236: The true face of the mother nest, whispers of nothingness that bewitch the heart.

"Load the 'Jingzhe Arrow'!"

"Target, the crystal scorpion on the right!"

"Fire!"

Lin Zhou's cold voice was like the iron law of the battlefield, without the slightest hesitation. At this moment, the opportunity was fleeting.

The first Energy-Devouring Crystal Scorpion crashing to the ground didn't just tear a hole for the assault team; more importantly, its core—completely incinerated by Dragon Breath and shattered by pollution—produced intense energy fluctuations and a spiritual "death wail." This caused a brief but real shock to the remaining two crystal scorpions and the entire Parasitic Beast swarm within the basin, all controlled by the unified will of the Broodmother.

The Broodmother's will-link network seemed to suffer a momentary disturbance and lag. The movements of the remaining two crystal scorpions were noticeably half a beat slower than before, and the energy deflection fields flowing over their bodies fluctuated unsteadily. The momentum of the tide-like ordinary Parasitic Beasts also slowed, with some even showing signs of confusion, spinning in place or colliding with each other.

This was the precious window of opportunity, likely lasting only a dozen seconds!

"Whoosh—! Whoosh—!"

The two Spell-Breaking Ballistae roared again! After the previous round of firing, the temporary enhancement runes on the Ballista bodies had dimmed slightly, and fine cracks appeared on the bases, yet they still faithfully executed the command. The two dwarf Ballista operators' eyes were wide, veins bulging on their foreheads, as they focused all their concentration on aiming and firing.

The two newly loaded "Jingzhe Arrows" trailed a fainter green glow than before (continuous production and use also depleted the energy circuits of the arrows themselves), yet they still precisely seized the brief, rigid opening exposed by the right-side crystal scorpion due to its companion's death!

This time, their targets were even more tricky—one shot at the fragile ring joint where the scorpion's head met its chest plate, a seemingly solid but actually nerve-concentrated area; the other aimed at the root joint of a hind limb that supported the body's center of gravity!

"Thud! Thud!"

Two more dull impact sounds. Pale blue law-interference halos bloomed instantly on the key parts of this crystal scorpion like brands of death!

"Hiss—!" The right-side crystal scorpion let out a pained shriek, its massive body twitching violently. The interference at the head connection caused a sharp decline in its reception of the Broodmother's commands and its own coordination; the interference at the hind limb joint caused it to lose balance instantly, its body stumbling and nearly flipping over!

"Wang Meng! Zhao Hao! Now! Focus fire! Kill it quickly!" Lin Zhou's command was like a torrential rain.

"Behemoths! Charge! Smash its legs!" Wang Meng, unable to hold back any longer, roared the Order to his Behemoths. Twenty Behemoth Giant Beasts, taking advantage of the brief lull in the Parasitic Beast tide's assault, erupted with savage roars. Like a brown torrent of steel, they slammed hard into the staggering crystal scorpion! Their giant claws, fangs, and even their entire bodies turned into the most primitive weapons of destruction, frantically attacking the crystal scorpion's carapace and limbs, which had temporarily lost their energy-absorption protection and had their structures interfered with!

"Crack! Crack!" The dense sounds of grinding carapace and snapping bones rang out. Without the energy absorption and deflection fields, the crystal scorpion's proud carapace became quite fragile before the pure and violent physical strength of the Behemoths.

Meanwhile, the dragons in the sky showed their power once again!

"All dragons! Free attack! Take it down!" Zhao Hao's command was concise and fierce. He no longer sought a unified Dragon Breath volley but instead fully utilized the unique characteristics of each dragon. Two Blue Dragons dived down, breathing highly condensed frost breath onto the relatively soft abdominal connection membrane exposed by the scorpion's imbalance, attempting to freeze and embrittle it. The other two Red Dragons circled slightly higher, spotting the cracks and openings caused by the Behemoths' attacks and precisely breathing small streams of high-temperature, high-pressure fire into them to burn and detonate from the inside!

Raging Flame endured the pain in its wings and took to the sky again. It didn't breathe Dragon Breath (the consumption was too high and it was in poor condition); instead, relying on its remaining dragon might and ferocity, it dived directly down, using its still-functional right claw to savagely tear at the crystal scorpion's head connection, which was shrouded in the interference halo!

