Chapter 223: Raging Torrent, All-In Gamble, and the Shattering of the Emerald Blade

The blood-red countdown pulsed like the Grim Reaper's grin across Xiang Lingna's retina, every descending digit hammering against her nearly shattered heartstrings. 00:00:59…00:00:58…The engine's roar grew shriller and more unstable, the entire Shadow Engine cavity shuddering violently, spatial rifts spreading and widening like shattered mirrors, and some small, twisted shadow creatures had already squeezed through, shrieking in ways that shredded one's sanity, struggling to adapt within the energy storm.

Shadow Pupil spread his arms, utterly immersed in his destructive, mad vision, the filthy purple energy wrapping him and the seed about to fall completely in a cocoon, indifferent to the collapsing scene around him, even filled with anticipation.

Sister Ai Li was unconscious, the Glorona power armor severely damaged and barely able to move, and Zero's computing power was almost entirely devoted to maintaining its own stability and monitoring the collapse.

The only one who could move was Xiang Lingna herself.

That mad plan spun wildly in her mind—channel the engine's energy to attack Shadow Pupil! Just like Brother Lin Mo had done! But here there was no leyline energy to act as a buffer, only the most violent, most chaotic, space-tearing destructive energy!

How? Her right-arm crystal…that key containing a wisp of World Tree sapling power and the imprint of Thorn Order…could it withstand it? Could it guide even the tiniest thread of this raging torrent?

She didn't know! But there was no time to hesitate!

"Zero!" Xiang Lingna's voice was hoarse from extreme tension. "Calculate…calculate the thinnest venting point of the engine's energy flow! Even if it's only a thread! Give me coordinates!"

Zero's console flickered wildly, nearly burning out. "Calculating…risk extremely high…success rate below 0.001%…coordinates marked: three o'clock ahead of you, at the rupture of Cooling Pipe Number Seven! But the energy flow is extremely unstable, it could at any moment…"

"Enough!" Xiang Lingna cut it off, her gaze locked dead on the point Zero had marked on her retina—a thick, twisted and broken pipe stub extending from the engine's main body, now spewing wildly outward like an uncontrolled high-pressure water cannon, a chaotic stream of blue-purple energy crackling with terrifying arcs!

That was the spot!

She drew a deep breath of scalding, radiation-saturated air, dragging her exhausted, heavily wounded body along the crumbling edge of the observation platform, struggling toward that rupture. Every step was like walking on a knife's edge, the chaotic energy storm tearing at her body, her right arm's cracks sending piercing agony through her.

Shadow Pupil seemed to notice her movement, his pitch-black eyes glancing over with a hint of mockery and indifference: "An ant's struggle…only adds to the amusement…" He couldn't even be bothered to stop her, seemingly convinced she could not possibly succeed no matter what.

At last, Xiang Lingna reached the rupture! The immense wind pressure from the violent energy stream nearly blew her away, her skin stung from the searing energy particles, every strand of her hair standing on end.

Now!

She let out a shout with all her might, pouring all her will, all her hope, all her fear into that crack-riddled right arm! The emerald veins and silver thorn patterns inside the crystal blazed with unprecedented brightness!

She did not try to absorb it—that would undoubtedly be courting death—but instead, imitating the sensation of Lin Mo channeling leyline energy before, she used her right-arm crystal as a kind of "lure" and "refractor," hacking it hard into the edge of that gushing chaotic energy stream!

Hsssssssla—!!!

Indescribable agony instantly swept through Xiang Lingna's entire body! As if her whole soul had been thrown into a meat grinder! The instant her right-arm crystal made contact, it emitted an unbearable, teeth-grating cracking sound! More fissures instantly covered its surface, and some tiny fragments even broke off and disintegrated!

That chaotic energy was far too violent, far beyond her ability to channel! Most of it still raged off in all directions; only an extremely minuscule wisp, forcibly drawn by her will and the crystal's properties, like an enraged venomous snake, abruptly veered, and with the force to tear everything apart, shot toward Shadow Pupil at the platform's center!

This sudden, though faint yet intrinsically high-grade energy interference instantly shattered the energy balance around Shadow Pupil!

Crack!

A crisp sound like glass shattering! The filthy purple energy cocoon wrapping him was struck by this chaotic energy stream, rippling violently, countless cracks appearing on its surface! The nearly fully corrupted seed in his hand also jolted violently, and the last stubborn wisp of emerald light seized the chance to flare up, trying to break free!

"What?!" The mad grin on Shadow Pupil's face instantly froze, turning to shock and fury! He had to divert part of his power to stabilize the energy cocoon and suppress the seed's backlash!

That momentary interference and distraction!

Zero, who had been waiting for the chance, gambled everything on its last remaining computing power! "Energy field fluctuation detected! Interference successful! Executing final protocol: Overclock Pulse!"

A condensed-to-the-extreme, almost invisibly thin ghostly-blue pulse shot out from Zero's console—not aimed at Shadow Pupil, but at an inconspicuous energy node beneath his feet on the platform—a key point Zero had silently calculated earlier that maintained the platform's stability and energy transmission!

Crack!

The node overloaded and exploded! The entire platform jolted violently, the lighting instantly died, energy transmission briefly cut off! The light of the energy cocoon around Shadow Pupil flickered sharply, becoming unstable! The footing beneath him also began to tilt!

"Damned machine!" Shadow Pupil let out an angry roar, his body staggering.

And Xiang Lingna, after delivering that life-risking strike, could no longer endure—her right arm's crystal gave a crisp "crack" and snapped clean in two! The larger section of crystal, along with all the emerald and silver light within, instantly dimmed, shattered, turned to powder! Only a small broken section of crystal remained covering her shoulder and upper arm, the broken surface flickering with dangerous energy sparks and an extremely faint, lingering trace of green.

She herself was hurled violently away by the massive backlash force, slamming into a distant metal wall, blood spraying wildly from her mouth, her vision going black, nearly passing out on the spot, only a sliver of blurred consciousness remaining.

A terrible price! Her right arm nearly ruined! But she had successfully created a fleeting chance!

The countdown still ticked mercilessly on.

00:00:15

00:00:14

…!