Chapter 292: The Hour Before Dawn

Countless weapons fired at the skyward torrent of winged demons, and at this moment, the massive artillery from the eastern and northern city walls joined in, hammering the giant sea urchin.

Dense explosions flared across the invisible defense barrier on the urchin's black spines, turning the battlefield into a thunderous roar of artillery.

The Pangu Prototype was flung out by the abyss worm, crashing backward into a neighborhood—several high-rises exploded in sequence, and debris and shattered glass walls rained down like a tidal wave.

"Fuck this earthworm!"

Inside the cockpit, Chen Wei cursed, gasping for breath.

"This worm is the urchin's vanguard—they must have some communication mechanism. Now we're being attacked from both sides!"

Lin Xian breathed heavily, then suddenly felt a warm stream flowing from his nostrils—he reached up, wiped it, and found it was blood.

Even with his Mechanical Heart, synchronizing with this ten-thousand-ton mecha was like constantly scanning and perceiving the entire machine's state—the difficulty was unimaginable. He turned to Chen Wei and saw the man's face pale, blood gushing from his nose like a fountain.

"How are you? Can you still fight?!"

Chen Wei wiped the blood away with one hand: "Child's play."

"Good!"

Clank. Clank.

Both grabbed their arm controls, shuddered, and rose again.

Whoo~

The Pangu Prototype, lying amid rubble, now roared as its nuclear turbine pulsed in its chest; its full-body muscle actuators outputted torque wildly. The prototype slammed one fist into the ground and rose once more from the ruins.

Gazing through the swirling dust ahead, Chen Wei spoke calmly:

"That worm moved while we were active—the seismic sensors couldn't lock its signal. Now it's still again—it's deliberately lying in wait."

Lin Xian's gaze sharpened as he stared at the black urchin beneath the barrage, then nodded: "If we attack the urchin, this thing will surface—so…"

He glanced at Chen Wei, who nodded back.

Both understood instantly. They aimed toward the black urchin and began walking forward.

Thud. Thud.

The Prototype emerged from the dust and marched toward the black urchin. The giant urchin fully extended its defense barrier, its black spines writhing, thick smoke rising around it as if it were slowly lifting off.

"It's trying to flee?!"

"We won't give it the chance!"

Once it flies into the clouds, we'll never get another shot.

The Prototype accelerated immediately. Each step shook the ground violently, yet beneath the surface, the abyss worm moved in tandem.

"Right fist!"

"Right fist!"

As they neared the urchin's spines, both shouted in unison and swung their fists—only to strike an invisible barrier, sending ripples through the air. The giant urchin didn't attack the Prototype at all—it simply rose higher, enduring the barrage.

But the Prototype wouldn't let it escape. It sidestepped hundreds of meters, locating the gap where the constant-pressure tower had been inserted. At that spot, a ring of defense barrier glowed with intense heat, melting the tower's metal casing—soon, it would sever it completely.

Lin Xian and Chen Wei seized the moment, raising their right arms together.

"Activate ultra-high-pressure pulse hammer!"

"Activate ultra-high-pressure pulse hammer!"

Zzzzz—hydraulic actuators in the right arm stretched, high-frequency electric arcs flashed across dozens of alloy stamping units, then slammed into the metal constant-pressure tower. The massive electromagnetic shockwave triggered a thermal detonation, blasting through the urchin's shell by dozens of meters, instantly spewing torrents of black corrosive sludge from the tower's mouth.

Lin Xian and Chen Wei immediately sidestepped, dodging the corrosive fluid.

Creak—squeeeeeee

This move not only severely wounded the urchin but enraged it completely. The giant black-spined urchin emitted a powerful infrasonic shriek—every black spine violently thrashed, ignoring incoming missiles, and surged toward the Prototype in a frenzied wave.

Boom!

Lin Xian and Chen Wei had anticipated this—they drove the Prototype to raise its arms, gripping the spines tightly, and yanked the giant urchin down from the sky.