"Rip—!"

The dragon claws embedded deep into the gaps of the carapace and then suddenly tore outward! Large chunks of shattered carapace, along with nerve bundles and viscous tissue, were forcibly ripped away! The crystal scorpion let out an unprecedentedly shrill scream, and the intensity of its struggling suddenly weakened.

In less than ten seconds, under the frontal assault of the Behemoths and the precise strikes of the dragons, the second crystal scorpion followed in the footsteps of the first, crashing onto the fungal carpet as its life aura rapidly dissipated. Its massive body crushed many ordinary Parasitic Beasts that couldn't dodge in time.

Two out of three down!

The pressure was greatly reduced!

"Well done!" Wang Meng panted, watching the second crystal scorpion fall, and pumped his fist hard. His Behemoths were also covered in wounds, but their morale was higher than ever.

"One left! Let's finish this in one go!" Zhao Hao licked his dry lips, the fierce light in his eyes undiminished. His dragons were also in poor condition, but the stimulus of victory being in sight made them temporarily ignore their fatigue and injuries.

The last crystal scorpion, located in the middle and also the largest with the deepest carapace luster, seemed to sense its end approaching. It no longer tried to intercept or attack actively; instead, it began to retreat slowly, its three crystallized tail whips held high like shields in front and to its sides. Its massive body crouched low, adopting a fully defensive posture. At the same time, the energy deflection field on its body was pushed to the limit, and it even began to actively absorb the free-floating polluted energy in the environment and the energy dissipating from its dead companions, attempting to build a final barrier.

But its retreat happened to open up the last relatively "clean" path to the pulsating tumor in the center of the basin—the Broodmother's main body!

Lin Zhou's gaze had already bypassed this last cornered crystal scorpion and locked onto that nauseating purple-black tumor. He could clearly feel that with the death of the two guardian crystal scorpions, the Broodmother's pulsation frequency hadn't slowed down but had instead accelerated to a nearly frantic degree! A deeper, more chaotic, and even heart-palpitating "nothingness" will was rapidly awakening and condensing deep within the Broodmother!

"No time to tangle with it!" Lin Zhou made a prompt decision. "Wang Meng, Zhao Hao! Lead the main force and tie down this last crystal scorpion and the surrounding Parasitic Beast swarm! Don't aim for a quick kill; just pin them down and don't let them interfere with me!"

"Li Mo! Can the ballistae still be used?"

"The cracks in the base are expanding. They can withstand at most one more 'Jingzhe Arrow' launch, after which they will likely be destroyed!" Li Mo's voice came through the link, carrying a hint of regret.

"Once is enough!" Lin Zhou's eyes were cold. "Immediately load the last 'Jingzhe Arrow'! Target—the Broodmother's core area! I'm going to give it a heavy blow first to disrupt its 'production' and 'awakening' rhythm!"

"Understood! Ballista operators, prepare!" Gongsun Li immediately executed the Order.

"Lin Zhou, you're going to charge over there alone?!" Zhao Hao was startled.

"Don't worry, I'm prepared." Lin Zhou took a deep breath, and the Divine Power around him began to surge with unprecedented intensity. The Fire of Civilization burned fiercely in his Godhead core, and the phantom of the river of civilization flickered behind him, with the sound of flowing water seemingly mixed with the whispers and chanting of countless ancient sages. The Net of Law above his head shone brightly, forcibly expanding the Domain outward by another twenty meters, pushing back the filthy aura on the path to the Broodmother.

"Xuan Zhenzi, Gongsun Li, Great Master Grum, follow me and form an assault formation! Wenxin Elf Priest group, maintain the purification Domain with all your strength and follow the advance!"

"By your command!" everyone responded in unison.

The last "Jingzhe Arrow" was loaded into the slightly vibrating Ballista base. The Ballista operator held his breath, aiming at the huge, frantically pulsating tumor hundreds of meters away. It was difficult to precisely hit its "core," but with the Broodmother's massive size, as long as the arrow hit its main body, the interference field could cover a significant portion of the area.

"Fire!"

"Whoosh—!"

The last arrow, carrying the wisdom of the Mohists and the hope of the front line, shot through the air, heading straight for the Broodmother!

