Pei Du and Xu Shuangyao rushed out of the space node, but fell into a strange space full of glowing plants.
The plants here could actually sense the star core blood in his body and even actively entangled with him to show their goodwill.
A resistance organization calling itself "Branches of Life" captured them, and its leader Qingman threatened Pei Du's cooperation with Xu Shuangyao's life.
"The Cradle once conducted forbidden experiments here, contaminating plants with the blood of the star core, giving birth to monsters like us."
"And your blood is the source."
Pei Du was forced to accept the deal, but the power in his body resonated with the core of the mother tree.
Qing Man was shocked: "The Mother Tree is calling you... Are you the 'Son of Thorns' that 'He' prophesied?"
Pei Du ascended the thorn-wrapped throne, and as his power surged—
A light golden liquid suddenly oozed out of Xu Shuangyao's wound, and strange lines appeared on her skin.
Qing Man raised the muzzle of his gun suddenly: "Star core pollution... She is turning into a Zero!"
Safe for now.
As soon as those two words flashed through Pei Du's icy core of thought, they were completely shredded by the suddenly expanding emerald green light at the end of the spatial tunnel. That light wasn't the stable form expected of an exit; it resembled the center of a raging vortex, its edges twisting and ripping, emitting a frantic aura of spatial turbulence, like the greedy maw of a cosmic beast. The icy, piercing spatial turbulence instantly transformed into countless invisible blades, piercing through the dark gold patterns covering Pei Du and piercing deep into his alloy-hardened bones with a teeth-grinding scraping sound. Xu Shuangyao, in his arms, let out a faint, almost inaudible groan. Even in his deep coma, his body's instincts resisted the terrifying tearing force that could tear a mortal into elementary particles.
"Hold on tight!" Pei Du's molten-gold pupils suddenly contracted, compressing the last bit of controllable energy into a force field shield that clung to his body without reservation, tightly wrapping Xu Shuangyao and himself. The body of the End Star Core, which even the Zeroer's annihilation beam had failed to completely destroy, now felt a clear, trembling tremor on the verge of disintegration at the end of this violent space tunnel. Every inch of skin, every dark-gold line, was wailing under the heavy burden. He lowered his head, his gaze passing over Xu Shuangyao's pale cheeks. Her eyes, which always contained stubbornness and vitality, were tightly closed, and her long eyelashes trembled helplessly in the violent spatial vibrations. A trace of dark red blood, like a serpentine venomous snake, slowly seeped from the corner of her mouth, and was instantly evaporated by the violent spatial energy.
No more hesitation!
Pei Du's head shot up, a fire of desperate determination burning in his molten-gold eyes. He clutched the sole weight in his arms, his body, covered in dark gold patterns, twisting forcefully in the turbulent flow of space. Like a piece of stubborn iron thrown into a furnace, he charged recklessly towards the single "life gate," emitting an unstable emerald green light!
His vision was completely flooded by a suffocating, sticky green. It was not light, but more like some kind of tangible life slurry, with a unique plant-specific, sweet and almost rotten smell, which violently poured into his senses. The pain of space tearing reached its peak, as if the entire existence was about to be washed away and disintegrated by this green torrent. Then came weightlessness. The absolute feeling of weightlessness, as if falling into a bottomless abyss, suddenly grabbed him. All sense of direction collapsed in an instant, and the concept of time was infinitely stretched and compressed. Only the weak heartbeat of Xu Shuangyao in his arms, a faint pulse transmitted through the cold and hard chest, became the only real anchor in this chaotic fall.
Falling, falling continuously. A viscous green halo spun and pulled wildly before his eyes, forming countless twisted, grotesque plant phantoms that emitted a silent scream. Pei Du felt like a stubborn stone cast into green amber, enveloped not by space but by some... living, malevolent substance. He tried to mobilize the power of the star-core blood, but the drop of cold blood hidden in the deepest part of his consciousness only sent a faint throbbing sound, like a sleeping beast disturbed from its rest. With a hint of irritation at having its deep connection interrupted, it then sank into a deeper silence, refusing to respond to his call at this moment.
He could only cling to Xu Shuangyao, instinctively curling up to minimize the area exposed to the impact. The dark gold lines covering his arms, illuminated by the viscous green light, shone with a mysterious and silent luster, like congealed blood on an ancient altar.
Bang!
A deep, dull thud, followed by countless tiny, crisp "cracks," signaled the end of the fall. The immense force of the impact sent a wave of dizziness and shock through Pei Du's incredibly sturdy frame, as if a heavy hammer had struck him hard. From beneath him came an extremely strange sensation—not solid rock or soft earth, but a strangely resilient yet fragile texture. Like a thick, water-soaked layer of moss, or a vast web entangled by countless dry vines, it cushioned the impact while also emitting a groaning, shattering sound under the weight.
The sticky emerald green light didn't disappear, but simply became slightly thinner and more stable. Pei Du shook his head, which was buzzing with shock. His molten golden pupils instantly focused, sharp as a knife, scanning this unfamiliar and desperate place.
The sky—if it could still be called a sky—was a murky, slowly flowing dark green halo, like the pus stagnating within a giant organism, obscuring any trace of stars or light sources. It cast downward only the sole source of light in this space: an omnipresent, unsettling green. This light seemed to possess weight, weighing heavily on the retina.
He was in the midst of an immense "forest." But this forest wasn't made up of ordinary trees. As far as the eye could see, countless twisting, swirling vines, as thick as the spines of ancient dragons, covered in thick, shimmering moss and layers of strange fungi. These vines tangled and twisted, supporting the murky green "sky" above and piercing deep into a "ground" of thick, constantly wriggling dark green moss and decaying leaves. The air was thick with the indissoluble sweet smell of decay, a mixture of earthy odor and something... indescribable, a faint odor like the slight decay of living tissue. Absolute silence reigned, broken only by the subtle rustling of the moss beneath his feet as it slowly shifted, amplifying the vastness and eeriness of this vast space.
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