309: Start-up 3

The return journey was even longer and heavier than the journey there. Old Shi leaned almost his entire weight onto Ling Ye, each step accompanied by suppressed, painful gasps. His right hand hung limply, his fingertips occasionally twitching nervously. The damaged "interface" scar appeared as an ominous, bruised dark purple in the dim light. But those eyes, though bloodshot and filled with exhaustion, reignited with a faint, yet exceptionally stubborn glimmer—it was the final obsession with "completing" this task after being forcefully pulled back from the edge of the abyss.

When they finally stood before that huge, dark silver metal door again, both had reached their limits. The pale gold mark on the door, upon sensing the return of "the key," lit up with a soft glow once more, as if silently welcoming them. The door opened slowly, revealing the domed room and the warm, polyhedral crystal floating in the center. The remains sitting against the wall were still peaceful, as if they had been waiting for this moment all along.

Ling Ye helped Old Shi, step by step, into the room and to the console.

He carefully placed Old Shi beside the console, allowing him to lean against the cold metal surface and barely stand steady. Then, he took a deep breath himself and stood directly in front of the console.

The polyhedral crystal was right in front of him, within reach, emitting a warm, pure, pale gold light.

"Old Shi," Ling Ye's voice was hoarse from the long trek and successive fierce battles, but it was exceptionally steady and clear, "This program is called 'Return to Ruins.' It will transmit the entire contaminated Star Gate core area, including the space inside the Seal, into a star. Everything will be incinerated and Purification. Including... us."

He paused, his gaze not leaving the crystal, his voice devoid of any ripples: "Activating it requires the complete 'Dual Keys' resonance. My 'the key,' and your... 'interface.' Your 'interface' is severely damaged; forcing resonance might cause you irreversible harm, or even... I don't know what will happen. Do you understand?"

Old Shi leaned against the cold metal surface, head bowed, looking at his right hand, which was covered in black cracks and had almost lost all sensation. The dark purple "interface" scar was sending out pulses of bone-deep, cold stinging pain, as if countless tiny needles were churning in the marrow. He was silent for a few seconds, then slowly raised his head.

"Understand." Old Shi's voice was hoarse and weak, yet carried an unusual calmness, "From the moment I was... parasitized by that thing... I knew... this day would come sooner or later. Being able to use it... to do something meaningful... is quite good."

He extended his trembling left hand, using all his strength to slowly lift his right hand, which he could barely raise, and aligned it with an inconspicuous, oddly shaped dark silver groove on the edge of the console, which seemed reserved for the "interface" and corresponded to "the key" slot.

"Come on." Old Shi said, the corners of his mouth even twitching with extreme difficulty, as if trying to smile, but eventually only pulling at the wound on his face, seeping a trace of blood, "Let it... end."

Ling Ye looked at Old Shi's trembling right hand covered in black cracks, and those eyes that were exhausted yet exceptionally calm, even carrying a hint of relief. He did not speak again.

He slowly extended his own right hand, and once again, pressed it onto the floating, warm polyhedral crystal.

Then, he reached out his left hand, gently grasping Old Shi's cold, trembling right hand, guiding it toward the dark silver groove.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

Old Shi did not speak, only nodded with his final strength.

Ling Ye did not hesitate anymore. He guided Old Shi's right hand, gently pressing the damaged, dark purple "interface" scar on his wrist into the dark silver groove.

"Click."

A very slight, but exceptionally clear, interlocking sound.

In that very instant—

"Hum... hum... hum..."

Two completely different, yet seemingly naturally resonant energy fluctuations erupted simultaneously from the "the key" mark on Ling Ye's chest and the "interface" scar Old Shi had embedded into the groove!

On Ling Ye's side, it was a pure, warm, pale gold Order light, like the first ray of sunlight at dawn, full of the essence of "definition," "stability," and "guidance."

And on Old Shi's side, it was a chaotic, painful, dark red energy light, as if struggling in mud and flames, mixed with countless black cracks and pale gold light spots—a miscellaneous and unstable energy! That was the final power of the "interface," heavily eroded by contamination but forcefully injected with Origin Order energy by Ling Ye, now forcefully triggered by the resonance of the "Return to Ruins" program!

Two streams of energy, like two completely different rivers—one clear and stable, one turbid and violent—suddenly collided, intertwined, clashed, and merged at the core of the console, between the polyhedral crystal and the dark silver groove!

"Ugh—!!!"

Old Shi was the first to let out an irrepressible, excruciating scream! His body stiffened, and he began to convulse violently! On his right arm, those black cracks that had been barely suppressed by the isolation layer suddenly became thicker and more hideous, like vipers injected with stimulants, crazily spreading toward his shoulder, chest, and even his neck! Waves of thick, purple-black contamination energy, like boiling magma, crazily surged out from the "interface" scar, attempting to flow along the console and reverse-corrode the entire resonance System!

