明白,我来给你整理一份地道,连载平台友好的英文发布版,保持原有节奏,悬念和情感,但语言自然易读,口语化又有画面感:
Dual Realm Breakpoint – Chapter 4: False God
1
The café doorbell rang for the third time, and Ye Ling smashed the cup in her hand.
Not an accident—it was deliberate. Ceramic shards scattered across the floor, undoing her meticulous cleaning. She stared at the mess, breathing hard, then crouched to pick it up piece by piece.
Three months had passed.
Three months of a reality so calm it felt dead. The café opened, business mediocre. Lin Ye's novel updated online twice a week. Sometimes they ate together, chatting about nothing—weather, movies, the neighbor's cat.
Everything normal. Terrifyingly normal.
But Ye Ling knew better. Every morning, the faint circuit mark under her left eye glimmered subtly in the mirror. Every time it rained, her cheekbone throbbed, reminding her of that punch. Her body remembered everything.
She had to pretend she didn't.
"Broken again?" Lin Ye pushed the door open, holding two steamed buns. "Fourth cup this month. Boss lady, you're killing my profit margin."
Ye Ling didn't look up.
"Put the buns on the counter. Cash is in the drawer."
He squatted beside her, helping pick up shards. His right hand, once prosthetic, was now human, only a faint silver scar tracing his palm.
"Sleep well last night?" he asked.
"The usual," Ye Ling tossed a shard into the trash. "Dream, wake, dream again."
"Dream of what?"
"Guess."
Lin Ye paused. "New Chang City?"
Ye Ling washed her hands, a streak of blood from a cut on her finger.
"Have you ever thought… maybe we shouldn't have come back?" she asked, turning to the sink.
"What do you mean?"
"We left the war there. My father is still fighting, 07 is dead, the clones… Su Wan—alive or dead, I don't know. And here we are, selling coffee, writing novels, pretending nothing happened." Her voice calm, eyes stormy. "Sometimes, I feel like a deserter."
Lin Ye said nothing. He poured himself water.
"Do you know what I wrote in my latest chapter?"
"No."
"I wrote us back in reality, running a café, thinking the war was over. But it wasn't. Xinghuan still has footholds here, turning ordinary people into… vessels. And the café's first customer? A sleeper agent."
He drank. "Readers called it cliché. I think it's real. War doesn't vanish if you close your eyes. It just changes shape."
Ye Ling stared.
"So you're writing a warning?"
"I'm writing possibilities," he said. "For anyone who might uncover the truth. Or for ourselves, if we have to face it."
A screeching brake outside.
A black van stopped. Three men in suits stepped out, sunglasses on, faint implants glowing behind their ears.
Ye Ling's hand went under the counter toward her shotgun. Lin Ye pressed her hand down.
"Don't. They're government," he whispered.
"How do you know?"
"The left one, deputy director of InfoSec. Right one, military tech consultant. Middle…"
The middle man entered, fifty or so, gray hair, frameless glasses. A professor more than an official, but eyes sharp as scalpels.
"Miss Ye Ling, Mr. Lin Ye. May I have a few minutes?" His voice was calm.
"Who are you?"
"Zhou Qiming, special investigator, World Cognition Security Council." He laid down a badge. "I can explain—but put the gun away first. Illegal in this world."
Ye Ling didn't move. Zhou sighed, pressing a button on a device.
The café windows blacked out instantly. Every electronic device powered down.
"Electromagnetic shield," he said. "Now we can talk."
He pulled a chair.
"First, an apology. Xinghuan Tech—we monitored anomalies three years ago, but confirmed the danger only a month back. By then, you had already… returned."
Ye Ling sneered.
"So you've been watching us?"
"Protecting," Zhou corrected. "You're the only full-return subjects. Your data is vital. And…" He paused. "You brought a gift."
He handed over a file. First page: satellite photo from two weeks ago, heat anomaly forming a tree-shaped pattern.
"World Tree," Ye Ling whispered.
"Technically, its roots," Zhou said. It extended from New Chang City into reality, three kilometers deep, still growing.
