Chapter 60: The Sealed Journal, the Erased Truth, and the Hovering Finger

Absolute silence, like heavy ice water, drowned the entire underground platform. Frozen laser beams, motionless guards, dim metal pillars—all sketched an eerie, silent tableau in the faint blue light spilling through the doorway. Only the grand alloy gate at the platform's far end, slowly opening, gave off a low, far-reaching hum of machinery, as if some ancient behemoth were stirring from its long slumber.

"Just… just now… what was that?" Wrench's voice, trembling with the aftershock of a brush with death, broke the dead stillness. He sat slumped on the ground, the barrel of his shotgun still faintly warm in his hands.

"Time… stopped?" Copperbeard's mechanical eye swept frantically over the frozen laser beams, data streams cascading across the lens like waterfalls. "No… it's an energy field! A domain-level energy field, powerful enough to interfere with the state of matter's motion!" He stared at the opened gate, his eyes filled with shock and horror.

Sister Ai Li pressed a hand to her chest; the violet energy at her silver scar had been forcibly suppressed when the pulse swept past. She fixed her sharp gaze on Lin Mo: "The thing inside you… drew this?" She meant the out-of-control power of the Corruption Claw.

Lin Mo did not answer. He looked down at the "Vein Arbiter" in his hand. The eerie purple-black energy on the blade had receded like a tide after the pulse, once again revealing the dark-gold base color and the thorn-patterned runes. But at the center of the guard, along the edge of that miniature four-colored thorn emblem, a faint, almost imperceptible dark-purple vein had silently crept in, like an ill-omened brand. The corrupt power that had erupted at that life-or-death moment was like opening a dangerous valve; he could feel the mark, deep-rooted in the core of the 【Seed of Life】, growing more active, more… difficult to sever.

"The door… it's open…" Xiang Lingna's timid voice rang out. Her small hand pointed toward the far end of the platform.

The heavy alloy gate had slid inward, leaving a gap wide enough for several people to walk abreast. Beyond the door was not the vast space they had imagined, but a relatively compact circular hall. At the center of the hall floated a complex geometric construct woven from countless faint-blue light-lines, slowly rotating, radiating a soft yet immense halo of light—the very source of that terrifying pulse. Beneath the construct sat a control console half-embedded in the floor, its surface covered in long-dead crystal panels and physical buttons, blanketed in thick dust.

What drew every eye was a holographic image, projected silently into the air directly in front of the console. The image flickered with some distortion, but its content was clearly visible:

A middle-aged man in a white Old Era uniform, his face weary yet his gaze resolute, was speaking to the camera. The background was a room filled with various instrument screens (vastly different from the Doctor's base in style, far more archaic and weighty). His voice carried the crackle of electrical noise, yet every word was clear:

"…Log number: Annihilation Era, Seventh Cycle Day. This is 'Ark' Observation Station Seven, Chief Engineer Kane."

"…We have failed. The Source-Energy Matrix lost control three cycle days earlier than projected. It is devouring all energy, warping physical laws, breaking down the matter and life it touches… into a primordial state of chaos. We call it the 'Tide of Annihilation.'"

"The observation station's energy barrier can hold for at most another 72 hours. All dispatched exploration teams have lost contact. The final scan shows the 'Tide' has already blanketed 97% of the main star sector's airspace and is expanding exponentially."

"…We have tried every known suppression method, all to no avail. The matrix core has birthed a nascent… devouring consciousness. It refuses communication, following only the instinct to devour and expand."

"Warning! All survivors receiving this message! Stay away from high-energy reaction zones! Stay away from any technological construct related to the 'Source-Energy Matrix'! They may have been contaminated by the 'Tide' and become its tendrils!"

"Final data analysis indicates that the 'Tide of Annihilation' has a special 'anchoring' effect on highly ordered, structurally stable forms of energy and matter. Especially… life-energy reactions deeply fused with a planet's ley lines…"

In the image, an expression of utter agony and despair crossed Engineer Kane's face.

