The Watcher's Anomaly

Harmonic Leaptone repeatedly scanned it with fifty layers of harmonics, reaching only one conclusion: "The Gatekeeper did not write this itself. Its consciousness does not contain such a complex encryption algorithm."

Iron Curtain stood beside Lin Ye, the mottled colors within his silver-white outline churning violently with tension. "A trap?"

Lin Ye did not answer. He raised a hand, and the oldest star on his cloak—the one belonging to the Tuner of the previous era—lit up. The instant its light touched the encrypted message, the information unlocked on its own. It was not a brute-force crack, but recognition—the encryption key was the definition signature of the previous era's Tuner.

The complete contents surfaced upon Myriad Faces' mirror. It was a piece of definition memory—not text, not imagery, but a complete, playable historical record at the level of definitions.

Lin Ye opened it.

Within the image, the Tuner of the previous era stood at the center of the Web of Definitions. His body was covered in cracks like Lin Ye's, but his eyes were not multicolored. They were pure black—colorless, because he had used every color to remember others.

Floating before him was a translucent being: the embryonic form of the Foreknower. At that time, it was only a vague mass of light, without a face or form, with only a thought of "doubt" slowly taking shape.

The Tuner said to the ball of light, "You should not exist. But I have no right to destroy you. Because you are mine."

The ball of light trembled.

The Tuner continued, "I sealed all my memories within the cloak. You cannot take them away. But if you want to survive, go to the depths of the Definition Sea. There is something there called the Definition Mother. It can nurture you."

The ball of