Seven-Day Countdown to the Apocalypse

"Ugh..."

Lin Yi snapped his eyes open.

Veins bulged on his forehead, his vision was a blur, and every nerve in his body seemed to be screaming.

As a Star Vortex level powerhouse, his indomitable will allowed him to suppress the physiological pain, but the violent shock originating from the restoration of his Soul Origin still brought him intense discomfort.

"Haa... haa..."

Lin Yi gasped for air.

After a while, as his soul gradually adapted, his vision began to clear.

What came into view was a ceiling painted with peeling, off-white paint.

A single incandescent bulb hung lonely in the center.

Outside the window, the bright sunlight characteristic of a summer afternoon filtered through the gaps in curtains printed with light blue floral patterns, casting bright spots of light onto the floor.

The sound of cicadas grew louder and louder, carrying an annoying, noisy drone.

This left Lin Yi momentarily dazed.

"I... I didn't die?"

Subconsciously, he tried to mobilize his source energy.

However, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, his body felt completely empty.

Lin Yi's heart sank abruptly.

Then, he took a deep breath and slowly surveyed the surroundings that felt so familiar.

Next, Lin Yi stood up in silence and walked slowly toward the full-length mirror in the corner.

The mirror reflected a face that looked slightly youthful.

"I... this..."

Seeing his younger self reflected in the mirror, Lin Yi couldn't help but feel a sense of bewilderment.

"I... am alive again?"

Because he knew so much, he knew how to be reverent.

As one of the few Star Core level powerhouses when the Blue Star Civilization passed the Civilization Advancement Assessment and joined the ranks of Interstellar Civilization, Lin Yi had earned the qualification to become an outer member of the Galactic Mercenary Alliance, allowing him to join the then-weak Relyat mercenary group.

After more than six thousand years of tempering through blood and fire, and struggling to advance to the ninth rank of the Star Core level, he had been fortunate enough to advance to the Star Vortex level under the guidance and care of his Commander, Relina, who had already broken through to the Star Domain level.

However, just as he was on his way to Zi Chen Star, the capital of the Purple Gold Star Union which held jurisdiction over Blue Star, to conduct an on-site rank certification and apply for Blue Star to be promoted from a humble "resource planet" to an "administrative planet" capable of normal development.

He was crushed like an ant by a Star Domain level elder of the Ziles Family, simply because he had inadvertently stumbled upon them hunting a Rare Grade beast, the Casro Horned Beast.

Lin Yi still clearly remembered that feeling of powerless despair.

His body, which he had thought to be formidable, was erased from the level of every fundamental particle that composed it, collapsing into nothingness without a sound.

And his consciousness, like a candle in the wind, was gently extinguished by an irresistible force of law.

But just as Lin Yi thought he would have to sink into the abyss of dead silence with despair and unwillingness, he suddenly felt an irresistible, overwhelming force, like a giant hand reaching out from the universe itself, grabbing his soul origin—which was on the verge of dissipating—firmly from the edge of annihilation.

Immediately after, he felt as if he had been forcibly stuffed into a fragile, inferior container, and the awakening of every cell was accompanied by tearing protests.

Only then did Lin Yi realize that he had come back to life.

He had returned to... a place both familiar and strange.

Lin Yi looked down at his hands.

They were the hands of a teenager, slender fingers with skin of a healthy complexion.

There were no traces of calluses from years of wielding weapons on his knuckles, only a few thin calluses from holding a pen.

After a moment of silence, Lin Yi slowly raised his head and once again carefully examined his surroundings.

In the cramped room, a single bed was placed against the wall, and a slightly chipped old desk was cluttered with many books and test papers, with a peeling basketball in the corner.

On the wall were a few outdated sports star posters and a glass photo frame containing a picture of a family of three.

Lin Yi's gaze was fixed firmly on that photo.

It showed his parents, much younger than in his distant memories, and a teenager wearing a high school uniform with a slightly shy smile.

Lin Yi remained silent for a long time, then let out a long, heavy breath.

Immediately after, he walked slowly to the window and pulled open the curtains.

The blinding sunlight poured in instantly, making him squint.

Several old residential buildings enclosed a small courtyard, where a few lush plane trees were planted.

Under the shade of the trees, a few half-old bicycles and electric scooters were parked, and a few children in vests and shorts ran past downstairs, chasing each other and leaving behind a string of carefree laughter.

Of course, there was also no shortage of that extremely annoying plane tree fluff.

In the distance was the jagged skyline of the city, with several newly built high-rises reflecting the luster of their glass curtain walls in the sunlight.

There were no massive engineering excavators roaring incessantly, no grey-yellow smog shrouding the sky above Blue Star, and certainly no extraction pumps piercing the crust of Blue Star to siphon its foundational materials from above the star rings...

Everything overlapped with that distant, hazy summer afternoon deep within his memories.

His powerful Soul Origin, at the Star Vortex level, felt as if it had been cast into a boiling furnace.

Countless images, blurred by the erosion of long ages, surged forth like a bursting dam.

Lin Yi now knew clearly where he was.

This was Blue Star seven thousand years ago...

It was... his home.

Lin Yi slowly stepped back, pressing his spine against the wall.

