Chapter 110: The Broken Valley Entrance and the First Illusionary Mist
For two full days, Task Force Squad 7 was completely immersed in the war zone's underground simulation training ground.
The training ground replicated the narrow terrain of the rift rock caverns and was equipped with simple psychic interference generators to simulate the Sea of Consciousness erosion caused by the Ancient Progenitor's moss resonance. The seven members of the squad repeatedly integrated their two tactical groupings, practicing signal communication, ambush evacuation, and illusion identification protocols over and over again.
As the Sea of Consciousness tracing expert, Wen Lan specifically led everyone through Sea of Consciousness anchoring training.
"Psychic illusions are best at seizing the images of your deepest regrets and greatest fears," Wen Lan said, wearing a semi-transparent Sea of Consciousness monitoring helmet, her fingertips lightly tapping the control console. "Illusions can deceive your vision and hearing, but the frequency of your Sea of Consciousness waves will not lie. Once you perceive psychic ripples that do not belong to your teammates, immediately shout out your codename to forcibly pull your companion's consciousness back to reality."
She looked at Lin Yan. "Captain, your Sea of Consciousness perception is the most acute. You will be responsible for monitoring the entire squad's mental state throughout the process. The moment anyone's Sea of Consciousness shows signs of disorder, remind them immediately."
Lin Yan nodded slightly. After two days of joint drills, he had already become familiar with the Sea of Consciousness aura of each teammate. Su Wan's psychic fluctuations were delicate and stable, suitable for tracing with instruments; Shen Ke's Sea of Consciousness was restrained, like a dormant blade; Zhao Hu's was rough and thick, possessing extreme resistance to impact; Xu Yang's leaned towards calm rationality, making him less susceptible to emotion-based illusions; Wen Lan herself excelled at Sea of Consciousness analysis; and Pang Lie's Sea of Consciousness was simple and direct, with almost no superfluous thoughts, making him the least likely to be deceived by illusions.
Pang Lie hoisted the pulse heavy cannon and test-fired at the simulated scaled beast targets in the training ground. The muzzle erupted with pale blue energy flames, and the alloy target was instantly blasted to pieces.
"This thing consumes energy quickly; it can fire at most three continuous shots," Pang Lie patted the cannon's body. "It's effective against clustered scaled beasts, but we shouldn't fire indiscriminately. We need to save it for dealing with the high-tier scaled beasts guarding the priests."
Beside him, Xu Yang was organizing his demolition pack, categorizing and sealing directional explosives and delayed detonators, wrapping them layer by layer in anti-corrosion, waterproof cloth. "I've divided the explosives into batches. Small charges are for clearing the moss on the rock walls, while the heavy payloads are reserved for the main resonance nodes. If we get surrounded, we can also use them to blast open rock crevices to create an escape route."
Drill after drill, review after review. The seven-man squad, originally unfamiliar with each other, gradually developed tacit cooperation.
On the day of their departure, the sky was not yet bright.
A grayish morning mist enveloped the Black Mountain range. Two modified off-road vehicles from the war zone drove out of the eastern gate of the bastion, heading west along the devastated, abandoned highway. The road was covered with massive fissures, and the skeletal remains of rusted, scrapped vehicles were everywhere. Withered, crooked trees stood lonely on the wasteland.
The closer they got to the No. 7 Broken Valley, the stronger the foul stench in the air became.
The off-road vehicles stopped at a safe alert point two kilometers from the entrance to the broken valley. This was a temporary forward outpost of the war zone, guarded by two sentries. The alert tower was equipped with long-range psychic detection equipment.
"The psychic interference inside the broken valley is continuously strengthening," the sentry handed over the latest detection records. "Last night, we detected two obvious psychic frequency shifts, most likely indicating that two priests were alternating in regulating the resonance network. Drones can fly at most fifty meters into the valley mouth before losing their signal. The illusionary mist inside is much stronger than in the No. 3 Rift."
The entire squad disembarked, checking their equipment and putting on their Sea of Consciousness protective hoods.
Lin Yan scanned everyone and gave a low-worded reminder, "Remember the protocol. Reconnaissance group: me, Su Wan, Shen Ke, and Wen Lan, will take the right path through the underground water channel to trace and locate the dual nodes and the priests' positions from a distance. Firepower and demolition group: Zhao Hu, Xu Yang, and Pang Lie, will stay at the gravel beach at the valley entrance to establish a temporary position and guard the retreat exit. Once you receive my emergency signal, prepare to provide support immediately; without the signal, strictly forbid advancing rashly."