In another direction, Wen Zhuo saw all the urchin's defense barriers vanish—he immediately narrowed his eyes, sensing the opening. He shouted over the frequency: "Now! Everyone, full fire! Empty every missile!"

Shhhhhhh!

At once, every aerial unit—even distant ground artillery—opened fire. The sky filled with dense arcs of fiery trails; the cannons on Gaocheng roared in unison.

Wen Zhuo and his hunting team unleashed every long-range skill they had.

In an instant, dense explosions erupted across the giant urchin's entire body.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

This time, the massive blasts shattered much of its hard shell, snapping dozens of black spines, which clattered and fell like broken branches.

The giant urchin burned fiercely, its black spines raining down to the ground—all watching felt their spirits surge.

Boom boom boom.

Then, a massive seismic wave roared to life. Chen Wei and Lin Xian, still pinning the urchin, braced themselves.

Their holographic view captured ground fractures—both faces darkened.

"Don't let go—it's about to break!" Chen Wei growled through gritted teeth.

"I… know…" Lin Xian bit down to his limit. The Pangu Prototype's nuclear core roared wildly; every engine hummed, outputting immense torque to crush the urchin into the earth.

At that moment, a faint red light streaked across the sky, speeding toward the ground fissures.

Lin Xian looked up—it was Kiki, arriving with the Hell Black Chrysanthemum. She flew swiftly down the streets, hugging the direction of the seismic waves.

"Kiki, don't get that close!!"

Lin Xian shouted—but all communication frequencies near the spines were jammed; no one could hear them. Other aerial units adjusted attacks based on the Prototype's movements and the spines' state. Seeing Kiki's reckless move, Lin Xian's heart clenched with panic.

"You little bug, you've been chasing this flower—here it is! Come get it!!"

Kiki's face was pale. She cradled the cultivation chamber of the Hell Black Chrysanthemum. As she neared the urchin, she turned sharply, staring at the ground fissure, screaming inside: "Come on! Come after it!!"

Then something strange happened—the abyss worm, seemingly drawn by the Hell Black Chrysanthemum's scent, suddenly reversed course as it neared the Prototype and followed Kiki.

Kiki's eyes lit up. She accelerated, carrying the flower toward the distant open ground.

Lin Xian and Chen Wei watched Kiki's move succeed—both were stunned.

"Looks like this worm isn't that smart," Lin Xian murmured.

"Urchin, your minion's fled—you're done for!" Chen Wei roared.

But then, the Prototype's holographic display erupted in flashing red alerts.

【WARNING: STRONG ENERGY FLUCTUATION DETECTED!】

【WARNING: STRONG ENERGY FLUCTUATION DETECTED!】

Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!

Whether the giant urchin sensed imminent death from the barrage or was enraged by the worm's stupidity, its dense compound eyes blazed crimson. Its black fur rippled violently—and a crimson dust cloud, far more violent than before, exploded outward in a perfect spherical shockwave.

Boom!

Instantly, every incoming missile and shell was swallowed and detonated. The surrounding neighborhoods were vaporized by the thermal shockwave. The Prototype's composite armor tore apart; countless mechanical units melted. Its nano-ceramic visor shattered halfway; lights and system glows died abruptly—and the entire machine was blasted backward.

Kiki, mid-flight, felt the energy surge behind her. Before she could turn, the shockwave engulfed her, hurling her away—her Hell Black Chrysanthemum tumbled into the rubble.

Boom boom boom!

The shockwave expanded radially across Xilan City, forming a massive hemispherical blast that covered nearly one-third of the city. The monster tide below, the winged demons overhead, and even many aerial units were instantly swallowed. Intense ionizing radiation caused distant aircraft to shut down and plummet en masse.

This terrifying scene leveled nearly the entire central district. Kiki was flung into rubble—but she'd activated a mental shield at the last second, barely saving her life.

Cough. Cough.

Kiki struggled up from the debris, face streaked with blood. With her last strength, she shoved aside a slab of concrete, stood trembling, and scanned the ruined city, searching desperately for the Prototype.

