180: Chapter 180 Lying in the Ghost Realm, Spying on the Evil Eye

Ling Ye instantly entered the deepest state of "Turtle Breathing".

His heartbeat nearly stopped, his breathing grew so faint it almost vanished, and his body temperature aligned with the environment under the conduction of the cold pipe walls.

His mind sank into the core of "Star Visualization"; the light of that eternal star became extremely restrained, suppressing all his emotional fluctuations and mental "external" characteristics to the absolute minimum.

At the same time, he pushed the "auditory" and "fuzzy perception" functions of his "Spiritual Sense" to their limit, acting like the most sensitive receiving antenna, capturing only the sound waves, changes in odor, and any subtle energy or information disturbances from outside the vent, never actively "probing" outward.

Inside the pipe, it was so deathly silent that he could hear the sound of his own blood flowing slowly.

Only deep within the hall below, the faint, slow, and heavy "breathing" sound, like that of a sleeping giant creature, and the occasional "patter" of dripping liquid formed a hair-raising background noise.

Outside the vent, the sickly sweet, decaying odor was so strong it was almost enough to make one faint.

The "patter" sound occurred at intervals, seemingly rhythmic yet also seemingly random, its source appearing to be not far from directly beneath the vent.

Time passed slowly in the extreme tension.

Every second felt as long as a century.

About two or three minutes passed, just when Ling Ye was almost about to think that the thing outside had left, or that it was just some fixed "ambient sound"—

"Hiss... Haa..."

A burst of extremely faint yet incredibly clear wheezing, like a worn-out bellows leaking air and carrying a viscous, watery sound, suddenly came from a very close distance outside the vent!

Immediately following that was the "zzla" sound of a wet, heavy object being dragged across the floor, and the "clack-clack" sound of a carapace or hard object lightly scraping against metal.

That thing hadn't left!

And it was right outside the vent!

It seemed to be... moving? Or perhaps, checking something?

Ling Ye's heart felt like it was about to jump out of his throat, but he forcibly used his willpower to suppress any physiological reactions, not even daring to twitch his eyelids.

In the passive perception of his "Spiritual Sense", a massive, cold silhouette carrying a strong sense of "incongruity" and chaotic life aura was slowly moving outside the vent.

Its form was difficult to describe accurately; it was like an aggregate randomly pieced together from rotting flesh, overgrown carapaces, and writhing tentacles, its size significant enough that it almost blocked most of the space outside the vent.

This was the source of that sickly sweet, decaying odor!

It was some kind of Mutant or highly deformed creature spawned by the "abyssal eye" contamination within this hall!

It seemed to have some interest in the vent, lingering nearby, emitting teeth-aching scraping and wheezing sounds.

Ling Ye could even feel that the part of it where "senses" might exist seemed to have "swept" over the vent's grille.

Fortunately, the light inside the ventilation duct was extremely dim, the grille provided cover, and combined with Ling Ye's extreme concealment, it seemed to have temporarily deceived the creature's perception.

After another suffocating few dozen seconds, the scraping and wheezing sounds outside gradually faded away, and the heavy dragging sound also slowly moved toward another direction of the hall, eventually disappearing into the distance.

Not until the cold silhouette of "incongruity" in his "Spiritual Sense" had completely moved away and vanished from the edge of his perception range did Ling Ye, extremely slowly and extremely slightly, exhale the foul breath he had been holding in his chest.

Cold sweat had long since soaked his entire body.

Too close!

He didn't dare to move immediately, waiting quietly for a few more minutes to confirm there was no further movement outside before slowly moving his nearly stiffened body.

Now, he had to leave the vicinity of this vent as soon as possible.

This place had been "marked" by that Mutant; it wasn't safe.

He crawled carefully along the duct, heading in a direction away from the vent he had just been at, as close to the edge of the hall as possible, and away from the central isolation chamber and that "breathing" thing.

After crawling about twenty meters, he arrived at another vent.

This vent was located above one of the walls of the hall, and below it seemed to be a protruding metal maintenance platform; beneath the platform was the abyss-like hall floor.

From here, he could overlook most of the hall, the view was relatively good, and the platform itself could serve as a foothold.

He gently removed the grille of this vent (the screws had long since rusted solid) and poked his head out to observe.

Below was a metal mesh platform of about five or six square meters, heavily rusted, but the structure looked relatively stable.

