58: Chapter 58 The Abyss Isn't Cold Yet, I'll Explode the Weak Point First.

Chen Fan's palm grew sticky, soaked by Su Shuang's cold sweat.

As he held her against the icy stone wall, he could clearly feel the pulse thumping in her neck, weak as a withered leaf that could be swept away by the wind at any moment.

"That stone tablet... isn't the end... it's the key." Su Shuang's fingertips rested lightly on the back of his hand, their trembling strength lighter than spider silk.

The red fox tribe birthmark at the corner of her eye faded to a pale pink, and her already pallid lips were almost transparent. "Chen Fan, they..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

A wind from the abyss suddenly poured into the stone crevice, swirling up the shattered mirror shadows from the ground and clattering against the stone tablet.

From within that cracked fissure, a seeping dark red halo suddenly expanded to the size of a fist, followed by a raspy whisper that rolled out like rusted gears grinding against the eardrums: "You won the trial, but her life—"

"Is still on a countdown."

The moment the last word landed, Chen Fan felt a sharp pain in his ankle.

He looked down and saw a strand of Blood Silk Vine, as thin as a hair, had somehow pierced through his leather boot and was burrowing into his calf.

The barbs on the vine hooked into his flesh, and every inch of its wriggling brought forth beads of blood.

More bizarrely, his vision suddenly blurred—he saw Su Shuang lying on a stone sacrificial altar, a black hole gouged out of her heart, with blood flowing through the stone cracks like a river.

Meanwhile, he himself stood before a throne on high, holding a blood-stained sword, his face devoid of expression.

"Fuck you!" Chen Fan roared, grabbing the vine with his left hand and ripping it out violently.

Just as his fingertips touched the vine's body, a system notification exploded: [Physical attack detected, triggering Defense Critical Hit ×2].

The snapped vine snapped away with a "pop," but the wound on his calf healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming even sturdier than his original skin.

Almost simultaneously, the copper coin at his waist suddenly burst with a piercing red light.

That was his Life Equipment, obtained by using a twenty-fold critical hit on a novice quest; right now, it was humming and vibrating as if responding to some kind of summons.

System notifications followed in quick succession: [Twin Critical Hit · Preparatory Resonance activated, energy fluctuation match with binder Su Shuang at 97%].

Chen Fan's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

He suddenly scooped Su Shuang up, his right fist carrying the sound of the wind as it smashed toward the nearest Mirror Slave fragment.

The floating bronze mirror reflected his distorted face as he gritted his teeth and roared, "I can blow you up a thousand times right now!"

"Bang!"

The moment his fist shattered the mirror surface, a system notification exploded in his mind: [Environmental destruction successful, Experience Points +500].

But before Chen Fan could breathe a sigh of relief, the person in his arms suddenly moved—Su Shuang's fox tail, limp from weakness, unconsciously brushed against the back of his hand. The moment the pale gold fox fur grazed his skin, he heard the system voice again: [Residual energy from Charm skill detected, triggering Critical Hit ×2, energy reverse-conduction in progress].

A 0.8-second blank space.

"Boom!"

The Mirror Slave fragment he had smashed suddenly suffered a secondary explosion, sending shards raining down in all directions like a storm.

Chen Fan instinctively turned his body to protect Su Shuang, only to hear the system notification's ecstasy: [Twin Critical Hit Chain closed for the first time, sharing delay increased to 1.5 seconds!]

Among the splashing mirror shards, several reflected the future.

Chen Fan saw the snow-capped mountains of the North, saw the spire of the Starlight Tower piercing the clouds, and saw himself kneeling on one knee in the snow, his palm cradling a throbbing, Deep Blue Heart Core.

And Su Shuang stood opposite him, her figure like mist scattered by the wind, disappearing inch by inch into the wind and snow.

"No." A raspy whimper escaped his throat.

"Don't look." Su Shuang's fingertips gently pressed against his eyelids.

She had woken up somewhat at some point, the red birthmark at the corner of her eye regaining a faint blood-color. "That is not destiny... In my tribe's secret arts, there is a technique called 'Reverse Burn'." She coughed twice, blood splatter hitting his collar. "Using external force to ignite one's origin can forcibly sustain the life thread... for example—" She raised a finger to point at the copper coin at his waist, "your critical hits."

Chen Fan silently took out the copper coin and tucked it into her palm.

The red light of the copper coin immediately burrowed into her skin along her blood vessels, projecting a fox-shaped light pattern on her wrist.

He sat down cross-legged and pressed their joined hands against his heart: "All my critical hits, I give to you."

Energy flowed slowly through the Twin Link.

Su Shuang's fox ears gradually took on a pearl-like luster, and her originally weak pulse began to throb powerfully.

But those Blood Silk Vines that should have withered suddenly grew crazily, their blue-black vines wrapping around their arms like countless venomous snakes burrowing into their flesh.

A system alarm suddenly blared: [Illegal energy cycle detected, starting Backlash Countdown: 10 minutes]

Cold sweat broke out on Chen Fan's forehead.

He could feel those vines sucking his energy, but what chilled his heart even more was that among the shattered Mirror Slave fragments, the last piece suddenly reflected a clear image—the 'heart core' he held in the vision was exactly the same as the main control core atop the Starlight Tower thousands of miles away.

"You think this is saving her?" The residual core of the heart nightmare suddenly popped out from a stone crack, its black-red light orb vibrating violently. "You are feeding 'Destiny'! When her origin is burned out, the Starlight Tower will take your soul along with her!"

Chen Fan's movements paused.

He looked down at Su Shuang; her eyes were closed, tears hung on her eyelashes, yet she was still smiling: "Reverse Burn... was originally a technique that trades one life for another."

On an altar thousands of miles away, Shadow Crow tossed a secret order into a brazier.

The firelight reflected in his cold eyes as he listened to the report in his headset: "Target has entered the Reverse Burn process." The corners of his mouth curled. "Initiate synchronous harvest."

The temperature at the bottom of the abyss suddenly began to rise.

Chen Fan felt Su Shuang in his arms growing hot. Strands of blue-white flame emerged from the tip of her fox tail, looking exactly like the "Reverse Burn Fire" that only appeared in the legends of the fox tribe when the origin was burning.

When the countdown skipped to the fifth minute, Su Shuang suddenly opened her eyes.

Her pupils glowed with an eerie purple, yet she smiled just like she did when they first met in the Teahouse, handing him a cup of tea: "Chen Fan, do you think... after I finish burning this fire, I'll still be able to drink the Brown Sugar Ginger Tea you brew?"

Chen Fan's Adam's apple bobbed.

He gripped her hand tightly, feeling that ball of blue-white flame burrowing into his blood vessels through his skin.

The wind of the abyss swirled with shattered mirror shadows over their heads, while the dark red halo in the stone crevice had, at some point, spread into a pool of blood.