The torrential rain pounded against the broken wall, and the splashing water mixed with blood droplets, causing a sharp, stinging pain on the wound on the back of Lin Yi's hand.
He crouched, his knees pressed into the rubble, his gaze sweeping over his fallen companions—blood dripping from Ivan's forehead down his chin into his collar, Xuanmingzi coughing against the broken wall, blood seeping from between his fingers, and Long Wu's crimson armor cracked with three deep gashes, like cloth torn by a giant claw.
The bronze bell was burning hot in his palm, and the newly engraved words "The Most Trusted Person" gleamed faintly in the rain, like a fine needle pricking his nerves.
The last laughter of the mother hive still echoed in our ears, the final words "bloom from your hearts" were shattered by lightning, but froze in everyone's pupils.
"Why would it say that?" Xuanmingzi suddenly asked, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping against a stone slab.
He clutched his chest, his knuckles turning white from the force, "An existence of the Mother Nest's level wouldn't spout meaningless nonsense."
"The person we trusted most"...did it plant a seed among us before it left?
A streak of blue light flashed through the rain.
Chu Yao's projection rose from between Long Wu's brows, the data streams hanging from her hair condensing into a pale purple mist in the rain: "Scanning vital signs and residual energy." Her voice was colder than usual, and green analytical code flickered in her pupils: "All members' spiritual seas, consciousness seas, intercellular spaces..."
"Wait." Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze, and the data stream at the tip of her hair abruptly contracted into a ball of light. "Anomaly detected."
Everyone held their breath.
Long Wu's dragon flames shot up half a foot, making the bloodstains at the corners of his eyes appear red: "Where?"
"Within Ivan's body."
The instant the thunder roared, Long Wu's combat boots had already crushed the pebbles at his feet.
He grabbed Ivan by the collar, the dragon patterns on his crimson armor surging with rage, dragon flames winding up his arm and around Ivan's neck: "Speak!"
Have you already colluded with the mother nest?
What were you pretending to do before to regain your humanity?
Ivan was lifted off the ground, his face as white as a paper soaked in water.
He coughed and grabbed Long Wu's wrist, the wrist bones sizzling and steaming under the scorching dragon flames: "I...I don't know...I swear!" His pupils trembled violently, the corners of his eyes reddening, "When the Mother Nest devoured me, I couldn't even retain my own consciousness...If it had a backup plan, I really..."
"That's enough." Lin Yi's voice was like a block of ice pressed against a fire.
He stood up, raindrops pattering from his hair onto the bronze bell. "Long Wu, let go."
Long Wu's arm trembled, but Long Yan did not back down: "Boss!"
This kid was previously the core host of the broodstock, and now something abnormal has been detected...
"I told you to let go." Lin Yi walked over and pressed his fingertips against the dragon flame.
The power of spacetime surged forth, instantly condensing the scorching dragon flames into ice crystals. "Have you forgotten?" He stared into Long Wu's reddened eyes. "Back when you were possessed by the Blood Demon, we almost killed you too."
Long Wu's Adam's apple bobbed, and his fingers slowly loosened.
Ivan fell into the mud, immediately pushing himself up on his knees. His muddy hands gripped Lin Yi's clothes tightly: "Mr. Lin, I really didn't... Every second since escaping from the Mother Nest, I've hated it..." His voice trembled, rain and tears streaming down his face. "If it really left something behind, I beg you, kill me now... Don't wait until I turn into a monster..."
Xuanmingzi suddenly started coughing violently.
He wiped his mouth, the blood between his fingers spreading in the rain: "Calm down." He stared at Ivan, his eyes like he was looking into a fog, "The Mother Nest needs a vessel to be reborn."
"If the abnormal signal is a seed, it shouldn't be activated yet." He turned to Chu Yao, "Can you pinpoint its exact location?"
Chu Yao's projection leaned forward, her fingertip touching Ivan's brow.
A pale purple data stream penetrated the skin and quickly unfolded into a three-dimensional human body model in mid-air—a tiny purple dot, the size of a pinhead, flickered with each heartbeat at the location of the heart.
