Chapter 152: Fortress Counterattack, Data Torrent

BOOM——!!!

A deafening metallic clash erupted within the cramped shelter space! The alloy mechanical arm, wreathed in You blue arcs of electricity, slammed like an enraged battering ram against the dark purple energy tentacles entangling Xiang Lingna!

ZZZT——!!!

A piercing annihilation sound exploded alongside blinding light! The dark purple energy tentacles shuddered violently, twisting under the dual assault of pure kinetic force and old-world energy arcs. The pure annihilation energy composing them instantly destabilized, like oil churned by a thrown stone, scattering into countless fine dark purple light particles. The binding force on Xiang Lingna abruptly loosened!

"Ugh!" Xiang Lingna felt her body grow light; the immense inertia hurled her hard to the ground, rolling several times before stopping, her bones feeling as if they had shattered.

"Girl!" Wrench cried out in ecstatic relief, scrambling over and using his last surviving survival arm frame to shield her.

Inside the gate, the several protruding alloy mechanical arms did not pause. With the cold precision unique to old-world technology, they struck again! This time, targeting the very roots of the tentacles—now destabilized and struggling to reform—deep within the gate's fissure!

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The heavy impacts rang like war drums! Under the terrifying force of internal hydraulic mechanisms, the thick metal gate groaned with agonizing metal shrieks, forcibly resisting the pull exerted by the Doctor's energy tentacles, closing at a visibly slow but steady pace! The gap narrowed!

"Inferior... creation... dare... oppose me!" The Doctor's cold, vast consciousness roared within Xiang Lingna's soul, seething with fury at being defied by Louyi! The remaining energy tentacles within the gate's fissure thrashed wildly, trying to jam the gate shut; even stronger annihilation energy surged forth like a high-pressure water jet, striking the alloy arms and the gate itself!

HISSSSS!

The alloy arms' surfaces were instantly corroded with large blackened dents; the You blue arcs flickered erratically. The heavy special alloy gate groaned under relentless annihilation erosion, its edges beginning to melt and warp! The closing speed slowed noticeably, even showing signs of being pried open again! Cold dark purple light seeped through the widening gap, illuminating Xiang Lingna and Wrench's terrified faces—the churning viscous fluid within the massive container resembled a demon's stomach.

"Energy... nearly depleted... Final Fortress Protocol... remaining duration... less than thirty seconds..." The cold electronic voice sounded again, bringing deeper despair.

"No... must not let it close... the Key... must be recovered..." The Doctor's consciousness carried unyielding determination; even greater power surged from beyond space! A tentacle thickened several times over burst from the fissure, its tip splitting open into a gaping maw dripping with annihilation runes. It ignored the alloy arms striking again (which only ruffled energy ripples), lunging downward to devour Xiang Lingna on the ground! It meant to break through and drag her inside!

Xiang Lingna's pupils shrank sharply—death's shadow engulfed her instantly! Her emerald guardian orb and thorned order energy, crushed under the Doctor's absolute power, flickered like candles in the wind, utterly unable to resist!

At the eleventh hour!

ZZZZM——!!!

The identity tag etched with "07" in Xiang Lingna's arms, fully activated by the shelter's frantic alarms and the Doctor's furious power, erupted—not as a signal, but as a concentrated, blazing white energy beam, like a sword, lancing outward! Its target was not the Doctor's tentacle—but the terminal on the control panel, its screen flashing violently!

【Highest Authority Identity Confirmed: Shelter 07 Supervisor (Acting)!】

【Emergency Protocol: Data Torrent—Initiated!】

【Target: Invade Energy Source—Analyze! Counter!】

The cold electronic voice rang with unprecedented urgency!

SWOOSH—!

The blazing white beam from the identity tag instantly vanished into the terminal screen! The entire control panel blazed with blinding white light! Countless visible streams of pale blue data—composed of 0s and 1s—flooded forth like a dam bursting: from the screen, from every interface, even from the wall conduits! These data streams were not chaotic; driven by a core directive, they coalesced into a roaring, pure-blue dragon of pure information, carrying the last stubborn fury of old-world technology, slamming into the oncoming dark purple energy tentacle and the Doctor's will surging deep within the gate's fissure!

No earth-shattering explosion.

Only silent, fundamental-level information annihilation and rule-based confrontation!

HISS—!

The moment the blue data torrent met the dark purple annihilation energy, it was like two opposing cosmic streams colliding! At the point of contact, light blazed beyond description, warping space itself! The data stream frantically washed, analyzed, and attempted to dismantle the annihilation energy's structural rules; while the annihilation energy brutally erased, corroded, and devoured the Diceng information composing the data stream!

