33: Fire usurper

Lin Mo's voice was not loud, yet it was like a cold scalpel, precisely cutting into the gaps of Zhou Weian's frantic ramblings. In this underground space, filled with bloody energy and painful wails, it sounded exceptionally clear and sharp.

Zhou Weian's movements at the control panel suddenly froze. He slowly, almost frame by frame, turned around. In his eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses, there was not much surprise, but rather an extreme annoyance at being interrupted, and… a fanaticism bordering on sacrilege.

"Lin Mo… Mr.," his voice was distorted by excitement, a strange smile twisting his lips. "You truly are… extraordinary. The permission gates and those ‘failures’ I set up couldn't stop you. It seems your affinity for the ‘sacred object’ far exceeds my estimation!"

His gaze greedily swept over Lin Mo, as if he were admiring a perfect experimental subject. "Do you feel it? This surging power! This wave of evolution! The Great Erosion isn't a disaster; it's a selection, an opportunity! The weak bodies and narrow cognition of old humanity are destined to be eliminated! And we—" He spread his arms, pointing to the violently flickering seed of source blood and the wailing experimental subjects around him, "—will bathe in divine blood and become the pioneers of a new era!"

Lin Mo looked at him expressionlessly, his eyes as cold as ice. He was not swayed by Zhou Weian's mad ramblings. The World Editor in his Sea of Consciousness was analyzing the situation before him at an unprecedented speed.

The core fragment's state was extremely unstable. External Corruptor attacks, internal forced energy extraction, and Zhou Weian's attempted 'fusion' ritual were like three nooses, strangling it towards complete collapse and annihilation. He had to immediately sever its connection to this evil ritual and simultaneously soothe its chaotic energy.

As for Zhou Weian… his own mental state was clearly affected by the highly contaminated energy, making him fanatical and dangerous. His standing position was precisely at an energy interaction node, seemingly allowing him to partially access the power of the seed of source blood.

"A pioneer? Or… a gravedigger?" Lin Mo took a step forward, his pace steady, his aura becoming ethereal and elusive. The editor's energy quietly flowed within him, not for direct attack, but for weaving and constructing. "Your so-called fusion is merely accelerating its death and dragging yourself and the entire Shelter into an abyss of no return."

"What do you know!" Zhou Weian interrupted sharply, a distorted expression of offense on his face. "The ethics and morals of the old world are just shackles for the weak! Necessary sacrifices are trivial for evolution! As long as I can fuse with it, I can control this reality-altering power! I will become a god!"

Before he finished speaking, his right hand slammed down on a red button on the control panel!

"Buzz—!"

Around the circular platform, several unused life support pods suddenly opened, and three mutated creatures, similar to those in the previous corridor, rushed out! But they were smaller, yet their movements were more agile, their eyes flashing with pure, manipulated ferocity as they roared and pounced on Lin Mo from different directions! At the same time, above the platform, several automatic weapons hidden in the structure extended their muzzles, spewing out scorching tongues of fire!

Zhou Weian himself retreated rapidly, pressing his hands towards the seed of source blood, muttering incantations, attempting to forcibly accelerate the fusion process! The light of the seed of source blood instantly became more dazzling and unstable, the 'blood vessel' conduits connecting it violently expanded, and the speed of energy extraction abruptly increased. Fine spatial distortion cracks even began to appear in the center of the platform!

Facing this sudden encirclement, Lin Mo's pupils constricted slightly. A head-on confrontation was definitely not the best strategy.

[Cognitive Tampering · Group Suggestion] Energy spread out from him like ripples. This was not a powerful illusion, but a precise interference targeting the low-intelligence mutated creatures and the automatic weapons' sensing systems.

In the perception of the mutated creatures, Lin Mo's figure suddenly became blurry, as if it had split into several, moving rapidly. The automatic weapons' targeting systems also experienced a brief malfunction; most of the bullets deviated from their trajectory, hitting empty space or walls, sending sparks flying.

Utilizing this created brief confusion, Lin Mo's figure flickered like a ghost, avoiding claw attacks and stray bullets with dangerous precision, using a method that defied physical common sense, almost like short-distance 'teleportation'. He was not moving in a straight line, but advancing along the path of weakest and most unstable energy fields calculated by the editor, each step landing in the 'gaps' of the energy field Zhou Weian was trying to construct.

He ignored the temporarily disoriented mutated creatures and charged directly towards the core of the circular platform!

He had only one goal—to sever the connection!

"Stop him!" Zhou Weian, realizing Lin Mo's intention, let out a roar of surprise and anger, distracting himself to frantically control two mutated creatures to block him, while simultaneously drawing even more violent energy with both hands, attempting to tear Lin Mo apart with the energy turbulence!

Lin Mo's eyes sharpened. He couldn't hold back any longer!

[Reality Editing · Local Disruption] He pointed his joined fingers like a sword, making a slicing motion in the air towards the thickest energy conduits connecting to the seed of source blood!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, but the 'rules' of internal energy conduction within those conduits, composed of high-strength alloys and energy field restraints, were temporarily 'negated' under the interference of the editor's authority.

It was like the most precise circuit being instantly cut off!

"Crack—!"

Dazzling energy arcs erupted from the break, emitting a piercing roar. The forcibly extracted energy flow abruptly ceased, and the entire platform shook violently! The violent pulsation of the seed of source blood suddenly paused, as if a dying person had finally found a moment to breathe.

"No!!!" Zhou Weian let out a desperate shriek, feeling his fragile connection to the seed of source blood rapidly weakening. The backlash caused blood to seep from his nose and mouth, and the madness in his eyes reached its peak. "You destroyed… you destroyed everything!"

