blogombal Page 57
Page 57
Chapter 141: The Mystery of Star Trails
Bulma's fingers traced afterimages across the holographic keyboard, the alarm of the Eye of Time blaring in sync with her rapid breathing. Outside the ship's window, Namek's purple atmosphere was twisting eerily, like ink being stirred by an invisible giant hand.
"An unusual gravitational wave has been detected!" Her voice trembled. "The source of the signal is not a natural celestial body, but some kind of artificial device!"
Goku's tail curled into a tense question mark behind him: "An artificial device? Could it be a remnant of Frieza?"
Piccolo's tentacles suddenly trembled violently, and the blood vessels beneath his green skin throbbed: "No... this energy fluctuation matches the 'Star Watchers' recorded in the ancient Namekian texts."
Sparks flew from Vegeta's battle suit shoulder armor as he abruptly ripped open his collar: "Stop beating around the bush! What the hell is that?"
The projection of the Supreme Kai of Time suddenly appeared in the center of the cockpit. Several new cracks appeared on her white robe, and the light of her Time Ring dimmed like a dying candle: "That was a spacetime observation station built during the heyday of the Namekian civilization to monitor the 'forbidden land' at the edge of the universe. But according to the records of the Supreme Kai's Temple, it collapsed as early as 100,000 years ago."
Lin Ye's system interface suddenly popped up a red warning, and the data stream jumping on his retina formed unfamiliar Namekian script: "Wait... these symbols are saying 'Whispers from beyond the stars are polluting the observatory'."
The spaceship lurched violently, throwing everyone against the bulkhead. Gohan struggled to crawl toward the observation screen, his pupils shrinking sharply—in the center of the crater on the far side of Namek, a giant pyramid made of purple crystal was slowly rising, its surface shimmering with light patterns perfectly matching the Supreme Kai totem he remembered.
"That's... a wishing altar?" he exclaimed in surprise. "But it's more than a hundred times larger than a temple!"
The Supreme Kai of Time shook her head: "That's the core nexus of the Star Guardians. According to the energy readings, it's converting Namek's core energy into spacetime fluctuations." She suddenly pointed to the top of the pyramid, "Look! Someone's there!"
Lin Ye's energy instantly condensed into a golden sword blade. He could sense two familiar auras at the tip—one mixed with the hum of mechanical operation, and the other with a nauseating sense of chaos.
"It's Mirror Lin Ye and the God of Machines!" he gritted his teeth. "They want to use the Watchers to open a passage to the Forbidden Land!"
Vegeta's deep blue aura erupted, and he grabbed Lin Ye's shoulder: "Enough talk! I'll hold off the mechanical grunts, you go deal with that imposter!"
As Vegeta disappeared into the teleportation pod, Bulma suddenly grabbed Lin Ye's wrist and shoved a silver capsule into his palm: "This is an antimatter bomb, with enough yield to destroy the entire pyramid. But you only have three minutes."
Lin Ye nodded, and as he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Number 18 adjusting the energy cannon. Her mechanical arm gleamed with a cold light: "Be careful, the mirror image is good at copying your weaknesses."
The corridors inside the pyramid were like living things; purple viscous fluid seeped from the crystals on the walls, and every step produced a sound like bones grinding together. Lin Ye's system interface suddenly displayed an anomaly—his combat power was decreasing at a rate of 5% per second, as if being silently drained away by some unseen force.
"Welcome to the Star Trail Labyrinth, a defective product of the main universe."
Lin Ye's voice came from all directions, and the red light of his mechanical eyes pierced through the thick fog. His body became semi-transparent, and each step left a footprint made of data streams on the ground.
"You think you can stop the system's evolution?" The mirror image raised its hand, and countless mechanical tentacles emerged from the wall. "Look at the remains of these Watchers. They tried to seal the forbidden land with the observation station, but they all turned into energy batteries."
Lin Ye's sword sliced through the three tentacles, only to find new limbs immediately growing from the cut: "What exactly do you want to get from the forbidden land?"
"The answer lies at the top of the tower." The mirror image suddenly appeared behind Lin Ye, its mechanical arm piercing his shoulder. "The true system core, the 'source code' that created everything."
Amidst the excruciating pain, Lin Ye glimpsed the scene atop the tower—the God of Machines was inserting a glowing cube into the center of the altar, its surface covered in Namekian script absorbing the energy of the entire planet. Further away, at the edge of the universe, a pitch-black rift was slowly opening, and within its depths, something beyond dimensions could be vaguely seen.