"In the space between the aortic valves of the heart." Chu Yao's voice deepened. "Its structure resembles the energy crystals of the mother nest's core, but it's enveloped by some kind of force, and no fluctuations can be detected."
Long Wu clenched his fist again: "Isn't this obvious enough?"
The hive had already planted mines inside him!
"Then why wasn't it detected in the previous scan?" Lin Yi suddenly asked.
He lowered his gaze to the bronze bell, the bloodstains on it gleaming dark gold in the rain. "Before leaving the ruins, Chu Yao conducted three comprehensive tests on everyone."
Chu Yao's projection turned to him: "The anomalous signal was covered by a layer of spacetime turbulence at the time, possibly related to the spatial disorder during the collapse of the ruins." Her data stream suddenly accelerated, "Now... the turbulence is dissipating, and the signal strength is increasing by 3% per minute."
Ivan's body jolted violently.
He clutched his chest, veins bulging on his forehead: "I...I can feel something there."
"Like a block of ice, inside my veins..." He looked up at Lin Yi, his eyes almost overflowing with fear. "Mr. Lin, please..."
"Don't rush." Lin Yi squatted down and placed his hand on the back of Ivan's neck.
The power of time and space seeped into his fingertips, weaving a fine net within his body.
He could sense that amethyst-like presence, enveloped by a thin membrane, on which the malice of the mother nest still lingered—but what concerned him more were the faint silver threads along the edge of the membrane.
That is... the power of faith?
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
He recalled that in the ruins, when the bronze bell absorbed everyone's will, Ivan's will to "resist" was the most fervent, like an inextinguishable fire.
Could that thread... be his own will?
"Boss?" Long Wu's voice was filled with worry.
Lin Yi withdrew his hand, raindrops dripping from his chin onto Ivan's shoulder: "Chu Yao, continue monitoring the signal."
Xuanmingzi, prepare the purification talisman.
"Long Wu..." He looked up at his brother of three years, "Go gather some firewood and start a fire."
Long Wu hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the ruins.
Xuanmingzi took out three yellow talismans, his hand trembling as he made hand seals—not because of his injury, but because of nervousness.
Chu Yao's projection hung above Ivan's head, and the data stream, like a transparent rope, firmly held onto that point of purple light.
Ivan stared into Lin Yi's eyes, opened his mouth, then closed it again.
Rain dripped down his eyelashes, making small puddles on the ground.
Lin Yi stood up, and the bronze bell cooled in his palm.
He gazed at the crumbling ruins in the distance, listening to the roar of the falling rubble, and felt as if a stone was pressing on his heart.
The mother's words are like a knife, slowly slicing apart the trust between them.
But he knew that without solid evidence, any doubt would become a crack—and that was exactly what the hive wanted to see.
"Take care of the wound first," he said, his voice mingling with the sound of rain. "The rest... we'll talk about it when the rain stops."
Ivan's Adam's apple bobbed, but he ultimately just nodded.
He sat under the broken wall, letting the rain wash away the blood and grime from his face, but his eyes remained fixed on Lin Yi, like a lone wolf soaked by the downpour, desperately trying to find a glimmer of trust in the other's eyes.
When Long Wu returned carrying firewood, Lin Yi was wiping the bronze bell with his head down.
The "most trusted person" at the bottom of the bell flickered in the firelight, like a pair of eyes hiding in the shadows, silently watching everything.
The campfire crackled beneath the broken wall, and the rain-soaked firewood occasionally burst into sparks, scattering tiny golden glints in the rain.
Lin Yi squatted by the fire, the bronze bell resting on his knees, his fingertips gently stroking the newly engraved words "The Most Trusted Person" on the bell—the writing was not yet completely dry, and rainwater mixed with it, leaving faint red marks on the metal surface.
Long Wu, wrapped in a tattered cloak, sat to his right. Blood still seeped from the cracks in his crimson-gold armor, yet he stubbornly kept his gaze fixed on Ivan.