This was a conceptual confrontation beyond the physical—a direct clash between old-world civilization logic and the Doctor's annihilation essence!

"Ugh!" Xiang Lingna felt her brain struck simultaneously by two giant hammers! The Doctor's annihilation will and the shelter's torrent of data slammed into her consciousness! Her right arm's claw mark burned like a red-hot iron, throbbing violently—the frontline of this battle!

Wrench curled up, clutching his head in agony. This level of power clash—even its stray ripples—made his soul ache and his thoughts scramble.

The Doctor's energy tentacle froze mid-lunge under the data torrent's furious assault! The surface of its pure annihilation energy suddenly shimmered with countless fine, flickering pale blue rune-chains—data streams forcibly analyzing, simulating, even attempting to "define" and "seal" the Doctor's power! Though these rune-chain shadows shattered instantly under stronger annihilation force, each shattering and reforming caused brief, critical instability and weakening in the tentacle's energy structure!

"L Louyi... dare... analyze... the Source!" The Doctor's consciousness carried its first clear note of shock and rage! He had never anticipated that this ruined shelter's Diceng defense protocol contained such a bizarre, rule-touching countermeasure! This exceeded his understanding of "inferior technological creations!"

In that instant of hesitation and weakening!

BOOM—CRACK!!

Freed from the Doctor's full resistance, the battered but loyal alloy arms unleashed their final strength, aided by the hydraulic system, and finally slammed the heavy metal gate shut to its full extent!

The heavy impact declared the gate's complete closure! The last sliver of dark purple light and the raging energy tentacle were crushed utterly within the thick alloy door!

ZZZT—BANG!!

A piercing annihilation sound and explosion erupted simultaneously! The severed tentacle twisted violently, swelled, then exploded like an overinflated balloon! The violent annihilation shockwave slammed into the sealed gate, thunderous and muffled! The entire shelter shook violently, dust raining down! The gate's surface instantly cracked with spiderweb fissures; at its center, a basin-sized depression formed, its edges molten. Dark purple energy clung like parasitic leeches, slowly oozing and eroding along the cracks, hissing stubbornly, resisting the gate's self-repair.

But the door was shut! Trapping that terrifying miniature Rotclaw Melting Furnace node inside!

"Final Fortress Protocol... energy depleted... entering sleep mode..." The white light and data torrent on the control panel vanished instantly; the screen darkened completely, leaving only wisps of smoke. The alloy arms, like lifeless limbs of a dead beast, hung limp, blackened, their electric arcs extinguished. The space plunged back into dimness, save for a few stubborn emergency lights on the walls, emitting faint blue glows that illuminated the wreckage and the two shaken survivors.

"I... is it over?" Wrench trembled, lifting his head to stare at the cracked gate, glowing with purple light, his heart still pounding.

Xiang Lingna slumped to the ground, gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat. The burning pain in her right arm's mark had not faded—it had grown sharper, more sensitive from having served as the "battlefield." She could clearly feel the cold, lifeless, malicious force behind the door still lingered, like a coiled venomous snake, staring through the thick alloy with unblinking intent. The cracks and oozing purple light on the gate silently spoke of the Doctor's terrifying power—and the ever-present threat of his return.

"No..." Xiang Lingna weakly shook her head, staring at the dimming identity tag in her hand, then at the smoking terminal, "It... saved us... but its last energy... is gone... the door... won't hold much longer..."

A wave of profound sorrow and helplessness washed over her. This shelter, bearing the last ember of old-world civilization, had burned its final light to protect them from the Doctor.

At that moment, the broken terminal screen flickered violently, displaying a line of fragmented, corrupted text, accompanied by the last faint whisper of electronic voice:

【Warning... Database... Critical Data... Corrupted...】

【Associated Records... Retrieving... Ely... Bloodclaw... Genocide... Coordinates...】

【Data... Overflowing... Backup... Path...】

【... Protect... Hope...】

The screen went dark, sinking into dead silence.

"Ely? Bloodclaw? Genocide?" Xiang Lingna sat bolt upright, her heart pounding! Weren't those the enemies of Lin Mo and Ely in the Wasteland? Why did this fallen Wasteland shelter hold records of them? Coordinates? What coordinates? And that blurred "backup path"... Was this the shelter's final, undestroyed key message—left behind despite the Doctor's power?

A vast mystery, carrying new hope (or perhaps new peril), quietly surfaced upon this silent, corrupted wasteland. Behind them, the gate—oozing purple light, riddled with cracks—hung like the Sword of Damocles, coldly reminding them that danger had never left.