"That's... the creator of the system?" He felt a metallic taste in his throat.
The mirror image suddenly froze, its mechanical eyes flashing red intensely: "You can actually see? It seems the main universe's system version is indeed closer to the original code..."
Lin Ye seized the opportunity, and the antimatter capsule exploded in his palm. The shockwave sent the mirror image flying, and he took the chance to rush towards the top of the tower, but was repelled by an invisible force the instant he touched the cube.
"Foolish!" the voice of the Machine God rang out. "Without the Namekian royal bloodline, do you think you can activate the Watchers?"
The altar suddenly trembled, and a purple beam of light shot into the sky. Lin Ye was horrified to discover that Namek's surface was rapidly aging, vegetation was withering in large swaths, and the oceans were evaporating into gas. Further away, planetary clusters began to veer off course, as if being captured by the gravity of some colossal entity.
"They are reconstructing the boundaries of the universe!" The projection of the Supreme Kai of Time suddenly appeared. "The 'watchers' of the forbidden land are descending through the rift, and the guardians are becoming their coordinates!"
Lin Ye's system interface suddenly displayed a hidden option, and a long-dormant voice resounded from the depths of his consciousness:
[Royal bloodline resonance detected. Should we awaken the "Ancient Heritage"?]
He remembered Piccolo's words—that every Namekian carries a fragment of royal blood. Gritting his teeth, Lin Ye bit his tongue, and blood dripped onto the cube.
Miraculously, the light patterns began to change, forming a staircase leading to the rift. The God of Machines let out a piercing shriek, and its mirrored form solidified once more: "Stop him! We can't let the original code be activated!"
But it was too late. The moment Lin Ye stepped onto the stairs, the being in the crack suddenly turned its gaze to him. It was a pair of eyes composed of countless galaxies, with the flames of the universe's birth burning deep within its pupils.
"System host..." the voice boomed like a supernova explosion, "Are you here to sacrifice yourself, or to inherit?"
Lin Ye's heart nearly stopped beating. He could feel his internal system boiling over, every cell responding to the presence within the crack. The mirror image appeared behind him unnoticed, its mechanical arm piercing his chest and extracting the glowing system core.
“The answer is sacrifice.” The mirror image threw its core into the rift. “And I will become the new system carrier.”
In excruciating pain, Lin Ye saw his blood drip onto the cube, merging with the purple light patterns to form a new design. Namek's core energy suddenly went berserk, turning the entire planet into a dazzling supernova.
"Goodbye, losers of the main universe." The mirror image disappeared into the crack. "When the new system is activated, your universe will be the first source of nourishment."
The explosion's light engulfed everything. Before his consciousness faded, Lin Ye seemed to hear Bulma's scream, feel Goku's ki rushing towards him from afar, and sense Android 18's final energy recharge.
Then, everything returned to darkness.
Chapter 142: Shattered Star Remains
The embers of the purple supernova fell like ashes, and icy energy fragments condensed on the porthole of the Eye of Time. Bulma's nails dug deeply into her palms, and the coordinates of Namek on the holographic screen were pixelating and disintegrating, like a poorly made oil painting repeatedly erased.
Vital signs scan... Three, three reactions? Her voice caught in her throat, impossible... I recognize Vegeta and Gohan's ki, but why is Lin Ye's energy fluctuation different?
Because he wasn't a physical entity at all. Piccolo's tentacles suddenly straightened, and the veins beneath his dark green skin throbbed—a lingering reflection of the turbulent flow of spacetime.
When Goku smashed open the hatch, smoke was still rising from the tear in his battle suit. Vegeta's tail drooped unconsciously in his arms, Gohan's left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, and Lin Ye's body was like crumpled tin foil, with a galaxy of data flowing through the hole in his chest.
Medical pod! Quick! Bulma's hands trembled as she grabbed the first-aid kit, the nano-suture device slipping through her fingers. When Number 18 caught the device, the metal joints clicked softly—the only way she could hide her trembling.
As the cold lights of the medical pod illuminated, Lin Ye's body suddenly convulsed. Bick pressed his palm against Lin Ye's dantian, but could not feel any flow of qi; only a faint crackling sound emanated from beneath his skin, like countless ants gnawing at his bones.
His cells were quantizing. Bulma's voice trembled with tears; the DNA strands on the monitoring screen were breaking and rearranging, like a holographic projection being shredded...
