Dark silhouettes ran, Zhou Yi chased.

Both parties bore an aura around them, which made recognition unimpaired in the darkness.

As they moved, the whole world also slowly turned, gradually shrinking into a double-helix structure of black and white colors, endlessly extending into the distance.

Zhou Yi and the shadow sprinted on this gigantic DNA-like surface.

Oddly, Zhou Yi found that when he ran on one side, he felt stable and could move forward quickly. But if he switched to the other spiral side, he experienced strange lags and distractions as if he didn't match the road on that side, which led to him being pulled farther away.

Both moved on their respective paths, like two parallel lines that could never intersect.

The shadow taunted ahead, "Even though I don't know why you can retain your self-consciousness, even if we coexist, you can't eliminate me. Now you are me, I am you, we share one body!"

"You're just wasting everyone's energy and strength, continuing like this is just pointless internal consumption! Give it up, you can't catch up with me!"

"Even if you want to cross the Conscious Key to my side, you can't make me disappear. Just the process of pairing alone is enough to disconnect you. As long as I keep moving forward, you'll never be able to catch up!"

"Stop being insane! Calm down!"

Despite those words, it kept speeding along.

Zhou Yi, not knowing whether what the other said was true, did not easily give up due to his persistent nature.

Besides, losing together was better than winning alone.

He couldn't help but quicken his pace.

The energy consumption intensified.

"Can't you behave like a higher life form?"

Seeing this, the other grew desperate and could only speed up, "Continuing like this will just waste the body's energy! Are you even a higher life form?! Do you even have basic rational cognition!"

Zhou Yi rushed forward without a word!

At that moment, he suddenly heard a voice.

— Zhou, can you hear me? What's wrong with you? If you hear me, please respond.

It was Red Kestrel.

While Zhou Yi quickly explained the situation on his end, he continued to run.

As they both accelerated, the entire spiral ring structure also sped up in rotation, making him feel like he was inside a giant tumble running machine.

— I couldn't find any information on the Spiral Space you mentioned, but since it's a consciousness space formed by information, theoretically consciousness information can enter. Although I can't bring you out, you can connect me into it.

Tuning consciousness frequency was simple.

But how to bring Red Kestrel to this side, Zhou Yi was somewhat clueless.

If he considered this place as a chat room, how would he invite outsiders?

Initially, Zhou Yi tried brute force.

— Come, Red Kestrel!

— Get in! Come to my consciousness space!

Despite releasing high-frequency conscious information continuously, there was no result.

Zhou Yi then recalled a phrase the shadow had mentioned before.

"Even if you want to cross the Conscious Key to my side, you can't make me disappear…"

Conscious Key.

Was it this thing underfoot?

Zhou Yi looked down.

The giant flat surface of the spiral structure was made up of long strips pieced together, alternately in black and white colors, looking somewhat like a twisted zebra crossing.

This long strip must be the Conscious Key, connecting two different consciousnesses.

Zhou Yi stopped and tried to tweak it.

The black long strip couldn't be moved, but the white one was movable.

He flipped one of the outermost white Conscious Keys 180 degrees, folding it over to the other side, turning it into a long strip jutting outwards.

Stepping on this direction-changed strip, Zhou Yi suddenly realized he could indeed use this thing.

It was like a light source in the darkness, reacting to compatible consciousness frequencies.

Before Zhou Yi could speak, Red Kestrel suddenly reacted.

— Zhou, I've located you.

Moments later, Red Kestrel, outlined in white light, hovered on this white Conscious Key. It slowly flew, also producing a forward-extending spiral structure, seemingly representing Red Kestrel's trajectory of consciousness motion.

Red Kestrel stated, "I can use my path to intercept it."

A new spiral began to evolve, chasing the shadow on the other side.

Red Kestrel moved slower than both Zhou Yi and the shadow, but its spiral was smoother and straighter, almost taking a shortcut and rapidly closing in on the target.

This stunned the shadow for a moment, "What is going on... How can an external consciousness just come in... What exactly is the situation with this body, and it's fine?"

It had no choice but to keep frantically running.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yi thought as he ran.

If Red Kestrel could come in, perhaps others could too?

He tweaked another white Conscious Key, extending it outward.

Moments later.

On the new Conscious Key, a figure clad in armor, Weapon Master, slowly emerged.

Zhou Yi ordered him, "Xie Xun, pursue the enemy ahead, and attack it."

"Yes, leader."

So Xie Xun also began running, his consciousness spiral likewise directly pursuing the target ahead.

Subsequently, one after another, Black Samurais were pulled in by Zhou Yi.

Numerous new spiral structures densely filled the original lonely main spiral, adding many branches and lines. However, they all converged in various angles and methods, eventually connecting to the other side of the consciousness.

At this point, the shadow, blocked both ahead and behind and left with no way out, was brutally assaulted by the Black Samurais and samurai crabs.

