199: Rusty Abyss Whispers

The passage leading to the energy depot was no longer a structure of metal and composite materials, but more like some biological, diseased cavity. The rust on the walls was as thick as moss, with a nauseatingly soft and damp feel underfoot, pulsing slightly like breath. The sweet, metallic scent in the air was so thick it was almost tangible; every breath felt like swallowing rule rust and rotting blood. Eerie whispers were everywhere, not transmitted through the air, but boring directly into the mind, stirring the deepest fears and malice within.

Relying on her familiarity with the station's structure, Commander Osira led Lin Mo and Val through the twisted and deformed passage. Every roar of her specialized pistol precisely repelled or shattered the completely dehumanized Aberrations pouncing from the shadows. However, her face grew increasingly pale, and her tightly pursed lips showed she was under immense mental pressure—the intensity of the rule rust here far exceeded that of the command room.

"The whispers... are trying to warp my perception," Osira's voice carried a trace of imperceptible trembling. "It's showing me... the images I fear most, the past I regret most."

Dr. Val's condition was even worse; he could only move forward with Lin Mo's partial support. As a theoretical physicist, his thought structure relied heavily on logic and certainty, and the chaotic, self-contradictory physical rules here were nothing short of the most vicious torture to him. He kept muttering to himself, trying to use broken formulas to describe the bizarre phenomena before him, his eyes bloodshot from over-calculation and cognitive conflict.

"It's not right... the gravitational constant is fluctuating here... the speed of light... has the speed of light been reduced? No, the flow of time is uneven... look at that puddle of 'liquid,' it's flowing upward and downward simultaneously... this violates..."

Lin Mo suppressed the constant churning resonance pain from the key fragment in his mind and the intrusion of the rust whispers, focusing most of his energy on maintaining their defensive line. His energy rifle shots were precise and efficient, but with every shot, he felt a sliver of his "presence" being stripped away, merging into the suffocating rusty background around him.

"Hold on, Dr. Val! Commander Osira!" Lin Mo growled, trying to use his voice to rouse his companions' fading wills. "Think of the time Isla bought for us! Think of the people who might still be alive in the station!"

At the mention of Isla, Osira's eyes cleared for a moment. She shook her head violently, as if to dispel the whispers from her mind. "It's just ahead! The main airlock of the energy depot! But... it looks..."

They finally reached their destination. However, the door that should have been solid alloy now looked like a massive, filthy, semi-solidified blood scab, its surface covered in pulsing, dark-red vascular patterns. The walls around the door frame had become completely "flesh-like," and one could even see tendon-like tissues writhing beneath the rust.

"It... it's alive?" Dr. Val took a terrified step back.

"The rule rust has 'organized' inorganic matter," Lin Mo said deeply. He could feel the key fragment transmit a sharper sting and... some indescribable hunger when it came into contact with this "door." "Isla, can you hack it?" he asked habitually, then realized Isla was gone. A heavy sense of loss gripped his throat.

Osira stepped forward and pressed her hand onto a control panel that hadn't been fully covered, attempting to manually enter the authorization code. However, as soon as her fingers touched the screen, it was instantly covered in rust, which began to corrode her glove like some acidic substance.

"It's no use! The permissions have been completely contaminated!"

Just then, a gap tore open in the center of the "flesh door," like a gaping maw. Krok's voice, sounding like grinding metal, came from deep within:

"Welcome... to my... kingdom! You... remnants of the rules!"

The gap widened, revealing the scene behind it—

The interior of the energy depot was larger than expected, but it had completely lost its original functionality. Massive energy conduits hung from the ceiling like vines drained of their sap, withered and rusted. Most of the crystal arrays storing energy had shattered and turned dull, like the compound eyes of dead insects. The entire space was shrouded in an ominous, dark-red light like sunset, with fine, spore-like rusty dust floating in the air.