The young man was huddled against the broken wall on the other side, water dripping from his hair and raindrops clinging to his eyelashes, like an eagle wilted by a downpour.
"Boss." Long Wu suddenly spoke, his voice low. "Do you remember three years ago in the Crimson Swamp?" His Adam's apple bobbed. "Back then, that parasitic beast was hiding inside the Demon Hunter's heart. By the time we found it..." He didn't finish, his knuckles turning white from clenching his fists. Blood beads seeped from between his fingers and fell into the mud, quickly washed away by the rain.
Lin Yi's eyelashes trembled.
He recalled how, three days earlier, deep within the ruins, Ivan had used his own flesh and blood to break through the corrosive acid to save Li Mu, who was entangled by the tentacles of the mother nest.
At that time, Li Mu's soul was being devoured by the consciousness of the Mother Nest. It was Ivan who bit his wrist and dripped his blood into Li Mu's forehead—his blood still contained the energy of the Mother Nest's core, which miraculously neutralized the erosion.
"He said back then, 'Those who have been swallowed by the mother hive know best how to tear apart its claws.'" Lin Yi said in a low voice, his gaze sweeping over Ivan's chest—the purple dots there, under Chu Yao's data stream monitoring, were flashing 20% faster than they had been half an hour ago.
He touched the bronze bell, and the bell suddenly became hot, as if responding to his thoughts.
"I need to undergo a trial." Lin Yi stood up, raindrops dripping from his hair onto the bronze bell. "The Soul Resonance Bell." He turned the bell, and the ancient patterns engraved on its belly suddenly glowed with golden light. "This thing can amplify the fluctuations of everyone's faith."
If the mother nest truly harbored a seed, its consciousness waves would repel our beliefs.
Xuanmingzi's coughing stopped.
He straightened up, leaning against the broken wall, the purification talisman in his palm wrinkled with sweat: "This bell requires your faith power." He stared at the dark circles under Lin Yi's eyes, "You just used the power of spacetime to stabilize the collapsing ruins, now..."
"It has to be now." Lin Yi tossed the bronze bell into the air.
A burst of golden light suddenly exploded, forming a light shield two meters in diameter. "Chu Yao, monitor simultaneously."
Chu Yao's projection instantly merged into the light shield, and data streams wove into a purple net at the edge of the shield: "The mental fluctuation frequencies of all members have been locked."
Long Wu was the first to step into the light shield.
His dragon flames surged beneath his armor, his faith undulating like a crimson war drum, each tremor carrying the unwavering resolve to "protect his master"—the golden patterns within the protective shield rose and fell with his movements, without a single discordant sound.
Xuanmingzi was the second to go in.
His faith fluctuated like an old pine tree in the mountains, its roots firmly planted deep within his Daoist heart, which was dedicated to "protecting humanity." A pale blue mist rose from within the protective aura, the scars left from his struggle against the Mother Nest, yet equally clean and pure.
When it was Ivan's turn, Long Wu clenched his fist again.
His dragon flames danced at his fingertips, ready to pounce on any possible anomalies.
Ivan took a deep breath and stepped into the light shield.
The bronze bell suddenly emitted a sharp whistle!
The golden light shield trembled violently, like the surface of a lake being hit by a stone.
Ivan's body tensed instantly, veins bulged on his forehead, and a faint blue light emanated from his chest—a light different from the purple glow of the Mother Nest's core, colder and more sinister, like phosphorescent fire crawling out of a rotting corpse.
"That's it!" Long Wu's dragon flames shot up three feet with a "boom," but Lin Yi raised his hand and pressed it down on his shoulder.
The power of spacetime surged from his palm, condensing the dragon flames into ice crystals: "Look into his eyes."
There was no confusion in Ivan's eyes, only a near-mad struggle.
His fingernails dug deeply into his palms, and blood mixed with raindrops dripped onto the light shield. In the splashing golden light, silver threads could be vaguely seen—the very same strand of faith power that Lin Yi had sensed earlier, belonging to Ivan himself.
