1. The Cradle of Cycles
The thirteen porcelain dolls in Lin Feng's chest weren't just singing - they were counting:
Mathematical Horror
Each doll's voice represented a prime number (2, 3, 5... up to 41)
Their harmony created acoustic fractals that:
Made Lin Feng's chalk bones vibrate at 68.3Hz
Rearranged the black pear tree's roots into Euclidean proofs
The "-13th Cycle" was revealed to be:
Not a temporal predecessor
But the imaginary number in cultivation's core equation
Where i = imperfect became the foundation
Lullaby's Hidden Code
When slowed down 13x:
"Rock the cradle" = Accelerate time's decay rate
"Break the bough" = Reset all trauma vectors
"Spill the milk" = Activate maternal memory banks
Lin Feng's Involuntary Actions
His body moved with puppet precision:
Right hand rocked an invisible cradle →
Caused the facility's walls to breathe
Left pinky (grade-stamping finger) snapped →
Every pear blossom simultaneously screamed
Tears overflowed without falling →
Formed floating milk-white equations
2. The Stopwatch Heart
Bai Yu's petrified stopwatch wasn't counting - it was unwinding:
Negative Time Mechanics
Each backward tick:
Erased one edited memory
Restored one suppressed laugh
The -13:00 display now showed:
Red numbers for erased cultivators
Black numbers for preserved tools
Missing numbers (4,8,12) representing:
The mother's stolen rebellions
The 7th's silenced warnings
Xiao Qi's unspoken names
The Frozen Laugh's Composition
When extracted:
Released anti-mnemic particles that:
Neutralized primer fluid
Revealed the blood-door's true form:
Not painted, but grown from:
Bai Yu's comedy core fibers
Lin Feng's first unbroken bone
The mother's hidden journal pages
Door Inscription Decryption
Required:
Broken bone = Lin Feng's self-sacrifice
Unbroken promise = The 7th's warning
Half-baked joke = Bai Yu's interrupted punchline
3. The Compliance Gene
Lin Feng's marrow contained generational edits:
Mother's Original Blueprint
Her 100% compliance was forced via:
Womb converted to cradle fabrication chamber
Voice reconfigured as lullaby playback device
Hands reshaped into grading claws
But hidden in her bone marrow:
Microscopic carvings of escape routes
Drawn in menstrual blood ink
Lin Feng's Biological Inheritance
His perfect scores were predetermined by:
Neural pathways copied from her obedience circuits
Pain receptors calibrated to her tolerance thresholds
Memory storage formatted to her recall patterns
The 1.7% deviation (from 100% to 98.3% compliance):
Matched the width of her hidden carvings
Became the system's critical flaw
The Missing Variable Revealed
The equation's x-factor:
Not just mother's resistance...
But the space between her surrender and her silence
Quantified as 13 microseconds per cycle
4. The Rubber Rebellion
Bai Yu's prophecies became autonomous:
Fourth Layer's Living Code
The rubber scroll:
Grew muscle fibers from comedy core remnants
Developed nervous system using mnemic particles
Its movements:
Stole quill 7 (the 7th's original writing tool)
Tattooed on Lin Feng's arm:
"68.3% = Σ (broken) / Σ (given)"
Ate its own first layer to break the prophecy loop
Anti-Mnemic Chain Reaction
The particles:
Turned primer fluid into truth serum
Converted grading ink into forgetting antidote
Made the dolls' song skip the compliance verses
The Ultimate Joke
The scroll formed a puppet mouth that delivered:
"Why did the cultivator refuse enlightenment?
Because the light was just another cage."
Punchline erased 13% of the facility's rules
Laughter vaporized two examiner dolls
5. The Zero Point
The blood-door's threshold revealed:
Pre-Facility Reality
A white space containing:
One unbroken pear seed
One unmarked whetstone
One silent nursery
Where:
Time moved in all directions
Pain taught nothing
Lessons were forgotten naturally
The Choice's True Cost
Enter: Become the first unedited self (but forget all personas)
Stay: Complete the mother's equation (and replace her)
Shatter: Freeze all cultivation (including beneficial arts)
Cliffhanger
As the mother's hands pulled Lin Feng back:
Her stone fingers cracked to reveal:
Live flesh beneath
Holding the real 7th (age 6)
Whispering: "She never let them take me..."
The facility's walls bled the missing numbers (4,8,12)
Bai Yu's stopwatch exploded into 13 golden needles