The platform connected to a downward, rusted metal staircase that led to the hall floor.

And directly below the platform, on the floor of the hall, were scattered many overturned equipment cabinets and damaged instruments, which could provide some visual cover.

Most importantly, from this angle, he could see more clearly the huge cylindrical isolation chamber in the center of the hall, as well as the scalp-tingling, writhing fungal mat covered in "eyes" on the surrounding walls.

The deep blue mist inside the isolation chamber churned ceaselessly, and the shadows and twisted outlines suspended within seemed to be slowly changing shape.

And in another corner of the hall, in the middle of that pile of broken culture pods, that "thing" that was constantly "heaving and writhing" could also be seen more clearly now—

It seemed to be a massive sarcoma over five meters in diameter, fused together from countless broken culture pods, twisted metal, overgrown flesh, and writhing tentacles!

The surface of the sarcoma was covered in dark blue veins like blood vessels, pulsating slowly with its "breathing", constantly oozing a viscous, dark blue liquid that emitted a sickly sweet odor.

Inside the sarcoma, something seemed to be wrapped, occasionally bulging out and then flattening back down.

This was definitely one of the most dangerous "core derivatives" spawned by the "abyssal eye" contamination here!

Perhaps it was the "hive" or "leader" of that Mutant from before!

He must absolutely not go near there!

Ling Ye's gaze quickly swept over other parts of the hall.

In the area near the underside of the platform where he was now, there were a few relatively intact control consoles and filing cabinets.

Perhaps there would be preserved research data, logs, or information about "the key" there?

He needed to go down and search those control consoles and filing cabinets.

But he had to avoid the attention range of the central isolation chamber, the wall fungal mats, and that huge "breathing" sarcoma.

He estimated the distance and route.

Go down from the platform, follow the stairs to the floor, and then use the equipment scattered on the floor as cover to detour and approach the target control console area.

The whole journey was about thirty meters, with a ten-meter open area in the middle, which posed the greatest risk.

But this was, as far as he could see, the most likely opportunity to obtain key information.

He had to take the risk.

He checked his own condition again.

His physical strength had recovered a bit, and his wounds were currently fine.

The "Ancient Ring" mark was still shimmering, and the "Black Eye" pendant was nearly ruined.

He had his crowbar and pipe wrench in hand.

He took a deep breath, hesitated no longer, and silently slid out of the vent, landing on the metal platform while trying his best to minimize the noise.

The platform swayed slightly, emitting a faint "creak" that was exceptionally harsh in the silent hall.

Ling Ye immediately lowered his body, held his breath, and nervously observed his surroundings.

The "eyes" on the fungal mat on the wall seemed to turn, but they didn't focus on him.

The mist in the central isolation chamber was still churning.

The rhythm of the "breathing" sarcoma in the distance remained unchanged.

Temporarily safe.

He cautiously followed the rusted stairs, stepping down one by one.

He tested each step first, confirming it was stable and silent before stepping down.

The stairs emitted a faint, unavoidable sound of rusted friction, but amidst the low background "breathing" and occasional dripping sounds of the hall, it wasn't very prominent.

Finally, he stepped onto the solid ground.

Under his feet was the cold terrazzo floor, coated with a thin layer of mucus (exudate from the dark blue fungal mat?).

He immediately darted aside, hiding behind the nearest overturned large spectrometer, using its wreckage as cover.

From here, he could see the target area more clearly—about fifteen meters away, leaning against the wall, were three relatively intact control consoles, with two locked filing cabinets next to them.

The screens of the control consoles had long been shattered, but the keyboards and interfaces seemed to still be there.

The doors of the filing cabinets were half-open.

The open area in the middle, about ten meters, had almost no cover.

He had to pass through quickly!

He adjusted his breathing, bringing his state to its peak.

His gaze swept over the open ground ahead like a hawk, confirming there were no obvious traps or moving objects.

Most of the "eyes" on the wall fungal mat were facing the central isolation chamber or the sarcoma, seeming to pay less attention to this corner.

Now!

Ling Ye, like an arrow released from a bow, bolted out from behind the spectrometer, lowered his body, and sprinted toward that row of control consoles with the fastest speed and lightest footsteps!

The ten-meter distance would normally be covered in an instant.

But at this moment, it felt like a thousand meters away!

