Kunlun Base, Life Sustenance Center
The air hung thick and stagnant, like congealed blood. Within the nutrient-filled stasis pod, Chu Xuan floated, the creeping gray-white petrification now a cold vine scaling the edge of his jawbone, mere inches from his temple. Each weak heartbeat pulsed in grim synchrony with the monitors tracking the curse's relentless advance – a silent death knell.
"Brainwave activity remains critically low… Deep coma state persists… Minimal response to external stimuli…" The Chief Medical Officer's voice rasped like sandpaper. "The high-potency inhibitors are losing efficacy… The petrification rate… is accelerating."
Old Man Qin's gnarled hand pressed white-knuckled against the cold observation window. His gaze, though fixed on Chu Xuan's half-stone face, seemed to pierce the alloy walls, focusing on the nine bronze soul-lamps deep within the base. The abnormal flicker of one lamp's flame the previous night was seared into his mind.
"The planetary core… signal…" Qin's voice was a broken wheeze. "The Primordial Human seal the kid mentioned before collapsing… the Antarctic beacon… the starry Dao patterns on that rusty shard… and now the lamp's guidance…" A near-mad deduction crystallized in his bloodshot eyes. "They are connected! A hidden thread! A thread… that might save his life!"
He whirled, his gaze locking onto Zhao Qiming with desperate intensity. "Qiming! Immediate highest priority! Mobilize all archives on the Forbidden City, Emperor Hongwu, any anomaly recorded from the early Ming! Official histories, unofficial records, local chronicles, palace secrets, Imperial Observatory logs! Especially anything mentioning 'heavenly outsiders', 'alien tribes', 'divine weapons', 'dragon energy'! And… deploy every technological asset we have! Deep-penetration scans of the Forbidden City's core, especially beneath the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Palace of Heavenly Purity! I want to know what lies beneath that Dragon Throne besides dirt!"
Zhao Qiming didn't hesitate. "Understood! 'Celestial Eye' system granted highest clearance! Historical Archives team standing by!" His eyes narrowed. "Old Qin, you suspect…"
"I suspect Emperor Hongwu wasn't just fighting leftover Mongols!" Qin's eyes burned with fanatical light. "That rusty shard… Starry Sea Heavens material, found in a zombie-infested hole… Why not beneath the Purple Forbidden City? The clues the kid bled for… the lamp's direction… the whispers from the planet's heart… they all point to one place! The Forbidden City! The Dragon Throne! There lies hidden 'history'! There lies… perhaps the 'key' to counter this accelerating apocalypse!"
The order was a boulder dropped into deep water. The colossal machinery of the state roared to life under supreme authority. Centuries-old imperial secrets were exhumed, deciphered by elite historians and cryptographers. The global "Celestial Eye" satellite network and deep-earth scanning arrays focused their probing beams on the ancient palace complex, specifically the golden lacquered Dragon Throne at the heart of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Western Outskirts, Linhai City - Converted Bunker Safehouse
Heavy lead doors muffled the outside world, but the air inside the temporary isolation ward was thicker than the night outside. The sterile tang of disinfectant warred with ozone and a persistent, unsettling high-frequency electronic hum.
Chen Mo lay restrained on a specialized electromagnetic-shielded alloy bed. He was in a strange "standby" state – eyes closed, breathing steady, fever gone, the gash on his temple faded to a faint red line. But his exposed left eye was the focus. The intricate silver circuitry etched onto the sclera pulsed with a cold, metallic life, more complex, more defined.
Beside the bed, reinforced and shielded monitors displayed stable readings. Researchers in bulky protective suits, operating via mechanical arms behind thick transparent barriers, performed non-contact scans and energy field mapping on the aberrant eye.
"Brainwave patterns stabilized… Entered deep 'logic self-check' state… A protective mechanism post information overload…"
"High-density energy core detected within the left eye… Structure… unparseable… Radiation stable within safe thresholds…"
"External electronic signal shielding effective… No signs of active intrusion or control attempts…"
"Unknown metallic nanoparticulates metabolizing extremely slowly… No detectable organ damage yet…"
The lead Bio-Electronicist, codenamed "Doc," adjusted his glasses, frowning at the stable data stream. "His physiology is stable. Even… 'optimized.' Constant temperature, elevated metabolism, neural reaction speed superhuman. But the problem is…" He pointed through the barrier. "That thing inside him, the entity seemingly fighting the 'Hongmeng Purge Protocol,' isn't gone. It's dormant. We don't know when it will reactivate, or how. The force field from the Pearl Tower dungeon… it was like striking a match to the fuse."