The cold sensation seeped through his thin T-shirt, yet it could not suppress the surging thoughts in his mind.

The relief of finishing the Gaokao, the joy of receiving the acceptance letter from Qingteng University, his parents' chatter—a mix of happiness and anxiety over tuition and living expenses...

And, also, that piece...

His hand subconsciously reached toward his chest.

His fingertips touched a hard outline beneath the fabric.

Lin Yi's heart gave a violent jolt.

He lowered his head abruptly, his fingers trembling slightly as he hooked it out.

It was a jade pendant, slightly larger than a coin, presenting an extremely warm and restrained deep cyan color, like a solidified galaxy.

The jade itself was not translucent; instead, it possessed a heavy, settled quality, as if it had condensed unimaginable eons of time. It hung quietly against his chest, suspended by a dull-colored red string.

The Family Heirloom Jade!

The Soul Origin of a Star Vortex level powerhouse, tempered and settled through long ages, was instantly activated, beginning a high-speed search and localization like the most precise instrument.

The seven-thousand-year river of time, along with the long, weary memories of countless battles and wanderings, was compressed into a lightning bolt that tore through space-time, anchoring with absolute precision to this very moment in time.

"This jade..."

Lin Yi murmured in his heart. He remembered now; it was today that he had received the long-awaited acceptance letter from Qingteng University.

It was also today that his mother, Zhou Jinghua, had personally handed him this Family Heirloom Jade of the Lin Family.

At this moment, his mother was preparing to go out after giving him the jade, and he had just hung the pendant around his neck, intending to take a nap.

He hadn't discovered anything special about this jade at first.

It wasn't until his strength reached the Star Core level and his control over his body had significantly improved that he realized it allowed his mind to process thoughts a fraction faster than usual, providing a minuscule yet real benefit in learning and understanding complex matters.

At the time, Lin Yi hadn't taken it seriously, assuming it was merely an ordinary treasure.

It wasn't until he encountered a powerful enemy and was severely wounded that he realized, even though his protective battle armor had been torn to shreds, this jade remained completely unscathed.

Since then, Lin Yi had tried various methods to explore its mysteries, even attempting to destroy it.

The results were, of course, all failures; the jade was unimaginably durable.

Lin Yi knew this must be an extremely precious treasure and dared not show it to others easily.

However, he had exhausted all means and failed to uncover its true purpose.

As time passed, he could only regard it as a strange relic of unknown use—a memento of his hometown—wearing it close to his body, hoping that one day, when fate allowed, he would discover its purpose.

But now, having been directly obliterated by the Rule Domain power of a Ziles Family elder, he had inexplicably been reborn seven thousand years into the past.

Lin Yi was very self-aware; given the vast population of the interstellar human race, let alone a mere Star Vortex level, even Star Domain level powerhouses were countless. Why would he be the one to return from the dead?

What's more, the point in time of his rebirth was exactly the moment he first wore the jade.

He thought to himself while his fingertips habitually rubbed the jade.

This was a habit Lin Yi had developed over many years.

Whenever he needed to comprehend cosmic rules or encountered a problem that required deep contemplation, he would rub the jade.

It was partly for its ability to increase his insight, but more so because it made him feel as though he wasn't too far from home.

But in an instant, a sudden change occurred.

The indestructible jade in his palm, which had accompanied him for so long, trembled slightly without warning.

Immediately following this, a faint, crisp cracking sound echoed.

"Click..."

The sound was as light as a hallucination.

Lin Yi's expression darkened. He opened his palm and stared intently.

He saw a hair-thin crack spreading silently across the surface of the deep cyan jade.

This was not a normal physical fracture; it felt more like some structure within the jade, which had been maintained for unknown eons, had finally reached its end.

The speed at which the crack spread was unimaginably fast, and in the blink of an eye, it covered the entire jade like a spiderweb.

The next moment...

Pfft!

A faint, muffled sound echoed.

Under the focused gaze of Lin Yi, the ancient jade—which he couldn't even scratch with his full strength—quietly crumbled into a small pile of fine cyan powder right in his open palm.

The powder was as fine as dust, shimmering with a restrained and profound glow, as if it contained fragments of the stars.

The old, dark red string snapped into pieces at the same time, scattering away.

The entire process happened so quickly and so thoroughly that Lin Yi's palm didn't even have time to feel a change in temperature before the ancient jade, which had existed for who knows how long, turned completely into ash.

Only that small pile of powder with a strange, icy chill remained in his palm.

Immediately after, even the powder slowly vanished, as if the ancient jade had never existed at all.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment.

Lin Yi was stunned for a moment, then sighed in his heart.

Was it you... who saved me and brought me back...

He looked down at his empty hands, remained silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly looked up.

His gaze pierced through the walls, as if looking toward a distant direction.

In the end, Lin Yi's gaze settled on the old digital alarm clock in the corner of his desk.

The LCD screen glowed dimly.

[July 16, 2027, Friday, 13:27]

At this point in time...

Lin Yi silently compared his memories for a moment, his expression grave.

"Seven days!"

"There are only seven days left until the fate-defining Civilization Advancement Assessment..."