Chapter 221: Desperate Shuttle and the Whisper of the Engine

The air in the altar room instantly solidified once more. The shock from the startling intelligence they had just received had not yet subsided when the imminent invasion alarm from outside sent everyone's hearts racing to their throats!

"Damn doctor! His nose is sharper than a hellhound!" Grona cursed, the joints of her power armor groaning under the strain as she strode to the room's entrance. She held a massive battle-axe across her chest, her crimson eyes fixed intently on the energy-churning corridor outside. "Want to pick up scraps? Ask my axe if it agrees!"

Sister Ai Li struggled to her feet, picked up the short knife from the floor, and, though her face was pale, her eyes were as cold as ice. She silently took her place beside Grona, her actions declaring her resolve to fight to the death. Lingna also forced herself to stand; the crystal light on her right arm, though dim, still burned stubbornly.

However, Zero's analysis poured cold water on this tragic atmosphere: "Enemy forces far exceed our current state. In a direct confrontation, survival probability is below 3.7%. Recommendation: Evacuate immediately."

"Evacuate? Where to?" Grona roared. "The back is a dead end! The front is those bastards!"

"Not entirely a dead end." Zero's console projected the Ark's structural diagram, just retrieved from the information orb. One point was highlighted—precisely the altar room they occupied. "Besides the main entrance, this room has an emergency evacuation shaft leading directly to the Ark's lower maintenance network. Theoretically, it can bypass the main combat zones and reach... the outer area of the 'Shadow Engine'."

The entrance to that shaft was, shockingly, directly beneath the empty platform in the center of the room! It required a specific energy signature to activate.

"To the Shadow Engine?" Lingna gasped. "That traitor 'Shadow Eye' and the corrupted seed are down there! Isn't it even more dangerous below?"

"Risk and opportunity coexist," Zero analyzed calmly. "First, the Doctor's target is clearly the core area of the energy well; his forces are concentrated there, leaving the lower areas relatively empty. Second, 'Shadow Eye' has only recently stolen the seed; the corruption and transformation may not be complete, so there is still a chance to reclaim it. Third, the environment in the Shadow Engine area is extremely chaotic, with frequent energy storms. We might use them to hinder pursuers, or even... borrow their power to fight the Doctor's forces."

This was the only path to survival amidst peril! Rather than staying here to be surrounded and annihilated by the Doctor's army, it was better to break into the more dangerous lower areas. Perhaps they could still seize a sliver of hope, or even have the chance to fulfill the High Priestess's last wish and stop the seed's total corruption!

"No time to hesitate! Move!" Sister Ai Li decided instantly, knowing the consequences of delay.

The group immediately rushed to the platform. Zero's console shot out a stream of energy, activating the hidden runes at the platform's base. The platform emitted a faint hum and slowly slid to one side, revealing a deep, vertical shaft below, narrow enough for only one person. A cold wind, heavy with the smell of motor oil and chaotic energy, gushed up from below.

"Grona, cover the rear! Lingna, follow me down first!" Sister Ai Li grabbed the cold ladder inside the shaft and slid down with agility, though the movement aggravated her wounds, causing her to frown. Lingna followed closely behind.

Grona held the entrance, casting one last glance at the corridor outside where energy fluctuations were growing increasingly violent. She could already hear the heavy footsteps of the Scavengers and the humming of energy weapons charging. She sneered, removed the last high-explosive Dwarf Mine from her power armor's waist, set the timer, and hurled it hard toward the corner of the shaft. Only then did she turn, her massive body squeezing into the passage and sliding down rapidly.

Boom!!! A violent explosion and the chaotic screams of enemies echoed from above; clearly, that Dwarf Mine had achieved a good effect in delaying the enemy.

The vertical shaft seemed bottomless. The walls were cold metal, with only a faint, ominous red glow and a dull, beast-like rumbling coming from the depths below. The deeper they went, the more turbid and cold the air became, and the stronger the chaotic energy turbulence. Small arcs of electricity occasionally jumped across the metal walls, making the hair on one's head stand on end.

After descending for an unknown duration, solid ground finally appeared beneath their feet. The three humans and the AI slid out of a similar exit, landing in a maintenance corridor that was even narrower, filled with thick pipes and abandoned cables. The air here was suffocating, filled with sulfur, ozone, and a certain... putrid smell. Dim emergency lights flickered on and off, casting an ominous hue over everything. The walls were covered with massive energy pipes that pulsed like veins; many had ruptured, leaking dangerous, multicolored energy fluids that pooled in small puddles on the ground, emitting high heat and radiation.

The environment here was extremely harsh, even worse than the previous wasteland.

"Location: Outer maintenance layer of the Shadow Engine. Radiation level: High. Recommendation: Activate minimum shielding," Zero warned, its scanning beam heavily interfered with here, becoming unstable.

Grona's power armor radiation counter emitted a piercing alarm, and she grumbled as she adjusted the settings. Sister Ai Li and Lingna could only do their best to avoid the energy puddles and obvious radiation sources.

