Chapter 360: Finale

In the next instant, a fierce, maddened gleam flashed in his eyes!

His intact right hand suddenly clutched Ling Ling tighter to his chest, as if to transfer his own body heat.

His eerie blue left arm ceased trying to suppress the devouring suction and instead… frantically, recklessly pushed it to the limit! The target was the Star-void Fruit on the platform that was closest to him and most saturated with energy.

"Come! Take it! But not for you!" he roared in his mind!

Buzz—!!!

A terrifying suction burst forth! The Star-void Fruit quivered violently, its silvery starry pattern flashing wildly, and the pure void energy transformed into a thick eerie blue pillar of light, forcibly drawn out and, like countless rivers converging into the sea, surged into the palm of Lin Yifan's left arm!

"Ugh—!" A pain even more intense than the previous devouring instantly swept his whole body! His eerie blue left arm visibly swelled, the starlight within roiling like boiling water, as if it might explode at any moment!

The foreign energy was far too massive, far exceeding the tolerance limit of his newly formed arm!

But Lin Yifan made no attempt to guide or absorb it! He gritted his teeth against the pain of his body and soul being stretched to the breaking point, using his arm as a conduit and the soul link as a coordinate, pouring the violently ingested energy, unreservedly and frantically… toward the end of the link where Xiao You was imprisoned, forcefully injecting it!

"Xiao You! Catch it!!!"

He let out a roar of his soul!

It seemed as if ages had passed, yet also as if it was only a moment.

At the far end of the soul link, Xiao You's faintest possible fluctuation jolted violently! It was like a dying person on the brink of thirst suddenly being flooded with sweet water!

A pull, though weak, was crystal clear, tinged with astonishment and instinctive greed, came from the link's far end!

It received it!

It began instinctively, frantically absorbing the incoming homogenous energy!

The speed at which Lin Yifan's left arm infused energy suddenly accelerated! The pain multiplied! Yet a surge of ecstatic joy rose in his heart!

Success! At least the first step succeeded!

However, at that moment—

The black stone platform at the center of the stage suddenly erupted with a dazzling eerie blue radiance!

"Warning! Abnormal energy backflow detected!" "Reception sequence interrupted! Tracing energy source..." "Locking onto backflow source... Determination: permission conflict target..." "Clear protocol! Highest priority!"

The cold mechanical mind resonated again, brimming with a fury as if deceived!

A thicker, more terrifying eerie blue death ray than before instantly coalesced above the stone platform, locking onto Lin Yifan with unyielding precision! This time, it was no longer a probe but a complete, all‑destructive annihilation!

Worse still, Lin Yifan sensed his energy‑infusing channel being forcibly interfered with and squeezed by an even larger, more terrifying will! It was the "factory heart"! It seemed also roused by the abnormal energy flow, instinctively snatching the energy and, along the link, sending back a cold will brimming with greed and destruction!

Ahead, the death ray from the defense system! Behind, the factory heart's energy theft and will rebound! Inside, his eerie blue left arm on the verge of being blown apart by the energy!

The plan succeeded only halfway, and he instantly fell into a hopeless, death‑ridden predicament!

Death had never been so close!

Lin Yifan watched Ling Ling's breath grow ever weaker in his arms, felt Xiao You's frantic fluctuations at the far end of the link as she just began absorbing energy—like distant water unable to douse a nearby fire—and stared at the death ray about to fire…

An extremely intense, unyielding resentment and madness erupted in his heart like a volcano!

No! It must not end like this!

His gaze swiftly swept over the last, relatively smaller Star-void Fruit on the platform, then over his own left arm on the brink of collapse.

A final thought, even more frantic and reckless, flared up like poisonous flame!

He jerked his head upward and let out a silent, defiant roar toward the coalesced death ray!

At the same time, his intact right hand made a gesture no one could comprehend—

He suddenly hoisted the barely‑living Ling Ling high into the air, directly toward the direction where the death ray was about to erupt!

His left arm, swollen to its limit and flickering with unstable eerie blue light, delivered a hard punch—not at the ray, not at the platform, but… at the metal platform beneath his feet, covered in eerie blue moss!