And Krok stood in the center of the space, atop a throne-like structure piled with discarded parts and twisted metal. His mutation was even more thorough than what they had seen on the monitors—more than three-quarters of his body was covered in a dark-red, metallic-lustered rust carapace. His right arm had morphed into a massive, crab-claw-like structure, while his left eye had become a constantly rotating, red-glowing complex geometric shape. He emitted a suffocating rule distortion field, causing even the ground beneath his feet to slightly liquefy and reorganize.

Around him were dozens of similarly severely mutated rebels. Like loyal hounds, they let out inhuman roars, their eyes flashing with the same red light as Krok's.

"Osira... you came after all..." Krok's metallic face twisted into a smile. "To witness... the end of the old order... and... the birth of new rules!"

He waved his hand sharply, and the mutated rebels swarmed forward like a tide!

"Fight!" Lin Mo shouted, raising his rifle and firing. Energy beams struck the Aberrations, exploding into bursts of rusty sparks, but their movements only faltered slightly before they continued to pounce frantically. Their physical strength far exceeded that of the grunts outside.

Using cover, Osira fired with exquisite marksmanship, each shot aiming at the Aberrations' joints or suspected energy cores with high efficiency. Dr. Val huddled in a relatively safe corner, futilely trying to use a portable device to interfere with the surrounding rule field, but the effect was negligible.

Lin Mo barely managed to attach the resonance power of the key fragment to his energy rifle, giving his attacks a faint, silvery luster. This attack seemed more lethal to the Aberrations; those hit would let out more piercing screams, and silvery threads of light would spread from their wounds, temporarily suppressing the regeneration of the rust. However, this was also extremely draining for him; he felt as if his soul was being hollowed out bit by bit.

The battle was exceptionally brutal. The Aberrations were numerous and fearless. Lin Mo and Osira were forced to retreat step by step, their ammunition and energy depleting rapidly.

"We must... we must reach the spare parts cabinet!" Dr. Val shouted, pointing to a cabinet deep in the depot that was relatively intact and protected by a faint energy field. "It's right behind Krok's throne!"

But the path to the throne was blocked by layers of Aberrations.

Just as the situation became critical, the dark-red light in the depot flickered violently, like a heartbeat. Krok let out a roar mixed with pain and ecstasy as the rust carapace on his body began to further proliferate and deform. His power seemed to be rising constantly, but that aura of madness and inhumanity also grew heavier.

"Can you feel it?... The great 'Chewing'... it is granting me power!" Krok's voice became even more distorted and broken. "You... cannot stop... the rules... returning to zero!"

Lin Mo felt the sting of the key fragment reach its peak. Simultaneously, a fragment of "information" from the fragment itself forced its way into his mind—it wasn't language, but a pure "perception": he "saw" an invisible, umbilical-cord-like connection between Krok and a vast, hungry will. That "umbilical cord" was continuously injecting chaotic and decayed rules into Krok's body while also siphoning away his remaining humanity and order.

"He's being 'fed'!" Lin Mo understood instantly. "And he's also the 'anchor'! Cut that connection!"

He no longer conserved his power, pushing the resonance of the key fragment to its limit. Silvery light erupted from his body, temporarily dispelling the surrounding dark-red glow. He raised his energy rifle, no longer aiming at Krok's body, but at that invisible "umbilical cord" between him and the void!

"Foolish! Do you think rules... are something you can..." Krok's mocking words stopped abruptly.

The silvery energy beam didn't attack him directly but hit the empty space in front of him. However, a piercing screech, like glass shattering, erupted there! A distorted, translucent "passage" composed of countless broken symbols and chaotic geometry was forced to manifest in reality, fluctuating violently!

Krok let out an agonizing scream. Countless cracks instantly appeared on his rust carapace, and the red light flickered and dimmed rapidly. All the surrounding Aberrations also became like puppets with their strings cut, their movements instantly stiffening, and some even collapsed directly into a puddle of rust!

"Now!" Osira keenly seized the opportunity, lunging out like a leopard. Her pistol fired continuously, precisely clearing the stiffened Aberrations on the path to the parts cabinet.

