Chapter 57
That icy will, emanating from beyond this dimension, weighed heavily on every inch of space, every thought, like eternal, unmelting ice. Chen Mengzhou and Chu Li supported each other, each step akin to trekking through the sticky, frozen waters of time. Souls wailed, hearts protested, but only the instinct for survival and the faint sense of support from each other's arms drove them, bit by bit, toward the northwest.
Chu Li's condition was extremely poor, her consciousness on the verge of semi-coma most of the time, following Chen Mengzhou's movements solely on instinct. The "echoing" power within her seemed completely suppressed by the external will, plunging into a dead silence. This dead silence was even more unsettling, like the calm before the storm.
Chen Mengzhou's condition was slightly better, but only marginally. The abyss, its mental energy drained, still stared at her. The operation of her spatial abilities was incredibly sluggish, and every movement brought a sharp, needle-like pain. She could only rely on her most primitive physical strength and a vague memory of direction to mechanically advance.
The night passed slowly in endless torment.
When the disgusting blood-red dawn appeared on the horizon again, the omnipresent cold will weakened as abruptly as it had appeared.
It wasn't a disappearance, but rather a retreat of the tide, leaving behind a soaked, cold, and lifeless beach. The pressure dropped dramatically, but the shudder of being "watched" by a higher dimensional being remained etched deep within the soul.
The two men almost simultaneously lost strength and collapsed behind a relatively sheltered sand dune.
Chen Mengzhou coughed violently, her breath tinged with the smell of ice. She struggled to pull out the kettle and shook it; it was empty.
Chu Li curled up beside her, his body still burning hot, but his breathing was a little steadier, as if the withdrawal of that will had temporarily calmed the "echo" in her body.
"We... are still alive..." Chu Li's voice was so weak that it was almost inaudible, with a sense of confusion of surviving a disaster.
Chen Mengzhou didn't answer, but silently tore off the last bit of clean cloth and re-bandaged the ruptured wound on Chu Li's arm. Her eyes swept around. The Gobi Desert under the blood-red sunlight remained desolate, but the suffocating silence seemed to have faded a bit as the icy will receded.
However, the crisis has not been resolved.
The vanguard of the "Raiders" has arrived outside the "Wall," their will able to penetrate the barrier and exert influence. What will they do next time? Will they attempt to break through directly? Or...
Chen Mengzhou didn't dare to think too much. She only knew that she had to get to the "Ark" as soon as possible!
After resting for less than half an hour, she felt that she had regained some strength and pulled Chu Li up again.
"Walk."
Without any extra words, the two continued on their way.
As we continued northwest, the landscape began to shift dramatically. The Gobi's sandy gravel gradually gave way to a hard, dark red clay that seemed soaked in blood. Vast, bottomless chasms began to appear on the ground, their edges flickering with unstable arcs of energy. The air was thick with the scent of sulfur and ozone. The sky was no longer pure blood, but a strange, ever-shifting vortex of purple-red, as if connecting to another, even more violent dimension.
This is the edge of the "Forgotten Plateau," a veritable forbidden zone for life.
The environment became extremely harsh, the thin air carrying intense radiation and energy pollution, making every breath feel like swallowing shards of glass. The distorted gravity made walking extremely difficult, sometimes feeling as light as a feather, and other times as if carrying a heavy burden.
What's even more terrifying is that some completely incomprehensible abnormal phenomena began to appear here.
They once saw that the flow of time in an area was obviously abnormal, and a dead grass completed the entire process from sprouting to withering and then turning into ashes in just a few seconds; they also stepped into a space folding area, and they walked forward a hundred meters, but when they looked back, they found that they had only left the starting point less than ten meters; there was even one time when Chu Li was almost swallowed by a sudden and recurring reverberation of time and space that kept repeating a certain desperate fragment. Fortunately, Chen Mengzhou used space energy to pull her out in time.
This is a graveyard of rules and a turbulent area of time and space.
"The Ark"... could it really be in a place like this? Chen Mengzhou's heart sank bit by bit. The "Ark" described in his father's notes was more like a refuge, a place of hope, not such a desperate situation.
But the coordinates of the star map clearly point to the depths of this area.
There is no way out.
Relying on their tenacious will and Shen Mengzhou's spatial abilities, strained to the limit, they struggled through this chaotic death zone. Food and water had long since run out, and they could only survive by hunting the occasional, similarly mutated, radioactive creatures (their flesh and blood often carried a strong toxic and contaminated quality) and collecting the radioactive dew condensed in the cracks of the rocks.
Chu Li's condition fluctuated. On good days, she could barely walk on her own, and even use her perceptive sense of danger to forewarn of spatial traps. On bad days, she would fall into a high fever and delirium, babbling nonsense, her body twitching uncontrollably, as if engaged in a silent, brutal tug-of-war with the "echo" within her body.
