33: echo

“Buzz—!”

The world instantly lost all sound and color.

No, it wasn't a void.

It was countless sharp, chaotic fragments overflowing with despair, like billions of red-hot steel needles stabbing violently into Chen Feng's mind.

“Ugh—!”

He couldn't even let out a full scream. It felt as if he had been struck by an invisible giant hammer; his knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily onto the soft moss.

【Hate... I hate it so much...】

【Why... why did you abandon me...】

【Kill! Kill them all!】

【Home... I want to go home...】

Grief, anger, malice, resentment... the purest emotions of countless Mine Slaves before their deaths washed over his fragile mental defenses like a bursting dam, threatening to tear him to pieces and assimilate him into the flood.

“Get away... all of you, get away!” Chen Feng clutched his head tightly, his nails digging deep into his scalp, trying to use physical pain to resist the mental collapse.

The scene before his eyes began to distort. The glowing mushrooms and crystals transformed into countless wailing human faces.

Just as his consciousness was about to be completely submerged, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice rang out in his mind.

“Ding. Detected high-concentration, high-purity ownerless 'Conceptual Entity'.”

A translucent blue pop-up window forced its way past the distorted faces, expanding in the center of his field of vision.

“Core Concept: [Desperate Struggle].”

“Currently suffering indiscriminate impact from said 'Conceptual Entity'. Consume 10 credit points to initiate 'Structured Analysis' protocol? During analysis, this protocol can convert passive impact into an absorbable information stream and form a temporary conceptual barrier.”

Chen Feng's pupils contracted sharply. At the final moment before his sanity snapped, he issued a beast-like roar with his mind.

“Yes! Initiate! Now!”

“Protocol confirmed. credit points -10. Initiating 'Structured Analysis'...”

On the system interface, a complex 3D model composed of countless lines of light instantly emerged and began to rotate and analyze at high speed.

Almost simultaneously, the destructive force trying to tear his soul apart was sucked into an invisible vortex.

The violent impact vanished, replaced by a gentle and massive stream of information slowly pouring into his consciousness.

Chen Feng gasped for air, kneeling on the ground, his body drenched in cold sweat. He looked up, gazing at the analytical model before him with shock and uncertainty.

“This... this is...”

His voice was raspy from exhaustion.

“Analysis complete. Target: 'Heroic Echoes' (Common Designation).”

“Composition: An 'Emotional Fossil' formed after the mental imprint of specific powerful individuals—who experienced extreme struggle and possessed an unyielding will until death—resonated with special 'Resonant Minerals' over thousands of years, undergoing purification and concentration.”

“Value Assessment: Far higher than ordinary undead crystals. Its interior is no longer chaotic Soul Echoes, but a purified single core concept. It is an excellent 'Base for Virtual Personality Shaping', 'Combat Will Catalyst', and 'Emotional Supplement Module for High-Order Logic AI'.”

Chen Feng 'read' the report word by word, his heart pounding wildly.

“Heroic Echoes... Emotional Fossils?” he muttered to himself. “I'm not just flipping junk anymore; I'm... mining a rich vein of concepts?”

For the first time, he realized that this cold exchange system was not just a trading platform.

It was also an indestructible analysis and defense tool that could protect him on a mental level!

“Wait,” he caught another key piece of information, “the report said... it needs to resonate with special 'Resonant Minerals'?”

He jerked his head up and looked around.

The giant crystals scattered throughout the cave, emitting a faint blue light, were identical in size and shape to the 3D diagram of the 'Resonant Minerals' attached to the analysis report!

“Have I... stumbled right into the heart of a treasure vault?”

The realization made him tremble with excitement.

The aftershocks of the mental impact completely receded, and the exhaustion of surviving a disaster surged over him. He stumbled behind a half-man-high crystal, leaning against the cold surface to catch his breath.

He looked down at himself. His clothes had long been worn to rags in the pipes, and his face and body were covered in black, foul-smelling filth. Combined with his face distorted from pain, he looked like a vengeful spirit crawled out of hell.

“The hero who discovered the treasure vault looks like this?” he couldn't help but mock himself inwardly.

He was in a wretched state, yet he sat upon an invaluable mountain of treasure.

However, just as he was about to get up to further explore the vault—

“Crunch...”

A heavy, rhythmic grinding sound came from the darkness deep within the cave.

The sound was unhurried, but every time it rang out, it seemed to step on Chen Feng's heartbeat, causing his newly relaxed nerves to instantly tighten.

“What's that sound?”

He immediately held his breath, crouched down, and peered cautiously through the gaps in the crystals toward the source of the noise.

Something was moving in the darkness.

Chen Feng's heart sank.

He realized that this treasure vault had a guardian.