96: Chapter 96 After the Collapse

Ye Nanxing's consciousness was also 'hollowed out' by something invisible the moment she tore through space.

All sounds in her ears faded away, and her body felt like it was thrown into a thick fog—weightless, airless, timeless.

Everything was blank.

It wasn't unconsciousness, but being 'interrupted' at the level of consciousness.

Space jumping wasn't passing through a door; it was tearing oneself apart and crossing past anchor points.

Just as she forcefully pushed open this world, a part of herself was left behind the door.

In the last second before she completely lost consciousness, the only remaining sensation was:

Yan—that Child, with tiny arms, holding her tightly.

As if unafraid of anything.

As if as long as she was there, he would survive.

Even at this moment, as they floated in a crack that the entire system couldn't detect, on the boundary between death and the unknown—

The Child still buried his face in her chest.

Holding her tightly, like a belief.

...Ye Nanxing!!

Several meters behind him, Chu Yunting charged forward.

His right arm blocked in front of him, enduring the aftershock energy of the spatial rift's explosion. His electromagnetic armor instantly emitted a 'crack' of fine shattering, and the shockwave sent him flying—

But he forcibly suppressed the spinning impact and, in the last second, crashed into the spatial rift.

His vision went black.

The next second, his feet suddenly found no purchase.

—Not an exit, but a fall.

The entire ground ceased to exist.

They weren't passing through a tunnel but were pulled into the deep underground by a 'downward force' of spatial dislocation.

The structural integrity of the emergency ventilation shaft loosened due to the spatial tremor, and a vertical deep well was blasted out of the bottom of the shaft.

They were falling!

The wind rushed at them, howling like a shriek.

Chu Yunting's gaze suddenly sharpened, and he caught a shadow in mid-air.

It was her.

Ye Nanxing held the Child, curled into a partially protective posture, like a kite with a broken string, freely falling in the darkness.

No reaction.

No struggle.

Her entire being seemed to have lost its command.

Ye Nanxing—!!

Chu Yunting roared, forcibly twisting his body, pressing down on the direction of his gravity slide rail, forcing the auxiliary airflow to change its bias, and he transformed into a black shadow, pouncing towards her.

He didn't jump.

He crashed into her.

The next instant, he grabbed Ye Nanxing's arm.

That force carried a bone-chilling ruthlessness—like pulling someone back from the brink of life and death.

Her body was unresponsive.

But the Child was still in her arms, still clinging tightly to her clothes, like a piece of ice frozen to her.

Chu Yunting's right arm held them both tightly, and his left arm abruptly pulled out the braking device on his wrist armor.

Activate buffer.

Three automatic explosive charges popped out from behind his waist, precisely attaching to the sides of the falling trajectory.

Boom!

A silent impact exploded in mid-air, forcibly decelerating the gravity of the three, even causing the sound of the wind to briefly pause.

The next second—

Bang!!

They slammed into the bottommost condensation pipe section of the ventilation shaft, and an entire row of abandoned buffer belts collapsed with a roar, forcibly absorbing the fall.

Metal vibrated, stirring up a sky full of cold ash.

The whole world fell silent.

The air was heavy for a second.

Ye Nanxing lay horizontally in Chu Yunting's arms, eyes closed, as if her soul had left her.

Her fingertips still retained a trace of the warmth from tearing open space just now, trembling slightly.

And the Child in her arms—Yan, with open eyes, quietly gazed at the fractured spatial ripples on the ceiling, unmoving.

But he was trembling.

It wasn't fear.

It was an extreme mental protection mechanism, forcing him to suppress his instinctive emotional backlash.

He knew this wasn't the time to act out.

He just leaned against her, pressed extremely close, like a spark fiercely held down in the snow, waiting for a breath of wind.

Chu Yunting knelt on the ground, his entire right arm already bloody, the mechanical structure partly cracked, but he made no sound.

He only gasped heavily, staring intently at Ye Nanxing's face.

...Wake up.

You have to wake up.

Wind passed through their ears, and a distant metallic vibration echoed from deep within the pipes.

They weren't out of danger yet.

But at least, at this moment, she was still in his hands.

—That was enough.

Then Chu Yunting also fell unconscious.

Seventeen minutes later

Ye Nanxing woke up.

Not because of pain.

But her shoulder—was gently patted by something.

The touch was small, slightly cool, and very light, as if saying: Wake up, we're still waiting for you.

She opened her eyes.

In front of her was Yan.

He squatted beside her, his eyes, as clean as ink drops on water, quietly gazing at her.

There was no panic in his gaze, not a single superfluous emotion, only a profound, deep pressure like the bottom of the ocean—

You're finally awake.

She tried to speak.

But as soon as she moved, a burning sting came from her throat, like severed nerves licked by flames.

She couldn't make a sound.

She realized—

She had lost her voice.

She tried to get up.

But her mind felt filled with heavy sand, the aftershocks of the ability backlash had not yet faded, her nerves jumped erratically, and she couldn't even distinguish whether the front was a wall or an exit.

The whole world felt two beats too slow.

She lowered her eyes, leaning against the corner of the wall, her chest rising and falling slightly, fine sweat beading on her forehead.

And the Child—

Yan, gently took her hand and pressed it against his cheek.

He closed his eyes for a moment, as if confirming she was still there, as if some mental contract was reconstructing that lost connection.

No words.

No emotional fluctuations.

Only warmth and dependence.

He softly, almost silently, hummed.

As if saying:

I'm here.

Not far away, Chu Yunting also woke up.

His shoulder had cracked a piece of armor, and there were large bruises under his clothes, his breathing still uneven.

He stared at Ye Nanxing for a long time.

He didn't speak.

He just silently took off the thermal blanket from his backpack, walked over, and covered her and the Child.

He sat down.

Closing his eyes, leaning against the wall, he said in a cold voice:

...We need to find a way to get out of this level.

Meanwhile, Zero Point Main Control Tower, Deep Data Analysis Hub

In the center of the light screen, a rapidly pulsating abnormal feedback waveform appeared.

Energy Level Response Grade: S; Location Area: Δ-13 Ventilation Emergency Shaft; Anomaly Status: Spatial Structure Tearing, Teleportation Folding, Core Instability; Inferred Cause: Awakened Ability Breakthrough, Mental Domain Impact

Lin Muran narrowed his eyes, standing in front of the screen.

...Did she really tear it open?

He lightly tapped the screen with his finger.

The projection interface automatically displayed the tracking trajectory. Ye Nanxing's mental map was highlighted, with a note appearing above it:

Spatial Ability, Prototype Awakening Stage, Uncontrollable, Unarchived Individual

Lin Muran withdrew his hand and turned to instruct:

Activate the Hound program.

Directly use A-grade 'Containment Authority'.

The assistant was startled: Hound? But she's still in the deep layers—

That's why we need to be fast.

Lin Muran smiled, his voice as gentle as coaxing a Child.

The sooner we bring her back, the more she'll remain.

Once she can tear it a second time...

His gaze paused, and the corners of his mouth curved up:

Then it'll be my turn to hide.