Lin Xi, a former elite reconnaissance soldier in the Deep Space Watch special forces, developed PTSD after a devastating orbital drop mission. After retiring, she became an assistant to an interstellar archaeologist, hoping to find meaning in life among piles of old documents and soothe her inner wounds. But the discovery of an anomalous black hole called the Zeroer on the edge of the galaxy shattered her peace. The black hole devoured everything at a speed that defied current physical models, while emitting strange encoded signals. As the United Human Government faced despair, Lin Xi was forcibly recruited for a suicide mission codenamed Theseus, chosen for her unique neural adaptability and battlefield survival record. She would pilot the specially designed research ship Ark through the event horizon and investigate the truth within.
Everyone thought it was a funeral flight from which no one returned. But the instant Lin Xi crossed the horizon, her consciousness was not extinguished. Instead, a cold, immense voice awakened her: "Welcome to Experimental Zone No. 114514 of the Civilization Screening Ground. Compatible candidate Lin Xi detected. Binding the Horizon Zeroing System..." She discovered that the inside of the black hole was no singularity, but a vast, uncanny dimension where the laws of physics had fallen apart. The wreckage of countless civilizations drifted there, twisted dimensional creatures prowled, and human survivors from different eras and star regions, who had arrived before her, struggled amid despair and madness.
