The Salty Nut didn't just fly toward the white dot; it fell toward it. As they got closer, the "station" revealed its true shape. It wasn't a building made of metal and glass. It was a massive, jagged ring of frozen starlight, suspended in a part of the void where even the shadows felt cold. This was the Ice Portal, the final barrier between the known sectors and the deep, unwritten forge of the Ark.​"The temperature is dropping past the safety limits!" Mei shouted, her breath visible in the cabin as a thick, white mist. She was wearing her heaviest fur coat, her gloved fingers fumbling with the touchscreen. "The ship’s internal heaters are being drained by the portal. It’s not just cold, Xin—it’s a thermal vacuum. It’s sucking the heat out of our very atoms."​Xin stood at the center of the bridge, his Mental Shield glowing with a soft, steady silver light. He could feel the Ice Portal humming. It wasn't the rhythmic heartbeat of the Great Needle; it was a high, thin whistle, like a

Xin placed his hand on the anvil.Every alarm aboard The Mirror Absolute erupted at once.Red warning lights flashed across the chamber.Shen's composure vanished."Get him away from it!"Three engineers rushed him.The first hit Xin from behind. Xin twisted, grabbed the man's arm, and threw him into a console. Glass shattered. The second barely got hold of his jacket before Xin drove an elbow into his ribs. The third caught a headbutt that dropped him instantly.A pulse shot flashed across the room.Xin threw himself sideways.The blast punched a smoking hole through the wall where he'd been standing a moment earlier.Shen lowered the pulse rod."I was trying to do this peacefully."Xin pushed himself back up."Funny. Didn't feel peaceful."He slapped his hand against the anvil again.Everything stopped.The alarms.The countdown.Even the room itself seemed to hesitate.The glowing numbers hanging above the anvil froze in place.Then they vanished.New words appeared.MASTER SMITH R

The darkness lasted three seconds.Then the Forge lit up.Gold light spread across the anvil, the walls, and the floating cradles beyond the windows. Not a violent flash. Just a steady glow that filled every corner of the chamber.Xin was on one knee.Pip was beside him immediately."Xin."Her hand landed on his shoulder."Say something."He wiped blood from under his nose."My nose is bleeding."Pip sighed."Good. You're alive."She helped him to his feet.Across the room, Mei was already studying her screens."The transfer worked."Everyone looked at her."The reset trigger has been moved to the Needle in Jiangnan. Your biological connection to the Forge is gone."Xin blinked.Gone.Just like that.The thing buried inside him since before he was born.The thing that had turned his life into a ticking disaster.Gone.He waited for relief.What arrived instead was something quieter.Freedom.A laugh escaped him.Small. Disbelieving.Then he looked up."So what exactly spoke to me?"No

The 44th Earth was grey.Not the grey of storms or ash. Just dull, lifeless grey. The sky, the soil, the buildings—everything looked washed out, as if the world itself had forgotten color.The Salty Nut touched down on a cracked landing platform outside the main settlement.No welcome.No signals.Just wind moving through empty streets.Mei checked her scanner."Sixty thousand people."Pip frowned. "Then where is everybody?""They heard us land," Xin said. "They're watching."He glanced at Shen."Ready?"Shen stood from his seat."No."He sighed."Let's go."---They entered the settlement on foot.Faces appeared behind windows. Doors cracked open. Nobody spoke.Years of hardship had taught these people to save their energy.A woman stepped into the street and blocked their path.She looked to be in her fifties, broad-shouldered, with a scar running from her ear to her jaw.Her eyes settled on Shen immediately."I know that face."Shen didn't look away."You should."The woman's expre

Pip was sharpening her hatchet when Xin found her.The scrape of stone against metal echoed across the cargo deck.She glanced up once.That was enough.Something in his face made her stop.The hatchet lowered."What happened?"Xin sat across from her.No hesitation.No attempt to ease into it."Mei found another consciousness stored in the Forge."Pip frowned."So?""A backup Master Smith."The frown deepened."And?"Xin held her gaze."The signature belongs to you."For a second, nothing happened.Then she laughed.A short, confused laugh."No."Nobody joined in.The smile faded."Seriously?"Xin nodded.Pip stared at him.Then at the floor.Then back at him."That's impossible.""Mei checked it three times.""Then check it a fourth."She stood abruptly."I fix engines. I break things. That's the extent of my qualifications."The ship speakers crackled."You weren't supposed to know."Pip froze.Slowly.Very slowly.She looked up."Yara.""Hello.""Start talking."---The explanatio