He could feel a few "eyes" nearby on the wall fungal mat seem to turn slightly, "glancing" in the direction of his movement!

But he didn't dare stop!

And he couldn't stop!

Three steps!

Two steps!

One step!

He lunged forward, rolled, and hid in the shadows behind the first control console, his back against the cold metal cabinet, his heart pounding wildly, almost ready to jump out of his mouth.

Temporarily safe!

He panted for a few seconds, calming his heartbeat. He had not been attacked, nor had he caused a larger commotion. Those "eyes" seemed to have merely "glanced" at him instinctively, without locking on or sounding an alarm.

It seemed that as long as he did not make any overly drastic movements, did not stay exposed in open areas for too long, and did not approach those core danger zones (isolation chamber, sarcoma), the vigilance of these fungal mat "eyes" appeared limited.

He breathed a sigh of relief and began to inspect the console in front of him.

The console was covered in dust, and most of the buttons were unresponsive. He tried to power it on, but there was no reaction; the power had long been cut off. He quickly searched through the console's drawers, which contained nothing but technical manuals that had turned into waste paper and blank record sheets.

Worthless.

He turned to the filing cabinet beside him. The first cabinet contained yellowed experimental logbooks, recording some early sample numbers, storage temperatures, basic observation data, and so on. The dates were all before the "accident" occurred, the content was dull, and there was no key information regarding the nature of "the key" or the "abyssal eye".

He opened the second filing cabinet. This cabinet was relatively better preserved, containing several thick, encrypted archive boxes bearing the logo of "Deep Space Frontier Capital," as well as an old-fashioned metal storage box with a physical lock.

The lock on the archive box had rusted, so he pried it open with force.

Inside were a large number of research reports, data analysis charts, meeting minutes... spanning from early exploration to before the accident. Ling Ye flipped through them quickly, his gaze sharp as a torch, searching for keywords.

Soon, he found a report marked "Top Secret - For Project Committee Review Only," with the title: "Preliminary Energy Spectrum Analysis and Potential Application Prospect Assessment of 'sample zero' (tentatively named 'abyssal eye')."

His spirits lifted, and he immediately read it carefully.

The content of the report was shocking!

"...'sample zero' exhibits unprecedented energy characteristics; its spectrum cannot be explained by existing physical models, and it is suspected to involve high-dimensional information projection and reality interference..."

"...Preliminary contact experiments indicate that 'sample zero' possesses extremely strong 'information assimilation' and 'structural deconstruction' effects on living organisms. Those who come into contact experience cognitive disorder and physiological distortion, eventually leading to the disintegration of their material structure, converting into 'information residue' that shares the same frequency as 'sample zero'..."

"...It is worth noting that under high-energy excitation states, weak resonance signals related to the ancient ruins 'Star Gate' runes (see archive G-7) were detected in the spectrum of 'sample zero'. It is speculated that 'sample zero' may have an unknown connection to the 'Star Gate' system, or may be some kind of 'byproduct' or 'the key' component of 'Star Gate' operations..."

"...Warning: Any attempt to directly utilize or control the energy of 'sample zero' carries extremely high risk. It is recommended to treat it as a 'civilization-level potential threat' and permanently Seal it. However, the Board of Directors believes that the 'high-dimensional information' and 'reality interference' potential it contains hold immeasurable strategic value, and requires further in-depth research to find a 'safe interface' or 'control key'..."

"Control key"! The report mentioned another term for "the key"!

Moreover, the report clearly pointed out that the "abyssal eye" (sample zero) is related to the "Star Gate"! This aligns with the information from the "Ancient Ring" mark and that fragment of Reincarnation memory!

"Star Gate"... "abyssal eye"... "the key"... The connections between all of this are becoming clearer and clearer!

Ling Ye continued to search. In another accident investigation brief (clearly an incomplete internal version), he saw:

"...Direct cause of the accident: The deep drilling team touched an unknown high-density energy crystal (later numbered 'sample zero') at -357 meters. The drill bit shattered, causing the crystal's energy to leak. The leaked energy triggered a chain reaction, making the underground structure of the mining area unstable and simultaneously causing widespread contamination of personnel..."

