1041: Chapter 1040 Breaking Free from the Cage, A Century of Madness

"Screech—!" A sound even sharper and more piercing than when the Ice Soul Clan cage was broken earlier rang out.

The Seal runes inscribed on the Void Realm stone imprisoning Kalanduo flashed wildly, attempting to repair themselves, but under the impact of the Protective Aura in Wu Zhankong's palm, which concentrated the pinnacle of force, they crumbled one after another, dissipating into specks of light.

The cell door swung open, and the long-lost, relatively "free" air rushed in.

Kalanduo's body trembled violently, not from fear, but from extreme excitement.

He staggered to his feet, and the energy circuits beneath his lead-gray skin flickered intensely, revealing the surging emotions within him.

He took a deep breath, as if wanting to brand this air, mixed with the scents of blood and freedom, deep into his Soul.

Then, without hesitation, he took a few steps forward, arrived before Wu Zhankong, knelt on one knee, lowered his head deeply, and spoke with a voice hoarse and trembling from excitement.

"Kalanduo, in the name of the You Shi Clan ancestors, and with the spirits of my departed wife and daughter as witness, thanks you, Milord, for the grace of rebirth!"

"This kindness, Kalanduo will never forget for all eternity!"

"If Milord has any commands, I will go through fire and water without hesitation! At this moment, let me clear the way for you, Milord. Even if I burn my remaining body to ashes, I will turn this filthy place upside down!"

He did not ask about Wu Zhankong's purpose, nor did he bargain; he simply lowered his posture as much as possible, expressing the most thorough and genuine gratitude.

Wu Zhankong did not linger any longer and turned to walk toward the node where the spatial fluctuations were the most intense, which connected to the outside world.

Kalanduo stood up, the last trace of hesitation and weakness in his eyes completely vanished, replaced by bone-chilling killing intent and determination.

He gripped his hands in the air, and the You Shi Clan innate energy that had been silent within him for years began to circulate. The subtle energy flows and structural weaknesses of the surrounding space gradually became clear in his perception.

Inside Folded Space No. 1244, the remaining prisoners held their breath, watching the two walk toward the exit.

No one dared to make a sound anymore; only an indescribable shock, fear, and... a faint glimmer of hope that they themselves dared not ponder deeply, surged in the depths of their hearts.

The most heavily guarded cage of the Dark Star Auction House had been broken.

A storm ignited by an avenger and an intruder was about to sweep through this massive star-tower built upon blood and greed.

Wu Zhankong placed his palm against the twisting and fluctuating spatial node and applied a slight amount of force.

"Hum—!"

The node emitted an unbearable groan, and a fissure that could only allow one person to pass was forcibly pried open. The noise and chaos of the auction house's main space outside, as well as the lingering energy waves from the intense battle between Qing Li and the Starfall Cult in the distance, could be faintly heard.

He stepped out, his red hair flying, and his figure disappeared into the bizarre and colorful fissure.

Kalanduo looked back one last time at the despairing gazes flickering in the cages behind him, and after a moment of thought, he made a decision.

The next moment, he mobilized all his energy, and his You Shi Clan innate talent was fully activated. The energy flow of the entire folded space began to be quietly guided, twisted, and altered by him.

The fissure slowly closed, and Space No. 1244 returned to dead silence.

But this time, in the dead silence, what permeated was no longer despair, but a heart-palpitating suppression and anticipation before a storm.

Almost simultaneously.

In the core monitoring area of the Dark Star Auction House, among tens of thousands of light screens, dozens of screens representing Space No. 1244 and the surrounding energy buffer pools suddenly flashed with blinding orange-yellow alarms!

A piercing alert sound rang out:

"Warning! Local spatial stability failure detected in Section 1244, Level 73! Suspected prisoner energy runaway! Abnormal diversion fluctuations detected in associated secondary buffer pool A-73!"

"Preliminary threat assessment: Rank S (Extremely Dangerous). All personnel mobilize, all personnel mobilize!"

Just at the moment when the alarms filled the sky and countless invisible monitoring "gazes" were briefly shifted away, Wu Zhankong's figure passed through the weakest point of the exit node like a ghost.

He did not stir up the slightest extra spatial ripple, nor did he trigger any auxiliary warning lines.

Wu Zhankong had left Folded Space No. 1244. His goal remained clear: all the resources and rare precious Materials here.

His red hair moved without wind, and Wu Zhankong stepped forth like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, beginning to wander about.

And behind the node where he had disappeared, Kalanduo used his innate talent to cover up some of the commotion for Wu Zhankong.

His body became transparent, only the light in his eyes did not extinguish, and he muttered in a low voice, unsure if it was toward the direction Wu Zhankong had left, or toward this cage that had imprisoned him for a century.

"Milord Wu Zhankong... may you... have great fortune in battle..."

Before he could finish speaking, his figure, along with that twisting space, was locked onto and covered by several powerful energy beams that had suddenly descended.

The emergency response team had arrived.

But Wu Zhankong had already gone far away.

Five figures pierced through the barrier of the folded space almost simultaneously. The leader was surrounded by a dark purple energy halo, the mark of high-ranking members of the Dark Star Auction House "Internal Guard."

He wore battle armor, and his face was covered by a metal mask engraved with countless miniature runes, revealing only a pair of cold, grayish-white eyes.

"Target confirmed: You Shi Clan prisoner Kalanduo, ID EP-4479."

"Source of spatial anomaly locked. Threat level reassessed: Rank S+ (includes unknown factors)."

"Execute standard elimination procedure: Seal, suppress, obliterate."

The leader, codenamed "Dark Blade," spoke in a voice as cold as a machine.

The four team members behind him spread out in a fan shape, and the weapons in their hands began to charge—they were high-frequency shockwave generators specifically designed for energy-based lifeforms and spatial anomalies.

However, Kalanduo, who was surrounded in the center, was unusually calm.

He slowly straightened his body, and beneath his lead-gray skin, those energy circuits that had been silent for a century began to light up one by one.

At first, it was only a faint blue light, like glowing plankton in the deep sea, but in an instant, the light surged. Those complex patterns seemed to come alive, winding and flowing across his body, finally converging at the faint blue light points at the tips of his ears.

The light points were blindingly bright at this moment, like two compressed stars.

"A century..."

Kalanduo spoke, his voice hoarse yet calm, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself.

His gaze pierced through the encirclement, looking toward the cages that remained tightly shut, looking toward this space that had imprisoned all his hope and pain.

"I have been calculating the time, calculating my breaths, calculating the loss of every bit of energy flowing through my circuits... calculating what I should do if the opportunity ever came."

He raised his hands, palms upward.

Invisible energy particles in the air began to converge toward him crazily; even the weapon charging of the emergency response team was interfered with, and the energy readings fluctuated violently.

"Warning! Target energy reaction has exceeded the critical threshold! He is forcibly extracting energy from the buffer pool!" one team member reported urgently.

A trace of gravity flashed in Dark Blade's grayish-white eyes, and he waved his hand decisively: "Suppress him immediately! Must not let—"

Before he could finish his sentence.

"Heh..."

Kalanduo let out a soft laugh, a laugh that contained all the emotions suppressed for a century.

The heart-piercing pain of losing his wife and daughter, the anger of being betrayed, the despair of long-term imprisonment, and at this moment... a near-mad sense of relief and determination.