Chapter 28
The morning light was stingy and cold, filtering through the narrow gaps between the towering buildings in City C and splashing coldly onto the smooth floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel room.
Lin Yao stood in this thin halo, his body so thin that it seemed as if he would be swallowed up by this turbid city in the next second.
The silver hair falls on the side of the neck, reflecting an almost inhuman cold luster.
Those deep blue eyes reflected the gray dome outside the window and the crowds of people surging like ants below, but deep inside was a void that froze to the bone marrow.
From the messy bed behind him came a vague mumbling, hoarse with a hangover.
"Yaoyao..."
Qin Feng turned over, his thick eyelashes trembling a few times, as if he was still struggling in some warm quagmire.
The tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and an almost silly smile, tinged with sleepiness, spread across the angular face.
He probably dreamed of the candlelight dinner last night again, and dreamed of Lin Yao's drooping eyelashes and slightly flushed cheeks under the swaying candlelight, and the almost inaudible voice of "Master Qin Feng".
Sweet embers burned in his dreams.
Lin Yao didn't turn around. The windowpane vaguely reflected the bulging figure on the bed behind him, but his eyes were filled with the words on those cold documents he had read when he had infiltrated the Purifier base the previous night.
Number 01, codename GOD, perfect carrier, Ark Project... and the eye of the storm hanging over his head, about to start.
A tool? A container? Or... a manufactured god?
ridiculous.
His fingertips lightly brushed against the cold glass, leaving a fleeting white mark. Whatever it was, he just needed strength.
A force that is powerful enough to crush all established trajectories and uproot the so-called truth.
Void Star Marrow, this name was like a barbed hook, firmly nailed deep into his consciousness.
That was the heart of the deepest part of the Abyss Corridor dungeon, and it was the only bargaining chip he could grasp to turn the tables.
As for the storm brewing in City A? Let them come.
He would make that storm their grave.
There was a rustling sound of fabric rubbing against each other behind him, followed by Qin Feng's nasal voice, trying to wake up: "Yaoyao? It's so early... Aren't you cold standing there?"
Footsteps approached, and with the clumsiness and cautious concern of someone who had just woken up, a coat that still had body temperature was tentatively draped over Lin Yao's thin shoulders.
Lin Yao's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment, then relaxed.
He tilted his head slightly, and the morning light outlined the delicate and fragile profile of his face. The corners of his lips were raised in a perfect arc, gentle and dependent, enough to soothe any doubts.
"It's not cold, Master Qin Feng."
His voice was soft, with a hint of morning hoarseness, "Just thinking... today's copy."
He naturally pulled the coat on his shoulders, which was warm from Qin Feng's body temperature, closer, and his fingertips inadvertently brushed against the back of his hand.
Qin Feng's breathing visibly stagnated, and a barely perceptible red quickly spread across his ears. The remaining drunkenness and early morning confusion were easily dispelled by this touch, leaving only a full, unadulterated desire to protect him.
"Don't worry," he lowered his voice, with an awkward but firm promise, "I'm here."
Lin Yao lowered his eyelashes, and his long silver-gray eyelashes cast a small shadow under his eyes, covering the frozen blue sea.
He uttered a soft "hmm" and fell to the ground like a feather.
Qin Feng's heartbeat, transmitted through the thin fabric, was rapid and powerful, as loyal as a tamed fierce dog.
It’s really... simple and easy to use.
Lin Yao thought indifferently, letting the other party's hot sincerity wrap around his cold body.
…
The entrance to the Abyssal Corridor instance is not a magnificent palace or a deep underground cave as imagined. It is more like a huge scar tearing through the abandoned industrial area on the edge of City C.
The space was twisted, presenting an ominous dark purple halo as if it had been burned. Tiny black electric snakes kept emerging and disappearing from the edge, making a crackling sound that made one's teeth ache.
The air was filled with a mixture of rust, ozone, and some indescribable smell of decay, which weighed heavily on everyone's chest.
The exploration teams from the four cities occupied the open space outside the entrance in distinct zones, carefully maintaining distance from each other beyond the security cordon. The atmosphere was as tense as a fully drawn bowstring, and every casual eye contact brought silent sparks.
The people in City A were the best equipped, their uniform silver-gray combat uniforms glowing with a cold, hard metallic luster in the dim light.
There were not many of them, but all of them had a solemn aura and eyes as sharp as hawks. The leader, a tall and thin man, was using an energy detector to repeatedly scan the distorted halo of the entrance. He had a frown on his face and ignored the teams from other cities around him, revealing a condescending indifference.
The team from City C was the largest and the noisiest. Some were cursing the damned weather under their breath, while others were nervously checking their rudimentary armor and weapons, the clanking of metal clashing against metal echoing loudly.