He hurled all the absorbed, not‑yet‑fully‑transmitted, and the chaotic energy generated by his arm's imminent rupture, together with the last sliver of power from his burning life source, unreservedly and completely… into the structure of the platform beneath his feet!

"Since we're taking… take it all! Let's destroy everything together!!!"

Boom—boom—boom—!!!

An indescribable massive energy explosion erupted outward, centered on Lin Yifan!

Eerie blue Star-void Power, dark remnants, the life source, the defense system's energy, and even a faint will rebounding from the factory heart—all these disparate, conflicting energies were utterly detonated by his suicidal act!

The terrifying blast light instantly devoured everything!

The black stone platform violently shook, and the last Star-void Fruit on it was hurled into the air! The death ray, moments before firing, was violently twisted and erased by the chaotic energy turbulence of the explosion! The entire platform let out an overburdened groan as countless metal fragments and eerie blue moss were blown away!

Lin Yifan's figure, like a shattered doll, was hurled violently by the blast wave, blood spraying wildly, his left arm's eerie blue glow instantly dimming and shattering, as if it could collapse at any moment.

The Ling Ling he had hoisted high was also struck by the blast wave, its tiny body lifted and tossed like a fallen leaf!

And amid the destructive blast light, the small, hurled Star-void Fruit traced an eerie blue arc through the air…

Puff!

Coincidentally, it landed precisely in the open mouth of the disoriented, airborne Ling Ling!

The cold fruit melted upon entry, its pure yet gentle (relatively) void Star-void Power, like fresh snow melting, instantly surged into Ling Ling's nearly exhausted body!

"Cheep...!"

The little fox let out an unconscious whimper, tinged with pain and a hint of relief; a thin layer of eerie blue frost instantly formed on its body, and its faint breath miraculously steadied a bit, even beginning to rise extremely slowly!

The destructive explosion, by a twist of fate, delivered the final spark of life into Ling Ling's mouth in a way no one could have foreseen.

Lin Yifan was flung backward by the blast, slammed heavily against a distant rock wall, slid to the ground, and lost consciousness completely.

His body lay in tatters, the newly formed left arm riddled with cracks, its glow dim, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.

At the far end of the soul link, Xiao You's fluctuations grew much stronger after absorbing a massive amount of energy, seemingly raging to break free from her shackles, only to be suppressed again by an even greater force; the link became highly unstable, flickering on and off.

The platform was a wreck, and the explosion's aftershocks gradually subsided.

The defense system's eerie blue glow flickered a few times, seemingly stalled by an energy overload and an anomaly in its core "product" (one consumed, one swallowed by Ling Ling), eventually dimming slowly and sinking back into silence.

Only the eerie blue moss continued to emit a faint glow, coldly illuminating the ruins that had just endured a fierce struggle and destruction, and the two barely‑alive, fate‑uncertain lives within them.

The underground world returned to deathly silence.

Deep within the distant, cold nest factory, a confused and angry low hum resonated, as if drifting through endless rock layers.

The destructive blast's aftershock slowly subsided, leaving only the acrid, charred scent of lingering energy in the underground cavity and a death‑like silence.

Lin Yifan lay on the cold rock, his consciousness drifting amid boundless darkness and excruciating pain. His body was shattered, the newly formed azure‑blue left arm riddled with spider‑web cracks, its light dimmed to the extreme, as if it would shatter into icy dust at any moment. Each faint breath came with blood‑foam, the flame of his life flickering toward extinction.

At the other end of the soul link, Xiao You's fluctuations, after a brief surge, were again suppressed by a more terrifying force, becoming intermittent and barely perceptible, like a candle about to be snuffed out by a raging wind.

Is it over…

All the struggle, all the madness, in the end brought nothing but this cold darkness…

Just as his consciousness was about to sink completely—

Buzz…

An extremely subtle yet entirely different vibration, not from the outside, but emanating from the deepest part of his nearly shattered azure‑blue left arm!

It was not an energy fluctuation but a… structural resonance? As if the core of his arm, forged from the Star‑ghost Fruit and sharing origin with the Nest Factory, was resonating with some distant, massive entity in a deeper, beyond‑energy‑transfer… echo?

