Chapter Fifteen: A New Lead Emerges

Page 1 of 3

The Holographic Analysis Chamber on Level 7 beneath the Bureau of Temporal Administration resembled a prison sealed within the icy white glow of fluorescent light. The frigid radiance cut through the air like a set of surgical blades, slicing it into sharply defined geometric planes and casting austere shadows across the walls and instruments.

The deep hum of the central air-conditioning system mingled with the high-frequency whir of data processors, forming a background noise that kept the nerves perpetually taut. Lin Yu’s tactical visor continued projecting dozens of superimposed data spectra. Flecks of ghostly blue light flickered endlessly in his bloodshot eyes, illuminating the exhausted face of a man who had not slept for three days and three nights.

His knuckles were swollen and split from excessive hammering at the holographic keyboard, every touch accompanied by a stabbing pain. Purple crystalline dust clung to the cuffs of his combat uniform and drifted down with his slightest movements, like fragments of time already lost. His tactical wristwatch vibrated every half hour to remind him to replenish his nutrients, but by now the holographic desktop was buried beneath empty energy-gel packets, like spent shell casings abandoned on a battlefield.

“Look!”

Chen Mo suddenly tore the cooling module from his mechanical eye. Sparks burst across the data screen like golden meteors, lighting the entire analysis chamber in an instant.

Within the holographic projection, the mysterious organization’s encrypted communications rearranged themselves like a bewitched puzzle, automatically forming an ancient and enigmatic totem. Twelve dazzling golden beams radiated from the heart of a deep vortex, each terminating at the emblematic structure of a different time-space continuum. Every marker seemed to conceal a secret that crossed the boundaries of dimensions.

His silver hair stood on end with static, as though veiled in a hazy halo. His mechanical limbs emitted a faint, rhythmic clicking of gears, the physical embodiment of his mounting excitement.

As he rapidly swept across the control panel, the three-dimensional star chart began spinning at astonishing speed, linking the coordinates one after another.

“The intersection of these coordinates... is the legendary Temple of Time and Space! Look—the arrangement of this Fibonacci sequence perfectly matches the temporal markers of the ancient Mayan solar calendar!”

His mechanical eye projected a holographic image of an ancient mural. In it, a priest wearing a serpent-shaped crown manipulated a glowing crystal, forming an eerie correspondence with their discovery.

Su Yao’s fingertips trembled faintly as they hovered over the red danger zone on the holographic star chart. The unhealed crystal burns beneath her nanoweave combat suit tugged painfully against their scabbed skin whenever she moved.

The energy readings in that region fluctuated like a deranged electrocardiogram, surging violently in the form of a sine wave—as though they were the heartbeat of some slumbering behemoth deep within time and space. Her tactical visor automatically opened an environmental simulation: distorted space flowed like honey, swallowing the wreckage of a starship, while gravitational fields compressed clusters of meteoroids into grotesque diamond-shaped formations.

“According to fragments preserved from ancient civilizations, the temple is hidden within the Temporal Fold Zone. The structure of space there continually reassembles itself like flowing mercury, and even the gravitational fields twist into something resembling a maze...”

Before she could finish, a blinding warning frame abruptly appeared within the holographic projection. Scarlet text mercilessly declared the danger: the temporal turbulence in that region was powerful enough to tear even an indestructible Class A starship apart in an instant, reducing it to quantum dust scattered across the cosmos.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Her voice unconsciously dropped, carrying a trace of worry she could not conceal, as she summoned the only recording in the database concerning the Fold Zone. A research vessel had entered the region, only for its hull to be sliced apart as if by invisible scissors, disintegrating into countless glimmering particles of light.

Lin Yu absently rubbed the new stubble on his chin. The brutal battle at the mining site three days earlier surged through his mind like a rising tide. The winding serpent patterns on the guards’ armor now seemed to echo the paths of the beams within the totem, as though threads of fate had woven them together.

His pupils contracted sharply. As if sensing its owner’s shock, his tactical wristwatch automatically retrieved every available combat recording. One fleeting moment was enlarged: at the instant an electromagnetic pulse grenade exploded, the purple crystal atop the enemy commander’s scepter entered into an eerie and violent resonance with the surrounding distortion of space, as though engaging in a conversation across time and dimensions.

“They’ve been searching for the key to opening the temple all along!”

His voice broke with excitement, trembling beyond his control. The crystal-spectrum analysis on the holographic screen leaped frantically, as though it too were boiling with the thrill of discovery.

“Those refined temporal crystals are, in essence, the key to neutralizing the violent energy field surrounding the temple! Don’t you remember? When the mine exploded, the frequency of the energy waves released by the crystals stood in a harmonic relationship with the background radiation frequency of this danger zone!”