"Lin… cough cough cough…"

Kiki had no strength left. She shivered in the snowstorm. Then she saw it—the giant mecha beneath distant rubble. Its front was charred red, its chest armor split open, horrifically mangled.

"Lin Xian!"

Kiki screamed, pressing her comm—but even if it connected, no sound came back.

Boom boom boom~

The seismic roar returned. The ground trembled, dust rose—Kiki realized what was coming and frantically searched for the Hell Black Chrysanthemum.

If the worm swallowed it, the Prototype was finished.

"Where? Where…?"

Kiki scanned the black ruins, then suddenly remembered: "Right—the worm's looking for it too!"

She turned toward the direction of the seismic movement—and there, at the edge of a street's rubble, she saw the Hell Black Chrysanthemum glowing red.

Kiki gasped, panting. She tried to activate her ability to fly—but her body trembled uncontrollably; she couldn't control her power. Crimson blood streamed from her nostrils.

Just as panic overwhelmed her, a snowmobile roared out from the street rubble, headlights blazing. It bumped and jolted to the edge of the debris. The door flew open—a slender figure leapt out and sprinted straight for the Hell Black Chrysanthemum.

Kiki's eyes narrowed—because that figure was Xiao Yuan!

"Xiao Yuan!!" Kiki shouted over the comm.

"Kiki, I found the Hell Black Chrysanthemum! Where are you?!" Xiao Yuan, carefully digging through rubble to retrieve the flower, spoke into the comm.

Boom boom boom!

The violent quake continued. Kiki saw the dust plume rising far away—her face paled. She screamed: "Run! Just run! Don't look back!"

Then she shouted into the hunting team's frequency: "Wen Zhuo, Huo Ge—where are you?! Get here now!"

"On our way!" came Wen Zhuo's voice, crackling with wind.

Xiao Yuan, seeing the quake behind and the distant Prototype, clutched the Hell Black Chrysanthemum to her chest and sprinted back to the snowmobile. She stomped the accelerator—the engine roared, and the vehicle shot through snow and dust toward the open ground.

Behind them, the seismic roar closed in fast.

"Lin Xian!! Lin Xian!! Are you alive?!" Kiki screamed into the comm, watching Xiao Yuan fight for survival, her voice breaking into sobs: "If you don't get up, Xiao Yuan's going to die!"

Zzzzz~

Zzz~

Beneath the ruins, inside the head compartment of Unit-01, sparks flew everywhere, pipes ruptured, and the holographic field flickered incessantly.

【System reboot successful】

【External main structure damage detected: severe, exceeding 37%】

【Left arm track burner damaged】

【Backward buffer jet unit damaged】

【Core power source loss detected: 22%】

【Detecting…】

A mechanical female voice kept echoing in his ears. Lin Xian slowly opened his eyes from the dim cockpit, feeling cold wind gushing through the shattered nanoceramic panels.

Scrape, scrape, scrape~

Exposed rebar and metal on the ground trembled violently. Wen Zhuo shot across the sky. The holographic panel tracked seismic waves and soon spotted a small snowmobile speeding ahead of the roaring dust cloud.

"Lin Team Leader."

Xiao Yuan, driving frantically, stared at the dust-choked rearview mirror. Her mind was nearly blank—her gaze fixed solely on the road ahead as tracks crushed over rubble and shattered streets.

Hearing Kiki's call through the comm, she was desperate for Lin Xian's safety—but she knew the Hellblack Chrysanthemum had to be taken far away, as far as possible. Otherwise, the worm would find Lin Team Leader.

At that moment, Xiao Yuan glanced at the Hellblack Chrysanthemum beside her, her expression hardening.

Boom, boom, boom—the earthquake's roar drew nearer. The snowmobile's speed couldn't outpace the subterranean worm.

In an instant, Xiao Yuan felt the vehicle heave like a ship in stormy seas. She knew the monster had caught up. She grabbed the Hellblack Chrysanthemum and prepared to jump.