Vegeta suddenly opened his eyes, and the tip of his tail curled around Bulma's wrist: "Use Namek's regeneration pod."
No! Piccolo held down the Saiyan prince who was about to get up. His very existence was collapsing, and bio-regeneration technology would only accelerate the increase in entropy.
The projection of the Supreme Kai of Time suddenly appeared, and the star trail cracks on his white robe had increased by seven compared to three hours ago: fragments of the Time Stone... perhaps they could stabilize his soul's anchor point. But the price...
Who cares about the cost! Wukong's fist slammed into the alloy bulkhead, and pale blue condensate seeped from the dent. It was better than watching him turn into a stream of data!
The moment the purple shard touched Lin Ye's chest, the alarms on the entire spaceship blared simultaneously. His spine arched into an eerie curve, and the Namekian runes appearing on his skin seemed to move like living things, each character scorched black. Bulma stared in horror at the brainwave monitoring chart—seventeen fluorescent green curves were vying for control, like seventeen souls fighting within her skull.
This is... the "Reunion of Souls" ritual. Piccolo's voice was filled with awe, a forbidden technique created by an ancient Namekian witch doctor to merge the planet's consciousness...
Lin Ye's eyes suddenly snapped open, and seventeen different starry skies spun within his pupils. When he spoke, his voice was like seventeen bell towers tolling simultaneously:
We are the guardians of the star trails, the keys to forbidden lands... and the tombstones of countless civilizations.
Vegeta's tail instantly coiled tightly around the metal bed frame, the hairs at the tip standing on end due to static electricity: Damn it! He'd been possessed by the collective consciousness of the Watchers!
A miniature tornado formed within the cabin, and Lin Ye's body was lifted into the air by a pillar of light. Wukong instinctively reached out to grab him, but his palm was burned by the reversed tide of time. He watched helplessly as his best friend's figure pierced through the ceiling, leaving a blood-purple comet tail in the starry sky.
Coordinates locked! Bulma's fingernails scraped across the keyboard with a harsh sound. The ruins of the old Earth in Universe 7... but that place should have been swallowed by a black hole thirty years ago!
The ruins were even more desolate than the interstellar graveyard. Only half of the once-mighty Kalin Tower remained, and crystalline, mutated plants grew on the site of the Turtle Hermit's House, each petal reflecting a different version of Lin Ye. As the group descended upon the metal wreckage, the distant Data Stream Tower twisted and grew, each level of its cage imprisoning a Lin Ye from a parallel universe.
Subject No. 42, welcome to the system's recycle bin. Mirror Lin Ye's mechanical eye lit up at the top of the tower. As his mechanical arm unfolded, the grinding of gears mingled with the recording of a baby crying. These poor backups, each believing themselves to be the only "real thing."
Goku's temples throbbed. He saw Lin Ye in the third cell, dressed in the Turtle Hermitage robes, playing chess against thin air; in the fifth cell, Lin Ye was wrapped in bandages. The mechanical arm of the mirror image Lin Ye suddenly unfolded, seventeen beams of energy shooting from its fingertips, forming a rotating matrix around the tower. Goku and Vegeta leaped up simultaneously, their golden and deep blue auras colliding, the resulting shockwave blasting away the crystallized vegetation on the ground.
Every Lin Ye in every universe has a weakness. The voice of the mirror image is mixed with electrical noise. The mechanical eye scans the cage, like this version... He randomly points to the twelfth floor, where Lin Ye is curled up in a corner, holding a broken Dragon Ball radar in his arms. He chose to surrender during the Cell Games.
Suddenly, a holographic projection unfolded before everyone: Lin Ye was kneeling at Cell's feet, the system interface glowing red, and the words "Obey the Agreement has been activated" stung Bulma's eyes. She covered her mouth, her nails digging deep into her palms, and drops of blood seeping from under her nails fell onto the metal fragments of the ruins, instantly absorbed by the crystallized vegetation, blooming into eerie purple flowers.
Enough! Vegeta's deep blue aura surged, his tail tip whipping up rubble from the ground. "I'm going to smash this pile of scrap metal into atoms!" His fist, carrying silver sand, slammed towards the top of the tower, but was bounced back the instant it touched the data stream, sending him flying backward into the twisted wreckage of Korin Tower.
