---
The moment Tianming confirmed the box's activation, time shattered like glass.
Everything around him blurred — sky, stone, soul — until all that remained was a single floating core of black light pulsing in rhythm with his heart.
> [Quantum Echo Shard: Opened.]
[Origin Data Sequence: 001]
[Cognitive Layer Unstable. Anchor Required.]
He blinked.
And found himself no longer standing in the Raven Abyss.
But inside a laboratory.
Cold. White.
Too clean to be real.
Dozens of scientists in armored robes moved around glowing pods — each one filled with human bodies, floating in silver fluid. Some were children. Some... had no faces yet.
> "Beginning Extraction Cycle 5."
"Test Subject: Tian-000."
"Chaos Protocol Initialized."
Tianming stood frozen in the middle of the room, invisible — a ghost to this memory.
> "This isn't a vision… this is history."
A voice echoed through the chamber — artificial, but calm.
> "Welcome to the Dragon Genesis Vault. You are now viewing the original creation event of the Chaos System."
The system had a new voice now — one that felt older. Deeper.
> "This project was never meant to save humanity.
It was designed to simulate divinity — and then erase it."
---
[Footage View – Genesis Vault, 174 years before Collapse]
A scientist stood at the center — tall, silver-haired, with cybernetic eyes. On his chestplate, the symbol of the Dragon Empire was upside down.
He looked directly at one of the pods — the one labeled "Tian-000."
> "You're not just another seed," the man whispered. "You're the virus we built to infect the divine."
The pod cracked.
Inside, the first version of Li Tianming opened his eyes — gold and red, bleeding light. Chaos Seal already active. Chaos Eye flickering. But he didn't scream.
He smiled.
> "What's my purpose?" he asked.
The scientist replied without hesitation.
> "To become a god."
> "And then to be killed by us."
---
[Present – Raven Abyss: Chaos Mind Sync – 88%]
Tianming stumbled back, gasping. Blood ran from his nose. His hands trembled.
> [Warning: You are viewing incompatible life data.]
[Current Personality Thread Overlap: 42%]
[Do not resist. Memory merging in progress.]
But he did resist.
He clutched his blade, slammed it into the dirt, and used it to anchor himself as the world spun around him.
> "Why… why show me this now?"
The system replied — but it wasn't his usual voice.
It was the First Chaos System, the Origin Layer intelligence.
> "Because you activated the shard. Because now… you are eligible."
> "Eligible for what?"
> "To choose."
The world warped again.
Now he stood inside the memory of the real Tower of Chains.
A voice spoke from the void — massive, feminine, calm.
> "I am the Architect."
> "I designed the Tower to hold gods. And then I filled it with their corpses."
> "Why?" Tianming shouted.
> "Because divinity is not a gift. It is a disease."
> "And what about me?! What about the Chaos Lords?"
> "You were the final test. The last prototype.
The one who learned not to obey."
A pillar of light rose in the distance.
> "Inside that Tower lies your final evolution: Chaos Root."
"But to unlock it, you must first decide… if you are god, or killer."
---
[Meanwhile – Eagle Dominion, Blacksite Z]
Inside a cryo-pit deep beneath the earth, a red-eyed boy screamed awake.
> "He found it…"
"He found the Origin Code."
> "Contact the Empress of Chains. We no longer have time. Send the Blackborn. Send the Pale Choir. Send them all."
---
[Back – Raven Abyss]
Tianming fell to one knee.
The black box had dissolved.
But his body had changed.
His veins glowed faintly with shifting light — not red, not gold, but something older.
The Chaos Seal expanded across his back. The Eye now held rings within rings, rotating with layered timelines.
The system pinged.
> [Trait Mutation Complete.]
[New Layer Achieved: Chaos Root Layer (Fragmented)]
🔹 Chaos Eye: Origin ➝ Root (Level 1)
🔹 New Skill: "Echo Pulse" – Pulse your soul through corrupted time to disrupt all soul-based attacks within 20 meters.
🔹 Passive: Timeline Drift – You may briefly overlap alternate versions of yourself in combat (3 sec max). Cooldown: 1 hour.
But with power came danger.
> [Corruption Surge: 12.6%]
[Mental Sync: 82%]
[You are now being monitored by the Architects.]
Tianming stood, wiping blood from his mouth.
> "So I was never meant to survive," he muttered.
"I was meant to be a gun pointed at the sky."
He looked up — and for a moment, saw stars flicker and vanish.
Something beyond the world had noticed him.
And it was waking up.
---