Chapter 7 — Echoes of Hope
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The rain had stopped, but the city still trembled under the memory of the storm.
Qinghe's skyline glittered with broken neon and fractured reflections. The Bureau's barriers glowed faintly blue, patching wounds in the air where the Devourer had touched reality. Down below, sirens wavered through the wet streets, guiding survivors back toward order.
Gu Tian stood at the center of the Bureau's rooftop garden, coat fluttering in the morning wind. He stared at his own hands—lightly scarred, faintly luminous.
They were human hands, yet they hummed with power enough to level galaxies.
> [System Integrity: 100%]
[Emotional Matrix: Stabilizing… 79.4%]
[Symbiotic Link Active — Subject: Wen Yao]
A flicker of warmth moved in his chest, something he hadn't felt since transmigration.
"Hope…" he murmured.
"Talking to yourself now?"
He turned. Wen Yao stepped through the mist carrying two paper cups of coffee. She handed him one, smiling tiredly. "Even gods need caffeine."
He took it with a nod. "You shouldn't have joined that battle. You risked synchronization collapse."
She shrugged. "If I hadn't, that thing would've eaten the city. And besides…" Her eyes softened. "You would've done the same."
Gu Tian looked away, the faintest trace of a smile tugging at his lips.
"Perhaps."
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Later, in the Bureau's control hall, holographic projections of directors and officers filled the room. The atmosphere was tense—relief tinted with unease.
Director Han slammed a hand on the table. "We barely survived that anomaly. If not for Gu Tian, the entire Eastern District would be gone."
Another officer adjusted his glasses. "But how long can we depend on a single entity? Especially one whose existence defies every law we understand."
Gu Tian stood quietly, the silver aura around him dimmed to a faint glow. "You don't have to understand me," he said evenly. "You only need to understand that I am bound to balance. If the world falls, so do I."
The room fell silent. Han sighed. "Then we trust you, for now. But we'll need answers soon, Gu Tian. About what you really are."
Gu Tian inclined his head. "In time."
---
That night, in the apartment the Bureau had assigned him, Gu Tian stood before the window. The city lights stretched below like a sea of stars pretending to be alive.
Inside his mind, the System pulsed.
> [Phase Three Evolution Available]
[Condition — Full Emotional Integration Required]
[Warning: Unstable Variables Detected in Human Host]
He whispered into the quiet, "If you are me, then who warns whom?"
> [Identity Loop Confirmed. System = Host. Host = System.]
[However, Self-awareness partition persists for stability.]
A small chuckle escaped him. "So I'm arguing with myself now."
For a being invincible in the Netherworld, that was strangely comforting.
He turned from the window. The air shimmered.
A faint ripple, almost imperceptible, spread across the room.
Something was watching him.
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Far beneath the Bureau headquarters, in the energy containment sector, a researcher named Lu Xin was cataloguing residual data from the Devourer battle. He yawned, scanning the final file: Abyssal Residue Fragment – Class 0.
"Looks harmless," he muttered, sliding it into a storage capsule. The fragment pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
Then the lights flickered.
The monitor glitched—one frame, then two—until the screen bled static. A whisper, low and wet, leaked through the speakers.
> Balance... must... feed…
Lu Xin froze. The capsule cracked.
A sliver of darkness oozed out, slipping across the floor like smoke.
Before he could move, it entered him.
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In his room, Gu Tian's eyes snapped open.
> [Alert: Unknown Abyssal Signal Detected — Internal Origin]
[Correlation: Devourer Fragmentation Event]
[Priority — Critical]
He clenched his fists. "So it begins again…"
Wen Yao's voice came through the communicator.
"Gu Tian! The labs below are losing power—readings are off the charts!"
"Seal the sector," he commanded, already dissolving into shadow.
---
The underground corridor was a labyrinth of flickering lights and broken alarms. By the time Gu Tian reached the containment bay, the walls were drenched in a dark, shifting mass. Veins of red light pulsed through it like arteries.
In the center stood Lu Xin—or what had once been him.
His skin shimmered with abyssal runes, eyes black as the void.
He smiled with teeth that weren't human. "Gu Tian… Balance… we meet again."
The System flared.
> [Abyssal Parasite — Devourer Seed Identified]
[Target Strength — Unknown]
[Assimilation in Progress: 11%]
"Another piece of the Abyss," Gu Tian muttered. "And it remembers me."
The parasite's grin widened. "You can't balance hunger, little god. You can only feed it."
Gu Tian stepped forward.
"Then I will feed it peace."
> [Domain Expansion — Netherworld Field: Second Stage]
[Soul Anchor Mode — Activate]
The ground split as spectral chains rose from beneath him, wrapping around the chamber like an infinite cage. Every link hummed with divine law, forming a cage of pure equilibrium.
But the Devourer Seed laughed. "You've grown soft, Gu Tian. That human heart—will it hold when I devour those you protect?"
The chains snapped. Darkness erupted, swallowing light, air, and sound.
Wen Yao's voice crackled through the comm one last time before static consumed it:
"Gu Tian! Get out—!"
> [Warning: Spatial Collapse Imminent]
[Option — Retreat / Assimilate / Erase]
Gu Tian whispered, eyes glowing gold.
"Neither. I will transcend."
He raised a hand.
> [Initiating Netherworld Core Override]
[Evolution Phase Three — Commencing]
The chamber exploded in light.
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To be continued…
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