88: Chapter 88 The thing in the crack of the door is a bit dirty

The process of this "turning" was not a movement on a physical level.

It was more like the entire information field of Chaos, centered on that outline, underwent a certain dimensional "collapse" and "focusing."

Billions of chaotic, flowing fragments of light and shadow suddenly stalled, as if a slow-motion button had been pressed.

The noisy, shrill whispers also instantly dropped an octave, turning into a dull, grand "hum" that seemed to come from deep within the earth's crust, carrying an indescribable pressure that crushed over the consciousness of Shen Xiao and Xia Lengbai.

The pressure, like a tangible mountain, descended with a roar.

It did not act upon the Physical Body, but smashed directly onto the Soul.

Shen Xiao let out a muffled groan, his vision blackening. He felt as if he had been thrown into the very bottom of a ten-thousand-meter deep sea, every inch of his thinking being squeezed by heavy, freezing "water," almost to the point of solidifying.

The ice fragment in his palm had now become his only lifeline. Its dark blue light flickered desperately, struggling to prop open a tiny "bubble" around him, shielding a small area from that viscous, terrifying "information quagmire."

Most of the chaotic, highly corrosive emotional fragments and remnants of rules were blocked by this layer of blue light, turning into iridescent, fine bubbles that silently annihilated at the edge of the "bubble."

But there were always exceptions.

A few strands of particularly stubborn "information flows," darker and murkier in color, like ink dropped into clear water, ignored most of the purification effect of the ice fragment's blue light, slowly but firmly seeping in, attempting to entwine themselves around Shen Xiao's Sea of Consciousness.

The sensation was exceptionally clear.

Cold.

Slimy.

Carrying a kind of "prickling itch" that reached deep into the Soul.

Sight and hearing produced an eerie synesthesia at that moment.

He "saw" the scene within the fragments: an old Cultivator with white hair, kneeling on a cold altar, his face filled with fanatical devotion and profound sorrow, his hands cupping a blindingly bright brilliance from his heart, offering it as a sacrifice to the Void Realm.

The scene had no sound, but Shen Xiao seemed to hear the crisp crack of his Soul shattering, along with a silent, resentful question:

"Why... does it have to be me?"

Another fragment, more vibrant in color but more twisted: a young girl wearing a wedding dress, amidst flying flower petals, using a dagger tempered with dark blue cold light, smiling as she slowly gouged out the... ball of memory light flowing with warm affection from her eyes.

Her lips were moving, seemingly humming a nursery rhyme, but all that was transmitted was a feeling of extreme cold "detachment" and "relief," contradictorily intertwined.

There was another fragment, with only the background of constantly annihilating stars and the silhouettes of countless races turning into fly ash under the force of incomprehensible rules, transmitting a kind of ant-like despair and... numbness when facing absolute "destiny."

These remnants were the "fuel ash" left behind by the protocol's harvest and sacrifices over countless years, the poisonous "information dregs" remaining after emotions had burned out.

They unconsciously attacked and polluted the intruders.

"Urgh..."

A muffled groan, suppressed to the extreme, came from beside him.

Shen Xiao struggled to turn his neck, which felt rusty, and looked at Xia Lengbai.

Her situation was even more "lively" than his.

That layer of ice-blue light shield originating from the Tomb Guardian Seal was clearly more solid and expansive than the bubble propped open by the ice fragment, firmly protecting her in the center, steadily blocking those violent, mainstream torrents of information.

But her complexion was pale to the point of transparency, her lips devoid of any blood color, her gaze somewhat unfocused, as if she were experiencing a silent Soul storm.

Yet, on that pale, distracted face, the corners of her mouth were curled upward.

That smile was extremely complex, mixed with clearly visible pain, her brows tightly furrowed, tiny veins even pulsing on her temples, along with a hint of... an indescribable, almost morbid pleasure.

Shen Xiao immediately noticed the abnormality.

Those "information remnants" that had luckily passed through the ice fragment's defense and seeped into their small area seemed... particularly "partial" to Xia Lengbai.

Or rather, attracted by some trait on her.

Especially those memory fragments regarding "forced role-playing," "emotional deprivation," and "eternal duty," like sharks smelling blood, bypassed Shen Xiao's ice fragment shield and surged mostly toward Xia Lengbai, crashing against her Tomb Guardian Seal shield, sending out ripples of ice-blue.

Some even managed to briefly penetrate the shield's defense, like invisible tentacles, gently "touching" her consciousness.

Shen Xiao could "see" that when a memory fragment recording a certain generation of Gravekeeper sealing their lover who had fallen into madness due to duty swept past, Xia Lengbai's body trembled almost imperceptibly, but the twisted smile at the corners of her mouth deepened.

And when another piece of information containing the cold will of "rules do not tolerate private feelings" swept by, a fierce, extreme hatred suddenly erupted from the unfocused depths of her eyes.

She was using this "garbage information," which was enough to drive a normal person insane instantly, to torture herself, and also... to stimulate herself.

"Is this what's behind the 'Door'?" Shen Xiao tried to use spiritual power for voice transmission, but the sound was severely distorted in the viscous, chaotic environment, intermittent and sounding as if it were separated by a thick water curtain.

While maintaining the ice fragment's protection, he cautiously activated the System Silver Pattern deep within his Dantian.

The Silver Pattern seemed to "adapt" well to this environment, even carrying a sense of being in its element.

It actively emitted a faint silver glow, like the most precise probe, absorbing the loose, relatively stable "rule" fragment information around it.

A moment later, the cold System prompt sounded directly in his mind, clearer than usual, but also colder:

"Protocol carrier layer confirmed. Information highly polluted, entropy value exceeds standard. High-concentration emotional residual information packets detected, possessing strong erosive and cognitive induction characteristics. Continued exposure will lead to distortion of the logical cognitive framework, and irreversible increase in personality information entropy."

"Simply put," Shen Xiao cursed inwardly, "stay here too long, and you'll either become a madman, a fool, or 'someone else' you don't even recognize."

The ice fragment in his palm transmitted a clearer sensation at this moment.

It became slightly hot, and its dark blue light no longer radiated evenly, but like a compass, slightly adjusted the angle of "illumination," pointing straight toward a certain "direction" in this boundless chaotic information field.

From that direction, the homologous protocol fluctuations were even more obvious, like a lighthouse in the darkness.

But it was more than that.

Deep within those homologous fluctuations, Shen Xiao keenly captured a trace of an extremely weak... consciousness pulse, wrapped in layers of chaotic information, like a candle in the wind.

The pulse was intermittent, carrying a kind of exhaustion from long-term imprisonment and... a certain obsession.

Almost at the same time, Xia Lengbai beside him turned her head abruptly, her gaze piercing toward that direction like a sharp sword.

The pain and distraction in her eyes caused by the impact of chaotic information were instantly suppressed, replaced by an overwhelming, morbid intensity, like a desert traveler seeing a mirage—knowing it might be an illusion, yet still disregarding everything.

On her wrist, that wisp of the Tomb Guardian Seal's core aura, which had always been entwined with Shen Xiao and served as a "connection," was uncontrollably trembling slightly, its frequency getting faster and faster, as if a wanderer had heard the call of their hometown, producing a strong resonance and an urge to return.

Xia Lengbai's lips moved, her voice so low it was almost inaudible, yet every word was clear, carrying a dreamlike obsession and inquiry, she murmured:

"The guardian of the 'Door'? Or... a trapped 'Senior'?"

Her gaze was firmly locked on the direction from which that consciousness pulse came, and in her ice-blue eyes, the flowing light of Chaos was reflected, also burning with an almost greedy flame.