The moment the alarm pierced his eardrums, cold sweat broke out on the back of Lin Yi's neck.
The pale blue mist carrying the rhomboid crystals surged in faster than he had imagined. The tentacles that could have been barely separated by the spacetime barrier were now seeping golden spots through the gaps in the barrier—marks of energy being corroded.
"Long Wu!" He grabbed Long Wu's wrist as he was about to swing his knife at the metal door. Long Wu's palm still bore the scorch marks from the impact with the energy barrier. "Don't try to force it. This barrier is activated by the research institute's defense system. You can't break the blockade even if you smash the door."
Long Wu's battle sword clattered to the ground. He wiped the blood from his forehead—a scratch from the rebounding energy when he slammed the door—and his Adam's apple bobbed. "I can't just sit here and let these bastards eat my brains!" Before he finished speaking, a wisp of mist wrapped around his ankle. His pupils contracted sharply, and he drew his short blade from his waist, aiming to slash at his ankle. But the moment the blade pierced the mist, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the metal surface. "Damn it!"
Does this thing corrode metal?
"Not only." Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze, and blue light flashed wildly in her pupils. "Analyzing gas composition... Detecting neurotoxins and a consciousness carrier in a quantum entangled state."
They're not eroding the body; they're directly invading the nervous system. Her voice, for the first time carrying the static of mechanical overload, continued, "0.3 seconds ago, my processing core received three million abnormal brainwaves—fragments of your subconscious."
Xuanmingzi suddenly made a hand seal, and golden light shone for three inches at his fingertips before extinguishing abruptly.
He stared at his trembling hands, his fingers digging deeply into his palms beneath his Taoist robe: "My talisman has been swallowed."
These wisps of mist... are like living consciousnesses, devouring all energy. His eyes reddened as he looked up. "The transmission path must be cut off, otherwise, in three minutes at most, they'll assimilate everyone—including me—through brainwave resonance."
"Assimilation?" Ivan suddenly clutched his temples and knelt down, cold sweat dripping from his forehead onto the ground, instantly evaporating into pale blue steam.
The veins on his neck bulged, and he let out an inhuman whimper: "I...I can hear them talking."
The Mother Nest... the voice of the Mother Nest appeared again. "His nails dug deeply into his palms," he said. "The crystals are calling me 'Host,' saying they'll help me 'complete the fusion'..."
Lin Yi's breath hitched suddenly.
He remembered that when Ivan was parasitized by the mother nest, the same purple spots appeared on the back of his neck. Now, those purple spots were spreading up Ivan's hand and arm, like an ugly venomous snake.
He immediately knelt on one knee, placed his palm on the back of Ivan's neck, and the power of faith surged from his fingertips—energy he had condensed using his mythical profession, carrying a warm golden light.
"Stop it!" Lin Yi gritted his teeth, the power of faith seeping into Ivan's skin like hot iron melting snow.
The moment the purple spot came into contact with the golden light, it emitted a "sizzling" sound and billowed up blue smoke.
Ivan's sobs subsided, and he gripped Lin Yi's wrist, trembling: "Lin...Lin Yi, they're rummaging through old memories in my mind...they've seen the memories of the Mother Nest's core..."
"Hold on." Lin Yi could feel his energy rapidly draining away, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Long Wu slashing at the surging mist with his battle sword, each slash creating multiple cracks in the blade; Xuan Mingzi, meanwhile, closed his eyes and formed hand seals, attempting to use his mental power to build a defensive line around everyone, but the line was corroded by the mist as soon as it took shape.
"Chu Yao!" Lin Yi shouted at the top of his lungs, "Is there any way to locate the source of this fog?"
They couldn't have just appeared in the research institute out of nowhere; there must have been a generating device!
"Scanning thermal imaging!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze for half a second, then reappeared with a holographic map floating behind her. "There's an abnormal heat source on the third underground level, with a temperature reaching 3,000 degrees Celsius—coinciding with the location of the 'crack' the researcher mentioned in the previous control panel image!" Her voice suddenly became urgent. "But more importantly... the research institute's central database is self-unsealing."
"A database?" Xuan Mingzi's eyes snapped open. "This database contains all the information about the 'Faith Project.' Even the mastermind couldn't crack its encryption system back then."
"It's now actively sending me an access request." Chu Yao's fingertips traced the data stream. "The request content is... a countermeasure protocol?" As she looked up, a dark glint flashed in the projected image's eyes. "However, the protocol file is incomplete; only the first half is available."
