The Second Foreknower

Myriad Faces projected the location of the interference source it had tracked. The source came from the depths of the Definition Sea, and its signal encoding belonged to no known universe—not the Ember Era, not the Iron Curtain Universe, nor anything recorded from the Nullifier era.

Harmonic Leaptone adjusted fifty layers of harmonics into reverse-detection mode. It was an extremely dangerous method—not receiving a signal, but actively transmitting resonance waves back along the interference signal's path to pinpoint its exact source.

The instant the resonance waves were sent out, Harmonic Leaptone's body shuddered violently. She intercepted a fragment of encrypted information. Once decrypted, it contained a single sentence:

"Memory extraction complete. Target civilization designation: CS-0092. Progress: one hundred percent. Next target: Chromaglass."

The chief weaver of the Chromaglass Civilization went pale. The sixty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven colors in her hands trembled violently at once, like a herd of beasts sensing danger.

"Why Chromaglass?" Iron Curtain asked in a low voice. "Chromaglass isn't a minor civilization. It has three thousand six hundred weavers, over sixty thousand colors, and a complete defense system. Aren't they afraid of alerting everyone by targeting Chromaglass?"

Myriad Faces fell silent for three seconds before voicing a conclusion that sent chills down everyone's spine:

"They aren't picking on the weak. The Chromaglass Civilization's Definition System is the most complex. Chromaglass's color system is the closest thing in the Ember Era to the 'essence of definition.' Copying Chromaglass's memories would be like obtaining a master key to understanding the Ember Era's Definition System."

Harmonic Leaptone abruptly turned toward Lin Ye.

Lin Ye walked back from the direction of CS-0092. The eight billion stars on his cloak flickered steadily, and his multicolored pupils were calm without the slightest ripple. He seemed to have already reached some conclusion.