Shhh!

At that moment, a piercing whistle tore through the air. Wen Zhuo acted instantly, using magnetic control to snatch the entire snowmobile out of the ground!

A massive upward force slammed Xiao Yuan into her seat. Just as she thought she was saved, the ground below erupted in a colossal dust cloud. A bottomless abyss, black as a gaping maw, burst upward with violent force and swallowed the airborne vehicle whole.

In an instant, Xiao Yuan felt all light swallowed by darkness. For a moment, even her heartbeat seemed to slow half a beat.

"Catch it!!" With strength she didn't know she had, just before the snowmobile was devoured, she hurled the Hellblack Chrysanthemum toward Wen Zhuo… BOOM!

The next instant, the snowmobile was completely consumed by the abyssal maw.

Wen Zhuo's eyes widened. His magnetic control could no longer hold the snowmobile—only the Hellblack Chrysanthemum, thrown at the last moment, remained in his grasp.

"Xiao Yuan!!" Kiki, on the distant ruins, screamed in disbelief, her eyes wide with horror.

"Kakak… it's… it's fine…"

Through the comm's crackling static, Xiao Yuan's voice came in broken fragments.

"…you… all… must survive…"

Inside the abyss-swallowed snowmobile, Xiao Yuan clutched the comm tightly.

"A 5% casualty rate in a convoy is normal…"

"Every large convoy on the route loses over 5% to 6% each night. Some lose over 10%. When night falls, someone always dies."

"Most who die in convoys are low-tier, poorly protected peripheral personnel or civilians. Nothing unusual…"

!

Boom, boom, boom—the abyssal worm retracted rapidly into the earth. As the comm signal faded, Xiao Yuan closed her eyes and prepared to speak her final words.

"Lin Team Leader, I…"

BOOM—the snowmobile was utterly consumed and exploded. The signal cut off.

Thud, thud, thud!

But then, the central district ruins erupted in violent tremors. Just as the abyssal worm was about to retreat underground, a supermassive mecha slammed in at ultra-low speed. The blizzard above and the fires below were crushed by a powerful wind pressure. The entire ruin zone shook.

"Lin Xian!!!" Kiki screamed.

In the cockpit, Lin Xian piloted Pangu Unit-01 alone, eyes bloodshot, charging forward. He seized the edge of the abyssal worm's maw, then raised his right hand. The mecha's right arm transformed: fingers reshaped into a triangular phase ring, spinning at high speed. But the magnetic levitation accelerator didn't light up—he used the spinning ring as a rotary tunnel boring machine instead.

"You want to eat me? You're dreaming!!!"

Lin Xian roared. The rotary tunnel boring machine descended, plunging straight into the worm's maw. Whirrrrr—shredding flesh and blood like a storm. It tore downward, seizing the buried snowmobile. Thousands of engines in Unit-01's right arm roared. Hydraulic drive shafts unleashed ten thousand tons of torque—and ripped the snowmobile free, along with a massive section of the worm's esophagus.

Aaawwwm!!!

The abyssal worm shrieked in terror. Blood and flesh erupted from its mouth like a volcanic geyser.

As Xiao Yuan, on the brink of unconsciousness, saw a brilliant white light above her, Lin Xian's roar echoed through the comm.

"Lin… Lin Team Leader?"

Outside, Kiki and Wen Zhuo froze in shock. Unit-01 hurled the snowmobile toward Wen Zhuo. He instantly understood, using magnetic control to catch it—and together with Kiki far away, flew upward, escaping the danger zone.

Wooo!!

Now, the magnetic levitation accelerator on Unit-01's right arm, caked in flesh and blood, glowed a deep blue. Hexagonal superconducting coils shrieked at high frequency in the freezing air.

