Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 338 The Origin of Truth

Li Zhao stood in the orphanage corridor, holding a toy yin-yang ball, while the electronic clock on the wall displayed a countdown.

His reflection distorted and deformed on the metal railing, and countless memories from different times flashed wildly in his mind—the mechanical heart being dissected in the laboratory, the Lingyue being pierced in the virtual world, and the shattered Yin-Yang sphere in front of the Twin Moon Temple.

"Li Zhao?" A soft voice called out behind Li Zhao, as if it had transcended the barriers of time and space, causing his body to tremble violently.

He slowly turned around, his gaze falling on the figure standing at the entrance of the nursery.

She was a woman in a white lab coat, holding a thick stack of documents in her arms. Sunlight, like fine golden sand, poured down from her hair, giving her a soft glow.

Li Zhao's heart raced instantly. He stared wide-eyed at the woman before him, because he realized that her figure overlapped with the image of the blood-stained combat suit he had seen in the virtual world.

"You..." Li Zhao's throat seemed to be blocked by something, and he couldn't utter a complete sound, "Do you remember me?"

Lingyue frowned slightly, seemingly surprised by his question, but she still nodded and said, "Of course I remember, you're the orphan I sponsored. What's wrong?"

Her voice was calm, like a still pond, without the slightest ripple.

When she suddenly turned her gaze to the window, her pupils contracted sharply to pinpoints, as if she had seen something extremely terrifying.

"Wait, today isn't visiting day, what are you doing here?" Lingyue's voice held a hint of wariness.

Following her gaze, Li Zhao saw another version of himself standing in the center of the playground, raising the Yin-Yang sphere towards the sky.

Li Zhao's body began to become transparent, and countless points of light flew out from his body, each carrying fragments of memories from different times and spaces.

"The spacetime anchor is collapsing."

Lingyue said, trembling, "All of Li Zhao's consciousness is returning to its origin."

She suddenly grabbed Li Zhao's hand. "Come with me. We must find the 'Observer' before the real world is destroyed."

The two rushed into the underground laboratory, where Li Zhao saw holographic projections of time-space folds covering the walls, each photo featuring him and Ling Yue.

In the center of the laboratory, a huge glass chamber floats, inside which is immersed a body that looks exactly like Li Zhao, with a dark purple light flickering at the location of its heart.

“That is…” Li Zhao said in shock. Ling Yue nodded: “Initial Body 000, the real Li Zhao. We are all fragments of his consciousness that split off.”

She opened the hatch and took out a cracked yin-yang sphere. "This is the ultimate weapon he created. It can restart the universe, but each restart will create a new spacetime branch."

The projection of the leader of the men in black suddenly appeared on the roof of the cabin: "Dr. Lin, do you think revealing the truth will stop me?"

His image kept distorting, revealing a mechanical skeleton. "I am a dark matter aggregate, the embodiment of all spacetime terrors."

As long as Li Zhao exists, I will never disappear.

Lingyue placed the Yin-Yang Orb into Li Zhao's hand: "Take it to the origin of time and space. There is only one weapon that can kill him there."

She opened the hatch. "Remember, true balance isn't about rebooting, it's about..."

Before he could finish speaking, the laboratory suddenly shook, and the leader of the men in black's mechanical arm pierced through the top of the cabin, grabbing Lingyue and lifting her into the air.

"Li Zhao, run!"

Lingyue's scream seemed to be torn apart by the sound of metal scraping, sounding so jarring in the chaotic scene.

Without hesitation, Li Zhao hugged the Yin-Yang Orb tightly and rushed into the spacetime rift like a shooting star.

After a dizzying spin, Li Zhao found himself in a completely unfamiliar space.

There are no stars, no light, only endless darkness and chaos.

Within this chaos, countless transparent glass capsules float, each containing a different version of oneself and Lingyue.

"Welcome to Time and Space Source Code."

A cold voice suddenly rang in Li Zhao's ear.

He turned around abruptly and saw a person dressed in a black robe slowly emerging from the void.

The person's body was actually made of machinery, gleaming with a cold metallic luster.

"Who are you?" Li Zhao asked warily.

"I am the master here, and I am the rule itself."

The leader of the men in black said expressionlessly, "Here, everything is under my control."

After saying that, he opened his arms, and countless data cables flashing with electricity shot out from his body like venomous snakes, heading straight for Li Zhao.

Li Zhao tried to dodge, but the data cables seemed to have a life of their own, tightly wrapping around his body and then suddenly burrowing into it.

"Ah!" Li Zhao screamed in pain, feeling as if his body was being torn apart.

The leader of the men in black remained unmoved, a sinister smile appearing on his mechanical face:

"I will absorb all of Li Zhao and become a true god of the universe!"

Li Zhao felt his consciousness being torn apart, as memories from countless time periods flooded in like a tide.

He saw people sacrifice themselves for him in different times and spaces, saw his own 723 failures in the virtual world, and saw the original 000 struggling in pain in the laboratory.

"Enough!" Li Zhao roared, plunging the Yin-Yang Orb into his own heart.

Amidst the excruciating pain, his consciousness began to merge with memories from all times and spaces.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the laboratory, where Lingyue was using a scalpel to cut open the chest of Initial Body 000.

"Li Zhao, wake up!" Lingyue's voice was choked with sobs.

Li Zhao looked down and saw his body dissipating, while the Yin-Yang Orb was inserted into the heart of the original body No. 000.

The mechanical body of the leader of the men in black appeared behind Lingyue, raising a blood-stained dagger.

"Watch out!" Li Zhao instinctively lunged at Ling Yue. The dagger pierced his chest, and the Yin-Yang Orb erupted with dazzling light.

In the light, Li Zhao saw a shocking truth—the leader of the men in black was the dark side that split off from the original entity 000, and Ling Yue was an AI he created, responsible for guiding Li Zhao and others to different endings.

"True balance..."

Before disappearing, Li Zhao whispered, "It is about accepting all possibilities."

The Yin-Yang sphere shattered into countless points of light, each point carrying a memory of a specific time and space.

The leader of the men in black let out a shrill scream, and his mechanical body began to disintegrate.

When Li Zhao opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on the bed in the orphanage, and Lingyue was looking at him tenderly.

Outside the window, the two moons slowly overlapped in the pre-dawn sky, and a line of small characters appeared at their boundary: "Only when Li Zhao in all timelines chooses to sacrifice himself will true balance arrive."

Li Zhao gripped Lingyue's hand tightly, a relieved smile spreading across his face.

At the moment when the two moons completely overlapped, he felt a warm power surging out from the fragments of the Yin-Yang Sphere, weaving all the memories of time and space into a brand new world.

In this world, Li Zhao and Ling Yue lived happily in the orphanage, while the leader of the men in black turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated into the morning mist.

When Li Zhao looked down, he noticed that his shadow was gradually turning black.

He looked up at the window and saw countless versions of himself from different times looking at him through different windows.

Behind them, the phantom of the leader of the men in black was coalescing, a victor's smile playing on his lips.