Chapter 116: A Solitary Figure in the Corridor
The corridor sloped steeply inward and downward.
The rock walls were wrapped in layers of fungal carpet, making the footing soft, slippery, and sticky. Every step required vigilance against slipping. The beam of the flashlight extended forward, quickly swallowed mostly by the thick darkness, illuminating only a range of two to three meters ahead. The foul stench in the air was stronger than in the karst cave, mixed with a stifling odor resembling rotting resin. Breathing it in made one's chest feel tight.
Lin Yan gathered his mind. His wisp of Sea of Consciousness was as fine as a hair, slowly probing along the veins of the fungal carpet on both sides of the corridor.
He did not spread his Sea of Consciousness to form a defense. The corridor was too narrow; deploying a large-scale barrier would be unfeasible and would instead expose his consciousness to the gaze of that colossal underground entity. He continued to use his most familiar method: solely tracking the flow of signals, relying primarily on his physical senses. The internal energy of his ancient martial arts flowed slowly through his meridians, keeping his body elastic at all times, ready to dodge or strike at a moment's notice.
From time to time, faint rustling sounds came from the rock crevices on both sides of the corridor.
It was not a large-scale swarm of scaled beasts, but scattered scouts. Hiding behind the folds of the fungal carpet, they used the darkness to quietly tail him, waiting for the right moment to ambush.
A scaled beast over half a meter long suddenly darted out from the fungal carpet above, its claws slashing straight for the back of Lin Yan's neck.
Lin Yan neither dodged nor shifted his steps. He slightly lowered his back and slashed backward with a reverse grip on his short blade. A flash of cold light precisely sliced into the soft seam where the scaled beast's carapace connected. Foul-smelling black blood sprayed onto the fungal carpet on the rock wall. The beast twitched violently twice, crashed to the ground, and after kicking its limbs for a moment, went completely still.
He did not pause. Stepping over the corpse, he continued forward.
Intermittent sounds from the outside came through the communication channel. Lu Heng and Old Guo were maintaining continuous pressure; the gunfire and the short, piercing shrieks of the priest echoed through the rock strata, muffled and unclear.
"We have pushed the left priest to the middle section of the passage. It refuses to come out further and keeps trying to break through toward the main trunk," Lu Heng's voice came through with static. "It has sensed that the main trunk is blocked, and its attacks have become frantic. It keeps releasing sporadic psychic splinters, which is taking a toll on Old Guo and me."
Su Wan followed up with her report: "The target on the right is also stalled. It is repeatedly testing our defenses, trying to bypass our blockade. I am continuously deploying interference waves; its signal remains unstable, unable to establish a resonance link with its companion. Chen Ye is clearing the scaled beasts that are burrowing out from the flanks. The pressure is manageable."
"Maintain the containment. Don't push too hard, but don't give them a chance to turn back," Lin Yan replied in a low voice, his gaze fixed on the purple main vein of the fungal carpet extending deep into the corridor. "I am thirty meters away from the intersection node."
No sooner had he spoken than the patterns on the fungal carpet in the corridor suddenly lit up collectively.
It was not a psychic attack from the priests.
It was the vast consciousness, buried deep beneath the rock strata, transmitting information to him once again through the entire illusion web.
There were no words, no illusions. Only a pure stream of perceptual information poured directly into Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
He "saw" countless scenes: thousands of years ago, before human bastions existed on the surface and before the rifts erupted on a massive scale, the ancient lizard progenitors dwelt deep underground, using the illusion web as roots, sleeping silently; he saw batch after batch of explorers and reconnaissance squads who broke into the rifts, each captured by the illusion web, their consciousness dismantled and assimilated, becoming nourishment for the network; he saw the birth and cultivation of the dual priests, which were merely the "tentacles" extended by this entity, responsible for hunting and screening intruders in the shallow rifts.
The dual priests had never been independent commanders.
They were merely servants.
The illusion web was not a weapon built by the priests; it was an extension of the body of this ancient entity.
