122: Chapter 122 Let me see the way through your eyes

The moment the silver light entered the ground, the black gravel beneath their feet seemed to be gently stirred by an invisible hand, creating a faint ripple.

The ripple spread silently and vanished in an instant, as if it were merely an illusion.

But Shen Xiao knew it wasn't.

He "heard" it, or rather, the sliver of perception left on the surface by the Silver Pattern branded the feedback from deep underground into his consciousness in a way that was almost painful.

It wasn't a sound, but rather an extremely slow... pulsation, carrying the deep-seated malaise of ancient times.

Dull and heavy, as if the heart of the entire Gobi Desert had been slightly disturbed by that trace of the Silver Pattern.

"It's here."

Shen Xiao said in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of hoarseness he hadn't even noticed himself.

Xia Lengbai did not answer, but her body was taut like a fully drawn bow.

The clear radiance of the Tomb Guardian Seal vibrated slightly in her Sea of Consciousness, clashing with the chaotic "data stream" coming from the dark red mark on her left arm, making her temples throb and her vision swim with darkness.

But she gritted her teeth and remained silent.

The pulsation from underground grew clearer and clearer.

In the distance, the Mechanical Beetle that had been "scorched" by the malicious echo was still in chaos.

Its detection light flickered wildly like a broken light bulb, and its limbs scraped deep furrows into the ground unconsciously, emitting a harsh metallic screeching sound.

Meanwhile, the other Mechanical Beetle made a strange move; it suddenly retracted all its limbs, pressing its massive metallic body extremely low, while its head's detection light shifted from pale white to dark red, locking onto the ground as if... on guard?

Not on guard.

It was fear.

Shen Xiao's pupils constricted.

It was an extremely subtle feedback of energy fluctuations, transmitted back through the lingering perception of the Silver Pattern; the intricate rune circuits within this intact Mechanical Beetle were vibrating at a high frequency, as if suppressing some instinctive urge to flee.

It was afraid.

Afraid of the thing beneath their feet.

"Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!!!"

The noise of metal fragments assembling suddenly intensified!

Those fragments suspended in mid-air, gathering toward the feet of the two Mechanical Beetles, suddenly acted like marionettes that had lost their strings, beginning to collide, repel, and tear at each other frantically!

Dark red light exploded between the fragments, sparks flew in all directions, and the clanging sounds merged into a cacophony that made one's scalp tingle.

The ground beneath the two Mechanical Beetles began to crack.

Not ordinary cracks.

Those cracks spread in an unnatural geometric pattern, and from the edge of every fissure, wisps of black fog, deeper than the color of the night, seeped out.

The black fog had no temperature, yet it made the air suddenly viscous; with every breath, there was a stinging sensation, as if inhaling shards of broken glass.

Shen Xiao felt his lungs burning.

He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, the metallic taste exploding in his mouth, salty and fishy.

His body was teetering on the edge of exhaustion, and the emptiness brought about by the depletion of the Silver Pattern felt like countless tiny insects gnawing at his Meridians.

His vision began to blur, and his eardrums were filled with the roar of his own heartbeat, each beat heavier than the last.

But he could not fall.

At least not now.

"Look at your feet," he said in a breathy voice, every word sounding as if it were squeezed through his clenched teeth.

Xia Lengbai looked down.

She saw it.

At the intersection of those spiderweb-like cracks, right at the point where Shen Xiao's Silver Pattern had submerged, the ground was slowly collapsing.

It wasn't a violent collapse, but rather as if some soft substance were being slowly drawn away from beneath, forming a deep, circular depression about three feet in diameter.

Deep within the depression lay a pure, pitch-black void that reflected no light.

But within that pitch-blackness, something was moving.

It wasn't the writhing of a biological creature, but more like... some vast, slowly stretching... consciousness that had been asleep for too long.

Xia Lengbai's Tomb Guardian Seal shuddered violently!

It was an extremely ancient warning from the depths of her Bloodline, like an instinctive reaction carved into her Soul by her ancestors for when she encountered something truly indescribable.

Her fingers tightened involuntarily around Shen Xiao's arm.

The force was so great that Shen Xiao let out a muffled grunt.

But she did not let go.

The Mechanical Beetle that had been "scorched" finally struggled to regain a sliver of reason from the chaos.

Its head's detection light flickered wildly a few times before suddenly stabilizing, but it was no longer pale white; it was a scorching, warning-filled crimson!

It locked onto the expanding depression beneath its feet.

Then, it performed an action that caught both Shen Xiao and Xia Lengbai off guard.

It turned and ran.

No, not ran—it "ejected."

Its massive metallic body contracted violently, all its limbs coiled with strength simultaneously like a fully drawn bow, and in an instant, it unleashed astonishing leaping power; the entire Mechanical Beetle, like a launched projectile, tore through the air, heading away from the depression!

Its speed was so fast that it left a blurred afterimage in the air.