"…We may have… unintentionally… shown it the way…"

"May those who come after… find… a true… path to survival…"

The image cut off here, dissolving into a flickering field of static.

The dead silence grew heavier than before.

"Annihilation… Era…" Wrench muttered to himself, his face ashen. "The old world… was eaten by that 'Source-Energy Matrix' thing?"

"Source-Energy Matrix… devouring consciousness… Tide of Annihilation…" Copperbeard's thick brows knit tight, his mechanical prosthetic hand tapping unconsciously at the console's edge. "The Corruption Claw… that ghost tree-man… the nature of its power…"

Sister Ai Li snapped her gaze to Lin Mo, her eyes like ice: "Devouring energy, warping matter, breaking down life… and the 'anchoring' to ley-line life energy… Lin Mo, does this description sound like the Corruption Claw? Like… its greed for that seed inside you (the Seed of Life)?!"

Lin Mo felt as if struck by lightning! Kane's warning was like a cold key, instantly unlocking the shackles on every thread of the puzzle!

-The Corruption Claw's withering power that devours vitality and rots all things!

-Its erosion of the elven world-fragment shards imbued with the source of life!

-Its greed for the world's origin that Priestess Liyana had channeled over!

-Its coveting of his 【Seed of Life】 and its whispered temptations in his mind!

-And… the Corruption Mark within him, which, once activated, madly devoured ley-line energy and tried to contaminate the core!

Every fragment pointed to one terrifying truth—the Corruption Claw was, in all likelihood, the very out-of-control "Source-Energy Matrix" (or a shard of it) spoken of by Engineer Kane, born within some world-fragment, twisted and corrupted by the "Tide of Annihilation" into a manifested horror! A calamity-entity… possessed of a devouring will!

And the Thornheart Domain, with its Heart of the Ley Lines, Seed of Life, Emerald Shard… these highly ordered reservoirs of life and ley-line energy were, in the eyes of the Corruption Claw, no different from the brightest beacon in the dark! The most delicious bait!

"We… have been targeted." Lin Mo's voice was dry and hoarse; a sense of crisis the likes of which he had never known seized him. "From the moment we activated the Heart of the Ley Lines… no, perhaps from the moment Priestess Liyana channeled her world's origin into me… we became prey it must claim! This door, this observation station… was very likely marked by it long ago!" He looked at the massive Corruption Claw footprint on the ground, a chill seeping to his very bones.

"Th-then… the thing that just stopped the guards…" Xiang Lingna clung fearfully to Lin Mo's arm, her small hand pointing at the faint-blue geometric construct floating at the center of the hall.

Just then, the light of the slowly rotating faint-blue geometric construct suddenly flickered in rapid bursts! A new electronic synthesized voice, with an obvious mechanical stutter, rang out in broken fragments:

【Highest… directive… conflict…】

【Detected… deeply contaminated… individual…】

【Target: Lord… Lin Mo…】

【Status: Source of Life… suffering… deep integration with… unknown high-dimensional will of decay…】

【Assessment: Irreversible contamination… threat level… ∞ (infinity)】

【Executing… final purification protocol…】

【Annihilation program… activation countdown: 10… 9…】

Wooooooong——!!!

A shrill alarm instantly blared through the entire hall! Every dead crystal panel on the console flared wildly with blood-red warning runes! From the hall's dome and walls, dense clusters of weapon ports thrust out in an instant, glinting with lethal energy light, all locked onto Lin Mo!

In the Doctor's base's main control room, the screen of static noise suddenly snapped back to clarity! The image showed Lin Mo, locked in the sights of countless weapons! Crimson countdown digits pulsed at the center of the screen: 6… 5…

"At last… this moment has come." The Doctor's icy voice carried not the slightest ripple. The fingertip hovering over the crimson button, bearing absolute reason and the cold composure of one who controlled everything, pressed down gently.

【Seed of Annihilation… released!】