And Ling Ye was having a hard time too! He felt his "the key" mark being violently dragged and torn by a huge, chaotic force filled with endless pain and crazy will! The pure, pale gold Order energy, the moment it came into contact with the miscellaneous, contaminated, and twisted energy surging from Old Shi's side, erupted in a violent annihilation and conflict, like hot oil poured on snow! The massive energy backlash rushed along his arm, fiercely impacting his body and Soul, causing his vision to go black, a sweet taste in his throat, and blood to uncontrollably overflow from the corners of his mouth again!

"Dual Keys" resonance! But because of the damage to the "interface" and the erosion of contamination, this resonance was full of destructive, out-of-control risks from the very beginning!

The entire console began to shake violently! The floating polyhedral crystal's light flashed crazily, flickering on and off! The air in the room seemed to be ignited by this intense energy conflict, filling with a scorching, pungent smell mixed with ozone and blood!

"Hold on! Old Shi!" Ling Ye gritted his teeth, using all his strength, while pressing hard on the crystal to maintain the stable output of "the key" energy, he forced his warm, pale gold Order energy to act as the toughest, most inclusive bond, wrapping, guiding, assimilating, and suppressing the chaotic, miscellaneous energy stream surging from Old Shi's side!

He knew that Old Shi's "interface" was damaged to its limit and could not bear and guide the massive energy flow of the "Return to Ruins" program alone. He had to use his own "the key" energy as a "filter" and "stabilizer" to forcefully "Purification," "comb," and "guide" the contaminated, twisted energy surging from Old Shi's side, incorporating it into the resonance System of the "Return to Ruins" program!

This meant he had to bear, with his own strength, the entire energy load and risk that should have been jointly borne by the complete "Dual Keys"! Moreover, he had to additionally withstand the impact and backlash of the chaotic, contaminated energy caused by the damage to Old Shi's "interface"!

This was an extremely crazy and risky act! If he was even slightly careless, not only would the "Return to Ruins" program fail to activate, but both of them could be instantly torn apart and annihilated by this out-of-control, chaotic energy backlash!

But Ling Ye had no choice. He could only gamble! Gamble that he could hold on! Gamble that Old Shi could hold on! Gamble that this final, damaged "Dual Keys" resonance could complete that final, almost impossible mission!

Time seemed to be infinitely stretched at this moment. Only the silent, yet Soul-tearing roar of energy crazily colliding, annihilating, and Fusion continued to echo in the room.

Ling Ye's face became paler and paler. The blood at the corners of his mouth increased. His right hand, pressed onto the crystal, began to tremble uncontrollably. But the light in his eyes became brighter and more determined! Like a piece of steel thrown into a furnace, repeatedly tempered, about to bloom with its final radiance!

And Old Shi, after that initial burst of intense pain and out-of-control energy, seemed to sense Ling Ye's desperate, inclusive, and guiding will. He stopped struggling in vain, instead using his last remaining consciousness to firmly guard the final clarity in his mind, abandoning all control over the chaotic energy in his body, leaving it entirely to Ling Ye to guide, comb, Purification, and merge into the increasingly powerful, "Dual Keys" resonant, pale gold energy torrent!

"Hum—!!!"

Finally, after what felt like a century of painful energy confrontation and Fusion—

The floating polyhedral crystal suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, blinding, pure, pale gold light, like a miniature sun! The light instantly filled the entire room, even penetrating the damaged dome, illuminating the ominous, dark red sky outside!

Immediately after, the entire console began to emit a low, rumbling sound, as if coming from the depths of the earth! The complex, precise energy patterns on the console, like blood injected with life, lit up one by one, emitting an increasingly intense, pale gold light! The entire damaged, dark silver metal building began to tremble slightly with this roaring sound!

And above the console, over the polyhedral crystal, a huge, complex three-dimensional geometric pattern—composed of countless pale gold energy lines, as if an extremely precise, multi-dimensional spatial coordinate positioning and energy guidance array—slowly condensed, took shape, and rotated!

The "Return to Ruins" program... was successfully activated!

Ling Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. But immediately after, a more massive sense of energy extraction, which almost drained him completely, came from the crystal and the console! The energy required to activate the "Return to Ruins" program was far beyond his imagination! Even with the bonus of the "Dual Keys" resonance, his and Old Shi's already meager strength were being crazily extracted and swallowed, like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

He could feel his vitality and Soul energy being extracted along with that pale gold energy torrent, injected into the huge, forming spatial transmission array!

Old Shi had long since completely lost consciousness, his body leaning softly against the edge of the console; if his right hand hadn't been fixed in the groove, he would have collapsed to the ground long ago. His life aura was weak to the extreme, like a candle in the wind, which could be extinguished at any moment.

But the activation of the "Return to Ruins" program was already irreversible.