However, just as the arrow was about to hit the viscous, blood-vessel-like membrane on the Broodmother's surface—

A sudden change occurred!

On the Broodmother's surface, the frantically pulsating tumor suddenly contracted. Immediately after, dozens of thick, purple-black tentacles that were originally crawling slowly suddenly shot up from around the tumor's base as if stimulated by something fatal! These tentacles were incredibly fast, their surfaces covered in slippery mucus and sharp bone spurs. They didn't go to intercept the arrow but instead waved and lashed out frantically, forming a chaotic zone filled with kinetic energy barriers in front of the Broodmother!

Although the "Jingzhe Arrow" was equipped with guidance runes, under such dense, high-speed, and irregular physical interception, it was eventually grazed on the side by a tentacle lashing across!

"Snap!"

The arrow shaft snapped! Although the arrowhead successfully detonated, releasing a pale blue law-interference halo, the explosion point was still more than ten meters away from the Broodmother's main body! The halo only enveloped a few of the outermost tentacles and part of the meat membrane.

The waving speed of the few tentacles enveloped by the halo slowed down noticeably, and the mucus secretion on their surfaces also became abnormal. In the covered meat membrane area, the pulsation also showed a momentary lack of coordination.

Effective! But the effect was greatly reduced! It failed to hit the core directly, so the depth and range of the interference were severely insufficient.

"Roar—!!!"

The Broodmother seemed to be completely enraged by this "tickling" attack (or rather, its "awakening" process was accelerated), letting out a low, murky, yet highly penetrating roar! This roar wasn't a physical sound wave but a spiritual scream that acted directly on the Soul level, mixed with endless chaos, pain, and... a certain heart-chilling sense of "nihility"!

The air in the entire basin seemed to freeze for a moment. All Parasitic Beasts, including the last crystal scorpion, stopped their movements as if a pause button had been pressed. They all faced the direction of the Broodmother, crouching slightly, as if in worship or in fear.

Then, a visible gray-black energy fluctuation suddenly spread out from the Broodmother as the center, like a ripple!

This fluctuation swept across the battlefield.

In the eyes of Wang Meng's Behemoth Giant Beasts, a trace of imperceptible confusion and ferocity instantly crept in. Their desire to attack seemed to increase, but their targets became confused; some even let out threatening low growls at the dwarves beside them.

Zhao Hao's dragons, including Raging Flame, growled restlessly; their Dragon Might became unstable, as if something was stirring their emotions and instincts.

Beside Lin Zhou, the Wenxin Elf Priests' chanting came to an abrupt halt. Their faces turned pale instantly, cold sweat broke out on their foreheads, and the purification Domain they maintained shook violently. The old Daoist Xuan Zhenzi groaned, and the clear light on his horsetail whisk dimmed. Gongsun Li gripped the Dharma Ruler at her waist until her knuckles turned white. Even the Tiangong Dwarf Masters showed expressions of pain and clutched their heads.

Lin Zhou bore the brunt of it!

The grayish-black mental fluctuation, like an icy tide, instantly submerged the Net of Law Domain he had spread out. The Domain's golden light flickered violently, and its range was forcibly compressed back to three meters around him! An indescribable "whisper" that acted directly upon the depths of his Divine Soul began to echo in his consciousness, attempting to seep into the gaps of his thoughts, dismantle his will, and distort his perception.

The whisper was not a clear language, but a jumble of countless shattered thoughts, desperate roars, and cold proclamations. Yet, its core intent eerily manifested as a kind of "ordered chaos," constantly repeating and reinforcing a certain theme:

"...Flesh is weak... Order is vanity..."

"...Struggle is futile... All eventually return to annihilation..."

"...Life... error... purification... return to nothingness..."

"...Do you see... this corruption... this depravity... this is the truth..."

"...Join... embrace... eternal tranquility... no pain, no suffering... no sorrow, no joy..."

"...All meaning... is illusory... resistance... is meaningless..."

"...Reset... restart... only nihility... lasts forever..."

Cold. Hollow. Denying everything. Dissolving everything. It belittled life, civilization, emotion, effort, and even existence itself as meaningless "errors" and "noise," enshrining "nihility" as the only "truth" and "destination."

