Chapter 56
The blood-red sunset, like the thick blood of a dying beast, drenched the entire "Corridor of Bones" in a mournful atmosphere. Chen Mengzhou, carrying the nearly unconscious Chu Li on his back, sank deeply into the soft sand with every step, his lungs straining against the scorching, thin Gobi air like a broken bellows. The chaotic clamor behind him was blurred by distance. Only the residual energy ripples from Adrian's "guided beacon" still lashed the deadly land like an invisible whip, inviting more unpredictable dangers.
Chu Li lay on her back, his body scalding, his consciousness hazy, and he uttered intermittent, muffled murmurs. Occasionally, his body would twitch uncontrollably, and cold sweat seeped from his fingertips. Chen Mengzhou could clearly feel that the power of "echo" within her body was resonating dangerously with the remaining beacon energy in the outside world, like a boiling oil pan, ready to explode again at any moment.
We must leave the beacon's range as soon as possible!
She forced herself to ignore her lungs that were about to explode and her muscles that were aching, and used her remaining spatial ability to strengthen her legs. Her speed increased again, and she desperately shuttled between the rugged rocks and deep fissures in the ground.
Night finally fell. The Gobi Desert night was bitterly cold, a hellish contrast to the scorching heat of the day. Without the scorching sun, the dead silence emanating from the depths of the earth, a mixture of radiation and despair, became even more intense.
After Chen Mengzhou found a natural barrier in the leeward area formed by several huge shales, he finally exhausted all his strength and carefully put Chu Li down.
Chu Li's forehead was still terribly hot when he touched it. Chen Mengzhou squeezed out the last bit of water, moistened the cloth, and applied it to her forehead. He then checked the wounds on her arms and legs that were bleeding again due to the bumps.
After she finished, she collapsed onto the cold rock, panting heavily, feeling as if every bone in her body was about to fall apart. The emptiness brought on by her drained mental strength was like a black hole, constantly devouring her will. She pulled her father's research notebook from her pocket and, in the dim light, stroked the familiar handwriting on the cover.
"Dad... where are you? Can the 'Ark'... really save us?" She asked silently in her heart, and cold despair quietly wrapped around her heart like a vine.
At this moment, Chu Li beside him let out an extremely painful groan and suddenly opened his eyes!
The glass-like eyes were no longer filled with the previous confusion or weakness, but were filled with extreme fear and struggle! She grabbed Chen Mengzhou's arm tightly, her nails almost digging into her flesh, and her voice was hoarse and broken:
“…The wall…the wall is about to break!!”
“…They…are coming! So many…so many!!”
"...It wasn't me! I didn't attract them! It was the beacon! It was those lunatics!!"
“…Run! Run! Run!!!”
She spoke incoherently and her eyes were vacant, as if she were witnessing some approaching, unspeakable horror.
Chen Mengzhou's heart sank, and he held her cold and trembling hand with his backhand: "Chu Li! Wake up! What did you see?!"
"...'Patrol'...vanguard..." Chu Li's pupils shrank into needle points, and his body trembled like a sieve. "...I 'heard'...their 'footsteps'...outside the wall...very close...very close..."
"...and...'Keystone'...they are...calling for the 'Keystone'..."
Patrol Vanguard! Cornerstone!
Chen Mengzhou's scalp exploded instantly! What Adrian's soldiers said was true! The "Patroller" had really been triggered! And it was so close!
And the "cornerstone"...is it calling for an "anchor" like her, to perform the ultimate sacrifice, to become a "landmark"?
The strong sense of crisis was like ice water poured over her head, instantly dispelling all her fatigue and despair!
We can't stay here! We have to leave now!
She stood up suddenly and tried to carry Chu Li on her back again.
However, Chu Li suddenly pushed her away, staggered back a few steps, and leaned his back against the cold shale. His eyes were sometimes confused, sometimes clear, filled with painful self-blame and fear.
"...Leave me alone..." Her voice trembled and she cried, "...I can't control...'it'...I will attract...something more terrifying...I will kill you..."
"Don't talk nonsense!" Chen Mengzhou interrupted her harshly and took a step forward to grab her.
Just when her fingers were about to touch Chu Li——
Buzz——!!!
An indescribable will, as if coming from the vast universe and extremely cold, suddenly swept across the entire Gobi Desert like an invisible tsunami!
This will was not directed against the □□, but directly crushed the soul! With a pure, condescending disregard and scrutiny of lower-dimensional life!
Plop!
Chen Mengzhou and Chu Li fell to their knees almost simultaneously, clutching their heads tightly in their hands. They felt their consciousness like a candle in a gust of wind, about to be completely extinguished in the next second! It was even more terrifying and despairing than the mental storm they had encountered at the "Weeping Wall"!
This... is the aura of the "Patron"?! A mere vanguard, a mere trace of will emanating through the "wall," yet is it so terrifying?!
"...Here it comes..." Chu Li curled up on the ground, his body curled up into a ball, making a weak, dream-like sound, his eyes filled with complete despair, giving up the struggle.
Chen Mengzhou gritted his teeth, his gums even bleeding, and used all his willpower to resist this terrifying spiritual pressure! His spatial ability operated autonomously to its fullest, forming a thin layer of defense around him that was constantly twisting, shattering, and barely reassembling!
Don't give up! Absolutely not!
She suddenly raised her head, and her bloodshot eyes looked towards the northwest - that was where the "Ark" was, and it was also the direction her father had last pointed her in!
That is their only way to survive!
She struggled, little by little, as if carrying a mountain on her back, and crawled towards Chu Li.
Every inch I moved, I felt like my soul was being crushed by that cold will.
Finally, she grabbed Chu Li's cold hand.
"Get up..." Her voice was as hoarse as sandpaper, but it carried an unquestionable strength, "... Let's... go together..."
Chu Li stared at her blankly, looking at the fire in her eyes that never went out even in the extreme despair. Tears mixed with the dust on her face and slid down silently.
Finally, she trembled and, with the help of Chen Mengzhou's strength, stood up little by little.
The two of them supported each other, like two travelers stumbling forward in a snowstorm, and under the ubiquitous, icy pressure of the soul, they took difficult steps, one step at a time, towards the northwest.
They didn't know how far away the "Ark" was, whether they could arrive before the "Patrollers" actually broke through the "Wall", or even whether the "Ark" really existed.
They only know that if they stop, they will die.
Move forward, perhaps there is still a tiny glimmer of hope, like a candle in the wind.
The night is dark and the Gobi Desert is endless.
Two tiny figures snuggled together, under the oppression of the vast starry sky (behind the starry sky, are there also the cold eyes of the "Hunter"?) and the terrifying will, stubbornly and arduously moved step by step towards an unknown destiny.
It was like two insignificant ants trying to fight against the whole world.
But ants also have the will to survive.
And this will, at certain moments, may... be able to shake the mountains.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
