Pop.

It sounded like a bubble bursting or fragments shattering; the sound was tiny yet seemed deafening, coming from the deepest part of consciousness.

In that instant, it was as if someone pressed pause on the entire Offshore Island Sea Area. The huge gold and red mushroom cloud, the high-temperature fireball vaporizing the island and the shock wave sweeping across the Pacific Ocean, the thunder in the sky, the sea monster beneath the waves, and the indescribable Abnormal Body all fell into a state of suspension.

In the cockpit of the Infinity, Lin Xian, KIKI, Director Ding, Chen Sixuan, and Viola all froze.

In the corner of Chen Sixuan’s vision, the Infinity grazed past the Abyss Giant Mouth, and the flickering of the detectors and sonar systems were frozen at that moment. Meanwhile, in Lin Xian’s sight was a peculiar flower blooming, amidst which a darkness was slowly releasing. In Lin Xian’s pupils, it seemed he was eternally falling into a planet in an abyss, and the current world was just beneath a cave; the blackness was the exit of the cave.

Time froze at that moment, perhaps only for a second, just a moment. In the deep sea, the Infinity and the nuclear submarine were suspended motionless in the water, as if the seawater had solidified into a tangible substance.

Yet at this moment, in Lin Xian’s eyes, the numbers of the countdown remained unaffected.

From 16:10:33, it calmly jumped to 16:10:32

Hiss!

With the jump of the countdown, Lin Xian took a breath, feeling no difference. His pupils contracted and focused on the dark center of the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes, frowning instinctively because the center’s darkness began spreading, devouring the cultivation chamber of the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes, including Ding Junyi’s hand and tendrils.

"Director Ding."

Lin Xian immediately shouted when he saw this, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth. Looking up, he found that Ding Junyi was entirely frozen in place. Lin Xian quickly glanced at the others, and everyone in the cockpit seemed to have been paused.

What’s going on?

Lin Xian’s expression changed drastically. He saw fragments floating in the air unaffected by gravity, sea water bubbles outside the porthole also suspended, and most bizarre of all, the black hole blooming from the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes—a miniature black hole like a gravitational lens, entirely black, appearing bizarre and abrupt in the space.

This darkness had no edge; it seemed like a piece of the space was removed by God. If one had to describe it, it was like a patch of black filled by absolute smoothness in Photoshop, without thickness, without edges, the black hole was neither a hole nor a sphere, as if light and dimensions didn’t exist.

He quickly realized something, but why could he still move, and why was the countdown unaffected?

"Viola!"

Lin Xian tried to call out to Viola but got no response. He looked at Viola, preparing to reach out to touch her. Just as his fingers were about to touch Viola’s mechanical arm, his action stopped again, his pupils quivered, as if seeing something.

Behind Viola’s neck, a blue micro-glow in the integrated central line was frozen; it was Viola’s quantum processing center’s photon transmission array, yet at this moment, that tiny signal light point had also stopped.

Light had stopped.

At this moment, Lin Xian felt an illusion of detachment from the real world, as if he could hear his own breathing.

Confusion, panic, bewilderment, urgency—various emotions sprouted from Lin Xian’s heart.

Right then, he suddenly noticed a stretched shadow of light on himself, on his hand, on his body, like strings of a marionette, yet different; his entire body had these, and these light rays extended vertically downwards, penetrating the floor of the Infinity, endlessly extending somewhere.

Lin Xian raised his hand in confusion, the movement of his fingers tugged the light shadow below, as if it was his own reflection. Yet in this reflection, he saw a twisted line, enveloped in his reflection. Lin Xian raised both hands to see clearly, and to his shock, discovered this was another person’s shadow.

Chu Yan! 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Lin Xian’s heart trembled, he couldn’t understand the current situation, what did these light shadows represent?

Why was his link with Chu Yan existing in this form?

Finally, Lin Xian focused his gaze on the black void in front of him, taking a step forward.

But there was only pure black.

Then, Lin Xian tried extending a finger to approach.

At that moment, an eerily strange scene occurred!

As Lin Xian’s finger approached the black hole, he saw a twisted finger appear in the black hole, like a mirror closing in on his fingertip.

But the finger was not synchronous, just approaching briefly then retracting.

The next instant, a face distorted as if by water waves suddenly appeared in the black hole, startling Lin Xian. That face widened its eyes, seemingly terrified.

But with a blink the face vanished, then a blue energy beam flashed brightly but disappeared again in a blink.

This bizarre scene fascinated Lin Xian, who instantly leaned closer, trying to see what was inside the black hole.

There was nothing.

"Damn, what on earth is this?"

Lin Xian pondered, then gritted his teeth, directly raised his finger to activate the Mechanical Energy Cannon, aiming to fire a shot into the black hole to test it.