"...Key point: At the time of the accident, Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe (Note: Chen Yan's superior?) reported that at the center of the energy eruption, he observed a 'fleeting, phantom image of dual rings intertwined,' and detected a strong 'harmonizing signal' that partially matched the spectrum of 'sample zero' but was more stable. Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe claimed that this 'harmonizing signal' might be the key to controlling or shutting down the leak, i.e., the 'control key.' However, he subsequently went missing during the secondary collapse, and the relevant data records were destroyed..."

"...Subsequent searches did not discover the 'control key' entity or the remains of Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe. It is presumed that they were annihilated or buried deep beneath the collapse layer..."

Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe! The phantom image of dual rings intertwined! The harmonizing signal! The control key!

Could this be referring to the "Ancient Ring" and the "bone ring," the dual rings? Did Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe see the phantom image of the dual rings at the accident site? And he also detected a "harmonizing signal," believing it to be the "control key"?

Then, could the "control key" (the key) be the thing that can trigger "dual rings resonance," generate a "harmonizing signal," and thereby control or balance the "abyssal eye"?

And since he himself bore the "Ancient Ring" mark, he was detected to have a weak connection to "the key." Then, where is the "bone ring"? Is it one of the "dual rings phantom images" that Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe saw back then? Or is it the key to generating the "harmonizing signal"?

If he found the "bone ring," could it resonate with his own "Ancient Ring" mark to form a "harmonizing signal," thereby influencing or even controlling the "abyssal eye"?

This thought made Ling Ye's heart race. But this was merely a guess, lacking evidence.

He needed more information, especially clues regarding the whereabouts of the "bone ring."

He looked at the locked metal storage box. This box looked sturdier than the archive boxes and might contain something more important.

He tried to pry the lock, but the structure of the lock was very special and extremely sturdy. Using a pipe wrench to force it open might make a huge noise.

Just as he was hesitating whether to take the risk—

"Hum...!"

The entire hall, without any warning, suddenly shook violently!

Immediately after, inside the huge cylindrical isolation chamber in the center of the hall, the deep blue mist that had been slowly churning suddenly boiled violently! The floating shadows and twisted silhouettes within the mist began to dance and collide frantically!

On the walls, all the fungal mat "eyes" turned in unison toward the direction of the isolation chamber in the same instant! Within those eyes, an anthropomorphic expression was revealed, mixed with fear, fanaticism, and a kind of pilgrimage-like focus!

In the distance, that huge "breathing" sarcoma also suddenly increased its pulsation frequency, the dark blue veins on its surface glowing intensely, seeping out more mucus, and emitting "gurgling" and unsettling sounds.

His "Spiritual Sense" sent a tidal wave of warnings! A massive, cold, chaotic "consciousness" or "presence" filled with a desire for destruction was slowly awakening from the depths of the isolation chamber!

It was the "abyssal eye"!

It was the main body of the "abyssal eye" sample that had been sealed (or isolated) here, or a part of its core consciousness, becoming active!

What happened?!

Ling Ye looked toward the isolation chamber in horror. He saw that amidst the rolling mist, an extremely huge, incredibly clear, and slowly rotating deep blue vortex was gradually forming! At the center of the vortex was endless darkness, as if it were connected to another dimension!

And at the center of that vortex, a dim, cold, deep blue starlight that seemed capable of swallowing all light was slowly lighting up!

The feeling of that starlight... was exactly the same as the polluted "Ancient Ring" starlight that Ling Ye had previously sensed from the black stone! But it was more solid, more... "sober"!

"It" was looking outside!

"It" was sensing this hall!

"It" seemed... to have been stimulated or attracted by something?!

Ling Ye's blood almost froze! He instantly realized that it was very likely himself! It was the weak presence of the "Ancient Ring" mark on him, or perhaps his slightly larger mental fluctuation while searching for files just now, that had stimulated this sensitive "abyssal eye" sample!

He could not stay here any longer! He had to leave immediately!

He could not worry about that metal storage box anymore, and turned around, intending to return along the way he came.

But the moment he turned around, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a thick, leather-bound notebook semi-hidden in a shadowy corner beneath the third console, with what appeared to be a blurred gold-stamped signature on the cover.

The position of that notebook was very concealed, and he hadn't noticed it before.

Was it Senior Researcher Chen Qinghe's experimental log? Or the notes of another researcher?

Intuition told Ling Ye that that notebook might be more important than the reports in the archive boxes!

However, going to get the notebook would require exposing himself again and walking a few extra steps. And with the "abyssal eye" awakening, every second was becoming more dangerous.