Lin Xian raised the plasma cannon, aiming straight into the worm's maw, and coldly spoke: "Now eat your fill."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hundreds of thousands of degrees of plasma erupted. The worm, writhing to escape, ignited with crimson-white flames inside its body. It swelled rapidly—then exploded. Flames and lava spewed outward. Its mouth burst open like a blooming flower, its interior glowing red-hot molten rock—dead beyond recovery.

BOOM!

At that moment, a massive black spike surged through the flames, catching Lin Xian off guard. Unit-01 was flung backward, crashing through ruins and carving a thirty-meter-deep trench.

Puff~

Lin Xian slammed into a nearby cooler, spitting blood. The neural sync cables remained embedded. In that instant, dual agony—physical and mental—made him wish for death. The relay gel inside his helmet began leaking. He felt a hazy, suffocating pressure.

【Alert: anomalous entity approaching】

【Alert: anomalous entity approaching】

Red warning lights flashed in the cockpit. Lin Xian stared at the approaching giant sea urchin—and felt a strange satisfaction.

Because the giant sea urchin hadn't flown up immediately. Only after Unit-01 destroyed the abyssal worm did it angrily charge him!

Regardless of motive, every surviving combat unit now unleashed its final strength against the giant sea urchin. Its once-dense black spikes now numbered only a dozen.

Zzzzz!

Another black spike came—not sweeping, but aimed straight from above, piercing toward Unit-01's chest core.

"Ahh!"

In desperation, Lin Xian shouted, scrambled onto the control panel, swung his left hand—and maneuvered Unit-01 to dodge right. The spike grazed the left rib armor unit. Boom, boom, boom—it plunged into the ground, uprooting entire streets. The giant sea urchin showed no intention of stopping. The spike grew thicker as it drove deeper, shearing off the left arm's drive shaft and countless cables, cracking the left chest armor into fragments, leaving a massive gash.

Sssss—chunks of armor rained down, sparks flew, coolant leaked profusely. The giant sea urchin pinned Unit-01 to the ground with a single spike. Its massive body descended above, hundreds of crimson compound eyes fixed on the cockpit. Its remaining black spike still twitched in the air, projecting protective barriers to deflect incoming fire from sky and distance.

The countless crimson eyes seemed to peer through the shattered nanoceramic panels of Unit-01's head, seeing Lin Xian inside. Each pupil in the honeycomb-like mucous structure contracted in unison—as if staring directly at him.

Lin Xian, seeing the sea of crimson eyes, felt his eardrums pierced by billions of overlapping anomalous cries. In that instant, he saw a colossal eye—floating beyond the atmosphere, shaped like a nebula—staring at him.

Lin Xian suddenly saw thick crimson filaments emerge from the sea urchin's compound eyes—like fine, blood-and-energy tendrils. Thousands upon thousands, they writhed, spiraled, converged—and surged toward him. He sensed danger—but for some reason, he couldn't move. His mental energy had been drained. He could only stare in terror at the all-red eyes.

Scrape, scrape, scrape!

Then, beneath Unit-01's right arm armor, a dark red high-frequency blade chain suddenly slid from its rail. The blade spine closed, unfolding into a solidified greatsword, its jagged edge gleaming coldly. The chest's nuclear engine screamed. The chain blade erupted, plunging straight into the center of the giant sea urchin's compound eye.

In an instant, Lin Xian snapped out of the fear's grip. He turned—saw Chen Wei, bloodied and bloody, had risen, reconnected the neural sync, and surged forward.

"Die!!!"

Chen Wei roared, his voice filled with vengeful fury.

"He's always like this—cold to everyone, especially hates psychics. They say after the Awakening Day, his entire family was slaughtered by a psychic bandit convoy. Now even his brother's gone. And after he piloted Unit-01 alone via neural sync, his mind was damaged…"

Clink!

The chain blade slashed downward, cleaving the sea urchin's black shell open. A torrent of black slime erupted.

Then, under the glow of Unit-01's warning lights, Lin Xian saw something inside the shell: countless spherical masses resembling human brain tissue, stacked like clusters of follicles, filled with swirling brown-red fluid, twisting and deforming—horrifying to behold.