Lin Mo suppressed the soul-tearing sensation from overusing the fragment's power and followed closely behind. Dr. Val also summoned his courage and followed with the equipment.

Krok tried to stop them, but his connection to the observer was temporarily disrupted, his power severely weakened, and his movements slowed. Osira and Lin Mo coordinated perfectly, one pinning him down while the other charged, finally reaching the parts cabinet.

"Cover us!" Lin Mo shouted to Osira, then began working with Dr. Val to dismantle the necessary spare parts—a set of high-precision reality stabilization crystals and a coupler.

Osira stood guard before the parts cabinet like a rock, picking off the stray Aberrations that rushed forward one by one. Her eyes were determined, as if she were pouring all her anger and sorrow into her bullets.

Krok struggled to re-establish the connection, and the dark-red light began to gather again. Time was running out!

"Got it!" Dr. Val finally removed the last critical part, clutching it tightly to his chest.

"Retreat! Back to the command room!" Lin Mo barked.

The three fought their way back along the path they came. Krok and the Aberrations, having lost their stable "feeding," were still frenzied but far less threatening than before.

When they finally burst back into the core command room, battered and exhausted, the scene before them made their hearts sink.

The blue stabilization field Isla had maintained had become extremely thin, flickering like a soap bubble, and its range had shrunk to cover only a few meters around the console. Outside the field, the tide of rust surged like a living thing, constantly battering this final barrier. The console itself flashed with warning red lights, and Isla's virtual image was so faint it was almost invisible, with only a few weak data streams still stubbornly flickering.

"Isla!" Lin Mo rushed forward.

"...Parts... quickly..." Isla's voice was as faint as a whisper, her data stream pointing to an open maintenance port beneath the console.

Dr. Val and Osira immediately stepped forward, replacing the damaged components as fast as they could. Their movements trembled with fatigue and tension, but they maintained incredible efficiency.

Lin Mo stood guard nearby, gripping his energy rifle, watching the blue barrier that could shatter at any moment and the clawing rust hell beyond it.

"coupler in place!"

"Stabilization crystals connected... energy path confirmed!"

"Reboot sequence... start!"

Dr. Val pressed the final button with force.

For a moment, the entire space station seemed to freeze.

Then, a powerful, pure, silver-blue energy pulse erupted from the core command room, spreading rapidly like a ripple!

Wherever it passed, the spreading rust receded and peeled away as if scorched; the twisted walls and structures groaned and slowly began to return to their original forms; the nauseating smell and eerie whispers in the air also dissipated quickly as if blown away by a fresh breeze.

Through the observation window, they saw the flesh-like structures of the outer passages quickly shrivel and harden, turning back into cold metal. The wandering Aberrations, swept by the silver-blue light, let out final wails before crumbling like weathered sand sculptures.

From the direction of the energy depot came a long, lingering roar of resentment and despair from Krok, which then fell into complete silence.

The core suppressor... reboot successful!

The space station's lights flickered on layer by layer, restoring stable illumination. Intermittent but gradually clearing system self-test reports came through the broadcast system.

The crisis... was temporarily averted.

The three slumped beside the console, panting heavily, their faces filled with the exhaustion of survivors.

However, Lin Mo felt a deep sense of sorrow. He looked at the empty main interface of the console; Isla's data stream... had completely vanished.

Osira walked silently to his side, looking at the restored space station, and said softly, "She... fulfilled her mission."

Just then, the communicator Lin Mo carried, which was connected to the deep diver, suddenly rang. Liranta's weak but urgent voice came through:

"Lin Mo... I captured... the last broadcast from Isla's core logic before it dissipated... it wasn't sent to us... it was sent to... the Weaver..."

Lin Mo snapped his head up.

Liranta's voice carried an unbelievable tremor: "The message content is... 'Protocol carrier ready, Cradle coordinates confirmed, request execution... Final Sowing'."