Day Seven Countdown to the Apocalypse

"Ugh."

Lin Yi snapped his eyes open.

Blue 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 iron will allowed him to suppress the physiological pain, but the violent shock originating from the realignment of his soul essence still brought him intense discomfort.

"Hoo, hoo."

Lin Yi gasped for air, his breaths coming in ragged gulps.

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 typical of a summer afternoon filtered through the gaps in curtains printed with small, light-blue floral patterns, casting bright spots of light onto the floor.

The sound of cicadas rose in waves, carrying an annoying, noisy drone.

This left Lin Yi momentarily dazed.

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

Subconsciously, he tried to mobilize his source energy.

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

Lin Yi's heart sank abruptly.

He took a deep breath and slowly surveyed the surroundings, which felt strangely familiar.

Then, Lin Yi rose in silence and walked slowly toward the full-length mirror in the corner.

The mirror reflected a face that looked slightly callow.

"This is me..."

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

"I'm alive again?"

Because he knew so much, he understood the meaning of awe.

As one of the few Star-Core level beings when Blue Star civilization passed the civilization promotion assessment and entered the ranks of interstellar civilizations, Lin Yi had earned the qualifications to become an outer member of the Universal Mercenary Alliance, joining the then-weak Reliate mercenary group.

After more than six thousand years of tempering through blood and fire, and struggling to promote to the ninth rank of Star-Core level, he had luckily advanced to the Star-Vortex level under the guidance and care of his captain, Reliate, who had already broken through to the Star-Domain level.

However, just as he was on his way to Zichen Star, the capital of the Purple Gold Star Alliance—which held jurisdiction over Blue Star—to conduct an on-site rank certification and apply for Blue Star's promotion 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 Zilies Family, simply because he had inadvertently stumbled upon them hunting a rare-grade exotic beast, the Caslo Horned Beast.

Lin Yi still clearly remembered that feeling of powerless despair.

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

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

But at the very moment Lin Yi thought he would sink forever into the silent abyss of despair and resentment, he suddenly felt an irresistible, overwhelming force—like a giant hand reaching out from the universe itself—grab his soul essence, which was on the verge of dissipating, right from the edge of annihilation.

Immediately after, he felt as if he had been forcibly shoved 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, skin with a healthy glow.

There were no marks from years of gripping 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 stood against the wall, an old, chipped desk was cluttered with books and test papers, and a slightly peeling basketball sat in the corner.

Outdated posters of basketball stars were taped to the wall, along with a glass frame containing a photo of a family of three.

Lin Yi's gaze was nailed to that photograph.

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

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

He walked slowly to the window and pulled back 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, several 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 trail of carefree laughter.

Of course, there was also the incredibly annoying plane tree fluff.

In the distance lay the uneven skyline of the city, with a few newly built high-rises reflecting the luster of their glass curtain walls in the sunlight.

There were no massive construction machines roaring forever, and certainly no Star-Core energy pumps piercing into the crust of Blue Star from the star rings above.

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

His powerful Star-Swirl-level soul origin 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 in the past.

Yes. His home.

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

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

The relief of finishing the college entrance exams, the joy of receiving his acceptance letter from Qingteng University, and his parents' nagging, a mix of happiness and anxiety over tuition and living expenses.

And, also, that object.

His hand reached toward his chest instinctively.

His fingertips touched a hard outline beneath the fabric.

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat.

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

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

The jade itself was not translucent; instead, it had a heavy, settled quality, as if it had condensed an unimaginably long span of time. It hung quietly against his chest, suspended by a dark red cord.

The family heirloom jade!

The soul origin of a Star-Swirl-level powerhouse, tempered and settled through long ages, was instantly activated, functioning like a precision instrument to scan and locate.

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

"This jade..."

Lin Yi murmured to himself. 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 Lin family heirloom.

At this moment, his mother was preparing to go out after giving him the jade, and he had just put the pendant on, 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 improved significantly that he realized it allowed his mind to process thoughts a fraction faster, providing a subtle yet genuine benefit to learning and understanding complex matters.

Back then, Lin Yi hadn't thought much of it, assuming it was merely an ordinary treasure.

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

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

The results were always failure; the jade was unimaginably sturdy.

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

However, he had exhausted all means without ever uncovering 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 secret.

But now, having been obliterated by the Zilies Family elder's Rule Domain power, he had inexplicably been reborn seven thousand years into the past.

Lin Yi was well aware of his own standing; given the vast population of the interstellar human race, let alone a mere Star-Swirl-level, even Star-Domain-level experts were countless. Why would he be the one to return from the dead?

Moreover, the moment of his rebirth was exactly when he had first put on 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 contemplate the laws of the universe or was faced with a difficult problem that required deep thought, he would rub the jade.

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

But in an instant, a sudden change occurred.

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

Immediately following, a faint, crisp cracking sound echoed.

"Click."

The sound was so light it felt like a hallucination.

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

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

This was not a normal physical fracture; it was as if some structure within the jade, maintained for an unknown amount of time, had finally reached its end.

The crack spread with unimaginable speed, and in the blink of an eye, it covered the entire jade like a spiderweb.

The next moment.

Pop!

A faint, muffled sound echoed.

Under Lin Yi's focused gaze, the ancient jade—which not even his full strength could scratch—turned into a small pile of fine cyan powder right in his open palm, without a sound.

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 cord snapped into pieces at the same time, scattering away.

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

Only that small pile of powder with a strange, icy sensation 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 stood 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 several seconds, and then suddenly looked up.

His gaze pierced through the walls, as if trying to look toward some distant direction.

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