Chen Mengzhou watched over her almost non-stop, all the while having to contend with the ever-present dangers of the environment. Her body wasted away at a visible rate, her eye sockets sunken, her lips cracked and bleeding, but her eyes still burned with a fire that refused to go out.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe one day, maybe three days.
When they climbed over a mountain made of dark red crystals that pointed like a sharp sword at the strange sky, the scene before them made the two people who had already been numb freeze in an instant.
Ahead, there is no longer endless chaos and silence.
It was a relatively flat oasis covered by a huge, translucent energy shield with countless data streams and energy runes flowing through it!
Inside the shield, one could see lush vegetation, clear streams, and even neat, simple yet advanced silver-white buildings dotted around! This contrasted beautifully with the hellish scene outside, creating a heaven-and-hell contrast.
The energy shield emits stable and powerful energy fluctuations, completely isolating the external radiation, pollution and chaotic rules!
And in the center of the oasis, on top of the most magnificent silver-white building that looks like a giant bird with spread wings, a huge, slowly rotating Kronos symbol is emitting a soft and firm light.
ark!
This is the Ark!
The last hope in my father's notes actually exists! And it's hidden deep in this forgotten plateau where the rules are broken!
The immense shock and ecstasy were like a torrent, instantly overcoming Shen Mengzhou's tense nerves. Her legs went limp, and she almost fell to her knees, her eyes moistening uncontrollably.
Found it… they finally found it!
Chu Li also stared blankly at the oasis. For the first time, a nearly pure, unadulterated glow of hope appeared on her pale face. The "echoes" within her body seemed to have completely subsided under the influence of this stable and powerful energy field.
However, the ecstasy lasted only a few seconds.
Chen Mengzhou's gaze suddenly fixed on the relatively flat red land surrounding the oasis outside the energy shield.
There is nothing there.
But... it is covered with traces of battle!
Charred craters, broken metal debris, large pools of blood that had long since dried and turned black, and even some corpses wearing different types of armor!
There were the black combat uniforms of the "Scavengers," and another type of gray-blue uniform with an eagle logo that I had never seen before (a direct subordinate unit of the "Overseers"?). Clearly, a fierce battle had just taken place here not long ago!
The Ark...is not completely safe! It has been exposed and attacked!
Chen Mengzhou's heart instantly jumped into his throat! Where were the people inside the Ark? Were they safe?
She forced herself to calm down and observe carefully. The energy shield remained intact, and the buildings within showed no obvious signs of damage. It seemed the defense system had successfully withstood the attack. However, the devastating scene outside the shield showed that the attackers were not to be underestimated, and... they might come back again!
We must enter the Ark as soon as possible!
She pulled Chu Li up and carefully slid down from the back of the mountain. With the help of the terrain, she quickly approached the edge of the energy shield.
The closer you get, the more you can sense the immense energy contained within the shield. It's not purely defensive, but more like a living, intelligent system constantly performing complex calculations.
About a hundred meters from the shield, Shen Mengzhou stopped. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction she would get if she approached too close.
She took out the "Key of Time" compass again.
This time, when she injected a trace of weak spatial energy into it, the compass actually lit up again with a soft light that faintly resonated with her own energy and the energy frequency of the shield in front!
The pointer no longer spun wildly, but pointed steadily... towards the shield ahead!
Almost at the same time as the compass reacted—
A soft beam of light shot out from the shield, covering both of them precisely.
A gentle female voice, with a hint of electronic synthesis, but with a little more life than the 'Overseer's' cold will, rang out in their minds:
[——Detected the authority of the "Key of Time" and the associated gene sequence——]
[——Identity confirmed: Chen Mengzhou (authority successor), Chu Li (special visitor)——]
【——Welcome to, 'Noah's Ark'——】
[——Energy shield partially activated——Please enter quickly——]
As the words fell, the solid energy shield in front of them rippled like water, creating a circular entrance that was only wide enough for two people to pass through.
After entering, there is fresh, warm air with the fragrance of plants, which seems like two different worlds compared to the dirty and deadly environment outside.
Chen Mengzhou and Chu Li looked at each other and saw excitement, nervousness, and a hint of trance from finally reaching the destination in each other's eyes.
Without hesitation, the two stepped into the entrance.
After they entered, the energy entrance closed instantly, completely isolating them from the danger and despair of the outside world.
There was soft green grass under my feet, the chirping of birds and the gurgling of the stream filled my ears, and the sunlight (which seemed simulated) filtered through the shield, casting a warm glow.
They succeeded. They reached the Ark.
However, Shen Mengzhou did not relax at all.
The traces of battle outside the shield were like a haze, covering this paradise.
Inside the Ark, will they be greeted by the long-awaited help and answers, or... new unknowns and challenges?
She clutched her father's research notes and the revitalized "Key of Time," and looked firmly at the tallest building in the center of the oasis.
The answer is right there.
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