268: Chapter 268 Escape from the Cage

The dark silver energy beams, like several living venomous snakes, carved lethal arcs in the air, sealing off most of Ling Ye's escape routes! The speed was unimaginably fast, the energy condensed, carrying that cold, absolutely "Orderly" aura of destruction!

Ling Ye didn't even have time to look back! At the moment the energy beams were fired, his near-beast-like intuition, honed from years of walking on the edge of life and death, made him lunge forward. Simultaneously, his body, like a tightened spring, rolled in a wretched manner toward a relatively concave shadow on the side wall of the tunnel!

"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"

The energy beams flew past, grazing his back and legs, and slammed into the tunnel wall behind where he had just been standing! There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a tooth-aching, high-pitched "sizzling" sound as the high-frequency energy violently annihilated matter! The dark gray, mirror-smooth rock wall looked like cheese touched by a hot soldering iron, instantly melting into several neat-edged, bottomless, bowl-sized holes! The material around the holes presented an unnatural, crystallized dark red color, emitting high heat and lingering, dangerous energy fluctuations.

Ling Ye could even feel that the cold energy aftermath carried by the beams grazing him caused a burning, stinging, and numbing sensation on the skin of his back! If he had been 0.1 seconds slower, or if his judgment had been wrong, he would have already been pierced, vaporized, or melted through by those beams!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Without a moment's pause! The scarlet gazes of those metal Puppets, like the most precise trackers, locked firmly onto his rolling figure! The first volley missed, and their arms barely moved; they simply adjusted the angle of their energy cone tips slightly, and the second round of energy beams followed immediately! This time, it was denser, covering a wider range, completely sealing off the potential movement trajectories after his roll!

Too fast! Too precise! The attack patterns of these "Defense Units" were cold, efficient, and devoid of any flair, designed purely for "elimination" or "capture"! Unlike the chaotic, instinctive attacks of the "Abyssal Remains", the pressure and death threat they brought were even greater!

Ling Ye's heart pounded wildly in his chest, almost breaking through his ribcage! Adrenaline washed over every nerve like a breached flood. He had no time to think, relying purely on muscle memory, combat instinct, and the most primal fear of death to perform a series of dodges in the narrow tunnel that would look like juggling to an outsider, wretched to the extreme!

Lunging! Rolling! Kicking the rock wall to borrow force and slide sideways! Curling his body to hide in an extremely tiny, shallow pit less than half a foot deep formed by the intersection of energy patterns! At the critical moment, he even used the shaft of his spear to strike at the side of an incoming energy beam, trying to use the principle of leverage to deflect it—but the moment the spear tip touched the energy beam, the hard flint at the tip silently turned into powder! The front end of the spear shaft also instantly carbonized and shattered! A huge, cold force traveled along the remaining spear shaft, shaking Ling Ye's tiger's mouth until it split, his arm went numb, and he could barely hold it!

No! Can't block it! Can't dodge for much longer either! The tunnel is too narrow, the opponent's firepower is too dense, and they seem to be able to predict his movement trends! Must rush out! Rush back to the tunnel entrance!

"Ah—!!" Ling Ye let out a suppressed, low roar like an injured beast, throwing the broken spear shaft fiercely at the nearest metal Puppet (useless, it was easily annihilated by an energy beam), while his feet kicked the ground violently, driving his "Star Visualization" to the limit, squeezing out every ounce of strength from his body, and erupting with unprecedented speed, like an arrow off a bowstring—no, like a ghost chased by death, he charged headlong toward the direction of the tunnel entrance!

No more extra dodging! Betting on speed! Betting that the aiming, charging, and firing of those metal Puppets had a tiny gap! Betting that his speed could rush through the most dangerous distance before the next volley arrived!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!!"

Energy beams poured down again like a rainstorm! Grazing past his ears, shoulders, and the sides of his legs! Burning and numbing sensations came one after another. The clothing on his left shoulder was grazed by the edge of a beam, instantly charring and carbonizing, and the skin underneath felt a scorching, sharp pain! His calf was also grazed by the aftermath of a beam, leaving a deep, bone-visible burn with charred edges; the blood hadn't even flowed out before it was evaporated by the high heat!