Lin Yi's Time Blade suddenly trembled at his waist. He could feel the power of time reminding him that time was running out—the countdown had already jumped to 00:56:12.
He gritted his teeth and pushed the last wisp of faith into Ivan's body until the purple spots completely disappeared before standing up.
"Long Wu, protect Ivan." He drew the Blade of Time and Space, its pale golden light cleaving through the mist surging before him. "Xuan Mingzi, you and Chu Yao come with me to the third underground level."
"Whatever's in that crack, let's cut off the source of the fog first." He glanced at Chu Yao as he turned, "Regarding the database...we'll investigate it carefully after we've resolved the immediate problem."
Chu Yao's projection nodded slightly, her fingertips rapidly tapping the virtual keyboard: "The map of the third underground level has been synchronized to your retinal projection."
Note that spatial distortion has been detected around the heat source, possibly indicating... residual energy from another dimension.
Amidst the alarm, a dull tremor suddenly came from the metal floor.
The tiles beneath their feet cracked with a spiderweb pattern, and a wisp of blue mist, thicker than before, gushed out from the crack. One of the diamond-shaped crystals struck Lin Yi's spacetime barrier with a "crack," producing a crisp sound.
The sound was like a fine needle, piercing Lin Yi's nerves.
He stared at the shimmering blue light flowing across the crystal, and suddenly recalled the researcher's terrified look in the control panel image—those "them" that crawled out of the cracks might be approaching them right now, following this cloud of mist.
The alarm blared loudly in the metal corridor. Lin Yi thrust the Space-Time Blade into the ground with his other hand, and the pale golden barrier instantly expanded into a hemisphere, temporarily blocking the blue mist gushing out from the crack in the ceiling.
When he turned his head to look at Chu Yao, the anxiety in his eyes almost burned through his retina—this was the first time he felt that the sense of control brought by a mythical profession was so weak.
“The way to the control room requires passing through at least three locked doors.” Chu Yao’s projection flickered in the mist as her fingertips rapidly swiped across the virtual keyboard. “The countermeasure protocol requires manual input of the activation key, and the encryption algorithm refreshes every thirty seconds. It must be operated in front of the host.” Her voice suddenly stopped, and the data stream in her pupils condensed into a scarlet warning. “But the corridor surveillance shows… seventeen moving heat sources are approaching, with body temperatures generally exceeding 42°C—they are infected guards.”
"I'll protect her." Long Wu twirled his battle sword in his palm, the cracks on the blade gleaming coldly in the fluorescent light.
He bent down, picked up the short blade from the ground, and tossed it to Xuan Mingzi. "Old Daoist, you're in charge of dismantling the door." Before he finished speaking, golden scales suddenly appeared on the back of his neck, and his pupils contracted into vertical lines—his true dragon bloodline was awakening.
Lin Yi grabbed Chu Yao's wrist and pressed a spacetime imprint onto the back of her hand: "I will locate her every ten seconds. If there is an emergency..." His Adam's apple bobbed, and his unfinished words were torn apart by the alarm.
Chu Yao's projection gently covered the back of his hand, and blue light flowed where the two touched: "Don't worry, I will let you hear the host startup prompt before the key input is completed."
"Go!" Lin Yi roared, and the spacetime barrier suddenly trembled, with several misty tentacles piercing through the barrier and heading towards his back.
He spun around and swung his sword. The moment the blade swept across, the tentacles emitted a shrill cry like a baby's wail.
In the distance, Long Wu had already picked up Chu Yao's projection equipment (Note: Although Chu Yao is an AI, her core computing unit needs to carry a physical terminal), and Xuan Mingzi made a hand seal to open the first barrier door. The three figures quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.
The lights in the metal corridor began to flicker, plunging into darkness every three seconds.
Long Wu's battle blade gleamed with golden light in the darkness, illuminating five swaying figures in front of him—the guards' uniforms were soaked in blue mist, their eyeballs had turned into rhomboid crystals, their necks were twisted at bizarre angles, and their throats emitted a hissing sound like sandpaper rubbing.
“They are the hosts of the consciousness symbiote.” Chu Yao’s voice came through the terminal’s loudspeaker. “Their motor nerves are controlled, and their attack patterns are singular, but the crystals under their skin can absorb kinetic energy—ordinary attacks will be reflected.” Her fingertips tapped on the terminal. “The weak point is in the third vertebra of the spine, which is the central node of the crystal network.”
