CHAPTER 90 – The World Cracks Open
The Root Protagonist extended his hand, the final, patient phase of the correction.
Blue-white energy gathered in his palm—pure, stabilizing, neutralizing light, intended to completely purge Xiao Xi and Gu from the root structure.
"Xiao Xi," he said softly, with the finality of a system shutdown.
"For the sake of the stable world you created… surrender your existence."
Xiao Xi's System flared violently inside her mind, ignoring the Root Protagonist's suppression field.
[Emergency Protocol Unlocked. Root stability at 0%.]
[Hidden ability detected: CHAOS THREAD.]
[Activate? Warning: Unpredictable outcome.]
She didn't hesitate.
She whispered the single, fatal command:
"Yes."
A blinding surge of pure Purple Energy surged through her veins—wild, raw, unfiltered creation force, the fundamental power of the unpredictable, non-compliant human soul.
Gu's eyes widened in horror, recognizing the sheer, destabilizing power.
"Xiao Xi—your body can't handle that power—it will tear you apart—!"
She didn't care.
The energy was already unleashed.
Her power exploded outward, a chaotic, massive wave of purple light, colliding instantly and violently with the Root Protagonist's stabilizing blue-white energy.
The resulting collision was a fundamental rejection of reality.
The world around them tore open.
Buildings split into geometric impossible forms.
The sky cracked like fractured obsidian. Time distorted, slowing and speeding up in adjacent zones.
Shen shielded Ling with the last of his fading golden aura.
Gu tried to crawl to her, his form glitching with catastrophic violence, fighting the inevitable pull of non-existence.
The Root Protagonist watched, his perfect composure shattering, his silver eyes widening in pure, analytical shock.
"You—you hold chaos power?! How is that possible? The System analysis never showed an active Chaos Root!"
Xiao Xi screamed as the purple energy surged uncontrollably, ripping through her own body, feeling the sheer impossibility of the power she now wielded.
The world shuddered, caught between creation and erasure.
And then—
A voice echoed through the broken, cracking sky.
It was not the System's voice.
Not the Hacker's digital snarl.
Not the cold authority of the Root Protagonist.
It was a third presence.
Older.
Colder.
Infinitely vast and terrifying.
"HOST IDENTIFIED."
"CHAOS ROOT AWAKENING."
"XIAO XI—YOU ARE NOT THE ANOMALY."
Everyone froze.
The Root Protagonist's face twisted in pure, existential terror, his perfect logic utterly defeated.
The vast, ancient voice continued, the sound tearing the fabric of their reality:
"YOU… ARE THE TRUE ROOT."
And the unstable world finally shattered into absolute, terrifying darkness.