57: Chapter 57 Great Terror

"EVA, full power propulsion. Target depth: below 9,500 meters!"

Previously, they had mostly been skirting the 10,000-meter edge, but this time, the massive Cloud Top Fortress fell like a lead weight into an abyss, violently breaking through the 9,500-meter fog layer at extreme speed.

When the altimeter passed 9,500, the scene around them changed qualitatively.

The gray mist, which had been relatively light, instantly solidified into a sort of translucent black gelatin, as if the entire fortress were struggling to move through thick ink. The searchlight beam was swallowed by absolute darkness less than half a meter away.

Luo Ning lay against the panoramic porthole, the playful expression on her face long gone.

She stared intently at the rolling, pitch-black darkness outside: "Boss... this place gives me the same feeling as that 'Death Black Mist' that always followed behind the area boundaries, devouring all the eliminated players. I was caught in it once when I first transmigrated here, and that sense of despair... I'll never forget it as long as I live."

Just in this absolute dead silence, a dull vibration suddenly came from the deep darkness below.

"Since we're here, let's see what's hidden down here."

Zhou An gripped the control stick tightly.

Suddenly!

The wide-area radar failed completely, and the screen began flashing with crazy, piercing red error symbols.

In the darkness directly ahead, two cracks several kilometers long slowly opened—those weren't cracks at all, but a blood-colored giant eye so huge it couldn't be described in words! It hung silently at a depth of over 9,000 meters, and what was most terrifying was that inside its main pupil, which was several kilometers in diameter, there were thousands upon thousands of small, constantly rotating eyeballs densely packed together.

Every small eyeball was staring fixedly at the fortress, exuding an extreme malice that transcended dimensions.

[Warning! Super-positional divinity gaze detected!]

[SAN value instantly deducted by 99 points!]

"Ah—!!!"

Zhou An and Luo Ning clutched their heads simultaneously, letting out shrill screams. Just from a single glance, Zhou An's full 100 SAN points were wiped out, instantly plummeting to a fatal 1 point!

Just on the verge of his sanity completely collapsing and his body beginning to mutate, a blinding seven-colored light burst forth from Zhou An's body.

[Colorful Hextech: Last Stand triggered!]

[All attributes increased by 99%! Forcibly locking the last 1 SAN point, maintaining absolute sanity for 30 minutes!]

"EVA... run! Fly up at all costs!!!"

Zhou An's eyes were scarlet. Enduring the tearing pain in his mind, he let out a beast-like roar from his throat. The engines at the bottom of the fortress emitted a groaning, overwhelmed shriek, violently spewing out unprecedented azure flames as they tried with all their might to break free from the terrifying gravity of that giant eye.

However, the high-dimensional pollution had already irreversibly eroded their flesh.

Zhou An watched in horror as the skin on his arms began to tear violently, and purple, mucus-covered tentacles began to frantically crawl out from his flesh, twisting wantonly in the air. Looking over, Luo Ning was in an even worse state; two slender, eerie tentacles had already grown from the side of her fair neck.

"Damn it... the inhibitor..." Zhou An's hand trembled as he reached for the medicine in his combat suit's slot, but Luo Ning pressed down on his hand firmly.

At this moment, although Luo Ning's SAN value had also dropped to freezing point, her eyes revealed a kind of near-neurotic scientific fanaticism: "Don't inject it! Boss... this is living tissue from a super-positional creature! This is a fucking miracle... Quick, draw your blade! Cut them off and put them in the cold storage box!"

Zhou An was stunned, then, on the edge of life and death, he was actually amused: "You really are a fucking lunatic!"

But under the forced clarity of [Last Stand], Zhou An immediately understood the heaven-defying value of this material. He abruptly put away the medicine and backhanded his tactical knife from his waist.

At this moment, the fortress was fleeing for its life at a vertical ascent limit, piercing through layers of black mist as it shot toward the sky; inside the cockpit, however, was another extremely eerie and bloody scene.

"Turn around! You've got two big ones on your shoulder, don't move, I'll cut them off for you!"

Zhou An's blade fell, purple juice splattered, and that segment of tentacle was still twisting and jumping on the metal floor.

"Ouch! Be gentle! That's connected to my flesh!"

