243: Chapter 243 Roar of Lava

The gun barrel was cold, aimed at that mass of wriggling rock that pulsed with a ghostly green light and emitted an ominous aura.

His finger rested on the rough trigger; pulling it would be a verdict of life or death.

But Ling Ye did not fire immediately.

The distance was too close, the target was bizarre, the accuracy and power of this old gun were unknown, and the lethal methods and vital points of the "Worm Rock" were a mystery.

The first shot was crucial; if he could not severely wound or delay it, at such close range, he would have no chance to fire a second shot.

The "Worm Rock" seemed to be "evaluating" him as well.

Its body, a fusion of rock and gelatinous substance, writhed slowly on the open ground with a certain unsettling rhythm.

The light from its ghostly green fissures flickered with its movements, as if it were breathing.

That chaotic, violent, and greedy energy fluctuation, like tangible tentacles, tightly coiled around Ling Ye—or rather, around the "xuanyuan ring" on his chest.

It was attracted by the energy of the ring, yet it seemed to have developed a trace of instinctive, vague "vigilance" toward that strange creation pointing at it, which exuded the scent of metal and gunpowder.

Animal instinct?

Or some residual perception of dangerous physical attacks?

A standoff.

The air was stagnant; there was only the low, gurgling sound emanating from within the "Worm Rock", and Ling Ye's own barely audible heartbeat.

The "xuanyuan ring" on his chest was still hot and flickering, but the frequency seemed to be slowing down.

The aftermath of the energy disturbance coming from the direction of the "Dark Nest" also seemed to be weakening.

This was perhaps the only good news.

But the attention of the "Worm Rock" was clearly not diverted by this.

Its ghostly green light remained firmly locked onto him.

He could not wait any longer!

He had to break the stalemate!

Ling Ye's gaze sharpened, and the finger resting on the trigger began to squeeze slowly.

His whole body's muscles tensed, his spirit focused to the extreme, anticipating the possible reaction trajectory of the "Worm Rock".

Just as the trigger was about to reach its critical point and the hammer was about to spring—

"Whoosh——!!!"

An extremely sharp, shrill, ear-piercing shriek tore through the air, traveling from far to near at an astonishing speed, rushing rapidly from the northern sky toward this area of scattered rocks!

It was not a gunshot, nor an explosion; it was a sound of even higher frequency, sharper, and filled with destructive energy!

Moreover, it was incredibly fast.

Almost the moment the sound reached his ears, Ling Ye felt a death threat so intense it was suffocating, pouring over him like ice water!

The target was not him, nor was it the "Worm Rock"!

It was... the sky above this area of scattered rocks?!

Ling Ye's pupils shrank.

Without thinking, almost like a conditioned reflex, he lunged violently to the side, hiding himself tightly in the recess at the base of that huge, slanted rock wall!

The "Worm Rock" also seemed to sense this sudden, terrifying threat that far exceeded Ling Ye and his pistol.

Its slow writhing stopped abruptly, the light from the ghostly green fissures surged instantly, becoming blinding, and its entire "body" curled inward and hardened violently, as if to become a real, impenetrable rock!

The next moment—

"Boom——!!!!!"

A fireball, so intense it was impossible to look at directly, mixed with dark red and pale white light, exploded violently about fifty meters above the area of scattered rocks!

The deafening sound of the explosion instantly swallowed all other noises!

The violent shockwave, like an invisible giant hammer, spread wildly in all directions from the blast point!

Gravel, soil, and uprooted shrubs were tossed up and torn apart like fallen leaves in a gale!

The scorching heat wave, carrying the pungent smell of ozone and sulfur, swept through, fiercely plowing over everything on the ground!

Ling Ye only felt a loud "buzz" in his ears, and then he went completely deaf!

His back felt as if it had been struck hard by a red-hot iron hammer; intense pain followed, and his whole body was slammed against the rock wall by the shockwave before rolling to the ground.

Stars danced before his eyes, and his mouth and nose were filled with the smell of blood and dust!

He curled up tightly at the base of the rock wall, covering his head with his hands, letting the gravel and scorching soil rain down upon him.

At the moment the explosion's shockwave struck, the "xuanyuan ring" on his chest flared with a deep blue light, forming an extremely thin but tough energy shield that barely neutralized the most lethal portion of the high heat and energy erosion, but he still felt a pain as if his internal organs had been shifted out of place.

The explosion came and went quickly.

But the aftermath and the dust filling the sky still shrouded the area.

