Chapter 29: Data Scars and Rift Shadows

The aftereffects of the system's erasure, like cold poison, seep into everyone's marrow. On the Eagle Beak rock formation, the wind still howls, but it cannot carry away the bone‑deep chill. A LV17 strongman is as tiny as dust before a higher‑tier power.

Chen Mo silently bent down and picked up the dull red crystal on the ground that belonged to the leader of the Purification Society. Inside the crystal a faint strand of forcibly severed energy still lingered, its surface ice‑cold. It may be the only trace that can prove that powerful being ever appeared.

There is no time for sentiment or fear. The system's gaze is like a Damocles sword; no one knows when the next purge will fall.

"Pack up and leave immediately," Chen Mo's voice was hoarse, yet carried undeniable resolve. His gaze swept over the still‑shaken teammates. "We've been marked; this place is no longer safe."

No one questioned it. The outpost's concealment effect remained, but no one dared guarantee the system wouldn't suddenly remember this place. Su Yu forced her frail body to hold the pendant tightly in her palm, as if it were her only comfort.

They quickly gathered whatever supplies were still usable on the battlefield—mainly energy cells left by Purification Society soldiers and some high‑energy compressed rations. Chen Mo carefully stowed the red crystal; he had a hunch the item might be useful later.

Leaving the Eagle Beak rock formation, they stepped again onto the barren edge of the Death Rift. The atmosphere was completely different from when they arrived. Earlier they had explored cautiously; now they fled as if condemned. Everyone felt an invisible, icy pair of eyes watching their every move from behind.

Su Yu's perception became unusually acute, even hypersensitive. Any hint of unnatural energy fluctuation set her nerves on edge. She kept glancing up at the Blood Moon, always feeling that ominous sphere might once again unleash a destructive beam.

"Chen Mo... the system's power... can we really stand against it?" During a brief rest, Su Yu finally couldn't hold back, whispering the fear that weighed on everyone.

Chen Mo stared at the rolling energy mist in the distant Rift, his gaze deep. "I don't know. But I do know that waiting for destruction is a dead end. The Ark is our only clue right now. Your mother left it, so it must mean something."

He paused, then looked at Su Yu. "And don't you find it odd? Why does the system react so violently to a single coordinate datum? Even to the point of erasing its own Cleaner Drone? That coordinate, that Ark, must have touched a secret it doesn't want anyone to know, or perhaps it's the source of its energy."

Su Yu was stunned; she had never considered it from that angle.

"You mean... the Ark could... be the system's weakness?"

"At least it's the key," Chen Mo said gravely. "We must go. Not just to find truth and survival, but also... to strike back."

"Strike back"—those two words he uttered lightly, yet they struck like lightning, cleaving the gloom over everyone's hearts. Indeed, why should they be hunted, filtered, even arbitrarily erased like rats?

A long‑suppressed anger and resentment began to quietly fester within the team.

Based on the outpost's updated map and the fragmentary coordinate in the Barton crystal, they needed to trek roughly two hundred kilometers northwest along the Rift's edge to reach the so‑called Ark's peripheral zone. That stretch was destined to be anything but smooth.

The environment around the Rift grew increasingly hostile. Space showed signs of instability; sometimes a step felt as if gravity suddenly lightened, as if one might float, while other times the body felt several times heavier, making each step arduous. Cracks in the ground sporadically spewed scorching gusts or icy radioactive dust.

The monsters grew stranger and stronger. They encountered a "Phase Hunter Dog" capable of briefly warping space, and a "Whisperer" that emitted mental‑pollution ripples causing hallucinations. Combat became extremely arduous, requiring defense against both physical attacks and constant mental erosion.

Chen Mo had to frequently employ the upgraded 【Life Leech】 to keep the team afloat. In a grueling clash with a group of Whisperers, he daringly activated 【Rock Skin】 and 【Bone Armor】 simultaneously, bracing the mental onslaught and forcibly slaying a LV15 Whisperer leader.

【Successfully killed LV. 15 Whisperer leader (Elite), gained 5,500 EXP!】

【Level up to LV14!】

【Death Echo triggered! Successfully copied skill: Mental Resistance (LV. 2)!】

【Mental Resistance (LV. 2): Passive skill. Significantly boosts resistance to mental attacks, illusion, hypnosis and similar effects.】

Gaining the powerful Mental Resistance greatly eased Chen Mo's pressure against such bizarre foes. His level also rose further, widening the gap with the team's average and making him a true pillar of the group.

