The cold electronic countdown sounded like a death knell, mercilessly ringing in the depths of my soul:

[45…44…43…]

Each jump in the numbers was like a hammer striking Lin Mo's shattered consciousness. The emerald green cocoon of light that enveloped him ripped violently, like a candle in a gust of wind, struggling to hold on to the edge of the all-consuming absolute darkness erupting from the beacon generator's core. Each encroachment of darkness brought with it the excruciating pain of a soul being torn apart. At the same time, a faint yet incomparably tenacious sorrow and protective will, permeating the cocoon of light, continuously poured into his shattered body, forcibly holding together the flame of his life that was about to collapse.

"Mom... Mom..." Lin Mo screamed silently in the depths of his consciousness. Scalding liquid (was it blood or tears?) mixed with dark particles of annihilation, trickled down from the corners of his tightly closed eyes. He vaguely sensed that the source of this cocoon of light was the tenaciously flickering "Tree of Life" chip at the interface below! It was his mother, Su Yingxue, who, at the end of her life, had used the final imprint of her spirit and the fruits of her lifelong research to support this final barrier for him!

[40…39…38…]

The countdown continued. Although the expansion of darkness was temporarily contained by the strange equilibrium formed by the collision of the light cocoon and the annihilation energy, the blood-red runic light bands on the surface of the rotating purple-black beacon generator at the core grew brighter and faster! A destructive aura far greater than before, as if threatening to completely reduce the entire dimension to zero, was accumulating frantically!

The other side!

boom--!!!

The destructive energy storm finally subsided! The thick smoke and dust slowly settled.

At the edge of the deep pit, Shen Qingli (or rather, the "Siphon" eroded by the "Reaper") slowly stood up from a pile of twisted, smoking metal wreckage. Her state was even more miserable and terrifying than before!

The left arm—the arm covered with a dark blue metal glove that once belonged to "Shen Qingli"—had completely disappeared from the shoulder down, along with the twisted and deformed metal glove! The broken part was no longer flowing liquid metal, but was covered by a substance that was constantly proliferating and wriggling, like a living purple-black crystal cluster! These crystal clusters were like greedy vines, climbing up and wrapping around her broken shoulders and neck frantically! They had already covered most of her chest and even began to erode the only remaining half of her face that belonged to a human! Under the erosion of the crystal clusters, her skin quickly lost its blood color and became gray and stiff!

Her head was almost completely engulfed by the wriggling purple-black crystal cluster, leaving only a narrow gap. Within the gap, the only remaining silver-gray eye, its pupil now completely engulfed by the burning purple-black flames! Icy! Cruel! Filled with absolute greed for the "spark" and a desire to destroy all obstacles! The icy blue light belonging to "Shen Qingli" had long since vanished, as if it had never existed!

"Target... locked... variables... cleared..." Her voice was completely distorted and hoarse, like countless rusted gears grinding against each other, each syllable carrying a sickening scraping of metal and an inhuman indifference. The remaining right shoulder, covered in wriggling crystal clusters (the left arm was missing, and only the remains of the right arm remained), rose slightly. The crystal clusters at the fractured end squirmed and deformed frantically, instantly converging into an even larger, more ferocious energy scythe, burning with boiling purple flames! The scythe blade pointed directly at the mecha's "battering ram," which had just been knocked back by the explosion and was on the verge of collapse!

And in the cockpit of the "Battering Ram", Su Mu's condition was also extremely bad!

The violent concussion caused her to bleed from her mouth and nose, and her head slammed hard against the inner wall of the cockpit, causing her vision to go black. But even more fatal than the physical trauma was the complete mental breakdown!

Her bloodshot eyes were fixed on Shen Qingli's broken body and the broken arm wrapped in purple-black crystals. At the moment of the explosion, she clearly saw the small lily mark on Shen Qingli's left wrist flash by in the gap between the twisted metal and the crystals!

Mother! That's definitely a mother's unique mark! Why is it on this monster?!

"Why... why is it you... Mom..." Su Mu's lips trembled violently, broken sobs mixed with blood foam spilling from the corners of her mouth. The overwhelming sense of absurdity and the excruciating pain of being completely betrayed by her loved ones were like millions of poisonous needles, repeatedly piercing her already broken heart! The string of reason completely broke! All the coldness, strength, inhumanity of Shen Qingli, as well as the horror of this moment, overlapped and tore apart the image of her mother's gentleness, tenacity, and wisdom in her memory!

"Give my mother back to me!!!" A shrill, more desperate, and utterly insane scream blasted out from the "battering ram"'s speakers! Su Mu had completely lost the ability to think. The massive mecha roared under her control, overwhelmed by the pressure. The only remaining, undamaged heavy particle cannon was frantically charging again! A blazing white light illuminated the entire underground space like daylight! The target was fixed firmly on the monster that bore her mother's mark, yet she feared and hated it more than any other mechanical beast!

【30…29…28…】

The countdown is like a death drumbeat!

On one side, the "Siphon", which was completely eroded by the "Reaper" and transformed into a weapon of destruction, brandished a giant scythe of purple flame and rushed towards the "Battering Ram" with the breath of annihilation!

On the other side, Su Mu, whose spirit has completely collapsed and who has fallen into the madness of destroying himself and the enemy, drives a scarred mecha, pouring out his love and hatred for his mother, his fear and despair for the truth, and pushes the destructive particle beam to its peak!

Two destructive forces, carrying vastly different yet equally soul-shattering tragedies, were about to collide once again! This time, caught in the middle was the emerald green cocoon struggling to survive amidst the annihilating darkness, and Lin Mo, whose consciousness within the cocoon was hazy, yet he maintained a glimmer of clarity thanks to his mother's will!

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