Chapter 28: Data Torrent and the System's Shadow

At the moment the outpost entrance slid open, the aura of chaos and slaughter came rushing in like a tangible force. Uncontrolled iron-armored lizards charged wildly, dark-red energy beams shot awry in the interference field, and the roars of the Purification Society soldiers mixed with the cries of their mounts.

In this chaos, the Echo Squad struck like a poisoned dagger, thrusting fiercely!

Chen Mo's target was clear—the Purification Society leader surrounded by several frenzied lizards in the center, emanating a fierce LV17 aura! He was a middle-aged man with a stern face and eyes like a hawk, unfazed, brandishing a longsword inlaid with red crystals, precisely parrying the lizards' bites while loudly commanding his subordinates.

Hold formation! Prioritize controlling the mounts! They've come out—leave none alive!

How could Chen Mo give him a chance to regroup? Activating 【Shadow Step】 to the extreme, his silhouette left afterimages across the chaotic battlefield; his fine tactical axe tore through the air, carrying 【Corrosive Venom】 and highly compressed 【Energy Shot】, he cleaved straight at the opponent's face!

"Seek death!" the Purification Society leader snorted coldly, LV17 power erupting explosively, his red-crystal longsword engulfed in roaring flames, swinging toward the axe!

"Boom!!"

Axe and sword clashed, erupting in a deafening roar and blinding energy flash! Chen Mo felt a tremendous force surge, his tiger's mouth split, his qi and blood churned, and he was flung uncontrollably, crashing heavily into the rock wall!

【HP: 217/380】

In that single strike, his HP dropped nearly half! The gap between LV13 and LV17 was like a chasm!

"Brother Mo!" Su Yu exclaimed in shock.

"Block them!" Han Qing's eyes nearly burst as he roared, raising his shield; the 【Weak Energy Deflection】 effect triggered, he solidly blocked a dark-red energy beam aimed at Chen Mo, the shield's surface instantly blackened!

Zhang Yang, Li Siwen, and others also rushed forward with red eyes, entangling with the Purification Society soldiers trying to surround and kill them; the battle instantly intensified!

The Purification Society leader's face flashed a hint of disdainful savage smile, just as he was about to step forward and finish Chen Mo, suddenly Su Yu's sharp cry, tinged with sobs yet unusually clear, rang in his ears, as if the sound drilled directly into his mind:

"His left leg! Old injury! When his energy flows to the knee, there's a slight lag!!"

This sound was not transmitted through the air; it was Su Yu, in extreme worry, instinctively bursting forth a deeper mental link! She 'saw' the minuscule flaw in the opponent's energy flow!

Chen Mo, who was preparing to pursue, felt his pupils contract sharply! Without the slightest hesitation, he gritted his teeth against the pain, sprang up from the ground, no longer meeting force with force, but instead exerted all his agility to the utmost, weaving like a ghost around the Purification Society leader; his tactical axe no longer sought power, but like a venomous snake, repeatedly struck precisely and sneakily at the opponent's left knee and surrounding area!

The Purification Society leader's expression shifted slightly; the opponent's attacks suddenly became extremely targeted, each strike catching him at the subtle node of his power transition, allowing only seventy percent of his full strength to be unleashed, leaving him stifled! He tried to overwhelm with sheer power, but Chen Mo gave him no chance for a head‑on clash, combining 【Shadow Step】 with Su Yu's precise guidance to push harassment tactics to the extreme!

On the other side, Han Qing and the others, though lower in level, managed to barely hold off the other soldiers' siege thanks to their newly reinforced equipment, death‑defying courage, and Su Yu's occasional mental alerts—"That one on the right, the armor joint!" "Watch behind, he's going to throw a shock grenade!"

The battlefield fell into a strange stalemate. The Purification Society leader, despite his great power, was tightly entangled, and his subordinates could not quickly dispose of these "nursery‑zone" survivors, who clung like stubborn gum.

"Enough!" the Purification Society leader, unable to break through after prolonged attack, burned with fury; he stepped back sharply, ignoring Chen Mo's harassment, raised his red‑crystal longsword high, the flames on the blade instantly turning searing white! "Flame Slash!"

Massive fire‑attribute energy began to gather; this strike was obviously his trump‑card skill, prepared to force a breakthrough!

Chen Mo's eyes hardened; he knew he could no longer dodge! He drew a deep breath, activating 【Stone Skin】 and 【Bone Armor】 to their limits, the energy on his tactical axe wildly compressed, readying to take this fatal blow head‑on!

