The makeshift camp smelled of burning in the twilight.
Long Wu kicked aside a half-burnt animal bone at his feet. The firewood in the brazier crackled and sparks flew to Ivan's hair, but he seemed oblivious, squatting by the campfire with his medicine box in his arms, his knuckles still bluish-white—the scorch marks left on his chest by the blue light when he purified the remnants of the Mother Nest were faintly visible through the hole in his collar.
"Chu Yao, lower the temperature in the medical pod." Lin Yi tore off the blood-stained bandage; the wound on the back of his hand was still bleeding, but he walked towards Ivan first. "What you need most right now is..."
"I'm fine." Ivan looked up, his eyes bloodshot redder than the campfire, but he forced a smile. "Long Wu said I looked like a frozen naan bread, but now... now at least I can warm myself by the fire." He paused, his hand reaching for the first-aid kit. "Really, Brother Lin."
Long Wu squatted on the other side, poking at the fire with the iron skewer, sparks flying everywhere: "Stubborn." But he still tossed his animal-hide cloak over, landing it on Ivan's shoulder, "Wear this, lest Chu Yao nag you about your low body temperature."
Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze above the campfire, pale blue data flowing through her hair: "Anomaly detected." Her voice was colder than usual, "0.3 seconds before the mother nest core dissipated, it emitted an encrypted pulse in a direction 11.7 degrees north of northwest, frequency..." Her fingertips traced through the air, creating distorted waveforms, "98.6% consistency with the communication protocol of the interdimensional scouts that attacked us three days ago."
The campfire roared and leaped half a foot higher.
Xuan Mingzi, leaning against a tree stump, his fingertips catching a sizzle as the talisman between them burned through, sparks landing on his Taoist robe embroidered with Bagua patterns. He seemed oblivious: "That direction is..."
"Black Wind Gorge." Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
Three days ago, they encountered the first wave of interdimensional scouts in Blackwind Gorge. Those winged monsters were clearly wiped out then, but now—he clenched his fist, his knuckles pressed against his chest, where the prophetic vibrations of the Mother Nest "blooming from the heart" still lingered—"They weren't stragglers; they were scouting ahead for the Mother Nest."
Long Wu suddenly stood up, and the dragon-patterned battle sword at his waist hummed as it was drawn three inches from its sheath: "I'm going to Black Wind Gorge right now!"
Chop those bastards up—
"Sit down." Lin Yi pressed down on his shoulder, with considerable force.
Long Wu's dragon scale armor was burning hot in his palm, but his voice was deeper, "We've exposed not only our position, but also our weaknesses."
"If the Mother Nest can infiltrate Ivan, it can infiltrate everyone else." He scanned the crowd: Ivan's still trembling hands, the faint bloodstains beneath Xuanmingzi's robe, even Chu Yao's projection showed subtle noise due to emotional fluctuations. "Defend first, then attack."
Chu Yao's data stream suddenly surged, condensing into a three-dimensional map in mid-air: "All communication bands between the camp and the outside world have been cut off. A temporary firewall is being built—Dragon Wu's blood is needed as a biometric key." She looked at Dragon Wu, "Your bloodline can interfere with the analysis of signals from other dimensions."
Long Wu didn't say anything, but bit his fingertip until it bled.
The dark red blood droplet landed in the center of the map, instantly spreading into a net-like band of light, enveloping the camp in a semi-transparent cocoon.
Xuanmingzi suddenly coughed and couldn't straighten up, leaning on the tree stump.
Lin Yi then noticed that the back of his Taoist robe was covered in blood; the wound from being pierced by the tentacles of the Mother Nest during the battle hadn't been treated at all: "You..."
"Old ailment." Xuan Mingzi waved his hand, pulled a celadon bottle from his robes, tilted his head back, and gulped down a mouthful. As his Adam's apple bobbed, black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. "It came from when the game's AI drained half my life back then." He suddenly stared at Lin Yi, his eyes like ice, "But what's more important now is—"
"Meeting." Lin Yi interrupted him, his voice carrying an undeniable weight.
He pulled a clean cloth over his hand, the pain from the wound suppressed by the adrenaline rush. "Chu Yao, pull up the camp's surveillance footage."
A holographic projection unfolded above everyone's heads, showing the bushes around the camp, sentry posts, and stone houses storing supplies.
But when the camera panned across the grove of dead trees in the northwest corner, Lin Yi's breath hitched—there was a half-broken patch of silverleaf grass there, the fluorescence on the leaves not yet completely gone.
"Half an hour ago," Chu Yao's voice trembled for the first time, "the surveillance footage was interrupted for 12 seconds."
Long Wu's battle sword clattered to the ground.
As he bent down to pick up the knife, the sound of his dragon-scale armor rubbing together was like muffled thunder: "Has someone sneaked in?"
