106: Chapter 106 Aftermath of Cooperation: We All Carry Each Other's Scent

Xia Lengbai did not reply, merely withdrawing that ice crystal tube.

The tube was already in a sorry state.

The tube wall, originally as transparent as crystal, was now murky gray, its surface covered in fine cracks, as if something had gnawed at it from the inside.

Even more eerie was that the mental imprint deep within the tube wall, once sharp as a blade, had now become blurred and tepid, as if diluted dozens of times over.

With a clench of her palm, the tube shattered, transforming into a sphere of ice-blue energy mist.

The mist churned twice before she swallowed it in one gulp.

"Cough…"

A very faint cough escaped her lips, as if she had been choked by something.

The ice-blue light around her body flared up suddenly, only to retract in an instant, turning into countless fine light patterns flowing across the surface of her skin.

These light patterns moved like living things, traveling along her Meridians; wherever they passed, the gray shadows faintly visible beneath her skin were bit by bit diluted, absorbed, and assimilated.

Shen Xiao leaned against the stone wall, watching this scene.

He did not speak, because he could not.

The moment the Silver Pattern grid was withdrawn, the polluted information he had forcibly intercepted at the edge of his Sea of Consciousness rushed in like a dam-bursting flood, violently breaking through his final line of defense.

Cold, restless, gloomy, fearful—countless types of extreme emotional residues raged crazily in his mind, every wisp carrying the most desperate roar of its original owner before death.

He gritted his teeth, and the taste of rust spread through his mouth.

Not just in one place, but in dozens.

His gums were bleeding.

"Pfft…"

A mouthful of black-red stagnant blood sprayed from his mouth, splashing against the stone wall with a faint hissing sound.

The blood actually carried a very faint gray fluorescence; after hitting the ground, it did not immediately coagulate, but instead writhed like a living thing twice before slowly drying up.

His vision went black in waves.

Shen Xiao felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over him from head to toe, and then thrown him into a boiling cauldron of oil.

The alternating stimulation of cold and heat made his whole body tremble uncontrollably, every nerve screaming in protest.

But his attention was drawn to something else.

The Silver Pattern.

That wisp of silver light that had been dormant deep within his Dantian was now so dim it was almost invisible, as if covered by a layer of dust.

It no longer flickered, no longer pulsed, but simply curled up there lifelessly, like a dead snake that had been trampled on.

But Shen Xiao could feel that it was "digesting."

The polluted information it had forcibly recorded—the flow patterns, aggregation rules, and erosion paths of those emotional residues—were being analyzed, organized, and archived by the Silver Pattern at an extremely slow speed.

What surprised him even more was that during this process, the Silver Pattern seemed to have developed some kind of… resonance with Xia Lengbai's energy.

It was an extremely faint feedback, like a vague Echoes heard through a wall.

He could not perceive the specific content, only capture some vague "emotional fluctuation points." When the gray shadows within Xia Lengbai were digested, the Silver Pattern would transmit a tiny, subtle tremor; when the undercurrents in her eyes intensified, the vibration frequency of the Silver Pattern would accelerate accordingly.

This gave him a, albeit rough, real-time monitoring method for her state.

"The entrance is temporarily cleared."

Shen Xiao's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper grinding against rusty sheet metal, every word seeming to be forced out of his throat.

He lifted his head with difficulty, his gaze crossing over Xia Lengbai's shoulder to look at the ice-sealed entrance that had returned to deathly silence.

The ice surface was indeed clean.

Those restless emotional light spots had completely vanished, leaving behind only a cold, mirror-like surface.

But beneath that smoothness, countless fine lines were faintly visible, like traces of something having gnawed at it from the inside.

They had not disappeared.

They were just… "eaten."

Eaten by Xia Lengbai's ice crystal tube, then assimilated by her energy system.

Shen Xiao did not know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"But 'it' seems a bit different now."

His gaze fell upon the Light Cocoon that remained sealed in the center of the stone chamber.

The Light Cocoon was still suspended in mid-air, emitting a soft, milky-white light; the cracks on its surface had been mostly repaired, making it look more complete and stable than before.

But Shen Xiao saw something that shouldn't have been there.

On the surface of the Light Cocoon, at some unknown time, a line had quietly appeared.

The line was extremely thin and faint, yet its hue was exactly the same as Xia Lengbai's energy—ice-blue, carrying a cold and sharp texture, like a needle that had lightly grazed the skin of the Light Cocoon.

Xia Lengbai saw it too.

Her pupils contracted suddenly, and then, the corners of her lips curved into a cold and playful arc.

"It seems our little 'neighbor' is quite interested in my new 'scent'."

Her voice remained as cold as ice, yet it held a hint of… amusement? that Shen Xiao had never heard before.

It was not happiness, not triumph, but a kind of near-pathological satisfaction, like a collector who had finally found an accessory that perfectly complemented their collection.

She turned her head, her gaze slowly sweeping over Shen Xiao.

