent.

—Still alive.

She could feel it—those two familiar, stubborn, and burning presences were still fighting somewhere.

Though specific information could not be transmitted, that persisting will was clearly discernible.

“Hold on,” she whispered, her voice merging into the frequency of the oath of starlight and quietly transmitting toward that direction. “Once I finish handling things here, I'll come to get you.”

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Silent Quadrant, deep within the rule disturbance zone.

The hull of the dawn was covered in fine scars, silver-purple lightning jumping between the gaps in the armor, barely maintaining the shields at minimum operation.

Inside the bridge, the red light of the alarm lamps interlaced with the lightning exploding around Blue Bird, reflecting her grit-toothed expression.

“The sixth wave!” She slammed a fist onto the console, the lightning bursting into a ring of sparks. “Just how many of these damn things are there?!”

Zi Yuan stood before the observation window, her long saber fully unsheathed, a cold silver light flowing along the blade.

Outside the window were countless twisted rule chains that seemed like living things.

They generated out of thin air from the void, constantly coiling, lashing, and attempting to completely bind the dawn.

The surface of every chain was inscribed with ancient Observer runes, flickering with a cold, logical blue light.

“It's not a trap,” Zi Yuan's voice was cold. “It's a rule prison. We've stumbled into an Experimental Field marked for permanent sealing; these chains are an automated defense system to prevent internal entities from escaping.” 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Blue Bird's lightning erupted again, shattering a chain that tried to entwine the engine. “What on earth is locked inside that requires such an exaggerated defense?!”

Zi Yuan did not answer.

Her right eye—that mechanical prosthetic—was scanning the area where the rule chains were densest at maximum resolution. At the center of the countless interlaced chains, there was a distorted space where one could faintly see...

A city.

Not a ruin, but a complete, still-functioning city. Light and shadows flowed through the streets, lights flickered within the buildings, and one could even see the silhouettes of residents walking about.

But that city was compressed within a spherical space less than ten kilometers in diameter, like a specimen encapsulated in amber.

rule chains pierced into the sphere from every angle, connecting to every part of the city like IV tubes.

“That's...” Blue Bird saw it too, her lightning subsiding slightly. “A sealed civilization?”

Zi Yuan's mechanical eye continued to scan, the data stream rapidly analyzed within her consciousness.

“More than that,” she finally said. “It's an uncontrolled variable. The Old Observers couldn't understand its developmental trajectory, nor could they categorize it into any existing model, yet they couldn't bring themselves to completely purge it.

So they chose to seal it, slowing its time flow to near stasis, using rule chains to maintain its basic structure so it wouldn't collapse, and then... waited for a time when more advanced technology could re-evaluate it.”

She looked at Blue Bird, a cold sneer hooking the corner of her mouth. “In other words, we've stumbled into a containment facility for future problems left by the Observers. And these chains are both a cage and a life-support system.

If we forcibly destroy the chains, the city inside might completely collapse within minutes.”

Blue Bird's lightning burst out again, but this time with obvious irritation. “Then what do we do?! If we don't fight, we'll be worn down to death by these chains; if we do fight, the people inside will die too!”

Zi Yuan's long saber rose slightly, silver light condensing on the edge.

“There is a third option,” she said. “Find the core controlling these chains and obtain administrator privileges. And then—”

She looked at that imprisoned city, a sharp light flashing in her eyes.

“Ask the residents inside if they want to continue being specimens, or if they're willing to take a risk.”

Blue Bird froze for a second, then her lightning flared brilliantly as she gave a radiant smile. “You should have said so earlier! Then what are we waiting for? Where's the core?!”

Zi Yuan's mechanical eye locked onto a direction—at the densest point of the chains, there was a primary chain ten times thicker than the others with runes a hundred times more complex; its other end vanished into the void, connecting to who knows where.

“There.”

She gripped her long saber tightly.

“Get ready, we might have to fight some tough customers this time.”

The dawn's engine let out an overloaded roar as lightning and saber intent interlaced, charging toward the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) primary chain.

The rule chains seemed to sense their intent, coiling around even more frantically.

The battle erupted once more.

At the same moment, the dawn arrived at the target area.

It was an extremely eerie sector of space.

No planets, no dust, even conventional cosmic radiation was thin to the point of being nearly non-existent.

There was only a mist that constantly shifted colors,

Within the mist flowed streams of dark red, deep purple, and pale white light; they entwined, devoured, and split apart like living liquid.

And at the center of the mist was an opening that constantly contracted and expanded.

Whenever it contracted, the surrounding light streams would be sucked in; when it expanded, it would spew out even more chaotic and distorted energy debris.

“This is it,” Lu Duo's Emerald Network cautiously remained at the edge of the mist. “That chaotic product. It really is feeding.

I perceive at least seventeen faint echo signals being slowly decomposed within the mist.”

Yu Nian's face was somewhat pale. “So much pain... but it's not a sharp pain; it's a long, lingering pain of being erased bit by bit.”

Bai Cheng walked to the main console, and the book of commonality automatically flipped to a new page.

The light of the oath of starlight tried to probe into that mist, but as soon as it made contact, it was interfered with by chaotic frequencies, nearly losing control.

“The frequency interference is too strong,” she withdrew the resonance. “Conventional methods won't get us in. However—”

She looked at the speck of light flickering in the container.

“You were born from absolute nothingness; perhaps you have more resistance to chaos than we do.”

She opened the container, and the light of the pure heart vine gently cradled the speck, delivering it to Bai Cheng's palm.

The speck of light trembled slightly, but within the warmth of the oath of starlight, it gradually stabilized.

“Willing to help us?” Bai Cheng asked softly. “Go into that mist, find those echoes being devoured, and give them a direction to escape.”

The speck of light flickered a few times, and then, slowly and firmly, it nodded.