Luo Ning winced in pain, but her hands and feet were extremely nimble as she picked up the tentacle and stuffed it into a sample bottle. Afterward, she raised a gleaming scalpel, her eyes shining as she rushed toward Zhou An: "Boss, don't move! The one on your lower back is already wrapped around your belt, I'll help you take care of it... Holy shit, did you grow one on your ass too?!"

"Shut up! Look carefully before you cut! Don't you dare cut the wrong place!!!"

In this suffocating death mist, two lunatics on the verge of sanity collapse were driving the fortress in a desperate flight, screaming and hacking at the mutated tentacles growing on each other's bodies.

The lock effect of Zhou An's [Last Stand] had only a few minutes left.

"Hurry up! Luo Ning, the last one!" Zhou An roared, backhanding a strike to shave off the last piece of twisting purple tissue on his shoulder blade.

He knew very well that once the effect wore off and his SAN value dropped below 0, under that unspeakable gaze, he would definitely mutate completely.

Luo Ning, covered in sweat, stuffed the last piece of living tissue into the system, her face deathly pale.

She pointed weakly toward the depths of the corridor: "Boss... I'm going back to my room to deal with this. In two hours, wait until your SAN value recovers above the safety line before you come find me. Don't come in early, right now everyone looks like an octopus to me..."

After saying this, she clutched those sample jars tightly and stumbled toward her room.

Zhou An leaned heavily against the captain's chair. The moment the countdown hit zero, a strong wave of dizziness washed over him.

With trembling hands, he took a large quantity of bandages and high-grade topical medicinal powder from his inventory.

The wounds left from cutting away the mutated tissue were massive, and he could even see the beating muscle fibers.

Zhou An couldn't bear to use the extremely rare healing injection; that was his trump card kept for life-saving.

Sitting on hundreds of millions in supplies, sweeping up some high-grade hemostatic medicine at the Trading House was just a drop in the bucket.

"Hiss—"

The powder stung intensely when sprinkled on the wounds. Zhou An gritted his teeth and skillfully bandaged himself.

After treating his wounds, he glanced at the screen. Li Muzi and the others were still on standby in the safe zone.

"Forget it, don't let them come back yet."

Zhou An muttered.

That level of mental pollution just now, even a leak of a trace of its aura, would be enough to make Muzi and the others go insane on the spot. He had to wait for the residual pollution to be completely cleared.

Zhou An set a two-hour alarm and took out a large pile of [Legendary blood crystal spirit wheat] and [Legendary wind spirit berry].

Every mouthful of spirit wheat entering his stomach, the gentle energy was repairing his shattered mental defenses. He was like a ruthless eating machine; as long as it could restore SAN value, he stuffed it all into his mouth.

Two hours later, the alarm rang on time.

Zhou An opened his eyes, the scarlet in his eyes having faded for the most part. He glanced at the system panel:

[Current SAN value: 86/100]

Although not full, it was enough to maintain clarity and sanity. Zhou An got up and stretched. With his Tier 4 physique and the high-grade medicinal powder, the wounds had already scabbed over, leaving only a slight stinging sensation.

He walked out of the cockpit and stopped in front of Luo Ning's door.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou An pressed the open button. The airlock door slid open to the sides with a low "hiss" sound.

A heavy smell of blood rushed to meet him, mixed with the scent of medical alcohol and ozone.

Zhou An's gaze swept across the room quickly.

It looked like a slaughterhouse; broken glass was scattered everywhere, and the walls and floor were splattered with dark purple and scarlet bloodstains.

"Luo Ning!"

Zhou An's gaze dropped sharply, his heart instantly tightening.

Luo Ning was slumped on the floor in the corner of the lab bench.

The oversized white coat and inner clothing she had been wearing were now completely reduced to rags, hanging limply on her body, stained with blood.

Even more shocking was her body—from her shoulders, collarbone, and ribs to her thighs, she was covered in cuts of varying depths.

Those were the marks she had left on herself in order to completely excise the mutated tissue. Some places were deep enough to see bone, and blood was still seeping out, staining a large area of the surrounding floor red.

Zhou An rushed over in three steps, kneeling halfway in front of her. Looking at her face, pale as paper, and her weak breathing, he didn't hesitate at all. With a flip of his wrist, he took a healing injection directly from his system space.

