Weaver of Lies

On Primordial Source's cloak, 37 billion stars began to "flicker"—not with a normal pulse, but by rapidly switching between existence and nonexistence. The civilization-obsessions of the Zero Era were being affected by these contradictory memories and had begun to doubt whether they "existed and did not exist at the same time." "Does the Zero Era... exist? Does it not exist? Perhaps we both exist and do not exist... Perhaps existence itself is a contradiction..."

Only Lin Ye continued forward steadily. It was not because he was unaffected, but because he bore too many memories—370 million civilizations' memories of him, 37 billion Zero Era civilizations' trust in him, the Ruin Core's dependence on him, and the Memory Sea's own gaze upon him. So many memories pointed to him at once, forming a kind of memory mass—any contradiction within a single memory would be drowned out by the consensus of all the others.

He turned and looked at the expedition team. Then he did something.

From his cloak, he drew out 370 million strands of light—each one a three-hundred-and-seventy-millionth part, representing one civilization's memory of him. These strands of light were not meant to "correct" the expedition team, but to "witness" them.

"You don't need to find the right answer." His voice was calm. "You only need to know—I am watching you. Three hundred and seventy million civilizations are watching you."

Harmonic Leaptone froze. She suddenly understood—she did not need to find the "true melody" amid these contradictory memories. She only needed to know that 370 million civilizations were listening to her melody. Even if her melody was wrong, they would remember that "mistake." And a remembered mistake held more meaning than a forgotten truth.

She raised the crystal Tuning Fork again. Not to seek out a melody, but to "create" one—a