349: Crimson Tide

Deep beneath the surface, in an ocean of life milk, Tianyi Star pulsed like a giant heart.

Pale purple energy swirled around him, with devoured memories and life energy churning and reorganizing within it.

The oppressive sense of impending death drove him nearly mad, and the instinct for survival compelled him to gamble all his power.

“Not enough… still far from enough!” Tianyi Star roared.

He felt that the energy provided by the Nova People corpses was indeed purer than that of the Trisolarans and even the life milk, but it was still too far from countering the clear premonition of death.

He needed more; he needed to devour the entire Nova People civilization to gain enough power.

Through the devoured memories, Tianyi Star instinctively began to shape combat units.

He did not understand the art of war, but the deep-seated understanding of fear and the desire for destruction within those memories transformed into concrete forms under the catalysis of the life milk.

The first to crawl out of the life milk pool were twisted, clock-headed mechanical hounds.

Their bodies were cobbled together from rusted metal and exposed gears, and the hands on their clock faces spun wildly, emitting an ear-grating clatter.

Next to emerge were the elusive Meme of Remembrance.

These translucent beings resembled elongated human figures, with only two constantly spinning vortices for faces. They moved like drifting seaweed, at times merging with shadows, at times appearing from the darkness.

Their whispers, those sounds that burrowed directly into one’s mind, evoked the deepest fears.

Finally, heavily armored units, pieced together from shattered weapons and armor, appeared.

These three-meter-tall monsters were like collages, bristling with broken swords and ruined firearms. They moved with a grating sound of metal friction, their heavy footsteps making the ground tremble.

All these monsters were wreathed in a pale purple aura, standing silently at the edge of the life milk pool, awaiting their creator's command.

“Go.”

“Bring death and fear to them, and bring life and energy back to me.”

With a rustle, the horde of monsters departed along a passage, heading in a certain direction.

At the very edge of the Nova People’s sphere of influence, at the “Blackrock Mining Station,” night shift Engineers were monitoring automated mining equipment 300 meters underground.

This was the Nova People’s most remote resource extraction point, with fewer than fifty staff members, primarily responsible for the initial mining and rough processing of rare minerals.

These resources provided raw materials for the Nova People’s urban construction and development.

“There’s an anomalous echo from drill rig number five; I’ll go check it out,” young Engineer Mark said into his communicator, picking up his toolkit and heading deeper into the mine shaft.

His footsteps echoed in the deep tunnel, and the spotlight on his helmet cast flickering patches of light on the rock walls.

Just as Mark approached the drilling platform, he heard a strange grinding sound. It wasn't the metallic sound of machinery operating or malfunctioning; it was more like something gnawing at the rock.

“Control Center, do you hear any abnormal sounds?” Mark asked into his communicator, but heard only static. He frowned, checking his equipment, and found that all communication channels were jammed.

Suddenly, the rock wall ahead began to crack, and Crushing gravel pebbles clattered down.

Mark recoiled in horror, seeing a web-like network of cracks appear on the rock wall, with a pale purple glow emanating from the fissures.

He immediately pressed the emergency alarm button, but the alarm light only flickered a few times before going out.

“Damn it!” Mark turned and ran.

The rock wall collapsed with a roar, revealing a dark, gaping hole behind it.

A clock-headed mechanical hound crawled out, its twisted metal body reflecting a eerie sheen under the mining lamp. The clatter of grinding gears echoed through the mine shaft, sending shivers down his spine.

Mark desperately ran towards the control room, but the mechanical hounds were incredibly fast. Mark could smell their pungent metallic odor and a certain putrid stench.

“There are monsters in the mine! Repeat, there are monsters in the mine!” Mark shouted into his communicator, but heard only hissing static.

He hid in an equipment room, peeking through the door crack to see more monsters pouring out of the hole. Some were ghostly figures, others were cobbled together from various broken mechanical parts.

These monsters clearly had a specific target: living beings.

In the chaos, a mechanical hound tore through a cable with its sharp claws, and amidst a shower of sparks, the entire mine shaft’s lighting system instantly failed.

Under the red glow of the emergency lights, the slaughter began.

Mark watched through the door crack as a duty Engineer was entangled by a Meme of Remembrance; the monster’s whispers made him scream in agony, then he collapsed to the ground, his eyes vacant.

Another security guard attempting to resist was punched by a large monster and sent flying, hitting the rock wall and no longer moving.

Then, Mark witnessed a terrifying scene: these monsters seemed to be collecting bodies. The killed individuals were dragged back into that black hole, as if it were some kind of feeding maw.

And they were the food.

He had to warn the people on the surface! Mark seized the opportunity while the monsters were temporarily gone and quietly slipped towards the nearest communication node.

The mine shaft was filled with the smell of blood and a strange, sickly sweet odor, which emanated from the slime left by the monsters.

When he finally reached the communication room, he found it completely destroyed. But fortunately, the backup power was still working. Although real-time communication was down, the emergency transmission equipment was still usable.

Mark quickly connected a portable communicator and began recording an emergency message.

“This is Blackrock Mining Station, drill rig number five underground! We are under attack by unknown creatures! They are burrowing out of the rock walls, killing everyone on sight! Repeat, we need immediate assistance!”

Just as he sent the message, the door was crashed open, and a mechanical hound stood in the doorway.

Then, Mark could only see fragments of human tissue caught between its gears.

The shoe on that leg looked so familiar… Oh, it was his.

“Warning… surface…” Mark used his last ounce of strength to shout into the communicator, and before losing consciousness, he pressed the send button.

At the same time, in the surface monitoring center, the duty officer, Sha, was dozing off. Suddenly, an alarm blared, and Mark’s emergency message popped up on the screen.

Due to signal interference, the video feed was full of static, but the audio was relatively clear.

“Oh my god!” Sha immediately activated the full station alarm, “All personnel evacuate immediately! Unknown creatures have appeared underground! Repeat, evacuate immediately!”

The evacuation order was given just in time.

Half a minute after the base’s alarm blared, the ground began to shake, and cracks appeared in the mining area plaza. One of these cracks snaked like lightning towards the power station, and the substation area was engulfed in smoke and dust after a loud bang.

Then, all the lights in the entire mining station instantly went out, with only emergency lights providing faint illumination.