Above the ruins of the Lingxiao Palace, the golden rain of data continued to fall.
But this wasn't a celebratory shower; it was the prelude to the world's collapse.
Shen Qingqiu looked up, through the swirling, garbled code, at the sky above—a sky that had been disguised as azure, but now revealed a black grid beneath.
There, there was an eye.
Not the virtual sphere of light like the Ancestor's, but a cold, higher-dimensional gaze, like observing a slide through a microscope.
The eye blinked.
[System Announcement: Server severely contaminated.]
[Command: Full Format (Format C:)]
[Countdown: 10…9…]
The sky cracked.
Not a physical crack, but like a charred photograph. The edges curled and blackened, revealing the despairing, absolute nothingness behind it.
Countless enormous "cleaning programs," composed of pure white rasteres, moved slowly along the horizon like rows of giant erasers, wiping out everything in their path—buildings, streets, even the data of newly freed souls—returning everything to pristine blankness.
"Looks like we've angered the landlord." Shen Qingqiu withdrew her gaze, a bittersweet, crazed smile playing on her lips.
She turned to Seventeen beside her.
Seventeen's black and gold armor was tattered, revealing silver-white bionic muscles beneath. Yet he stood upright, like a wedge driven into the heavens and earth.
"Seventeen, are you afraid?" Shen Qingqiu reached out, her fingertips gently catching a strand of his silver hair, ruffled by the data storm.
"This is a 'test server' destined for destruction."
"Staying here means being wiped clean. Charging out might lead to a vacuum, an abyss, a real universe ten thousand times more cruel than this." Seventeen grasped her hand.
He opened her palm and pressed it against his half-human, half-machine face.
His body temperature was high, the core reactor warming up for its final explosion.
"As long as I'm with you." Seventeen's voice was deep, his purple eyes reflecting the collapsing world, yet only holding her reflection.
"Even if it's hell, it'll be a honeymoon." Shen Qingqiu smiled.
She laughed until tears welled up.
In this cold, false world made of 0s and 1s, she had received the warmest heart in the world.
"Okay."
"Then let's... elope." Shen Qingqiu abruptly took a step back.
She opened her arms, her red dress fluttering in the wind, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
[Administrator Privileges: Full Power Unlocked.]
[Target: Seventeen.]
[Command: Macro-Mode] "Seventeen! Catch my soul!"
She transformed into a streak of red light, not fleeing, but rushing straight towards Seventeen's chest—the location of his core reactor, the cockpit of his soul.
Seventeen did not dodge.
He opened his chest.
The black-gold armor there blossomed like petals, revealing the violently beating golden [Nano Divine Gold] heart within.
Buzz— The red light entered the golden heart.
The two merged into one.
Rumble—!!!
A terrifying aura, distorting space itself, erupted from Seventeen's center.
The surrounding "cleanup program" grids that attempted to approach shattered instantly before this aura.
"Roar—!!!" Seventeen roared to the sky.
His body began to grow wildly.
The surrounding fragments of the abandoned Lingxiao Palace, the flowing data streams, even the photon ground beneath his feet, were all forcibly absorbed and reassembled by him.
Ten zhang… a hundred zhang… a thousand zhang! In the blink of an eye,
a colossal black-gold mechanical giant, towering to the heavens, stood atop the clouds.
It possessed the face of Seventeen, yet was far more majestic and sacred.
Its entire body was covered in intricate and mysterious inscriptions, each piece of armor flowing with a dark golden light like magma. Behind it, twelve "data wheels" composed of high-energy particles floated, slowly rotating, radiating an oppressive aura that suppressed the heavens.
This was its ultimate form—[End of the World · Xing Tian].
Inside the cockpit.
It was no longer a cramped seat, but a pure white ocean of consciousness.
Shen Qingqiu floated in the center of this ocean.
Countless golden optical fibers connected her spine and limbs. Her eyes were closed, her fingers lightly strumming the air, as if playing an invisible piano.
She could feel it.
This enormous body was an extension of herself.
That gigantic hand, capable of crushing mountains, was her hand.
"Seventeen, how do you feel?"
Her voice echoed directly in the giant's mind. "Very strong." Seventeen's consciousness enveloped her, the intimate fusion giving him an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
"It feels...like it could punch a hole in the sky."
"Then let's do it." Shen Qingqiu suddenly opened his eyes, a cold light flashing in his golden pupils.
"Let that peeping tom hiding behind the screen see."
"What is...a BUG's counterattack?"
Outside.
The thousand-foot-tall black-gold giant moved.
It ignored the collapsing buildings around it.
It slowly raised its head, its giant purple eyes, like the sun and moon, locking onto the ever-lowering "white sky" above, attempting to obliterate everything.
Clang— The giant raised its right hand.
The void trembled.