The other Mechanical Beetle followed closely behind.

But just as it leaped...

"Pfft!"

A pitch-black "hand," covered in fine cracks and appearing as if pieced together from countless fragments of stone, suddenly reached out from the depression!

The volume of that "hand" was several times larger than the Mechanical Beetle itself.

It didn't grab the Mechanical Beetle's body; it merely... rested gently on the last limb of the Mechanical Beetle just as it was about to leave the ground.

Just a light touch.

Like an elder pressing down on the shoulder of a mischievous child.

The Mechanical Beetle's momentum of leaping came to an abrupt halt.

Its massive body froze eerily in mid-air for a split second, and then...

"Creak... creak... creak..."

A teeth-grinding, slow, crushing sound came from the point of contact between that "hand" and the Mechanical Beetle's limb.

Inside the Mechanical Beetle, all the rune circuits erupted with blinding light simultaneously, as if engaging in some frantic, death throes.

But that light lasted for less than three breaths.

Then, like a candle flame pinched out by an invisible hand, with a soft pfft, it was all extinguished.

The Mechanical Beetle's limbs began to... disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Not shattered, but as if the meaning of its "existence" had been drained away, starting from the point of contact, inch by inch, it turned into fly ash.

Shen Xiao's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

He saw the movement of that "hand"—it hadn't used force, it hadn't even "grasped."

It was simply... absorbing.

Absorbing those intricate energy circuits within the Mechanical Beetle that were full of relic characteristics, absorbing the information and power from ancient times contained within those dark red runes.

Like a plant that had been thirsty for too long, finally waiting for a drop of dew.

"Go..."

Shen Xiao's voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

He wanted to stand up, but his legs felt like they were filled with lead; the moment he straightened his knees, they went weak, and he stumbled forward.

Xia Lengbai was quick-witted and agile; she grabbed his waist, half-dragging and half-pulling him back to his original position.

"Don't move," her voice was extremely low, carrying a hint of unquestionable coldness and hardness. "You can't move."

Shen Xiao wanted to retort, but the metallic taste of blood surging up his throat blocked his words.

He looked down at his hand; the Silver Pattern had completely dimmed, no longer possessing even the most basic luster.

His Meridians were empty, leaving only endless exhaustion and dull pain.

Behind him, the "death" of that Mechanical Beetle was still continuing.

From limbs to torso, from shell to core, fly ash drifted down, like a silent funeral.

And that pitch-black "hand," after absorbing the last bit of energy, slowly retracted into the depression.

The cracks in the ground stopped spreading.

The black fog gradually dissipated.

But the depression remained.

That pitch-black void that reflected no light was like a silent eye, quietly "gazing" in the direction where the surviving Mechanical Beetle had fled.

Shen Xiao felt Xia Lengbai's arm tighten.

Her breathing was somewhat rapid, the rise and fall of her chest transmitted through her clothing, carrying a hint of imperceptible trembling.

But in that trembling, there was no fear.

Shen Xiao recognized this trembling.

In the North Sea Ice Abyss, in the Kunlun Ruins, every time she faced something that exceeded logic, something dangerous, or even something... "wonderful," she would tremble like this.

A trembling of excitement.

"That Mechanical Beetle..." Shen Xiao said in a breathy voice, his gaze following the metallic figure in the distance that had turned into a small black dot. "It is fleeing. It will go to report..."

"I know."

Xia Lengbai interrupted him.

Her voice was terrifyingly calm.

Shen Xiao felt her arm slide past his waist, and then...

Not supporting him.

It was an embrace.

More accurately, a "tuck."

Xia Lengbai's left arm, the one where the dark red mark was still throbbing with pain, clamped Shen Xiao to her side with an irresistible force.

Shen Xiao: "..."

His feet were off the ground.

"You..."

"Shut up."

Xia Lengbai's voice came from above, carrying a hint of restrained, impatient, teeth-gritting annoyance. "If you say another word, I will throw you into that hole."

She paused, then added: "And see if that thing will be interested in the Silver Pattern."

Shen Xiao wisely shut his mouth.

Xia Lengbai's figure, like a pale shadow, swept across the cracked ground, speeding away in the opposite direction of where the Mechanical Beetle had fled.

The sound of the wind whistled in his ears.

Held by her, Shen Xiao's body was as cold as a stone due to blood loss and old injuries, but his consciousness was tighter than ever before.

He could feel it.

Within Xia Lengbai's tightened arm, within her accelerating heartbeat, within her suppressed, rapid breathing...

Something was becoming different.

"Shen Xiao."

Xia Lengbai's voice suddenly lowered, like a murmur, or perhaps talking to herself.

"You said just now... that thing is alive."

Shen Xiao did not answer.

He didn't need to answer.

Because Xia Lengbai's next sentence made his blood almost freeze in an instant.

"I want to see it again."