The Great Needle was no longer just a tree; it was a humming, vibrating radio tower that pierced the very fabric of reality. Since Xin had purged the First Infection, the silver sap hadn't just returned to its normal flow—it had accelerated. At the very top of the Needle, above the clouds and the reach of the city’s highest cranes, a new structure had grown. It was a circular platform of white wood and Star-Steel, pulsing with a rhythm that matched Xin’s own heartbeat. This was the "Bridge," the gateway to the other 99 Earths.
Xin stood at the edge of the Bridge, the wind whipping his hair across his face. Below him, Jiangnan was a carpet of warm, golden lights, but above him, the sky was tearing open. A jagged rift of indigo and silver light hung in the air, a c***k in the universe that