Excruciating pain! But Ling Ye bit his teeth hard, turning all the pain into the power to sprint! His eyes were fixed on the shimmering dark silver thin sheet at the corner getting closer and closer ahead—there was the first corner; turning past it might allow him to catch a breath and change his disadvantage of being chased in a straight line!

Fifty meters! Thirty meters! Twenty meters!

The energy beams behind him became denser, as if those metal Puppets had also judged his intention and started covering with firepower, sealing the tunnel ahead of him!

Ten meters! Five meters!

Just as Ling Ye was about to rush past the corner and his body had already started making the turning movement—

"Sizzle—Hum!!!"

An unprecedented, larger, and colder energy fluctuation suddenly came from the direction of the hall behind! Immediately after, out of the corner of his eye, Ling Ye caught a glimpse of the dark silver thin sheet at the tunnel corner, which had only been emitting a faint light, suddenly flaring up! The flowing light inside accelerated instantly, turning into a blinding silver-white! At the same time, a powerful, orderly energy force field, like a solid wall, formed instantly at the corner, sealing off the entire tunnel cross-section!

It's a trap! It's the force field that closes the tunnel when that huge device is activated!

Ling Ye's heart sank to freezing point instantly! Energy force field blocking in front, metal Puppet energy beams chasing from behind! No way to heaven, no door to earth!

Desperate situation! A true desperate situation!

However, at this flash of lightning, this moment of life and death, the "xuanyuan ring" in his arms that had been struggling and heating up violently seemed to sense this desperate crisis, as well as the force field wall made of "Order" energy in front—

"Zheng—!!!"

A sharp cry that seemed to pierce the Soul—clear, cold, and carrying a certain unyielding will—burst forth from the ring! It was not transmitted through the air, but acted directly on Ling Ye's spirit and the surrounding space! At the same time, the ring erupted with an unprecedented, blinding light like a small dark blue sun! The light condensed into a slender, yet extremely condensed, dark blue beam that seemed capable of cutting through everything, shooting out automatically from Ling Ye's arms, precisely and fiercely stabbing into the very center of the silver-white energy force field wall that had just formed in front!

"Riiip—!!!"

Like a red-hot blade cutting into solidified grease! That seemingly indestructible force field wall, composed of highly orderly energy, actually fluctuated and twisted violently the moment it came into contact with the dark blue beam! Two energies that were equally "Orderly" but had completely different, even vaguely opposing attributes, engaged in fierce confrontation and annihilation! In the center of the force field wall, a hole the size of a fist, with energy sparks constantly splashing at the edges, was hard-drilled out by the dark blue beam! Moreover, the hole was slowly but firmly eroding and expanding inward!

Effective! The power of the "xuanyuan ring" seemed to be able to counter, or even to a certain extent "destroy", the "Order" energy field here! Although it was extremely strenuous and consumed a huge amount (Ling Ye could feel that the ring's light and vibration weakened a lot after this strike, becoming somewhat "withered"), it indeed opened up a glimmer of hope!

Ling Ye did not hesitate at all! He seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity gained by the ring's almost "self-destructive" attack, and just before the energy beams behind him reached his body, he used all his strength to slam into the expanding hole in the force field wall!

"Pfft—!"

There was no feeling of hitting a solid object, only a sense of stagnation like passing through thick mercury and a strong feeling of energy tearing! The turbulent energy flow generated by the conflict between the dark blue beam and the silver-white force field was like countless small, sharp knives cutting his body! His clothes were instantly sliced and torn, and his skin felt dense cuts and burning pain! But he ignored it, just crazily squeezing and rushing forward!

"Whoosh! Boom, boom, boom—!!!"

Behind him, several energy beams, almost brushing against his heels, shot into the force field wall, triggering a small-scale energy detonation! The shockwave of the explosion gave Ling Ye's back a fierce push, which instead accelerated his process of passing through the hole!

"Whoosh!"

As if breaking through a film of water, Ling Ye felt his whole body lighten, and that sticky sense of energy tearing vanished instantly! He fell in a wretched manner, covered in cuts, burns, and blood, onto the tunnel floor on the other side of the corner, rolling forward several times before barely stopping.