A cold intent fell upon Lin Yan's consciousness: Leave.
There was no threat, no violent oppression. It was merely a calm warning. As if it had seen countless people like Lin Yan breaking in here, and the outcome for those who insisted on moving forward was always the same.
Lin Yan's fingertips tightened slightly, the handle of his short blade becoming slippery in his grip.
He could retreat. As long as he turned around and withdrew from the corridor, returning to the karst cave to reunite with his teammates, the squad could abandon the current mission and evacuate the rift. At least for now, everyone would survive.
But he knew the consequences clearly.
If he let these two dual priests go today, they would return to the deeper main rift, relying on the massive illusion web matrix to rebuild their strength. Next time, they would come with more meticulous arrangements to hunt patrol teams and kill reconnaissance personnel outside the bastion. The range of the illusion web would expand outward bit by bit, swallowing more wasteland outposts. The intelligence obtained by the war zone was already incomplete. Once this opportunity was missed, it was unknown when they would find another node where dual priests operated in coordination.
He did not respond to that intent.
His footsteps continued forward.
This action seemed to enrage the dormant matrix.
The fungal carpet on both sides of the corridor suddenly surged violently. Thick, fleshy tentacles broke out from the crevices in the rock walls, intertwining and blocking the path ahead. They were dense and layered, with purple resonance patterns lighting up one after another on the surface of the tentacles. These were not psychic veins used to create illusions; they were physical entities, tough and elastic. The mucus on their surface carried a mild neurotoxin. Once entangled, the toxin would invade through wounds, paralyzing the flesh.
"Here it comes."
Lin Yan sank his breath and lowered his stance. His short blade rose and fell, cold light continuously slicing through the air.
As the blade slashed through the fungal tentacles, sticky fluid splashed. The severed tentacles writhed and spasmed frantically, and light purple plasma quickly seeped from the severed ends. Within a few seconds, newly grown, fine fungal hyphae from nearby began to spread toward the wounds, attempting to repair them.
They could not be killed.
As long as the matrix continued to supply energy, the fungal carpet could regenerate indefinitely.
He could not get entangled here; he had to reach the main trunk intersection as soon as possible. Lin Yan no longer wasted time clearing all the tentacles. Relying on the evasive footwork of his ancient martial arts, he weaved and dodged through the gaps between the intertwined tentacles. His blade only slashed the obstacles directly in his path.
Several tentacles suddenly coiled up from the ground, aiming to bind his ankles.
Lin Yan leaped into the air, his toe lightly tapping a horizontal fungal vine to propel himself forward by two meters. The instant he landed, he shifted his shoulder to dodge a thick tentacle sweeping down from above.
But in that very instant, deep within the corridor, two familiar psychic signals moved simultaneously.
The priests on the left and right had abandoned their outward breakout. Without prior agreement, they turned toward the main trunk intersection. They had given up on finding each other to resonate; instead, they planned to join forces first to eliminate the man blocking the main trunk.
They, too, had received the matrix's command.
In the communication channel, Su Wan's voice suddenly turned urgent: "Lin Yan! No! Both priests' signals have broken free from our containment. They are rushing toward you at full speed! They've abandoned mutual resonance; they are teaming up to surround and kill you!"
Lu Heng immediately said in a deep voice: "We are pushing forward to support you immediately! But the passage is winding and blocked by rock strata; it will take us at least a minute and a half to get there! You must hold on!"
A minute and a half.
Lin Yan raised his eyes to look down the corridor.
At the end of the flashlight beam, the main vein of the fungal carpet converged and bulged, forming a hemispherical protruding node. That was the intersection point of the two priests' signals. Two cold, sinister consciousnesses were rapidly approaching from the left and right.
The corridor was narrow; he had no room to maneuver. He could only face the combined assault of the two priests head-on.
And beneath the node, separated by a thin layer of rock strata, the consciousness of the illusion web matrix hovered silently. It was like a boundless eye, staring at the solitary figure in the corridor.
