297: Chapter 297 Traveling Through the Gap

The dead, silent tranquility of "The Shelter," shrouded in its eternal, dim blue light, was shattered by an indescribable, subtle, yet Soul-piercing, continuous, low-pitched "groan" emanating from the very structure of space itself—an ominous sound, like the keel of a billion-ton giant ship slowly bending and on the verge of snapping.

This "groan" acted directly upon perception, reaching deep into the Soul, a fundamental premonition that the very concept of "stability" was about to be torn apart.

Ling Ye sat cross-legged inside the crude metal "The Ark," his back pressed against the firmly secured and still-slumbering Old Shi behind him.

His hands were pressed steadily against the energy nodes on the inner wall, his eyes slightly closed, but his spiritual perception was heightened to the extreme.

Like an invisible net, it tightly covered the area within several meters around "The Ark," keenly capturing the faint, rhythmic changes in spatial "wrinkles" and "tension" within the Chaos Void Realm energy field outside "The Shelter," which signaled that a "rift" was about to open.

Inside his body, the optimized mixed energy flowed silently through his Meridians like molten lava waiting to erupt, ready at any moment to burst forth and transform into the propulsion and shields for "The Ark."

The "the key" mark on his chest emitted a gentle, stable, pale golden light, creating a continuous and clear resonance—like magnets attracting—with the abstract spatial coordinate "marker" of the "rift" entrance about to open, as deduced in the star map.

In his perception calibration model, time counted down, second by second.

Five, four, three...

Outside "The Shelter," the torrent of Chaos colors that seemed to flow and shift eternally suddenly "froze" for an instant at a specific, invisible "point"!

Immediately after, the colors in that area, like a lake surface into which a giant boulder had been thrown, violently contracted inward, collapsed, and swirled, forming an irregular, bottomless vortex only four or five meters in diameter, its edges frantically flashing with countless unstable energy sparks of purple-black, dark red, and ghastly white!

The center of the vortex was not absolute darkness, but a deeper, more ominous kind of absolute, hollow "darkness" that seemed capable of absorbing all light, threatening to devour even the "Void Realm" itself!

And within that absolute darkness, there seemed to be countless finer, madder, indescribable, broken light and shadows from other dimensions, churning, bursting, and annihilating like a boiling pot of oil!

A spatial "rift"!

Unstable, fraught with unknown dangers, a short-lived, fragile "wound" in the structure of space leading to an unknown destination!

Now!

Ling Ye's tightly closed eyes snapped open!

A brilliant light shot from his eyes, and a pale golden glow flashed deep within his pupils before vanishing!

"Go!"

He gave a silent shout in his heart, and his hands, pressed against the energy nodes, exerted sudden force!

The mixed energy waiting in his body, like a breached dam, surged into the energy veins on the inner wall of "The Ark"!

At the same time, his own spiritual will perfectly combined with the guidance force of Order from "the key" mark, forcibly and precisely converting this surging energy into a directional, powerful, spiral propulsion field—a mix of the stability of "Order" and the "freezing" properties of the dark blue—interwoven with pale gold and dark blue, which blasted violently from the crude "propulsion plate" at the rear of "The Ark"!

"Hum—!!"

"The Ark" jolted violently, emitting a harsh, ear-piercing sound of metal twisting and grinding under the unbearable load!

Then, as if shoved hard by an invisible giant hand, this heavy, dark silver metal "coffin" instantly accelerated from a standstill, like an arrow released from a string or a cannonball fired from a barrel, slamming hard toward the faintly rippling, dark blue "barrier" at the edge of "The Shelter"!

"Bang!!!"

There was no sound of impact, only a muffled, low-pitched explosion, as if penetrating an extremely tough energy membrane that had finally been forcibly breached!

"The Ark" punched through the barrier of "The Shelter" without hindrance, plunging headlong into the endless Void Realm outside, which was filled with madness, Chaos, malice, and composed purely of Chaos energy and fragmented scenes!

In an instant, the pressure changed drastically!

The relatively "tranquil" and "stable" energy field inside "The Shelter" vanished instantly.

Replacing it were endless, chaotic, and malicious energy tides and information noise, surging from all directions, every angle, and even seemingly from within the Soul itself, attempting to tear apart, twist, pollute, and assimilate everything!

Merely being immersed in it was enough to make one dizzy and nauseous, with illusions proliferating before the eyes and the ears filled with incomprehensible, maddening gibberish!