He immediately looked back, only to see the hole in the force field wall opened by the "xuanyuan ring" was rapidly shrinking and healing. And those metal Puppets had already rushed to the corner, their scarlet gazes penetrating the recovering force field wall, locking onto him. But it seemed they could not, or were temporarily ordered not to, pass through this force field wall (perhaps to prevent energy leakage or damage to internal stability).

Temporarily... safe?

Ling Ye didn't have time to rejoice, or even to deal with the burning wounds on his body. He struggled to climb up, took a look at the "xuanyuan ring" in his arms, which was dim, barely vibrating, and ice-cold to the touch, and a complex emotion flashed in his heart. Then, he turned and, along the straight, downward-sloping tunnel he had come from, used his last bit of strength to scramble and crawl, fleeing for his life toward the tunnel entrance!

Behind him, the humming of the metal Puppets' energy weapons charging and the slight "hum" of the force field wall completely recovering could be heard faintly.

But, no pursuit.

He rushed out of that narrow, straight tunnel filled with dark purple crystals, rushed out of the cave entrance, and returned to the violent, chaotic, tingling energy turbulence and low humming of the Rift Canyon.

"Old Shi!" Ling Ye rushed out of the cave entrance, immediately lowered his voice and called out, while vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

"Here!" Old Shi's voice, carrying undisguised tension and worry, came from the high slope where Old Shi was previously lurking. Old Shi saw Ling Ye covered in wounds, ragged, and in a wretched state, Old Shi's pupils shrinking sharply, "You're injured! Inside..."

"Go! Immediately! Leave this place!" Ling Ye didn't wait for Old Shi to finish, immediately rushed up the high slope, grabbed Old Shi's arm, and practically dragged Old Shi along the path marker Ling Ye had come from, fleeing crazily toward the northeast, away from the cave entrance! "There are guards! Very powerful metal Puppets! I was discovered! Go quickly!"

Old Shi's face turned pale, Old Shi didn't ask any more questions, endured the weakness, and coordinated with Ling Ye, running forward desperately.

The two of them, like frightened birds, ran wildly in the rugged and broken canyon, taking heavy steps. It wasn't until they were nearly a thousand meters away from the cave entrance and confirmed that nothing was chasing them out that the two dared to hide in a relatively hidden rock crevice, collapsing on the ground, breathing heavily, sweat mixed with blood soaking their whole bodies.

Ling Ye leaned against the cold rock wall, feeling the excruciating pain coming from all over his body, as well as the near-collapse relief of surviving a disaster. He took out his water canteen, drank a few large gulps of cold water, and handed it to the pale and terrified Old Shi.

"What... exactly is inside?" Old Shi's breathing steadied slightly, and Old Shi immediately asked impatiently, Old Shi's voice trembling.

Ling Ye closed his eyes, and in his mind, the huge, pyramid-shaped device, the dense incubation pods, the humanoid figures soaked in liquid and covered in dark silver metal structures, and at the last moment, the young man in a strange uniform, appearing to be sleeping in the huge incubation pod, appeared again...

"A... huge, still-operating ancient ruin conducting forbidden human experiments." Ling Ye's voice was hoarse, carrying a deep chill and indescribable heaviness, "It uses... that kind of 'Orderly' energy. The Rank... might be much higher than the 'Dark Nest'. I triggered something, and it attracted guards..."

He briefly described what he saw inside, omitting the final explosion of the "xuanyuan ring" (only saying he tried his best to rush out). When hearing "incubation pod", "human experiment", "dark silver metal structure", "huge device", and "mechanical guard", Old Shi's face became uglier and uglier, Old Shi's eyes filled with extreme fear and... a kind of near-desperate realization.

"...As expected... the legend is true..." Old Shi muttered to himself, Old Shi's voice as dry as sandpaper rubbing.

"What legend?" Ling Ye immediately asked.

Old Shi raised his head, looked at Ling Ye, and in Old Shi's turbid eyes, fear and a kind of near-collapsing sorrow intertwined.

"The 'Temple of Order'... or rather, the legend of the 'Court of World Purification'..."