Chapter 77: The Mark's Low Fever, the Star Chart's Mystery, and the Thorny Barricade

Beside the leyline fissure, orange-red firelight flickered, illuminating Lin Mo's suddenly solemn face. The burning, eerie throbbing in his arm was like embers buried in flesh, each pulse tugging at his nerves. The warning pulse from the Sanctuary Core, though faint, pierced the brief peace of just having come home like an icy needle.

"Boss? What's wrong?" Wrench stared at Lin Mo's instantly pale face and tightly clenched right arm, his bean-sized eyes full of worry.

Copper Whisker's mechanical eye flashed blue, instantly focusing on Lin Mo's right arm: "Lord? You're injured?" He stepped forward, instinctively tightening his grip on his forging hammer.

Lin Mo drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the strangeness in his arm and the chill surging in his heart. He couldn't panic now! He slowly unclenched his fist, shook his head, and kept his voice as steady as possible: "I'm fine. The Sanctuary Core just sent a warning—the Corruption Mark is unstable, probably stimulated by some distant annihilation wave. The Order Anchor can still suppress it."

He avoided the main issue, not mentioning that throbbing sensation like a living thing. His gaze turned to Wrench: "Keep analyzing the star chart coordinates, but lower the priority. The urgent task is repairing the barricade, restoring combat strength, and treating Sister Ai Li's wounds." He looked toward the medical tent—Sister Ai Li had already fallen asleep under Xiang Lingna's care, but her face was still pale, and beneath the bandages wrapped around her left arm, that wisp of purple qi lurked like a venomous snake.

"Understood!" Wrench nodded immediately, hugged his probe case, and ran toward his workbench, muttering to himself again.

Copper Whisker's thick brows knit tight. He looked at Lin Mo's right arm, then at the sleeping Sister Ai Li, and finally heaved a heavy sigh: "That damned claw thing just won't let go! Xiang Lingna girl's green juice can only temporarily stabilize Sister Ai Li girl's wound, not cure it. As for the barricade…" He pointed at the outer layer of the barricade covered in Thornsteel—several deep craters left by the previous withered beast swarm and crystal cannon bombardment had already been repaired, and the newly embedded armor plates glinted with a cold, hard sheen in the firelight. "The outer armor is basically repaired. I also used the leyline furnace to reforge an energy shield core—tougher! It's just that the 'Hive' system lost its Order Crystal Plate, so its power is way down."

"Driven by a Thornsteel energy core, it's enough as long as it works." Lin Mo walked beneath the barricade and reached out to touch the cold armor plate glowing with faint blue-green light. Beneath his fingertips came a resilient texture and an inward energy pulse. Copper Whisker's craftsmanship was indeed superb—under resource-scarce conditions, he had pushed Thornsteel's performance to the absolute limit.

He looked up toward the top of the barricade. The pale golden vines Xiang Lingna had cultivated had already climbed most of the wall, their leaves emitting faint purifying light specks in the dim light, merging with Thornsteel's glow to form a thin layer of life force. At the barricade's peak, several cannon turrets cast from Thornsteel and shaped like beehives were already installed—though their cores were merely Thornsteel ingots glowing orange-red, their dark muzzles still radiated a sinister aura. A massive "Iron Thorn" wheel bristling with quenched spikes rotated slowly, driven by the furnace's waste heat, emitting a dull hum.

The Thornheart barricade, tempered by the fires of battle, had grown sturdier and more aggressive. Yet the unease in Lin Mo's heart had not diminished. The Corruption Mark's abnormal activity, Sister Ai Li's wounds, the Sanctuary Core's weak warning, and the unknown star chart Wrench had discovered… all hung over him like dark clouds.

Over the next few days, the territory entered a tense recovery period. Copper Whisker led the craftsmen in further improving the barricade's defenses, installing more Thornsteel spikes and physical traps at key positions. Wrench, meanwhile, continued analyzing the damaged star chart while tinkering with a few old-world data storage blocks brought back from the annihilation coordinates—blocks "baptized" by spatial turbulence and barely still usable—trying to dig out a method to combat Corruption Claw contamination.

Xiang Lingna practically moved in beside the leyline fissure. She devoted most of her energy to that sprig of the Cut-Off World's tree. The sprig was placed beside the emerald fragment, and each day Xiang Lingna used her own pure emerald power to nurture it, carefully guiding the green vitality to mend the cracks in the seal. Thanks to her efforts, the vitality emanating from the sprig seemed to have stabilized slightly, and the wilted leaves had unfurled a little. Even more wondrous, Xiang Lingna discovered that her connection with the plants within the territory had become clearer and deeper. She tried guiding those vines, and they could actually perform more complex movements like arms—even actively coiling around and strangling the small radiation scorpions that approached the barricade!