"Wait, wait... just wait a second, wait a second!"

"Everyone can speak nicely, calmly."

The response was steel claws and iron fists.

As the mechanism described, the opponent had no means of attack, merely a thick health bar.

Zhou Yi clearly sensed that the consciousness occupying his other side was growing weaker.

-8

-10

-44

...

The life value of [Machine 2]continued to decrease.

Grandpa said that the White Suanni could ward off evil and protect the home, and this time it truly showed its power.

It seemed that the opponent didn't understand what a family heirloom was.

Zhou Yi crossed the Conscious Key and looked at the shadow being hammered, slashed, and snipped by the samurai crabs, clenching his fist, "What rank are you to dare covet my body?"

"..."

The shadow seemed to finally realize the dire situation, "You are definitely not a life from this world, who are you?"

"It seems you still haven't grasped the situation."

Zhou Yi waved his hand.

The samurai crabs gave another round of heavy beatings, bringing the shadow's health bar further down.

Now, the opponent completely quieted down, no longer speaking out of turn. It curled up on the ground, hands over its head, possessing the awareness of a defeated party.

Zhou Yi looked down on this ambusher, "Now I will ask, and you will answer."

The opponent nodded.

"Name."

"Fusi Yenie· Nitokeldertran· Biqueqiu Chiefan· Youni..."

The opponent listed his name, taking a full two minutes without a pause.

Zhou Yi was furious, "Are you mocking me?"

"No."

The opponent, seemingly afraid to anger him further, hastily explained, "I am a Reverse Flow, entering various worlds through the Circular Flow, a collector of civilizations. My name is linked by every Fire Seed Life it inherits; my name is their names, each one is very important..."

Reverse Flow?

Zhou Yi glanced at Red Kestrel.

——No related records.

Zhou Yi then looked at the shadow across from him, "For convenience, let's call you Xiao Fu."

"..."

The opponent seemed to want to protest but ultimately didn't dare to express his anger.

Zhou Yi continued, "What's the relationship between Reverse Flow and Breaker?"

"Breaker is nothing but a group of adventurers searching for resources across worlds. They cannot compare to us, the Reverse Flow. The gap between us is like comparing insects that scavenge dung for food to legendary heroes who save the fire of civilization. Neither in ideals, rank, nor achievements are they on the same level."

Xiao Fu couldn't help but feel some pride.

It seemed that in the pecking order, Reverse Flow was far above Breaker.

Zhou Yi decided to probe further, "How many civilizations have you saved?"

"..."

Xiao Fu hesitated, "I'm still working hard at it."

That meant he had never succeeded.

Zhou Yi nodded, "That figures. If you really were capable, this world wouldn't have entered the Wasteland Era; the past civilizations wouldn't have been mostly disconnected."

"That's not it, we Reverse Flow don't wait until a civilization is on the verge of destruction to save it."

Xiao Fu explained, "Because the destruction of civilizations is often very sudden, and Reverse Flow individuals can only reach the world where the destroyed civilizations are through Circular Flow. What we do is collect the civilization's fire seed before it extinguishes and preserve it until there's an opportunity to restart..."

They were more like a search and rescue team for civilizations, unable to halt destruction.

Zhou Yi frowned, "So, you enter other worlds through Circular Flow?"

Xiao Fu was shocked, "Aren't you here through Circular Flow as well?"

"No."

"..."

The opponent paused, "Your situation is indeed beyond my understanding. But I must declare, the ability of Reverse Flow to enter various worlds through Circular Flow represents an unmatched achievement and advanced technology!"

"To most civilizations, the outbreak of Circular Flow is an unstoppable destructive force that only has to pass through the light transmission to solidify and melt the very foundation of a world's civilization."

Zhou Yi suddenly realized.

Circular Flow was actually Death Light.

Solidifying was understandable, like those prehistoric human civilizations frozen at the bottom of the Dead Sea.

But what was meant by melting?

Zhou Yi frowned, "When you say melting, do you mean the destruction of life?"

"Calling it destruction isn't quite accurate; it should be seen as a restructuring of life forms."

Xiao Fu said, "Circular Flow will perform a natural selection on existing life, then create a new cycle of life eruption."

"It varies between worlds, this eruption might be bursting with vitality or it might be a mass extinction of life forms. However, the situation here is okay, with a large number of lives succeeding through natural succession, leading to new appearances."

Zhou Yi curiously asked, "What kind of civilization is the Reverse Flow?"

"Reverse Flow... isn't exactly a civilization."

Xiao Fu pondered for a moment and said, "A typical civilization develops a certain standard of social life forms and creates wealth of consciousness. Although Reverse Flow also has some group norms, it doesn't create wealth of consciousness. We haven't created civilizations; we are merely the collectors and continuators of them."

Zhou Yi now fully understood.

They were somewhat colleagues.

The opponent was a Scavenger on the scale of civilizations.

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