Three-Way Hunt

Civilization Graveyard, ruins of a shattered tower.

The gray "Eraser" spread like stagnant water. Wherever it passed, existence was diluted into nothingness.

The dark-red Taotie had already manifested thirty thousand units away—a devouring behemoth the size of an asteroid, its body covered in eye-like organs dripping with acid.

The third party's Radiance of Order suddenly solidified.

A spindle-shaped vessel woven from chains of causality squeezed out from a dimensional rift. Civilization's wails flowed across its hull, yet there was no greed or deathly silence—only—

"Attachment."

"Database match!" Xuxi cried in alarm. "Ninety-one percent similarity to Shadow of Paradox's escape protocol! That's a projection of its true body!"

Lin Ye's pupils contracted slightly.

That self-proclaimed neutral observer had entered the fray in person.

"Tuner." Shadow of Paradox's icy thoughts rang out. "The rule conflict you triggered exceeded expectations. The Dreamweavers' lingering echo contains a protective obsession—the most perfect paradox anchor in my history of observation."

"Here to steal it?"

"To witness how it blooms amid a three-way hunt." The projection rippled slightly. "Survive, and you will qualify to become keys. Otherwise—it will nourish my origin."

Lin Ye smiled, cold as an abyss.

"When the snipe and clam fight, the fisherman profits."

He turned toward the ruined tower. Silver-white and dark-gold runes intertwined into a symbiotic structure, while purple-gold light gestated at its core—the newborn flame produced by the collision of two civilizations' embers.

"Fusion at eighty-seven percent!" Xuxi reported urgently. "The Taotie will enter attack range in fifty seconds! The Eraser will cover this area in seventy seconds! The paradox projection is already setting up an observation cage!"

Fifty seconds.

Lin Ye swept his gaze over the team. Radiant Stilllight's armor was shattered, its origin riddled with cracks; Harmonic Leaptone's Tuning Fork was covered in wounds; Myriad Faces was as faint