But Before Completion had already vanished completely into the Chaotic Dimensional Jump passage, and the fissure closed in an instant.
The Redundancy Zone returned to deathly silence.
The shadow lingered for a moment, silently recording the escape vector and the lingering mingled traces of "Contradiction Integration" and "civilization embers."
[Target has performed a chaotic dimensional jump. Jump destination obscured. Tracking protocol updated: flag 'Contradiction Integration tendency (unconfirmed)' and 'unknown ancient civilization artifact (identification in progress)' as key traits. 'Eraser' protocol preload completion: 68%. Requesting expanded search range. Approved. Executing.]
The shadow slowly dissipated.
Meanwhile, in a deeper Dimensional Passage, far more violent and filled with shattered fragments of spacetime and destructive energy turbulence, the little boat Before Completion struggled onward like a leaf in a storm.
Inside the boat, Lin Ye and the others did everything they could to keep it stable.
"Barrier damage: 12%. Power remaining: 2.1%." Order's Dawn reported the bad news. "The biggest problem is that the jump passage has suffered unknown interference. The destination coordinates have shifted unpredictably. We may not be able to return directly to the safe zone indicated by the network beacon."
"The source of the interference bears traces of the 'Eraser' protocol. It may have 'contaminated' or 'distorted' the passage on a logical level the instant we initiated the jump." Order's Dawn's voice was grave.
"So not only did we fail to shake Eraser off, we might actually have been deliberately 'herded' toward somewhere Eraser wanted us to go?" Radiant Stilllight asked in horror.
Lin Ye looked into the murky, chaotic darkness ahead in the passage, his gaze unfathomable.
"Whether we were herded here or it was a coincidence... there's no turning back now."
"Be ready. Whatever lies ahead... we may have a hard fight on our hands."
"Eraser... where