Long Wu's battle blade suddenly roared like a dragon. He shoved Chu Yao's terminal into Xuan Mingzi's arms and said, "Protect this thing!" Before he finished speaking, he rushed forward. The sharp sound of the battle blade cutting through the air overlapped with the guard's screech.
The first strike landed on the guard's chest, sparks flying from the crystal surface, but as Chu Yao had said, the force of the rebound made the blade numb.
His pupils contracted as his true dragon bloodline fully awakened, golden scales spreading from the back of his neck to his entire body, and dragon head patterns appearing on the hilt of his battle sword.
"Smash it!" Long Wu roared, changing his sword from a slash to a thrust, aiming precisely at the guard's third vertebra.
The crystal shattered crisply under the blade, and the guard's movements froze instantly. Blue mist gushed from the wound, but was burned into white smoke by the dragon's might emanating from Long Wu.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xuanmingzi threw out three talismans, and flames exploded in the corridor, illuminating the more guards who were rushing in.
"Twelve left!" Chu Yao's voice trembled with excitement. "Their movement speed is slowing down; the crystal network must be overloaded! Long Wu, maintain your attack on their weak points; Xuan Mingzi, seal off the left corridor with talismans—their consciousness is being transmitted through the ground!"
The three of them were getting better and better at coordinating their teamwork.
Long Wu was like a golden lightning bolt, each strike precisely destroying the central node; Xuan Mingzi's talismans burned on the walls, forming a wall of fire to prevent the fog from spreading; Chu Yao, like a conductor, marked the coordinates of each guard's weakness on the terminal.
When the last guardian's crystal shattered, the red access control light in the main control room finally turned green.
"It will take ninety seconds to enter the key." Chu Yao's projection appeared above the main control panel, her fingers flying across the holographic keyboard. "The key is... wait, the encryption algorithm has been updated ahead of schedule!" Her pupils suddenly turned into a vortex of data streams. "Now you need to enter the combination code of 'spacetime anchor point coordinates + mother nest core frequency'—Lin Yi's faith power frequency is the key!"
Xuanmingzi suddenly turned around and pressed his palm against the access control system: "I will use my magic to fix the access control. It will last for at most thirty seconds!" Long Wu planted his battle sword at the door, his back covered with golden scales pressed against the door. The roars of the guards could already be heard from the end of the corridor.
Chu Yao's fingers suddenly stopped, and the console screen began to flash blood-red static.
Synthesized voices emanated from speakers all around, crackling with electrical noise: "Welcome to the Rebirth Project... Are you willing to become the spark of the new world?"
"Damn it, this isn't a countermeasure agreement!" Cracks appeared in Xuan Mingzi's magic seal. "It's a flawed program from the 'Faith Project' back then!"
A violent impact struck Long Wu's back, and the dragon head pattern on the hilt of his battle sword began to crack.
Chu Yao's fingertips danced wildly across the keyboard, finally pressing the confirm button at the last second.
The host emitted a beep, and the snow on the screen suddenly condensed into a mirror, reflecting the three people's images—but in the reflection, Long Wu's golden scales turned into purple spots, Xuan Mingzi's Taoist robe was covered in mist, and Chu Yao's projection shattered into pieces.
"Consciousness Link... Activated." The synthesized voice became exceptionally clear, as if someone were speaking right next to your eardrums.
Long Wu suddenly clutched his temple, blood seeping from beneath his golden scales: "I...I heard so many voices...Lin Yi was calling me?"
Xuanmingzi's talisman went out with a "poof," and he stared at his trembling hands: "This isn't an illusion... it's... it's that my consciousness has been pulled away?"
Chu Yao's projection suddenly froze. She looked up at the main screen, the data stream in her eyes all pointing to the center of the mirror: "Spatial coordinates anomaly... This isn't reality... It's..."
Ripples appeared on the mirror's surface, and the three of them suddenly lost their senses.
When their vision returned, they found themselves in a void, surrounded by countless semi-transparent "Lin Yi" figures—each "Lin Yi" had a different expression, some sneered, some were in pain, some were calm, and the one at the very front even raised its hand, its fingertips gathering the same spacetime power as Lin Yi, a strange smile curling at the corner of its mouth.
"Welcome home." Countless voices echoed, and from the darkness of the void came the crisp sound of crystals shattering.
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