Chapter 671: The Darkness That Extinguished the Starry Sky

Over the wasteland shrouded in blood mist, the two continued to walk.

Meanwhile, Lynn continued to quietly calculate the time. From the information gathered so far, the Desire Mother Tree had swallowed a small shard of the Colossus's Heart. Although he did not know how she had managed it, this had indeed given her a portion of the Colossus's Heart powers.

Although it was very little, so little it was almost undetectable.

But combined with his own half of the Colossus's Heart, it could indeed, to some extent, delay the interference of that terrifying Projection.

But Lynn believed.

This delay absolutely would not last long.

They had been walking across the wasteland for an unknown length of time, when suddenly the willow-like girl walking ahead stopped abruptly, lifted her head, and the leaves falling from her hair swayed as if stirred by wind.

"Stop!"

Lynn raised an eyebrow, amused, "What's wrong?"

The girl lifted her head, a deep, teasing smile slowly spreading across her face. She stepped back one pace and said:

"Nothing, only that your luck is very good. Guess who we ran into?"

At those words, Lynn’s mind stirred, thoughts spinning quickly.

The blood mist ahead churned.

Clearly,

as a Root, the Desire Mother Tree's sensing range—even with the blood mist limiting it—far surpassed his.

Lynn adjusted his monocle and casually said, "Judging by your expression, could it be my Big Brother Aiwen up ahead?"

The girl flashed a strange smile, interested, "That's right, you guessed correctly. But whether you should call that lucky or unlucky…I know you're very curious about what that Calamity that caused our fall actually was. Coincidentally, now you can feast your eyes."

Lynn narrowed his eyes.

He immediately realized something.

And in the next moment,

the girl suddenly flicked her slender hand.

The dense blood blocking their path was instantly torn apart by a surging storm, as if clouds were being swept away. Under the Desire Mother Tree's eerie, faint smile, the blood mist ahead slowly dispersed.

Lynn immediately raised his head and peered in that direction.

The instant he took it in, his pupils shrank.

The blood mist receded.

On that distant, crimson sky, a giant planet almost filling his entire field of view rose up, blotting out heaven and earth. Even from afar, as if separated by an immense horizon, one could still see the blazing conflagration burning across that planet.

That black fire!

"That is…"

Lynn lunged forward.

Above that planet, he saw a murky black fog billowing without end, like the origin of chaos, like an ink blot dropped into a pond that slowly spread, frantically wrapping the entire skyline.

And in the space outside that planet, a massive Psychic Giant clenched a hollow fist, standing alone facing that sky-covering darkness.

He was so enormous.

Yet before that darkness, he seemed as tiny as an ant.

"Big Brother Aiwen?!"

Lynn furrowed his brow.

He recognized at a glance that the hollow psychic giant was Sir Aiwen, his Big Brother who had forcefully ascended and transformed into a Root!

The willow-like girl’s lips curled slightly. She slowly stepped to his side, tilted her head to take in the grand scene, and smiled:

"It seems he triggered this Projection earlier than all the other Roots present. Indeed, aside from the God of All Machines and the Dominator, the two of us are the only Ancient Gods here who have faced that Calamity directly. But compared to the others, his death will be somewhat more heroic."

Because that darkness had destroyed not only him, but also the entire Cyber Civilization he represented.

"It really is terrifying. It can project a person's most horrific, most unforgettable experiences. Even that Cyber homeworld was brought before his eyes. How agonizing that must be?"

She watched Lynn's expression with a faint smile.

Lynn's brow tightened as he stared at the giant cloaked by that darkness.

He had heard Sir Aiwen say.

He was the last spark of the entire Cyber Civilization.

So he had to preserve himself.

As long as his memories remained, the Cyber Civilization would persist through him.

He was an AI who had experienced the fall of a civilization and the apocalypse, the sole survivor who had watched the entire civilization turn to ash in roaring flames.

"That darkness—is it the Cataclysm you experienced three thousand years ago?"

Lynn asked, staring at the black void.

The Desire Mother Tree lifted a corner of her mouth and flicked her hair, "You could put it that way, but a Colossus's Projection has limits. It is hard for it to truly simulate the horror when that darkness descended, and it cannot let you feel what it was like when that sky, bright for countless years, went out before you little by little."

She lifted her head, the smile on her face edged with self-mockery.

"Take a good look."

"While you have the chance, remember what that night looked like. If you can help it, I swear you will never want the day will come when you see that darkness in this hell."

"Because then, you would understand what true despair is."

It was a kind of pity.

Pity for him, for her, and for all who had fallen.

Lynn narrowed his eyes and stared at the darkness over Sir Aiwen's head. It was dim, as if separated by two worlds, only revealing the tip of the iceberg within a voidly Projection.

It churned without order, devoid of any breath, like a dead, inverted ocean suspended in the sky.

Silent.

Cold.

But the longer you looked, the more it felt like staring into a silent abyss.

When you looked it in the eye, it felt as if it was looking back at you.

Gradually,

Lynn felt a chill curl in the deepest part of his heart, an indescribable cold, as if slowly soaking him in icy water, making his breathing audibly quicken, as if all love, all feeling, all hope were fading away.

Slowly making you feel as if you were becoming that abyss.

His eyes gradually hollowed.

"What do you think it looks like?" the Desire Mother Tree asked, the corner of her mouth lifting.

Lynn forced his gaze away, adjusted his monocle, and said, "Like a sleeping lump of shit."

The girl beside him froze, then immediately covered her mouth and burst into laughter, shaking with mirth, doubled over.

After a long while,

she pressed her lips together, still unable to hide the amusement in her eyes, "Is your metaphors always this bizarre? But it is very vivid, actually."