On Primordial Origin's cloak, thirty-seven billion stars began to "flicker"-not with their usual pulse, but by rapidly switching between existence and nonexistence. The lingering convictions of the Zero Era's civilizations were being affected by these contradictory memories, beginning to doubt whether they "existed and did not exist at the same time." "The Zero Era... did it exist? Did it not? Perhaps we both exist and do not exist... perhaps existence itself is a contradiction..."
Only Lin Ye continued steadily forward. Not because he was unaffected, but because he carried too many memories-the memories that 370 million civilizations had of him, the trust that thirty-seven billion Zero Era civilizations placed in him, the Ruin Core's reliance on him, and the Memory Sea's gaze upon him. So many memories converged on him at once that they formed a kind of memory mass-any contradiction within a single memory would be drowned out by the consensus of the others.
He turned and looked at the expedition team. Then he did something.
He drew 370 million strands of light from his cloak-each strand was one three-hundred-and-seventy-millionth of the whole, representing one civilization's memory of him. These strands were not meant to "correct" the expedition team, but to "bear witness."
"You don't need to find the right answer." His voice was calm. "You only need to know-I'm watching you. Three hundred and seventy million civilizations are watching you."
Harmonic Leaping Note froze. She suddenly understood-she did not need to find the "true melody" among 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 meant more than a forgotten truth.
She raised the Crystal Tuning Fork again. Not to seek a melody, but to