Zzzzzz!

The opened cavity of the sea urchin suddenly erupted with a pipe-organ-like roar. The gash sealed rapidly. Hundreds of crimson eyes focused entirely on Unit-01's cockpit. Crimson surged. Energy flared. Wind and lightning arced violently across nearby streets.

That laser again!

"Lin Xian!!"

"Lin Team Leader!!"

Amid the white-hot battlefield, dozens of hunting teams rushed toward them. Every airborne vehicle in the sky accelerated toward the scene. Everyone realized what the sea urchin intended.

Wen Zhuo, Han Jun, Fire Brother, and others unleashed their psychic powers, gathering massive amounts of matter before the sea urchin's eye to block the death ray.

The next instant—a dark red beam erupted, instantly annihilating Unit-01's head compartment.

Zzzzz—within moments, the surrounding ruins glowed red-hot from the heat, melting rapidly. The blizzard above vaporized into steam. The entire central district was bathed in a dark red glow. The earth trembled. The light blinded.

Finally, the dark red death beam ceased. Smoke cleared. Everyone assumed Lin Xian was dead—until Wen Zhuo, leading the charge, saw a semi-transparent energy shield flickering violently in midair before Unit-01's head. A polygonal shield, vast enough to cover nearly the entire upper body.

And Unit-01 itself—aside from steaming heat—was completely unharmed.

"What is this?!!"

"It blocked that beam!"

"Impossible!"

…

Nanoceramic panels of Unit-01's head compartment cracked and fell away under the heat. Lin Xian stood on the control platform, eyes glowing with electrical arcs. One hand held up a massive AT-field shield. Behind him, a bizarre blue superstring reactor phase ring appeared. Countless cables floated behind him, electric arcs spiderwebbing across his back.

Meanwhile, Unit-01's nuclear turbine roared, outputting massive electrical power.

As smoke cleared, the countless crimson eyes fixed on Lin Xian twisted wildly—filled with endless disbelief that their prey still lived.

Then, slowly, Lin Xian raised a finger, bloodshot eyes fixed on the cracked, still-open black shell of the sea urchin. He whispered:

"Gravitational lens"

A space hum sounded. All battlefield noise froze—suddenly silent.

In an instant, everyone in the central district felt the already dim light darken further. A warped space formed within the sea urchin's shell crack—a swirling vortex of black water. The crimson glow of its countless eyes twisted with it.

Instantly, the warped dark zone swallowed all crimson light and starlight, becoming a massive dark red black hole.

The black hole rapidly expanded, like a massive gravitational meat grinder, instantly shredding the giant sea urchin's black shell and its internal egg sacs into a spherical void!

At that moment, all of the giant sea urchin's compound eyes quivered violently, emitting its organ-like eerie sound: wu~chi, wu~chi, over and over.

Lin Xian exhausted every ounce of his strength and instantly extended the lens to its absolute limit of his capability.

With a deafening boom, the immense crushing force instantly tore a cavity roughly one-fifth of its volume out of the giant sea urchin's body!

On the other side, Wen Zhuo and the others saw this and immediately sensed the opportunity; he shouted through the communicator:

"Quick! This is the perfect chance—strike now and kill it!!"

His voice instantly spread across the entire battlefield.

In an instant, Fire Brother Lu Xingchen, Han Jun, Qin Xueming, and over twenty hunting squads that had arrived, along with aerial craft in the sky and missiles from the three defensive lines, all unleashed their fire in unison, hammering the exposed void in the sea urchin.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The giant sea urchin still writhed, trying to raise its remaining black spines into a defensive barrier, but the last vestige of its shield could no longer hold.

Countless energy explosions and a storm of metal rained down!

Without its strange defensive barrier, its body was nothing but a colossal meatball to the firepower of the Seventh Investigative Corps and tens of thousands of survivors—it shattered instantly, its remaining tissue and flesh spraying in all directions.