"Not human." Xuanmingzi suddenly reached out, his fingertip drawing a blue light on the projection. "The creases on these blades of grass are against the direction of the veins, the joint structure of an alien creature..." His voice suddenly stopped, his gaze sweeping over Ivan before quickly shifting away.
Ivan jumped to his feet, slamming his medicine box to the ground with a thud: "You doubt me?" The scorch marks on his chest rose and fell with his breath. "I was just purified!"
The remnants of the Brood...\"
"No one doubts you." Lin Yi walked over and placed his hand on his shoulder.
The young man's body temperature was alarmingly high, like a red-hot iron. "It's a doubt about ourselves." He looked around at everyone. "The Mother Nest says 'bloom from the heart,' but what is the heart?"
It's about trust. His thumb traced the bronze bell in his spatial ring, a token forged three days ago with everyone's blood. "So we must first protect our hearts."
The campfire crackled and popped, sparks flying onto Chu Yao's projection, only to be instantly swallowed by the data stream.
Long Wu squatted down to pack his medicine box, his movements ten times lighter than usual: "The camp will be sealed off for three days."
"I'm on night watch, Xuanmingzi is setting up a protective barrier, and Chu Yao is monitoring all signal fluctuations..." He looked up at Lin Yi, "Brother Lin, what about you?"
"I'll go check all the supplies," Lin Yi said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "And while I'm at it, dig out that jar of Daughter's Red wine hidden under the stone house—we need something to last us the next three days."
Everyone laughed. But the laughter was barbed, like withered branches that hadn't burned out in a campfire.
When the last person left, the night was so deep that the stars could no longer be seen.
Lin Yi squatted in front of the stone house, using his dagger to pry open the bluestone slabs, when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him.
He didn't turn around, continuing to tap the stone slab: "Speak, Master Xuan."
Xuanmingzi's Taoist robe billowed in the wind, his voice extremely low: "While watching the surveillance footage just now, I was in the soil in the northwest corner..." He paused, "...and dug up a dragon scale."
Lin Yi's hand suddenly froze, the tip of the dagger deeply embedded in the crack of the stone slab.
"It's not Long Wu's." Xuan Mingzi's voice was even softer. "It's...something even older."
The wind carried the embers of the campfire past their feet.
In the distance came the sound of Long Wu's sword being drawn during his night patrol; the clear, resonant hum was mixed with a faint, otherworldly murmur.
The crisp sound of the dagger prying open the bluestone slab was exceptionally clear in the silence.
Lin Yi stared at the tip of the dagger embedded in the crevice, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the force—Xuan Mingzi's words, "even more ancient dragon scales," felt like an ice needle piercing the back of his neck.
He heard the sound of his own Adam's apple bobbing, mixed with the distant hum of Long Wu's sword slicing against its sheath as he patrolled the night.
"There are more than one fragment of the Mother Nest's consciousness." Xuan Mingzi's Taoist robe fluttered in the night wind, and his low voice carried a burnt smell, as if his vocal cords had been scorched by some force. "When I was analyzing the Mother Nest pulse just now, I smelled the stench of rotting spacetime turbulence in the encrypted band."
They spread like a virus, parasitizing the weakest points...
"In the cracks of trust," Lin Yi said, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the spatial ring.
Three days ago, the bronze bell, which had been quenched with the blood of the crowd, was burning hot in the ring, making his palm numb.
The prophecy of the Mother Nest "blooming from the heart" suddenly exploded in his mind. He looked up abruptly and saw the bloodstains beneath Xuan Mingzi's Taoist robe, which gleamed bluish-black in the moonlight. "You discovered it all along?"
"Last night, while checking the barrier for Long Wu," Xuan Mingzi said, shaking a talisman from his sleeve. The talisman's surface was decorated with twisted spirals drawn in cinnabar. "These are threads of consciousness pulled from the camp's ley lines." He flicked his finger, and the talisman burned with a ghostly blue flame between the two of them. "Like tapeworms, they always find a way to burrow into our lax spots."
Lin Yi stared at the ball of fire, his pupils reflecting a flickering, eerie blue.
He suddenly remembered the half-grown silverleaf grass in the surveillance footage half an hour ago—the creases against the veins looked exactly like it had been crushed by some inhuman finger. "The next target?"
"Black Wind Gorge." Xuan Mingzi's voice was suddenly carried away by the wind. He turned to leave, then stopped. "That dragon scale..." He didn't finish, his Daoist robe brushing against the wild roses at the base of the stone house wall, leaving a few drops of dew. "Hide your bronze bell well."
As the footsteps faded into the distance, Lin Yi finally pried open the last piece of bluestone.
The mud seal on the wine jar still felt damp, but he didn't rush to open it. Instead, he squatted on the ground, staring blankly at the moonlight seeping through the cracks in the stone.
The pulse of the mother nest, the ancient dragon scales, the spreading fragments of consciousness... these clues twisted into a rope in his mind, making his temples throb.
"Brother Lin."