The purple light on the fungal carpet was blindingly bright.
End of Chapter.
The rock walls were wrapped in layers of fungal carpet, making the footing soft, slippery, and sticky. Every step required vigilance against slipping. The beam of the flashlight extended forward, quickly swallowed mostly by the thick darkness, illuminating only a range of two to three meters ahead. The foul stench in the air was stronger than in the karst cave, mixed with a stifling odor resembling rotting resin. Breathing it in made one's chest feel tight.
Lin Yan gathered his mind. His wisp of Sea of Consciousness was as fine as a hair, slowly probing along the veins of the fungal carpet on both sides of the corridor.
He did not spread his Sea of Consciousness to form a defense. The corridor was too narrow; deploying a large-scale barrier would be unfeasible and would instead expose his consciousness to the gaze of that colossal underground entity. He continued to use his most familiar method: solely tracking the flow of signals, relying primarily on his physical senses. The internal energy of his ancient martial arts flowed slowly through his meridians, keeping his body elastic at all times, ready to dodge or strike at a moment's notice.
From time to time, faint rustling sounds came from the rock crevices on both sides of the corridor.
It was not a large-scale swarm of scaled beasts, but scattered scouts. Hiding behind the folds of the fungal carpet, they used the darkness to quietly tail him, waiting for the right moment to ambush.
A scaled beast over half a meter long suddenly darted out from the fungal carpet above, its claws slashing straight for the back of Lin Yan's neck.
Lin Yan neither dodged nor shifted his steps. He slightly lowered his back and slashed backward with a reverse grip on his short blade. A flash of cold light precisely sliced into the soft seam where the scaled beast's carapace connected. Foul-smelling black blood sprayed onto the fungal carpet on the rock wall. The beast twitched violently twice, crashed to the ground, and after kicking its limbs for a moment, went completely still.
He did not pause. Stepping over the corpse, he continued forward.
Intermittent sounds from the outside came through the communication channel. Lu Heng and Old Guo were maintaining continuous pressure; the gunfire and the short, piercing shrieks of the priest echoed through the rock strata, muffled and unclear.
"We have pushed the left priest to the middle section of the passage. It refuses to come out further and keeps trying to break through toward the main trunk," Lu Heng's voice came through with static. "It has sensed that the main trunk is blocked, and its attacks have become frantic. It keeps releasing sporadic psychic splinters, which is taking a toll on Old Guo and me."
Su Wan followed up with her report: "The target on the right is also stalled. It is repeatedly testing our defenses, trying to bypass our blockade. I am continuously deploying interference waves; its signal remains unstable, unable to establish a resonance link with its companion. Chen Ye is clearing the scaled beasts that are burrowing out from the flanks. The pressure is manageable."
"Maintain the containment. Don't push too hard, but don't give them a chance to turn back," Lin Yan replied in a low voice, his gaze fixed on the purple main vein of the fungal carpet extending deep into the corridor. "I am thirty meters away from the intersection node."
No sooner had he spoken than the patterns on the fungal carpet in the corridor suddenly lit up collectively.
It was not a psychic attack from the priests.
It was the vast consciousness, buried deep beneath the rock strata, transmitting information to him once again through the entire illusion web.
There were no words, no illusions. Only a pure stream of perceptual information poured directly into Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
He "saw" countless scenes: thousands of years ago, before human bastions existed on the surface and before the rifts erupted on a massive scale, the ancient lizard progenitors dwelt deep underground, using the illusion web as roots, sleeping silently; he saw batch after batch of explorers and reconnaissance squads who broke into the rifts, each captured by the illusion web, their consciousness dismantled and assimilated, becoming nourishment for the network; he saw the birth and cultivation of the dual priests, which were merely the "tentacles" extended by this entity, responsible for hunting and screening intruders in the shallow rifts.
The dual priests had never been independent commanders.
They were merely servants.
The illusion web was not a weapon built by the priests; it was an extension of the body of this ancient entity.
A cold intent fell upon Lin Yan's consciousness: Leave.