From the residual blood at the corner of his mouth, to the wisp of silver light in his palm that was so dim it was almost invisible, to his fingers that were trembling slightly from excessive exhaustion.

"And you?"

Her voice lowered a few degrees, carrying a certain dangerous probe: "Having absorbed so many dirty things, and deeply connected with my 'filter,' do you now feel… that my 'emotions' have also found an 'Echoes' within your body?"

Shen Xiao did not answer immediately.

He was feeling.

Feeling the faint, elusive resonance deep within the Silver Pattern, feeling the polluted information that had been forcibly suppressed churning at the edge of his Sea of Consciousness, feeling every protest his body issued due to extreme overdraw.

Then, he admitted it.

"Yes."

His voice was as calm as stagnant water, "I can feel your energy fluctuations; although they are very blurry, they do exist."

He paused, the corners of his mouth pulling into an extremely subtle arc, as if smiling, or perhaps mocking:

"Isn't this exactly what we wanted? Deep intervention, deep connection, deeply understanding each other's 'weaknesses' and 'noise'."

Xia Lengbai did not refute him.

She just looked at him quietly, the undercurrents still churning deep within those ice-blue eyes, but with a hint of… scrutiny that perhaps even she had not realized.

Not the scrutiny of a tool.

It was the scrutiny of a peer.

"The entrance is temporarily safe."

Shen Xiao spoke again, his gaze moving away from the Light Cocoon to fall in the direction of the stone chamber entrance, "But we cannot stay long.

Those emotional residues being absorbed by you does not mean they will behave themselves.

Your energy system needs time to thoroughly digest them, and before that, the 'new scent' within your body will continue to radiate outward."

He pointed to the ice-blue line on the surface of the Light Cocoon, "It has already smelled it. Who knows if there are other things outside that have smelled it too?"

Xia Lengbai followed his gaze, the playfulness in her eyes receding slightly, replaced by a trace of cold vigilance.

Shen Xiao was right.

She was now like a wounded person reeking of blood, swimming in waters filled with sharks.

Those emotional residues she had absorbed were essentially "foreign objects" in her energy system; before being completely assimilated, they would continue to emit a "scent" completely different from her own Origin energy.

Any existence sensitive to this "scent" could follow the trail.

Including the thing inside the Light Cocoon.

And also… other unknown existences that might exist deep within these ruins.

"We need a safer place."

Shen Xiao's voice pulled her thoughts back to reality, "A place where you can quietly process these 'new scents' in your body, a place where you won't be easily disturbed."

He struggled to push himself up against the stone wall; with every movement, his bones and Meridians emitted faint creaking sounds, like a dilapidated machine ready to fall apart at any moment.

Xia Lengbai watched his movements, not reaching out to help, just watching quietly.

This stance itself was a statement; she would not proactively help him, but she would wait for him.

Wait for him to prove he still had enough value, enough to be worth her continuing to maintain this fragile alliance.

Shen Xiao steadied himself, took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed the metallic sweetness rising in his throat.

He raised his hand, pointing toward a direction deep in the stone chamber that they had not explored before.

There, the darkness was like a physical substance, swallowing all light, with the faint outline of a staircase extending downward visible.

"I used the Silver Pattern to scout it before; there are spatial fluctuations down there, very weak, but they do exist."

His voice was low and hoarse, "No matter what it is, it's better than staying here."

Xia Lengbai's gaze followed his finger, her ice-blue eyes flickering slightly in the darkness.

Then, she took a step.

Not toward the exit, but toward that deeper darkness.

Shen Xiao followed closely behind.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, their footsteps echoing in the empty stone chamber, like two desperadoes about to step into an abyss.

They both knew that what awaited them ahead might not be safety, but more likely another trap, another crisis, another opportunity that would require them to trade their lives for.

But they had no other choice.

The ice surface at the entrance, which had returned to deathly silence, slowly sank into darkness behind them.

The Light Cocoon remained suspended in place, emitting a soft light.

The ice-blue line on its surface, at the moment the two turned away, seemed to slightly… pulse.

Just like a heart that had sensed fresh prey while in slumber.

Then, it fell silent.

Continuing to wait.

Waiting for those two prey carrying the "new scent" to finish walking their destined path.

Xia Lengbai's footsteps paused for a moment at the edge of the stairs; her gaze swept over her palm, where the residual gray staining had completely dissipated, replaced by a blue that was deeper and colder than before.

She clenched her fist, her knuckles making a crisp cracking sound.

Shen Xiao noticed her action but did not ask.

Some things do not need to be said out loud.

Each carrying the other's "scent," carrying the "Echoes" of each other's energy, carrying this entanglement—built on the foundation of interests and calculations, yet constantly deepening on the edge of life and death—they stepped into that unknown darkness.

In the stone chamber, the light from the Light Cocoon remained soft.

It floated there quietly, like a patient hunter, watching the direction in which the prey had vanished.

It was not in a hurry.

It had plenty of time.