"Understood!" the six responded in low voices.
The squad split up. The firepower group stayed at the gravel beach to construct simple defensive fortifications, deploy the heavy cannon, and set up alert explosives. The reconnaissance group of four carried lightweight equipment and hiked deep into the broken valley.
On both sides of the broken valley were giant concrete roadbeds that had collapsed during the disaster, with exposed, broken rebar resembling white bones. A faint, grayish-white mist permeated the valley—the illusionary mist that Wen Lan had warned about in advance.
The mist was light, looking like ordinary morning fog to the naked eye. But the moment they stepped into the misty area, Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness immediately captured countless tiny, drifting psychic threads floating in the air like a spiderweb, slowly burrowing into people's Sea of Consciousness.
"The illusionary mist has begun to infect us. Maintain your Sea of Consciousness barriers; do not relax," Lin Yan reminded them in a low voice, his Sea of Consciousness spreading outward to continuously monitor the psychic fluctuations around them. "Wen Lan, trace. Su Wan, record the psychic frequency. Shen Ke, guard the rock walls on both sides."
Wen Lan activated her tracing helmet. Chaotic ripples kept jumping on the screen. "There are a massive number of fragmented psychic threads with dispersed sources. Moss is attached to the rock walls throughout the entire valley. The illusionary mist is not released from a concentrated point; it is continuously diffused across the entire area."
Walking forward for over a hundred meters, the passage split into three, perfectly matching the terrain marked on the sand table. The left path was damp, with large patches of dark green moss faintly visible on the rock walls; the middle path was deep and narrow, shrouded in dead silence; the right path had humid air, and the gurgling sound of underground water could be heard—this was the detour route they had chosen.
Just as the four were about to turn into the right path, a familiar shout suddenly echoed from the darkness deep within the middle path.
It was the voice of a field operative who had died two years ago. It was clear and authentic, carrying a hoarse plea for help: "Save me... I'm trapped here... Come quickly..."
Su Wan's footsteps suddenly halted, and her pupils contracted slightly. She recognized this voice; it belonged to a former teammate who had died in a rift mission years ago.
"Don't listen! It's an illusion!" Wen Lan immediately warned in a deep voice, her tracing helmet blaring frantically. "The psychic signal is coming from the middle path. The illusionary mist has seized the voice from your memory!"
Su Wan bit her teeth tightly, shaking her head vigorously to forcibly suppress the surging emotions in her heart.
Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness instantly locked onto the psychic source in the middle path. He said coldly, "The two priests have already detected our entry into the valley and have begun releasing illusions to test us. They are trying to lure us into the ambush circle in the middle path. Ignore it and continue forward into the right path."
The four did not linger. They turned and stepped into the damp underground water channel on the right. Beneath their feet, the icy shallow water washed over their boot soles. Water droplets continuously dripped from the rock walls, the ticking sound echoing through the dark passage.
But the cry for help did not disappear. It continued to drift intermittently through the rock walls, even beginning to change its voice, taking turns mimicking the tones of the people each squad member cared about in their memories, constantly seeping out from the darkness in an attempt to shake their minds.
Staring at the tracing screen, Wen Lan's face grew increasingly grim. "Captain, I've captured two independent psychic core signals. One is deep in the left path, and the other is hidden in a suspended rock cave above the middle path. The two lesser priests are both in position."
Lin Yan stopped and raised his eyes to gaze into the deep, seemingly endless underground water channel.
Dual priests, dual nodes, and an illusionary mist permeating the entire broken valley. The danger level of the No. 7 Rift far exceeded that of the No. 3 Rift.
He raised his hand and tapped his communicator three times lightly, sending the pre-arranged warning signal to notify the firepower group at the valley entrance: The reconnaissance group had made contact with the enemy; there were two lesser priests inside the rift. Everyone was to remain on high alert.
A deep reply came through the communicator from Pang Lie: "Received. The gravel beach position is ready for support at any time."
Lin Yan put away his communicator and said in a deep voice to the three people beside him, "Be careful. We have entered the massive psychic web they have laid. Continue forward and find the exact locations of the two resonance nodes."
