The red warning lights spun wildly overhead, their piercing blare like steel needles stabbing into eardrums.
Lin Yi's hand gripping the bronze box was bulging with veins, and his palm was sore from the sharp edges, but it couldn't compare to the urgency throbbing in his temples—nine minutes and fifty seconds was enough for the entire Mother Nest to turn into cosmic dust.
"Long Wu, clear the way!"
Chu Yao, stay close to me!
"Xuan Mingzi, watch your sides!" His voice was low but carried an undeniable sharpness. His peripheral vision swept over the crowd: Long Wu's dragon scales stood on end like steel armor, and the muscles on his arm, which was supporting Chu Yao, bulged like iron lumps; Chu Yao's nanobots, which were originally cheerful green, were now flashing anxious red, and the data on the screen was like ink had been splashed on it, twisting into gibberish every two seconds; Xuan Mingzi's fingertips caressed the fragments of the star chart, his pupils reflecting the constantly collapsing metal dome, but a faint smile was playing on his lips.
"Old Lin!" Long Wu suddenly roared.
The laser array at the top of the corridor ahead suddenly started buzzing, and the beams that had been locked onto the intruder lost their target and shot around like crazed snakes.
A crimson beam of light grazed Chu Yao's temple, scorching a strand of her hair. "Damn it!" Long Wu suddenly pulled Chu Yao into his arms, slamming his dragon claws into the ground. The shockwave from his dragon might shattered three load-bearing pillars that were about to collapse.
As the pebbles rained down on him, he tilted his head back and let out a short dragon roar. His dragon scales shimmered with golden light, and sparks flew as the pebbles struck them.
"The data link is broken!" Chu Yao's fingertips danced across the screen like butterflies, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "Su Qing said the self-destruct program is tampering with the navigation protocol. Now, every ten meters we walk, the map will..." Before she could finish speaking, a half-meter-wide crack suddenly appeared in the ground beside her feet, and a ghostly blue arc of electricity surged from underneath, sizzling and licking at the metal.
Xuanmingzi reacted quickly, grabbing her by the back of her collar and throwing her backward.
When Chu Yao bumped into Lin Yi's arms, he smelled the burnt smell of electronic components—three of her nanobots had exploded and turned into black smoke.
"Su Qing, can you locate the nearest emergency escape pod?" Lin Yi shouted into the communicator, while using his other hand to pull Xuan Mingzi away from the sweeping mechanical arm.
There was static coming from the communicator, and after two seconds Su Qing's rapid, nasal breathing came through: "In area B12!"
But... but the C7 passage leading there was flooded by the lava pool!
"I'm hacking into the backup system—" The voice was suddenly cut off by a sharp beep.
"A lava pool?" Long Wu's pupils shrank to slits, and his dragon claws dug five deep marks into the wall. "That thing's temperature could melt my scales!" He suddenly stopped and looked up at the ceiling—from the previously sealed ventilation duct, countless mechanical spiders emerged, each with a miniature bomb hanging from its eight legs, and were crawling down the duct.
"A dark shadow!" Lin Yi shouted almost simultaneously.
A dark shadow swept across the crowd like a ghost, and the clear sound of a short sword being drawn pierced their ears along with the alarm.
Just as the mechanical spiders were about to detonate en masse, a web of blades spun, precisely severing each fuse.
The bomb exploded into sparks when it hit the ground, but no one was injured.
Lin Yi then noticed that the figure in black was three times fainter than it had been ten minutes ago, and the tattoo on the back of the knife was barely visible, as if it might be blown away by the wind at any moment.
"Thanks." Long Wu nodded to the shadowy figure, then turned and smashed through a metal plate blocking his path.
Finally, the blue light of the evacuation pod appeared at the end of the passage, and everyone quickened their pace.
Chu Yao's screen suddenly displayed a green notification, and she almost cried tears of joy: "We've arrived!"
Section B12 is just ahead—
\"boom!\"
The entire nest suddenly shook violently, and the alarm lights overhead shattered with a "crack," leaving only the red emergency lights barely hanging on in the darkness.
Once everyone regained their footing, they saw a semi-transparent purple light membrane lying across the evacuation hatch, like a curtain suddenly pulled up, completely cutting off their escape route.
"An energy barrier." Xuan Mingzi's voice finally carried a hint of solemnity. He held up the fragment of the star chart, the patterns on its surface resonating with the dark patterns on the light membrane. "The ultimate insurance for the self-destruct program... a defense network powered by the core energy of the mother nest, capable of withstanding even a mythical-level attack for three seconds."
Long Wu pressed his dragon claws onto the light membrane, and golden dragon power surged in, but it only stirred up a ripple.
He groaned and withdrew his hand, his palm burning red: "It's as hot as lava!"
Chu Yao's nanobots had barely managed to reassemble into three, which were currently scanning the light membrane: "The composition is an antimatter particle stream... I need three minutes to decipher it, but..." She looked up at Lin Yi, her eyes filled with suppressed anxiety, "The countdown has seven minutes and twenty seconds left."
Lin Yi stared at the purple light flowing within the light membrane, his Adam's apple bobbing.
He could feel the spacetime rift stirring deep within his consciousness, and the bronze box inside was slightly warm—the last particles of light from the shadow seemed to be resonating with the heartbeat within the box.
"Step back." He suddenly spoke, his voice even deeper than before.
Everyone instinctively took two steps back.
Lin Yi released his grip on the bronze box, and the power of spacetime condensed at his fingertips into a dark blue light blade, with fine spacetime patterns appearing on the blade.
Amid the alarm, his gaze swept over his teammates: Long Wu's dragon scales were stained with blood beads, from when he blocked the falling rocks; Chu Yao's hair was still steaming, yet she kept her eyes fixed on the light screen; Xuan Mingzi touched the star chart, lost in thought; the shadowy figure leaned against the wall, his breathing so light it was almost inaudible, yet he still gripped his short knife, the tip pointing at the light membrane.
"Seven seconds," Lin Yi said softly, as if to himself, yet also to everyone else, "I need seven seconds."
He raised the Blade of Time and Space, and just as the blade was about to touch the light membrane, the bronze box suddenly emitted a clear sound from the spacetime rift.
The soft sound, mixed with the alarm, was like some ancient war song, stirring up new waves in the crumbling mother nest.
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