Chương 50: Regrouping

Rowan did not let himself fall. His vision blackened in waves. In the corner of his mental sea, the Gray Chrysalis was still twitching faintly. The Möbius Ring pressed it down, leaving it harmless for the moment. The sounds inside the manufacturing room were drawing closer. Tiny claws scraped across metal grating. Blue-white fungal light pulsed on and off inside the spore mist. The Electric-Fungus Rats avoided the gray-white flames left by Grey Raven's burning remains, but they did not truly leave.

On the other side, the Pincer-Eyed Toad lay beside the damaged breeding trough. The flower buds on its back were still opening and closing slowly. It had also been badly affected by the spore mist and electric arcs, but its pincer-like eyes had already turned back toward this side. Rowan reached toward the toolbox with his left hand, the only one that could still move properly. There were still a few signal spikes inside. He paused.

The Electric-Fungus Rats were attracted to signal spikes, and the Pincer-Eyed Toad preyed on Electric-Fungus Rats. Throwing a signal spike over there would stir up both sides at once. Rowan clenched his teeth, pulled out a signal spike that could still light up, and threw it toward the breeding trough where the Pincer-Eyed Toad was. The signal spike bounced twice on the floor and rolled into a patch of cooling fluid. Green light lit up. Several nearby Electric-Fungus Rats turned their heads almost at the same time.

The fungal colonies on their backs pulsed once, then they rushed over as if hooked. Farther away, more Electric-Fungus Rats began to stir. Blue-white arcs drew thin broken lines across the liquid on the floor. Stimulated by the electric light, the furry claw in the Pincer-Eyed Toad's throat snapped out. One Electric-Fungus Rat was pulled into its mouth. The fungal colony on the rat's back burst inside its throat, and blue light leaked from the seams of the toad's mouth. The toad chewed as if nothing had happened.

Another row of flower buds swelled along its back. Chaos broke out on the other side of the manufacturing room. Rowan did not look again. Supporting himself against the wall, he staggered toward where Grey Raven had fallen. There was no corpse left. The human shape that had been curled into a gray-white chrysalis moments ago had collapsed into a sheet of gray shell.

The gray-white flames slowly withdrew from the cracks in the chrysalis shell, burning away the black robe, the blood, the edge of the armor, and even the Blackwater Heavy Industries markings. In the end, the gray shell itself crumbled into dust. That was good. It would now be difficult to tell that Grey Raven had died here. Several things lay scattered on the floor. A half-burned black preservation box, its surface still marked with dark red sealing patterns. The preservation box for the original codex.

A dark recording crystal disk. Its edges were blackened by flame, but the central patterns were still intact. A thicker preservation box lay a few steps away. From inside came the occasional faint clicking sound. The scaled sphere was locked within it, as if still breathing. There was also Grey Raven's Blackwater terminal, along with the old identification card with a cracked corner. Rowan put the items into the toolbox one by one. The crystal disk and the scaled sphere were the real gains.

The original codex was not. That thing required a fresh Source Crystal Core to open, and it looked like a piece of breathing flesh. No matter how he looked at it, it was not a normal spellbook. But it had to disappear from here. If the original codex was left at the scene, then whether the Explorer's Association, Blackwater Heavy Industries, or Obsidian Magitech Heavy Industries came to investigate later, they would realize that Grey Raven had failed to take away the true target.

Then Grey Raven's disappearance would not make sense. The terminal and authorization card were also trouble. They were useful now, but once brought back to Terra, sooner or later they could become traces leading back to him. As for the Gray Chrysalis inside his mind... Rowan closed his eyes briefly. That was what unsettled him most. After packing everything away, he dragged the toolbox to the control console. The authorization Grey Raven had forcibly bypassed had not fully disconnected.

The console still flickered from time to time. Rowan connected the Blackwater terminal to it. The terminal screen flashed several times and brought up a damaged map. The lines were chaotic. Large areas were red with broken links. Some corridors had been sealed by the old system. Some zones were marked as collapsed. The manufacturing room was located in the lower maintenance interlayer. Upward, it could return to the containment room. To the side, several narrow passages branched off.

One led toward the area where Adams and Carl had been isolated. Another looped toward Solly and Syringe's direction. A farther branch was marked gray, its status abnormal. Rowan stared at the map for a few seconds and recorded the general route into his own terminal. Then he noticed a blurred red dot deep inside the waste-fluid shaft. A line of small text appeared beside it. [Core Experimental Body-01: locator back-link.] It was moving slowly, getting farther and farther from the manufacturing room.

