The power of this strike is so terrifying!

However, the price is equally heavy!

puff!

Pei Du's massive, thorny body trembled violently, and several deep cracks instantly appeared across his chest, covered in dark golden thorns! Dark green life-light surged out like an uncontrolled fountain, mingling with strands of dark blue arcs of destruction and silvery data turbulence! He forcibly unleashed a force beyond his limits, detonating the already precarious energy balance within him! After unleashing that devastating blow, the newly formed data thorn whip blade's light dimmed to near extinction, its body covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as if poised to completely disintegrate at any moment.

The excruciating pain washed over him like a tsunami. His consciousness blurred, and his massive body, like a kite with a broken string, fell powerlessly towards the vast chasm he had split open.

Xu Shuangyao in his arms seemed to sense something. In the intense spasm of pain, he raised his hand with difficulty, and his fingertips unconsciously touched the energy liquid mixed with dark green and silver light that was gushing out from the crack in Pei Du's chest.

"Pei...Du..." A faint fragment of thought with a tearful tone came.

Just then!

Buzz——!!!

A wave of will, far more terrifying and profound than any previous scan, like the dormant will of the universe opening its cold eyes, suddenly rose from the deepest part of the rift below! Instantly locking onto the falling Pei Du and Xu Shuangyao in his arms!

This will… cold! Precise! Ancient! With a sense of absolute logic and order, as if looking down upon an ant! It shared the same origin as the Cradle's will, yet was more primal and profound, as if… the true foundation of the Cradle system!

With the rise of his will, the thick darkness deep within the rift was forcibly dispelled. An unimaginably large, complex structure composed of cold metal slowly emerged into the swirling data thorn chains in Pei Du's molten gold pupils.

That is definitely not a creation of nature!

Countless massive, angular metal columns, like pillars supporting heaven and earth, plunged deep into the even deeper darkness below. Their surfaces were coated with vast energy lines, long since dimmed, yet their imposing power was still palpable. Between these pillars lay layers upon layers of densely packed honeycombs of metal platforms, tunnels, and the remains of vast, unknown devices. Everything was coated in a thick, faintly blue dust and a dark green, mossy biomass. Deathly silence. Icy cold. An aeon-forgotten aura of a tomb of steel and logic filled the air.

Is this the place mentioned at the end of the Gravekeeper Data's tombstone... the "Shadows of the Cradle"? Those exiled... creatures of the Old Ones?

However, at the moment when Pei Du's consciousness was shocked by this sudden scene and that cold ancient will——

Snap! Snap! Snap!

In the deadly metal graveyard below, countless metal structures, covered in dust and biomass, resembling giant egg sacs, suddenly cracked through the thick crust of scale! A dazzling, cold red light shone through the cracks! Then, the metal shells peeled off like decaying eggshells!

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The low and powerful mechanical humming sound, like the breathing of a sleeping giant beast awakening, quickly connected into one, and finally turned into a huge roar that resounded throughout the abyss!

Red light pierces the dust!

Countless gigantic, cold, heavily armored mechanical tentacles, flashing scarlet electronic eyes, like awakened giant metal pythons, slowly emerged from the ruptured "egg sacs" and, with a suffocating sense of oppression, locked onto the two falling from the air! Like the stars of hell, the scarlet electronic eyes focused icy on Pei Du, on the aura emanating from the drop of "source blood" within him, and even more so on Xu Shuangyao, who was corroded by the Crimson Agreement, in his arms!

Alert! Unrecognized energy response! Threat Level: Extinction! Execute...Clearance Protocols!