I traveled through time and space and became a drama queen in the harem!

The void collapses, time distortions and endless rifts

Lin Chen's eyes were already filled with confusion. Everything before her seemed like an endless dream, with no escape or explanation. The glimmer in her eyes grew brighter and brighter, as if her soul was also engaged in some unspeakable struggle with this chaotic void.

Just as she was immersed in this deep chaos, suddenly, the flow of time in the entire void seemed to be forcibly distorted by some invisible force, and it quickly flowed backwards, until the history of the entire universe seemed to go backwards in an instant.

"What's going on?" Lin Chen's voice was out of control and he was panicked.

Niu Shigong's eyes were calm as he stood beside her, seemingly unfazed by the changes before his eyes. "This is a rift in time," he said, his voice as calm as the wind blowing across a lake. "Everything you see has transcended the limitations of linear time. We are now standing on the edge of time."

"The edge of time?" Lin Chen was stunned. She knew she was facing a mystery beyond common sense, beyond time and space. She tried hard to understand the situation before her, but felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

"Yes." Niu Shigong said softly, "The place where we are now does not belong to the scope of this time and space. Look over there--" He pointed to the depths of the void.

Lin Chen looked in the direction of his finger, and saw that in the depths of the void, indescribable cracks kept emerging. Each crack contained countless strange lights and scenes, as if behind each crack was a parallel universe, a space-time that did not belong to this world.

"What are these?" Lin Chen's voice was filled with unconcealable shock.

"This is the twist of fate." Niu Shigong's eyes were deep, as if he had already seen through all of this. "We stand at the intersection of time and space. This place is not only the convergence point of the past and the future, but also the intersection of countless parallel universes. You can see any fragment of time and space, even your own future."

Lin Chen's head felt dizzy and her vision began to blur. The light and cracks gradually intertwined to form a huge picture. It seemed that countless futures of her own were constantly emerging. Each future had a different ending, but each one was deeply engraved with the mark of fate.

She saw herself becoming the master of the universe, commanding countless stars; she also saw herself becoming a lonely star, floating in the void, never able to find a home; she saw herself becoming a destroyed chess piece, with no trace left in the void; there was even a scene where she herself turned into that black shadow, looking down at everything with a sneer.

"Are these all the future?" Lin Chen felt his voice trembling.

"These aren't the future," Niu Shigong corrected him. "These are just countless possibilities. When the trajectory of fate deviates, each branch will produce a new future, and these futures will eventually converge on a certain node."

"Then... what is this node?" Lin Chen asked in disbelief.

"Nodes are the ultimate truth," Niu Shigong whispered. "When all futures converge into one point, you'll discover that everything is merely determined by fate. The pain, struggle, and choices you've experienced are merely part of a sophisticated game in this universe. And every future you've seen is predetermined, and there's no escape."

"Set up?" Lin Chen couldn't help but sneer, "Are you saying that everything we have is just a game played by others?"

"Yes." Niu Shigong's eyes were still as cold as the abyss. "We are not just chess pieces, but chess pieces endowed with 'consciousness'. When consciousness awakens, we discover that everything about us is being manipulated. Even these cracks you see now are actually some being 'observing' our choices and our fate."

Lin Chen's eyes widened suddenly. She couldn't believe every word she heard. Suddenly, the entire void seemed to begin to shake violently, the cracks around it began to expand, and the light became increasingly dazzling, as if everything was about to collapse.

"No!" Lin Chen shouted almost instinctively, "I don't believe it! I don't believe that fate has already been determined!"

"It's useless if you don't believe it." Niu Shigong's voice was calm and composed, as if he had foreseen all this. His eyes were filled with compassion and indifference. "This is the ultimate truth of fate. In the end, everyone will understand that we are just roles that have been fixed for a long time. No matter how hard we struggle, we will eventually return to the starting point."

"If we are really frozen characters, then won't we ever be able to escape?" Lin Chen murmured to himself, feeling a chill in his heart.

"This is the choice you face now." Niu Shigong's gaze became unusually sharp. "You can accept this established trajectory and play your role like an actor, or you can choose to break through it all and step away from this trajectory."

"Breakthrough?" A gleam of light flashed in Lin Chen's eyes. "How to break through? What can we do?"

Niu Shigong looked at her quietly, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "We can't truly break through this unless..." He paused, "unless we are willing to become part of fate itself, to 'reconstruct' the entire universe, or even destroy it."

"Reconstruct the entire universe?" Lin Chen's heart beat violently. "Can we do it?"

"If you're willing, we can," Niu Shigong said calmly, "but the price will be that you and I will disappear forever in this void, and we won't even be able to return to our original time and space."

"Disappear?" Lin Chen muttered to himself, "Then what should I do?"

Niu Shigong didn't answer, merely casting his gaze toward the deep chasm. Within it, countless stars seemed to burn, collapse, and then be reborn. A deep question welled up in Lin Chen's mind—if she chose to 'reconstruct' all of this, what would be the outcome? Would she, as Niu Shigong had said, become part of fate, or would everything be utterly destroyed?

"Are you ready?" Niu Shigong whispered, his voice as steady as the deep sea.

Lin Chen didn't answer. She simply walked slowly towards the endless chasm, deciding to face a choice she had never considered, a choice she had even struggled with countless times in the void—either rebirth or destruction.

Chapter 18: Symphony of Rebirth and Destruction, the End of the Universal Law