The thin mixed energy shield outside "The Ark" fluctuated and flickered violently the moment it made contact with this violent tide, emitting a sharp, sizzling sound of energy collision, as if it were on the verge of shattering completely in the next second!

The entire "The Ark" was like a tiny boat in a raging sea, being frantically pulled, pushed, spun, and tossed by the chaotic, irregular, and fluctuating Void Realm turbulence from all directions!

The metal shell emitted an even harsher groan, as if it would disintegrate at any moment!

Ling Ye's face turned pale, and he let out a muffled groan, a trace of pale golden blood even seeping from the corner of his mouth.

In the mere instant of entering the Void Realm, the massive, omnidirectional energy impact and spiritual pollution had caused significant shock to his body and spirit, which had not yet fully recovered.

The energy within his body poured out like a floodgate opening, frantically used to maintain the crumbling shield and to forcibly stabilize the posture of "The Ark."

But his eyes were cold, without a trace of panic.

His spirit, like the toughest steel wire, was firmly "nailed" to the clear resonance sensing of the "rift" entrance provided by "the key" mark.

His fingers moved as if playing the craziest musical piece, rapidly and precisely adjusting the intensity, angle, and frequency of the energy output at the energy nodes, as well as the energy distribution in different areas of the shield, millisecond by millisecond, to resist the irregular Void Realm turbulence impacts coming from all directions.

Under his forceful control, "The Ark," like a drunken but stubbornly goal-oriented giant, lurched and bobbed in the violent torrent of Chaos, yet with thrilling, abnormal determination, it charged toward the unstable spatial "rift" vortex nearby, which was spinning frantically and spraying energy sparks!

The distance was shortening.

One hundred meters, fifty meters, twenty meters...

The vortex's suction grew stronger, and the surrounding space became increasingly distorted and unstable.

The bumping and spinning of "The Ark" became more intense, and the light of the shield flickered erratically, as if it might extinguish completely at any moment.

Ten meters, five meters...

Just as "The Ark" was about to slam into the edge of the frantically spinning vortex filled with destructive energy sparks, a golden light flashed in Ling Ye's eyes, and his hands pressed down hard!

From "the key" mark, a purer, more powerful energy of Order, mixed with the dark blue, ultimate "freezing" and "stability" power, was forcibly extracted and detonated by him, transforming into a short-lived but extremely fierce energy cone—like a "stabilizing needle of the sea"—interwoven with pale gold and dark blue, which stabbed hard from the front of "The Ark" into the edge of the frantically spinning, extremely chaotic vortex!

"Boom—!!"

It was not a physical explosion, but a silent, short-lived, and violent annihilation and counter-clash on a purely energy and spatial level, where Order opposed Chaos!

The extremely chaotic, frantic energy structure at the edge of the vortex was forcibly and briefly torn open, smoothed, and stabilized by this highly condensed energy cone, which contained the will of "definition" and "freezing," creating a relatively "calm" "channel entrance" only the size of "The Ark," which could last for about two or three seconds!

Now!

Controlling "The Ark," Ling Ye did not slow down at all, even increasing the output of the tail propulsion field again, like a meteor burning with its last rays of light, and plunged headlong along the short-lived, calm channel that had just been forcibly "carved out," into the core of the spinning, absolute, dark, and chaotic spatial "rift" vortex!

"Whoosh—!"

Everything went black before his eyes, and in an instant, he lost all light, sound, and even a sense of direction.

All that remained was an indescribable, extreme sense of pain and disorder, as if his body and Soul were being frantically stretched, squeezed, twisted, and spun, threatening to tear every cell and every shred of consciousness to pieces, reorganize them, and scatter them beyond infinite dimensions!

In his ears (if the concept of "ears" still existed) was an endless, chaotically overlapping, incomprehensible torrent of information and noise, like billions of worlds collapsing simultaneously—a pure, destructive flood!

"The Ark" trembled and spun frantically, the light of the external shield extinguished instantly, and the metal shell emitted even denser, more terrifying, teeth-grinding sounds of twisting and cracking, as if it were about to disintegrate completely in the next second!

Old Shi behind him, even though firmly secured, let out an unconscious, agonizing muffled groan.

Ling Ye gritted his teeth so hard his gums split and blood gushed out.

He felt as if his consciousness had also been thrown into this crazy, out-of-control centrifuge, at any moment liable to be thrown out completely and dissipate into this endless Chaos.