He abandoned precise control over the mutated creatures, instead channeling all his mental power and the invoked contaminated energy, like a thrown spear, fiercely into Lin Mo! This was a chaotic, vile, and destructive mentalImpact!

At the same time, the two charging mutated creatures also reached Lin Mo, their sharp claws, carrying aBlood Wind, swiping at his vital points!

With a mental assault from the front and a physical encirclement from behind, Lin Mo was instantly caught in a deadly trap!

In his Sea of Consciousness, the black jade slip hummed with unprecedented intensity, seeming to warn, yet also to yearn. The close proximity to the seed of source blood, and the pure (though contaminated) origin he touched when he severed the energy connection, put the editor in an extremely active state.

He could no longer passively defend!

A decisive glint flashed in Lin Mo's eyes. He did not try to directly confront Zhou Weian's mental assault, nor did he turn to block the mutated creatures' attacks. Instead, he made a move that defied everyone's expectations—

He spread his arms, his body like a vortex, actively meeting the vile mental assault, and… at the center of the platform, the seed of source blood, temporarily freed from forced extraction but still in a chaotic, turbulent state!

[Authority Command · Synchronization Resonance] He opened the World Editor's perception and authority to their limits, not to devour, not to control, but to 'understand,' to 'soothe,' to 'guide'!

"I hear it…" he whispered in his heart to the wailing core fragment, "…your pain. Now, I will take you away."

"Boom!!!"

The vile mental assault and the chaotic energy of the seed of source blood surged into his body almost simultaneously!

The imagined pain of his body being torn apart did not immediately arrive. Instead, there was an unprecedented flood of information and perception!

He seemed to instantly experience the entire process of the reality stabilization anchor from its birth to its shattering, seeing fragments of countless worlds and laws, feeling the endless pain of being contaminated, torn apart, and enslaved… At the same time, he also felt Zhou Weian's twisted, ambitious, and fear-intertwined mad will… The World Editor operated frantically, the light on the surface of the jade slip shone to its maximum, even revealing countless intricate and ancient patterns. It acted like the most efficient filter and analyzer, desperately sorting through this chaotic torrent, separating the original imprint belonging to the seed of source blood from the contamination and madness attached by Zhou Weian.

This was an extremely dangerous process, like walking a tightrope. Fine cracks began to appear on the surface of his body, like fragile porcelain about to shatter, and blood seeped from the cracks. But his eyes grew brighter and deeper.

The two mutated creatures that had rushed towards him suddenly froze when they approached a certain range around his body, as if hitting an invisible wall. Then, the chaotic energy structures within their bodies, upon contact with the pure source aura emanating from Lin Mo, which had been initially sorted by the editor, began to spontaneously collapse and disintegrate, finally wailing and turning into two puddles of viscous fluid.

Zhou Weian watched all this dumbfounded. He felt his connection to the seed of source blood completely severed, and the mental assault he had unleashed, like a mud ox entering the sea, not only failed to destroy Lin Mo, but seemed… to have been 'absorbed' by him?

"You… what kind of monster are you?!" Zhou Weian's voice was filled with fear and disbelief.

Lin Mo did not answer. He slowly raised his hand and pointed at the seed of source blood in the center of the platform.

At this moment, the light of the seed of source blood was no longer that uncontrolled crimson, but gradually transformed into a softer, milky white glow containing countless tiny light spots, as if returning to some initial purity. Its pulsation became steady and powerful, no longer filled with pain.

The broken conduits still connected to it, under the milky white glow, rapidly melted and vaporized like ice and snow exposed to sunlight.

In the life support pods surrounding the platform, the painful expressions on the faces of the remaining experimental subjects gradually subsided. Although still weak, the feeling of having their life force forcibly extracted disappeared.

Lin Mo looked at the docile core fragment, feeling a sense of satisfaction in his Sea of Consciousness from the editor, a feeling of being 'a little bit complete,' and a much deeper and more harmonious connection established with it than Zhou Weian's forced enslavement.

He succeeded. Not only did he stop Zhou Weian's mad plan, but with the World Editor's assistance, he also initially 'tamed' and 'purified' this core fragment.

He turned his head to look at Zhou Weian, who was slumped on the ground, ashen-faced, his gaze calm and unruffled.

"I am not a god, Researcher Zhou," Lin Mo's voice carried a hint of weariness, but more so an undeniable authority. "I am just an… administrator… unwilling to watch the world be completely destroyed by fools like you."

Just then, the entire underground space violently vibrated again, more intensely than any previous time! Large chunks of concrete and metal components began to fall from the ceiling. More dense and terrifying Corruptor roars came from above, along with the explosive sounds of the Shelter's defense system overloading and collapsing!

Having lost the stable support of the seed of source blood's order field, coupled with the cumulative effect of previous internal and external attacks, the defense of the Seventh Shelter was collapsing completely!

Lin Mo's eyes sharpened. The crisis was not over yet.

He reached out, and the milky white core fragment of the seed of source blood transformed into a stream of light, disappearing into his glabella and directly merging with the black jade slip in his Sea of Consciousness. The jade slip let out a joyful chime, its volume seemingly increasing slightly, and the patterns on its surface became clearer and more complex.

He had to leave here immediately and take as many people as he could save.

He glanced at the distraught Zhou Weian, without any pity, and turned to rush towards an emergency evacuation passage in the opposite direction from where he came. There, the editor indicated a faint gathering of life signatures, possibly trapped researchers or guards.

The ground beneath his feet was cracking, and the dome above was collapsing. The tableau of hell was accelerating its unfolding.

And with the initially complete 'spark' in hand, Lin Mo's path of escape and salvation had just begun.