Chapter 242: Elegy of Sorrow and the Whisper of Remnant Shadows

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Deep within the hall, the soft, warm-white light was like a stage spotlight, enveloping that slender figure. The music grew clearer—ethereal, graceful, yet imbued with an inexorable sorrow, every note striking as if at the very depths of the soul.

The figure turned its head slowly and gracefully, carrying an inhuman, ancient divinity.

Xiang Lingna's heart pounded wildly—fear and an inexplicable anticipation—as her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the figure within the light, forgetting to breathe.

Yet, just as the figure was about to turn fully, its face about to be revealed—

Like a hologram with a bad signal, the entire figure, along with the warm-white light and the sorrowful music, violently flickered and warped! The next second, it vanished like smoke, without a trace!

The strange music also stopped abruptly, as if it had never existed.

The entire hall fell back into dead silence and darkness, leaving only the half-open, oddly shaped massive doorway—like the mouth of a silent beast—devouring all light and sound.

The sudden change left Xiang Lingna rooted to the spot, a great sense of loss and bewilderment welling up within her, as if she had missed something extremely important.

"It's a remnant shadow…" Crow's low voice broke the silence. He had stopped walking at some unknown point, his sharp gaze fixed on the empty hall, his face Heavy and Solemn with a hint of… understanding? "A kind of… intense spiritual imprint or information echo left behind by the Forerunner civilization, activated and manifested under specific energy conditions. They have no physical form, only ghosts of the past."

A spiritual imprint? Ghosts of the past? Xiang Lingna came back to her senses, feeling a wave of dread afterward, but the strong sensation of being summoned still lingered. "It… it seemed to be calling me…"

Crow looked at her deeply, his gaze sweeping over the thorn imprint on her left arm and her right leg: "It may be related to the special power within you. Many things within the 'Legacy' operate on principles far beyond our understanding. But remember—don't be bewitched by them. More often than not, they're more like traps."

He paused, then added: "Elder Elana's notes mentioned that certain powerful 'remnant shadows' can even affect reality, create illusions, and steal hearts and minds. That one just now… gave me a very unusual feeling. We'd best stay away from it."

Xiang Lingna nodded, suppressing the pounding in her heart, forcing herself not to look at the pitch-black hall entrance again. Crow was right—now was not the time for curiosity.

The two continued forward along the main passage indicated by the scanner. After this little episode, the atmosphere within the passage seemed to grow even more oppressive and eerie. Xiang Lingna kept feeling as if countless eyes were watching her from the darkness, and the sorrowful musical melody seemed to linger faintly at the edge of her hearing.

The passage beneath their feet began to slope gently upward, and the walls on either side gradually changed. The Forerunner-style geometric patterns slowly diminished, replaced by later-added, crudely styled metal support structures and elven script warning signs—【High-Risk Area】, 【No Unauthorized Entry】, 【Energy Leakage】.

They seemed to be moving from a purely "Legacy" zone toward a dangerous area built later by the Ark, but likewise abandoned.

The air grew more polluted, thick with a strong smell of ozone and burnt circuitry, mingled with a faint, sickeningly sweet, nauseatingly familiar scent—the aura of that dark-red "Thirst" contamination! Though faint, it instantly put Xiang Lingna and Crow on high alert.

"Careful—we may be approaching a contaminated, sealed-off area." Crow lowered his voice, gripping his pulse pistol, slowing his pace.

Ahead in the passage appeared the wreckage of a massive isolation gate, violently destroyed. The gate was twisted and deformed, its edges still bearing traces of high-temperature melting and enormous Claw Marks. Clearly, something terrible had once broken out through here by force.

Passing through the gate wreckage, the sight before them made both of them sharply draw in a breath of cold air.

This was the ruin of a massive circular hall, on a scale comparable to the Hall of Echoes, yet filled with the marks of destruction and battle. The surrounding walls were covered with scorched blast marks and deep gouges; the ground was littered with broken instrument parts and long-rusted weapon wreckage. Many enormous, withered, blackened plant roots pierced through from the ceiling and wall breaches, like the tentacles of a monster, adding to the desolation and gloom.

In the center of the hall was a massive, long-dry pool, its bottom congealed with some dark-red, asphalt-like viscous substance, emanating that sickeningly sweet scent of decay. Around the pool were scattered dozens of half-fossilized remains of elves and some kind of large construct, partially covered in dark-red moss! They held battle stances, as if they had been guarding that pool, only to be wiped out in the end.

An extremely fierce battle had clearly taken place here.

"The Purification Hall…" Crow's voice carried a tremor of grief; he recognized this place. "Elder Elana's records mentioned it… this was a major facility for early attempts to purify the 'Thirst' contamination… it seems… they failed…"

The price of failure was the tragic scene before their eyes.

Xiang Lingna looked at the remains still holding their battle stances, as if she could feel their final despair and unwillingness, her Heart Heavy beyond words.

The two carefully skirted the ominous pool in the center, preparing to cross the ruins quickly.

Just as they were about to reach the exit on the other end of the hall, Xiang Lingna's gaze was drawn to something in a corner.

It was a relatively intact elven remains, sitting against the wall, its armor badly damaged and mostly covered in dark-red moss, but in one hand it clutched a palm-sized, disc-shaped object seemingly made of some white jade, inlaid with golden patterns. The object seemed to possess some power that prevented the surrounding dark-red moss from fully corroding it, maintaining a small, relatively clean area around it.

