Chapter 160: Ambush in the Narrow Pass
The gray fog flowed extremely slowly, like stagnant, murky water.
That second-tier scaled beast strolled leisurely through the scattered rocks. Its thick armor rubbed against the stones, continuously emitting a dull, rustling sound. Its vertical pupils were a turbid, dark gold, scanning the surroundings aimlessly. It was a patrol scout on the periphery of the illusion web; it possessed no great wisdom of its own, relying solely on the psychic links laid down by the priests to receive commands and search for living creatures that had broken into the curtain.
The six of them pressed themselves tightly into the crevices of the basalt, deliberately making their breathing as faint as possible. The assault team members had their fingers on the triggers, their muscles taut. The moment the scaled beast approached their cover, the next second would bring a thunderous strike.
Chen Ye's shock baton had been quietly raised in front of him, his gaze locked onto the scale gaps on the beast's neck—the common weakness of all second-tier scaled beasts, and the killing zone they had practiced countless times.
"Don't attack," Lin Yan whispered, his voice reduced to the barest breath, reaching Chen Ye's ear. "The moment a fight breaks out, the fluctuations will be instantly caught by the illusion web nodes. The priests in the entire area will receive an alarm. We are too far from the bastion now, with no reinforcements. Being surrounded means a dead end."
Chen Ye's jaw tightened, and he slowly lowered his baton by another half-inch. He understood that Lin Yan was right. Fighting here would only mean killing a single scout, even if they won. The price would be exposing the entire squad's whereabouts. All the risky progress they had made by seizing the windows to push forward would be completely wasted.
Lin Yan released only a wisp of perception so faint it was nearly extinguished, extending it along the fog layer close to the ground to test the psychic connection between the scaled beast and the illusion web nodes.
Even this mere touch caused the fissure deep within his Sea of Consciousness to be yanked violently. A sharp pain spread through his consciousness, and a faint black haze tinged the edges of his vision. He immediately retracted his perception, ceasing all exploration, and relied solely on his naked eyes to track the scaled beast's movements.
The corrosive breath was continuously washing over the wound. The distending ache and the stabbing pain intertwined, like countless tiny insects gnawing at his origin. Silently, he compared his state to the red line he had set for himself. He was still a short distance from the critical threshold, but he could no longer frequently use his Sea of Consciousness to probe.
The second-tier scaled beast continued its leisurely patrol.
Occasionally, it would pause, tilting its head to one side as if it had caught some strange aura, its nose twitching incessantly. Within the gray fog, illusions continued to breed silently. Shattered human figures and shifting dirt mounds flashed past beside it, but it had long been accustomed to the false scenery of the illusion web. It ignored these phantoms entirely, remaining loyal only to the search orders issued by the priests.
Time flowed by, second by agonizing second.
No one dared to move. The air in the rock crevice was stifling. The corrosive breath drilled into their nostrils, bringing an inescapable, bloody, cold chill. A bead of sweat slid from a team member's forehead, dripping down his jaw and landing on the rock with an extremely faint tap.
The scaled beast abruptly halted its steps. Its head turned precisely toward the pile of rocks where they were hiding. Its dark gold vertical pupils contracted slightly, and its four limbs lowered as it assumed a pouncing stance.
Everyone's heart suddenly sank.
Lin Yan's fingertips quietly touched the shock pistol at his waist, yet he still did not give the order to attack. He stared fixedly at the scaled beast, forcing himself to steady his mind and avoid any intense emotional fluctuations—the illusion web would amplify strong psychic waves. The more agitated their emotions, the easier it would be for the distant priests to lock onto their coordinates.
He slowly turned his head, using his gaze to signal the others: Stay calm.
The scaled beast took two or three slow steps forward. It was now less than eight meters from the gap in the rocks where they were hiding. Dark green saliva dripped from its fangs, splashing onto the gravel and corroding it into faint white smoke.
Just as everyone thought it was about to charge, a brief psychic signal came from deep within the distant fog. It was completely silent and imperceptible to ordinary people. Only Lin Yan caught that fleeting resonance frequency.
It was a transfer order from a priest.
Having received the new patrol route command, the scout scaled beast hesitated for a moment. It turned its massive body and slowly walked in another direction, disappearing deeper into the gray fog. The rustling sounds grew fainter bit by bit, eventually melting back into the curtain.