The field commander, codename "Bedrock," stood watch outside the isolation window, eyes like flint. "His cries of 'command conflict,' 'target lock failure'… imply an internal 'firewall'? Blocking that 'Purge Protocol'?"
"An oversimplification, but directionally correct," Doc called up a complex waveform graph. "Based on data fragments and brainwave signatures, it's more like two immensely complex, opposing 'instruction sets' clashed violently within his consciousness. One was the cold, formatting 'Purge' command, source pointing to 'Hongmeng.' The other… was chaotic, desperate, self-preserving instinct, laced with… an incredibly subtle 'repair' and 'restructure' tendency. The latter temporarily prevailed, suppressing the former, but causing severe information overload and neural trauma. Chen Mo's own consciousness, like a skiff in that storm, was torn apart, forcing deep coma for self-repair."
He paused, voice tinged with unease. "Most alarming… we cannot determine the origin of that 'repair and restructure' force. Is it Chen Mo's own latent talent? An unknown external intervention? Or… some 'error-handling' subroutine triggered within the 'Purge Protocol' itself when resisted?"
Unknown. All was unknown. Chen Mo lay like a human bomb, outwardly calm, but containing reality-warping power and unfathomable secrets.
Suddenly, a secure comms terminal screen in the corner lit up autonomously, displaying a line of icy text:
[Highest Priority Task: Target Chen Mo stable window. Execute codename: 'Neural Probe.' Acquire deep consciousness fragment sample. Authorization: Zhao Qiming.]
Bedrock and Doc paled simultaneously. Neural Probe! The base's extreme invasive intel-gathering tech for high-risk, high-value targets – nanoneedles piercing neurons to forcibly extract deep consciousness and memory fragments! The risk was catastrophic – permanent brain damage, even brain death!
"This is too reckless!" Doc gasped. "The target's state is uniquely unstable! Forced intrusion could trigger a secondary conflict between those two forces! The consequences are unimaginable!"
Bedrock stared at the order, jaw muscles knotting. He understood the base's desperation. Chu Xuan was dying. Chen Mo's secrets might be the only lifeline. But…
"Orders acknowledged," Bedrock's voice was low, iron-hard. "Prepare the 'Spinneret' system. Maximum containment protocols. I oversee personally."
Cold mechanical arms descended from the ceiling, their tips shimmering with deadly blue light – an array of micro-needles poised like a scorpion's sting above Chen Mo's temple.
Forbidden City, Hall of Supreme Harmony
Night, thick as ink, draped the palace imbued with six centuries of dynastic fortune. The tourist throngs were gone, leaving only the moon casting stark shadows from towering eaves. Within the cavernous, silent Golden Hall, the gilded Dragon Throne stood alone under harsh work lights, emanating deep, heavy authority.
The golden floor tiles around the throne had been carefully removed, revealing compacted earth below. A joint team of top geologists, archaeologists, energy specialists, and heavily armed "Dragon Tooth" elites worked under Old Man Qin's direction.
"Deep-penetration scans confirm a high-density metallic anomaly directly beneath the throne! Depth seventeen meters! Volume approximately half a cubic meter, irregular shape… Energy signature incredibly faint and contained, but material density surpasses any known metal!" A geologist's voice vibrated with suppressed excitement. "Surrounding strata show clear signs of artificial excavation and reinforcement! Dating… highly consistent with the Forbidden City's early Ming construction!"
"Found it!" Qin's eyes blazed with triumph. He slashed his hand down. "Carefully! Drill down! Avoid the main structure! I want to see what Emperor Taizu buried with my own eyes!"
Specialized low-vibration drills whirred to life. The layers of earth were painstakingly peeled back. Every heart pounded. A secret buried for six centuries, potentially linked to aliens, the Starry Sea Heavens, and Chu Xuan's life, was about to be unearthed!