A low, hoarse call came from behind.
Lin Yi knew it was Ivan without turning around—his voice still had a lingering tremor, like a thin piece of ice ruffled by the wind.
He stood up and turned around, and saw the young man standing five steps away, his shadow stretched long by the moonlight, still holding the medicine box from earlier that day.
Ivan's pupils gleamed a dark red in the night, a lingering effect from purifying the remnants of the Mother Nest.
His fingers dug tightly into the edge of the medicine box, his knuckles almost translucent white: "I know you..." His Adam's apple bobbed twice, "When Long Wu is on night watch, he always glances at my tent a few extra times, and when Xuan Mingzi sets up the barrier, he puts an extra talisman near my feet." He suddenly looked up, the bloodshot veins in his eyes like burning spiderwebs, "I can go to Black Wind Gorge as bait, or guard the most dangerous outposts..."
"You just need to be yourself," Lin Yi interrupted him.
He saw Ivan's eyelashes tremble violently, as if he had been slapped.
The young man's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but Lin Yi stopped him by raising his hand.
He stepped forward and patted Ivan on the shoulder—through the thin clothing, he could feel the protruding knuckles. "You saved Long Wu's life, you shielded him from the tentacles of the Mother Nest." He gently touched the scorch marks on Ivan's chest with his fingertips. "These wounds are more real than any token."
Ivan's eyes suddenly reddened.
He looked down at the tips of his shoes, the medicine box jingling softly in his arms as the bottles clinked together. "That...that jar of Daughter's Red wine, could I have half a bowl?"
Lin Yi smiled, bent down, and picked up the wine jar: "After these three days, I'll drink it all with you."
Before the words were finished, a muffled "boom" suddenly came from the northwest corner of the camp.
The sound was like thunder muffled in a drum, making the paper windows of the stone house rattle.
Long Wu's furious roar rang out almost simultaneously: "What is that?!"
The sounds of scabbards scraping, tents being flung open, and Chu Yao's data stream surging instantly erupted.
Lin Yi tightened his grip on the wine jar, causing the mud seal on it to crumble away—he saw Long Wu's figure flash like a streak of crimson lightning, his battle blade tracing a silver arc in the moonlight as he charged straight towards the withered forest in the northwest corner.
"Chu Yao, locate!" Lin Yi shoved the wine jar into Ivan's arms, and as he turned around, his spatial ring flashed, revealing the short blade engraved with spacetime patterns already in his palm.
"Abnormal vital signs!" Chu Yao's projection froze in mid-air, the blue light distorting everyone's shadows. "Target size 2.3 meters, bone density three times that of a human, detected within the body..." Her data stream suddenly paused, "Similar energy reaction from the Mother Nest Core!"
The sound of snapping branches echoed from the dead forest.
What did Long Wu's sword strike? The clanging of metal against metal was so loud it hurt one's eardrums.
As Lin Yi rushed into the woods, he saw the dark figure being slashed back three steps by Long Wu—it had bone wings, skin like rotting tree bark, and most terrifyingly, a dark blue light was writhing in its flesh and blood in its chest cavity, like a heart that had been peeled off.
"The Mother Nest..." Ivan's voice came from behind, filled with deep-seated fear, "This is the Mother Nest..."
The monster suddenly let out a scream.
The sound was like a rusty saw scraping against glass. Lin Yi's temples throbbed, and the spacetime patterns on the short blade began to heat up.
He saw Long Wu's battle blade strike the monster's bone wings, but it only left a white mark—the material of those bone wings was exactly the same as that of the scouts in Black Wind Gorge three days ago.
"Back off!" Lin Yi grabbed Long Wu by the back of his collar and jumped back.
Black blood seeped from the monster's fingertips, drawing distorted symbols on the ground. The air was instantly filled with the stench of rotting, chaotic spacetime—exactly the same smell as the Xuanmingzi talisman paper.
The moonlight was partially obscured by dark clouds.
Lin Yi stared at the blue light in the monster's chest cavity and suddenly remembered the prophecy before the mother nest disappeared: "Blooming from the heart".
He gripped his short blade tightly, hearing his own voice mingle with the sound of the wind: "It seems it really has returned..."
"Activate the defensive barrier!" Chu Yao's data stream poured down like a torrential rain. "Long Wu, activate the array eye with dragon blood!"
Ivan, prepare the medical pod!
Long Wu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and plunged his battle sword into the ground with a backhand.
Dark red blood beads seeped into the soil along the blade's spine, and suddenly eight bronze lamps lit up in the distance, their flames condensing into a golden net of light in the night.
The monster's screams grew even more piercing. It flapped its bone wings and rammed into the net of light, only to be bounced back and crash into a tree. The blue light in its chest dimmed and extinguished even faster.
Lin Yi stared at the ball of light, his fingers unconsciously stroking the bronze bell in his spatial ring.
He knew that the real test had only just begun.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com