Chapter 121: The Light of Transmutation

The light flow began to flicker unpredictably.

The spiral tunnel formed by the plant roots resembled a poorly connected light tube, sometimes bright as day, sometimes dim as night. Each time it dimmed, the hybrid creatures in the shadows advanced a step forward; when it brightened again, they roared and retreated.

Kaiwen's detector issued a warning: "Plant energy remaining 8%! The light flow can sustain at most… ninety seconds!"

Ninety seconds.

Su Yu looked toward the ventilation shaft where Li Xiaofeng had vanished. No sound, no signal. What was happening below? Was he still alive?

"We can't wait," Han Qing decided, "we must strike proactively to buy Xiao Feng more time. Wang Hu, prepare the demolition charge. Makusi, hold the platform entrance. Lao Zhao, you…"

Lao Zhao was crouched on the ground, carving something into the metal floor with a dagger. It was a simple pixel map marking the platform's structure, the ventilation duct routes, and— "Xiao Feng said the equipment is fifty meters directly below, but the Transmutation Center blocks the middle. Here, here, and here," he jabbed three spots with the blade, "are dense cocoon zones. Each cocoon contains a person."

He lifted his head, his eyes bearing his father's distinctive mix of fear and resolve: "We can't blow up the Transmutation Center. There are our compatriots inside."

"But they're attacking us!" Wang Hu gripped the demolition charge, "and they'll be fully transmuted soon!"

"Chen Mo taught me," Su Yu suddenly spoke, and everyone turned to her, "in the Stardust Laboratory. He said the essence of contamination is 'the forgetting of existence.' Shadow matter devours memory, devours 'who you are,' then fills in what it wants."

She moved to the platform's edge, looking down into the darkness where a faint pulsating glow was barely visible—that was the Transmutation Center, the place where hundreds of cocoons beat like hearts.

"But if memory remains," Su Yu continued, "even just a little, the light can reignite."

Han Qing frowned, "What do you intend to do?"

"Resonance." Su Yu looked at Kaiwen, "Remember in the chemical park, we used the Heartflame Resonator to awaken Chen Mo's seed? Now we have the Stardust Plant—it's an extension of Chen Mo's will, pure 'Light of Existence.'"

"You want to use the plant's resonance to awaken the people inside the cocoons?" Kaiwen adjusted his glasses, "Theoretically possible, but it requires massive energy guidance. The plant only has 8% energy left; if we use it for resonance, the light flow will vanish instantly. We'll be exposed to the hybrid swarm."

"It won't be immediate." Su Yu pointed to her neck—though the pendant was given by Li Xiaofeng, she could still feel the lingering warmth, "I have Chen Mo's energy imprint on me. I can use myself as… a relay station."

"Too dangerous!" Makusi raised his voice unusually, "Your body can't withstand that energy flow!"

"Chen Mo endured it." Su Yu said calmly, "Before the Door of the End, he alone bore the entire Starlight Crystal's energy. If I can't even bear the imprint he left, how can I claim to 'bring him home'?"

Lao Zhao stood up and walked to Su Yu's side, "What do you need me to do?"

"Protect me," Su Yu said, "when I resonate I cannot move. Also… think of your son. Think of everyone trapped here. Memory is the guiding light, love is the fuel."

Han Qing was silent for three seconds. In those three seconds, the light flow dimmed again, the hybrids surged five meters forward before Wang Hu's heavy fire forced them back.

"Execute." He finally said, "Makusi, Wang Hu, establish a circular defense. Kaiwen, monitor the energy fluctuations. Lao Zhao, stay beside Su Yu, keep your mind clear—if she loses control, you must break the resonance."

"How to break it?"

Han Qing slipped a dagger into Lao Zhao's hand, "Physical interruption."

Lao Zhao gripped the dagger, his hand trembling, but his gaze was steady.

Su Yu sat cross‑legged, back against the rock wall, hands resting on her knees. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and let herself enter the True Knowledge Vision.

The world became a flow of energy: above, the Stardust Plant's roots resembled a golden river, though the river was drying up; around, teammates' "heart fire" burned like steady campfires; below, the Transmutation Center was a murky gray‑black vortex, but within the vortex swirled countless faint lights—those were trapped souls.

At the deepest point, a massive, icy darkness existed. It was sleeping, yet awakening. That was the Prison Core.