This wasn't simple chaos or evil; it was a deeper nihilistic erosion with a twisted "philosophical" undertone! It was attempting to fundamentally shake Lin Zhou's Dao Foundation as a bearer and spreader of "civilization"! It tried to make him doubt the meaning of his actions, make him abandon resistance, and make him accept the "truth" that "everything will eventually return to nothingness"!

"Hmph!" Lin Zhou groaned, his body swaying as his face instantly turned bloodless. At the core of his Godhead, the Fire of Civilization seemed to be buffeted by a violent gale, its flames flickering wildly! The phantom of the river of civilization, woven from the Hundred Schools of Thought, also showed ripples, and there were even faint signs of it flowing backward!

The mental attack's intensity was extremely high! It carried a strong "conceptual pollution" attribute! The target was aimed directly at a deity's "meaning of existence" and "core of their path"!

"Lin Zhou!" "Brother Lin!" The anxious shouts of Zhao Hao and Wang Meng came through, but they were also affected by the whispers, their minds in turmoil, making it difficult for them to command their subordinates.

"Hold steady!" Lin Zhou gritted his teeth, forcing the words out. He snapped his eyes shut, plunging all his thoughts into his Godhead, into the Fire of Civilization that represented his very Foundation!

"Absurd!"

An angry shout, not spoken aloud but exploding in the depths of his Divine Soul! It carried the resonant voices of the sages of the Hundred Schools, the unyielding will of civilization's Legacy, and the vision and pride of a transmigrator who had seen through the long river of history!

"How can life be an error? How can civilization be a vanity?!"

"Drilling wood to make fire was not vanity; it was for survival!"

"Cangjie creating characters was not vanity; it was for Legacy!"

"Great Yu controlling the floods was not vanity; it was for peace!"

"Confucius's travels were not vanity; it was for enlightenment!"

"The contention of the Hundred Schools of Thought was not vanity; it was for seeking the Dao!"

"Flesh may be fleeting, but the spirit can be immortal! Order may have flaws, but it leads us forward! Existence itself is the meaning! The process of struggle is the value!"

"This 'nihility' of yours that denies and dissolves everything is the greatest vanity! It is the excuse of a coward, the wail of a loser, and the poison of self-consolation for the corrupt!"

"My Huaxia civilization has continued without end, passing the torch from generation to generation, rising again and again through hardships. It never relied on believing in 'returning to nihility,' but on the firm belief that 'man can conquer nature,' 'self-improvement without ceasing,' and 'to establish the heart of heaven and earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, and to create peace for all future generations'!"

"Get—the hell out!!!"

"Boom—!!!"

It was as if a clap of thunder exploded in the depths of his Soul! The Fire of Civilization in Lin Zhou's Godhead was not extinguished by the whispers of nihility; instead, in the extreme confrontation and questioning, it burned even more purely and intensely! The color of the flame shifted from pale gold to pure white, and the temperature soared! Within the flames, phantoms of bamboo slips, scrolls, swords, plowshares, compasses and squares, stars... all sorts of creations of civilization vaguely appeared!

The phantom of the river of civilization surrounding him also suddenly became thirty percent more solid! The sound of the rushing river grew louder, and the images within it became clearer: no longer just the vague silhouettes of ancient sages, but specific historical scenes—the courage of the Battle of Banquan, the solemnity of Duke Zhou's establishment of rites, the free-spiritedness of Laozi passing the frontier, the urgency of Mozi stopping Chu from attacking Song... each scene, each moment, was proof of civilization struggling, fighting, and shining in the face of adversity!

"Fire of Civilization, burn away all vanity!"

"The river flows on, washing away evil thoughts!"

Lin Zhou snapped his eyes open. His eyes were no longer deep black but burned with the pure white Fire of Civilization! The golden light (Divine Power shield) and white light (manifestation of the Fire of Civilization) around him intertwined and suddenly expanded outward!

"Chiii—!"

When the encroaching grayish-black nihility fluctuations and the pervasive icy whispers touched the pure white Fire of Civilization and the much more solid phantom of the river of civilization, they actually made the sound of being scorched and evaporated, like snow meeting a blazing sun! They quickly melted and retreated!

