204: Chapter 204 Strange Movements Beneath the Desert
After the "Cleaning Storm" that swept through all of Huaxia ended, Lin Qingzhi and I returned to the Summit of Mount Shu.
Ice Phoenix Palace, the Throne Hall.
Lin Qingzhi and I stood side by side, looking at the giant holographic map of Huaxia projected in real-time by the [Swarm Sky Net].
On the map, those "S-rank" red dots that once flickered with an eerie blood-red light had all been extinguished.
In their place were green dots representing "Safe" and "Purified."
However, there wasn't a hint of joy on our faces.
Our gazes were fixed intently on the northwestern corner of the map, on the vast Taklamakan Desert that represented "Death" and "Forbidden Zone"!
There, a brand new "Unknown" descent point, emitting strange energy fluctuations, was slowly flickering.
"It feels very similar to my aura?"
Recalling the Rat King's previous report, which was full of confusion and gravity, I couldn't help but furrow my brows tightly.
I submerged my will into the [Swarm Network], attempting to analyze the energy fluctuation sample sent back by the Rat King's frontline scouts.
It was an extremely ancient and extremely pure energy.
It wasn't like the spiritual qi of the Xuan Realm, which was full of "vitality" and "creation."
Nor was it like the death qi of the Desolate Ruins, which was full of "death" and "decay."
It was more like a source power representing "distance" and "dimension," existing between "being" and "non-being"!
[Space]!
Yes, the power of space!
The instant I identified this energy!
The [chaos demon core] inside me, which had been slowly rotating, suddenly began to hum violently without warning!
It was like a gluttonous Taotie beast that had been starving for eons, letting out a roar full of "greed" and "longing" upon smelling the most delicious "food" in the world!
"Interesting."
Lin Qingzhi looked at my face, which was slightly flushed due to the demon core's movement, and a spark of interest flashed in her cold phoenix eyes.
- "It seems you're very interested in what's over there."
"More than just interested," I said with a bitter smile. "I feel like if I don't let this 'demon core' go and 'have a taste,' it might just jump out of my stomach on its own."
"In that case, let's go take a look," Lin Qingzhi said calmly. "I also want to see exactly what kind of entity could make even your 'chaos demon core' lose its composure like this."
"Alright!"
I immediately submerged my will into the [Swarm Network]!
"Rat King! Order your [Cave Worms] legion, those best at burrowing, to conduct infiltrative reconnaissance of the target area!"
"Yes! My King!"
However, the next second, what came back wasn't a report of successful reconnaissance.
Instead, it was dead silence.
"King... King..." the Rat King's shrill voice, filled with terror and disbelief, rang in my mind. "I... I have completely... lost contact with the hundred thousand 'vanguard' I sent out!"
"What?!" I was startled!
Though my [Swarm Network] hadn't yet evolved into its "ultimate form" capable of covering the entire globe...
...within Huaxia, it was already an omnipresent "Sky Net"!
As long as it was on this land, even with the most insignificant worker ant, I could maintain the clearest soul link!
Yet now, a full hundred thousand [Cave Worms] had simply vanished instantly, as if they had evaporated, right under the coverage of my "Sky Net"?!
It was as if they had been swallowed whole by another, completely different dimension!
"Something's strange!"
A look of gravity also appeared on Lin Qingzhi's face.
She knew better than I did what this implied.
It meant that beneath that unknown desert lay hidden a terrifying power capable of shielding or even severing links at the "level of laws"!
Just as my heart sank and I even began to consider whether to temporarily give up on this unknown "danger zone"—
"King!!"
The Rat King's scream, full of excitement and ecstasy, exploded in my mind once more!
"The last... the last one! That [Mutant Worm King] with 'King Rank' potential! At the very last moment before it completely lost contact, it desperately sent back... an image!!!"
"Buzz—!"
An image, extremely blurry and full of static noise, yet shocking enough to shake the soul of anyone who saw it, appeared before us!
It was... underground!
Ten thousand meters deep beneath those endless, scorching shifting sands!
A colossal complex of buildings, incredibly magnificent and filled with a "sci-fi" and "epic" aura, stood silently within that dark, cold void!
Its walls, its dome, every inch of it was composed of an unknown crystal flickering with brilliant starlight, the likes of which we had never seen!
And on the surface of that crystal complex, mysterious lights like shattered stars were slowly flowing.
As if telling of its antiquity and glory, long forgotten by time!
"This... this is?!"
Looking at this scene that completely overturned my understanding, my mind went blank.
And Lin Qingzhi beside me, the moment she saw that image!
Her phoenix eyes, which had always been cold as frost, suddenly trembled violently!
For the first time, a look of "shock" appeared on her beautiful face, which had always remained calm!
- She stared fixedly at the unique architectural style in the image, which was full of "geometric beauty" and "spatial rhythm"!
From her slightly trembling red lips, she uttered a few words filled with "disbelief" and "endless shock"!
"...The Space... Race!"
"This... this is actually the... who once controlled the great power of 'planar traversal' and vanished completely as early as the ancient era..."
"...ruins of the [Space Clan]?!"
Hearing this, my heart jolted!
Looking at that image full of mystery and the unknown, and feeling the almost greedy longing emanating from the [chaos demon core] within me!
A blazing fire ignited in my eyes!
"No matter what is down there."
"We are definitely going."
"I feel that thing..."
- "...is crucial to me."