Su Yu extended a hand—not a physical hand, but a hand of consciousness. She touched the Stardust Plant's roots.

"Please lend me your light," she whispered, "to me."

The plant responded.

It was not a torrent of energy, but a gentle giving. The final 8% of energy was not used to sustain the light flow; instead it coursed along the roots into Su Yu's body. She felt warmth, then scorching heat, like drinking scalding water, burning from throat to stomach, then spreading through limbs and flesh.

The light flow vanished.

Darkness instantly devoured the tunnel.

The hybrids let out excited roars, surging like a tide.

"Fire!" Han Qing's voice cracked through the darkness.

Gunfire, the hum of energy weapons, clanging metal, and monster roars blended together. Wang Hu and Makusi fired back‑to‑back, shells raining down. Kaiwen tossed a flare; in the brief illumination, the hybrids swarmed like locusts.

Lao Zhao stood in front of Su Yu, dagger reverse‑gripped. A hybrid broke through the fire net and lunged; he blocked with the dagger, bone blade sparking against metal. The veteran's strength erupted, a kick sent the monster flying, but more monsters surged forward.

Su Yu heard none of this.

Her consciousness was sinking, following the plant's roots, descending into the Transmutation Center.

She "saw."

Hundreds of cocoons were neatly arranged in a massive underground cavern. Inside each cocoon lay a curled person, wrapped in shadow matter like insects in amber. Most people's eyes were completely black, but a minority—about one third—still held lingering specks of light.

She moved among the cocoons, not with her feet but with her mind. She touched one cocoon; inside was a woman about forty, her engineer uniform torn. The woman's memory fragments flooded Su Yu's consciousness:

Her daughter's fifth birthday, candles on the cake, a wish that Mom would always be with her.

When the disaster alarm sounded, she was video‑calling her daughter. The daughter said, "Mom, it's getting dark so fast."

She rushed into the shelter, thrusting her daughter to her husband, "Take her away!"

The last glance before the gate closed, her husband's lips forming, "I love you."

Then darkness. Seven years of darkness.

Su Yu infused the Stardust light into that memory. It was not purification, but nourishment—nourishing the five‑year‑old birthday candlelight, nourishing the warmth of the "I love you" phrase.

The woman's eyes began to change. The black faded, revealing brown pupils. She saw Su Yu, her lips moved silently, forming "Thank you."

One cocoon awakened.

Then the second, the third.

Su Yu, like a sowing hand, planted light in every cocoon that still retained memory. Some were vows to a beloved, some were a child's laughter, some were unfulfilled dreams, some were the ordinary afternoon sun before the disaster.

These memories, these proofs of "existence," began to grow under the nourishment of Stardust Light. They started purifying the shadow matter from within the cocoons—not by violent removal, but by gentle covering—using "who I am" to overlay "what it wants me to become."

But two‑thirds of the cocoons contained people who had completely lost their memory. Their consciousness had been devoured, leaving only hollow shells, now being reshaped into new hybrids.

Su Yu felt powerless. She could awaken those who still had memory, but could not save those already lost.

At that moment, she heard a voice.

It wasn't through her ears, but through the Stardust Plant's roots, coming from deeper down—Li Xiaofeng.

"…The equipment has activated. But there's a problem."

His voice was hurried, with a background roar of machinery.

The equipment designed by Dr. Chen requires two energy sources: one from above ground, which is the stardust plants; the other from underground, which requires…… requires a person's complete 'existence imprint' as a key.

I can use mine. But I've been contaminated, my imprint is incomplete. Forced use might……

Su Yu instantly understood Chen Mo's full plan.

Seven years ago, when he left this equipment, he knew: opening the above-ground and underground passage requires sacrifice. Not a sacrifice of life, but a sacrifice of 'existence'—someone must voluntarily give up all their memories, all their emotions, all proof of 'who I am', becoming a pure key to open the door, and then…… disappear.

Chen Mo originally intended to make that key himself. But the 'Door of the End' opened early, forcing him to seal the door with the Starlight Crystal, and his plan was disrupted.

Now, we need a new key.

"I..." Su Yu's consciousness wanted to respond.

But another voice sounded first.

It was Lao Zhao's. Not through the equipment, but through the consciousness field connecting Su Yu and the plants, he heard his son's words.

