The wall shook violently. Countless obsessions surged within it, like beasts trapped for endless eras struggling to break free. They wanted to believe him, but they had been abandoned too many times and no longer dared trust any being.
"Liar," the voice said, though most of its hostility had faded. "Every being said it would remember us. Then they left. They defined new definitions, replaced the old with the new, and threw us in here. You will leave too. You definitely will."
Lin Ye did not argue. He simply continued standing there, the stars on his cloak maintaining their faintest glow, neither brightening nor dimming.
"You're right. I will leave. But before I do, you have been seen."
The wall fell silent.
Then, a crack appeared in the wall. It had not been broken by an external force, but split from within—an ancient obsession extended its head through the crack. It had no form, only a faint cluster of light, yet that light contained the resentment of all the abandoned definitions from endless eras.
It drifted before Lin Ye and stopped.
Lin Ye did not reach out. He merely looked at it, the faint starlight on his cloak reflecting against that cluster of light, making it seem less alone.
The light trembled for a long time. Then, it gently touched a star on Lin Ye's cloak that had already dimmed.
That star lit up for an instant.
It had not been redefined, nor had it been put back into use. It was simply "remembered" by that light. An abandoned definition had remembered a star that bore a civilization's obsessions.
Harmonic Leaping Note held her breath.
More and more cracks spread across the wall. Countless obsessions poured from them, drifting toward Lin Ye like fireflies. Each one lightly touched a star