Chapter 25

The clues pointing to the unknown in the pocket watch are like a hook hanging over my heart - the gatekeeper, the eye of the storm.

Lin Yao's spiritual thread silently explored the vast information network and finally pointed to a clear direction.

City C!

The core activity area of ​​the Purifiers, as well as the area suspected to be the Eye of the Storm's coordinates, are all shrouded in the shadow of this giant steel city famous for its precision machinery and energy technology.

How to get to City C? This became a new problem facing Lin Yao.

Although Qin Feng's trust was growing, Qin Lan's bottom line was clear: Lin Yao's value must be served in City B. To rashly propose going to City C would be tantamount to exposing his own shortcomings.

Just as he was thinking about how to weave a perfect excuse, the opportunity came to him.

City C has sent out a joint exploration invitation to the other three cities - target: the newly opened A-level dungeon Abyss Corridor.

The rumors about the Abyssal Corridor were terrifying. It was unlike the laboratory ruins of E-427, nor was it the extremely cold wasteland of the Everfrost Rift.

It was a pure, all-consuming maze of darkness. The internal spatial structure of the dungeon was chaotic and shifting, the gravity field was abnormal, light was swallowed by some unknown force, and mental perception was severely distorted.

It is home to polluting beasts adapted to eternal darkness, possessing strange psychic attacks and the ability to tear through space. While its danger level is SS-level, the resources it contains are incredibly rich.

Rumor has it that there is a legendary material that can break through the level 60 bottleneck - Void Star Marrow.

Faced with such temptations and risks, the four cities tacitly chose to cooperate, which was actually to share the risks and get what they needed.

Qin Lan naturally would not miss this opportunity, and it was even more impossible for her to let Lin Yao, the human-shaped early warning radar, be absent.

She personally appointed the team, led by Qin Feng, who had just recovered from his injuries but was even stronger. They sent out all the elite troops with a clear goal - to maximize the benefits for City B while ensuring safety.

Lin Yao sneered inwardly. It was like a pillow being delivered to him when he was sleepy. The Abyssal Corridor offered both danger and opportunity. It was the perfect stage for him to obtain the high-level material Void Star Essence, verify clues to the Eye of the Storm, and even contact the Purifier's higher-ups.

He accepted the arrangement quietly, his face still showing that weak expression filled with fear of the unknown future.

…

The aircraft flew through the thick clouds and landed at the airport in City C. An atmosphere completely different from the garden city of City B and the industrial fortress of City D hit us.

City C, a huge, precision-operated steel hive.

The towering buildings are not designed for beauty, but for extreme space utilization and functionality. Their surfaces are covered with complex energy pipes and cooling fins, emitting a low hum.

A large number of automated machines and modified cyborgs were traveling on the streets, and the air was filled with engine oil, ozone and a cold metallic smell.

Huge holographic billboards projected cold information about technological products and city defense announcements. Neon lights flowed on the surface of metal buildings, but they could not dispel the city's cold and efficiency-oriented atmosphere.

The light from the dome here also seems to have a metallic, cool hue. Here, it seems, the emphasis is on squeezing every last bit of value through technology and efficiency.

Qin Feng's team was led to the designated assembly area.

On the huge apron, there are already parked aircraft from City A, City D and some other small city-states attached to the three main cities.

Exploration teams from all sides arrived one after another, and the atmosphere was solemn and auspicious.

The team from City A all wore silver-gray uniforms and had an arrogant and cold temperament. Their leader was a handsome young man with eyes as sharp and sinister as an eagle.

The small city-state team affiliated with City C has mixed equipment and exudes an air of desperadoes.

And the team from City D...

When the familiar aircraft hatch with the gray haze hue unique to the D City Industrial Zone opened, Lin Yao's spiritual perception was like the most sophisticated scanner, subconsciously scanning over.

Then, his perception suddenly stopped.

In the D City team, one figure seemed out of place.

Lu Cheng.

The young master of City D, who was once full of vigor and had eyes as fiery as fire, now looked like a dead tree with all its vitality drained away.

He wore a wrinkled uniform, his hair was disheveled, and a bluish stubble sprouted from his chin. His once bright eyes were now dull, sunken in dark circles and bloodshot, staring blankly ahead, as if his soul had long been ripped out.

His originally upright figure became somewhat hunched, and his whole body was shrouded in an indelible, almost desperate feeling of dejection and fatigue.

He stood there like a walking corpse, looking more than ten years older than his actual age.

Lin Yao's heart was like a stone being dropped into the lake, causing a faint ripple before being flattened by cold rationality. He certainly knew why Lu Cheng had become like this.

The maximum level of favorability he implanted was like the most poisonous curse.

The extraordinary love story I carefully wove is like the strongest cage.

The death ending he directed is like the sharpest blade.

Lu Cheng was deeply trapped in it, convinced that he had lost the love of his life, and witnessed his lover's tragic death before his eyes but was powerless to do anything.

This enormous trauma and the subsequent extreme disgust for his own weakness completely destroyed him.

His obsession with becoming stronger has become distorted. It is no longer about protection, but a mixture of atonement and self-destruction.

His appearance here, in the A-level copy with an extremely high mortality rate, is a clear proof that his mental state is extremely unstable and he is seeking a breakthrough in a desperate situation.

Obviously, Lu Tianheng's opposition failed to stop his son who was determined to die.

How ridiculous and sad, Lin Yao sneered in his heart.

For something that was carefully designed by others and does not exist at all, you torture yourself into this state.

Like a lost lamb, he ignorantly stepped into a real pack of wolves.

The competition for resources among the four cities has never stopped, and beneath the surface of cooperation lies a murderous undercurrent.

A-level dungeons were a natural hunting ground. An S-level lightning-type esper with such a poor mental state, powerful yet riddled with flaws, was nothing more than a piece of fat meat emitting an alluring aroma in the eyes of the eager elites from the other three cities.

He didn't know that one of his feet had already stepped on the edge of the abyss.

Lin Yao's gaze shifted away from Lu Cheng, as if brushing away a tiny speck of dust.

An abandoned tool that has lost its value and may even become a burden is not worth his extra attention.

His goal is clear and cold: the Void Star Essence of the Abyss Corridor, clues to the Eye of the Storm, and the core secrets of the Purifier Organization.

Power and truth are his only pursuits.

Lu Cheng's tragedy? It was just an old chess piece he casually discarded on his way to the top.

He gathered his thoughts and focused all his attention on the Abyss Corridor, the entrance to the A-level dungeon in the distance, which exuded an ominous aura and looked like the mouth of a giant beast.

There, he has everything he needs.