With Lin Zhou as the center, a "Civilization Pure Land" with a radius of about ten meters, filled with warmth, Order, and a vibrant aura, was forcibly carved out in the core area of the Filthy Basin!

Within the Pure Land, the Xuan Zhenzi, Gongsun Li, the Literary Heart Elves, and the Dwarf Masters suddenly felt their minds clear. The despairing whispers and the sensation of cold quickly receded. Although they were still shaken, their sanity had returned to clarity.

"My Lord!" Everyone looked at Lin Zhou's back, their eyes filled with shock and deeper awe. They could feel that in that moment, what erupted from Lin Zhou was not just power, but the power of an indestructible "path" and "conviction"!

Lin Zhou did not look back. His gaze pierced through the defensive posture of the last crystal scorpion, through the frantically waving tentacles on the periphery of the Broodmother, and locked onto the "depths" of that purple-black tumor.

Under the illumination of the Fire of Civilization, in the interval where the whispers of nihility were temporarily pushed back, he "saw" clearly.

That Broodmother was not a simple, mindless biomass aggregate driven by instinct.

Beneath its squirming membrane covered in mucus and blood vessels, in the depths of that purple-black, pulsating flesh, there were actually nested and fused a large number of twisted, rusted, yet still recognizably precise metal parts, energy conduits, and flickering (mostly damaged) rune plates!

Those were... traces of technological creations! And the style... was definitely not that of any currently known human or mainstream alien civilization; it was more ancient, rugged, and carried a cold, inhuman sense of doing whatever it took to achieve a goal.

Flesh and machine coexisted in an extremely bizarre and painful way. The mechanical parts seemed to provide the flesh with extra energy, control nodes, and some kind of "conceptual amplification," while the flesh encased and nourished (or rather, corroded) the machinery, providing it with biological activity and... painful mental power as an energy source?

And in the coremost region of the Broodmother, the perception of the Fire of Civilization vaguely captured that it was not pure flesh or machinery, but a... bound, polluted, yet still faintly glowing "Soul collective"? Countless fragments of painful, desperate, and numb consciousness were forcibly blended together, serving as the "central processor" and "energy source" driving the entire Broodmother!

What made Lin Zhou's pupils shrink even more was that in the depths of that core, at the intersection of machine and flesh, he "saw" a blurry phantom of a mark whose aura instantly made his hair stand on end—

It was a symbol composed of simple lines, like a "void" where everything had been erased, or a "reset" sign. The lines were distorted, emitting a sense of "emptiness" and "termination" that shared the same source as the earlier whispers of nihility but was more primal and terrifying!

Lin Zhou had seen image descriptions of this mark in the forbidden archives of Xinghai University, heard its name mentioned by the principal when referring to the "Human Race Crisis," and felt a trace of its imperceptible aura while clearing out Broodmother remnants before... the Void Sect!

This Broodmother was indeed related to that extremist terrorist organization that worshiped "all things returning to nihility" and sought to drive the heat death and restart of the Universe! Moreover, this wasn't just a simple "creation" or "infection" of theirs; this was fundamentally some kind of testing ground or outpost! By twisting and fusing flesh-and-blood life, mechanical technology, and even Soul power in the most cruel way, their ultimate goal might be to validate their "all things return to nihility" doctrine or to cultivate some kind of... weapon that carried the concept of "nihility"?

"No wonder... there are highly specialized defensive units like the 'Energy-Devouring Crystal Scorpion'... no wonder its whispers carry such strong conceptual pollution..." Lin Zhou suddenly understood, and at the same time, alarm bells rang in his mind. This was no longer just a simple clearing mission! Behind this lay a terrifying force capable of threatening the very Foundation of the Human Race's civilization!

It must be destroyed! Everything here, including the aura of that mark, must be completely purified with the Fire of Civilization! Otherwise, the consequences will be endless!

"Wang Meng! Zhao Hao!" Lin Zhou's voice rang out through the mental link, resolute and unquestionable. "That last crystal scorpion is yours! At any cost, within five minutes, deal with it, or at least make sure it can't interfere with me!"

"I'm going to personally burn that disgusting thing to a crisp, from the inside out!"

His gaze turned back to the Broodmother, the pure white Fire of Civilization burning fiercely in his eyes.