Chapter 57

The thorned moonlight shield at Ellie’s fingertips shuddered violently, its silver glow like ice on the verge of shattering. That cold whisper scraped repeatedly within the depths of her skull:

“Protect… how laughable… the elf’s sacrifice… is merely fertilizer for rotting soil…”

“Embrace withering… let the moonlight… stain eternal violet…”

“Shut up!” Ellie hissed through clenched teeth, her pupils blazing with silver light! The shield exploded apart, uncontrolled moonlight becoming hundreds of razor-thin silver threads, like a furious hedgehog bursting open! A continuous hissing filled the air as the surrounding charred earth was carved with deep, intersecting gashes, and several discarded metal plates pierced through instantly. The backlash pain sent her stumbling back, her chest scar burning like a branding iron, a faint thread of violet mist seeping silently along its edge.

“Ellie!” Lin Mo stepped forward, planting the hilt of the “Earth Mai Arbiter” sword into the ground. Hum! Dark golden thorn roots burst from the earth, weaving into a circular barrier that blocked every flying strand of moonlight; emerald life auras flowed along the roots, attempting to soothe the churning energy within her.

“It… is speaking to me…” Ellie knelt on one knee, her right hand pressed hard against her temple, nails nearly digging into her skin, “Rotclaw… it’s tempting… no, it’s mocking! Mocking Lyana’s sacrifice, mocking our walls…” She snapped her head up, eyes holding a cold, unyielding edge untouched by pain, “It says… the Thornheart will ultimately return to decay!”

Lin Mo’s heart jolted. Could Rotclaw’s whisper pierce the Jade Wall’s protective will? This was no simple spiritual corruption! Unconsciously, he turned inward to the [Seed of Life]; the dark purple veins along the edge of its orange-red core now pulsed like breath, their rhythm subtly synchronized with the whisper Ellie described!

“Hold your mind!” Lin Mo growled, channeling a purer stream of earth Mai energy through the root domain into Ellie’s body, “Treat it as a whetstone for your will! Moonlight was born to purify—how dare corruption defile it!” His gaze swept over the towering flames and thunderous hammering of the furnace zone, “Look at the home we are building! This steel, this wall—this is the best answer!”

Ellie drew a deep breath, the frigid wasteland air mingling with the furnace’s heat flooding her lungs. She closed her eyes, forcibly banishing the churning evil thoughts from her mind, and once again gathered silver light at her fingertips. This time, she abandoned form, sinking her intent into the silver scar on her chest, feeling the lingering chill and protection from Lyana’s moonlight fragments. The silver light no longer raged—it flowed like a gentle stream around her fingers, faint yet exquisitely concentrated.

In the furnace zone, the steel wall had taken rough shape. Five-meter-tall dark red steel walls rose along the rim of the depression, their rough rivets and weld seams bearing the dwarves’ iron-blooded style. Copperbeard’s mechanical prosthetic hand spat blue welding flames as it set the final steel brick—etched with the furnace and thorn emblem—into its pre-cut slot.

“Energy core, connected!” Copperbeard boomed. His wrench tightened the last few copper energy conduits, each as thick as an arm, inside the wall. The other ends plunged deep into the earth, linking to energy nodes wrapped in roots within the earth Mai fissure.

Lin Mo shifted his intent. Hum—! The entire newly completed wall surface suddenly ignited with orange-red lava-like veins! Scorching heat spread, warping the air. A thin, dense orange-red energy shield blanketed the steel wall, instantly melting a discarded metal plate thrown against it into molten iron.

“Stone Wall, energy shield activated!” Wrench slapped the control panel excitedly, “Instant defense strength: Class A! Sustained output stability… wait, abnormal energy ripples?” He frowned toward the earth Mai fissure.

Lin Mo felt it too. At the moment the wall’s shield activated, the heartbeat of the earth Mai core flickered with an imperceptible disturbance—not from exhaustion, but as if… disturbed by a resonant vibration? He remained silent, sinking more awareness into the earth Mai core, where the emerald Jade Heart shard rotated slowly nearby, radiating gentle green harmony.

