Chapter 77: Echoes of Desperation

"Fuck…"

Zhang Jun merely felt that he had just bounced out of some deadly narrow crack.

The first reaction upon coming out was actually to curse his mother?

"Damn it!"

At this moment, Zhang Jun's eardrums were filled with a high-frequency scraping sound, causing every bit of flesh on his body to twitch in protest.

What flowed in his blood vessels wasn't blood, but some kind of scalding, heavy substance, scorching his five viscera and six bowels into a mess like porridge.

Zhang Jun strained to lift his eyelids.

What met his eyes was a twisted, misshapen rock wall, from whose crevices seeped strands of purple qi.

And—Lin Xue.

At this moment, they lay nearby, less than an arm's length from Zhang Jun.

Lin Xue's body was covered in silvery frost patterns, her face drained of all color, eyes closed, her chest rising and falling so weakly it almost stopped.

Moreover, a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth……

"Xue'er…"

Zhang Jun wanted to call out to Lin Xue.

But at this moment his throat felt as if scorched by charcoal, dry and painful, and the voice he squeezed out was hoarse and rough.

Suddenly, Lin Xue's eyelashes twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Their gazes just met.

Zhang Jun's mind suddenly exploded—

【Pain… fuck…】

【He's still alive…】

This bastard… I can't fall either…

【My head… is about to split…】

【Ice Soul Power… how much is left…?】

No!

This thought isn't his.

It's as if it was forced in!

It's Lin Xue's!

Zhang Jun's chest gave a sharp tug, and Lin Xue's thoughts kept surfacing in his mind.

And Lin Xue not far away showed the same shock on her face, even a hint of panic.

【Did he hear it?】

"Yeah, I heard it."

Zhang Jun hoarsely shouted a sentence.

At this moment, the ice-crystal patterns on Lin Xue's body fluctuated with her emotions, flashing intensely; silver instantly spread across her entire cheek, then quickly faded.

"What the hell? Aftereffects of resonance?" Lin Xue slowly pushed herself up to sit, while her fingertips still flickered with a weak chill.

"About… eight." Zhang Jun also struggled to turn over, making himself feel a bit more comfortable.

Unfortunately, that primordial blood in his body kept churning.

Moreover, the scar left by the barcode on the nape of his neck burned like a piercing pain; each throb made a patch of purple light explode before his eyes.

【And Lin Yan?】

Suddenly another thought popped up, and Zhang Jun couldn't tell for a moment whether it was his own or Lin Xue's again burrowing in.

Zhang Jun abruptly lifted his head.

The surroundings were collapsed to ruin, with no third person in sight.

Only some remnants of purple light floated in the air, cold and lifeless.

"Damn it, that blast just now almost overturned this lousy mountain."

Zhang Jun leaned against the twisted, deformed rock wall, using those flickering purple lights to see his surroundings, muttering curses.

The previous cave? Long gone, damn it.

Now this place is entirely a cavity blasted out by that force.

A twisted, circular space, the surrounding stone all deformed, its surface bearing a strange quality of high-temperature melting and instant freezing, giving off an indescribably eerie sheen.

Not to mention a way out, there isn't even a way to go further in.

Just these ten-odd square meters underfoot, like the eye of a storm, so quiet it makes one's scalp tingle.

Lin Xue also staggered over to the cave wall, reaching out to touch those twisted stones.

"Pfft!"

As soon as a hint of chill condensed at her fingertip, the stone instantly coated itself with a layer of white frost, even emitting white smoke.

"The energy in this damned place is all messed up." Lin Xue withdrew her hand, brows slightly furrowed, "I can't even mobilize my Ice Soul Power."

"Hmm."

Zhang Jun answered with a sound.

What she said, he himself also felt.

Not only Lin Xue, but the primordial bloodline in his body was also acting up, never settling down.

Moreover, the feeling of having his head stuffed with things persisted, intermittently, so he could always "hear" those chaotic fragments of thought from Lin Xue's mind.

"We need to find Lin Yan first." Lin Xue looked around, her voice weak, "If he's really dead… we two wouldn't even know how to shut down that lousy beacon."

Zhang Jun's gaze swept over the deformed surrounding rock walls, seeing no entrance at all.

The current goal is only two: either go up, or go down.

I'll give it a try.

Zhang Jun took a deep breath and then actively took control of the purple storm within his body, instead of being led by it.

」Damn it! 「

Zhang Jun couldn't help but start cursing.

That feeling in his body was totally fucked up—like trying to twist a high-voltage wire with bare hands, and it was leaking electricity.

The purple energy crashed around inside his body like a headless fly.

Zhang Jun frantically guided it toward the direction he had in mind.

But it didn't mean much……

"Zhang Jun!" Lin Xue, seeing Zhang Jun's state, couldn't help but stand up anxiously and say: "You look… really off right now!"

Zhang Jun couldn't worry about all that; all he could do now was focus entirely on grappling with that power.

Who knows how long passed, but that purple energy finally calmed down a bit.

A faint trickle of energy, trembling and swaying, followed Zhang Jun's thought and gathered in the center of his right palm.

Zhang Jun suddenly opened his eyes.

At that moment, a small cluster of extremely unstable purple light hovered in his palm.

But Lin Xue instinctively stepped back half a step.

Yet the chill at her fingertips grew more solid, as if ready to strike at any moment.

"It won't explode." Zhang Jun stared fixedly at the purple light in his palm and said calmly: "At least… I feel it won't now."

Zhang Jun pressed his palm against the nearby strange stone.

The moment the purple light touched the stone, its brightness surged.

The stone's surface quickly turned red, then softened!

A layer of lava-like material peeled off, fell to the ground, and smashed a small pit, emitting green smoke.

"Success!" Zhang Jun exclaimed, both surprised and delighted: "I can finally control it!"

Lin Xue's expression was subtle; she wanted to speak but held back.

Through that intermittent telepathy, Zhang Jun also caught a vague thought of hers—【"His power… is getting stronger… Why is my Ice Soul Power weakening?"】

"What's wrong with you?" Zhang Jun asked, retracting the purple light and turning to look at Lin Xue.

Lin Xue shook her head, avoiding the topic.

"Lin Yan. First find Lin Yan, or… figure out where he is."

At that moment, the surrounding purple mist grew thicker, drifting slowly, brushing against the skin, leaving it numb and itchy.

"This mist is wrong." Lin Xue suddenly stopped, brows furrowed, looking around and warning: "Something is stirring in the mind…"

Zhang Jun also felt it.

His head buzzed; those thoughts were no longer fragments, they began to twist into a rope, drilling hard into the depths of his consciousness.

【Defective product…】

【You are just Lin Zhen's dog…】

【Your very existence is a mistake…】

【Who the fuck cares about you…】

……

These thoughts were poisonous, drilling into the bone marrow, and carried an irresistible force that left no room for rebuttal.

"It's this damned mist!" Zhang Jun roared, "Don't fucking believe it!"

Lin Xue's side wasn't any better; her body swayed, and the fingers gripping the wall all trembled.