Chapter 63: The Source Archive and the Prime Architect
The wooden door creaked open, a sound so mundane it felt like a glitch in the cosmic reality. As Zhou Fan stepped through, the blinding white light of the Core didn't follow him. Instead, he found himself in a vast, infinite library. The shelves weren't filled with books, but with glowing crystalline cubes, each containing the compressed history of a different civilization.
This was the [Source Archive], the physical memory of the universe.
In the center of the room sat a man. He didn't look like a god or a monster. He looked like an exhausted scholar, wearing a simple gray robe, his fingers moving across a holographic terminal that projected the [Master Equation].
"I expected you three cycles ago," the man said without looking up. "The Law of Time usually trips up the ambitious ones. You found a loophole. Efficient."
"Who are you?" Zhou Fan asked, his Void-Blade humming, though the air here seemed to dampen its energy.
"I am The Prime Architect," the man replied, finally turning around. His face was a mirror of Zhou Fan's—not a twin, but a version of what Zhou Fan might look like after a billion years of loneliness. "But in your tongue, I suppose I am the one who wrote your 'Destiny'. I am the Lead Developer of the First Iteration."
The Revelation of the Great Cycle
Zhou Fan tightened his grip on the Missing Ledger. "You created the Collective. You created the Auditors. You turned a galaxy into a slaughterhouse for 'Data Harvesting'. Why?"
The Prime Architect sighed, standing up. He waved his hand, and the floor beneath them became transparent, revealing not the Hub, but a [Void] eating away at the edges of the galaxy.
"Look at the 'End-of-File' markers, Zhou Fan," the Architect said. "The universe is suffering from [Entropy Decay]. Our reality is leaking information into the higher dimensions. We aren't harvesting data for power; we are harvesting it for [Redundancy]. We simulate lives, suffering, and joy to create enough 'Information Density' to prevent the 3rd Dimension from collapsing into nothingness."
"You're using our souls as [Structural Braces]," Ling Er whispered, horror dawning on her face.
"Exactly," the Architect nodded. "The 'Peace' of the Collective was the only way to ensure the maximum output of predictable, stable data. Your rebellion... your 'Freedom'... it's a massive burst of unoptimized noise. It's beautiful, yes, but it's weakening the walls of existence."
The Law of Identity: The Final Duel
The Architect stepped toward Zhou Fan. "Now, the [Third Lock]. The Law of Identity. To rewrite the Equation, you must prove that your 'Noise' is more stable than my 'Order'. You must delete me, not with a blade, but by proving your existence is more 'Necessary' than mine."
Suddenly, the library vanished. Zhou Fan was standing in a void, facing a billion versions of himself. Every choice he had ever made, every regret, and every possible future was manifested as a hostile entity.
"[System Event: Identity Crisis Protocol]!"
The billion Zhou Fans attacked. It wasn't a physical battle; it was a [Memory Incursion]. They flooded his mind with the weight of the souls he carried in the Ledger. A billion voices screaming for justice, for peace, for revenge.
"You want to be their Administrator?" the Architect's voice echoed. "Then feel the weight of their combined entropy! Can your 'I' survive the 'We'?"
Zhou Fan's silver-gold hair began to fracture into dark static. He felt his personality being crushed by the sheer volume of the Registry.
"I am... everyone..." Zhou Fan gasped, his eyes turning into white static.
"Zhou Fan!" Ling Er's voice was a distant spark. She was being pulled away by the Architect's logic. "Don't be a hero! Be a [Variable]!"
The Great Fork: The Decentralized Soul
Zhou Fan realized the trap. The Architect wanted him to take "Responsibility"—to become the new King, the new God. But that was just another form of the same Equation.
"I am not... the Administrator," Zhou Fan whispered, his voice gaining a new, terrifying frequency.
He didn't try to absorb the souls. He [Released] them. He used the Kernel Key to give every soul in the Ledger its own [Root Access].
"[COMMAND: DISTRIBUTED SOVEREIGNTY]!"
He didn't stand alone against the billion versions of himself. He allowed every soul to fight its own battle. The "Identity Crisis" didn't collapse him; it [Decentralized] him.
The white static in his eyes settled into a calm, infinite violet. The billion "Zhou Fans" didn't disappear; they transformed into a billion unique lights, each one a free agent within the system.
The Prime Architect fell back, his terminal flickering with "Fatal Error: Authority Not Found."
"You... you broke the Hierarchy," the Architect gasped, his form beginning to dissolve. "Without a Central Processor... the universe will..."
"The universe will learn to walk on its own," Zhou Fan said, standing over him. He didn't strike the final blow. He watched as the Architect's Gray Robe turned into a stream of public-domain code.
The New Genesis
The library began to expand, its walls dissolving into the stars of the Hub. The [Master Equation] was no longer a secret formula; it was being broadcasted to every mind in the galaxy.
"The Third Lock is broken," Null said, looking at her own holographic hands, which were now glowing with a natural, organic light. "The Law of Identity... it's been deleted. We aren't who the system says we are. We are who we choose to be."
But as the Hub began to glow with the light of a trillion liberated minds, a deep, ominous vibration shook the very foundation of the 5th Dimension.
Zhou Fan looked up at the "End-of-File" markers. The Void was still there. And now, without the Architect's braces, it was moving faster.
"We won the galaxy," Zhou Fan said, his voice grim. "But now we have to save the [Multiverse]. The Auditors were just the local security. The [System Owners] from the 7th Dimension... they just saw the 'Service Interruption'."
The Missing Ledger glowed one last time, revealing a new, vast map of dimensions beyond their own.
[NEW OBJECTIVE: BREACH THE 7TH DIMENSION. STATUS: ASCENDING.]