Chapter 64: The False Blueprint, the Trial of Moonlight, and the Sleep-Talking Murmurs

The barrier area repaired with thorn steel gleamed with a cold, hard light under the setting sun; the newly embedded steel bricks fit perfectly, with faint blue-green energy veins visible within, completely concealing the scars left by the Corrupted Claw. Inside the depression, the furnace's roar once again became the main melody as Kong Dong directed Wrench and several newly recruited, still-robust refugees to begin attaching thorn steel outer armor to the entire section of the rock barrier. Heavy steel ingots were heated, hammered, and shaped, the clanging of the strikes carrying a sense of new life.

Wrench's "laboratory"—a semi-open shed enclosed by assault platform armor—had become the liveliest place. A crude workbench was piled with circuit boards, energy conduits, dismantled "Clearer" parts, and several crucial dark blue Order Energy Crystal Plates. He himself was disheveled, his bean eyes bloodshot, yet flashing with a near-fanatical excitement, dancing around several unfurled blueprints covered in complex symbols and structures.

"It worked! It absolutely worked!" Wrench grabbed a blueprint with ink still wet and rushed to Lin Mo, who was supervising the armor installation. "Boss! Look at this! The 'Hive' close-in defense system! Inspired by a defense module in the Iron Coffin (Sanctuary) database! I used thorn steel for the Hive shell, stuffed it full of micro energy nozzles, and used the Order Crystal Plates as the core trigger! Once activated, it can instantly form a covering Order energy pulse network outside the barrier! Perfect for countering that Corrupted slime and low-level Withered monsters! Much more efficient than Sister Ai Li chopping them one by one!"

He pulled out another drawing depicting a massive wheel bristling with spikes: "And this 'Iron Thorn'! Driven by the furnace's waste heat, spinning at high speed! The edges are embedded with quenched thorn steel spikes! A meat grinder! Any claw that reaches out gets sliced into strips!"

Lin Mo took the blueprint; the wild lines and annotations were full of goblin-like mad imagination, yet the core energy circuits and structural design subtly revealed a cold, efficient sense of order, clearly borrowing from Sanctuary technology. In the corner of the blueprint, energy requirements, a materials list, and projected effects were scrawled in messy handwriting.

"Using Order Crystal Plates for the energy core... won't the consumption be too high?" Lin Mo asked. The Sanctuary Core was already dormant; these crystal plates were a finite resource.

"Use them sparingly! Pulse mode! Point-blank bursts!" Wrench patted his chest. "Besides, don't we have the Leyline Heart? I designed a diversion interface; in an emergency, we can draw on geothermal energy! It's just a bit unstable, prone to exploding..."

Lin Mo nodded and handed the blueprint back. "Prioritize the 'Hive' system, installing it above the repaired barrier section and at several key merlons. Build a prototype of the 'Iron Thorn' first to test its effects." Having experienced the fight against the Corrupted Claw, the importance of ranged and area defense was self-evident.

"Understood!" Wrench excitedly ran back to his workbench and immediately began searching for materials. He didn't notice that as he sorted through the pile of physical storage blocks copied from the Sanctuary, a miniature mechanical "beetle" disguised as a scorched pebble silently crawled out from a gap in the blocks and burrowed into a pile of discarded circuit boards beneath the workbench. Two extremely faint red lights flashed briefly in the "beetle's" head.

On the quieter, open ground on the western side of the depression. Sister Ai Li stood alone facing a thick target made of ordinary fire-pattern steel. She closed her eyes, concentrating, with moonlight flowing at her fingertips, yet no longer striving to condense shields or daggers. The silver scar on her chest grew slightly warm; the battle at the Sanctuary and the experience of countering the Corrupted Claw projection had given her a deeper understanding of the essence of moonlight power—it was not only a blade of purification but also an extension of the will to protect.

She attempted to sink her consciousness into her chest. The fragment of the Moonlight Pearl integrated there emitted a cool radiance, resonating subtly with the Thorn Guarding Will, originating from Lin Mo and the territory, that was branded deep in her soul. The silver glow at her fingertips no longer raged outward but, as if alive, drew inward and wove itself, transforming into countless fine and resilient silver threads of light. The threads were not static but pulsed and extended slowly, like the neural pathways of a living creature.

Hiss!

A single thread of light shot out silently, fast as lightning, piercing the edge of the steel target with precision! There was no violent explosion, only a small, mirror-smooth hole! Around the hole, the metal exhibited a brittle state as if instantly frozen by extreme cold.

A flash of silver light passed through Sister Ai Li's eyes, and her fingertips moved slightly. The thread of light that had pierced the steel target did not dissipate; instead, as if possessing sentience, it snapped taut and recoiled!

