The blinding white light gradually faded, replaced by a deathly silence. The expected excruciating pain didn't come. Ning Yu opened his eyes in confusion, finding himself in a strange space. Everything around him was distorted and warped, like a world in a funhouse mirror, filled with a sense of unreality. In the distance, the once raging black energy seemed frozen solid, motionless, emitting a faint, eerie glow.
"I'm still alive?" Ning Yu murmured incredulously, looking down to check his body, which was completely unharmed.
"Ning Yu, look!" Mu Xue's weak voice came from beside him.
He looked up abruptly and saw that his teammates were also trapped in this strange space, just like him. Each of their faces was filled with shock and bewilderment; they were clearly still reeling from the dramatic turn of events.
"What's going on? Are we... already dead?" someone asked in a low voice, trembling with fear.
"No, we're still alive." Ning Yu took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "At least we're alive for now."
He looked around, trying to find an exit from this space, or any clue that could explain everything. However, he could see nothing but distorted space and the frozen mass of energy.
"Ning Yu, do you feel..." Mu Xue's voice rang out again, tinged with doubt and unease, "This space... seems to be fluctuating."
Ning Yu closed his eyes, carefully sensing everything around him. Sure enough, a strange energy fluctuation was constantly impacting his senses, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, and unpredictable.
"It's spatial fluctuation!" He suddenly opened his eyes, a glimmer of hope flashing in them. "The space is unstable, maybe...maybe this is an opportunity!"
However, before he could finish speaking, an even more violent spatial fluctuation occurred, and the surrounding scenery began to distort violently, as if it were about to collapse at any moment...
The violent spatial fluctuations, like raging waves, relentlessly battered this strange space. Ning Yu and his companions were like a small boat tossed about in a storm, constantly at risk of being swallowed by the merciless waves.
"Ah!" A scream shattered the deathly silence. A team member clutched his chest in pain. On his once healthy wheat-colored skin, strange black lines were visibly appearing, as if countless venomous snakes were crawling in his veins.
"Third brother!" the others exclaimed, but there was nothing they could do. The black energy was like a bone-deep infection; once someone was infected, it would quickly erode their body and devour their life force.
"Damn it, what the hell is this place?!" another team member roared, desperately channeling his powers to try and resist the corrosive force. However, his efforts seemed so pale and powerless; the black lines continued to spread, reaching his face and neck, eventually engulfing his entire body.
"No! No!" Desperate cries echoed in the distorted space, but could not stop death from coming.
Ning Yu's eyes were bloodshot, and his heart was breaking. He desperately wanted to do something, but in the face of this powerful spatial fluctuation, his individual strength seemed so insignificant, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, utterly overestimating his own abilities.
"Ning Yu, don't worry about us! You need to go!"
"Yes, Captain, you need to go! We've already..."
One by one, the team members fell, their voices growing weaker and weaker until they finally disappeared completely into the distorted space.
"No! I can't leave you all behind!" Ning Yu roared hoarsely, his eyes bloodshot. He endured the excruciating pain in his body, trying to concentrate and sense the pattern of the spatial fluctuations.
He knew this was their only hope. If they couldn't find a way to escape this hellhole, they would all die here!
The spatial fluctuations grew increasingly violent, and Ning Yu's body drew ever closer to its limit. He felt his consciousness gradually fading, and the scene before him began to distort, as if he were about to be plunged into endless darkness at any moment.
"Ning Yu!" Mu Xue's anxious voice rang in his ear, "How are you? Hang in there!"
Ning Yu struggled to open her eyes, only to see a look of pain on Mu Xue's face, as black lines began to spread across her fair skin.
"No! Mu Xue, you too..."
"Don't speak! I'm fine!" Mu Xue interrupted him, forcing a smile. "Think of something quickly, there must be a way..."
Before she could finish speaking, an even stronger spatial fluctuation struck, and Ning Yu felt a sudden darkness before her eyes, her body falling backward uncontrollably.
"Ning Yu!" Mu Xue exclaimed, rushing over without thinking...
Mu Xue tried her best, but only managed to grab a corner of Ning Yu's clothes. The next second, a spatial fluctuation, like an invisible behemoth, slammed into her back.
"puff--"
A mouthful of blood gushed out, Mu Xue groaned, her vision went black, and her consciousness began to fade. But she still clung tightly to Ning Yu's clothes, preventing him from being swept into the more dangerous energy turbulence.
"Mu Xue!" Ning Yu felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the intense pain making it almost impossible for him to breathe. He had watched as Mu Xue was struck by that terrifying energy while protecting him, and his heart was filled with guilt and anger.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!" Ning Yu's eyes were bloodshot, and an unprecedented rage burned in his chest. He struggled to get up, wanting to save Mu Xue, but his body felt as heavy as lead, and he couldn't move at all.
Just then, a flash of inspiration struck him. Spatial fluctuations... turbulent energy flows... Could this be...?
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