He quickly summoned a comparative graph of the energy waves. The two frequency curves fit together with the flawless precision of twin siblings.

The air in the conference room seemed to freeze. The oppressive atmosphere made it difficult to breathe. Director Chen Yuanshan’s holographic image appeared and vanished amid quantum-signal interference, like a candle wavering in the wind. The crack in the golden gear medal on his chest had deepened by another half millimeter, as though silently bearing witness to the increasingly dire circumstances facing the Bureau of Temporal Administration.

Red alarms flashed constantly around his holographic projection, resembling the iron bars of a cage.

“According to the latest intelligence, the mysterious organization has already dispatched three advance teams.”

His voice was hoarse and heavy, as if each word had been forced out from between rusted gears, every syllable carrying a suffocating weight.

“They possess navigation coordinates left behind by ancient civilizations, while we...”

Before he could finish, all the lights in the conference room suddenly went out, plunging everything into darkness.

Within the red beams cast by the emergency lamps, suspended dust arranged itself into a serpentine totem, an eerie, silent provocation from the enemy. More unsettling still, the holographic display on the conference table suddenly activated on its own and began playing an altered surveillance recording. In the image, a blurred figure wearing a serpent mask flickered through a corridor that should have been empty.

“I’ll lead the team.”

Su Yao slammed her shock rifle onto the conference table. The metallic impact echoed through the dead silence like a thunderclap. Her tactical visor reflected the pulsing red alarm lights, while the bruise along her jaw stood out starkly in the crimson glow, a record of the battles she had endured.

“We brought crystal samples back from the mine. They may serve as temporary neutralizers.”

As she spoke, a corner of a yellowed photograph showed beneath the lining of her combat uniform. It depicted a little girl clutching the hand of an adult woman, with a devastated colony stretching behind them.

Lin Yu noticed the scorch marks along the edge of the photograph, and the faint tremor in Su Yao’s fingers as she touched it. At that moment, Chen Mo abruptly brought up the latest intercepted communication. The mysterious organization’s encrypted channel was repeatedly transmitting a coded phrase: “Countdown to the Temple’s Awakening.” The numbers in the countdown coincided with astonishing precision with the time required for them to reach the Fold Zone.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

The starport’s jump-preparation area reeked of ozone, like gunpowder smoke before a war. A new-generation quantum shuttle stood silently on the launch platform, its hull flowing with the sheen of liquid metal, reflecting a mysterious and austere brilliance beneath the lights.

The infrasound generated during engine warm-up caused the ground to tremble faintly, as though a sleeping behemoth were awakening with a low growl. Ground-service robots hurried back and forth, loading the vessel with specially designed temporal anchoring devices. Their surfaces were carved with patterns resembling those on the Temple of Time and Space totem.

Lin Yu slowly injected the specially formulated temporal stabilizer into his vein. The cold liquid spread through his bloodstream, transforming into a burning flame around his heart—bringing strength, but also a faint, searing pain. He lifted his head toward the stars. Somewhere in the direction of Sagittarius, a nebula was twisting unnaturally, like a vast vortex. That was where the Temple of Time and Space lay, radiating an aura both mysterious and dangerous.

His communicator suddenly began to vibrate. An encrypted map sent by an anonymous source unfolded across his retina, marking a little-known secret route. The signature in the corner of the map was astonishingly identical to the emblem of his mother’s laboratory. The discovery sent his heartbeat racing, flooding his mind with countless questions.

He enlarged the map and discovered that several erased ruins of ancient civilizations had been marked along the route, as though someone were deliberately guiding him toward the pieces of some enormous puzzle.

“All personnel, board the ship!”

Su Yao’s command cut through the night like an arrow, firm and powerful. The instant the shuttle’s jump engines erupted in a blinding blue radiance, Lin Yu cast one final glance at his tactical wristwatch.

The countdown showed that the mysterious organization’s advance teams were only twelve hours from the temple.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of time and space, the serpent-masked leader slowly embedded a newly refined crystal into his scepter. Purple light illuminated the sinister smile beneath his mask as the energy core of the entire space station began to vibrate in synchronization. Behind him, a colossal holographic projection displayed a virtual model of the Temple of Time and Space, gradually decoding itself. Each golden beam corresponded to an activated energy node.

When the leader pressed the activation key, the station’s protective shield suddenly transformed into the shape of a serpent totem and accelerated toward the Temporal Fold Zone.

A deadly race concerning the survival of time and space had officially begun.

Page 3 of 3