308: Chapter 308 Awakening

Ling Ye stood at the doorway, his chest heaving violently; that shout had nearly exhausted his last remaining strength. He stared intently into the darkness below, hoping for even the faintest response, but all that came back was his own heavy breathing and the occasional, subtle clicking sound echoing from the distant ruins—whether caused by the thermal expansion and contraction of metal or something else, he did not know.

Old Shi did not respond. It remained unconscious behind that tilted metal plate, like a broken doll forgotten by the world.

Ling Ye's heart sank to the bottom. But he had no time for despair, and even less time for hesitation.

He turned around, taking one last look at the floating polyhedral crystal emitting a gentle, pale golden light, and the serene remains sitting against the wall. Then, gritting his teeth and dragging his extremely exhausted, scarred body, he began to make his way back down the path he had come.

The descent was even more difficult than the ascent. The damaged stairs, loose metal plates, dim light, and constantly depleting stamina made the return journey fraught with danger. Several times, he nearly missed his footing and fell from the heights, relying solely on his reflexes and remaining strength to barely grab onto nearby metal components and steady himself.

When he finally returned to the bottom level, stumbling through the dark entrance and back onto the charred, crystallized ruins of the ground, he was nearly on the verge of collapse. But he forced himself to endure, step by step, moving to the back of the tilted metal plate where Old Shi was hiding.

Old Shi was still unconscious, leaning against the cold metal plate with its head bowed. Its breathing was so faint it was barely perceptible; every extremely slight rise and fall seemed to exhaust all of its strength. The composite isolation layer's glow had dimmed to the point of almost extinguishing, and the cracks on its surface were as dense as a spiderweb, as if it would shatter completely at the slightest touch. Beneath the isolation layer, those hideous black cracks had deepened in color, as if viscous, dark liquid were slowly flowing within them, emitting a more intense, more ominous scent of pollution.

The situation was even worse than when he had left.

Ling Ye knelt halfway in front of Old Shi and reached out, gently placing his hand on its shoulder. It felt cold to the touch, carrying a heart-wrenching stiffness, as if life were slowly ebbing away.

"Old Shi..." he called out in a low, raspy voice, "Wake up... We need you... I need you..."

There was no response.

He raised his voice and gently shook Old Shi's body: "Old Shi! Wake up! We cannot stop here! I have found the answer! But I need you!"

Old Shi's brow seemed to twitch ever so slightly. But it still did not wake up.

Ling Ye gritted his teeth. He knew that in its current state, Old Shi could no longer be awakened by conventional methods. Its consciousness and Soul had likely been dragged into a deep, self-protective, restorative coma by the persistent, severe injuries and the erosion of the pollution. Or worse—its consciousness was being slowly gnawed away and assimilated by the pollution.

He had to take a more direct and risky approach.

He took a deep breath and channeled a wisp of pure, pale golden Origin Order energy from the "the key" mark—energy he had just absorbed from the polyhedral crystal, which carried the aura of his parents and the authorization of the "Return to Void" program. He carefully concentrated this energy at his fingertips and then gently tapped it onto the center of Old Shi's forehead.

At the same time, he extended his own mental will, like the finest yet toughest thread, following the contact between his fingertip and its forehead, slowly probing into the depths of Old Shi's chaotic, dark, and pollution-eroded consciousness.

"Old Shi... it's me... Ling Ye..." he called out on a mental level, "We have reached... the end... but we need you... the complete resonance of the 'Dual Keys'... to initiate the final program... to... end all of this..."

"I know you are exhausted... I know you are severely injured... I know you are enduring immense pain... but... please hold on a little longer... one last time... I promise... this is the last time..."

"Wake up... Old Shi... I need you..."

His mental call, like a faint beam of light carrying firm will and warmth cast into the dark deep sea, pierced through the heavy fog of pollution and chaos, attempting to reach the final, self-aware consciousness belonging to "Old Shi" that lay sleeping in the deepest part of the ocean floor.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Ling Ye could feel that in the depths of Old Shi's consciousness, the darkness eroded by pollution was like a living, viscous, malicious swamp, constantly trying to devour and assimilate the mental tendril he had extended. He had to continuously expend that precious, Origin Order energy to maintain the stability and purity of his mental tendril, resisting the erosion of the pollution.

Just as he felt that his Mental Energy was about to fail and the beam of light he had extended was on the verge of being completely submerged by the endless darkness—

In the deepest part of that dark, chaotic, and malicious swamp of consciousness, a faint, struggling fluctuation of intent—like a spark of life belonging to "Old Shi," one that seemed as if it could be extinguished at any moment yet carried a trace of familiarity and stubbornness—responded to him, struggling as if through thick asphalt.

"Ling... Ye..."

The fluctuation of intent was intermittent, filled with pain and exhaustion, but it was undoubtedly a response from Old Shi!

Ling Ye's spirits lifted, and he immediately intensified his mental call: "It is me! Old Shi! Hold on! I need you to wake up! I need your 'interface'! Let us complete this final step together!"

"...interface..." Old Shi's fluctuation of intent seemed to carry a trace of confusion and pain, "...broken... polluted... it hurts... useless..."

"No! It is still useful!" Ling Ye responded firmly, "It is only damaged, not completely destroyed! I have the final power here! I have the authorization of the 'Return to Void' program! We can use it together to complete the final mission! Trust me! Old Shi! Just like before! Trust me!"

As he spoke, he divided a portion of the Origin Order energy—concentrated at his fingertips and carrying the authorization of the "Return to Void" program—and carefully guided and injected it into the "interface" scar on Old Shi's right wrist, which was on the verge of collapse.

This energy seemed to carry some kind of "activation" and "repair" command; it did not directly oppose the pollution but instead attempted to establish a connection with the core, fundamental energy circuit deep within the "interface" that belonged to the Court of World Purification maintenance unit, attempting to "light it up" once again.

"Ugh..."

Old Shi's body jolted violently, and it let out a painful, suppressed groan. Its brow furrowed tightly, and its face showed an expression of extreme pain. Upon receiving the injection of Origin Order energy, the dark red "interface" scar on its right wrist, covered in black cracks, suddenly flared with a momentary, blinding, chaotic light interweaving pale gold and dark red! Immediately afterward, it quickly dimmed again, as if the energy conflict had caused further damage.

But in the instant that light flared, Ling Ye clearly "felt" that Old Shi's nearly extinguished flame of self-consciousness had been fiercely stimulated! It was as if it had been injected with an adrenaline shot in the endless darkness!

"...Okay..." Old Shi's fluctuation of intent, though still weak and pained, carried a trace of resolute clarity, like a final surge of life, "...I will... try..."

No sooner had the words fallen than Old Shi's heavy, tightly closed eyelids struggled, slowly, to open a crack.

Its cloudy, bloodshot eyeballs rotated extremely slowly, eventually focusing on Ling Ye, who was kneeling halfway before it, his face full of exhaustion and anticipation, yet with the final flame burning in his eyes.

"...Ling... Ye..." Old Shi's voice was like the wheezing of an old bellows, raspy and weak, yet exceptionally clear, "...I... heard you..."

Looking at those eyes—though cloudy and exhausted, finally refocused and rekindled with a glimmer of light—the heavy stone that had been hanging in Ling Ye's heart finally dropped a little.

He nodded, without any extra words, simply extending his right hand to tightly clasp Old Shi's cold, trembling left hand, which was covered in black cracks.

"Yes. Let us do this together. Complete this final step."

Then, he looked up, his gaze once again casting toward the damaged, towering, dark silver metal structure, toward the top of that building, toward that point of pale golden Order light, which, though faint, had never been extinguished.