The corridor wound and twisted like a maze. Following the vague path Zero had extracted from the structural diagram, they struggled forward toward the engine core. Along the way, they saw more traces of battle and destruction—huge claw marks tearing through thick metal walls, dried, blackened bloodstains belonging to no known race, and the shattered remains of ancient elven weapons and equipment. Clearly, extremely fierce battles had occurred here before and after the Ark's crash.

Suddenly, Grona, who was leading the way, stopped again and signaled for silence.

From behind the corner ahead came a clear sound that was not mechanical operation! It was a certain... heavy, shuffling footstep, mixed with the grating noise of metal friction and a low, mumbling whimper like a sleep-talker.

Something was ahead! And not just one!

The three crept cautiously to the corner and peered around.

They saw several tall, twisted figures wandering aimlessly in a relatively open area ahead, filled with various valves and control nodes!

Their bodies seemed to be haphazardly assembled from various discarded mechanical parts, pipes, and even elven corpses. The seams flickered with unstable energy arcs and dark purple corruption light. Their "heads" were twisted sensors or simply exposed, pulsating energy cores emitting meaningless red light. Their arms had been modified into massive pincers, drills, or cutters, which they mindlessly scraped against the walls and pipes, leaving deep marks.

What are these things?! Were the Ark's automatic repair robots corrupted and mutated? Or were they guards created by that traitor "Shadow Eye"?

"Detected highly chaotic constructs... mixed with machinery, biological remains, and corrupted energy... no intelligent response... wandering on instinct... attacking all non-similar energy sources..." Zero analyzed rapidly. "Threat level: Medium, but quantity unknown. Combat will generate massive noise, potentially attracting more enemies."

A frontal assault was impossible. They could only sneak past.

The three held their breath, moving forward cautiously using the shadows of accumulated debris and thick pipes on the ground. Grona's power armor was now the biggest burden; even though she had reduced the output power to the minimum, the slight operational noise still sounded exceptionally clear in the dead-silent corridor.

One of the nearest twisted constructs seemed to hear something. Its "head," made of gears and cables, snapped around with a clicking noise, its scarlet single eye scanning the shadows.

Sister Ai Li immediately pulled Lingna behind her, pressing her body against the cold pipe and holding her breath. Grona also froze in place, her axe blade raised slightly, ready to strike at any moment.

Fortunately, the construct did not seem to discover them. It wandered a few steps, then turned away.

Having passed this area with a scare but no harm, the passage ahead began to slope downward. The surrounding temperature rose noticeably; the air was scorching like an oven. The dull, beast-like rumbling of the engine grew louder, vibrating so intensely that their hearts seemed to beat in sync with it.

Finally, they reached the end of this maintenance corridor. The end was a huge observation platform made of reinforced glass and metal frames, half of which was damaged. Looking down—

The sight before them made even the experienced Grona gasp in shock!

Below was an abyssal cavity too vast to imagine! In the center of the cavity floated a twisted, damaged, yet still stubbornly operating leviathan—the Shadow Engine! It was not a traditional mechanical structure but more like a space rift generator forcibly torn and twisted. Countless thick pipes and crystal clusters, flashing with dangerous energy, connected to it like a monster's tentacles, constantly injecting chaotic, violent energy to barely maintain its operation and prevent a total collapse and explosion.

At the engine's core was a dark red chaotic energy vortex, constantly rotating and tearing at the surrounding light! Terrific lightning occasionally erupted from the vortex, illuminating countless huge, scar-like spatial cracks on the cavity walls! Some small, twisted, indescribable shadow creatures were trying to crawl out of those cracks, only to be torn apart or pushed back by the chaotic energy radiating from the engine!

The environment here had reached its worst point; the spatial structure was extremely unstable!

And on a relatively intact metal platform on the periphery of the engine, they saw their objective—

A figure clad in tattered ancient elven robes, yet shrouded in twisted shadows, stood with his back to them in the center of the platform. In his hands, he held aloft the Thorn Box! The box was open; inside, the World Tree Seed "Dawn," which should have been emerald and pure, was now mostly a heart-stopping filthy purple, with only the very core still stubbornly emitting a faint green light, resisting the corruption.

Filthy purple energy, like tentacles, spread out from the seed, connecting to the core vortex of the Shadow Engine below, seemingly drawing massive chaotic energy from it to accelerate the corruption process! At the same time, wisps of corrupted energy were injected back into the engine, making that chaotic vortex appear even more violent and unstable!

That figure was undoubtedly the traitor "Shadow Eye"! He was performing that dangerous ritual!

"Target detected," Zero whispered. "Seed corruption level has reached 71%... and is still rising rapidly..."

He must be stopped! Immediately!

But how to get there? That platform hung isolated above the abyss ravaged by energy storms, connected only by a few narrow maintenance passages that looked ready to snap at any moment.

And just as they were observing, "Shadow Eye" seemed to sense something and slowly turned around.

Beneath the hood was not the fearsome face they had imagined, but an extremely pale, even handsome, elven face filled with fanaticism and paranoia. His eyes were pure black, with no whites, and his mouth stretched into a twisted, inhuman smile.

"Ah... new guests..." His voice was hoarse and ethereal, carrying an echo, as if not coming from a single throat. "Have you come to witness... the birth of a new world? Or... to become the first Sacrifice after 'Dawn' has completely fallen?"