Countless flying swords, magical artifacts, and even discarded metal from the lower city scattered throughout the cyber cultivation world, summoned by some supreme will, transformed into a vast river of metal, converging in the giant's palm.
In that palm, a colossal sword, ten thousand meters long, forged from billions of data points and metal, was taking shape.
Sword Name: [Heaven-Opening]
"This is too romantic..." Shen Qingqiu exclaimed in the cockpit.
This was a sword strike that gathered all the "matter" of the entire world.
"Slash." Seventeen's will synchronized with hers.
The giant gripped the sword with both hands.
The red ribbon tied to the giant's index finger (though now a gigantic cable) danced wildly in the storm, like an undying vow.
Boom—!!!
The giant sword swung out.
No fancy sword techniques, only absolute power and absolute will.
This sword strike went against the current.
It sliced through the rain of garbled code.
It shattered the white gratings representing "cleansing."
Carrying the anger and resentment of the entire world, it slammed fiercely into that illusory sky.
Sizzle—crack!
That wasn't the sound of tearing cloth. That was the crisp sound of shattering glass.
The "Sky," which had shrouded the entire world for millennia, imprisoning all beings in a data cage, finally succumbed to the weight of this sword strike, tearing open a massive, east-west gaping wound.
And beyond that gaping wound.
It was no longer nothingness.
Nor was it code.
Shen Qingqiu saw it through the giant's eyes.
It was… the starry sky.
The real, profound, cold universe, filled with billions of burning stars.
And against that starry backdrop, an indescribably enormous, planet-like silver warship hovered silently.
That was the true form of the "Observer."
The mastermind behind the Myriad Immortals Alliance—an advanced interstellar civilization.
"So that's how it is…" Shen Qingqiu murmured to himself.
"This isn't some cultivation world at all; this is... a brain-in-a-vat experimental field."
"And that warship is the laboratory."
"Warning! Warning!"
"Subject number 1307 has breached containment procedures!"
"Threat Level: Planet-Destroying!"
On the warship, countless red signal lights illuminated.
Hundreds of orbital cannons, capable of destroying planets, began charging, their muzzles aimed at the black-gold giant that had just broken free of its cage.
"They want to kill us." Seventeen's voice remained calm, even carrying a hint of eager fighting spirit.
"Qingqiu, shall we fight?"
Shen Qingqiu looked at the sky full of cannon muzzles.
Afraid?
Of course she was afraid. That was a true advanced civilization, something she could only look up to in her mortal days.
But now, she was inside the giant's heart.
She wielded the strongest sword named "Seventeen."
"No." Shen Qingqiu shook her head, a mad smile playing on her lips.
"Not just war."
"I want…to seize the ship."
"That big guy looks good, perfect as our…wedding car to the new world." Seventeen paused.
Then, a deep, thunderous laugh echoed from the giant's chest.
"Yes, my bride."
Boom!
The black-gold giant didn't linger.
It stepped into the void, its twelve light wheels spinning at full power, spewing out dazzling streams of particles.
It transformed into a black-gold meteor, bursting out of the shattered "data world."
It plunged into the cold, vast real universe.
Facing the barrage of gunfire.
Facing the unknown fate.
Behind them, the cyber world called "Neon Sky" was rapidly collapsing, formatting, becoming a dim, dead star.
But that no longer mattered.
Because they had jumped off the chessboard.
From now on, the stars and the sea would be their journey.
At the last moment before entering the warship's defensive perimeter.
In the consciousness space, Shen Qingqiu embraced Seventeen's consciousness.
"Seventeen."
"Hmm?"
"If we survive this time..."
"Let's get married." Seventeen's consciousness trembled violently.
A light, more dazzling than a supernova explosion, shone from her purple eyes.
"Okay."
"It's a deal."
Bang—!!!
The black-gold giant slammed heavily into the energy shield of the silver warship.
The flames illuminated half the galaxy.
It was the flames of destruction.
It was also a salute to new life.
(Volume 4: Cyber Cultivation - Data Ascension - End)
[Next Volume Preview: Volume 5: Interstellar War - Civilization Chronicle]
"Report, Commander! The experimental subject... the experimental subject has broken in!"
"He... he dismantled the main cannon with his bare hands!"
"That woman... that woman hacked into our central fire control system!"
The vast galaxy, teeming with myriad races.
This is a story about an escapee who takes over, evolving from a lab rat into a cosmic overlord.
Shen Qingqiu donned a crisp interstellar fleet uniform, a general's star sash on her shoulder.
Seventeen transformed into the strongest single-soldier mech, guarding her side.
"Commander, enemy civilization fleet detected ahead, numbering three thousand."
"Seventeen, activate planet-destroying mode."
"Yes, Madam. Tonight's fireworks are for you."