188: Chapter 188 Earth Shatters and the Sky Collapses, A Journey of Desperation

He pushed his "Star Visualization" to its limit, steadying his mind, which was dizzy from the tremors.

The faint light of the "Ancient Ring" and the "bone ring" flowed over his skin, forming a thin yet exceptionally tough film of energy to resist the falling debris and the surging, chaotic energy turbulence.

He poured all the "Qi" and vitality he had just recovered into his legs, erupting with unprecedented speed, and sprinted for his life toward the stone path he had come from!

The sound of the collapse behind him was like the roar of a giant beast, pursuing him relentlessly!

Larger boulders kept crashing down from above; he could only rely on the warnings of his "Spiritual Sense" and his extraordinary reflexes to weave, roll, and dodge through the rain of debris, constantly adding new scrapes and bruises to his body, but he dared not stop his pace for even a second!

Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters!

The wall with the secret door was right before his eyes!

But the wall was also shaking violently, covered in cracks!

He lunged at the secret door, his fingers trembling as he pressed the rune button, while simultaneously injecting the faint, balanced rhythm of the "dual rings" with frantic intensity!

"Hum... click!"

The secret door emitted a strained groan and slid inward, opening a gap!

Outside the door lay a haze of freezing, pale blue liquid mist, raging energy turbulence, and an even more deafening roar of collapse!

There was no time to observe!

Ling Ye squeezed through the gap sideways, backhanded the mechanism inside the door, and the secret door "boomed" shut and locked behind him, isolating the collapse of the ancient ruins on the other side—at least for the moment.

He was now on the circular platform, but the scene before him was even more terrifying than when he had left!

The platform itself had tilted and cracked severely, with many guardrails twisted and broken.

The pale blue mixed liquid from the leaking coolant cascaded down like a waterfall from the ruptured pipes, gathering on the ground into a "lake" that emitted a chilling cold and "incongruous" fluctuations.

From the direction of the B7 Main Hall above, came a more terrifying, mixed roar that sounded like metal being torn apart by immense force, and some kind of colossal creature awakening and roaring in anger!

The entire base was shaking violently, as if it might disintegrate from within at any moment!

The "White Coat" and the four mutated guards from before were nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps they had been buried by the collapse, consumed by the runaway power of the "abyssal eye", or had fled elsewhere.

The platform was littered only with debris, flowing liquid, and building wreckage that kept falling from above, either burning or covered in mycelial mats.

There was no direct threat for the moment, but the environment itself was the greatest killer!

He had to leave the base area immediately, return to the upper level, and find the way out of the B7 Sample Repository!

He looked up; the maintenance passage entrance he had come down from was partially buried by the semi-collapsed metal structures and falling debris, but it seemed still passable.

As for the other paths leading to the upper level of the B7 Main Hall, they had likely long been blocked by more severe cave-ins.

This was the only way!

He hesitated no longer, rushed toward the buried entrance, and used his crowbar and hands to frantically clear the obstacles.

Shattered metal, twisted pipelines, congealed mycelial mats... every bit he cleared consumed precious stamina and time.

The "Ancient Ring" mark on his left hand and the "bone ring" on his right hand continued to emit a faint light, helping him resist the increasingly dense pressure of the "abyssal eye", which was filled with frantic, destructive intent, as well as the corrosion of the freezing liquid.

Finally, he cleared a gap that was barely large enough for a person to squeeze through.

It was pitch black inside, with a ladder leading upward, but the ladder was severely twisted and deformed.

He gritted his teeth, squeezed in, and used both hands and feet to climb desperately up the twisted ladder.

The ladder emitted a teeth-grinding "creak" and could break at any moment.

Below was the hazy, freezing liquid mist and the abyss; above were the constantly falling fragments and even more violent energy turbulence.

He dared not look down; he could only go up, up, and up again!

After climbing about twenty meters, a light appeared ahead—the lights of the maintenance area on the lower level of the B7 Main Hall (though most were damaged and flickering unsteadily).

He struggled out of the shaft and landed in a maintenance corridor that was equally dilapidated, covered in cracks and standing water.

The situation here was slightly better than below, but it was still fraught with danger.

Most of the mycelial "eyes" on the walls had ruptured, shriveled, or were flickering with unstable light, as if they too had been affected by the collapse and the rampage of the "abyssal eye".

In the distance, the "rumbling" sound of collapses and the dull, heavy thuds of some giant creature moving sent shivers down his spine.

He had to leave the B7 area as soon as possible!

According to his memory and the map he had obtained earlier, the passage leading toward the "Old Lift Shaft" should be at the other end of this maintenance area.

He ran along the corridor in the general direction, stumbling as he went.

The corridor had collapsed in many places, forcing him to climb over or squeeze through gaps.

The air was thick with a suffocating mix of smoke, dust, the smell of burning, and a sweet, putrid stench.

His "Spiritual Sense" warned him frantically, indicating structural dangers and energy turbulence everywhere—in front, behind, and above.

He could only rely on instinct and luck to navigate through the labyrinth of collapsed buildings.