The underground water continued to flow beside their feet, the dark passage extending infinitely forward. Countless invisible psychic threads on the rock walls quietly wrapped around them.
The training ground replicated the narrow terrain of the rift rock caverns and was equipped with simple psychic interference generators to simulate the Sea of Consciousness erosion caused by the Ancient Progenitor's moss resonance. The seven members of the squad repeatedly integrated their two tactical groupings, practicing signal communication, ambush evacuation, and illusion identification protocols over and over again.
As the Sea of Consciousness tracing expert, Wen Lan specifically led everyone through Sea of Consciousness anchoring training.
"Psychic illusions are best at seizing the images of your deepest regrets and greatest fears," Wen Lan said, wearing a semi-transparent Sea of Consciousness monitoring helmet, her fingertips lightly tapping the control console. "Illusions can deceive your vision and hearing, but the frequency of your Sea of Consciousness waves will not lie. Once you perceive psychic ripples that do not belong to your teammates, immediately shout out your codename to forcibly pull your companion's consciousness back to reality."
She looked at Lin Yan. "Captain, your Sea of Consciousness perception is the most acute. You will be responsible for monitoring the entire squad's mental state throughout the process. The moment anyone's Sea of Consciousness shows signs of disorder, remind them immediately."
Lin Yan nodded slightly. After two days of joint drills, he had already become familiar with the Sea of Consciousness aura of each teammate. Su Wan's psychic fluctuations were delicate and stable, suitable for tracing with instruments; Shen Ke's Sea of Consciousness was restrained, like a dormant blade; Zhao Hu's was rough and thick, possessing extreme resistance to impact; Xu Yang's leaned towards calm rationality, making him less susceptible to emotion-based illusions; Wen Lan herself excelled at Sea of Consciousness analysis; and Pang Lie's Sea of Consciousness was simple and direct, with almost no superfluous thoughts, making him the least likely to be deceived by illusions.
Pang Lie hoisted the pulse heavy cannon and test-fired at the simulated scaled beast targets in the training ground. The muzzle erupted with pale blue energy flames, and the alloy target was instantly blasted to pieces.
"This thing consumes energy quickly; it can fire at most three continuous shots," Pang Lie patted the cannon's body. "It's effective against clustered scaled beasts, but we shouldn't fire indiscriminately. We need to save it for dealing with the high-tier scaled beasts guarding the priests."
Beside him, Xu Yang was organizing his demolition pack, categorizing and sealing directional explosives and delayed detonators, wrapping them layer by layer in anti-corrosion, waterproof cloth. "I've divided the explosives into batches. Small charges are for clearing the moss on the rock walls, while the heavy payloads are reserved for the main resonance nodes. If we get surrounded, we can also use them to blast open rock crevices to create an escape route."
Drill after drill, review after review. The seven-man squad, originally unfamiliar with each other, gradually developed tacit cooperation.
On the day of their departure, the sky was not yet bright.
A grayish morning mist enveloped the Black Mountain range. Two modified off-road vehicles from the war zone drove out of the eastern gate of the bastion, heading west along the devastated, abandoned highway. The road was covered with massive fissures, and the skeletal remains of rusted, scrapped vehicles were everywhere. Withered, crooked trees stood lonely on the wasteland.
The closer they got to the No. 7 Broken Valley, the stronger the foul stench in the air became.
The off-road vehicles stopped at a safe alert point two kilometers from the entrance to the broken valley. This was a temporary forward outpost of the war zone, guarded by two sentries. The alert tower was equipped with long-range psychic detection equipment.
"The psychic interference inside the broken valley is continuously strengthening," the sentry handed over the latest detection records. "Last night, we detected two obvious psychic frequency shifts, most likely indicating that two priests were alternating in regulating the resonance network. Drones can fly at most fifty meters into the valley mouth before losing their signal. The illusionary mist inside is much stronger than in the No. 3 Rift."
The entire squad disembarked, checking their equipment and putting on their Sea of Consciousness protective hoods.
Lin Yan scanned everyone and gave a low-worded reminder, "Remember the protocol. Reconnaissance group: me, Su Wan, Shen Ke, and Wen Lan, will take the right path through the underground water channel to trace and locate the dual nodes and the priests' positions from a distance. Firepower and demolition group: Zhao Hu, Xu Yang, and Pang Lie, will stay at the gravel beach at the valley entrance to establish a temporary position and guard the retreat exit. Once you receive my emergency signal, prepare to provide support immediately; without the signal, strictly forbid advancing rashly."
