71: Chapter 71 Under the Furnace of Fate, I Settle the Accounts

The residual shockwaves of the earth fire were still raging through the tunnel, the scorching air currents mixed with a pungent smell of sulfur, smothering the entire stone staircase passage like purgatory.

Gravel and mud chunks rained down from above, and every tremor sounded like this dead marsh was emitting a painful groan.

Chen Fan's [Environmental Resonance Critical Hit] power far exceeded expectations. Although it temporarily cleared out those disgusting 'Data Worms,' it also completely destroyed the structural stability of the area.

"Hurry up! This place is going to collapse!" The voice of the Tombstone Guardian statue was no longer a hollow echo, but carried a trace of anxiety. A cyan light flickered violently in his eyes, illuminating the constantly twisting and collapsing darkness ahead.

Chen Fan didn't hesitate for a moment, sweeping Su Shuang up by her waist.

Where he touched, he felt the stiffness of her body and a slight tremor. He turned his head to look, only to realize Su Shuang's face was pale as paper, cold sweat soaking the stray hairs on her forehead. The spot on her shoulder blade hit by the 'Life Lock Musket' had the deep blue combat uniform stained a shocking dark red, and blood was slowly dripping down her arm, instantly evaporating into a mist of blood with a sizzling sound on the scorching ground.

"How are you?" Chen Fan's voice was deep and powerful. His left hand instinctively tightened, using his own body to shield her from the majority of the falling debris.

"I'm fine..." Su Shuang bit her lower lip and stubbornly shook her head, but her uncontrollable gasps betrayed her.

The attack from the Life Lock Musket was not just physical damage; it carried a strange power that eroded the soul, currently piercing through her body like countless icy needles.

Chen Fan's brows furrowed. Without wasting more words, he tore off a relatively clean piece of cloth from the hem of his robe and quickly wrapped it around her wound, the action rough but effective.

He could clearly feel Su Shuang's body tremble violently the moment the cloth touched the wound.

"Keep close to me!" he roared, his gaze sharp as lightning as he scanned the increasingly dangerous passage ahead.

"Foolish struggle." A cold sneer suddenly rang out amidst the chaos.

The two Calamity Appointers who had been knocked unconscious by Chen Fan's thrown gravel had actually staggered to their feet.

They were bloody and utterly disheveled, but the killing intent in their eyes had only increased.

One of them wiped the blood from his face and grinned menacingly, "The power of the Administration Bureau is not something you 'abnormal data' can contend with? Once the Life Erosion Program starts, everything here will be formatted. You, along with this broken furnace, will all turn into the purest energy and return to the system."

The other Calamity Appointer raised the Life Lock Musket in his hand, but this time, the muzzle was aimed not at Chen Fan or Su Shuang, but at the stone wall beside them!

"Boom!"

A purple beam fiercely struck the stone wall. It didn't cause massive destruction, but it was like a pebble dropped into a calm lake, stirring up bizarre ripples.

The ancient Fox Clan writings and murals on the stone wall seemed to come alive, beginning to twist and melt, transforming into streams of chaotic golden data flow, forcefully extracted by the purple light.

"They are draining the residual Azure Hill spiritual essence from the ley line!" Jade Spirit's shriek exploded in Chen Fan's mind. "This is undermining the foundation! The life furnace's energy originates from the ley line; they are cutting off its roots!"

As the spiritual essence was drawn away, the collapse speed of the entire tunnel suddenly accelerated.

Deep, bottomless fissures split the ground, and magma erupted like a bursting flood, turning the narrow passage into a veritable dead end.

"This way!" The Tombstone Guardian statue roared. His body, composed of rock, began to turn ethereal, transforming into a cyan streak of light and shadow, shooting toward a relatively intact stone wall on one side. "The ley line has been contaminated by the Life Erosion Program and is undergoing self-destruction! Only by following me can you find the last path to the core!"

Chen Fan made a decisive move, pulling Su Shuang closely behind him.

Behind them came the frantic firing and wild laughter of the two Calamity Appointers, followed by the roar of the tunnel completely collapsing.

The road ahead grew increasingly perilous. The stone steps underfoot had long vanished, replaced by floating stones faintly visible in the magma flow.

Every step required absolute precision; the slightest error meant eternal damnation.

Suddenly, the red text in Chen Fan's mind flashed again: [Critical Hit Judgment: Threat Level Up, Effective in 0.3 seconds].

Almost by instinct, he violently shoved Su Shuang toward the stone wall on the side, while he himself rolled in the opposite direction.

Right where they had been standing, a monster shaped like a mantis, entirely crystal clear, burst forth from the magma!

It was not flesh and blood, but composed of countless compressed data runes, and its two forelimbs were blades flashing with blue electric arcs.