Only when that figure had completely vanished from sight did the people in the rock crevice slowly exhale the breath they had been holding for so long. Their combat uniforms on their backs had already been soaked through with cold sweat.
"We almost collided with it," a team member with a knife scar whispered, panting. "This thing's sense of smell is sharper than we anticipated."
"It doesn't rely solely on its sense of smell," Lin Yan said slowly, his voice hoarse. "The priests' psychic links help it mark abnormal life fluctuations. It had already sensed our aura just now. It was diverted because anomalies appeared in another area."
Chen Ye frowned. "Anomalies elsewhere? Are there other scout squads, or... other intruders?"
"It's hard to say." Lin Yan shook his head. He didn't dare to use his Sea of Consciousness for long-distance tracing and exploration; the pain from the wound was still steadily climbing. "It could be another patrol detachment of scaled beasts, or it could be interference signals from the illusion web itself. Let's not delve too deep. Hurry up and rest, and continue waiting for the next frequency window."
The group leaned against the rocks where they were, regulating their breath.
In the earpiece, Zhao Kai's voice came through intermittently. The signal interference deep within the curtain was growing stronger, making his monitoring increasingly difficult: "The spectrum fluctuations are chaotic. Multiple nodes are rotating their loads, and the pattern of blank windows has been completely disrupted. I can't predict the duration; I can only remind you in real-time. Also, the Western Front defense line just endured another small-scale illusion assault. Gu Shen is holding steady. There is no immediate danger."
Hearing that the Western Front was temporarily safe, the squad members felt slightly more at ease.
Lin Yan closed his eyes, circulating the ancient martial arts mental technique to regulate his breath, suppressing the surging pain from the fissure in his Sea of Consciousness bit by bit. He knew clearly that the closer they got to Rift No. 79, the higher the density of illusion web nodes. Random encounters with scouts would only become more frequent.
He had no illusions of healing his injury. From the moment he stepped into this curtain, he understood that this scar would follow him all the way. Every attempt at perception, every confrontation with an illusion, was a continuous overdraft of his origin. He was currently only at the third tier. The distance to the ninth tier, the pinnacle of human cognition, was separated by countless life-and-death perils.
About an hour and a half later, Zhao Kai's voice suddenly tightened, piercing through the crackling static into their ears:
"Window is here! Coordinates B3, estimated duration five seconds! Very short, hurry!"
"Go!"
Lin Yan commanded in a low shout, taking the lead as he slipped out of the rock crevice.
Five seconds. Shorter than any previous window.
The six of them sprinted with all their might, gravel splashing beneath their feet. The gray fog on both sides churned wildly. Countless terrifying illusions rushed toward them: severed giant claws, floating vertical pupils, and countless wailing human faces streaked past the edges of their vision, tempting them to lose focus and stop.
Lin Yan diverted that wisp of perception, forcefully erecting a thin barrier in front of him to tear apart the illusions pressing against the squad members' consciousness. The fissure instantly transmitted a wave of severe, stabbing pain. Gritting his teeth, he did not slow his pace in the slightest.
"Window closed!"
Five seconds vanished in a flash.
They had rushed into the entrance of a collapsed underground tunnel. It was an underground pipe network that had caved in during the early stages of the disaster. The thick concrete roof was mostly intact, perfectly shielding them from the scans of the illusion web's surface. The group quickly slipped inside, pressing their backs against the cold, damp pipe walls, and fell dormant once again.
It was even darker inside the tunnel. The air was murky, filled with a mixture of earth, humus, and the foul stench of scaled beasts.
Chen Ye turned on a micro-light tactical flashlight, dimming the beam to its lowest setting as he swept it down the tunnel. At the end of the white beam, the tunnel continued deeper underground. Faintly, they could see a fork in the road ahead. And further beyond, the pale purple light was much clearer than what they had seen in the boulder pile earlier.
"We are getting closer and closer to Rift No. 79," Chen Ye said softly.
Lin Yan raised his eyes to gaze at the hazy purple light deep within the tunnel. The fissure in his Sea of Consciousness continued to burn, and the corrosive breath poured in continuously through the tunnel. He knew in his heart that the mother nest, the high-tier ancient progeny, and the layered core of the illusion web were all hidden behind that purple light.
And they, these six people, were merely a few ants crawling into the palm of a giant beast.
Just then, from deep within the tunnel came a low, slow tapping sound, unlike that of ordinary scaled beasts.
Thump... thump... thump...
