Shen Yi stood in deep space, surrounded by more than a dozen silent, lifeless planets floating quietly like abandoned skeletons. The vacuum was soundless; only the faint light from distant stars outlined the desolate contours of this region.
The marks he had previously left on the Insect Race had vanished.
They had not been removed by anyone. They had dissipated naturally, just as a brand would lose its anchor after its host died.
When he had repaired the fissure in the world barrier earlier, he had investigated. The places where the marks had vanished were abnormally clean. There was no lingering trace of Insect Race activity, not even the slightest sign of biomass decay, as though those Insect Race that had once blanketed the skies and devoured star systems had never existed.
But he could not be bothered to investigate further.
What truly concerned him was something else. At the final location where the mark had dissipated, some faint presence seemed to be tugging at the residual traces of its rules.
The feeling was strange, as though some fragmentary, shattered rule was lightly pulling at the rule of the mark he had left behind.
"What is it?"
Wen Ke'er's voice came through the Mental Link.
She and Fei Mi stood on either side of Shen Yi, their bodies enveloped by an invisible barrier formed from Shen Yi's power, shielding them from the bitter cold and radiation of deep space.
Shen Yi did not answer immediately. He merely frowned slightly.
That tugging sensation was faint, yet exceptionally clear.
It did not come from any living being, nor did it resemble an energy fluctuation. It was more like the lingering echo of some rule.
"Over there."
Shen Yi finally spoke, raising a hand to point into deep space.
"There's something there."
As