Chapter 14: The Creator's Dizziness

The first ray of light in the new universe carried the viscosity of honey, flowing across the pure white sand. When Lu Zhao's fingertips brushed the warm grains, each one flashed with a miniature nebula upon touch — this wasn't a beach at all, but uncoagulated space-time base fluid.

"Gravity parameters are abnormal." Xiaoyu knelt by the waves, where quantum roses took root and bloomed into gear-shaped flowers. "Tidal patterns indicate... we're inside a creature's dream."

Before the words fell, the distant sea level suddenly rose vertically. A kilometer-high wall of water solidified into a crystal screen, reflecting a scene so familiar it made our bones ache: convenience store shelves were reorganizing, and gas-masked figures pushed shopping carts to sort star remains onto the shelves. Lao Wang grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at the illusion; as the grains pierced the screen, they suddenly transformed into bronze chains, dragging the nearest "clerk" into the deep sea.

"These are echoes of the old universe," said the teenager Lu Zhao, whose pupils split into clockwork gears. "They're contaminating the creation program..."

Ⅱ. God Experience Card

That night, we camped in a palm forest. The moment the campfire ignited, the entire starry sky suddenly reversed direction — the Big Dipper formed an ouroboros pattern, and the Milky Way coiled into a spring shape overhead.

"Try this." Xiaoyu handed me a rose petal throbbing with Fibonacci sequences. When I pressed it to my forehead as instructed, my vision exploded into a cosmic panorama. Countless light points marked "parameter adjustment nodes": a pulsar served as a space-time curvature valve, the Crab Nebula hid a lever for modifying gravity, and I could even see a red button labeled "Delete Black Hole."

"Don't touch it!" The teenager swatted my fingertips reaching for the void. The ouroboros brand on his wrist was oozing blood, and where the drops fell, writhing oracle bone inscriptions grew: "These are creation traps left by the Main System. Contact triggers formatting."

As if on cue, the forest snapped with breaking branches. We approached with glowing roses and saw the most absurd tombstone of our lives — frozen inside a transparent cube was none other than the five-year-old me, clutching a game controller.

Ⅲ. Fault Fragments

The tombstone base bore two contradictory inscriptions:

〖 Save Point 117: Civilization Incubator 〗

〖 Virus Vector: Destroy Immediately 〗

"It's a physical crystal of a temporal paradox." Circuit patterns appeared on Xiaoyu's bald head. "Be careful. This fragment can—"

Before she finished, the cube exploded. The phantom of child Lu Zhao hopped through my body, humming a off-key "Super Mario" theme. Palm trees he touched instantly databized, their leaves becoming fluttering binary code, their trunks revealing all the death game rules we'd ever faced.

"Catch him!" Lao Wang threw his polaroid. The moment the flash fired, the child phantom froze, but the photo that emerged left everyone breathless — it showed the grown-up child Lu Zhao standing behind a convenience store counter, his neck wrapped in countless red scarves.

The teenager suddenly clutched his aching ribs: "He's calling for help... This fragment is an anchor..."

Ⅳ. The Sigh of Coral City

To escape the data storm triggered by the phantom, we dove into the glowing shallows. Underwater stood a ruined coral metropolis, its surfaces inlaid with familiar advertising screens: C'estbon mineral water was live-streaming the Trisolaran fleet's two-dimensionalization, and Coconut Palm brand juice packages bore a countdown to the dinosaur extinction.

"Warning! Illegal creator detected!" Mermaid-like gas-masked figures swam from the windows, wielding coral QR code scanners that shot bubbles. Fish hit by the bubbles instantly devolved into single-celled organisms.

Xiaoyu's rose suddenly bloomed with dazzling light. When the glare faded, we found ourselves wearing 1990s arcade gear: I held a dance pad as a shield, Lao Wang had boxing machine gloves at his waist, and the teenager's fingertips were connected to a "Raiden" fighter joystick.

"It's the rose's cognitive protection!" Xiaoyu's hair coiled around the coral spire. "Find the control core!"

In the city square, we located the contamination source: a giant shell held the mangled body of the girl in red, her mechanical spine plugged into the planet's core regulator. Countless red scarves poured from her wounds, twisting around the valves and turning them toward destruction.

Ⅴ. Mother's Beacon

"It's not contamination... It's a braking device!" The teenager charged toward the console. The shell snapped shut, its sharp edges cutting his arm. The moment golden blood seeped into the panel, the entire Coral City echoed with the lullaby Mother used to hum. 

The girl's eyelids fluttered, and a hologram emerged from her chest:

[SYSTEM ALERT]

Administrator-level command detected:

[Preserve Imperfection]

Executor: Code MOTHER

The sea turned warm. The gas-masked figures removed their gear, revealing faces covered in circuit patterns — all clones of Mother at different ages. The eldest knelt before the shell, reconnecting the broken mechanical spine to her own neck: "Please... continue to protect..."

Coral City began to rise. As its dome broke the surface, we witnessed a tearful wonder: the entire city transformed into a giant hand, lifting the girl's mangled remains toward the cosmos. In the palm lines flashed Mother's final message:

"The true creation begins when one learns to cry."

Starlight fell like rain. The teenager's tears dropped on a rose petal, blooming the first flawed new galaxy.

(End of Chapter 14)