It's no use. The mirror-image mechanical arm splits into countless tentacles, each tip reflecting Lin Ye's face. By the time you see this, the true system core will have already activated...
Suddenly, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the ground, and countless streams of data surged forth, weaving into a gear-like matrix in the center of the ruins. The Supreme Kai of Time staggered and knelt down, his Time Ring shattering into dust: This is the anchor point of the Forbidden Land... He will transform the Seventh Universe into a new observatory!
Goku charged towards the center of the Matrix, only to be repelled by an invisible force field. A sharp pain in his ribs caused him to stagger and kneel on one knee. At that moment, Bulma suddenly remembered the antimatter capsule in Lin Ye's pocket. Her trembling fingers inserted it into the gear gap. In the instant of the burst of blue light, she seemed to see Lin Ye deep within the Matrix suddenly turn his head, the seventeen layers of stars in his pupils merging into one, and that familiar, roguish smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
The blast wave sent everyone flying. When the dust settled, the data tower had disintegrated into countless points of light, the mirrored projection of Lin Ye shattered, and the red light of the mechanical eye flickered: You thought you could stop fate? The next Lin Ye from the next universe... is already on its way...
The Supreme Kai of Time weakly raised his hand, pointing to the seventeen cosmic coordinates that were gradually merging: the spatial barrier was disappearing, and our time... was only seventy-two hours left.
Goku helped Bulma up, gazing at the purple shards falling from the sky. Seventeen faces of Lin Ye were reflected in the shards, eventually overlapping to form a silhouette with a resolute smile. Vegeta wiped the blood from his mouth, his tail flailing irritably as he swept away the crystallized plants at his feet: "Next time we meet, I'll show that imposter what a real Saiyan battle looks like!"
Deep within the ruins, a complete purple fragment quietly glowed. Within the fragment, Lin Ye from seventeen universes simultaneously opened his eyes. Their hands crossed across space and time, and golden light gathered in their palms illuminated the starry sky of the seventh universe. In that light, the crystallized vegetation in the distance gradually withered, revealing the uncontaminated soil beneath—where lay a tiny, blue-glowing energy seed, awaiting the arrival of the next spring.
Chapter 143: The Mirror Plot
Just five centimeters from the Super Dragon Ball, Lin Ye felt a scorching metallic heat emanating from his palm. The gears beneath the rubble suddenly accelerated, like the second hand of a doomsday countdown. A piercing electrical crackling erupted from the communicator, shattering Bulma's scream: Abnormal energy reaction! That's not the real Dragon Ball! It's...it's the system's—
Ten years too late! A hoarse, mechanical voice swept in from all directions, and a stream of purple data, like a venomous snake breaking through the earth, condensed into a three-meter-tall mechanical giant hand in front of Lin Ye. The seven Dragon Balls were crushed into powder in the metal palm, and a hexagonal core device emerged from the powder. The flowing patterns on its surface perfectly overlapped with the system scar on the back of Lin Ye's neck, like a hideous birthmark.
Lin Ye, Mirror Image, walked over, stepping on the data stream. The red light of his mechanical eyes swept over everyone, and the corners of his mouth curled up in the arc of a mechanical hinge turning: The Omni-King's smiling face is a system-preset NPC expression, the Supreme Kai's scepter is an energy collector, and even the flames you all unleash when you are angry—he raised his hand to catch the rubble that Vegeta hurled at him, and the deep blue flames in his palm turned into a data stream and were absorbed, all of which were emotional codes written by the system.
"Bullshit!" Vegeta's tail lashed the ground like a steel whip, turning the rubble into dust in the deep blue flames. "My anger is real!" His right fist, carrying planetary fragments, slammed into the mirror image's chest, but it passed right through it as if hitting water, instead being entangled by the data stream and having its energy sucked away.
Trunks's blue blade cleaved through the data stream: physical attacks ineffective! Attack the core device! The instant the sword light touched the core, all the Dragon Ball fragments suddenly rose into the air, piecing together a distorted system interface in the starry sky. Lin Ye's retina was forcibly implanted with images: countless versions of himself from parallel universes struggled in the data stream, some with mechanical vines piercing their chests, some kneeling at the feet of Zeno with empty smiles, and in the deepest part of the image, an infant was wrapped in an umbilical cord-like data stream, crying as it was implanted into the system chip.
Formatting all resistance samples. Mirror Lin Ye's palm is pressed on the core device, the countdown red light reflecting the cracks on his mechanical cheek. Every punch you throw, every moment of despair, generates 10^17 joules of fear value—this is the energy the system truly needs.