It was as if some massive entity was slowly shifting its body beneath the rock strata.
End of Chapter.
That second-tier scaled beast strolled leisurely through the scattered rocks. Its thick armor rubbed against the stones, continuously emitting a dull, rustling sound. Its vertical pupils were a turbid, dark gold, scanning the surroundings aimlessly. It was a patrol scout on the periphery of the illusion web; it possessed no great wisdom of its own, relying solely on the psychic links laid down by the priests to receive commands and search for living creatures that had broken into the curtain.
The six of them pressed themselves tightly into the crevices of the basalt, deliberately making their breathing as faint as possible. The assault team members had their fingers on the triggers, their muscles taut. The moment the scaled beast approached their cover, the next second would bring a thunderous strike.
Chen Ye's shock baton had been quietly raised in front of him, his gaze locked onto the scale gaps on the beast's neck—the common weakness of all second-tier scaled beasts, and the killing zone they had practiced countless times.
"Don't attack," Lin Yan whispered, his voice reduced to the barest breath, reaching Chen Ye's ear. "The moment a fight breaks out, the fluctuations will be instantly caught by the illusion web nodes. The priests in the entire area will receive an alarm. We are too far from the bastion now, with no reinforcements. Being surrounded means a dead end."
Chen Ye's jaw tightened, and he slowly lowered his baton by another half-inch. He understood that Lin Yan was right. Fighting here would only mean killing a single scout, even if they won. The price would be exposing the entire squad's whereabouts. All the risky progress they had made by seizing the windows to push forward would be completely wasted.
Lin Yan released only a wisp of perception so faint it was nearly extinguished, extending it along the fog layer close to the ground to test the psychic connection between the scaled beast and the illusion web nodes.
Even this mere touch caused the fissure deep within his Sea of Consciousness to be yanked violently. A sharp pain spread through his consciousness, and a faint black haze tinged the edges of his vision. He immediately retracted his perception, ceasing all exploration, and relied solely on his naked eyes to track the scaled beast's movements.
The corrosive breath was continuously washing over the wound. The distending ache and the stabbing pain intertwined, like countless tiny insects gnawing at his origin. Silently, he compared his state to the red line he had set for himself. He was still a short distance from the critical threshold, but he could no longer frequently use his Sea of Consciousness to probe.
The second-tier scaled beast continued its leisurely patrol.
Occasionally, it would pause, tilting its head to one side as if it had caught some strange aura, its nose twitching incessantly. Within the gray fog, illusions continued to breed silently. Shattered human figures and shifting dirt mounds flashed past beside it, but it had long been accustomed to the false scenery of the illusion web. It ignored these phantoms entirely, remaining loyal only to the search orders issued by the priests.
Time flowed by, second by agonizing second.
No one dared to move. The air in the rock crevice was stifling. The corrosive breath drilled into their nostrils, bringing an inescapable, bloody, cold chill. A bead of sweat slid from a team member's forehead, dripping down his jaw and landing on the rock with an extremely faint tap.
The scaled beast abruptly halted its steps. Its head turned precisely toward the pile of rocks where they were hiding. Its dark gold vertical pupils contracted slightly, and its four limbs lowered as it assumed a pouncing stance.
Everyone's heart suddenly sank.
Lin Yan's fingertips quietly touched the shock pistol at his waist, yet he still did not give the order to attack. He stared fixedly at the scaled beast, forcing himself to steady his mind and avoid any intense emotional fluctuations—the illusion web would amplify strong psychic waves. The more agitated their emotions, the easier it would be for the distant priests to lock onto their coordinates.
He slowly turned his head, using his gaze to signal the others: Stay calm.
The scaled beast took two or three slow steps forward. It was now less than eight meters from the gap in the rocks where they were hiding. Dark green saliva dripped from its fangs, splashing onto the gravel and corroding it into faint white smoke.
Just as everyone thought it was about to charge, a brief psychic signal came from deep within the distant fog. It was completely silent and imperceptible to ordinary people. Only Lin Yan caught that fleeting resonance frequency.
It was a transfer order from a priest.
Having received the new patrol route command, the scout scaled beast hesitated for a moment. It turned its massive body and slowly walked in another direction, disappearing deeper into the gray fog. The rustling sounds grew fainter bit by bit, eventually melting back into the curtain.
Only when that figure had completely vanished from sight did the people in the rock crevice slowly exhale the breath they had been holding for so long. Their combat uniforms on their backs had already been soaked through with cold sweat.