With Chen Mo's encouragement and her own effort, Su Yu also began to actively wield her ability. She no longer merely sensed and warned passively; she tried to radiate her calm mental intent outward, forming a small‑range mental shield. Though weak, it effectively dampened the Whisperers' mental pollution on her comrades. She could even occasionally snag fleeting fragments of information from the chaotic monsters' consciousness about the Rift's depths and the terrifying entity.

At dusk five days later, they arrived at an area marked on the map as "Decayed Forest." It had once seemed a forest, but now every tree bore an unnatural ashen hue, branches twisted like a dying, struggling monster. The air was thick with rot and sulphur.

"The coordinate point... is deep within the center of this forest," Su Yu said, pointing at the dead‑silent, endless twisted woods ahead, her face grim. "But... I sense no energy fluctuations that an Ark should emit; instead... there's a very, very ancient... sleeping... malice."

Chen Mo's 【Keen Smell】 also picked up that deeply buried, profoundly unsettling aura. It was completely different from the Ark they had imagined.

"Stay alert; something's off here," Chen Mo gripped his tactical axe, signaling the team to form a defensive formation as they slowly entered the Decayed Forest.

The soil beneath their feet was soft and viscous, producing a "puff" sound with each step, as if treading on rotting flesh. Twisted branches resembled ghostly claws, trying to tear at their clothes. The forest was eerily silent, even the wind seemed unwilling to visit.

About a kilometer into the forest, Han Qing, who was leading, suddenly halted and whispered, "Something... a lot... is coming up from underground!"

As soon as his words finished, the ground ahead and to both sides ripped open! Dozens of grotesque, humanoid creatures stitched together from rotting roots and pale bones surged out! They had no eyes, only hollow sockets, and emitted a "hoho" screech from their mouths, brandishing sharp bone claws like a tide.

【LV. 13 Decayed Root Tendrils (???)】xN

"Defend!" Chen Mo shouted, 【Energy Shot】 instantly triggered, blasting the forward‑most root tendrils to pieces!

Han Qing raised his shield, while Zhang Yang, Li Siwen and others fought fiercely. Yet the root tendrils were countless, and after being shattered, the broken limbs swiftly merged into the soil's humus, then re‑formed nearby! It seemed endless.

"They can't be killed! Or... the core isn't here!" Su Yu shouted urgently, her perception piercing the root tendrils' shells, revealing that their energy sources all pointed deeper into the forest.

"No melee! Charge forward! Find their source!" Chen Mo decided on the spot, clearing a path with his tactical axe, 【Shadow Step】 darting through the dense root tendrils, each flash shattering several of them.

The team was like a lone boat rowing upstream, laboriously pushing through the torrent of decayed root tendrils. Everyone's eyes burned with blood, their bodies coated in viscous humus and root fragments.

After an indeterminate amount of charging, the path ahead suddenly opened into a vast clearing within the forest. At the center of the clearing stood not the grand Ark they had imagined, but a colossal pit over a hundred meters in diameter, bottomless. The pit's rim was smooth, as if some immense force had instantly melted and hollowed it out. Thick, ink‑black darkness seeped from the abyss, mingling with the suffocating ancient malice.

And all the decayed root tendrils' energy sources originated from the depths of that dark pit!

The moment they appeared at the clearing's edge, the darkness within the pit seemed to come alive, beginning to churn and coalesce violently!

A low, hoarse voice, as if countless departed souls were howling together, rang directly in the depths of everyone's souls:

"Intruders... disturb... the slumber... leave... become... nourishment..."

Accompanying the voice, the darkness above the pit coalesced into a vague yet gigantic, anguished human face; its hollow eye sockets stared at Chen Mo and Su Yu behind him.

"Fresh... observer... scent... and... detestable... system... hound..."

"Devour... you..."

The massive face formed of darkness and malice opened an invisible maw, and a terrifying suction instantly engulfed the entire clearing!

This time, the system's gaze did not descend. What they faced was a more ancient, primal terror emanating from beneath the Ark's coordinate point.