Chapter 156: Dark Tunnel, Echoing Sound

"Roar—!!!"

The instant the defensive field vanished, chaos on the platform reached its peak! Stripped of that fragile barrier of energy, the explorer vehicle was exposed beneath countless crimson beast-pupils, like a lighthouse in the dark. Yet the terrifying chaotic pressure radiating from Xiang Lingna—mingled with the essence of annihilation—still hung about her like an invisible force field, dragging the corrupted creatures that drew near into instinctive fear and frenzy, making them tear and crash into one another, so that for the moment they could not form an effective interception.

Wrench, with Xiang Lingna on his back, burst into a speed beyond anything before. Fifty meters—normally a blink—but now every inch of ground seemed stretched. Beneath his feet were slick corrupted moss and sharp shards of stone; the air was thick with a suffocating stench; behind him came the monsters' roars and the wet drag of slime, drawing closer and closer.

Xiang Lingna lay across Wrench's back, her consciousness tugged back and forth on the edge between agony and runaway power. The brand on her right arm burned like a red-hot iron, like a furnace about to explode, madly draining everything within her—life, order, technology, even the very essence of her spirit! The emerald shard's light strained to guide it, but this borrowed power of annihilation—belonging to the Doctor—was far too violent, a horse without reins, rampaging through her fragile meridians! More and more cracks split her skin; blood dyed Wrench's tattered clothes red. She bit down hard on her lip, refusing to cry out, clinging to the last shred of clarity to keep that chaotic pressure released, buying Wrench those precious seconds.

Five meters... three meters... one!

The tunnel entrance was right before them! A gap half-blocked by a massive rockfall, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through hunched over; deep within, the opening was completely sealed shut by thick, dark-purple vines that gave off a faint reek of decay—nothing like a passage at all.

"The entrance is blocked!" Wrench howled in despair, his steps faltering without meaning to.

"Ram through it! Use... the case!" Xiang Lingna screamed with all her might, shoving forward the emergency device clutched in her arms—the one still linked to the data-reading case!

Wrench understood her meaning in an instant! That case was a relic of old-world tech, immensely sturdy! He summoned the last of his strength, hoisted Xiang Lingna higher on his back, gripped the heavy metal shell of the emergency device with both hands, and swung it like a battering ram, slamming it brutally into the densest cluster of dark-purple vines sealing the entrance!

"Open for me—!!!"

Boom!!! Crack!!!

The heavy metal case, carrying the full force of Wrench's body, smashed brutally into the wall of vines! A teeth-grinding sound of snapping rang out! The seemingly tough vines, under pure physical impact, shattered apart in an instant, a great swath of them! Behind them lay a pitch-black opening, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through! A gust of colder air, thick with the smell of mold and rust, poured out from within!

Just then!

Fwip!

A dark-purple tendril, like a whip, with a sucker at its tip, shot out from the chaos of the beast horde with a piercing whistle, and lashed brutally across Wrench's back!

"Gaaah!" Wrench screamed; the clothing on his back was corroded and torn in an instant, flesh splitting open, leaving a charred-black wound deep enough to see bone, as inky-green corrosive energy swiftly invaded! The tremendous impact sent him and Xiang Lingna on his back crashing forward, tumbling straight into the narrow opening he had smashed open!

"Roar—!!!" More monsters caught on, bellowing as they charged toward the opening!

"Seal it!" Xiang Lingna screamed in the instant of her fall, and with the last of her strength, channeled the violent chaotic energy within her—through the emerald shard she gripped tight—and blasted it brutally toward the opening!

Hum—!!!

A shockwave of chaotic energy, mingled with emerald-green, silver-white, and dark-purple, erupted outward with Xiang Lingna at its center! Though its range was small, its force was terrifying! The monsters at the very front, as though they had slammed into an invisible wall, were instantly blown apart into pieces! Those behind were sent flying by the shockwave; the mouth of the opening became a scene of utter carnage!

Buying that instant's obstruction, Wrench—now tumbled inside the opening—endured the heart-tearing agony in his back and the creeping numbness of corrosion, scrambled to turn around on hands and knees, and with the very last scrap of his strength, seized a few thick broken vines at the edge of the opening and yanked them back hard!

Crash!