The "factory heart"? No, it feels entirely different! This resonance is older, deeper, more… icy and pure! As if the core of a star that has slept for countless eons is about to awaken!

Immediately after, a shattered yet colossal scene, completely beyond his control, forced its way into his fading consciousness:

It was not the imprisoned image sent by Xiao You, but… an aerial view of the devastated, silent forest ruins above this underground world!

In the vision, the ground surged and cracked violently! Countless twisted trees and burning wreckage were flung about like toys! A terrifying silhouette, indescribably massive, clad in black scales and streaming with molten lava light, roared with anger tinged with a hint of… dread, frantically trying to break free from the earth!

Above its mountain‑like head, in the void, a pinpoint of ultimate "darkness"—as if capable of devouring all light—was silently spreading!

It was not ordinary darkness; it was… a rift in space! An absolute void entrance from which even light cannot escape!

From the center of that absolute‑dark rift, a "hand" whose shape and substance defy description slowly emerged.

It was neither flesh nor energy, but seemed formed from countless rotating, birth‑and‑death cycles of cold stars obeying some supreme law! Its size seemed beyond normal, appearing slow yet crossing space in an instant, gently yet with irresistible absolute force, pressing against the struggling, roaring terror!

No thunderous crash, no explosion.

Under that Star Hand, the terrifying entity that had left Lin Yifan and the others trembling in despair—its struggle, its roar, its mountain‑burning, sea‑boiling might—dissolved, disintegrated, and vanished silently, like snowflakes dropped into boiling water.

Together with its massive body and the "Nest Factory" operating within it, everything was erased in an instant, as if it had never existed!

The vision abruptly halted.

Lin Yifan froze completely, his remaining consciousness blanked out by this scene, far beyond imagination, as miraculous as a divine miracle—or perhaps a cataclysm.

What… is that?

A supreme being? A world‑law cleansing protocol? Or… something else?

Before he could understand—

Boom—boom—boom—boom—!!!

The entire underground world began an unprecedented violent tremor! Far more terrifying than any before.

Clearly, the annihilation of the terrifying entity above and the appearance of that Star Hand completely shattered the geological structure of this District!

Above, the towering vault began to moan under the strain, massive rocks rained down like a storm! Beneath, the ground cracked wildly, the cold Dark River roared, its waters surging back into the fissures!

The apocalypse has arrived! True, indiscriminate destruction!

At the same time, perhaps due to the Nest Factory's annihilation, perhaps due to the rule‑wave triggered when the Star Hand erased everything, the black stone platform before Lin Yifan, riddled with cracks, and the surrounding ancient metal structures began to flash with frantic azure light, then… flickered out one after another, collapsing!

The defense systems, energy transmission… everything was failing!

The instant the last speck of light on the stone platform faded, the energy pulse of the Star‑ghost Fruit—swallowed by Ling Ling, not yet fully digested, keeping her barely alive—lost its final shielding and restraint, radiating clearly.

And this pulse seemed… to attract a trivial "attention" from the Star Hand that had just erased the terrifying entity but had not fully withdrawn?

Lin Yifan felt a "gaze" of indescribable vastness and cold, as if piercing layer upon layer of rock, fleetingly sweeping over this collapsing underground space, over him, and over Ling Ling, whose faint Star‑ghost pulse emanated from his arms.

That "gaze" bore no emotion, no curiosity, no pity, no murderous intent—just as a Human looks at an ant colony beneath his feet, or microbes under a microscope, purely and absolutely… indifferent.

Simply being brushed by the after‑effect of that "gaze," Lin Yifan felt his soul on the brink of freezing and disintegrating!

But the next moment, the "gaze" moved on without pause, as if merely confirming some trivial, self‑destructing "disturbance"?

The Star Hand above slowly retracted the absolute‑dark spatial rift, the fissure silently sealing as if it had never appeared.

But the destruction it brought had only just begun!

Larger rocks fell, and the platform beneath shattered completely!

Lin Yifan snapped back to his senses!

The instinct to survive overwhelmed all shock and fear!

He clutched Ling Ling with his intact right hand—still unconscious but breathing steadily thanks to the Star‑ghost Fruit—while his cracked, nearly ruined azure left arm summoned a final surge of power and lunged forward!

