198: Star core

Nausea, headache, dizziness... Whenever Yang Dian felt his body approaching its limit, a trace of red plum energy would overflow from his heart, repairing his precarious nervous System.

One step, two steps... A thousand li, ten thousand li... Yang Dian, his entire body enveloped in a scorching white radiation light, no longer knew how long or how deep he had gone into the passage.

He only knew that the Qi and blood power stored in his body had been depleted by nearly half.

Facing the still bottomless radiation mine, Yang Dian could only choose to abandon the defense of his skin and hair, using the tougher, blood-colored membrane beneath his skin to resist the erosion of the radiation light.

As for Dudu?

With his energy severely depleted, Dudu, shrunken to the size of a baby's fist, was literally held in his mouth.

'Should I give up and come back after I've gotten stronger?'

The thought had just arisen when it was shattered by Yang Dian's firm, unwavering step.

"Since I've already come..."

Yang Dian murmured, then charged forward again.

Unless he ran out of ammunition and food, and his Qi and blood were exhausted.

Otherwise, he was truly going to contend with this radiation mine!

He had to see what was inside the mine!

..."Click~"

After an unknown amount of time.

With a soft click, a crack appeared on the spatial bracelet on Yang Dian's wrist, which was crafted from spatial raw ore.

The crack continuously branched and spread, eventually disintegrating the spatial bracelet into fragments.

Numerous items fell out from the sub-Dimension space, landing around Yang Dian.

The mechanically advancing Yang Dian was brought back to his senses by the clanging sounds.

He stopped and turned around.

Glancing at the pots, bowls, pressure cooker, python meat, clear water, and large steamed buns that had fallen from the sub-Dimension space behind him... Yang Dian hooked his hand, picked up the only three remaining peculiar items, held them in his palm, then turned back and continued to step deeper into the passage.

He was reaching his limit.

The red plum energy stored in his heart, used for healing, had been completely exhausted.

The few red plums he had brought from home had also fallen into his stomach not long ago.

The tough-as-iron membrane beneath his skin had long been corroded through, revealing the clearly defined, crimson flesh beneath.

His entire body's Qi and blood were almost completely gone, and his Soul felt as if it were being scorched by a raging fire.

Running out of ammunition and food—that described Yang Dian's current state.

'Am I to stop here?'

He took a step, somewhat unwillingly.

He exhaled a breath of stale air that smelled of rust.

He looked down and opened his palms.

His fingernails had long since fallen off, and the flesh of his hands was badly decayed.

In several corroded flesh cavities, one could still see blue blood vessels clinging to white finger bones, pulsing with the beat of his heart.

Shaking his head to clear away the hesitation in his heart and the decaying flesh on his earlobes, Yang Dian crouched down again and charged towards the unknown ahead.

If he still had strength, why not fight for it?

As Yang Dian lifted his foot to step and soared into the air.

The unknown creature's egg, which had been attached to his heart and remained motionless, suddenly trembled.

Then, a black light projected from it, landing in front of Yang Dian and transforming into a pitch-black, oval-shaped mirror.

Yang Dian's eyes narrowed, but he ultimately decided to trust his intuition and plunged into the mirror without hesitation.

His vision shifted.

In an instant, from extreme scorching white to the pitch black of polar day.

As his eyes were momentarily dazed by the sudden change in his surroundings, that peculiar sensation of entering a spatial node resurfaced in Yang Dian's mind.

Neither touching the sky nor the ground, it was as if he had entered water, rising and falling with the waves.

'So, this is a sub-space within the sub-Dimension space?'

He shook his head slightly, adapting to the dark space, confirmed that the 'mother earth' was still watching him and that he could leave this area at any time, then Yang Dian scanned his surroundings again.

Then, he was drawn to the only light source in this dark space.

What kind of light was that ~

Dazzling, magnificent, soft, strange... At this moment, Yang Dian could only use the seemingly ordinary but absolutely fitting word 'perfect' to describe it.

Misty vapor surged around the core of the golden light.

Countless beautiful light threads spiraled around the light's core.

Indigo and crimson intertwined into a nebula-like vortex.

Golden flowing fire burned at the edges, creating threads that seemed like destiny.

Countless golden, blue, and silver-colored starbursts dotted the surroundings, as if to set it off as the unique center of the world.

No, it was the center!

With just one glance, Yang Dian ignored his injuries and became engrossed in it.

He didn't know why, but from the moment he saw that golden core, two words naturally appeared in Yang Dian's mind.

"Star Core?"

A low and hoarse voice squeezed out from Yang Dian's throat, reverberating through this seemingly never-before-trodden space via a cavity in his cheek corroded by radiation.

The hoarse voice startled the Star Core, causing ripples to spread around it.

It also awakened Yang Dian, who had been engrossed in the Star Core's beauty.

The stinging sensation that permeated his entire body swept over him again, causing Yang Dian, whose mind had relaxed, to let out a muffled groan.

Dudu, now smaller than a baby's fist, squeezed out from the cavity in Yang Dian's cheek, spread its canopy, and covered his face, concealing the teeth and gums beneath the cavity, letting out a "Dudu~" cry.

It was as if he was saying that his facial wound was healed and no longer hurt.

Touching Dudu, who had shrunk by an unknown number of times, Yang Dian's mind stirred, and he drew upon the last remaining red plum energy from his heart.

His nearly collapsed nerves were reconnected, and the excess healing energy circulated throughout his body, repairing Yang Dian's injuries as much as possible.

A moment later, the red plum energy was completely exhausted.

Yang Dian, still appearing ragged all over, swayed his body and 'glided' towards the Star Core.

As the Star Core gradually grew larger in his vision, Yang Dian gradually came to his senses.

Before, in the Dimension Crystal Mine, his mental state was somewhat off.

'I was a bit too manic.'

'It seems my mental state was affected by the radiation energy.'

'Now, looking back and thinking carefully, I can see that the intensity of the radiation energy in that last stretch of road hadn't changed for a long time.'

'I had been in a state of 'going in circles'...'

As he pondered, Yang Dian had already arrived at the golden starbursts that flickered like fireflies, encircling the Star Core.

Then, Yang Dian subconsciously reached out and touched one of the larger starbursts.

The world suddenly stood still for a moment, then split into two halves.

One half belonged to the Star Core.

The starbursts, light threads, and mist that had been quietly circling the Star Core seemed startled, all rolled back and merged into the Star Core.

The other half belonged to Yang Dian, and the starburst on his fingertip.

The starburst touched by Yang Dian remained still for a moment, then transformed into a misty vapor, enveloping Yang Dian's entire body.

Flesh proliferated under the golden mist, granulation tissue grew at a visible rate, and his injuries began to heal rapidly.

After a few breaths, Yang Dian's radiation-corroded injuries were fully recovered, and hair regrew on his bald head.

Dudu joyfully crawled back onto Yang Dian's head.

Nourished by the golden mist, its body also began to swell and grow.

In just a few breaths, its size surpassed its original, growing to the size of a washbasin...