Not life signs. A locator implanted by the old laboratory inside a sample body. It seemed to be that locust-octopus creature. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Rowan looked at it once, then withdrew his gaze. As long as it was not coming this way, he had no interest in knowing where it had gone. The console flashed again. [Core sample removed.] [Chimeric Armament auxiliary component.] [Maintenance authorization residue: temporarily valid.] Chimeric Armament auxiliary component? Rowan looked at the thick preservation box. So this was what Grey Raven had risked coming back to retrieve. He did not continue studying it. The Electric-Fungus Rats and Pincer-Eyed Toad were still tearing into each other inside the manufacturing room. The spore mist had not fully dispersed, and something deeper inside the facility was still moving. He had to leave.

Rowan unplugged the Blackwater terminal and stuffed it, along with the authorization card, into the deepest layer of the toolbox. He collected every recognizable signal spike fragment he could find, wiped away several traces of his own blood, kicked ash and scrap metal over the cut marks left by his tactical straight sword, and gathered a few other fragments that might expose him into a small separate bundle. Then he lowered his head and glanced at the gray-white ash on the ground.

Grey Raven had taken the original codex and the core sample into the lower maintenance area, then disappeared. That should be the story everyone saw afterward. As for the truth, it was best left forever in this ash. Rowan took two steps back and raised his left hand. The pattern of the Möbius Ring lit up on his wrist. The air folded without a sound. A familiar rift opened before him, carrying the smell of damp earth and swamp mud from the other side. Rowan dragged the toolbox and the bundle through.

The next moment, the spore mist, electric light, and burnt stench of the manufacturing room were left behind. The burrow in the other world was dark. The entrance was still as the Crystal-Scaled Pangolin had sealed it before. From far outside, he could occasionally hear dull insect cries, as well as the sound of some water beast turning over in the mud. Rowan dragged the toolbox to the deepest part of the burrow.

He buried the original codex preservation box, the recording crystal disk, the scaled sphere preservation box, the Blackwater terminal, and the authorization card behind a pile of broken stones one by one. Then he sealed the gaps with wet mud, covered them with dead branches, and pressed a flat stone slab over the top. After that, he buried the bundle of trace evidence on the other side. Only when all of this was done did he sit down against the cave wall. Hah...

If he did not count the Gray Chrysalis mark inside his mind, the gains this time were not small. He had also benefited from Grey Raven being heavily exhausted. Otherwise, the one lying on the floor might have been him. As for what Solly and Grey Raven had truly been planning, Rowan was likely the original sacrifice they had lured in. He already had some guesses. But right now, he did not have much time for deduction. His right shoulder had gone numb with pain.

The palm of his right hand had been burned into a blur by the flame whip, and he could barely grip anything. Rowan closed his eyes, took out another [Violet Frostvine Pill], swallowed it, and began stabilizing his injuries. To return, he still had to wait one day. For the entire day, Rowan did not go far from the burrow. He did not light a fire. He did not touch the preservation boxes. When hungry, he chewed a little dry ration he carried with him. When thirsty, he caught the water dripping down the cave wall.

Most of the time, he leaned against the stone wall, recovering while cultivating [Lancer Mana Channeling Art]. He slowly expanded his mana pool and built the mana vortices of the channeling art, waiting for the Möbius Ring to stabilize again. By the time the ring pattern on his wrist recovered, Rowan's injuries had stabilized. His mana pool had also been forced up to seven-tenths of Tier 1 Single-Phase. By then, a full day had passed on Terra's side. Rowan crossed through the rift again.

The manufacturing room was much quieter now. Most of the Electric-Fungus Rats were gone. Only charred corpses, gnawed bone spikes, and a few broken signal spikes remained on the floor. The Pincer-Eyed Toad was gone as well, leaving only a patch of mucus and several torn flower buds beside the damaged breeding trough. Grey Raven's ash had been scattered by the airflow, and the traces on the floor were even more chaotic. Rowan swept his gaze over the area.

After confirming that he had left nothing obvious behind, he looked away. He did not take a second glance. Following the map he had memorized, Rowan entered the side passage leading toward the area where Adams and Carl were. This side passage was even lower than the maintenance passage. In many places, he had to bend down to move through it. Water seeped from the walls and dripped onto the metal grating, producing a soft, steady tapping sound.

Occasionally, Electric-Fungus Rats poked their heads out from gaps between the pipelines. Seeing no active signal source on Rowan, they quickly shrank back. After walking for about ten minutes, he heard a faint cough. Rowan stopped and tightened his grip on the sample knife. Ahead was a small compartment half-covered by collapsed alloy plates. Inside was a weak white light, like the emergency lamp on a medical kit.

"Who?" The voice was hoarse. Rowan did not answer immediately. After two seconds, he said quietly, "Rowan." The inside went silent for a moment. Then came a faint dragging sound. Adams poked half his face out from behind the collapsed alloy plate. His mask was cracked. His face was frighteningly pale, his lips dry and split. His left arm was wrapped in a temporary bandage, and blood was still seeping through it. When he saw Rowan, caution appeared in his eyes first, then surprise and a trace of relief.

