Chapter 492: Defection

A world of crimson blood felt like a nightmare of red, and Lin Xian stood frozen, staring at the hellish scene before him, as boundless fear and sorrow raged unchecked within his heart.

In this hell before his eyes, he felt no strength to resist or struggle; his spinal nerves went numb, and every image he saw was himself being torn into bloody fragments in agonizing death, every sight was his teammates screaming in desperate, hopeless sacrifice…

“Don’t look!”

A voice, like a solemn bell, slammed into Lin Xian’s crumbling sanity; he felt a cold arm yank him away from the searing crimson hell before his eyes, nearly choking him.

Hss!

Lin Xian gasped deeply, his face deathly pale, standing stunned as he stared at Chu Yan before him: “Darkness incursion?!”

“Worse than that,” Chu Yan turned toward the window, raising her hand to seal all gaps along the sill with nanospray particles; instantly, the chilling cold inside the room lessened.

“Since the Star Abyss began its anomaly, the Dark Tide has begun accompanying the crimson, accelerating the regions it sweeps through into permanent night—meaning the Star Abyss’s expansion efficiency has increased.”

Chu Yan told Lin Xian: “Moreover, this crimson coverage turns regions into absolute death zones, spawning bizarre creatures never detected before—not S-class, not human Gui . Anyone exposed to this environment sees their SAN value plummet rapidly, accompanied by bodily carcinogenesis; within as little as twenty minutes, your immune system will collapse entirely, even with Dark Energy Synchronization devices, they cannot block it.”

Lin Xian frowned immediately: “When did this crimson first appear?”

“Three days ago—the night you lost contact with us. The Star Abyss began large-scale anomaly, crimson descended. Now, the Skyward and Dawn Center evacuation forces are trapped in the Qionggu Strait—the Alaska Bay—with massive casualties. The Commander has ordered the evacuation of Dawn City. At dawn, Dawn Center will march with maximum mobility. Our North American front, the Interstellar Army, and Nightwalkers have activated Radiation Search-and-Rescue operations to help rescue teams consolidate as quickly as possible.”

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian, her expression grave: “Deterrence balance has failed. All humanity must flee to the poles and fortify.”

Lin Xian fell silent, his gaze flickering. He didn’t understand: the Dark Civilization had retreated from the Star Abyss, assassinated the Swordbearer, contacted Hua Xiaoling—every action suggested deterrence existed, or at least partially existed. Yet now the Star Abyss suddenly accelerated its invasion. What had happened in between?

“So how much time do we have left?” Lin Xian asked quietly.

“We don’t know the time. Crimson spread frequency follows the Dark Tide, but its expansion range and pace vary. If it expands at the speed of permanent night, we still have over a year. But the Dark Tide covers every region beyond the polar day every single day—so theoretically…”

“Just one night?”

“Yes.”

Lin Xian’s gaze sharpened as he looked again toward the window: “Will you be in danger?”

Chu Yan turned toward the window as well: “An interesting point: buildings physically block this crimson. Staying inside structures or vehicles reduces exposure to under 5% of outside levels—that’s good news, provided you aren’t targeted by the monsters within the crimson. Those things… seem unaffected by Dark Markers.”

Lin Xian frowned and said at once: “But if this area is swallowed by crimson, we can only escape as fast as possible—meaning humanity’s operational range has been completely stripped away?”

“Exactly.”

“Damn it!” Lin Xian spat under his breath: “This is just like nuclear winter with radioactive fallout.”

“Similar. Our research team is also thinking along these lines.”

“When can you return to Phoenix Society?” Lin Xian asked Chu Yan now: “I want to speak with Professor Ye.”

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian, her eyes flickering, then said: “At fastest, two days—assuming I don’t die here tonight.”

“What about your team?”

“Two blocks away. No contact. Alive or dead, unknown.”

“Signal jamming?”

“None at all. We wait until after nightfall, then regroup at our prearranged rendezvous point and leave this area. With both night and crimson present, there’s currently no chance of survival.” Chu Yan said: “What about you? What happened on your end?”

Lin Xian exhaled slowly, and under the dim cold light, recounted everything from Haiyan Island through his journey across Hawaii Island to Chu Yan—including his discussions with Hua Xiaoling and Ding Junyi’s theories.

Whether due to the crimson’s influence on her mental state, Lin Xian himself felt an asphyxiating chill he could almost share. When he finished, he noticed Chu Yan showed little surprise at Ding Junyi’s hypothesis of shared origin between enemy and ally—he immediately realized Phoenix Society’s Ye Lan and others must have already explored this. After all, Phoenix Society had studied lattice structures in great depth; combined with original Angel Project data, their scientists would uncover deeper insights. Lin Xian found that unsurprising.

But when Lin Xian mentioned Hua Xiaoling, Chu Yan suddenly asked: “Did she invite you to join the Foundation?”

“No. Why ask that?” Lin Xian said.

Chu Yan pressed a device on her arm; a projector slowly rose, projecting a holographic display into the air between them.

Figures and identity details scrolled continuously across the screen; Lin Xian’s expression turned serious at once.

“Cheng Yu, female, Phoenix Society High-Energy Physics Research Institute scientist. Resume: Former core member of CERN, led the dark matter detection project ‘Night Owl.’ After joining Phoenix Society, she analyzed Star Abyss material properties and successfully developed the first-generation Dark Energy shielding coating. Went missing on Awakening Day, August 21.”

“Mike Xiao, male, Commander-in-Chief of North American Southeast Front / Phoenix Society Mech Support Unit Strategist. Commanded the ‘Raging Tide Line’ for 72 hours against the first large-scale Gui tide after Awakening Day, buying critical time for the North American United Front’s evacuation. On July 19, Awakening Day, led a 40,000-strong force in defection to the Descent Faction.”

“Su Lin, female, former Chair of the Federal Ethics Committee / Sociologist and Philosopher. Founder of the Post-Apocalyptic Ethics School after Awakening Day. Her book ‘Human Anchors of Dying Civilizations’ laid the foundation for the Psionic Rights Act. She chaired the drafting of the ‘Psionic Warfare Ethics Convention’ and campaigned against human experimentation on psionics, earning the civilian title ‘Socrates of the Dark Age.’ Disappeared on September 3, taken by a mysterious unit; later confirmed to have joined the Foundation.”

“Du Jin, male, Captain of the Ash Serpent Convoy, European Transcendent-class psionic. Convoy size: 5,300. Went missing on August 13…”

Lin Xian watched the scrolling figures, his expression growing heavier. These were clearly no ordinary people—high-ranking scientists, philosophers, military commanders, elite psionics, leaders of large convoys or organizations, even several key Phoenix Society members. And the reason they were all documented was almost certainly one and the same.