The drill bit slowly descended, breaking through hardened earth and ancient lime-mortar mix. As it neared seventeen meters—
HMMMMMMMM!
A deep, resonant metallic hum, like a sigh from antiquity, echoed from the depths! The entire Hall floor trembled faintly! The sound wasn't loud, yet carried a soul-piercing weight, as if a slumbering divine weapon had stirred in its earthen tomb!
"Stop!" Qin barked. Drilling ceased.
"Energy readings… unchanged… but that tremor…" the scanning expert stared at his instruments, bewildered.
"Not energy… Resonance!" Qin's eyes flashed with sudden understanding. He whipped out a lead-lined case and opened it. Inside lay the cleaned Starry Sea Token fragment from the zombie cave. The dark red Starfall Divine Iron glowed with an inner light.
The moment the case opened—
HMMMMMMMMMM—!!!
A clearer, louder metallic reverberation erupted from the depths! This time, it carried an unmistakable surge of… emotion! Grief? Longing? Simultaneously, the Token fragment in Qin's hand vibrated faintly! The ancient, incomplete Dao patterns on its surface flickered with a dim light!
"It responds! They are connected! Or… of the same origin!" Qin's voice trembled with fervor. "Clear the site! Carefully! Extract it!"
The final layers of earth were brushed away. Under the intense work lights, a stone casket carved from a single block of black basalt was revealed. Its surface was unadorned, bearing only the scars of time. The lid had shifted slightly from the tremor and drilling.
An indescribable aura seeped from the crack. Not decay, but an ageless chill, implacable hardness, and… a faint, almost imperceptible scent of iron and starlight, like celestial battlefields!
Two "Dragon Tooth" soldiers, wearing specialized gloves, held their breath as they carefully lifted the heavy lid.
Light flooded the casket's interior.
First visible were thick layers of carbonized, blackened silk wrappings. Resting atop them was… a sword!
The blade was over three feet long, unusually broad – four fingers wide. Its entire form was a deep, forbidding cyan, as if forged from eternal ice and celestial meteors! The edge appeared unsharpened, yet radiated a crushing, mountain-splitting dominance! Running down the spine was a profound ridge like a dragon's backbone, flanked by intricate, naturally formed ice-crack patterns shimmering coldly in the light.
The guard (hilt) was thick and archaic, shaped like two interlocking dragon claws gripping the blade. The hilt was wrapped in decayed, faded cord, its pommel set with a pigeon-egg-sized, dust-covered deep blue crystal.
But what drew every eye wasn't the sword itself, but what lay atop the blade, over the charred silk – a scroll of bright yellow silk! Preserved remarkably well, it bore lines of vermilion script written with iron-brush strokes – characters radiating the overwhelming majesty of an emperor who forged an empire with steel!
Qin, hands trembling, used specialized tools to painstakingly extract and unroll the silk. The vermilion ink blazed like blood, each character a blade:
"We, Zhu Yuanzhang, by Heaven's Mandate, swept clear the filth, established Our capital at Jinling, restoring the Han homeland! Yet, in the eighth year of Hongwu, calamity befell the Northern Frontier! Not the remnant Mongols, but Sky-Wolves from Beyond! They walked upright like men, claws and fangs like blades, hides like bronze, bones like iron! Ravenous for blood! They gathered in tens of thousands, named 'Canglang' (Azure Wolf) Tribe, invading Our borders, slaughtering Our people, sucking marrow, devouring hearts, atrocities beyond imagining!"
"We personally led three hundred thousand warriors north! At Wild Fox Ridge, We met the main wolf horde! Their savagery surpassed mortal strength! Our warriors fell like stacked grain! At the brink of doom, Heaven sent Divine Men! Clad in dark armor, riding star-skiffs, they claimed to hail from the 'Starry Sea,' sent by Heaven's Mandate to aid Us against these demons!"
"The Divine Men forged this great sword 'Zhen Yue' (Quell Mountains) from 'Starfall Divine Iron' and bestowed it upon Us! They channeled the power of the Nine Heavens' stars, converged the Dragon Energy of mountains and rivers into its form! We grasped this sword, charging foremost! Where its light pointed, demon-wolves perished! The Canglang Chieftain 'Wu Tugu' also fell beneath its edge! Yet the Divine Men suffered grievous wounds, their star-skiff crashing north of Wild Fox Ridge. With their final breath, they spoke: 'The demon-wolves are not eradicated, their blood pollutes the sword, the Star-Iron is sullied, the Dragon Energy tainted… This sword, this casket, must forever suppress the nation's Dragon Veil beneath its core. Only if Heaven falls and Earth overturns may it be moved… Remember! Remember!'"
