hotmtlnovel Page 28
Page 28
"Break it off!" Zhang Su roared, increasing his sprint speed by another third. The ghostly light on his mutated scimitar surged, pointing directly at the dark red tentacle that was frantically pouring blood into the crack!
He wanted to nip this evil thing's last hope in the bud!
At this moment, Hei Tai Sui poured all its remaining power into this tentacle that was pleading for help, completely ignoring Zhang Su's deadly slash that was within arm's reach. Instead, it frantically urged the blood light, pouring all its spiritual energy into the crack that it had forcibly opened, regardless of the cost!
Zhang Su's speed was as fast as lightning, arriving in an instant! The mutated blade arm tore through the viscous air, carrying the decisiveness to cut through everything, and fiercely slashed at the root of that eerie dark red tentacle!
Just as the blade was less than half a foot from its target, and its cold sharpness was almost touching the writhing blood runes on the surface of the dark red tentacles—
"boom!"
The dark red tentacle suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, terrifying red light, like a blood-red sun exploding!
The red light is not an attack, but rather a signal, a coordinate, a portal that is forcibly opened!
The spatial rift that it pierced was instantly torn open, expanded, and spread like fragile brocade under the impact of this overwhelming and unstoppable blood light!
Sizzle—
A piercing, ear-piercing sound, like cloth being forcibly torn apart, shook the illusion!
The rift was no longer a crack, but had transformed into a colossal, terrifying fissure that covered the entire dark sky and flowed with dark red blood light!
Beyond the crack lies not nothingness, but a churning, dark red "ocean" that is even deeper, thicker, and more despairing!
Immediately afterwards, an indescribable, terrifying aura, far surpassing Sequence 7 and possibly even reaching Sequence 5 or higher, carrying the sedimentation of countless years, surged out from the crack like a tangible tsunami!
The mere presence of that aura caused the entire illusion, already on the verge of collapse, to tremble under immense strain, with spatial fragments fluttering off!
Then, Zhang Su saw it.
He saw countless tentacles emerging from the cracks in that dark red sea of blood!
Each one was as thick as a mountain, its surface covered with layers of dark red scales that were as rough and tough as the oldest rocks, and thick, viscous blood-like light flowed between the gaps in the scales!
They wriggled and stretched, descending with an overwhelming force! The aura emanating from these tentacles made the previously invincible Black Tai Sui instantly appear as insignificant as dust!
[Warning! Intervention by an extremely high-level entity detected! Energy level estimation...failed! Threat level: Demigod or higher!]
The pollution index is skyrocketing and will soon reach the critical threshold! The strength of the physical rules interfering with it... is unanalyzable!
[The user is in extreme danger! They must leave this area immediately!]
[All available means have failed to resolve the crisis! We are urgently attempting to contact 'Foundation' and request highest-level support!]
Yuan Shu couldn't even estimate the opponent's level; he could only describe him as "above demigod"!
Zhang Su was also feeling an unprecedented fear at this moment!
Retreat! We must retreat immediately! Get away from these tentacles!
He tried to forcefully interrupt the momentum of the strike, his muscles tensed, and he was about to retreat rapidly!
however--
At the very instant the rift covering the sky fully opened and countless terrifying tentacles descended, the initial burst of blinding blood light that covered the entire field of vision froze his body, leaving him suspended in mid-air in a slashing posture.
His body was controlled again!
Zhang Su was as if he were embedded in a huge piece of amber!
From fingertips to toes, every muscle, every nerve, and even the mutated energy flowing through the body were frozen by an irresistible force!
He couldn't even move his eyes. (The rest of the text appears to be nonsensical and unrelated.)
He could only stand stiffly suspended in mid-air, watching helplessly as one of the dark red tentacles, like a towering pillar, with an aura of world-destroying power, disregarded the distance in space and gently wrapped around the Black Tai Sui below, which was almost paralyzed from its successful distress call and was relatively "tiny" in size, as if picking up a tiny speck of dust.
