At the center of Guixu Relay Station, the dark greenish-bronze bell that had hung there for who knew how many epochs began to tremble violently of its own accord.
The waves of sound did not enter through their ears. They traveled up through the soles of their feet like barbed ice needles, stabbing viciously into everyone's marrow. The Heavenly Prides from every world, who had been fighting over resources in the main hall only moments ago, all froze in place.
Chu Qing stood on the inn's terrace, gripping a yellowed Fragmented Map.
The paper rasped softly between his fingers. He looked down the long street, where those fully armed geniuses who had been so high-spirited moments earlier now looked as pale as sheets of waste paper floating on water.
"Save... save me..."
A shrill howl came from the end of the street.
Chu Qing walked to the railing and looked down.
The river of stars beneath the relay station had changed.
The silver river, which had originally surged onward, stopped abruptly. In that instant, the entire starfield fell into absolute stillness. That illogical silence made Chu Qing's stomach churn—a physical nausea born from causality and logic being violently torn apart.
Then, the river exploded.
Not forward, but madly surging backward toward its source!
Splash—!
The viscous riverwater slammed against the relay station's barrier, producing a teeth-grinding scraping sound. It was no longer water, but dark-red sludge mixed with countless shattered planes and withered star cores.
"Thud."
Ye Wushuang, a genius of White Jade Capital, dropped to his knees by the dock. He clutched his sword hilt tightly, his knuckles bleached white from the force, his eyes bulging wide. The surfaces of his eyeballs were webbed with bloodshot veins from sheer terror.
"Logic... has broken." Ye Wushuang muttered, a wheezing, bellows-like