The thumb traced the smooth, gradient‑patterned surface of the blade’s edge. At the neural interface on Lin Ye’s left wrist, a blue‑purple current sparked and flickered. He never could have imagined that hidden within this abandoned star‑cloud observatory—marked by the Alliance as “nuclear‑clearance zone”—lay the long‑lost creation of the top bounty hunter: a claw‑blade re‑engineered via 3D printing from stellar‑core resonance material by the former station chief. Originally sent to track down the former chief’s whereabouts, his assignment had merely stipulated retrieving an object said to “reshape the rules of the star sector.” Only upon arriving did he discover that the observatory hadn’t exploded six months earlier due to a lab accident; rather, the former chief had uncovered the blade’s ability to resonate and sever consciousness‑bound shackles at the quantum level. Fearing that the Star Domain rebels might seize it and shatter their monopoly on collective consciousness, the Alliance had blown the station to seal the truth. The tiny perforations along the blade’s body weren’t decorative—they served to fine‑tune its consciousness‑resonance frequency. Meanwhile, the handle’s graduated texture conformed precisely to the contours of the hand, allowing even those with no martial‑arts training to swing it with ease. Just as Lin Ye closed his grip around the blade, the alloy walls outside trembled with the thrum of an air‑defense alert🔊. The Alliance’s cleanup fleet had already jumped into outer orbit. He let out a cold, derisive snort into his comm device, then tapped one of the blade’s holes with his fingertip. Under the dim light of the space station, the pale pink blade glowed faintly, veiled in a hazy sheen. Who would claim this blade? That decision, after all, was never up to the Alliance🌌