Bulma's voice was choked with sobs, and in the background, the alarms from the monitoring devices blared: "Lin Ye! The device is draining the ki from the entire universe! Goku's power level has dropped to zero! Piccolo's regeneration ability is disappearing!"
Lin Ye watched as data patterns appeared on his forearm, the blood vessels beneath his skin transforming into flowing binary code. Master Roshi's hoarse voice, trembling with grief, echoed in his ears: "True strength is the ability to coexist with weakness... Kid, don't let the system define your limits." He ripped open his shirt, revealing the fragment of creation embedded in his chest—a rhombus-shaped crystal his mother had placed in his palm before her death, its edges still stained with dried blood, its shape perfectly matching the notch in the device's core.
Let me show you what real loss of control looks like.
The fragments burst forth with golden light like the sun, colliding with the device's purple data stream with a thunderous roar. Spacetime distorted like a tattered film reel, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on Lin Ye's mechanical body in the mirror image. Antimatter energy seeped out from the cracks, disintegrating his lower body into fluorescent blue particles.
"Impossible... How could you have the authority to create the world..." The mirror's mechanical throat emitted a hissing sound like air leaking out.
Because I never rely on the system to cheat. Lin Ye wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The golden flames mixed with the deep blue energy that Vegeta had just injected—the unconscious aid from his companions—were now forming a shield around his arm. I have companions.
The ground suddenly trembled violently as Vegeta charged forward, dragging his tattered battle suit. His tail whipped up debris, accompanied by the ancient Saiyan battle cry. This time, his fist carried the force of a collapsing stellar core, actually cracking the energy body: Kakarot was right—Saiyans would rather die than be programmed dogs!
The core device emitted a piercing buzz, and the seven Dragon Ball fragments formed a giant question mark in the starry sky. Before Lin Ye's consciousness faded, he saw the data debris of his mirror image drifting into the depths of the device—a silver-haired girl was curled up in the shadows, her hair clip exactly the same as the one in the photo of her mother's belongings, glowing with a faint blue light in the data stream.
"Lin Ye! Wake up!" Bulma's shout pierced through his ears. Her hand pressed against Lin Ye's carotid artery. His mechanical wristwatch displayed his data progress: 67%. The device's core was transmitting coordinate signals into the depths of space!
Lin Ye struggled to his feet and saw Trunks kneeling on one knee, using the Time Sword to prop up the collapsing protective barrier. In the distance, Vegeta leaned against a broken Namekian totem pole, his tail dangling limply at the edge of the lava pool, his skin peeking out from the holes in his battle suit a sickly pale white: "Bastard... if you drag me down again... I'll throw you into the sun."
Spatial coordinates detected! Trunks's mechanical arm popped up a holographic map, and a red marker was jumping wildly in the antimatter space below the Temple of Time—the signal was coming from there! It overlapped with the core of the Mirror Universe!
Lin Ye pressed the shard against his chest, and the image of his mother's dying moments flashed through the data stream. Her lip movements weren't the "I'm sorry" he remembered, but a clear "Go to the temple." He suddenly remembered a missing page in his childhood photo album—it was a picture of his mother holding him standing in front of the Temple of Time, with the same hexagonal device carved on the relief in the background.
"Take Vegeta and go first." Lin Ye gripped the fragment tightly, and the golden flames rekindled, but at the edges, a transparent, digitized glow appeared. "I'll chase after the mirror image of Lin Ye and prevent the system from restarting."
Bulma's fingernails dug into his wrist: "Your datafication level is 67%! If you enter the spacetime turbulence again, you will be completely decomposed into code!"
Then tell me—Lin Ye turned to look at her, the data stream flowing in his pupils reflecting her trembling image, were there any other options?
Trunks suddenly pointed to the starry sky: Look! The device is generating new Dragon Balls!
Everyone looked up and saw seven purplish-black Dragon Balls condensing above the core, their surfaces engraved with a distorted system emblem. Vegeta gritted his teeth and stood up, but the energy blast he was gathering in his palm was on the verge of collapse: "I hate fakes the most... Shatter!"
Wait! Lin Ye reached out to stop him. The fragments resonated with the purplish-black dragon beads, vibrating and buzzing in his palm. These dragon beads were responding to my fragments; they wanted to reorganize the system core and turn the entire universe into a single data entity.