"We almost collided with it," a team member with a knife scar whispered, panting. "This thing's sense of smell is sharper than we anticipated."
"It doesn't rely solely on its sense of smell," Lin Yan said slowly, his voice hoarse. "The priests' psychic links help it mark abnormal life fluctuations. It had already sensed our aura just now. It was diverted because anomalies appeared in another area."
Chen Ye frowned. "Anomalies elsewhere? Are there other scout squads, or... other intruders?"
"It's hard to say." Lin Yan shook his head. He didn't dare to use his Sea of Consciousness for long-distance tracing and exploration; the pain from the wound was still steadily climbing. "It could be another patrol detachment of scaled beasts, or it could be interference signals from the illusion web itself. Let's not delve too deep. Hurry up and rest, and continue waiting for the next frequency window."
The group leaned against the rocks where they were, regulating their breath.
In the earpiece, Zhao Kai's voice came through intermittently. The signal interference deep within the curtain was growing stronger, making his monitoring increasingly difficult: "The spectrum fluctuations are chaotic. Multiple nodes are rotating their loads, and the pattern of blank windows has been completely disrupted. I can't predict the duration; I can only remind you in real-time. Also, the Western Front defense line just endured another small-scale illusion assault. Gu Shen is holding steady. There is no immediate danger."
Hearing that the Western Front was temporarily safe, the squad members felt slightly more at ease.
Lin Yan closed his eyes, circulating the ancient martial arts mental technique to regulate his breath, suppressing the surging pain from the fissure in his Sea of Consciousness bit by bit. He knew clearly that the closer they got to Rift No. 79, the higher the density of illusion web nodes. Random encounters with scouts would only become more frequent.
He had no illusions of healing his injury. From the moment he stepped into this curtain, he understood that this scar would follow him all the way. Every attempt at perception, every confrontation with an illusion, was a continuous overdraft of his origin. He was currently only at the third tier. The distance to the ninth tier, the pinnacle of human cognition, was separated by countless life-and-death perils.
About an hour and a half later, Zhao Kai's voice suddenly tightened, piercing through the crackling static into their ears:
"Window is here! Coordinates B3, estimated duration five seconds! Very short, hurry!"
"Go!"
Lin Yan commanded in a low shout, taking the lead as he slipped out of the rock crevice.
Five seconds. Shorter than any previous window.
The six of them sprinted with all their might, gravel splashing beneath their feet. The gray fog on both sides churned wildly. Countless terrifying illusions rushed toward them: severed giant claws, floating vertical pupils, and countless wailing human faces streaked past the edges of their vision, tempting them to lose focus and stop.
Lin Yan diverted that wisp of perception, forcefully erecting a thin barrier in front of him to tear apart the illusions pressing against the squad members' consciousness. The fissure instantly transmitted a wave of severe, stabbing pain. Gritting his teeth, he did not slow his pace in the slightest.
"Window closed!"
Five seconds vanished in a flash.
They had rushed into the entrance of a collapsed underground tunnel. It was an underground pipe network that had caved in during the early stages of the disaster. The thick concrete roof was mostly intact, perfectly shielding them from the scans of the illusion web's surface. The group quickly slipped inside, pressing their backs against the cold, damp pipe walls, and fell dormant once again.
It was even darker inside the tunnel. The air was murky, filled with a mixture of earth, humus, and the foul stench of scaled beasts.
Chen Ye turned on a micro-light tactical flashlight, dimming the beam to its lowest setting as he swept it down the tunnel. At the end of the white beam, the tunnel continued deeper underground. Faintly, they could see a fork in the road ahead. And further beyond, the pale purple light was much clearer than what they had seen in the boulder pile earlier.
"We are getting closer and closer to Rift No. 79," Chen Ye said softly.
Lin Yan raised his eyes to gaze at the hazy purple light deep within the tunnel. The fissure in his Sea of Consciousness continued to burn, and the corrosive breath poured in continuously through the tunnel. He knew in his heart that the mother nest, the high-tier ancient progeny, and the layered core of the illusion web were all hidden behind that purple light.
And they, these six people, were merely a few ants crawling into the palm of a giant beast.
Just then, from deep within the tunnel came a low, slow tapping sound, unlike that of ordinary scaled beasts.
Thump... thump... thump...
It was as if some massive entity was slowly shifting its body beneath the rock strata.
End of Chapter.