"We honored their command, retrieved the scarred sword, buried the Divine Men, and secretly forged this casket, burying it deep beneath the Dragon Throne of Our new capital, the Purple Forbidden City! Nurtured by the Great Ming's Imperial Fortune and Dragon Energy, to purify the Star-Iron, cleanse the demon blood! Descendants! If demon-wolves return, or Heaven and Earth convulse, the Dragon Energy falters, then may you open this casket and wield 'Zhen Yue'! Yet remember well, the demon blood within the sword is not cleansed, the Star-Iron sullied! Wielding it rashly invites backlash! Heed this! Heed this!"
At the end was Zhu Yuanzhang's personal seal and a smaller line: "Addendum: The wreckage of the Divine Men's star-skiff and the skull of the Demon King 'Wu Tugu' are buried together beneath 'Fallen Star Cliff' at Wild Fox Ridge's peak. Future generations, should fate allow, may seek them…"
Silence!
Profound, crushing silence fell over the excavation site beneath the Hall of Supreme Harmony! Only the hum of work lights and ragged breathing filled the void.
Sky-Wolves! Starry Sea Divine Men! Starfall Divine Iron! Quell Mountains Sword! Dragon Veil Suppression! Demonic Blood Backlash!
This six-century-old imperial decree was a thunderbolt tearing through time, laying bare a blood-soaked, myth-shrouded history deliberately erased!
Old Man Qin's hands shook violently as he held the silk, tears streaming down his weathered face. He looked at the cyan great sword "Zhen Yue" in the casket! So that was it! The deep cyan wasn't the metal's true color, but the stain of the demon-wolves' corrupted blood, the sullied Star-Iron! The dragon spine ridge, the ice-crack patterns… This was the Starfall Divine Iron of the Starry Sea Heavens! The same origin as the Token fragment! The same origin as the Antarctic Beacon!
"Starry Sea Heavens… Hongwu Year Eight… Demon-Wolf Tribe… Canglang… Wu Tugu…" Qin muttered, eyes blazing with unprecedented intensity. "The Wolfmen! The 'Canglang Tribe' from the kid's notes! The ones who'll invade Earth en masse in the future, seeing humans as livestock! They came six hundred years ago! Repelled by Emperor Taizu and the Starry Sea Divine Men… together!"
He looked up, gaze seeming to pierce the earth towards Kunlun Base. "Kid! Do you see?! The clues you bled for… they connect! They connect! This sword… this Star-Iron… the Antarctic Beacon… they are one! The key to fighting the alien tribes!"
At that moment—
HMMMMMMMM—!!!
The "Zhen Yue" sword within the casket let out another violent hum! The ice-crack patterns across its blade ignited with piercing cyan light! A terrifying pressure, icy, crushing, saturated with endless slaughter, erupted like an awakened primordial beast!
"Look out!" A "Dragon Tooth" soldier closest to the casket felt an invisible hammer slam his chest. He grunted, blood trickling from his lips as he stumbled back!
Then, something more bizarre happened! Under the sword's cyan glare, the charred silk fragments covering it and the centuries of dust settled in the casket began to writhe and coalesce as if alive!
A blurred, twisted silhouette formed from soot and dust coalesced in the cyan light! It had a vaguely humanoid-wolfish outline, massive, covered in ethereal fur, fangs bared. Within its empty sockets burned two points of emerald fire – filled with infinite malice and hunger! It silently opened its maw, lined with spectral fangs, and unleashed a soundless roar at those gathered!
"ROOOOAAARRR—!!!"
A psychic blast saturated with bloodlust, savagery, and ravenous hunger tore through the minds of everyone present!
"Argh!" Several researchers with weaker wills instantly screamed, clutching their heads, blood seeping from their orifices, minds fracturing! Even the battle-hardened "Dragon Tooth" soldiers felt skull-splitting pain, vision darkening, as if countless starving wolves howled in their ears!
