Bai Cheng gazed at the data map, the starlight in her silver eyes calm.

"They have learned fear, and they have also learned trust.

The budding of this emotional dimension is more significant than the complexification of the rule structures."

A joyful ripple pulsed through Lu Duo's Emerald Network.

"Within the Faith Nebula, fifteen civilizations spontaneously constructed the 'Guardian Star' symbolic ritual in their post-war dreamscapes.

Three new clusters of Star-Wish Crystals have sprouted on the branches of the heart tree. Their patterns depict images of broken chains and entwined starlight; some civilizations have already engraved them as tribal holy emblems."

Yu Nian's pure heart vine shed a peaceful halo.

"More notably, those civilizations have begun to cultivate a new type of resonance plant in the roots of the heart tree. Its branches and leaves mimic rule threads, and the leaf textures are like entwined stars.

They call it the 'Life-Sharing Vine,' viewing it as the physical incarnation of the Star Abyss's life connection."

Blue Bird and Zi Yuan returned from the training area, their auras as harmonious as the deep sea.

"The two hundred and thirtieth collaborative drill is complete. The rule buffer zone can be maintained for seven seconds, with a defensive efficiency of ninety-nine point five percent.

Post-war analysis shows that the resonance aspiration output by the Civilization Dreamscape network during moments of crisis has a strength three times higher than the model's predicted value."

Zi Yuan continued, her mechanical prosthetic eye flashing a faint blue.

"This explosive surge has clear trigger conditions: when other life forms in the Star Abyss face the threat of extinction, the civilization network spontaneously enters an 'Empathy Overload' state. This is not just a defense mechanism, but an instinctive response on a moral dimension."

Bai Cheng nodded slightly.

The Faith Nebula was evolving an ethical consensus that transcended survival instincts, like a seedling learning to shelter more fragile sprouts amidst the wind and rain.

At that moment, an unusual ripple suddenly appeared on the outermost ice mirror of the Mirror Corridor.

What that mirror reflected was not the current Star Abyss, but ancient record fragments retrieved from the Archives's deep database. The scene in the mirror was blurred and distorted, faintly showing a land where cherry blossoms bloomed, black clouds pressed down on the city, and chains stood like forests.

In the center of the scene, a figure with two horns and a sinister face stood on a high platform. Ten thousand people bowed at his feet, and nine dark-red crystals floated behind him—

It was the image of Galro, the leader of the Chain Council, but his attire and aura were completely different from the present, more like a tyrant from some feudal nation a hundred years ago.

Leng Ningxue's data stream simultaneously sent a warning. "Abnormal resonance detected in historical fragments.

The fragment originates from the 'Lost Civilizations' category of the main database, entry number 7,300, originally labeled 'Final Records of Wano Country'.

The record was originally incomplete, but it began self-repairing and reorganizing three minutes ago. The reorganization logic shows characteristics of external rule infiltration."

Bai Cheng's eyes narrowed.

She remembered this record; it was the final image of a planetary civilization before its destruction a hundred years ago. The Archives had collected rule echoes from the ruins and kept them sealed until now.

The tyrant in the record was known as Kurozumi Orochi, who usurped the country through conspiracies and ruled with chains of torture, eventually being buried with his nation in a great fire.

His methods of rule were identical to the Chain Council's art of imprisonment.

"Someone is using history to project onto reality," Bai Cheng's voice was cold. "Packaging the failure of the Chain Council as the unfulfilled revenge of an ancient tyrant."

Before she finished speaking, the scene in the mirror suddenly became clear.

Under the cherry blossom tree, Kurozumi Orochi laughed wildly toward the sky, the nine crystals behind him bursting with dark-red light.

His voice penetrated a hundred years of time, echoing hoarsely in the Archives's resonance field: "The chains broke once, but there are thousands and tens of thousands more.

Wano Country's cherry blossoms will bloom again after they wither, and the shadow of the Kurozumi family... will never leave."

The scene shattered with a bang, dissipating into countless dark-red points of light.

But in the final instant before dissipating, all the points of light converged into a line of distorted text, branded onto the mirror surface:

"Nine Shadows cast into the Star Abyss, when the chains are forged anew."

Lightning flickered in Blue Bird's eyes. "This is a threat announcement. The Chain Council intends to cast Nine Shadows into the Star Abyss to restart the imprisonment plan."

Zi Yuan's long blade hummed. "The shadows might refer to mimetic clones of the nine rule cores, or perhaps nine secondary forces under their control.

Regardless, they will not stop here."

Bai Cheng quietly watched the marks remaining on the mirror.

The text was slowly seeping into the depths of the ice mirror, like ink into a clear spring, attempting to pollute the essence of the Archives's records.

She raised her hand to touch the mirror surface, and the light of the oath of starlight flowed, enveloping and isolating the dark-red text, sealing it into an independent data space.

"It is not entirely a threat."

Bai Cheng withdrew her finger, "It is more of a declaration.

A declaration of the Chain Council's origins, a declaration that their obsession stems from a country long since destroyed, and a declaration that this struggle between imprisonment and anti-imprisonment has roots deeper than we imagined."

She turned toward the star chart, her fingertip sliding over the coordinates of the Black Rope Star Domain.

That fortress was still in place, but monitoring showed its internal energy readings had dropped to freezing point, as if all signs of life had evacuated.

"They retreated, but left behind historical echoes as a challenge. This is not a rout, but a strategic shift."

Bai Cheng's voice was calm, "The World Government's silver fleet has begun to move. The flagship is leading three detachments away from their original anchorage, heading toward the Chain Council's fortress. The Supreme Commander has finally decided to be the first to take the risk."