But deep in his Soul, that "the key" mark was like the only unshakable reef in the eye of the storm, emitting an unprecedented, scorching, bright, yet abnormally stable pale golden light, firmly anchoring his "self," and continuously, stubbornly radiating a clear, unquestionable resonance and guidance toward the exit coordinates on the other side of the "rift"!

He no longer tried to "see" or "hear."

He poured all his remaining, final will and strength into his hands, firmly "grasping" that sole, clear guidance from "the key" mark, and then, like the craziest yet also the calmest gambler, he poured all the last remaining, almost all of the mixed energy within his body, regardless of the consequences, into the propulsion field at the rear of "The Ark," while forcibly twisting and adjusting the direction of propulsion, completely following the guidance of "the key" mark, and slammed hard toward that direction in his perception—deep within the Chaos, somewhere extremely "distant" yet seemingly "close at hand," representing the "exit," where a faint, stable, Order fluctuation existed!

"Open—!!!"

A silent roar exploded deep within his Soul!

"Boom—!!!"

This time, it was a real, deafeningly terrifying roar, as if space itself had been forcibly torn and pierced!

The endless darkness and Chaos before his eyes seemed to be ripped open from the middle by a pair of invisible, giant hands!

A completely different, though still dim and filled with the scent of pollution, but at least no longer purely crazy and chaotic, relatively "stable," dark red, eerie "scene" that writhed like flesh inside a giant wound, came crashing toward him, accompanied by a thicker, more direct, sickening, viscous tide of malice and spiritual pollution that seemed to come from a collection of rotting flesh and mad will!

The exit of the "rift"!

They... were out!

"Bang!!!"

A louder, more solid thud, as if metal had violently collided with some kind of tough, viscous, elastic, living tissue!

"The Ark," like a cannonball fired from a barrel, slammed into that dark red, writhing "scene," its speed dropping sharply, and then, rolling and dragging a viscous, dark red mixture that resembled blood and tissue fluid, it skidded for dozens of meters on some kind of rugged, warm, slippery, eerie "ground" that resembled the internal cavity of a giant creature, before finally coming to a stop.

"Clang... Sizzle..."

The metal "The Ark" let out a series of final wails—twisting, cracking, and energy short-circuiting—and completely ceased operation.

The external energy shield, already shattered beyond repair, extinguished completely.

The metal shell was covered in cracks and dents, and in some places, it was even torn open, revealing the rough structure inside.

There was dead silence.

Only inside "The Ark" could one hear Ling Ye's heavy, painful, blood-flecked breathing, and the sound of Old Shi behind him, even weaker, yet letting out a pained, muffled groan, seemingly due to the violent impact.

And then, there was the viscous, slowly flowing, dark red "background" surrounding them, pulsating slightly as if alive, which was extremely unsettling, as well as the thick, suffocating stench and spiritual pollution in the air, which felt as if it would dye the very Soul deep dark red—a mixture of pure, rotting flesh and mad will.

They had successfully passed through the first, and most dangerous, unstable spatial "rift," arriving at the outer region of the first transfer node marked on the star map—the "Silence Point - β."

But the appearance of this place seemed... to be worlds apart from the relatively "calm" and "stable" description on the star map.

Ling Ye lifted his head with difficulty and looked outward through the narrow, crack-filled "observation window" on the front of "The Ark."

As far as his eyes could see, there were only huge, irregular cavity walls and ground composed of writhing, dark red, seemingly living viscera or flesh tissue.

Some thick, dark purple, slowly pulsating structures, resembling blood vessels or nerve bundles, wove through the flesh walls.

In the air, a viscous, dark red mist with a bloody smell drifted.

In the distance, faint, low-pitched, chaotic, inhuman whimpers and screeches could be heard, like countless pained Souls groaning at the bottom of a swamp.

This place was absolutely not an energy "Vortex Silence Point."

This place was a huge, living Hell composed of flesh and madness, highly eroded by pollution, perhaps even assimilated by the pollution, having become part of the "body" of some indescribable existence.

The star map's deduction had a huge deviation.

Or perhaps, this was the truest and most terrifying final form of "Silence Point - β" after being thoroughly eroded, alienated, and devoured by pollution over the long years.

The fleeting joy of successfully traversing the "rift" was instantly wiped clean by the unexpected, even more desperate, hellish scene before his eyes.

The cold reality, like the heaviest shackle, was once again placed upon the two, who had just experienced a life-and-death Transmigration, were almost exhausted of strength, had a damaged vehicle, and whose companion had yet to wake.