"You're alive?"

"Barely." Rowan stepped half a pace closer and looked past Adams into the small compartment. Carl lay inside. A day had passed, and he had completely stopped breathing. His chest had been treated, or rather, hollowed out. The place where the Source Crystal Core should have reacted was now only a dark, blood-soaked cavity. Adams followed his gaze, and his expression turned even worse.

"When I woke up, he was already like this." Rowan said nothing. Adams stared at him and lowered his voice.

"Where did you come from?"

"A pipeline knocked me into the maintenance interlayer," Rowan said.

"After I woke up, I found a way around." That was not a lie. It simply left out the most important part. Adams looked at him and suddenly asked, "Where's Grey Raven?" Rowan shook his head.

"I don't know. By the time I woke up, he was gone."

"Solly?"

"I haven't found him yet either." Adams leaned against the wall and closed his eyes briefly.

"I heard knocking," he said.

"Through a thick wall, from the other side. It repeated several times. Sounded like their signal." Rowan looked up at him. Adams's voice was helpless.

"I couldn't get through." He was mortal. No map, no combat ability, and after waking up, all he had beside him was Carl's corpse, half a medical kit, and a collapsed passage. Holding out until now was already not easy. Rowan opened his terminal. He did not unfold the full map. He only marked the section of side passage he had memorized.

"I passed another route just now. There seems to be a way through." Adams followed Rowan along the side passage. Adams moved slowly, and Rowan was not much faster. Neither of them spoke much along the way. After the isolation structure activated, the ruin felt like a body cut open. Broken pipelines, warped support frames, and dried nutrient fluid were everywhere. Old warning lights on the walls would occasionally flash once before going out again. About twenty minutes later, faint knocking came from ahead.

Five short. Two long. Then a pause. Adams's expression changed.

"It's Syringe." Rowan said nothing and quickened his pace. At the end of the passage was a half-collapsed maintenance node. Alloy supports slanted down from above, and several life-support pipelines lay across the ground. Deep cuts marked the walls, as if some enormous scythe had scraped across them by force. Dark gray mucus still remained in the liquid on the floor, dragging in a trail toward the waste-fluid shaft. Syringe leaned against a broken pipeline, his face pale, eyes filled with bloodshot lines.

In his hand, he still held a cracked signal spike. He had struck it so many times that its edge was deformed, and its shell was covered in tiny cracks. This was clearly not where they had first been isolated. Solly had taken Syringe and pushed outward. They had only been trapped here in the end. Syringe was not unconscious. He was simply close to his limit. When he heard footsteps, he jerked his head up. He saw Rowan first, and his gaze tightened. Then he saw Adams behind Rowan.

In that instant, he almost threw himself forward.

"Adams!" His voice was horribly hoarse, but it rose sharply.

"Quick! Look at my brother!" Adams's expression changed. He immediately passed Rowan and half-knelt beside Solly. Solly leaned against the wall, his face frighteningly white. His clothes were soaked with blood and nutrient fluid. From the waist down, he was sealed in a hard shell formed from mud and water. It was not a normal bandage, but the result of earth magic forcibly solidifying the wound. Along the edge of the shell, bloodstains repeatedly washed by water films could still be seen.

On the ground nearby lay a burned spell card. The card had split in half down the center, and the remaining golden spell patterns looked like a broken axe. Rowan's gaze paused on the burned spell card for an instant. Another industrialized Terra spell scroll. Only this one was clearly much more expensive. Adams took one look at Solly, and his expression darkened.

"Don't move him. I'll check the wound first." Syringe clenched his teeth, his voice trembling.

"The big one caught up." He pointed toward the waste-fluid shaft, his fingertip shaking badly.

"I woke up too late. I couldn't move fast. It came down from above, and my brother blocked it... his legs were..."

"Enough," Solly said quietly. His voice was weak, but it still cut Syringe off. Syringe's eyes reddened, and he said no more. Adams ignored their argument. He opened the medical kit and cut open the cloth and hardened mud around Solly's legs. His movements were quick, but his expression grew worse.

"Who fed him Violet Frostvine Pills?"

"I did," Syringe said at once.

"Two pills. Later, another one and a half. I didn't dare use the rest."

"You did right," Adams said.

"Any more wouldn't help. It would only crush his body." Syringe seemed to seize the last bit of hope.

"Then he..." Adams was silent for a moment.

"The legs can't be saved." The passage went still. Solly seemed to have known the result already. His expression did not change much. He only slowly raised his head. His gaze swept over Adams first, then landed on Rowan. In those exhausted eyes, almost out of focus, a shadow surfaced again. Solly's voice was hoarse.

"Where is Grey Raven?"