Chapter 155: Thorns Resonate, Rotclaw as Kindling

Crack! Crack! Sizzle—!

The thuds and corrosive sounds against the Explorer's heavy armor plating grew denser and denser, like countless frenzied drumbeats hammering at Xiang Lingna and Wrench's taut nerves. On the main screen, the energy bar representing the passive defense field had shifted from bright green to warning yellow, and was steadily, mercilessly sliding downward. 【Estimated duration: 8 hours 45 minutes...】

Outside the defense field, the writhing shadows in the darkness and the glinting crimson beast-pupils grew ever more numerous. Low growls, the sound of slime being dragged, and the scrape of claws on metal wove together into a suffocating symphony of death. Though they could not breach this thin energy barrier for the moment, they were clearly waiting, wearing it down. Worse still, Xiang Lingna could sense a cold, violent will saturated with destructive desire washing against the defense field in invisible waves, trying to seep through and lock onto her position—that was the Doctor transmitting his will through the beast tide, as if toying with a caged prey.

"No good... girl... if this keeps up we're just waiting to die! This iron turtle won't hold much longer!" Wrench paced restlessly in the cramped cockpit, his bean-sized eyes fixed dead on the blue dashed line on the screen that represented their path to survival. "That tunnel entrance is less than fifty meters from us! Right over there!" He pointed toward the front-left of the vehicle, a half-buried area of massive collapsed rock and rotting vines, the scan clearly showing the tunnel entrance just behind it.

Fifty meters! A sprint that would take only seconds under normal circumstances. But in this environment ringed by beast tides and saturated with corruption energy, it was no different from an impassable chasm.

"I know..." Xiang Lingna's voice was hoarse beyond measure. She leaned back against the cold armor wall, her right arm wrapped across her chest, gripping the jade fragment tightly. The stinging and cold transmitted from the brand, echoing the Doctor's destructive will outside the defense field, made her head feel like it would split. What frightened her even more was that, as the defense field's energy waned, faint wisps of corruption aura had begun to seep in, coiling around her body like invisible serpents, stimulating the brand, making the energy conflicts within her grow ever more violent.

The emerald guardian light-cluster at her heart stubbornly resisted, the thorny order energy circulated within the fragment, but both were crushed beneath the Doctor's annihilation origin within the brand. Every clash made her feel as though she were trapped in an icy-fiery purgatory.

Suddenly, her left hand holding the fragment brushed against a cold metal protrusion on the copilot's console—the interface of the emergency data reader that had been embedded earlier. After the reader connected to the vehicle's systems, a faint, cold energy fluctuation from old-world tech cores flowed slowly through the interface.

This cold tech-energy fluctuation, together with the emerald life energy within Xiang Lingna, the thorny order energy, the annihilation-corruption energy of the brand on her right arm, and the corruption aura pervading the outside... formed an extraordinarily complex and delicate energy field within the cramped space, around her—this special "vessel."

Amid this chaotic energy field, the jade fragment in Xiang Lingna's arms seemed to be stimulated by that cold tech-energy fluctuation and trembled faintly. Within the fragment, the ancient, tenacious life origin drawn from the Elven Wang Ting's core, as if some switch had been triggered by this alien energy, began to stir in a way never seen before!

Hum—

The emerald radiance from the jade fragment was no longer a soft halo, but flowed like a tangible liquid, the light even laced with faint silver-white thorny order patterns. This radiance actively, tentatively flowed toward Xiang Lingna's right arm branded with the claw mark!

"Hiss!" Xiang Lingna sucked in a cold breath. Not pain, but an... extremely bizarre sensation! The moment the emerald life-order energy met the cold annihilation-corruption energy in the brand, instead of the fierce annihilation clash from before, under the guidance of the fragment's radiance and the "catalysis" of the tech-energy fluctuation, it produced a strange... balance? Or rather, an extremely brief, extremely unstable... coexistence?

Like oil and water, briefly mixed together under violent shaking and the effect of some emulsifier!

This thought streaked through Xiang Lingna's mind like lightning! An extremely bold, nearly frenzied thought instantly took shape!

"Wrench!" Xiang Lingna jerked her head up, a near-obsessive light burning in her eyes, yet her voice was eerily calm. "I have a plan! A plan that might let us break out! But I need you to cooperate! It's very dangerous!"

Wrench was startled by the light in her eyes: "Wh-what plan? Girl, don't you go doing anything rash!"

"We can't break out because there are too many monsters outside, the corruption energy is too strong, the moment we step out we'll be torn apart or eroded into monsters, right?" Xiang Lingna spoke at extreme speed.

"Right!"

"Then what if... we could create a brief 'safe corridor'? A corridor that makes those monsters afraid to approach, that can even temporarily disperse the corruption energy?" Xiang Lingna's gaze fixed dead on her own right arm, which radiated an ominous purple light.

Wrench followed her gaze, his bean-sized eyes bulging wide, his voice changing pitch: "Y-you want to do what?! Use that damned brand? Have you lost your mind?! That's the Doctor's thing! It'll turn you into a monster completely!"

"I haven't lost my mind!" Xiang Lingna's voice carried absolute resolve. "Just now, the fragment's power and this vehicle's tech energy made the brand's power and mine produce a momentary... balance! Brief, unstable! But it proves they're not absolutely unable to coexist!"

She raised her right arm, the claw-mark brand flickering eerily in the dim light: "The Doctor can use it to drive back beast tides, control corruption energy... so why can't I? Use it to suppress the monsters outside instead? Even if only for a few seconds!"

