Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Without hesitation, dense particle beams poured down like a rainstorm into the darkness below! The blazing white light instantly tore through the darkness of the passage, illuminating the deeper and more complex metal structure below!
However, the beam of light shot into the darkness, like a drop in the ocean, without causing any waves, explosions, or echoes. Only the heavy, slow, "boom...boom...boom..." heartbeat sound, like a Titan awakening, still came steadily and unstoppably, as if mocking these mechanical scavengers.
Chance!
Pei Du's consciousness, frozen by despair and emptiness, was pierced by this sudden change and the heavy beating of his heart! The fragment of Xu Shuangyao's thought before it dissipated - "The key... is... in... your... heartbeat..." - exploded again like thunder in the darkness!
A heartbeat? The heartbeat of the Ark's core? Or...his own heartbeat?
Survive! Enter the core! This thought, like the last spark, stubbornly ignited on the boundless icy plain of despair!
The turbulent dark red energy within his body, the law structure on the verge of collapse, the dormant cold will, and the nihilistic pain brought by the completely dissipated crimson...all of this still existed, still tearing at him. But at this moment, the heavy and ancient "heartbeat" coming from the depths of the passage was like a beacon in the darkness, like the last straw for a drowning man!
Escape! Down! Into the source of that heartbeat!
"Ugh...Ah!" Pei Du used his alloy claws to dig into the cracks in the wall. The metal joints soaked with life-sustaining fluid made a harsh friction sound as he forced his body back up! His remaining left leg erupted with strength beyond its limit. Ignoring the alarm of the damaged transmission unit and the excruciating pain of the torn nerve connection, he slammed the ground hard!
Bang!
His heavy body shot like an arrow from a bow (albeit a heavy and broken arrow), dashing desperately towards the deeper darkness below the passage, briefly illuminated by the scavenger beams... He no longer cared about the chaos in his body, nor about the scavengers behind him (which were frantically pouring fire downwards). All his will was concentrated on one point - rush down! Rush into the place where the heartbeat came from!
The scavenger immediately noticed his movements!
[Pollution source... move...! ]
[Threat level... restored...! ]
[Divide the troops...intercept...!]
A cold command resounded! The two relatively intact Scavengers instantly turned their guns, their dark blue compound eyes once again locking onto Pei Du's sprinting figure! Blazing white light converged at the muzzles!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two deadly particle beams tore through the air and shot towards Pei Du's back!
【Fatal attack...Lock on...!】
[Avoidance…possibility…0%…!]
The cold alarm is like a death knell!
Pei Du could even feel the scorching breath of death coming from behind! He twisted his body violently, trying to resist with the thick armor on his back! But his movements seemed extremely clumsy under the heavy body and severe pain!
At this critical moment!
Boom——!!!!
Down below the passage, the heavy heartbeat suddenly rose in volume! It was like a beast that had been suppressed for billions of years letting out a dull roar!
Buzz——!!!
An invisible, suffocatingly powerful gravitational field erupted from the bottom of the passage without any warning! Like a huge invisible vortex!
The two beams of incandescent white particles that were aimed at Pei Du were grasped and twisted by an invisible giant hand less than half a meter from his back. The beams' trajectories suddenly took a strange deflection and shot fiercely into the metal wall on one side of the passage, melting through it and creating two huge holes!
Pei Du's sprinting body was also suddenly pulled forward by this sudden gravitational force! His speed suddenly increased! It was as if he was being sucked into the throat of a giant beast!
At the same time, the two Scavengers attempting to intercept, and the fire they poured into the darkness below, were instantly disrupted and pulled by this powerful gravitational field! Their mechanical limbs scraped against the metal ground, creating dazzling sparks. Struggling to resist the pull of gravity, the beams from their muzzles became chaotic and scattered!
Chaos! The explosion of the gravitational field completely disrupted the scavengers' position!
Pei Du, driven by this gravity, hurtled towards the darkness below like a cannonball! The end of the passage ahead loomed large: the entrance to an immense, vertically extending metal shaft! Deep within the shaft, it was pitch black, but the heavy, slow, pulsating sound of a heartbeat, like the pulsation of a metallic planet, "boom...boom...boom...", emanated from this bottomless abyss! The sound was like a tangible shockwave, shaking his body and soul!
At the edge of the shaft, a massive metal guardrail fracture remained, as if torn apart by some terrifying force. The depths were bottomless, with only a powerful air current carrying a strong smell of rusted metal and a faint aura of energy swirling upward from the abyss!
A way to survival? Or the entrance to an even more terrifying hell?
There was no choice! Behind him was the Scavengers' re-adjusted and even more violent firepower, and above him was a dead end blocked by the black tide of entropy!
Pei Du rushed to the edge of the shaft, his heavy body not stopping at all. Under the pull of gravity and his own resolute momentum, he jumped towards the bottomless abyss that was pitch black and echoed with heavy heartbeats...!
The heavy steel body was instantly swallowed by the darkness of the abyss! Powerful updrafts blew against the armor, making a whimpering sound. The body rolled and fell without control. The helmet's field of view was only a swirling darkness and the crimson alarm that flashed wildly, indicating free fall and the impending explosion of the energy core!
[Free fall... accelerating...! ]
[Unknown altitude… Impact risk… 100%…!]
[Energy core... critical overload...! ]
[Unknown will...activity...increased...! ]
The cold reminder was accompanied by a feeling of weightlessness and an even more violent storm of conflict within the body!
Falling! Endlessly falling! Through the cold, dark air filled with metal dust! The heavy heartbeat grew closer and louder, like a huge war drum beating in my ears! Each "boom" seemed to strike directly at my soul, making the cold ancient will within me whisper more clearly and greedily:
[Source... Approaching...]
Power...becomes...entropy...
Below, in the endless dark abyss, an extremely faint yet unusually clear dark golden light, like the slowly opening pupil of a sleeping giant beast, grew bigger and brighter in Pei Du's rapidly falling vision!
The source of that light seemed to be the center of the heartbeat!
The key...the heartbeat...is right there!
Pei Du struggled to adjust his posture as he tumbled and fell, his alloy claws instinctively opening, pointing towards the approaching dark golden light source! His remaining will burned to its fullest amidst the multiple storms!
And in the deepest part of his shattered core, in the cold nothingness left by the dissipation of the crimson, a faint but incomparably clear imprint of Xu Shuangyao's last remaining thoughts, as if drawn by the dark golden heartbeat below, flickered extremely faintly... like a final guidance before farewell.
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