Not to grab anything, but to hammer a fierce punch into the collapsing rock wall beside him!

Boom!

The already fragile wall was cracked open! Behind it lay not solid rock but a narrow fissure, shattered by the quake, its destination unknown. A strong airflow scented with fresh earth surged from the gap!

It was an escape route! Perhaps a crack created by the earlier explosion or quake!

No time to hesitate!

Lin Yifan, clutching Ling Ling, used his last strength to thrust himself into the narrow fissure!

The very next second after he plunged in—

Boom!!!

The entire platform they had just been on, along with the black stone platform, collapsed and fell, swallowed by the back‑flowing river water and the shattered boulders!

Lin Yifan scrambled madly forward through the narrow, dark fissure, the roar of earth‑shaking destruction behind him. He didn't know where he was headed, only that he had to get away from the collapsing core.

He crawled for an unknown length of time, and only when the roaring behind him faded did he collapse exhausted on the ground, completely losing consciousness.

…

An unknown amount of time passed.

A faint, long‑missed warmth brushed lightly against Lin Yifan's eyelids.

He struggled, trembling, to lift his heavy eyelids.

His blurred vision gradually focused.

Before his eyes, it was no longer the despair‑inducing darkness and the faint blue‑tinged glow of moss of the underground world.

Instead… a ruined wasteland bathed in thin shafts of light. Twisted metal, charred tree trunks, but more importantly—the sky!

It was a sky beneath the Eternal Night, dim and indistinct, glowing with a faint crimson light! Yet at this moment, that dim sky was more precious to him than anything else!

They… have emerged?!

From that hopeless underground furnace, they returned to the surface!

He bolted upright, the violent motion jolting his injuries, the pain nearly causing him to faint again.

He hurriedly looked toward his embrace.

Lingling was still curled up, unconscious. Yet the pale blue frost on her body had faded, her fiery red fur, though dim, now bore a faint sheen, and her breathing, though shallow, had steadied considerably. The power of the Star‑Veiled Fruit had saved her life and seemed to be slowly repairing her essence.

He is still alive, and Lingling is still alive.

Lin Yifan exhaled a long, trembling breath of blood‑scented vapour, a post‑catastrophe exhaustion sweeping over his whole body.

But in the next second, his heart clenched sharply again!

Xiao You!

He immediately focused his mind to sense the soul link.

The link… is still there!

But it had become extremely weak, extremely distant, as if separated by countless voids, and filled with unstable fluctuations. He could only faintly sense that the other end still existed, yet its condition remained dire, seemingly trapped in a deep silence or seal.

It is still alive, but trapped in some unknown, possibly even more terrifying place.

Lin Yifan silently stared at his almost completely ruined, cracked, dimly glowing azure left arm. That arm had saved him, yet it also cost him the best chance to save Xiao You.

Hope, like a faint spark, reignited but flickered unsteadily.

He lifted his head and looked around.

This place seemed to be the fringe of the Silent Forest, still allowing a view of the towering dust and chaotic energy currents in the distant core area—the scars left by earlier explosions and the struggle of a terrifying entity. Yet, compared to before, that suffocating, underground Overwhelming Pressure had completely vanished.

It felt as if a nightmare had just ended.

Nevertheless, the Eternal Night still shrouded the land, and the wasteland remained cruel. From the distant ruins, an indistinct roar of an unknown creature echoed, reminding him that danger had never been far away.

He struggled to stand, carefully shielding Lingling in his arms.

The road ahead remained dark and long, filled with the unknown and peril. He was still grievously wounded, having lost an arm (though a bizarre substitute remained), Lingling was unconscious, Xiao You was missing, and the future was uncertain.

But he survived.

They survived.

That is enough.

As long as one lives, there is hope.

Lin Yifan cast one last glance toward the profound, all‑consuming underground direction, then turned, dragging his battered body, cradling his Unique companion, stepping forward step by step, resolutely yet staggeringly, toward the direction away from the ruins, deeper into the Eternal Night.

His silhouette, under the dim sky, appeared small and solitary, yet bore a resilience forged through destruction, unyielding.

The story has not yet ended. Survival continues.

(End)