Chapter 355: Brother, Is the Sun Sick?

A few minutes later, the group stepped out of the tent.

The sky seemed to grow increasingly hazy.

Not the gray of an overcast day.

It was as if something was mixed into the air.

Su Ming looked up briefly.

The sun was still hanging.

But after the light passed through the murky air drifting from the direction of Lishan, it seemed filtered by a layer of dirty gauze.

The shadows cast were all insubstantial, their edges turning into a vague smudge of water.

Zhao Xinghe tilted her little head toward the sky, muttering.

"Brother, is the sun sick?"

"Hmm, maybe it has a slight fever."

Su Ming gave her a little toss onto his shoulder.

"It'll be fine in a little while."

Two off‑road vehicles were parked at the camp Gate.

The engines idled with a roar, their exhaust mixing into the murk, almost invisible.

One, Su Ming led Zhao Xinghe and Zhi He inside.

The other carried five special‑ops troops and most of the vehicle's equipment.

"Let's go."

The convoy drove out of the camp.

For some reason, Su Ming instinctively turned his head.

The camouflage net on the tent swayed twice in the wind.

It looked like a wave.

Not sure if it was a farewell.

Or a send‑off for the dead.

The off‑road vehicle trudged along the gravel road toward Lishan.

The scenery on both sides changed quickly.

At first, a few clumps of withered grass and toppled shrubs were still visible.

All of them were dead.

But at least they retained the shape plants should have.

After two kilometers, the grass vanished.

The ground color shifted from gray‑yellow to deep brown, as if it had been soaked in something.

Three kilometers.

Even the dead tree stumps disappeared.

The ground was slick, as if someone had sanded it from end to end.

Not a single blade of grass grew.

But it wasn't the dryness of a desert.

It was the kind that had been emptied out.

Like a sponge twisted by an invisible hand until not a drop remained.

Su Ming glanced sideways at the front row.

Zhi He's complexion looked off.

It didn't seem like fear.

More like the body was sounding an alarm.

Their lips were chapped, and a thin sheen of sweat clung to their temples.

"Can you still hold on?"

"I'm fine."

Zhi He bit their back molar.

"Just a tightness in my chest, like a stone is pressing down."

Su Ming didn't reply.

He himself didn't feel much.

The chaotic stuff inside his body.

Not to mention anything else, at least this part has never let him down in a fight.

The Zhao Xinghe in his arms was also fine.

That accompanying spirit quietly enveloped her, like being wrapped in an invisible cling film, perfectly stable.

Four kilometers.

The phone had completely lost signal.

Su Ming glanced at the disconnected icon in the screen's upper right corner and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

These days, no signal basically means being cut off from the civilized world.

But it didn't matter.

He wasn't here to browse forums.

Cracks began to appear on the ground outside the car window.

It's not the kind of Rule‑regular cracking that a drought bakes.

It was pushed up from below.

To put it more bluntly—

It's like something underground is expanding.

It splits the ground from the inside.

What seeps from the fissure is neither water nor sand.

It's a dark‑red viscous substance.

The grayish light shines on it, like half‑coagulated plasma.

Su Ming squinted.

"They didn't mention any of this yesterday."

Only a night had passed.

The speed is faster than he expected.

If they had proceeded step by step, slowly probing…

The daylily buds would have completely rotted!

At six kilometers.

The road ends.

It's not a dead end.

The whole roadway, from a certain point, is completely covered by that dark‑red substance.

The roadbed remains.

But a dense network of patterns has grown on top.

Like veins.

They are writhing.

The movement is extremely slow, barely perceptible to the naked eye.

A living spiderweb spread across the ground.

Honestly, that's kinda heavy‑flavored!

"Mr. Su, the road ahead is a mess."

The front‑row Zhi He's throat went hoarse again.

"Go as far as you can."

Su Ming's tone was steady.

"If it can't go any farther, use your legs."

"Copy that."

The off‑road vehicle pushed on for another kilometer.

At the seven‑kilometer mark, both vehicles fell into a pit.

It's not out of fuel.

Nor any electrical failure.

It burned straight through.

A burnt, acrid smell seeped from under the hood, stinging the nose.

"Get out. Let's go."

Su Ming pushed open the door, cradling Zhao Xinghe onto the ground.

The sensation under his feet made his eyebrows twitch.

It wasn't hard.

On the contrary, it was soft.

It had a sticky elasticity.

Like stepping on a piece of undercooked pork skin.

The key is that it's moving.

Extremely faint.

It rises and falls.

Like a pulse.

The whole ground is just as before.

It has a heartbeat.

Su Ming looked down at his feet.

The soil's color had completely changed.

A mingling of black and red, dark and heavy, like a carpet of clotted blood.

Zhao Xinghe also looked down.

Their little face showed no fear; instead, they tilted their head.

"Brother, the ground is moving."

"Hmm, it's snoring."

Su Ming's expression didn't change.

This little girl's mental endurance…

Seems a bit supermodel‑like!

Is it because of that symbiotic spirit?!

"Watch your step, don't step on the cracks."

Su Ming's Zhi He lifted his hand.

Ahead, Lao Gou and a few others also got off the vehicle.

Lao Gou slightly twitched his nose, and his complexion darkened.

"The Yang energy concentration is still dropping, faster than yesterday."

He inhaled, and his Adam's apple rolled.

"It's absurdly fast."

Su Ming gave no reply.

Because his attention was pulled away by something else.

There was a disturbance inside the Dimensional Reduction Warehouse.

That Bronze Fragment that had been lying quietly all along…

Suddenly warmed up.

To be precise, it was generating heat itself.

Weakly.

Continuously.

Like a battery that had slept for over two thousand years.

The moment it set foot on this land, something recharged it.

Sure enough, there is a connection!

"Eh?"

Beside them, Lao Gou suddenly emitted a light "eh".

"Strange…"

"What's wrong?"

Shu Chong followed.

"That suction that was drawing Yang energy earlier…"

Lao Gou twisted his two eyebrows into a knot.

"Weakened."

"Weakened?"

"Not just a tiny bit weaker."

He sniffed forcefully twice, his nostrils flaring,

his expression like a hound that had tracked prey halfway and suddenly lost its scent.

"At least it cut off half directly."

Shu Chong froze for a beat, then flipped his hand to pull out a palm‑sized feng shui compass.

The copper needle was still trembling.

But the amplitude…

was far smaller than when it was on the vehicle earlier.

"That's not right… the suction itself didn't drop."

Tu Bo Shu crouched on the ground, staring at the dark‑red patterns on the soles.

"It's being pressed down by something."

"Look at the ground—"

The group lowered their heads simultaneously.

Then, their scalps tingled!

The writhing dark‑red lines on the ground, which were the all‑covering living vascular network—

were receding.

With Su Ming as the center.

A radius of about twenty meters.

Those tangled, dense dark‑red vessels were shrinking outward inch by inch.

The speed wasn't fast.

But the direction was clear.

They were retreating.

As if they'd encountered something they absolutely didn't want to provoke!

Dead silence!

Even the wind sounded as if its throat had been strangled.

The five people's heads slowly rose, their gazes snapping onto Su Ming.

Su Ming stood in the middle.

One hand in his pocket, the other supporting Zhao Xinghe.

the World's Number One.

the one who slayed three demon emperors.

They had heard and seen, but never personally experienced.

But now…

The Great Qin homeland beneath my feet, bizarre beyond compare, quietly gave way, as if it were afraid…

Sir, are you truly this terrifying?!