The team leader, as if grasping at a lifeline, roared at Xiang Yi, "Fix it, quick! Tell me what you need! I'll get it for you right now!"
"I don't need anything. It's just a broken circuit. I can fix it with my bare hands."
Xiang Yi reached his hand into the generator's interior.
Of course, this was just an act to block the others' line of sight. What was really at work was his Spiritual Energy.
What little Spiritual Power Xiang Yi had left was drained once more as he used his abilities.
This time, as he repaired it, Xiang Yi also attempted to modify the generator.
He had discovered the reason for the generator's circuit overload.
The [Experimental Spiritual Signal Amplifier] in the [Additional Attachments] module had been set to a level beyond its designated output range.
'Based on my experience, that should be a setting you can only access by physically modifying the amplifier. It shouldn't be possible to change it from the external control panel…'
"Hurry up!"
The urgent shout interrupted his thoughts.
The area was almost completely covered by the massive swarm of Blood Crystal Worms, now just inches away. There was indeed no more time to think.
He quickly finished adjusting the generator and restarted it.
That uncomfortable sensation immediately returned.
But this time, the Blood Crystal Worms didn't retreat because of the Psychic Pulse. Their movements were only slightly sluggish, and they showed no signs of halting their approach.
"Why isn't it working anymore?!"
The four remaining survivors now gathered anxiously around Xiang Yi, peppering him with questions. He was their last hope of escape.
Faced with their questions, Xiang Yi instantly figured it out.
'No wonder the generator was overloading before. If it doesn't overload, the Psychic Pulse it emits is completely incapable of forcing these Blood Crystal Worms back.'
Although the situation was growing more and more critical, Xiang Yi became utterly serene, exceptionally calm, and no longer affected by his environment or the people around him.
"Stay calm."
His Spiritual Energy needed a moment to work.
"If we don't hurry, we'll be eaten alive!"
More and more Blood Crystal Worms crawled out from the dark corners of the mine shaft, attacking from all sides—from the ceiling and from underfoot.
The firepower of the four survivors was clearly insufficient; hordes of worms were already close enough to gnaw at their flesh.
The team leader gritted his teeth and pulled a fist-sized, oval-shaped object from a pouch on the waist of his protective suit.
He pulled the pin on top and threw it toward the mine shaft exit, where the Blood Crystal Worms were thickest.
"Get down!"
BOOM—
A massive fireball erupted within the narrow mine shaft.
Crimson light blinded them, and the heatwave was suffocating.
Amid the intense, burning sensation that the fiery aftershock inflicted upon his skin and lungs,
Xiang Yi succeeded in using his Spiritual Energy to reconnect with the amplifier, adjust its output frequency, and push it back into the overload range once more.
He was even able to make finer adjustments, locking the amplifier's output power at the exact level needed to repel the Blood Crystal Worms.
This would delay the generator's overload failure by a few seconds.
Those few seconds were the difference between life and death.
"Done!"
Xiang Yi's somewhat muffled voice rang out.
The incendiary grenade the team leader had thrown was gradually burning out, and the mine shaft dimmed.
Xiang Yi got up and looked around, finding himself surrounded by the charred corpses of a huge number of Blood Crystal Worms.
Of the four people who had just been by his side, only three remained. Another person had fallen to the ground in the midst of the fiery blast, a bloody, gaping hole drilled into their head.
After sensing the Psychic Pulse, the Blood Crystal Worm inside was crawling out of the corpse's eye socket, about to make its escape.
BANG—
A gunshot.
The team leader turned to look in the direction of the gunshot and found Xiang Yi holding the old prison guard's gun.
'When did he get the gun?'
A sliver of doubt flashed through the team leader's mind, but he had no time to dwell on it now. He stared vigilantly at their surroundings.
Xiang Yi was the only one who could fix the device. There should have been one other person who could, but that man had died deeper in the mine shaft. The leader had to protect Xiang Yi now.
'As long as I protect him until help arrives from above, we'll make it out alive.'
Xiang Yi noticed the team leader's train of thought, but he knew it was impossible. He hurriedly said to the man, "We can't keep this up. We have to get out. A few more repairs and this device might break for good!"
Although the generator was only failing because of overloaded circuits melting—the materials themselves were mostly intact inside the device—his Spiritual Power couldn't hold up to repeated use.
'If I were in better condition,' he thought, 'I could probably keep repairing this generator indefinitely. I could even attempt to transfer materials from other components to reinforce the circuit and prevent it from overloading so easily.'
The Spiritual Power he commanded was not limited to the functions listed on a panel.
He could feel that as long as he willed it, he could do many things.
But right now, his condition was terrible.
Blood loss, multiple injuries, repeated high-intensity exertion, the constant consumption of his energy from using Spiritual Energy, and the recent suffocating heatwave had left his mind foggy.
'I have to leave,' he thought, 'before I completely lose my strength and pass out.'
The team leader grew frantic when he heard this, but he still didn't dare try to leave. "We can't get out! Those corpses outside are swarming with worms now!"
"What about the incendiary grenade?"
"That was the only one I had! And God knows how many times this device can even be repaired!"
Hearing this, Xiang Yi suddenly produced the old prison guard's stun baton, seemingly from out of nowhere.
The team leader watched Xiang Yi's actions with utter confusion. "What are you trying to do?"
Xiang Yi gave the stun baton in his hand a little shake and looked at its panel.
["Otto" High-Voltage Stun Baton]
[Energy Core: "Renault" Quad-Pack Voltage-Divider Battery]
[Output Module: "Flash" Multi-Stage Coil Boost-Output Device]
[Structural Type: "Escort" Stun Baton Insulated Casing]
[Additional Attachment: "Renault" Dual-Pack External Voltage-Divider Battery]
"I took a quick look. This doesn't seem to be a standard-issue prison stun baton. The old guard must have bought it himself. The battery inside looks pretty advanced, and it's almost fully charged. If I just connect a few of the lead wires, it'll blow."
The old prison guard must have specifically bought a stun baton with an extra-long battery life for emergencies. Judging from his previous behavior, that wasn't out of the question.
He wouldn't be able to use it himself anymore, but Xiang Yi could modify it and put its last bit of power to use.
"How big will the explosion be?"
"How should I know?"
Xiang Yi retorted.
He only knew how to short-circuit a battery and make it explode; beyond that, he was clueless.
It was a method he had read about in an accident report concerning a battery explosion at a power storage station next to a chemical plant. Although the batteries were different sizes, the principle should be similar. Probably.
God only knew if it would actually work, but in a situation like this, he had to give it a shot.