Lu Duo's Emerald Network transmitted real-time monitoring.

"The World Government fleet has not launched an attack; instead, it is using a surrounding formation to block all warp nodes on the outskirts of the fortress. They seem to be waiting for something."

"Waiting for the Chain Council to reveal itself, or waiting for us to clash again with the Council's remnants."

Bai Cheng's eyes were clear, "The fisherman has cast a larger net, wanting to see how many fish can be caught this time."

At that moment, a sudden resonance came from the training area.

Chi Yan's image appeared beside the main console, the flames flickering restlessly. "The Archives's outer outposts report abnormal rule ripples detected at the edge of Sector δ12.

Inside the ripples are nine faint but consanguineous rule signals, slowly infiltrating the sector's rule background radiation in a parasitic mode. The signal characteristics... are identical to the Chain Council's nine rule cores."

Huang Yu added steadily, "The nine signals are all in a state of deep latency, not actively interacting or causing disturbances, just quietly taking root in the underlying rules.

Without careful screening, they could easily be mistaken for the natural evolutionary noise of the sector."

Bai Cheng stared at the newly marked shadow area on the edge of Sector δ12 on the star chart.

Nine points of light were like venomous snakes hidden in the night, planting seeds of malice in the soil where the stars were awakening.

"These are the Nine Shadows," she said softly. "It's not a direct attack, but parasitism.

The Chain Council wants to embed its own existence into the life process of the newly awakening stars, becoming an original sin that cannot be stripped away."

Outside the window, the Star Abyss remained profound, and new noise had already mixed into the awakening pulse.

In the Mirror Corridor, dozens of ice mirrors reflected a four-way chessboard:

The Faith Nebula was growing warmly, the World Government fleet was coldly surrounding, the Chain Council had turned into Nine Shadows to parasitize, and two stars resonated in their entanglement, unaware that a foreign seed had been planted in their bloodline.

The lights of the Starfire Archives burned quietly, the halo flowing and refracting between the mirrors, weaving a more complex web.

The river of light shines eternally, and the shadows have made their move.

The path of the watchman lies in identifying the shadows, observing the parasitism, and believing that the Star Abyss possesses its own light to cleanse the dust.

As the Starfire Archives continued its watch, the forgotten legend of Wano Country was awakening in another form deep within the Star Abyss.

Within the 'Canying Star Cluster' seven hundred light-years from the Black Rope Star Domain, nine dark-red planets rotated slowly, their surfaces covered in charred metal wreckage and never-dissipating smoke.

This was the true place of origin for the Chain Council—'Kurozumi Star Dock.' After Galro fled Wano Country a hundred years ago, he fused his homeland's technology with forbidden sorcery to forge the rule cores that dominate the stars here.

In the deepest part of the Star Dock, Galro stood before a throne woven from nine hundred chains, a tattered cherry blossom emblem floating in his hand.

Dark-red bloodlight flowed over the emblem's surface, reflecting the phantom of Wano Country's final great fire.

"The Kozuki Clan thought burning everything would end the Kurozumi rule..." His voice was like grinding rust, "But the true meaning of the chain is to be reborn in the ashes."

The adjutant Crow Feather knelt on one knee, nine phantoms appearing behind him—they were the Cursed Apostless cultivated with rule cores.

The pupils of each apostle were branded with a different Wano Country sin-mark: betrayal, deceit, tyranny, greed...

"Council Leader, the Nine Shadows have infiltrated the underlying rules of Sector δ12, but the Starfire Archives's monitoring network is more sensitive than expected.

Shall we initiate 'Project Falling Sakura' and activate the parasitic seeds ahead of schedule?"

"No." Galro gripped the cherry blossom emblem tightly. The edges of the emblem pierced his palm, and dark-red blood dripped onto the throne, turning into nine swimming blood-snakes. "Let them see hope first.

Doesn't the World Government want to be the fisherman? Then give them a lake surface that appears calm."

He raised his hand and pressed toward the void, and the chains around the throne vibrated simultaneously.

On the outskirts of the Canying Star Cluster, three rule probes disguised as meteors quietly turned, aiming at the flank of the World Government fleet.

Resonance ripples highly similar to the Faith Nebula appeared on the surface of the probes, like friendly signal lights suddenly lighting up in the dark.

Almost simultaneously, in the main control room of the World Government flagship, the monitoring officer stood up abruptly.

"Detected an unknown civilization signal. The frequency similarity to the Faith Nebula is 92%, and the coordinates are located in the opposite direction of the Chain Council fortress.

The signal content is... a plea for help?"

The Supreme Commander stared at the two signal sources appearing simultaneously on the star chart: one was the silent Chain fortress, and the other was a newborn civilization emitting a warm resonance.

His cold lips curled slightly: "A mirror trap. The Chain Council wants us to choose one of two."

"Should we dispatch a reconnaissance detachment to contact the new signal?"

"Send the Third Detachment, but have the route bypass the Black Rope Star Domain."

The Supreme Commander's fingertip slid over the star chart, "If it really is a trap, let the Starfire Archives step into it first."

Inside the Starfire Archives, Leng Ningxue's data stream captured the movements of the three parties.

Lightning flowed in Blue Bird's eyes: "The World Government has split its forces. The Chain Council is using false signals to pull the battle lines."

Zi Yuan's mechanical prosthetic eye locked onto the Canying Star Cluster:

"The structure of those distress signals is too perfect, as if they were replicated using the Faith Nebula's resonance template. Do we need to warn the World Government?"