The snapped vines and loosened rubble came tumbling down, mingling with the broken vine debris from before, sealing the narrow opening tight in an instant! Only a few tiny cracks remained, letting through the unresigned roars of the monsters outside and the scrape of their claws.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The monsters slammed themselves madly against the blocked opening, pebbles pattering down, but it was clear they could not break through this barrier of vines and stone in any short time.

Inside the tunnel was a deathly, silent darkness. Only the faint emerald glow from the shard in Xiang Lingna's hand barely illuminated a small area around them. The air was thick with the heavy smell of mold, rust, and a faint tang of blood.

"Cough, cough... Wrench... how are you?" Xiang Lingna struggled to sit up; the shard's light reflected Wrench's deathly pale face. The wound on his back was a horrifying sight—charred black, with inky-green corrosive energy writhing slowly along the wound's edge like a living thing—and his breathing had grown rapid and faint.

"S-still... not dying yet..." Wrench forced out a smile uglier than crying, his voice a thread of breath, "Just... a little... cold..." The corrosive energy was eating away at his vitality.

Xiang Lingna's heart clenched; she immediately pressed the emerald shard against the wound on Wrench's back. The emerald light of life flared, struggling to drive out the invading inky-green corrosion, mending the damaged tissue. But Wrench's injuries were too severe, and the shard's light—already dim from Xiang Lingna's earlier overexertion—had little effect.

"Hold on! Once we find that comm station, we'll be saved!" Xiang Lingna's voice carried a sob. She looked around. This was an abandoned maintenance tunnel, extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person. Beneath their feet was a slick metal-grate walkway; on either side loomed massive pipes and cable trays thick with rust; overhead was a low arching ceiling dripping with condensation. The tunnel stretched on into a bottomless darkness, deathly still and terrifying. Only their rough and heavy panting and the scrape and thud of the unresigned monsters outside echoed through it.

Xiang Lingna helped Wrench up, leaning him against a cold pipe. She picked up the emergency data-reading case that had fallen to the ground; its screen had cracked in a few places from the earlier impact, but it stubbornly stayed lit, displaying a scanning map. The green dot representing them had already entered the abandoned tunnel marked by the blue dashed line, while the green signal-tower icon representing the "Whistle" comm station blinked at a position roughly two kilometers ahead in the tunnel.

Two kilometers... through this dark, narrow, peril-ridden tunnel, dragging the gravely wounded Wrench... Xiang Lingna felt a wave of despairing suffocation.

Just then!

Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm...

A sound—extremely faint, broken, like radio static—rose without warning from the depths of the deathly silent tunnel! It was soft, yet in the absolute quiet it was startlingly clear!

Xiang Lingna jerked her head up, looking toward the dark tunnel ahead! That sound... seemed to be coming from the direction of the "Whistle" comm station!

What made her heart skip a beat was that this faint static, in her ears, seemed to have been "translated" by some force! A fragment of a girl's voice—muffled, cold, with a metallic quality—came through in broken snatches amid the static, as though crossing an immeasurable gulf of space, faintly arriving:

【... zzzz... Prism... Hub... calling...】

【... unknown... signal source... signature code... 07...】

【... Lin Mo... Lord... coordinates... locked...】

【... energy... reaction... annihilation... threat...】

【... reinforcements... unable... to arrive... zzzz...】

【... hold on... wait... zzzz...】

The sound cut off abruptly, as though the signal had been forcibly severed.

It's Zero! Zero, the AI of the Prism Hub in Cyber Territory! She's trying to call out! She's scanning for the signal of Shelter 07! She mentioned Lin Mo! She locked the coordinates! But she also seems to have sensed the threat of annihilation—and... reinforcements cannot arrive?!

Xiang Lingna was as if struck by lightning; a great hope, paired with a deeper dread, seized her heart in an instant! Sister Zero has made contact! Lord Lin Mo's territory knows where they are! But... "annihilation threat"? "Reinforcements cannot arrive"? Could the Doctor's power have already sealed off this entire region? Or... has the territory over there also run into some enormous crisis?

The depths of the tunnel fell deathly silent once more. Only the persistent scrape of the monsters outside, like a countdown to death, beat against Xiang Lingna's heart, thud after thud.

The spark of hope had only just flickered before being swallowed by deeper darkness and unknown threat. They were safe for the moment, yet trapped in this dark tunnel—unknown road ahead, severed road behind. Zero's signal, like a glimpse of a startled swan, left behind one crucial piece of information—their position had been exposed, but rescue... might never come.