And on the wall beside the elven remains, some sharp object had carved out dense, chaotic elven script! The handwriting was scrawled and desperate, as if left in the final moments of life.

Xiang Lingna walked over as if possessed.

"Don't touch anything!" Crow warned in a low voice.

Xiang Lingna did not touch the remains, but carefully deciphered the writing on the wall. Most of it was covered by moss or blurred, but a few passages could still be barely read:

【…The seventh purification experiment… failure… 'It' is imitating… learning… the more we try to purify, the stronger it becomes…】【…Energy… it needs energy… life energy… emotional energy… especially… negative emotions… that is its food…】【…Elana was right… the root is not here… must find… the source of 'sorrow'…】【…They're coming… hold the hall… must not let… the Mother… escape…】【…Later ones… remember… light… needs… shadow… balance… pure light… will only… invite… deeper… darkness…】

The writing stopped abruptly here; the last few words were nearly illegible, filled with endless despair.

Xiang Lingna's heartbeat quickened again. Though fragmented, the information on the wall revealed crucial clues! "Thirst" feeds on negative emotions? Pure purification light might instead invite deeper darkness? A balance of light and shadow is needed?

This seemed to confirm her earlier feelings and experiences. The contradictory state of her body—bearing both the marks of order and chaos (already purified)—might not be a curse, but a kind of… necessary balance?

"Crow! Come look at this!" she called softly.

Crow approached warily, quickly reading the writing on the wall, his expression growing increasingly Heavy and Solemn. "…Feeding on negative emotions… imitating and learning… this explains why the Doctor's forced control was so terrifying… he was constantly providing 'nourishment'…" He looked toward the dry pool in the center of the hall, a flash of realization in his eyes. "…And the failed purification here may have instead given birth to an even more powerful… 'Mother'?"

The Mother? Did it mean the source of those dark-red aggregates?

Just then, the scanner in Crow's hand suddenly emitted a more urgent beeping!

"Not good! A high-energy reaction is approaching fast! Coming from over there!" Crow suddenly pointed at a passage entrance in another direction of the hall! That entrance was obscured by more withered roots and ruins—they hadn't noticed it before!

Almost the moment his words fell—

BOOM!!!

The ruins in that direction exploded violently! An incomparably thick, terrifying root, completely covered in dark-red substance, like a giant python, smashed through the obstruction and surged into the hall! The tip of the root was not a spike, but formed a blurry, twisted, constantly writhing human-face shape, emitting a silent, soul-striking roar of greed!

A spiritual pressure far vaster and more condensed than the aggregates they had encountered before, filled with endless hunger and malice, instantly enveloped the entire hall!

"It's a part of the 'Mother'! Run!" Crow's face changed drastically. He grabbed Xiang Lingna and dashed madly toward their originally intended exit!

The terrifying dark-red root seemed to have detected these two "fresh energy sources," letting out an excited spiritual shriek and lunging after them! Wherever it passed, the remains and ruins on the ground were easily devoured and absorbed!

It was extremely fast, about to catch up at any moment!

At this critical juncture, Xiang Lingna suddenly looked back and saw the elven remains clutching the white jade disc.

A wild thought flashed through her mind.

She violently broke free from Crow's hand, rushed toward the remains, and in the instant the root was about to touch her, grabbed at the white jade disc!

The instant her fingers touched the disc—

HUM!!!

The white jade disc suddenly erupted with brilliant yet gentle white light! A complex shield of elven runes formed of light instantly unfurled, enveloping her!

The dark-red root slammed into the light shield, letting out a piercing spiritual shriek, recoiling violently as if burned by a branding iron; the twisted human-face shape at its tip rippled and blurred, filled with pain and fury!

The light shield flickered violently—clearly unable to withstand this terrifying "Mother" root for long.

But this bought precious time for Xiang Lingna and Crow!

"Go!" Crow grabbed her again, and the two seized the chance to burst out through the hall's exit!

From behind came the psychic noise of the "Mother"'s tendrils madly slamming against the light shield and its furious roars.

They ran headlong down the new passage without looking back, until they had thoroughly shaken that terrifying sound behind them.

Having once again escaped danger, the two leaned against the wall, gasping, their hearts still pounding with lingering fear.

Xiang Lingna looked at the white jade disc in her hand, which had already returned to calm yet remained warm and lustrous, and felt that it contained within it a gentle yet steadfast protective power.

"You were too reckless!" Crow panted, her tone carrying reproach, yet also a trace of lingering dread.

"…But it saved us." Xiang Lingna gripped the jade disc tightly, feeling that power within it which shared the same origin as the "Tears" shard yet was somehow different. "And… I feel… it might be able to help us find… the balance within the 'Shadow.'"

Crow gazed at the jade disc, was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded: "…Perhaps. Elder Elana also mentioned that the original Guardian technology drew on certain balance concepts from the 'Legacy.'"

He raised his head and looked toward the passage ahead. The indicators on the scanner had grown somewhat clearer.

"We're closer to the core zone. I can feel it… the energy flow around us has become more active… and also more… chaotic."

From ahead in the passage, faintly came new sounds—no longer the dead silence, nor the roars of monsters, but the deep, rumbling hum of some massive machinery in operation, and… the indistinct murmur of human voices?

The two exchanged a glance, their vigilance rising once more.

Crow made a hushing gesture, and the two crept forward in utter silence.

At the end of the passage was a massive ventilation grille, and intense light and clattering mechanical noise poured through from behind it.

They carefully approached the vent and looked down.

The sight below made both of them nearly stop breathing.