He didn't know how long he had been running, how many turns he had taken, or how many cave-ins he had avoided, but he finally saw the familiar, heavy blast-proof airtight door at the end of the passage ahead, leading to the "Old Lift Shaft" area!

The door was half-open, its hinges twisted, clearly blown open by an explosion or shockwave.

Outside the door was a relatively open tunnel connecting to the shaft.

He had made it!

The exit from the B7 core area!

A glimmer of hope surged in Ling Ye's heart, and he accelerated toward that door!

However, just as he was less than ten meters from the door—

"Boom!!!"

The wall to his left suddenly exploded, creating a huge hole!

Shattered concrete, twisted steel bars, and a massive amount of viscous, writhing, dark blue flesh tissue—emitting a strong, sweet, putrid odor—surged out from the hole like a volcanic eruption, instantly blocking most of the passage!

And in the center of that surging dark blue flesh, a terrifying entity—so massive it almost filled the entire hole, indescribable, aggregated from countless broken culture pods, proliferating flesh, metal wreckage, and frantically dancing giant tentacles and pale eyeballs, appearing like an enlarged and berserk version of the "breathing" sarcoma—was using its giant mouth, located in the center of its "body" like an abyss and filled with sharp teeth, to let out a roar at Ling Ye that shattered the Soul and was filled with endless greed and destructive desire!

It was that "breathing" sarcoma from before!

It had actually mutated further, expanded, and broken its shackles amidst the collapse and the rampage of the "abyssal eye", pursuing him here!

Or rather, it was an extension or Incarnation of the main will of the "abyssal eye"!

He couldn't escape!

The pressure from this terrifying entity far exceeded that of the "White Coat" and the elite derivatives from before!

Merely the mental impact and icy aura it emitted made Ling Ye feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave; his blood nearly froze, and his movements became incredibly sluggish!

The "bone ring" on his hand and the "Ancient Ring" mark in his Soul flared with intense light, resisting frantically, but it only allowed him to barely remain conscious; he could not break free from this terrifying lock!

The abyssal giant mouth slowly opened, and an irresistible suction came forth, as if to swallow him along with the surrounding air and rubble!

A desperate situation!

An absolute dead end!

Ling Ye looked at the exit so close at hand, then at the terrifying giant mouth devouring everything; a glimmer of despair flashed in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by an even more frantic determination!

He could not die here!

Absolutely not!

He still had the "bone ring"!

He still had the "Ancient Ring"!

He still had the "Gatekeeper" Legacy knowledge he had just obtained!

And... that faint thread of the "dual rings balanced rhythm"!

He suddenly stopped his attempt to retreat and instead stepped forward, facing that terrifying suction!

He raised his hands, his left hand grasping at the air as if holding the starlight of the "Ancient Ring"; his right hand extended, the "bone ring" flowing with a dim light.

He poured all his spirit, all his will, all his desire to live, and his vague understanding of the "Gatekeeper" responsibility into the "Ancient Ring" and the "bone ring"!

Then, he no longer tried to control it precisely, no longer tried to simulate that perfect "balanced rhythm", but instead forced the two powers to collide, compress, and mix together in the most primitive, violent, and reckless way!

It was like forcing ice and fire into a fragile container, and then—detonating it!

"Ah—!! Open for me!!!"

"Hum—Boom!!!!!"

It was not light, nor was it a loud noise.

It was a silent, yet seemingly space-distorting, unstable ripple of energy—a mix of the birth and death of stars and the silence of the abyss, filled with contradiction and conflict—that erupted violently with Ling Ye at its center!

This energy ripple was completely different from the cold chaos of the "abyssal eye"; it was filled with a sense of violent, unstable confrontation between "Order" and "chaos"!

It did not attack the terrifying sarcoma directly, but instead slammed hard into the mental pressure and spatial suction field that the sarcoma had released to lock onto Ling Ye!

"Scree—ch!!!"

It was as if a red-hot iron block had been plunged into snow and ice, or like strong acid splashed onto metal!

The roar emitted by the terrifying sarcoma suddenly turned into a shriek of pain and shock!

Its massive body shuddered violently, and the suction field and mental lock it had released were actually briefly interfered with and torn open by this sudden, bizarre energy ripple!

That was the gap of a single moment!

Ling Ye felt the pressure on him lighten; without the slightest hesitation, he used his last ounce of strength to lunge desperately toward the half-open, blast-proof airtight door that was close at hand!

"Bang!"

He tumbled heavily outside the door, rolling several meters on the rubble-filled ground, while behind him came the even more furious roar of the terrifying sarcoma, as if it wanted to overturn the entire stratum, along with the terrifying sound of it trying to squeeze out of the hole, making the walls boom!

But he was out!

He had left the B7 core area!

He struggled to his feet, not daring to look back, and scrambled frantically toward the depths of the tunnel, in the direction of the "Old Lift Shaft"!

Behind him was the abyss of collapse, roaring, and destruction.

Ahead was an unknown, but perhaps hopeful… journey home.