Crack!

On the edge of the steel target, the area pierced and frozen by the thread of light was torn off in a small chunk as if it were fragile glass!

"Moonlight... Thread Blade..." Sister Ai Li murmured, a faint trace of satisfaction appearing on her cold face. This method of control consumed less, had greater penetration, was more concealed, and suited her Rogue's combat style even better. More importantly, the purification power contained within the threads was highly effective against corrupted things.

However, just as she focused her mind on controlling the threads, attempting to weave them into a more complex defensive net—

"Guarding... Shackle..."

"Power... Originates from... Destruction..."

"Tear apart... Thorns... Embrace... Annihilation..."

Cold, sticky whispers, full of temptation and corruption, rose without warning from the depths of her consciousness like a snake hissing! Identical to the Corrupted Claw whispers Lin Mo had endured, yet even more targeted at the moonlight power within her! The Withered corruption lingering deep within the silver scar, stimulated by the new power Sister Ai Li had grasped, began to stir once more!

Sister Ai Li let out a muffled groan; the silver threads at her fingertips instantly lost control and went berserk, scattering in all directions like bristling silver needles! The mental shock made her head throb painfully, and the purple mist at the silver scar began to faintly reappear!

"Hmph!" She bit her tongue hard; under the stimulation of intense pain, she forcibly stabilized her mind. Silver light exploded from her eyes, and the Thorn Guarding Will rose like an invisible barrier within her consciousness, blocking that evil whisper dead! The berserk threads at her fingertips were forcibly gathered, transforming into a violently flickering silver sphere.

"Your power is arousing 'It' to a deeper level of covetousness." Lin Mo's voice came from behind. He had approached at some unknown moment; his face still bore a trace of fatigue, but his eyes were sharp. He could feel that when Sister Ai Li's power had lost control just now, the suppressed Corruption Mark within his own body had also produced a slight resonant disturbance.

Sister Ai Li dispersed the silver glow in her hands, turned to look at Lin Mo, her gaze cold and resolute: "Then let it come. My dagger will purify every trace of filth it leaves behind." Under the suppression of the Guarding Will, the purple mist on the silver scar on her chest slowly faded away.

Deep night, all sounds silent. The furnace's firelight dimmed, leaving only the blurred figures of the patrolling refugees on the barrier. Beside the Leyline fissure in the center of the depression, Lin Mo sat cross-legged, the "Leyline Arbiter" planted beside him. He sank his consciousness into the 【Seed of Life】, and under the protection of the blue halo of the Anchor of Order, carefully gazed inward at the dark purple mass compressed deep within the core.

Suddenly, that dormant dark purple mass wriggled extremely slightly. It was not an assault on the Order cage, but rather transmitted a very vague, intermittent... fragment of thought? As if a sleep-talking murmur:

"... Coordinates... Locked..."

"... Tide... Approaching..."

"... Key... Is at..."

"... Devour... Ark..."

The fragment flashed and vanished, so fast that Lin Mo almost thought it was an illusion. But the phrases "Coordinates Locked," "Tide Approaching," and "Devour Ark" struck his mind like ice picks!

What had the Corrupted Claw sensed in its sleep? What was the "Key"? The "Ark" it intended to devour—did it refer to the dormant Sanctuary Core, or... something else?

A chill quietly climbed up Lin Mo's spine. He looked up at the deep night sky of the wasteland, as if he could see a murky giant eye slowly opening behind the Withered Mist.

Inside the Doctor's base, the main screen was split into several views: Wrench scratching his head at the workbench over that "Hive" blueprint; Sister Ai Li manipulating silver threads under the moonlight; Lin Mo meditating with eyes closed beside the Leyline.

【"False Blueprint" successfully implanted into the target information database.】

【Target individual (Sister Ai Li) moonlight power control precision increased; threat level slightly elevated.】

【Target Lord (Lin Mo) status stable, corruption suppressed. Detected trace mental wave overflow (suspected subconscious information leak from the corruption source)... Keywords captured: 'Coordinates', 'Tide', 'Key', 'Ark'...】

【Analysis: The corruption source (Corrupted Claw) may be conducting long-distance information transmission or reception via a mental link.】

【Execution: Strengthen monitoring, analyze potential coordinate information. Activate 'Probe-07' Phase Two—'Information Siphon'.】

The mechanical beetle lurking beneath Wrench's workbench lit up its red lights in its compound eyes; an extremely faint energy wave spread out, like an invisible spiderweb, quietly enveloping the location where Lin Mo was situated.