"Understood!" the six responded in low voices.
The squad split up. The firepower group stayed at the gravel beach to construct simple defensive fortifications, deploy the heavy cannon, and set up alert explosives. The reconnaissance group of four carried lightweight equipment and hiked deep into the broken valley.
On both sides of the broken valley were giant concrete roadbeds that had collapsed during the disaster, with exposed, broken rebar resembling white bones. A faint, grayish-white mist permeated the valley—the illusionary mist that Wen Lan had warned about in advance.
The mist was light, looking like ordinary morning fog to the naked eye. But the moment they stepped into the misty area, Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness immediately captured countless tiny, drifting psychic threads floating in the air like a spiderweb, slowly burrowing into people's Sea of Consciousness.
"The illusionary mist has begun to infect us. Maintain your Sea of Consciousness barriers; do not relax," Lin Yan reminded them in a low voice, his Sea of Consciousness spreading outward to continuously monitor the psychic fluctuations around them. "Wen Lan, trace. Su Wan, record the psychic frequency. Shen Ke, guard the rock walls on both sides."
Wen Lan activated her tracing helmet. Chaotic ripples kept jumping on the screen. "There are a massive number of fragmented psychic threads with dispersed sources. Moss is attached to the rock walls throughout the entire valley. The illusionary mist is not released from a concentrated point; it is continuously diffused across the entire area."
Walking forward for over a hundred meters, the passage split into three, perfectly matching the terrain marked on the sand table. The left path was damp, with large patches of dark green moss faintly visible on the rock walls; the middle path was deep and narrow, shrouded in dead silence; the right path had humid air, and the gurgling sound of underground water could be heard—this was the detour route they had chosen.
Just as the four were about to turn into the right path, a familiar shout suddenly echoed from the darkness deep within the middle path.
It was the voice of a field operative who had died two years ago. It was clear and authentic, carrying a hoarse plea for help: "Save me... I'm trapped here... Come quickly..."
Su Wan's footsteps suddenly halted, and her pupils contracted slightly. She recognized this voice; it belonged to a former teammate who had died in a rift mission years ago.
"Don't listen! It's an illusion!" Wen Lan immediately warned in a deep voice, her tracing helmet blaring frantically. "The psychic signal is coming from the middle path. The illusionary mist has seized the voice from your memory!"
Su Wan bit her teeth tightly, shaking her head vigorously to forcibly suppress the surging emotions in her heart.
Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness instantly locked onto the psychic source in the middle path. He said coldly, "The two priests have already detected our entry into the valley and have begun releasing illusions to test us. They are trying to lure us into the ambush circle in the middle path. Ignore it and continue forward into the right path."
The four did not linger. They turned and stepped into the damp underground water channel on the right. Beneath their feet, the icy shallow water washed over their boot soles. Water droplets continuously dripped from the rock walls, the ticking sound echoing through the dark passage.
But the cry for help did not disappear. It continued to drift intermittently through the rock walls, even beginning to change its voice, taking turns mimicking the tones of the people each squad member cared about in their memories, constantly seeping out from the darkness in an attempt to shake their minds.
Staring at the tracing screen, Wen Lan's face grew increasingly grim. "Captain, I've captured two independent psychic core signals. One is deep in the left path, and the other is hidden in a suspended rock cave above the middle path. The two lesser priests are both in position."
Lin Yan stopped and raised his eyes to gaze into the deep, seemingly endless underground water channel.
Dual priests, dual nodes, and an illusionary mist permeating the entire broken valley. The danger level of the No. 7 Rift far exceeded that of the No. 3 Rift.
He raised his hand and tapped his communicator three times lightly, sending the pre-arranged warning signal to notify the firepower group at the valley entrance: The reconnaissance group had made contact with the enemy; there were two lesser priests inside the rift. Everyone was to remain on high alert.
A deep reply came through the communicator from Pang Lie: "Received. The gravel beach position is ready for support at any time."
Lin Yan put away his communicator and said in a deep voice to the three people beside him, "Be careful. We have entered the massive psychic web they have laid. Continue forward and find the exact locations of the two resonance nodes."
The underground water continued to flow beside their feet, the dark passage extending infinitely forward. Countless invisible psychic threads on the rock walls quietly wrapped around them.