Lin Ye stared.
"What happens?"
"If it keeps growing, it could alter geomagnetism, climate—trigger disasters. Worse, cognitive infection." He showed a brain scan of an office worker. "Roots emit spores. Victims dream New Chang City events. Over 5,000 cases, growing exponentially. And you two are the source."
2
Thirty meters underground, a lab. Patients connected to EEG monitors, calm yet brainwaves spiking wildly.
"These are early symptom cases," Zhou said. "They all dream the same: Zone 7, Rust Alley, a silver-haired woman and a young man running."
Ye Ling knew. That alley, the place she found Lin Ye among the trash, every moldy wall, flickering neon, etched into her memory.
"Why dream these?" Lin Ye asked.
"Your memories are being seeded through the World Tree. Like a virus copying itself."
Another dataset: adaptive sync rising. Lowest from 2% to 15%, highest 47%. Could awaken full dual-realm abilities—or total control.
"Xinghuan is expanding via the tree," Ye Ling said.
"Not just that. Its 'Watchers'—uploaded consciousness pioneers—merged with the tree. A hive mind absorbing new minds. You are templates."
A researcher ran in. "37th subject… awake… syncing!"
37th, a man in his 30s, formerly programmer, eyes streaming golden data.
"I saw… the tree… the city… red sky…"
He fell to his knees, bleeding, gasping: "He's waiting… you… to save him…"
Zhou injected sedatives, but too late. 37th fell still.
3
Ye Ling packed gear in the café loft: shotgun, EMP, neural interface, medkits—all from New Chang City.
"We're going back," she said.
Zhou Qiming wouldn't approve, but she didn't need him. Her brother suffered, infected victims suffered. She couldn't pretend.
Lin Ye stayed silent, then looked out the window.
"Afraid this is all my imagination," he admitted. "Afraid I never went to New Chang City…"
"But 37th died. His last words were real. So is this. Your brother suffers. The tree is real. The infection is real."
He followed her. "Not for you, for me. To know the truth."
Ye Ling handed him an electro-pistol.
"Last chance. Say no, it's over."
"Never." He loaded it smoothly, first time or not.
They descended to the basement, through old tunnels to an abandoned radar station, activation via emotional anchor—real emotion unlocking the interface.
"Stronger than sympathy. Must be true." Ye Ling said.
Lin Ye recalled her courage, her tantrums, her small quirks. Real.
"Then let's see," he said.
Hands on the sensor. Hum. Data streaming: "Emotion strength 87%. Verified. Portal opening."
Silver light poured, revealing New Chang City and the World Tree.
Steps behind. Zhou with armed agents. "Stop! Trap!"
Ye Ling looked back. "How did you find us?"
"Tracker in your gear. You're too important."
"Then let it consume. At least I see him." She grabbed Lin Ye's hand. They jumped into the light.
Zhou held fire. War never ends. It only changes battlefields.
4
New Chang City transformed. World Tree dominates, data flowing like veins, thousands trapped in projected memories, slowly turning into clones.
"Welcome back, sister," voices whispered—Ye Chen's voice among countless others.
The tree's face: Ye Chen's, magnified, terrifyingly calm.
"I waited for you. Join me, forever part of me."
Ye Ling fired. EMPs sparked. Tree undeterred, absorbing city energy. Roots lashed toward Lin Ye.
A voice inside: Ye Chen guiding them through a hidden fissure. They dive into a space of light and data. Ye Chen, 17, wrapped in silver streams, a consciousness trapped.
"Only 92% sync can survive. You, Lin Ye, must go in," he said.
Lin Ye entered the vortex.
5
He awoke in a pure white space: Ye Chen's childhood room. A seven-year-old cried, lonely, yet trusted him, handing over a glowing orb—courage.
Next, a lab: teen Ye Chen, restrained, injected, resisting. Orb of hope granted.
Finally, the dark data realm: mechanical Ye Chen, black eyes, perfect. "You came. I am evolution."
Lin Ye: "You're not him. I'm here to save him."
End of Chapter 4