176: Chapter 176 Desperate Journey, Desperate Situation

Ling Ye's eyes ignited with fierce intensity. He ignored the tearing agony in his left shoulder and the slippery, chaotic rocks beneath his feet. He squeezed out every last shred of "Qi" remaining in his body, channeling it into his legs. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, or a wounded lone wolf, he sprinted wildly into the darkness upstream along the bank of the surging underground river!

The roar of the water was deafening in his ears. Behind him, the scalp-tingling rustling and the sound of slime being dragged drew closer, even accompanied by a faint "click" sound, as if carapaces were opening and closing!

He could not look back! He could not stop!

The map unfolded rapidly in his mind. His "Spiritual Sense" acted like the sharpest radar, scanning dozens of meters ahead to warn him in advance of protruding rocks, sunken puddles, and potentially slippery slopes. Relying on his extraordinary reflexes and limit-pushing control over his body, he carved out a path of survival on the rugged and treacherous riverbank.

Fresh blood constantly seeped from the wound on his left shoulder, dripping onto the rocks behind him and leaving a broken trail of blood. This only further stimulated the pursuers behind him, eliciting low, excited "gurgles" that seemed to come from the depths of their throats.

His lungs roared like a broken bellows, every breath carrying the scent of blood and a searing, fiery pain. His legs felt as if they were filled with lead, growing heavier by the moment. The freezing river water splashed onto him from time to time, sapping his precious body heat and adding to the bone-chilling cold.

But he dared not stop! Even one more step meant one more sliver of hope for survival!

His "Spiritual Sense" fed back that the pursuers behind him were incredibly fast and seemed adapted to this slippery environment; the distance was slowly but steadily closing! Fifty meters... forty meters... thirty meters...

At this rate, being caught was only a matter of time!

He had to find a way!

His gaze swept rapidly across the path ahead. The riverbank became even narrower here, with the surging underground river on his right and a steep, slippery rock wall on his left. About twenty meters ahead, the rock wall receded inward, forming a small, raised platform half-hidden by a few huge fallen rocks. Above the platform, there seemed to be a narrow fissure extending upward!

The map did not mark this detail, but his "Spiritual Sense" perceived that behind that fissure, there seemed to be a faint airflow, and the space was more spacious than the riverbank!

Perhaps it could temporarily block the pursuers? Or maybe it was another path?

There was no time to hesitate! He gritted his teeth, unleashed his final burst of strength, and charged toward the platform!

The rustling behind him was now close at hand! He could even smell a pungent stench mixed with the fishy smell of water, rot, and some kind of acrid acid!

Just as he leaped onto the platform—

"Whoosh!"

A black shadow, accompanied by the sound of tearing wind and a thick, fishy stench, lunged violently from behind! It aimed straight for his heart!

Ling Ye did not even have time to turn his head. Relying on the warning from his "Spiritual Sense" and his hard-earned survival instincts, he forcibly twisted his body to the left while still in mid-air!

"Rrrrip!"

Agony shot from the outside of his right leg! Something cold and barbed had slashed through his pants and torn into his flesh!

He let out a muffled grunt, lost his balance, and crashed heavily onto the rocks of the platform, rolling a few times before stopping against the rock wall.

Enduring the pain, he looked up to see a terrifying creature at the edge of the platform, "watching" him with its pale, pupil-less compound eyes.

The thing was about the size of a calf, with a streamlined body covered in a slippery, dark green chitinous carapace. The carapace was covered with eerie, dark blue patterns that looked like eyes. Beneath it were dozens of constantly swaying articulated limbs with suckers at the ends, supporting it firmly on the slippery rocks like a rock. Its head was triangular, and its mouthparts split open like chrysanthemum petals, revealing layers of slimy, sharp teeth inside. Most horrifying of all, its dorsal carapace opened slightly, revealing translucent, fleshy tentacles that were constantly writhing and emitting a faint blue light!

This was definitely not any known subterranean creature! The "eye-like patterns" on the carapace and the writhing blue tentacles all exuded a nauseating "sense of disharmony" that was homologous to the "abyssal eye" in the Old Factory District!

This was a creature that had mutated after being polluted and eroded by the "abyssal eye"! Or rather... it was a "minion" or "derivative" born from the power of the "abyssal eye"!

Just one such monster had already made his whole body turn cold. And beneath the platform, the rustling grew dense; more similar shadows were crawling out of the river, converging toward the platform!

He was surrounded!

A desperate situation!

Ling Ye leaned his back against the rock wall, his right hand gripping his multi-tool knife tightly. His left arm hung limply, blood gushed from the wound on the outside of his right leg, his whole body was soaked and freezing, and his stamina was nearly exhausted.

The monster slowly opened its horrifying mouthparts, emitting a "hissing" sound filled with greed, and approached step by step.

Other monsters also crawled onto the platform, completely surrounding him from different directions.

The shadow of death had never felt as heavy as it did at this moment.

Ling Ye's gaze swept over these monsters, over the heart-palpitating blue "eye-like patterns" on their carapaces, and over the writhing, glowing tentacles on their backs.

A thought, insane to the extreme, flashed like lightning through his consciousness, which was on the verge of collapse.