Sister Ai Li's wounds, under Xiang Lingna's purifying bandages and emerald power nurturing, had not worsened for now. But every time she tried to mobilize her Moonlight power, the purple qi in her left arm would churn violently, bringing piercing pain and the risk of power going out of control. She became unusually silent, spending most of her time sitting quietly at the highest point of the barricade like a cold stone statue, her gaze piercing through the wasteland's haze, looking toward some unknown place. Only when she occasionally glanced at Lin Mo would a flicker of complex worry pass through the depths of her cold eyes—she had keenly noticed the unnaturalness of Lin Mo's right arm that he was deliberately hiding.

Lin Mo's condition was equally poor. The burning throbbing in his arm had not disappeared; instead, as time went on, it tormented him continuously like a low fever. He had to expend more mental energy to maintain the Order Anchor's suppression, and as a result, his Thorn Will perception had become somewhat sluggish. He spent most of his time seated cross-legged beside the leyline fissure, on one hand drawing leyline energy to recover, on the other attempting to communicate with the slumbering Sanctuary Core to seek a method to suppress the Corruption Mark—but the responses he received were extremely faint.

That evening, Wrench suddenly let out a strange cry, breaking the territory's silence.

"Boss! A discovery! A big one!" He waved a paper covered in scrawled symbols, scrambling to Lin Mo's feet, his face a mix of excitement and lingering fear. "While I was analyzing that busted board (old-world storage block), I found a small encrypted research file about 'High-Dimensional Decay Will Vectors' (that damned Corruption Claw thing)! Most of it was destroyed, but it mentioned a possible 'suppression plan'!"

Lin Mo's spirit lifted: "Speak!"

"It needs something called 'Pure Stardust'!" Wrench pointed at a glowing nebula pattern on the paper. "This stuff is supposedly the highly purified product of astral dust under specific stellar storms, containing the most primordial Order and creative power! Using this stuff as a medium, combined with powerful life energy guidance (like Xiang Lingna girl's emerald power), it might temporarily 'freeze' or 'isolate' the corruption contamination, stopping it from eroding and spreading!" He paused, his bean-sized eyes glancing toward Sister Ai Li's direction. "For Sister Ai Li big sis's wounds… it might work too!"

Pure Stardust? Lin Mo immediately thought of that set of damaged star chart coordinates Wrench had discovered before. Could it be…

"The coordinates! The star chart coordinates Lord Wrench parsed out!" Wrench excitedly pointed at another paper. "One of the points with abnormal energy fluctuations was marked in the old-world files—suspected to have periodic stellar storms! Very likely to produce 'Pure Stardust'!"

The spark of hope had just ignited when Wrench's next words doused it with cold water: "But… boss, while I was analyzing this data, I triggered a virus trap hidden inside!" He wore a mournful face. "Although my 'Abyss Probe' firewall barely blocked it, I suspect… the Doctor may already know we're looking for 'Pure Stardust'! Maybe even… knows these coordinates!"

Trap within a trap! The Doctor's shadow would not disperse!

Lin Mo's heart sank. Obtaining Pure Stardust was the only hope to heal Sister Ai Li—and possibly suppress the mark within his own body. But the Doctor would surely set an even deadlier killing game there! Go, or not go?

Just as his thoughts raced—

Wooooo—Wooooo—!

A shrill alarm suddenly sounded from the top of the barricade! The refugee warrior on lookout duty cried out in terror: "Enemy attack! From the direction of the Withered Forest! The sky… the sky has gone black!"

Lin Mo and Wrench snapped their heads up!

They saw the dim sky above the Withered Forest being rapidly devoured by a churning, boiling, sky-obscuring purple-black "cloud layer"! That was no true cloud, but a terrifying swarm composed of countless tiny withered flying insects with rotting membrane wings! Where the swarm passed, light was completely blocked, and even the air made the sizzling sound of being corroded! And at the swarm's core, the bloated silhouettes of several monsters bearing massive purple crystal clusters could be faintly seen!

The Corruption Claw's counterattack came faster than expected! More ferocious! This time, it seemed to have abandoned ground assault, choosing instead a corrosive rain from the heavens!

"All personnel—battle stations!" Lin Mo's roar echoed across the territory, instantly suppressing all hesitation! He drew the "Leyline Arbiter," sword pointing at the heavens! Upon the barricade, the Thornsteel hive turrets began charging, orange-red light gathering at their muzzles; the massive Iron Thorn wheel emitted a screeching metallic friction sound as its rotation speed sharply increased!

Thornheart once again faced a life-or-death trial! And the burning throbbing in Lin Mo's arm, stimulated by the swarm's decaying pressure, suddenly intensified!