Bureau Underground – Sixth Sublevel – Dimensional Fracture Zone
Lu Feng stood silently inside the fractured soul array, dressed in upgraded spiritual gear. The floor trembled beneath him, as if the space itself were rejecting reality.
"This isn't just a tear in the veil," came Chen Xi's voice through the comms."It's not linked to the regular spirit realm—it's a transitional layer between dimensions."
"A hybrid space," Zhao Ting added."Unstable. Lawless. If you step inside, we may not be able to pull you back."
"I know," Lu Feng answered, calm.
Kaelin stood nearby, the soul-mark on her chest glowing faintly in the dark.
"I'm going with you," she said.
"No.""You just escaped residual echo dissonance. If you follow me in, your soul might splinter again."
She didn't argue.Instead, she handed him a length of her soul-thread.
"Take this. It holds a piece of my spiritual frequency. If everything turns to chaos—use it to find your way back."
Lu Feng tied it to his wrist.
"I'll return," he said softly. "The same way you always waited for me."
He stepped into the center of the array and activated his soul chain.
"Soul Leap – Begin!"
With a flash of light, the world folded.The rift swallowed him whole.
Border Zone of the Interspatial Rift
There was no up, no down. No air, no gravity.
Lu Feng floated in a world of shifting memory shards, fragments of destroyed buildings, and flickering images from his past and future.
A bridge formed beneath him, made of dreamlike tiles—each one a choice he had once made.
"This is... the Cause-Effect Drift Belt?"
He stepped forward, and a building materialized ahead—the old Bureau office from a hundred years ago, now buried in his subconscious.
"This isn't from my life…"
A voice called out from above:
"Don't touch the mirror!"
He turned sharply.
A man stood on broken steps, dressed in an older version of the Bureau uniform—long coat, quiet eyes.
"Who are you?"
"Lin Qian," the man said. But his form shimmered like an echo.
"I'm not the one you remember. I'm only his soul imprint—what he left behind."
"You… why are you here?"
"Because I, too, once fell into the Gray Domain," Lin Qian said softly."And I was once the first soul-link subject—before you."
Lu Feng's heart pounded.
"You still want to return?" Lin Qian asked.
"I must," Lu Feng said.
"Then remember this—the Gray Domain is not the enemy."
"It is an abandoned will… and you are its last contradiction."
With that, Lin Qian vanished, leaving behind a cracked soul-core floating in the air.
Lu Feng grasped it. A blinding light erupted.
Reality – Rift Gateway
"We've got soul-chain resonance!" Zhao Ting shouted.
Light exploded from the array as Lu Feng's form reappeared—bloodied but breathing.In his hand was the core Lin Qian left behind.
"I… saw him."
"Who?"
"Lin Qian."
He looked up, eyes sharp.
"And he said… the Gray Domain isn't trying to destroy us."