Immediately afterwards, another equally enormous, dark red tentacle, emanating an aura that made his very soul tremble, slowly wrapped around him, this "ant" who was suspended in the air like a lamb to the slaughter!
The terrifying tip, covered in ancient scales and molten lava, grew larger and larger in his vision, obscuring the shattered sky, blocking out all light, and extinguishing the last glimmer of hope in his heart...
Unable to resist, unable to escape, even their thoughts became sluggish under this terrifying pressure.
The next second, the cold, rough texture of the scales, carrying the scent of endless ages and blood, covered his entire body.
An irresistible and overwhelming pulling force came!
Zhang Su and the Black Tai Sui, enveloped by dark red tentacles, were dragged into the enormous rift that covered the sky and flowed with dark red blood light, like two pebbles thrown into an abyss.
The cold, viscous liquid with a strong, rusty smell instantly filled Zhang Su's mouth, nose, and ear canals!
This sensation, this nauseating smell... it was so similar to the feeling he had when he first transmigrated and his consciousness was adrift in that boundless black water!
The enormous dark red tentacles did not stop, dragging him through the viscous crimson water curtain and suddenly lifting him upwards!
"Cough cough... vomit..." Zhang Su was suddenly pulled out of the water and coughed violently, trying to vomit out the crimson liquid that had been poured into his lungs.
He barely managed to open his eyes, which were stinging from the stimulation.
What you see is a breathtaking sight—
A vast, boundless, deathly silent crimson sea!
The seawater was thick like blood, or like molten copper, exuding an ancient, sweet, and deadly aura, stretching all the way to the horizon, where it met the equally crimson, low-hanging, oppressive sky.
He subconsciously looked up at the "source of light" in this eerie world.
A dark red sphere, indescribably enormous and seemingly composed of coagulated blood and molten ore, hung high in the center of the crimson sky like a gigantic, rotting, pus-filled eyeball!
It exudes an eerie, soul-stirring crimson light, immersing the entire world in a morbid, despairing dark red hue.
After staring at it for just three seconds, Zhang Su felt as if his eyes were being pierced by red-hot steel needles, and excruciating pain accompanied by uncontrollable tears of blood!
[WARNING! Extremely high level of mental pollution detected! Index exceeds critical threshold! Please immediately stabilize your mind and suppress mental fluctuations! Maintain logical thinking as much as possible! Repeat, stay... calm...]
The warning from the source rang in my mind again, accompanied by interfering noise.
Almost instinctively, Zhang Su followed Yuan Shu's instructions, forcibly restraining his mind and attempting to sink his consciousness into a cold void to isolate himself from the all-pervasive and frenzied erosion from the outside world.
However, it was in vain, and the next second he cried out in pain.
"Uhhhhh-!"
An unimaginable torrent of negative emotions instantly overwhelmed his fragile heart.
Endless despair, fear, hatred, frantic whispers, distorted hallucinations... like billions of red-hot iron rods, piercing deep into the core of his consciousness! He felt like a balloon blown to its limit, about to burst into pieces in the next second!
His thoughts were torn apart and shattered, and the light of reason teetered on the brink of collapse in the boundless darkness. He almost screamed!
Just as his mental defenses were about to completely collapse, the terrifying sense of pollution that almost crushed him into dust suddenly subsided like the receding tide!
Although the surrounding environment was still insane, the "high concentration" of pollution that could instantly destroy his soul seemed to have been deliberately suppressed.
Zhang Su was like a drowning person being dragged back to the surface, gasping for breath, his tattered clothes soaked with cold sweat, his body trembling uncontrollably from the lingering fear.
Those few seconds felt like an eternity.
"Yuan Shu...it was you...who found a way?" he asked with difficulty in his consciousness, his voice weak with the exhaustion of someone who had survived a catastrophe.