"Use mine." Lao Zhao's consciousness was clear and firm, "Xiaofeng, use Dad's. My imprint is complete, uncontaminated. And……"

He was smiling, and Su Yu could feel the warmth and relief of that smile.

"The brightest memories of my life are all about you. Using these memories as a key is very fitting."

"Dad! No!" Li Xiaofeng's voice choked with tears.

"Listen to me, son." Lao Zhao's consciousness felt like it was stroking the child's head, "For seven years, I've lived for only one reason: to find you. Now I've found you, seeing you still alive, still fighting, still saving people…… Dad's mission is complete."

"The compatriots below need this door opened."

"Those above need a complete future."

"And you, son, you need to know: some choices are painful, but they are love's final form."

Su Yu wanted to stop him, but Lao Zhao's consciousness had already passed through her connection, along the plant roots, extending downward, into the equipment.

She "saw"——not with her eyes, but through Resonance.

Lao Zhao's memories were like an open book: the fervor of joining the army in his youth, the flutter of meeting his wife, the ecstasy of his son's birth, the grief of losing his wife, each day accompanying his son as he grew, the panic when disaster struck, the persistence of seven years of searching, the tears and laughter of today's reunion……

These memories, these 'existence', were extracted and transformed into pure light code, injected into the equipment.

The equipment began to truly operate.

Deep underground, the machinery's roar became regular and powerful. A beam of light shot from the equipment's center, piercing upward through the rock layers and downward connecting to the shelter.

The passage, is opening.

But Lao Zhao……

Su Yu opened her eyes.

The real world surged back into her senses: gunshots, roars, the smell of blood. Wang Hu's left arm was bleeding, Makusi's metal arm had deep claw marks, Han Qing's disc overheated and smoked. They were still fighting, but the defensive line was collapsing.

Lao Zhao stood before her, his back to her, dagger still gripped in his hand. But he remained motionless.

Su Yu stood up and supported his shoulder.

Lao Zhao slowly turned around.

He was still alive, still breathing. But his eyes…… were empty. Not darkness, but a void. Like an emptied house, doors and windows still there, but nothing inside.

He remembered how to breathe, how to stand, even how to grip the dagger—muscle memory remained. But he didn't remember who he was, didn't remember his son, didn't remember the seven years of searching, didn't remember the choice just made.

He had become a clean, blank vessel.

"Lao Zhao?" Su Yu called softly.

He looked at her, his gaze like a newborn's seeing the world, full of bewilderment.

A hybrid creature broke through the defenses and lunged. Lao Zhao instinctively slashed his dagger, precisely stabbing the monster's eye. The motion was still that of a veteran, but without anger, without resolve, merely…… mechanical execution.

He was still protecting her. Because this was his final command before his consciousness faded.

Su Yu's tears welled up.

At this moment, the equipment was fully activated.

The light beam stabilized, forming a glowing circular area in the center of the cavern. The rock within the area began to turn transparent, like glass, allowing a view downward——that was a vast, brightly lit space, with orderly buildings, walking silhouettes, and…… over a thousand lives that had waited seven years.

The passage opened.

But at the same time, the dark presence in the deepest depths awoke.

The entire cavern began to tremble. Not an earthquake, but some massive thing moving. The rock walls cracked, debris fell. The cocoons at the transformation center, already fully transformed, all ruptured; their husks rose, eyes completely black, turning toward the light beam.

They intended to destroy the passage.

And the energy of the stardust plants had been exhausted, the light flow ceased.

They opened the door.

And also awakened the giant beast guarding the door.

Han Qing's voice came through the explosions: "Su Yu! Take Lao Zhao and go! We'll hold the rear!"

But Su Yu looked at the darkness rising below, at the fully transformed beings surging toward the light beam, and at Lao Zhao beside her, his eyes empty yet still instinctively protecting her.

She did not move.

Chen Mo's final lesson he taught her was not how to fight.

It was how, in dire straits, to still choose to become light.

Even if that meant burning herself.

She took Lao Zhao's hand——the hand that had just lost all its memories, yet was still protecting her.

"Together," she said, "bring everyone home."

The last trace of energy from the stardust plants responded within her.

It was not from the root system.

It came from her heart——there, the imprint left by Chen Mo, was glowing.