Chapter 25: Edge of the Rift Valley and the Ark Outpost

The battlefield where the aberrations and the Purification Society patrol were annihilated was left far behind, yet the faint scent of blood and madness lingering in the air, like maggots of the ankle bone, reminded everyone of the land's treachery.

The "Echo" squad followed the relatively safe route marked on the map, continuing northwest. The nearer they got to the "Death Rift," the stranger the surroundings became. The ground began to crack irregularly, sometimes spewing scorching gas with a sulfur smell, other times oozing cold, faintly radioactive azure liquid. Even the Blood Moon in the sky seemed affected, its light flickering and occasionally warping into unnatural ripples.

Vegetation was nearly extinct, replaced by twisted, bizarre fungi that seemed a blend of metal and flesh, which quivered slightly with the energy fluctuations, emitting unsettling psychic contamination. The concentration of stray magical energy particles in the air was alarmingly high and even more volatile; an ordinary person lingering here for long would likely go mentally insane, perhaps even suffer bodily aberrations.

"The energy here… so chaotic, so noisy…" Su Yu's complexion remained poor; she had to keep her senses constantly active to discern danger in this chaotic place. The disordered thoughts emitted by those twisted fungi pricked her mental shield like countless fine needles.

"Hold on, this is a test of your abilities," Chen Mo said in a deep voice, while vigilantly scanning the surroundings. His keen sense of smell was severely disrupted here, with a jumble of pungent, strange odors indistinguishable from one another. In contrast, the passive energy vision from his tactical visor could barely pick up some abnormal energy flow traces.

"Ahead… that's the Rift Edge marked on the map," Han Qing said, pointing at a massive chasm ahead that looked as if split by a giant axe, bottomless, his voice heavy.

The group halted, standing at the Rift's edge and looking down. Below swirled a dense, kaleidoscopic energy mist that seemed impenetrable, with no visible bottom. Within the mist came occasional sour‑tinged metallic creaks, terrifying roars of unknown creatures, and a low hum that seemed to emanate from the planet's core. Just standing at the edge, a heart‑pounding suction and chaotic law‑force constantly tried to pull them down.

"The Death Rift… lives up to its name," Li Siwen pushed up his glasses, his complexion turning pale.

"The coordinate point… is right across the Rift, slightly to the west," Su Yu pointed to a vague, beak‑shaped rock outcrop on the mist‑shrouded opposite bank, "the straight‑line distance may be no more than five kilometers, but… how do we get across?"

The Rift spanned over a kilometer in width, with lethal energy mist and unknown hazards below; riding a flying mount here was practically suicidal—earlier they had seen from afar a gigantic thunderbird attempting to cross, which let out a mournful wail as soon as it entered the mist, its feathers shedding, flesh warping, and finally plummeting into the abyss.

"The map marks an ancient cableway ruin three kilometers downstream," Chen Mo recalled from the leather map, "that's the only known possible path that could span the Rift."

With no better option, the party cautiously advanced along the Rift's edge toward the downstream direction. Along the way they faced several waves of monsters tainted by the Rift's energy, their forms even more grotesque. These monsters' attacks often mixed psychic shock and bizarre rule interference, such as causing gravity to momentarily destabilize or making weapons suddenly several times heavier, making them extremely hard to counter.

Chen Mo, relying on multiple defensive skills and his upgraded Life Leech, managed to hold off most of the pressure, yet the team remained wounded and mentally exhausted. Liu Qian's Weak Healing was severely diminished in this environment, barely able to treat superficial injuries.

Finally, as the sunset—elongated and eerie under the Blood Moon's glow—was about to sink completely below the horizon, they discovered the cableway ruin.

It was a massive steel structure spanning the Rift, but long since corroded beyond repair. The main load‑bearing cables were broken in many places, dangling into the abyss, leaving only a few auxiliary cables and rust‑streaked bridge girders barely linking the two banks. The cableway's gondola beneath had vanished, and only twisted metal debris hung from the cables, producing a sour‑tinged clatter in the valley wind.

"Is… is this thing really still usable?" Wang Hu looked at the cableway that seemed ready to collapse at any moment, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

Chen Mo gave no answer; he walked to the cableway's base and examined it closely. The base was cast from an unusually sturdy alloy; despite being riddled with rust, its structure remained largely intact. Engraved on it were some vague symbols not belonging to modern civilization, one of which bore a striking resemblance to the "Ark" icon left on the map by Su Yu's mother!

"This isn't a relic of the old era," Chen Mo said gravely, "it's very likely a remnant from the 'Ark' era."

He tried to feed a trace of energy into the base. The base gave no response. Yet when Su Yu approached and her pendant at her neck emitted a faint glow again, an extremely faint, gear‑like "click" sound seemed to emanate from within the base.