"You can't control it!" Wrench hopped anxiously. "That's annihilation origin! It'll devour you first!"

"So I need 'fuel' and 'guidance'!" Xiang Lingna's left hand gripped the jade fragment tightly, pressing it against her heart, the emerald radiance illuminating her pale face like jade. "Use the fragment's power as guidance! Use the conflicting energies within me... even the corruption energy pervading outside... as 'firewood' to ignite it! Briefly, forcibly 'borrow' the brand's power! To open a path for us!"

She looked at Wrench, her gaze carrying an unquestionable plea: "Wrench, I need your help! The moment I ignite the brand, the vehicle's defense field will drop to its lowest! It might even collapse! You have to open the door at top speed, carry me on your back, and sprint toward that tunnel entrance before my power goes out of control or the monsters overwhelm us! Only fifty meters! This is our only chance!"

Wrench looked at the light in Xiang Lingna's eyes—mingled madness, resolve, and final hope—then at the defense field energy bar on the screen that had already fallen into the red zone 【Estimated duration: 3 hours 18 minutes...】, and at the increasingly clear silhouettes of monsters outside the windows. He gritted his teeth hard, the fear on his face replaced by a desperate, ferocious resolve: "Damn it! We're going for it! Either way it's death! Girl, say it! How do we do this?!"

"Good!" Xiang Lingna drew a deep breath, her gaze sharp as a blade. "Listen to my command! When I shout 'now', you immediately open the vehicle door, pick me up on your back, don't worry about anything, and sprint toward the tunnel entrance with everything you've got! Understand?"

"Understood!" Wrench growled low, his body taut like a coiled spring ready to release, his right hand gripping the door's emergency release lever. His gaze locked dead onto the flickering light point on the scan that represented the tunnel entrance.

Xiang Lingna closed her eyes. She no longer suppressed the throbbing of the brand on her right arm, instead deliberately releasing her hold on it! At the same time, she poured all her spirit, will, longing for Lin Mo, worry for Sister Ai Li, grief over Uncle Suolin Lei En's sacrifice, and bone-deep hatred for the Doctor and the Rotclaw—every strongest emotion—without reservation into the jade fragment at her heart!

"Come on! Don't you want power? I'll give it to you!" Xiang Lingna howled at the cold brand in her heart!

Hum—!!!

The jade fragment instantly erupted with unprecedented emerald divine radiance! This radiance was no longer mere guardianship, but filled with a resolve to perish together! It no longer rejected the brand's power, but like the core of a vortex, actively drew in and absorbed the cold annihilation energy surging from the brand! At the same time, Xiang Lingna also released her suppression of the conflicting energies within her body, letting emerald life, silver-white thorny order, cold tech energy, and the annihilation corruption of her right arm—within her, under the fragment's guidance—form a brief, violent chaotic energy vortex!

The center of this vortex was that claw-mark brand!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!!!

Xiang Lingna's right arm instantly became a terrifying luminous body! Emerald, silver-white, dark purple, and ghostly blue light wildly intertwined, clashed, yet eerily achieved a brief balance under the fragment's will forcibly constraining them! The brand's form seemed to twist and deform! A chaotic pressure that mixed life-guardianship, thorny tenacity, tech coldness, and at its core annihilation-destruction aura—indescribable—like an ancient fierce beast awakening from slumber, erupted explosively with Xiang Lingna at its center!

This pressure pierced through the Explorer's tottering passive defense field, sweeping across the entire platform like a tangible shockwave!

Roar—!!!

The dense growls outside instantly turned into terrified wails! Those small corrupted creatures madly attacking the defense field, as if encountering a natural predator, were instantly frozen by the immense fear born of life instinct! The monsters close to the Explorer were as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, the corruption moss and carapace covering their bodies cracking inch by inch, dark green blood spurting out! Their crimson beast-pupils filled with instinctive dread and confusion, they began shoving and trampling each other uncontrollably, even madly attacking their own kind! The beast tide's encirclement instantly fell into utter chaos!

And the thick corruption energy pervading the air, under the impact of this chaotic pressure, like boiling water poured on snow, was briefly repelled and dispersed! With the Explorer at the center, a small relatively "clean" zone was forcibly cleared!

Now!

"Wrench! Now!!!" Xiang Lingna's eyes snapped open, chaotic light seeming to burn in her pupils, and she let out a hoarse cry! The radiance on her body instantly became extremely unstable, fine cracks appearing on her skin's surface, blood seeping out! The brand on her right arm especially, like an overloaded engine, emitted a piercing hum and blinding purple light! She forcibly wielded this borrowed, terrifying power far beyond her own limits, like walking a tightrope over an abyss, ready to fall at any moment!

"Go!!!" Wrench summoned all his strength and violently pulled down the door's emergency release lever!

Hiss—bang!

The heavy armored door sprang upward!

The defense field energy bar instantly hit zero! The screen went completely dark! The last trace of isolation vanished!

The stench of corruption and the monsters' chaotic roars surged into the cockpit like a tsunami!

Wrench did not hesitate for a single moment. He turned, hoisted the blood-soaked, radiance-flickering Xiang Lingna onto his back, one arm locked around her, the other still gripping the emergency device connected to the data reader! He unleashed the full potential of his goblin race and a mad will to survive, and like an arrow loosed from the bow, plunged headlong toward the tunnel entrance half-buried by rocks and vines at the front-left!

Fifty meters! A race against death!