The ghostly blue liquid rippled in the syringe. Zhou An pulled off the cap and was about to jab it into her cut-covered arm.

Slap!

A cold, blood-stained little hand suddenly reached out, gripping Zhou An's wrist tightly. Although not strong, her attitude was exceptionally firm.

"Luo Ning?"

Zhou An was taken aback and looked down.

Luo Ning slowly opened her eyes, which were filled with red bloodshot veins. Her mouth twitched, pulling into a weak and neurotic sneer, and she cursed in a hoarse voice: "Damn... Boss, have you lost your mind? This stuff is for when you get your heart bitten through by a high-tier monster to save your life... why are you pulling it out for just these superficial wounds?"

"You've almost whittled yourself into a skeleton, and you're still talking nonsense! Let go!"

Zhou An frowned, commanding in a low voice.

"Don't touch it!" Luo Ning widened her eyes, protecting the syringe firmly. Afterward, a playful, mocking expression actually appeared on her pale face.

"I say Boss, you wouldn't happen to have a secret crush on me, would you? Why is it that every time you see blood, you're in such a rush to dump your most expensive stock on me? My figure and face are important, yes, but you have to look at the cost-effectiveness... hurry up and get your high-grade muscle-regenerating powder out and sprinkle it on me, don't be a spendthrift!"

Seeing this crazy girl, who was clearly weak enough to be on the verge of death, still worrying about supplies and teasing him, Zhou An was so angry he actually calmed down.

"Fine, you've got a hard life, I'll listen to you."

Zhou An took the injection back into his space in annoyance, and backhanded a large amount of high-grade hemostatic medicine and muscle-regenerating powder.

At this moment, Luo Ning's clothes were completely shattered, most of her body exposed to the air. The crisscrossing wounds combined with her pale skin gave off an eerie sense of fragility. But in the laws of survival in the apocalypse, flesh and blood were just carriers for maintaining operation; in the room at this moment, there was only pure medical treatment, not a hint of romance.

Zhou An expressionlessly tore away the obstructive rags on her, skillfully sprinkling the powder evenly over the everted wounds.

"Hiss—gentle, it hurts, it hurts! Are you curing salted meat or something!" Luo Ning winced in pain, her fingers clawing tightly at the floor.

"Know it hurts now?"

Zhou An mocked, while quickly bandaging her with hemostatic bandages, "Turn around, time to medicate your back."

Luo Ning obediently turned around, revealing her back, which was also covered in knife marks. Zhou An skillfully treated the last of the wounds, tied a knot, and then stood up, exhaling a long breath of stale air.

"Medicine's done. Stay put and don't move around for the next few days, rest well before you go back to researching."

Zhou An pulled a clean blanket from the side and draped it directly over her head.

"I'm heading back to the cockpit. I'll let Muzi and the others return in a while. Hurry up and put some clothes on."

"Got it, got it, Old Lady Zhou is so long-winded..."

Luo Ning poked her head out from the blanket and waved her hand impatiently.

Zhou An shook his head and turned to walk out of the room.

As the metal door closed again behind him, the room returned to silence, with only the faint sound of the climate control system running.

Luo Ning grabbed the blanket and propped herself up against the wall, stumbling as she stood up. She walked to the wardrobe, pulled out a large, clean shirt, and then moved to the mirror at the vanity sink.

Looking at herself in the mirror, wrapped in bandages over most of her body, the playfulness and liveliness in Luo Ning's eyes gradually settled, becoming exceptionally calm, even revealing a hint of numbness.

She slowly reached her hand toward her collar and began to button the shirt, one by one.

The movements were very slow and stiff, as if this body wasn't quite listening to her.

Just as she was about to button the very top button, she lowered her head slightly.

And the moment she lowered her head—

In the reflection of the mirror, on Luo Ning's fair nape, half-hidden by her hair, a piece of skin that had been smooth suddenly squirmed eerily.

Immediately after, that piece of skin split open silently from the middle, just like an invisible zipper being pulled open.

A bloodshot, miniature eye with a pupil as pitch-black as an abyss suddenly opened from beneath the flesh!

That eye rotated frantically in the air twice, then stared fixedly at the image in the mirror, and a moment later, it disappeared.