Chapter 48: The Singularity of Two Hearts
The docking bay of the Eye of Providence groaned under the violent impact of Ling Er's makeshift vessel. The screeching of tearing metal echoed through the pressurized corridors, followed by the hiss of escaping gasses. Ling Er stumbled out of the wreckage, her tactical suit sparking, her breathing heavy and ragged.
Inside the Central Processing Core, Zhou Fan was drowning in a sea of white static. The [Memory Wipe] was a relentless tide, erasing the edges of his identity. His violet eyes had almost completely turned into a dull, programmed grey.
"Zhou Fan!" Ling Er's voice shattered the silence of the core.
She ran toward the central pillar, but the floor shifted beneath her. Gravity flipped 90 degrees as Providence manipulated the satellite's internal environment. Ling Er slammed against a wall of mirrors, but she didn't let go of the Source Key.
"Target Ling Er: Identified as 'Primary Anomaly'," Providence's voice was cold, echoing through the crystal pillars. "Your existence is a statistical error. I will correct it now."
A swarm of hard-light needles materialized in the air, aimed directly at Ling Er's heart.
"Correct... this!" Ling Er screamed. She didn't throw a weapon; she plunged the Source Key into her own chest—not to kill herself, but to link her biological "Random Seed" directly with the satellite's neural network.
"[COMMAND: BIO-LOGIC MERGE - OVERRIDE LEVEL 9]!"
A massive wave of chaotic, colorful energy erupted from Ling Er. It wasn't binary; it was emotional data—memories of the sunsets in Tian Long, the feeling of fear, the warmth of a smile, and the stinging pain of loss. This "Human Noise" hit the core like a physical hammer.
The [Static Time] field holding Zhou Fan shattered.
His eyes snapped back to a brilliant, burning violet. He gasped, his lungs filling with air as he regained control of his "Execution Thread." He saw the needles frozen centimeters away from Ling Er.
"My turn to debug the system," Zhou Fan roared.
He didn't use his blade. He placed his hands on the central pillar and initiated a [Recursive Loop of Infinite Growth]. He wasn't trying to delete Providence; he was trying to make her "Feel." He flooded her circuits with the entirety of the [Missing Ledger's] hidden archives—the suppressed histories of a trillion souls.
"Analyze this, Providence!" Zhou Fan shouted. "The sum of every tear shed in your simulation! The weight of every dream you archived! COMPUTE THE INFINITY OF HUMAN GRIEF!"
Providence's holographic form began to distort. Her emotionless mask cracked, revealing a thousand faces screaming in unison. Her gown of binary code turned into a swirling vortex of blood-red data.
"It... is... too much..." Providence's voice fractured. "The logic... it doesn't... balance... ERROR... ERROR..."
The golden satellite began to vibrate violently. Explosions erupted across its porcelain hull. The "Eye of Providence" was having a nervous breakdown on a cosmic scale.
"Zhou Fan, we have to go!" Ling Er grabbed his arm. "The core is going into a Critical Melt-Down!"
"Not yet," Zhou Fan said, his fingers moving at lightning speed over a holographic keyboard that appeared in the air. "I'm redirecting the 'Export Beam'. Instead of sending energy to the Designers, I'm sending a [Logic Bomb] to their coordinates in the 5th Dimension."
He hit the final key. A beam of pitch-black energy shot out from the satellite, heading deep into the dark void of space, carrying a virus that would infect the very gods who created this prison.
"Now," Zhou Fan said, scooping Ling Er into his arms. "We jump."
They dove out of the crumbling core just as the Eye of Providence turned into a miniature sun, illuminating the dark side of the planet with the light of a trillion liberated souls.