Ling Ye struggled to lift his head; there was only a sharp ringing in his ears, and he could hear nothing.

His vision was blurred, obscured by smoke and dust.

He could barely see that the open ground where the "Worm Rock" had been was completely "cleaned" by the shockwave of the explosion; the ground was scorched black, and the gravel had melted, forming a shallow depression.

The "Worm Rock"... was gone?

Was it blown to pieces?

Or...

The smoke and dust dissipated slightly.

Ling Ye's eyes widened sharply.

At the edge of the blast center, next to that scorched depression, he saw a pile of shattered, smoking, dull-colored stones, as well as some gelatinous residues that emitted a faint green light and were rapidly dimming, like cooling lava.

Those stones and residues still vaguely showed a part of the original outline of the "Worm Rock".

It had been blown to pieces!

Under that sudden, devastating strike from the sky, that seemingly sturdy rock body had been torn apart and destroyed as if it were made of paper!

What was it?

A missile?

An energy weapon?

Coming from the northern sky...

Ling Ye's heart sank to the bottom.

The north... that was not the direction of the "Dark Nest", but... the direction of the city's relatively "safe" zone, or even... the airspace that might be controlled or patrolled by the "Cleaning" or "The Plainclothes Organization"!

Was it "The Plainclothes Organization"?

Had they discovered the anomaly here (the violent reaction of the "xuanyuan ring"? Or the rampage of the "Worm Rock"?), and directly deployed aerial strike forces to carry out "Purification"?!

A chill shot from his spine straight to the top of his head.

If it really was "The Plainclothes Organization", then their reaction speed and strike precision were simply horrifying!

Moreover, this approach of indiscriminate, direct, and devastating strikes confirmed what Hei San had said: "The cure is even more efficient than the disease itself"!

He was currently lying on the edge of this area that had just been "Purified"!

Although the main target seemed to be the "Worm Rock", he was definitely within the strike range!

The shockwave and high heat from just now had already caused him significant internal injuries!

Moreover, after an aerial strike, would ground troops come to clear the scene and confirm the results?!

He had to leave immediately!

Before the next wave of strikes arrived, or before a Cleaning team arrived!

Ling Ye endured the pain and dizziness, which made him feel as if his whole body was falling apart, and struggled to get up.

His ears were still deaf, and his vision was wavering due to the smoke and a concussion.

He groped around and found the revolver that had fallen not far away (fortunately, it hadn't misfired), picked it up, and tucked it back into his bosom.

He also found the bottle of medicine and put it away.

He glanced at the remains of the "Worm Rock".

That once bizarre and dangerous "Neighbor" was now just a pile of smoking rubble and cooling, glowing gelatin.

But for some reason, looking at those residues, Ling Ye felt no relief in his heart, but rather a deeper fear of that unknown striking power.

He hesitated no longer, identified the direction, and stumbled toward the southwest—the direction opposite to both the source of the explosion (north) and the direction of the "Worm Rock"'s nest (southeast).

He had to return to the cave immediately, retrieve his most important supplies, and then, at the fastest speed possible, get far away from this area that had just been "marked" and "cleaned"!

Every step he ran pulled at the intense pain in his ribs and back.

The ringing in his ears persisted, and the world was in an eerie silence.

But he dared not stop, dared not look back.

Just as he was about to rush out of this area of scattered rocks and step onto a relatively gentle slope, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of an extremely tiny, high-speed moving black dot in the sky, near the northern horizon, flying away from this area and quickly disappearing into the lead-gray clouds.

Was it the aircraft that carried out the strike?

A drone?

Or something else?

He had no time to think.

Escaping with his life was his only thought at this moment.

He finally rushed back to the bottom of the steep slope where the cave was located.

Fortunately, the camouflage at the cave entrance appeared intact and did not seem to have been directly affected by the explosion's shockwave.

Most of the warning devices he had set up were also intact.

He rushed into the cave and, without time to catch his breath, immediately began to pack his most important items at top speed: the rebar spear, the pipe cutter, the fruit knife, the slingshot, the remaining dried rat meat, that precious bit of salt, the water bottle, the medicine bottle, the gun, the flint, the tinder... everything was shoved haphazardly into that woven bag.

Finally, he took one last look at this cave where he had lived for over ten days, which had brought him brief peace and shelter.

The seeping rock wall was still slowly dripping water droplets.

There was no time to linger.

He shouldered the heavy woven bag, checked the entrance camouflage one last time, and then, without looking back, rushed down the steep slope.