"Data Sentry!" Jade Spirit's voice was laced with terror. "The Administration Bureau's 'Scavenger' program—they erase all abnormal data points—we are abnormal!"

The Data Sentry's attack missed. Its six compound eyes instantly locked onto Chen Fan, emitting a piercing electronic noise, and it lunged forward like a blue afterimage.

Its speed far surpassed that of the previous Calamity Appointers!

Chen Fan's eyes narrowed; instead of retreating, he advanced.

He didn't choose a head-on clash. Instead, the moment the Sentry lunged, he violently punched a nearby massive floating rock with his right fist.

[Overt Manifestation Critical Hit × 1]!

This punch wasn't meant to shatter the rock, but to borrow force!

The giant rock was forced to change direction by his punch, colliding precisely with the Data Sentry's flank.

The Sentry's intelligent program clearly hadn't anticipated this move; it staggered, exposing a flaw.

Now was the time!

Chen Fan used the tip of his foot to gain leverage off another floating stone, his body shooting out like a cannonball. Golden light was contained within his right fist, and a terrifying power was compressing wildly inside it.

[Concealed Critical Hit × 5]!

This punch landed squarely on the Data Sentry's core rune.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a crisp 'crack.'

The fierce Sentry's blue light flickered momentarily, then it shattered inch by inch like broken glass, dissolving into a sky full of useless data streams, vanishing into the scorching air.

However, the crisis was not over.

Behind them, more blue light spots emerged from the magma—they were groups of Data Sentries!

And farther away, the two Calamity Appointers had caught up, the purple light of the Life Lock Muskets appearing especially deadly in the darkness.

"No time!" The Tombstone Guardian's voice was urgent as thunder. "We must activate the final barrier immediately!"

His light-and-shadow form stopped before a seemingly ordinary rock wall.

This wall looked no different from the rest, except it bore no Fox Clan writings; it was bare, like a stele without an inscription.

"This is it!" the Tombstone Guardian shouted. "The core hall of the life furnace is right behind this 'Wall of Sighs'!"

Chen Fan rushed over while supporting Su Shuang. He could feel the copper coin in his embrace growing hotter, and the faint heartbeat sound becoming clearer and stronger, as if resonating with some presence ahead.

"How do we open it?" Chen Fan asked, vigilantly watching the enemies pursuing them from behind.

"Dual Blood Activation, Life Soul Conflagration!" The Tombstone Guardian spoke solemnly. "The pure blood of the Fox Clan is the key. The Life Soul of the token holder is the fire that ignites the key!"

Su Shuang understood.

She endured the intense pain in her shoulder, raised her uninjured left hand, and without hesitation, used her fox claw to slice open her fingertip, pressing a drop of blood, tinged with a faint golden sheen, onto the cold stone wall.

The moment the blood touched the stone wall, the entire 'Wall of Sighs' emitted a long sigh, as if coming from the ancient past.

Golden lines spread rapidly outward from her fingertip, outlining a massive and complex fox head totem.

But the totem's light flickered uncertainly; clearly, the energy was insufficient.

"It's your turn, Conflagrator!" The Tombstone Guardian looked at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan took a deep breath, pulled out the scalding copper coin, gripped it tightly in his palm, and then placed his hand over Su Shuang's hand resting on the wall.

The instant his palm made contact with the stone wall, an ineffable sensation coursed through his entire body.

He seemed to see a lonely old man, guarding a solitary lamp about to go out, day after day across endless years.

That persistence, that tragic heroism, that unwillingness to yield—all of it transformed into a torrent, flowing through the copper coin and into his soul.

The copper coin in his palm burst forth with unprecedented radiance. It was no longer a faint heartbeat, but a strong, powerful heart roaring out a heaven-shaking cry!

"Boom—"

The golden fox head totem instantly blazed with light. The entire 'Wall of Sighs' began to vibrate violently, not collapsing, but rather... dissolving.

The hard rock transformed into countless light particles, slowly receding to both sides, revealing a deep, dark entrance radiating an aura of endless antiquity and sorrow.

A cold, heavy air, mixed with the smell of rusted metal and the ashes left after soul power is burned out, rushed out from the entrance.

It was an absolute stillness, as if even time had stopped flowing here.

The instant the entrance fully opened, the pursuing Calamity Appointers let out screams of absolute horror, because they, along with the surrounding magma and Data Sentries, were instantly frozen by an invisible force, and then, along with the complete annihilation of the entire tunnel, turned into nothingness.

This place was the last sanctuary, independent of the external system.

Chen Fan and Su Shuang stood at the entrance, looking inward.

Darkness shrouded everything, with no end in sight, but they could clearly sense that at the deepest part of that darkness, something was waiting for them.

It was the final lament of a race, the unwilling whispers of countless ancestral souls, and a flickering flame of... hope, about to be extinguished in the wind.

Ahead lay the abyss.

But they had no way back.