At the top of the Emerald Tower, the medical center.
This wasn't a cold metal room, but rather a space naturally formed by vast, golden-veined leaves radiating a gentle golden glow. The light was soft, and the air was filled with the rich scent of life and the unique fragrance of plants. In the center, a platform naturally woven from the purest roots and vines hovered. Xu Shuangyao lay peacefully atop it, like an elf sleeping in an emerald cradle.
Her face was pale, almost transparent. Her skin, once radiant with a faint golden glow, had lost its luster. Fine beads of sweat soaked the strands of hair on her forehead. The golden flame mark between her brows, the emblem symbolizing the core of the planet's will, was now dimmed to a faint spark, as if it would die at any moment. Her breathing was weak and disordered, each inhalation trembling slightly, as if she were enduring immense, invisible pain. Her pristine white vine-covered dress covered her, but it couldn't mask the weak fluctuations emanating from deep within her body, stemming from the soul mark.
Pei Du sat cross-legged on the edge of the platform, his body, draped in dark gold veins, like a silent guardian statue. His molten-gold pupils stared intently at Xu Shuangyao's pale face, a rage icy enough to freeze the galaxies swirling in their depths, as well as a burning anxiety buried deep within the core of the End, one he himself hadn't noticed. One of his hands, adorned with dark gold veins, gently rested on Xu Shuangyao's slender wrist. A strand of the End's life energy, entwined between his fingertips like the strongest silk thread, carefully penetrated her body, attempting to heal the wounds torn from the turbulent spatial currents and the vicious shockwaves.
The thorns were branded on the backs of their hands where their skin touched, flickering with a faint light. Every time the light shone, it conveyed the tearing pain and unconscious spasms deep in Xu Shuangyao's soul. Every time the light dimmed, it was like a piece of Pei Du's heart was being ripped out.
"Star core energy is disordered... Micro-cracks are appearing in the soul imprint structure... Excessive consumption of the life essence..." Nearby, a plant-based thought node, led by the consciousness of an ancient war banyan tree and temporarily connected to the Thorn City medical network, emitted a low, solemn wave of information through its root platform. Several selected survivors, familiar with plant energy, stood at a distance with solemn expressions, not daring to make a sound, and could only sense Xu Shuangyao's dire condition through the faint signals transmitted through the plant veins.
Pei Du remained silent. His dark-gold-lined fingertips exerted a slight pressure, channeling the final life energy at a more steady and gentle rate. His molten-gold eyes reflected the faint golden flame between Xu Shuangyao's brows, like a candle in the wind. His mind replayed the thrilling scene before the spatial rift uncontrollably—her resolute gaze, her weak yet resolute growl, and the final spurt of pale-gold blood... and also, the cold fragment of thought that, like a ghost, had penetrated the depths of his consciousness at the moment the spatial turbulence vanished.
A cold metal cage... twisted light... inhuman agony... and a vague, distant, yet deeply hateful projection of coordinates! At the heart of the coordinates lies a constantly spinning, all-consuming... icy metal vortex of darkness—the "Cradle"!
This fragment of memory, like a poisoned icicle, pierced Pei Du's heart. It came from the utterly destroyed hunter, yet it pointed to a deeper, darker secret. Who was that being imprisoned deep within the "cradle," enduring inhuman torture? Why was her hatred so intense? These coordinates... were they a trap? Or... a distress signal?
Just as Pei Du's thoughts were stirred by these cold fragments of memory, the fingertips on Xu Shuangyao's wrist suddenly felt a violent spasm!
“Uh…ah!”
Xu Shuangyao, still unconscious, let out a suppressed groan of pain! Her body suddenly arched up, like a fish out of water, and then fell heavily back onto the platform! The golden flame mark between her eyebrows suddenly burst into an extremely brief, but extremely dazzling light, and then quickly dimmed, even fainter than before! Her lips instantly lost all their color, and a trace of light golden blood once again leaked from the corner of her mouth.
The thorn brand simultaneously sent a sharp, soul-wrenching pain through it! The pain wasn't caused by physical trauma, but rather... the feeling of the brand itself being forcibly invaded and eroded by some cold, chaotic force!
Pei Du's dark gold-lined hand suddenly tightened! His molten-gold pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints! He clearly saw a stream of extremely weak, yet even more pure and icy chaotic energy, the same source as the shockwave released by the stalker, flowing along the invisible connecting channel of the thorn mark. Like the most vicious parasite, it eroded from the depths of Xu Shuangyao's soul, which was on the verge of collapse! Its target was the End Star Core within his own chest!
The brand backfired! The vicious attack on the soul brand unleashed by the stalker before his death hadn't been completely eliminated! Like a maggot on the tarsal bone, it lurked at the core of Xu Shuangyao's deepest wound. At her weakest moment, it launched a fatal sneak attack along the soul channel of the thorn brand!
"Looking for death!" Molten gold flashed in Pei Du's eyes! A fury emanating from the deepest depths of the Eternal Star Core instantly ignited! He ceased channeling gentle life energy, and his palm, covered in dark gold veins, instantly erupted with the icy force of Eternal annihilation! This force didn't attack Xu Shuangyao, but instead transformed into countless dark, icy filaments of energy, like the most sophisticated net, instantly rushing back along the path of the thorn mark!
He wanted to completely annihilate the encroaching cold and chaotic energy flow, along with its source, within the channel of the thorn mark...!
boom--!!!
An invisible storm of energy collided with a bang within the channel connecting their souls! Icy final annihilation met icy chaotic erosion! The thorn mark instantly shone brightly like a branding iron, its scorching light piercing through the flesh of both men! Pei Du's body trembled violently, and veins popped on his arm, covered in dark gold patterns! Xu Shuangyao whimpered again, even more painfully, her body convulsing violently. The golden flame mark between her eyebrows flickered to its limit!
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