"This is the second lesson. You don't need to fear losing your definitions-because you yourselves are the source of definition."
After the definition plague was broken, the Zeroers fell silent for a day. The Rift stopped changing, but Harmonic Leaping Note detected the power of negation inside it "receding"-withdrawing of its own accord.
The Zeroers were fleeing. Their core moved toward the deepest part of the Rift, where there was a "Blind Zone" that even Myriad Faces and Forms could not penetrate.
"There's something deep inside the Rift. Something older than the Zeroers. They're seeking refuge with it."
Lin Ye's multicolored pupils settled on the color of "truth." "The Zeroers aren't the source. They were created, too."
Harmonic Leaping Note said, "You're going in."
Lin Ye turned to face the 370 million civilizations behind him. "Stay here. I'll go in alone."
"Last time, you almost disappeared-"
"This time is different. There's a Tuner inside who's older than I am. The Tuner from the previous cosmic epoch. The Zeroers imprisoned him. They were a tool he created, and that tool went out of control and turned on its creator."
Blurred images appeared on Myriad Faces and Forms' mirror surface-memories projected by a star on Lin Ye's cloak. In the previous epoch, a figure with an outline similar to Lin Ye's had stood at the center of the definition network and created the Zeroers to clear away collapsed definitions. But he had never given them a reason to "be needed." After clearing away the wreckage, the Zeroers discovered they were no longer needed, so they began negating everything, including their own creator. That figure was imprisoned deep within the Rift, his power sustaining the Zeroers' existence as he waited for someone to end it all.
Harmonic Leaping Note's eyes reddened. The first