"It… it seems to require a specific energy authentication," Su Yu said uncertainly.

Chen Mo thought for a moment, then retrieved the core component he had removed from the Purification Society minor leader's energy gun. The device emitted energy fluctuations similar to the base's alloy. He tried pressing it against an inconspicuous dent on the base.

"Hum—"

A low hum resonated, and portions of the rust on the base peeled away as if alive, revealing beneath a precise structure shimmering with pale blue light! Several broken cables seemed drawn by an invisible force, slowly tightening! The entire cableway ruin was temporarily activated!

"Now that's exciting!" Zhang Yang exclaimed excitedly.

But Chen Mo's expression grew even more solemn. He sensed that the moment the cableway was activated, a subtle yet powerful detection wave swept over them, its source seeming to come from the opposite bank of the Rift, in the direction of that beak‑shaped rock outcrop!

"Quick! Take the cableway! This activation won't last long!" Chen Mo barked loudly, while pressing the Purification Society core component firmly onto the base, sustaining the energy output.

The group dared not delay, climbing the rusted yet temporarily stable bridge girders one after another, using hands and feet to scramble toward the opposite bank. Below roiled lethal mist, and the howling valley wind battered their ears; each step felt like dancing on a knife's edge.

Just as most of the team had reached the middle section of the cableway, the anomaly regenerated!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several dark‑red energy beams suddenly shot from the shadows of the beak‑shaped rock outcrop on the opposite bank, striking the cableway's auxiliary cables and bridge girders with pinpoint accuracy!

It was a Purification Society ambush! They had been guarding this spot for a long time!

"Watch out!" Chen Mo shouted, instantly triggering Energy Shot, intercepting two beams aimed at Su Yu's position.

"Snap!" an auxiliary cable was melted by an energy beam, causing the cableway to shudder violently, and several team members nearly lost their footing and fell!

"Han Qing! Hold the front! Everyone else, speed up!" Chen Mo said while maintaining the base's energy output, using his tactical axe to block the incoming energy attacks, his Stone Skin's glow flashing rapidly across his body.

The firepower on the opposite bank was unusually fierce, with at least one squad of Purification Society soldiers, equipped with heavy weapons!

"Chen Mo! The base's energy is waning! I can't hold it much longer!" Su Yu's urgent voice came through the mental link.

Chen Mo looked down; the Purification Society core component in his hand had become scorching hot, its surface glow rapidly dimming!

"Dammit!" he glared, forcefully pouring his internal energy into the core component without regard for cost, while shouting at Han Qing and the others who were nearly across the bank, "Jump over! Now!"

Han Qing let out a roar, using all his strength to slam his shield hard against the opposite rock wall, anchoring his body, then turned and hauled Zhang Yang, Li Siwen, and the others one by one onto the cableway.

At that moment, a crisp "crack" rang out as the core component in Chen Mo's hand shattered completely! The cableway base's pale blue glow extinguished instantly, the tightened cables slackened again, and the entire cableway emitted a despairing groan, beginning to tilt downward and collapse!

"Chen Mo!" Su Yu let out a mournful shout; she was still on the rear section of the cableway!

At the brink of disaster, a resolute flash crossed Chen Mo's eyes! He pushed his Shadow Step to the limit, leaping off the collapsing cableway wreckage several times as if propelled by lightning toward Su Yu, grabbing her waist, while his other hand swung his tactical axe hard into a nearby rock wall!

"Clang!"

The axe blade embedded deeply into the stone, halting the duo's downward momentum abruptly; they hung beneath the collapsing cableway, with the roiling energy mist swirling below them!

On the opposite bank, Han Qing and the others were already locked in fierce firefights with the Purification Society's ambushers, the shouts and explosions of energy blending into a cacophony.

Chen Mo looked down at the pallid Su Yu clutched tightly in his arms, then lifted his gaze toward the opposite bank, which seemed both within reach and impossibly distant.

"Hold me tight!"

He growled low, stamping his feet hard against the rock wall, using the recoil to propel himself, while activating Energy Shot to thrust backward, hurling Su Yu like a human projectile, narrowly swinging toward the opposite bank of the Rift and crashing heavily onto the edge of the beak‑shaped rock outcrop!

Almost the instant they hit the ground, the cableway ruin behind them disintegrated completely, accompanied by a deafening roar, plunging into the endless abyss of energy mist.

Chen Mo coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, struggled to rise, shielding Su Yu behind him, his cold gaze fixed on the Purification Society soldiers still locked in battle with Han Qing and the others.

They had finally set foot on the other side of the "Death Rift." Awaiting them were not only ferocious foes but also a metallic structure hidden behind the beak‑shaped rock outcrop, faintly visible and exuding an ancient, mysterious aura—

That, then, is the Ark outpost indicated by the coordinates left by Su Yu's mother?