"It's the lingering remnant of the Mother Nest." Chu Yao's data stream suddenly accelerated. "It's spreading by utilizing Ivan's heart's blood supply system, but it's being held back by his power of faith!"
Lin Yi's breath hitched.
He recalled that in the ruins, when the bronze bell absorbed everyone's will, Ivan's will to "resist" was indeed the most fervent—it wasn't fear of the Mother Nest, but an obsession with "no longer being controlled," like a knife that had been tempered in fire.
"Don't be afraid." Lin Yi stepped into the light barrier and reached out to press Ivan's shoulder.
The power of faith flowed into their fingertips, weaving a golden chain between them. "I'll help you pull it out."
Ivan's body trembled violently, and broken sobs escaped his throat.
The blue light on his chest intensified, but under the pull of the golden chains, it gradually condensed into a fingernail-sized amethyst—the core of the Mother Nest's lingering remnant, with Ivan's silver threads of faith still clinging to its surface.
"Purify!" Xuanmingzi shouted, and the three purification talismans burned to ashes at the same time.
The blue mist enveloped the amethyst, pulling it along with the golden chains.
The amethyst emitted a sharp shriek, its surface cracked with spiderweb-like patterns, and finally exploded into fragments with a "bang".
Ivan collapsed to the ground, his forehead pressed against Lin Yi's thigh, breathing heavily.
The blue light still lingered on his chest, but it had faded like morning mist about to dissipate.
"Thank you..." His voice was hoarse, trembling with tears, "I thought... I thought I was going to turn into a monster again..."
The dragon flames of Long Wu slowly died out.
He crouched down, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and patted Ivan on the back: "Next time something happens, just say it." His ears were red. "I...I'm not an unreasonable person."
Chu Yao's projection flickered, and the data stream returned to normal: "Abnormal signal cleared."
The remaining Mother Nest energy within Ivan is less than 1%, posing no threat.
Xuan Mingzi leaned back against the broken wall, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth: "The Mother Nest's move was quite insidious." He stared at the amethyst fragments on the ground, "Using the host's faith power as cover, it's difficult to even detect with a scan."
Lin Yi bent down and picked up the bronze bell.
The inscription "The Most Trusted Person" on the bell gleamed warmly in the firelight, as if it had been re-quenched.
He looked at everyone, his gaze sweeping over Long Wu's reddened eyes, Xuan Mingzi's pale face, and Ivan's still trembling shoulders, and his throat suddenly tightened.
"The Mother Nest isn't so easily destroyed." His voice was low, yet it struck everyone like a heavy hammer blow. "But it also can't easily infiltrate us."
"But..." He paused, gazing at the still-collapsed ruins in the distance, "Will we be so lucky next time?"
The rain stopped sometime ago.
The setting sun peeked through the clouds, gilding the broken walls with a blood-gold hue.
Long Wu stood up first, patting the mud off his clothes: "Let's go back to camp." He bent down to help Ivan up, but the other man used the wall for support to stand up—though he staggered, he stood very straight.
Xuan Mingzi took out a small porcelain bottle and tossed it to Ivan: "It's for stopping bleeding, drink it." He then looked at Lin Yi, "You should also treat your wounds, don't let Chu Yao nag you."
Chu Yao's projection immediately turned to Lin Yi: "A 47% increase in the risk of infection for the wound on the back of your hand has been detected. Immediate action is recommended..."
"Understood." Lin Yi smiled and put the bronze bell into his spatial ring.
As he watched the others pack up their equipment and listened to Long Wu and Ivan arguing in hushed tones about who should carry the medicine box, he suddenly felt the weight on his chest lighten.
But he knew this was just the calm before the storm.
The laughter of the mother hive still echoes in my memory, and the prophecy of "blooming from your hearts" is far from over.
As the last rays of the setting sun sank below the horizon, the group shouldered their equipment and headed towards their temporary camp.
Their shadows stretched long on the gravel, like a string of lights, swaying in the twilight, yet never breaking apart.
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