There was no threat, no violent oppression. It was merely a calm warning. As if it had seen countless people like Lin Yan breaking in here, and the outcome for those who insisted on moving forward was always the same.
Lin Yan's fingertips tightened slightly, the handle of his short blade becoming slippery in his grip.
He could retreat. As long as he turned around and withdrew from the corridor, returning to the karst cave to reunite with his teammates, the squad could abandon the current mission and evacuate the rift. At least for now, everyone would survive.
But he knew the consequences clearly.
If he let these two dual priests go today, they would return to the deeper main rift, relying on the massive illusion web matrix to rebuild their strength. Next time, they would come with more meticulous arrangements to hunt patrol teams and kill reconnaissance personnel outside the bastion. The range of the illusion web would expand outward bit by bit, swallowing more wasteland outposts. The intelligence obtained by the war zone was already incomplete. Once this opportunity was missed, it was unknown when they would find another node where dual priests operated in coordination.
He did not respond to that intent.
His footsteps continued forward.
This action seemed to enrage the dormant matrix.
The fungal carpet on both sides of the corridor suddenly surged violently. Thick, fleshy tentacles broke out from the crevices in the rock walls, intertwining and blocking the path ahead. They were dense and layered, with purple resonance patterns lighting up one after another on the surface of the tentacles. These were not psychic veins used to create illusions; they were physical entities, tough and elastic. The mucus on their surface carried a mild neurotoxin. Once entangled, the toxin would invade through wounds, paralyzing the flesh.
"Here it comes."
Lin Yan sank his breath and lowered his stance. His short blade rose and fell, cold light continuously slicing through the air.
As the blade slashed through the fungal tentacles, sticky fluid splashed. The severed tentacles writhed and spasmed frantically, and light purple plasma quickly seeped from the severed ends. Within a few seconds, newly grown, fine fungal hyphae from nearby began to spread toward the wounds, attempting to repair them.
They could not be killed.
As long as the matrix continued to supply energy, the fungal carpet could regenerate indefinitely.
He could not get entangled here; he had to reach the main trunk intersection as soon as possible. Lin Yan no longer wasted time clearing all the tentacles. Relying on the evasive footwork of his ancient martial arts, he weaved and dodged through the gaps between the intertwined tentacles. His blade only slashed the obstacles directly in his path.
Several tentacles suddenly coiled up from the ground, aiming to bind his ankles.
Lin Yan leaped into the air, his toe lightly tapping a horizontal fungal vine to propel himself forward by two meters. The instant he landed, he shifted his shoulder to dodge a thick tentacle sweeping down from above.
But in that very instant, deep within the corridor, two familiar psychic signals moved simultaneously.
The priests on the left and right had abandoned their outward breakout. Without prior agreement, they turned toward the main trunk intersection. They had given up on finding each other to resonate; instead, they planned to join forces first to eliminate the man blocking the main trunk.
They, too, had received the matrix's command.
In the communication channel, Su Wan's voice suddenly turned urgent: "Lin Yan! No! Both priests' signals have broken free from our containment. They are rushing toward you at full speed! They've abandoned mutual resonance; they are teaming up to surround and kill you!"
Lu Heng immediately said in a deep voice: "We are pushing forward to support you immediately! But the passage is winding and blocked by rock strata; it will take us at least a minute and a half to get there! You must hold on!"
A minute and a half.
Lin Yan raised his eyes to look down the corridor.
At the end of the flashlight beam, the main vein of the fungal carpet converged and bulged, forming a hemispherical protruding node. That was the intersection point of the two priests' signals. Two cold, sinister consciousnesses were rapidly approaching from the left and right.
The corridor was narrow; he had no room to maneuver. He could only face the combined assault of the two priests head-on.
And beneath the node, separated by a thin layer of rock strata, the consciousness of the illusion web matrix hovered silently. It was like a boundless eye, staring at the solitary figure in the corridor.
The purple light on the fungal carpet was blindingly bright.
End of Chapter.