At this critical moment——

"Nightwatch! Help him!!" Su Yu, who had somehow rushed to the door of the control hall, pressed both hands hard against the now‑warm pendant, shouting a blood‑curdling plea at the dormant AI core, pouring all her mental power into it without reservation! "Use that! Use that coordinate data!!"

As if answering her call, the entire outpost shuddered violently! The black crystal from Barton, forcibly inserted by Li Siwen into the 【Environmental Interferer】 sequence, its fragmented segment containing the "Ark" coordinate data, was now forcibly extracted and activated by the residual instinct of the "Nightwatch" AI—or rather, by Su Yu's authority!

It had no offensive capability, but it represented an extremely important "address", a "visit request" with top‑priority status!

This special data flow, like an erroneous access command, instantly broke through the outpost's silent restriction on external communications; it was not a signal sent out, but formed an extremely brief, vaguely directed……data surge ripple!

This ripple itself was harmless, but as it swept across the battlefield's sky, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake!

【…hiss…detected abnormal high‑priority information marker…protocol conflict…judging…】

【Warning! Detected high‑value 'Observer' unit and 'Ark'‑related signal in an unauthorized area! Threat level reassessed!】

【…hiss…forcibly executing 'Settlement Protocol' Beta…top priority override…】

A will far colder and vaster than the "Nightwatch", like the Heavenly Dao itself—merciless and unknowing—seemed to descend a thread from the nine heavens, instantly sweeping across the entire battlefield!

Everyone felt a shudder rising from the depths of their souls, as if glanced upon by a supreme being!

Immediately after, something occurred that left everyone, including the Purification Society members, dumbfounded——

In the sky, the ever‑hanging blood moon's light suddenly twisted! A thick bolt of pure blood‑colored data lightning struck without warning! The target was neither Chen Mo nor Su Yu, but the LV17 Purification Society leader who was gathering his 【Flame Slash】!

"No! This can't be…" the Purification Society leader's savage grin froze, turning into utter terror and disbelief; he tried to block, but the data lightning seemed to ignore any physical or energy defense, piercing straight through his body!

There was no explosion, no scream. His body disintegrated like a pencil sketch erased by an eraser, starting from the fingertips, rapidly breaking down into the most basic blood‑colored data stream that vanished into the air. Even the burning crystal longsword in his hand vanished likewise.

【Region Announcement: Player 'Purification Flame Envoy' (LV17) violated the 'Settlement Protocol' and was forcibly erased by the system.】

The cold system alert tone rang in every player's mind.

The battlefield fell into instant silence.

The remaining Purification Society soldiers froze in place, staring at the spot where their leader had vanished into thin air, their faces filled with bewilderment, fear, and collapse. Had the system… turned on its own people? Just because of that strange data stream?

Chen Mo half‑knelt on the ground, gasping violently, watching this incomprehensible scene before him, his heart churning with tumultuous waves. The system's direct intervention! Because of Su Yu and those coordinates?

"Withdraw… retreat!" a surviving Purification Society squad leader finally reacted, hoarsely shouting, no longer caring about the mission, he grabbed the few remaining soldiers, mounted the barely controllable iron‑armored lizards like a beaten dog, and fled in panic from Eagle Beak Rock Ridge.

The threat was lifted in this unexpected way.

The members of the Echo Squad exchanged glances, each feeling a dazed sense of having survived the disaster yet now lost in a greater mist.

Chen Mo pushed himself up with his tactical axe, walked to Su Yu's side, and helped her stand. The girl, having exhausted her mental power and just suffered the shock, was nearly faint.

He lifted his gaze to the blood moon, his eyes heavy with solemnity.

The system's "help" was not benevolent. It was more like a… procedural cleanup. Because it sensed a higher‑priority "target" (the Observer and the Ark signal), it erased the "bug" that might interfere with its judgment or execution—the Purification Society leader.

They seemed to have… stirred up a bigger hornet's nest, and been "marked" by a far more terrifying existence.

The core of the "Nightwatch" AI, after emitting that data surge, had its light completely extinguished, as if drained of its last bit of energy.

Chen Mo knew they had to leave immediately. The system's gaze was more unsettling than the Purification Society's pursuit.

He glanced at the still‑shaken teammates, then spoke in a low voice:

"We're leaving. To the 'Ark'."

Only there might lie the answer to counter all this. And their whereabouts have likely already been exposed beneath an unimaginable "gaze".