"Anvil? Monkey? Brother Lu? Sister Wen?" He called out hoarsely, his voice echoing in the empty and silent passage, with only the dripping sound of water in response.

No response.

A huge wave of grief and fear gripped him instantly. Could it be that... he was the only one who survived? Monkey... that foolish boy who rushed in with the bomb... him... Ajie didn't dare to think about it.

At this moment, from the depths of the passage came an extremely faint wheezing sound, like a leaking bellows!

Ajie's heart trembled. Suppressing the pain, he drew the spare energy pistol from his waist and cautiously moved towards the sound. Turning a corner, the scene before him made his heart skip a beat!

At the end of the passage, beneath a pile of twisted metal supports, a figure lay half-buried in the rubble. It was none other than Anvil! He was covered in blood, one leg twisted at an odd angle, and a large part of his chest had collapsed, clearly suffering severe injuries. But he was still alive! The faint gasps were coming from him!

"Anvil!" Ajie rushed over and carefully cleaned the rubble off his body.

"Cough... cough cough... Jie... Brother Jie..." Tiezhen struggled to open his swollen eyes, his voice weak, "Lu... Brother Lu... they..."

"They're still alive!" A voice, with a strong electronic texture but unable to conceal its urgency, suddenly rang out from the abandoned loudspeaker in the passage. It was Wen Yuan! "Fifty meters ahead... on the right... down the maintenance shaft... hurry... they... need... help..."

Wen Yuan?! Ajie was both surprised and delighted! Without giving it time to think, he immediately followed the instructions, dragging the severely injured Anvil to a relatively safe corner. He briefly treated his fatal chest and abdominal wounds, leaving behind some first aid kits. "Hold on! Brother! I'm going to find Brother Lu and Sister Wen! I'll be right back!"

After saying that, he gritted his teeth, dragged his equally injured body, and ran wildly in the direction Wen Yuan indicated.

Fifty meters away, on the right wall, a dark, blasted-open maintenance shaft appeared before his eyes. Burn marks and fresh cracks still lingered around the edges, evidently the result of the recent explosion. A strong smell of blood and... a strange energy, like that of burning metal, emanated from the hole.

Ajie's heart was in his throat. He turned on the tactical flashlight and the beam of light pierced into the darkness.

The shaft wasn't deep, only about five or six meters. In the light of the beam, he saw two figures lying face down.

Lu Cheneng lay facedown on the cold, damp ground, his body covered in a thick layer of dust and gravel. His left arm… vanished below the elbow, the wound covered by a layer of a strange substance that glowed faintly white, like liquid metal. The blood had ceased flowing, but the sight remained horrifying. His face was a pale pale from the blood loss, but the faint rise and fall of his chest proved he was still alive. The demonic blade, now dark and deep, its surface shimmering with mercury, was still tightly grasped in his remaining right hand.

Wen Shifei lay on her side beside Lu Chenhang, also unconscious. Her palms were charred black, as if burned by the intense heat, and her body bore numerous scrapes and wounds from the explosion. Her face was pale, her breathing weak, but she seemed slightly better off than Lu Chenhang.

"Brother Lu! Sister Wen!" Ah Jie's voice was tinged with tears as he slid down the shaft and rushed to the two of them. His trembling fingers probed for Lu Chenshang's carotid artery. When he felt the weak but tenacious pulse, he almost collapsed with ecstasy and relief!

He's alive! They're all alive!

"Wen Yuan! We found them! They are all still alive! But they are seriously injured!" Ajie shouted into the air. He knew Wen Yuan would be able to hear him.

"Rescue...has...set off...Hold on..." Wen Yuan's voice was intermittent, with the noise of electricity. It was obvious that maintaining this state was a huge burden on his remaining consciousness. "Be careful...contamination...something...is approaching..."

Pollution? Ajie's heart trembled, and he immediately raised his energy pistol, warily scanning the dark hole above the shaft and the surrounding dark passages. He could sense that the mixture of blood and energy in the air seemed to have a hint of... cold, malicious prying.

Time ticked by. Every second waiting for rescue felt like a century. Ajie stayed by their side, keeping a vigilant eye on his surroundings while providing the two with the simplest care he could muster with the first aid supplies he carried. He tore open Lu Cheneng's tattered shirt and saw the wound on his severed arm, covered in liquid white light, and the horrific wounds on other parts of his body, also forcibly healed by the white light. He was filled with shock and worry. What exactly was this power? It could save Lu Ge's life, but at what cost?

Wen Shifei's hands were charred black. Ajie carefully cleaned them with water and sterilized gauze, and discovered that there seemed to be an extremely faint blue light flowing slowly under the skin of his palms. This was obviously the result of forcibly guiding the violent energy.

Just when Ajie's spirit was stretched to the limit——

Buzz...buzz buzz...

A low, rhythmic vibration sound came from far away, coming from deep in the soil above! Then, the concrete roof directly above the shaft began to vibrate violently, and dust fell!

"Here it comes!" Ajie was delighted. It was the fortress's drilling vehicle!

Boom!

With a resounding thud, the solid concrete roof was forcibly drilled open! A conical front end, gleaming with metallic luster and resembling a giant drill bit, emerged from the ground, followed by the body of the vehicle! Fortress's most advanced "Pangolin" small drilling and transport vehicle, like a steel pangolin, appeared in the shaft!

The car door opened, and several fully armed medics, wearing heavy protective suits and carrying large life-support backpacks, quickly jumped out. The leader, seeing the tragic condition of the three people in the shaft, especially Lu Cheneng's horrific severed arm, gasped, even though he was a veteran.

"Hurry! His vital signs are stable but he is extremely weak! Inject cardiotonic and stabilizer immediately! Establish intravenous access! Carry him carefully! Especially those... energy coverings on his body!" Ajie explained the situation quickly.

The medics were well-trained and moved swiftly. A powerful drug was injected into Lu Cheneng and Wen Shifei's veins, and life support equipment was quickly connected. Using a specially designed stretcher with energy cushioning, they carefully lifted the two and carried them into the transport vehicle's modified medical cabin, which resembled a small mobile ICU.

"Anvil! There is another brother in the passage ahead!" Ajie shouted hurriedly.

"Got it! The location has been marked! Second team will go to support!" The medical team leader responded calmly.

The transport truck quickly took off, carrying Lu Cheneng and Wen Shifei, whose fate was unknown, along with Ajie, and sped along the drilled tunnel towards the lighthouse fortress. Behind them, the crumbling factory ruins sank into complete silence. Only Wen Yuan's faint consciousness, like a candle in the wind, silently guarded the cold ruins of steel and data until the light of rescue completely disappeared at the end of the tunnel.

At the bottom of the abyss lies not only despair. There lies the faint yet tenacious flame of life, ignited by flesh and blood and will. But the price of this flame is suffocatingly heavy. Lu Chen's mutilated body, Wen Shifei's scorched hands, the Demon Blade's strange transformation... and the shattered Bird Carving Knife... all of this foreshadows a deeper vortex and unknown dangers, only just beginning.