These monsters... seemed unusually sensitive to light, especially the blue light they emitted themselves, and that "sense of disharmony"...

And, they seemed... to be "looking" at him? Even though they had no pupils.

No, not looking. It was some kind of more primitive "perception" based on energy or information levels!

Was there something on him that was attracting them? The smell of blood? Life energy? Or...

He suddenly remembered the "Black Eye" pendant in his bosom! The notes said it could "slightly isolate the influence of 'it'"!

Isolate the influence? Did that also mean... it could interfere with the perception of these "derivatives"?

And there was the "Ancient Ring" mark in the depths of his Soul! That was a power that seemed to be the antithesis of the "abyssal eye," belonging to the "Star Gate" and "Order"!

If...

If he combined the faint light of the "Ancient Ring" mark with the isolating power of the "Black Eye" pendant, and then simulated a strong, chaotic "information disturbance field" that was similar to but different from the "abyssal eye" pollution, could he temporarily confuse or even scare off these monsters?

This was tantamount to dancing on the tip of a blade and roaring at the edge of the abyss!

But this was his only chance in this desperate situation to fight back, not by force, but by "information" and "essence"!

Gamble, and there was still a sliver of hope.

Don't gamble, and death was certain!

In Ling Ye's eyes, the last trace of fear belonging to a "human" faded away, leaving only a cold, almost inhuman madness and determination.

He stopped trying to stand up, instead relaxing his tense body, leaning against the rock wall, and slowly closing his eyes.

His consciousness sank into the deepest depths of his Soul.

The "Ancient Ring" mark was like a guttering candle in the wind, its light faint.

The "Black Eye" pendant, pressed tightly against his chest, sent a cold sensation through him.

He gathered all his remaining intent, all his unyielding "Gatekeeper" will, all the fragmented knowledge he had plundered from the information torrent of the "abyssal eye" regarding its energy fluctuations and the characteristics of its "sense of disharmony"...

He condensed it all!

And then—

Detonate!

It was not about releasing energy outward, but about forcibly twisting and simulating his own sense of existence, under the shroud of the "Ancient Ring" mark's faint light and the cold embrace of the "Black Eye" pendant, emitting an extremely strange, chaotic, cold, and yet simultaneously ancient and majestic "information field" that seemed to belong to a higher level of existence!

It was as if he were no longer a wounded human, but an "ancient object" containing dangerous secrets, an "anomaly" homologous to the "abyssal eye" yet completely different!

"Hum..."

An extremely faint vibration, as if coming from the level of the Soul, spread silently with Ling Ye as the center.

The few monsters that had already approached within three meters, their mouthparts wide open and ready to pounce, suddenly froze in their movements!

Their pale compound eyes (if those could be called eyes) seemed to "look" at Ling Ye, or more accurately, "look" at the strange "information field" emanating from his body.

The blue tentacles writhing on their backs suddenly stopped swaying, as if "perceiving" something.

The "hissing" sound from their mouthparts also turned into a puzzled, wary, and lower "gurgling" sound.

They did not retreat, but they did not advance any further either. The encirclement remained in an eerie stillness.

Ling Ye's heart was in his throat, but his consciousness dared not relax in the slightest, maintaining that fragile and dangerous "disguise."

He could feel the faint light of the "Ancient Ring" mark consuming rapidly, and a tearing pain came from his Soul. The "Black Eye" pendant also became scalding hot, as if it were operating under an overload.

He could not hold on for long! At most a dozen seconds!

Just then, in the direction upstream of the underground river, amidst the roar of the surging water, a faint, unusual, long, and low whimper was intermingled, as if some huge wind instrument were being played in the deep water.

The moment this sound arrived, all the monsters on the platform shook violently at the same time!

They turned in unison toward the upstream direction of the underground river, the blue tentacles on their backs dancing wildly, as if receiving or transmitting some kind of information.

Immediately afterward, under Ling Ye's astonished gaze, these monsters, which had been savage and ferocious just a second ago, actually acted like soldiers who had received the highest command. They abandoned their "prey" without hesitation, turned around, scrambled to jump off the platform, plunged into the surging underground river, and swam rapidly in the upstream direction!

Within a few seconds, there was no sign of any monster on or around the platform, save for the sound of rushing water and that faint whimper.

Only the slime remaining on the rocks and Ling Ye's own blood proved that heart-stopping scene that had just occurred.

Ling Ye collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. Cold sweat had already soaked his entire body, and the lingering fear was like a cold tide, almost drowning him.

He had won the gamble... for now.

But that whimper from upstream... what was it? How could it command these monsters?

Could it be... a more powerful "derivative"? Or... some existence directly related to the "abyssal eye"?

Regardless, the upstream direction, which was the path indicated on the map to the "Corridor of the Drowned" and the "Silent Church," now seemed far more dangerous than he had imagined!

If he went, he might encounter something even more terrifying.

If he didn't, staying here was also waiting for death (the monsters might return, or he might die from excessive blood loss).

Furthermore, the "Black Eye" pendant in his bosom was now frighteningly hot, and its surface even showed fine cracks. The notes said "do not wear it for too long," which apparently was no empty warning.