“Well done!” Copperbeard wiped sweat, slapping the scorching steel wall, “Next: the gate and gun emplacements! Wrench, dismantle the old electromagnetic cannon from the ‘Bison’ chassis! Lingna, purify three more barrels of coolant—quenching needs it!”

“Got it!” Lingna nodded firmly, clutching a special wooden barrel as she ran toward the water purifier. As she passed a relatively flat area on the west side of the depression, covered in Starlight Moss, she suddenly halted. Several moss clumps near the rock wall had curled their pale golden leaves inward; the faint light flowing through their veins had dimmed and quickened, as if terrified.

She knelt, her small hand brushing the leaves. “Don’t be afraid…” she whispered softly, releasing her pure natural affinity. The leaves slightly unfurled under her soothing touch, yet the flow of light within their veins stubbornly pointed toward a tiny, unremarkable crack at the rock’s base. From within the crack, a faint current of air leaked out—carrying the scent of… aged metal and dust, utterly distinct from the wasteland’s radiation dust.

Lingna’s curiosity stirred. She found a discarded steel rod and carefully pried loose the surrounding rubble. As the stones fell away, the crack widened, the aged scent intensifying. She leaned in—inside was not solid rock, but… the edge of some artificial structure? Cold, smooth, coated in thick dust.

“Lin Mo brother! Uncle Copperbeard! There’s… something here!” Lingna called back, her voice small against the furnace’s roar, yet carrying undeniable discovery.

Lin Mo and Copperbeard hurried over. Ellie, suppressing the last of her inner turmoil, followed.

Copperbeard’s mechanical eye emitted blue light, scanning the rock fissure. “Not natural bedrock… metal structure! Thickness… astonishing! Behind it’s hollow!” His voice held shock, “Buried this deep—this thing is older than the wasteland!”

Lin Mo crouched, fingers brushing the cold metal surface. The texture was neither steel nor iron, but an unknown silver-gray alloy; even after millennia buried underground, it remained mirror-smooth, dusted only in even, fine ash. He tried lightly scratching it with the tip of the “Earth Mai Arbiter”—it left only a faint white mark!

“Could it be… an Old World shelter?” Wrench squeezed in, excitedly speculating, “Or a secret arms depot? Energy core?”

Ellie’s gaze was drawn to an unremarkable etched symbol on the metal’s edge—a simple abstract mark of three intersecting arcs, clean yet radiating a cold technological aura. Unconsciously, she gathered a faint thread of moonlight at her fingertip and brushed it across the symbol.

Hum!

The symbol flared with an impossibly thin line of blue light! Though fleeting, all saw it clearly!

Simultaneously, Lin Mo’s [Seed of Life] core jolted! The dark purple vein surged violently, as if stimulated by the blue light, transmitting a chaotic sensation of greed and dread. The earth Mai core’s heartbeat grew erratic; the newly stabilized wall shield flickered!

“Behind this door… there’s something!” Lin Mo pressed his chest, eyes sharp as blades, “It stirs the corruption mark, disrupts the earth Mai … this is no safe place! But it may hold what we desperately need!” He stared at the dust-locked metal door, and the ancient, icy darkness seeping from its crack.

Inside the Doctor’s main control room, the monitor screen locked onto the exposed metal door. Data streams surged wildly:

【Detected high-density unknown alloy structure (designation: Omega-class). Age analysis: Pre-Annihilation Era (extinct civilization).】

【Detected weak energy signature (type: unknown, spectrum partially matches “Annihilation Seed” protocol database).】

【Target Lord’s energy core (Seed of Life) exhibiting high-activity interference signal (corruption mark)!】

【Warning: This structure may trigger unpredictable variables! “Annihilation Seed” protocol readiness accelerating: 85%...86%...】

The Doctor’s icy fingertip hovered above a crimson virtual button, his gold-rimmed glasses reflecting the blue torrent of data on screen.

“The shadow behind the door… is it finally about to be unveiled?” he murmured, voice utterly flat, “Then… the experiment enters its next phase. Release the ‘catalyst’.”