A demon-wolf remnant! The violent will embedded within the corrupted blood of Demon King "Wu Tugu," suppressed and purified by six centuries of Dragon Energy, yet never fully extinguished! Stimulated by the Star-Iron's resonance and living presence, it had coalesced!
"Protect Old Qin!" The Dragon Tooth Captain roared, fighting the agony, drawing his sidearm. Bullets passed through the spectral form like air!
The dust-formed wolf remnant, radiating boundless malice, ignored the gunfire and lunged at the nearest living target – Old Man Qin, who still held the yellow silk! Its emerald soul-fire locked on, intent on tearing apart the one who disturbed its slumber!
At the moment of life and death!
"Evil creature! How dare you!"
A voice, aged yet thunderous with authority, rang out! Old Man Qin, far from retreating, surged forward! His withered right hand shot into his robe, pulling out the lead case holding the Token fragment, and slammed it towards the oncoming specter! Simultaneously, his left hand formed a sword finger, dipped into the blood seeping from his nose from the psychic assault, and slashed a crude but blazingly righteous crimson talisman in the air – the most potent, most spirit-consuming "Demon-Shattering Talisman" from Chu Xuan's Basic Talisman Primer!
The lead case shattered on contact with the specter! The dark red Token fragment was exposed!
HUM!
The incomplete Dao patterns on the fragment blazed! A wisp of pure, demon-repelling starlight erupted!
SSSSZZZZT—!!!
Like a red-hot brand pressed onto snow! The wolf specter lunging at Qin was struck simultaneously by the Token's starlight and the blood-drawn talisman! It let out a silent, agonized shriek! The dust composing it boiled violently, dispersing! The emerald soul-fire flickered wildly, dimming!
The specter shrank drastically, becoming translucent, like a punctured balloon. It shot Qin and the starlight-emitting fragment a look of purest hatred, gave one final howl of frustration, and recoiled, streaking back into the cyan-glowing "Zhen Yue" sword within the casket! The sword's light rapidly faded, leaving only the cold cyan metal.
The crisis passed. But the scene beneath the Hall of Supreme Harmony was a shambles. Several researchers were critically injured, unconscious, rushed out. The "Dragon Tooth" soldiers were pale, shaken.
Qin staggered, caught by a soldier. He was deathly pale, nose bleeding freely. Forcing the talisman had drained his already frail vitality. Yet his bony hand clutched the Token fragment that saved his life, his gaze burning as he stared at the "Zhen Yue" sword in the casket, not with fear, but with boundless fervor and… hope!
"Star-Iron… Demonic Blood… Remnant…" he gasped, voice clear despite his state. "Kid… your path… is right! To fight these monsters… we need their power! The power of the Starry Sea Heavens! This sword… it slew demon-wolves, it can slay zombie kings! Slay the Ice Prisoners! Slay all demons and devils!"
He looked up, shouting hoarsely into his comm. "Qiming! Arrange immediate highest security transport! Move the 'Zhen Yue' sword, the casket, all samples, back to base! Priority Alpha protection! And… Highest Priority! Send a team to Wild Fox Ridge! Find 'Fallen Star Cliff'! The wrecked star-skiff and the Demon King's skull are there! They must hold more about the Starry Sea and the Wolfmen! Now!"
Linhai City Western Outskirts - Bunker Safehouse
The cold "Spinneret" needle array hung poised like a serpent's fang above Chen Mo's temple, its blue tip radiating lethal promise.
"Probes calibrated… Energy output stable… Initiating neural synapse linkage…" A mechanical voice echoed in the isolation ward.
Bedrock stood impassive, finger hovering over the red activation button. Doc watched the physiological monitors, sweat soaking his undersuit.
Just as Bedrock's finger began its descent—
WOOOOOO— WOOOOOO— WOOOOOO—!!!
Air raid sirens, more horrific than before, like the shrieks of damned souls, ripped through Linhai's night sky! This time, the sound was deafeningly close – seeming to erupt directly above the bunker!
[Warning! Catastrophic spatial distortion detected!]
[Coordinates: Linhai University District ruins (former Linhai University grounds)!]