A young woman was pale, her fingers nervously twisting the corners of her clothes, her eyes wandering, obviously filled with fear of the abyss she was about to step into.
A bearded man beside her patted her roughly, "Don't be afraid of anything! You won't die! The important thing is to get the crystal core!"
Having said that, the way he swallowed revealed the same uneasiness.
The people in City D wore dark blue uniforms and were as silent as a group of rocks.
They carried an lingering air of fatigue and gloom, as if they had just crawled out of another purgatory.
The leader was a stern-faced middle-aged woman with a deep scar at the corner of her eye.
Her gaze was like a cold probe, slowly sweeping over every team present with undisguised scrutiny and evaluation.
When her eyes swept over the City B team, Lin Yao was slightly sideways, using Qin Feng's tall body to block him, and took a half step back without leaving a trace, burying himself deeper in the shadow behind Qin Feng.
He lowered his eyes, his silver hair falling down, covering half of his face, leaving only a delicate jaw and tightly pursed, slightly pale lips.
That cold and sharp gaze lingered on him for a brief moment, probing.
Lin Yao's breathing did not change at all, but his fingertips curled slightly in his sleeves.
City D…especially the area where Lu Cheng might be, was a source of trouble he had to avoid. The gaze finally shifted, turning towards City A.
Qin Feng subconsciously took a half step forward, blocking Lin Yao more tightly, his broad shoulders like a silent barrier.
He felt the oppressive gaze of the D City leader, and also noticed Lin Yao's momentary retreat, and a strong desire to protect him surged in his heart.
"It's okay." Lin Yao's voice was soft, so only Qin Feng could hear it. It carried a perfectly balanced sense of vulnerability, a sense of being disturbed. He gently tugged at Qin Feng's sleeve.
Qin Feng's tense muscles finally relaxed and he whispered, "Well, follow me closely."
He gripped the hilt of the space blade tightly in his hand, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, like a beast entering hunting mode.
The tension in the air and the greedy desire for resources almost solidified into reality.
Every breath felt like inhaling invisible dust, so heavy that it was suffocating.
Suspicion and hostility permeated the air between the teams from each city, yet they were forced to maintain a seemingly fragile united stance due to the huge unknown dangers within the entrance.
There was no conversation, only the sound of suppressed breathing, the friction of equipment, and the continuous, heart-pounding hissing sound of space distortion at the entrance.
Suddenly, the dark purple halo of distorted light at the entrance collapsed inwards, forming a swirling, bottomless dark vortex. A powerful and chaotic suction force suddenly erupted!
"The entrance is stable! Enter!"
Someone shouted loudly, and the taut string broke instantly.
The four teams moved almost simultaneously like a pack of startled wolves, each with their own goals and fears, rushing towards the unknown dark abyss.
The chaotic sound of footsteps, low roars, and the hum of energy weapons activating instantly broke the silence, merging into a violent torrent, rushing towards the huge mouth that seemed to be able to swallow everything.
Led by Qin Feng, the B City team rushed in without hesitation. The intense dizziness brought on by the spatial transformation instantly gripped everyone.
…
dark.
Pure, thick darkness that seems to absorb all light.
It pressed in from all sides, enveloping every intruder. The air was cold and stagnant, carrying a stale, strange smell, similar to a mixture of rusted metal and the deep cavity of some giant creature.
The ground under my feet was not solid, but a strange, slightly elastic substance that made a dull, puffing sound like stepping on leather.
As far as the eye could see, only pitiful spots of light emitted by energy weapons or special lighting devices, most of which were greedily devoured by the darkness, could barely outline some twisted and grotesque contours nearby - that was a huge, winding wall, as if formed by the fusion of countless huge pipes or biological cavities, the surface covered with slippery and sticky moss that glowed with a dark phosphorescence.
The passage was like the intestines of a giant beast, extending, branching, and entangled in an irregular manner into the endless darkness.
This is the Abyssal Corridor - a living, malicious maze.
"Keep formation! Energy shields at full strength! Perception types, please be warned!"
Qin Feng's voice sounded somewhat muffled in the narrow and strange passage, and carried an unquestionable tone of command.
The members of City B quickly contracted their formation, and a light blue energy shield lit up on each person, barely illuminating a few meters around them.
In the dim light, one could see tension and vigilance written all over the faces, young or not so young. Every time a creepy rustling or low roar came from deep in the passage ahead, the knuckles of their fingers gripping their weapons turned white.
Lin Yao walked quietly in the middle of the group, following closely behind Qin Feng. He lacked any energy shielding, and in the dim light of the group, his figure appeared exceptionally frail and fragile, as if the darkness itself could easily tear him apart.
Only in the depths of those lowered blue eyes, the cold rationality was operating silently like a sophisticated scanning machine.