In the cockpit of Epsilon's head, Lin Xian watched the brilliant explosion light above him; his vision blurred. All floating cables dropped. He felt the world spinning, hearing only his own breath and heartbeat. In a blink, he silently collapsed. He turned his head and saw Chen Wei, long dead, lying beside him—still connected by all the neural sync cables. In his final moment, he had maintained the thrust of his chain-sword; the two Phoenix Society badges on his neck had slipped down to his collar.

One was Chen Wei. One was Chen Lie.

"Lin Xian!"

At that moment, Lin Xian heard Chen Sixuan's voice. He turned his head—and before losing consciousness, saw a lithe figure clad in Black Eagle battle armor, prying apart shards of nano-ceramic panels, appearing atop the cockpit.

…

Clank. Clank.

Clank. Clank.

Amid the blizzard, the sound of railway tracks became a lullaby; twenty-two end-of-days trains rolled along the northern track, like a long dragon of snow and wind, departing westward from Xilan City in the darkness.

September 1, D-95, 5: 5 a. .

The defense battle of Xilan City had ended.

Of the city's 65, 00 survivors, only 29, 00 remained; of the 12, 56 Investigative Corps soldiers, over 7, 00 were dead; two-thirds of the aerial combat units were lost; the Invincible-class aerospace carrier had crashed; only 21 of the 35 hunting squad teams survived…

The giant sea urchin was annihilated by the city's combined firepower; thick black smoke blanketed the earth; all monster tides retreated; humanity had won a bloody victory.

Wei Kexue, Sun Kai, Chen Wei, Xiao He, Chen Xiao, Zhang Chengzhi, Wu Zhenhai, Liao Ming, Lu Yong… countless others had forever slept in this blizzard, never seeing the dawn of September.

The Phoenix Society united all remaining survivors and Investigative Corps units, and before dawn, headed east toward the eastern region soon to be engulfed by Star Abyss No. 5. Meanwhile, the train group led by Infinity and Longshan No. 1 could only continue along the northern track, plunging deeper into the blizzard and polar night, closer to Star Abyss No. 5.

It was a quiet, collective evacuation.

"Director Zhao, was the mail beacon sent out?"

On the Phoenix Society's large base vehicle, Wen Zhuo asked Zhao Yu.

"The latest fire-message packet has been received by Dawn Center."

"Which mail team?"

Zhao Yu paused thoughtfully: "No mail team. All twelve mail team tracking signals have vanished."

He turned to Wen Zhuo: "A team called Blackie's convoy found Zhou Wuer and Pengpeng. When they found them, they were already beyond saving. That guy named Long Dahei carried the beacon out for them."

Wen Zhuo's fingers trembled slightly at the words. After a long silence, he whispered: "Good."

As Wen Zhuo turned to leave, Zhao Yu called out to him. After a moment's thought, he finally spoke: "He was your friend, wasn't he? A good man…"

"He was my brother."

Wen Zhuo took a deep breath and walked away.

Deep within the vast blizzard, countless corpses of snow wraiths and snow demons piled into an alluvial zone. At its center, Zhou Wuer clutched Pengpeng, curled into a ball, buried beneath snow and wind. Inside his specially designed mail bag, an unopened bottle of Xinghua Fen liquor lay quietly, untouched by the storm.

"Zzzt…"

"Phoenix Society Global Broadcast: The scientific team has successfully analyzed the movement principles of the dark lifeforms on the Star Abyss frontlines, naming it the 【Dark Mark】. The Phoenix Society's research team, in collaboration with Xinghua Heavy Industry, has developed the latest-generation Soul-Disturbance Meter, capable not only of detecting individual Soul-Disturbance peaks, but also measuring the concentration of each individual's 【Mark】. The Phoenix Society hereby issues this global alert to all survivors…"

"Do not enter the polar night carrying a Mark. Daylight is ending. When facing peril, burn and roar—but before igniting the spark that will spread across the land, remain silent in the darkness!"

(Volume Two Ends)

(Chapter Ends)