[Energy Signature: Extreme chaos, brutality… Mixing hyper-intense electromagnetic storm, psychic corruption, spatial shear effects…]
[Formation Speed: Anomalous! Exceeds Pearl Tower Dungeon!]
[Threat Assessment: Apocalyptic! Core energy readings BREACHING planetary suppression limit! Dungeon Internal Rules: EXTREMELY LETHAL!]
The command channel instantly flooded with the base's highest-level alerts: "Bedrock! University District Dungeon! Core formation point less than three klicks from your position! Field edge enveloping the safehouse perimeter! Immediate threat assessment! Maximum containment protocols! Target status?!"
Almost simultaneous with the sirens—
BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!
Every monitor hooked to Chen Mo screamed crimson! Brainwave lines on screens went berserk! His closed, circuit-etched left eye snapped open! Pupils dilated, vomiting torrents of mad, azure data-light!
"A…lert… Hi…gh… ener…gy… in…ter…fer…ence…"
"Pur…ge… Pro…to…col… Pri…or…i…ty… Up…dat…ed…"
"Tar…get… Lo…ck… Uni…ver…si…ty… Dis…trict… Dun…geon… Core…"
The icy electronic voice tore through the ward again! Gone was the confusion and pain. Now, it held absolute, undeniable command! An invisible force field ten times stronger than before – saturated with a formatting will – exploded from Chen Mo!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Reinforced monitors near the bed shattered! Smoke billowed! Lights strobed violently, voltage fluctuating wildly!
"Suppress him!!" Bedrock bellowed, simultaneously slamming his fist onto the console, aborting the "Spinneret"! The needles retracted instantly!
Reinforced soldiers lunged again! This time, they didn't even reach the bed!
WHUMP!
An invisible repulsion field erupted from Chen Mo! Like hitting an immovable wall! The soldiers flew back faster than they'd charged, slamming into the reinforced walls with grunts of pain!
Chen Mo's body convulsed violently on the alloy bed. Restraints groaned at their limits. His opened left eye blazed brighter, the azure data-light threatening to erupt! A cold, chaotic, yet terrifyingly ordered energy gathered deep within that eye!
"Danger! He's focusing energy! Target vector… University Dungeon core!" Doc screamed, watching energy readings skyrocket!
Through the bunker's thick viewport, the sky above the ruined university district was now dominated by a colossal, swirling vortex. Within it, crimson lightning crackled amidst distorted, hellish vistas. The former university library was the epicenter – a monstrous Rubik's cube warping, stretching, shattering, and reassembling under the spatial distortion field! The shriek of tearing metal, exploding glass, and collapsing structures, mixed with unearthly howls, seeped through rock and lead.
"Stop the discharge!" Bedrock instantly assessed. Chen Mo's internal "Purge Protocol" had prioritized the nascent dungeon as the ultimate threat. But Chen Mo's unstable state and the terrifying power coiling within him… unleashing it could trigger catastrophe! It might drag all of Linhai down!
"Maximum neural inhibitor dosage! Now!" Bedrock roared at the medics!
A hypodermic loaded with concentrated sedative shot towards Chen Mo's neck via mechanical arm!
Yet!
As the needle tip neared skin—
Chen Mo's blazing data-eye contracted! The pent-up energy reached critical mass! A hair-thin, impossibly concentrated beam of azure light – cold as a cosmic judgment – lanced from his pupil!
Its target – not the needle, not the medics!
It pierced the bunker's thick rock and lead door! Ignoring space and distance! Aiming unerringly at the heart of the forming dungeon vortex – that hellish eye in the sky!
FZZZT—!
A sound barely audible.
Time seemed to freeze.
In the distant sky, the swirling vortex of crimson lightning and spatial torment, the core where the library fragmented and reformed… the instant that wisp of azure light struck it…
Rippled.
A visible, immense ripple spread across the entire vortex!
Then came the sight forever etched in their minds.
The colossal, terrifying, world-devouring dungeon vortex… ceased rotating. The crimson lightning froze mid-strike. The distorted vistas solidified. The folding shards of architecture paused. The entire vortex covering the university district… instantly transformed into a vast, static, three-dimensional painting!
Absolute silence descended. Only at the point of impact within the vortex core, a fine, black fissure like cracked ice… began to silently, inexorably… spread.