He didn't need vision. The invisible threads of his mind had already spread silently, like a stone dropped into still water, creating ripples that only he could perceive, capturing every faint emotion in the darkness—the greed, hunger, brutality of the tainted beasts, and their hidden locations.
Suddenly, Lin Yao's footsteps paused, almost imperceptibly. He tilted his head slightly, his slender eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly, as if inadvertently startled by a subtle sound. This movement sent ripples through the tense group like a stone dropped into the air.
"Left front...at the intersection of the passages...in the shadows...three..." His voice was soft, with a barely perceptible tremor, like the warning of a frightened little animal. "They're...very agitated...about to pounce...they're...afraid of bright light...their left eye is their weak spot..."
Before he finished speaking!
"Hiss—Gah!"
A piercing scream tore through the darkness! Three massive shadows, a cross between a skinned lizard and a giant bat, swooped out from the shadows of the left passage, accompanied by a foul wind. Their twisted mouthparts opened, revealing sharp teeth. Their speed was so fast that only a blurry afterimage remained on the retina. Their target was a young member of the team's flank who was slow to react.
"careful!"
Qin Feng shouted, his pupils shrinking suddenly.
Almost as soon as Lin Yao finished speaking, the spatial blade in his hand transformed into a streak of silver light. Without a moment's hesitation, without a single ounce of wasted energy, it was executed with such precision that it felt like it had been practiced a thousand times.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Three silver beams pierced the left eyes of the three polluted beasts with incredible precision. The force of space-slicing erupted instantly, and amidst shrill, distorted howls, the three massive monsters twitched violently in mid-air like punctured balloons, twisting and exploding.
Sticky, smelly liquid and broken tissues splattered everywhere, but most of it was blocked by the energy shield, making a sizzling sound of corrosion.
The whole process happened in a flash.
Dead silence.
Only the dull thud of the monster's remains falling to the ground and the crackling sound of the energy shield being corroded echoed.
The players from City B maintained a defensive posture, their faces still showing paleness of shock and disbelief.
Too fast! Captain Qin's reaction was faster than they could imagine! His strikes were so precise and accurate, it was as if he had foreseen the monster's attack path and critical points!
After a brief moment of dead silence, there was a violent gasp from the survivor, followed by an uncontrollable low cry of excitement.
"Oh my god...Captain Qin is amazing!"
"It's Lin Yao! He sensed it in advance."
"Yes! Thanks to Lin Yao! Weakness! It's a weak point attack!"
"Lin Yao is simply our lucky star!"
Gazes of gratitude, relief, and even a touch of admiration focused on Lin Yao. The young man standing behind Qin Feng, his face still pale and his figure so frail that it looked as if a gust of wind could blow him over, was now seen by them as a lucky charm.
The precise warning and weakness hint just now undoubtedly saved their lives.
Qin Feng retracted the spatial blade, his chest rising and falling slightly. He turned to look at Lin Yao, his eyes filled with undisguised concern and fear, mixed with a complex mix of pride. "Yaoyao, how are you? Are you scared?"
He asked in a low voice, his voice so gentle that he didn't even realize it.
Lin Yao shook his head slightly, his silver hair swaying slightly with the movement.
He raised his eyes to look at Qin Feng, his long eyelashes trembling, and the corners of his mouth barely curled up into a subtle, soothing arc. "I'm fine, Master Qin Feng. Their emotions... fluctuate greatly, so... they're easier to detect."
His voice was still very light, with a hint of weakness from exhaustion, perfectly playing the role of a perceiver who had exhausted his mental energy.
Fragile, harmless, yet indispensable. A perfect disguise.
Qin Feng's heart warmed, a strong desire to protect and a sense of responsibility surged. He nodded solemnly: "Follow me closely, don't leave my sight."
He once again protected Lin Yao behind him, as if he was his only treasure.
The team continued to struggle forward in the dark and strange maze. Lin Yao's warnings and weakness detection appeared several times at the right time.
Each time, he accurately allowed the team to avoid the most deadly attacks, allowing Qin Feng to kill the polluted beasts that blocked the road with the lowest cost and the most accurate method.
After each successful kill, the energy crystal cores that shone with different colors and were extracted from the polluted beast's body were collected, and the joy and excitement in the team accumulated a point.
Their gratitude and reliance on Lin Yao also quietly deepened. They were immersed in the excitement of acquiring resources and continuously moving forward, and their tense nerves unconsciously relaxed a little in the continuous good fortune.
No one noticed that the fragile boy, whom they regarded as a lucky star, was looking at an almost imperceptible fork in the passage with extremely weak energy flow in his lowered blue eyes.
His spiritual threads had already penetrated the thick darkness and twisted spatial structure, clearly outlining the veins of the entire huge maze.
An absolutely safe shortcut leading to the core, avoiding all large contaminated beast nests, was imprinted in his consciousness like the clearest navigation map.
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