"Thump, thump, thump, thump."
In the endless darkness, as the linking effect activated,
Lin An vaguely seemed to hear the dull thudding of a heartbeat.
It grew louder and louder.
The beating heart sounded like shattered drumbeats, and like a withered star eternally trembling at the far end of the world.
Heavy, slow, yet magnificent.
The rhythms overlapped.
He did not know whether it was the heart he no longer possessed, or whether the Soul Flame was beating along with it.
At this moment, Lin An felt as though he were hovering before death, as if, from another angle, he had seen the World-Destroying Star above the Stellar Battlefield.
It was beating, beating atop the Black Chain.
Every vibration caused the chain to tighten, as if it were being pulled, trembling on the verge of breaking.
And he was resonating with this star.
"Is this the Origin of this world's catastrophe?"
"After merging into one, can I accelerate its destruction?"
In a daze, Lin An seemed to have gained a deeper understanding of the essence of the Cataclysm.
His consciousness faced this super star directly.
For a moment, Lin An felt utterly insignificant.
Yet once he decided to merge into the catastrophe, he instead calmed down.
Merging meant certain death.
Strictly speaking, he still had one final sliver of hope. However, that would have to wait until after his death.
Just as Lin An was feeling indifferent and preparing to cast his self-awareness into the star, the attacks against him from the outside suddenly stopped.
Among the fourteen Planet Destroyer Level powerhouses on the battlefield, the Chimera Emperor, who had always followed behind the Black Emperor, suddenly opened his second pair of eyes.
Those emerald-green, icy vertical pupils swiftly examined Lin An, who was no longer "struggling," then closed again