[No. It was an active suppression of the pollution source. The reason... is unknown.] Source Hub responded.
"Active suppression?" Alarm bells rang in Zhang Su's mind; this was definitely not a friendly gesture!
Just as he was thinking this, the huge dark red tentacle wrapped around him suddenly tightened inward!
Click!
The sickening sound of bones shattering clearly emanated from Zhang Su's body!
His bones were instantly crushed and broken inch by inch! His internal organs were deformed and ruptured by the terrifying pressure! The excruciating pain swept through every nerve like a tsunami, far exceeding any previous trauma!
He couldn't even scream anymore; blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed from his mouth and nose!
Consciousness was once again on the verge of collapse amidst extreme pain.
Just as he was about to completely lose consciousness, the tight grip loosened slightly, allowing him to inhale a breath of air thick with the smell of blood, barely maintaining a sliver of awareness.
At the same time, the boundless crimson sea below suddenly began to churn violently!
The viscous, blood-red seawater, as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, roared upwards and converged!
A gigantic humanoid silhouette, indescribably large and terrifying, slowly rose from the depths of the sea of blood!
It stands hundreds of meters tall and appears to be forcibly fused together from the skeletons of billions of living beings, congealed blood, writhing internal organs, and countless twisted and wailing fragments of souls!
Its "skin" is a dark red membrane that peels off and regenerates repeatedly, its surface covered with huge sores oozing pus and holes that open and close, spewing foul odors. Countless tiny, dark red tentacles, like blood vessels and nerves, dance wildly across its body, weaving a living, blasphemous "robe."
Its head had no facial features, only a constantly rotating, collapsing dark vortex composed of pure malice. At the center of the vortex, two dark red lights, like the core of a hellish furnace, slowly lit up, like eyes, locking onto Zhang Su, who was as insignificant as dust.
Then, the tentacle that was wrapped around Zhang Su brought Zhang Su, who was covered in blood, with shattered bones and ruptured internal organs, to the front of this terrifying blood sea behemoth, making him face the two "eyes" that contained endless madness! He hovered in the air.
A terrifying humanoid figure looked down at the dying ant before it. A vast, muffled sound, like the scraping of countless souls against rocks at the bottom of an abyss, reached directly into the depths of Zhang Su's shattered consciousness. Ancient and solemn, it was like a divine oracle, or perhaps a curse.
"Who are you? What family do you belong to? Why... have you slaughtered my Qiu family's bloodline?!"
As he questioned Zhang Su, the tentacles binding him loosened their grip slightly, seemingly giving him a chance to "respond."
Zhang Su coughed up several mouthfuls of foul blood; the excruciating pain nearly robbed him of his ability to think, but he still forced his head up, his bloodshot eyes meeting the two terrifying points of light from the furnace. His voice was hoarse and broken, yet it carried a fierce determination that refused to bow down:
"You...have no memory of peeking into the cave's essence...and know...my name is Zhang Su? Why...ask such a redundant question!"
The terrifying humanoid's swirling "face" seemed completely unmoved; the light from the Eye of the Furnace flickered slightly, and that horrifying voice once again bombarded Zhang Su's consciousness:
"Your name is false, how can it be trusted! The power you wield is not of the 'Zhang' sect's lineage! It is not in accordance with the laws of this world! Who exactly are you?!"
Zhang Su grinned, revealing a blood-soaked mouth and a cruel, mocking smile, and said:
"I... am Zhang Su! As for... whether I am a member of the Zhang family... and what laws I have inherited... that is... a secret of heaven! I cannot reveal it!!!"
"No comment" was his final battle cry, echoing across the desolate sea of blood.
The terrifying humanoid's "face," formed by vortexes of malice, seemed to freeze for a moment. Then, the light in the two eyes of the furnace suddenly turned fierce, as if proclaiming a final judgment:
"Stubborn and unyielding, you are courting your own destruction! Since that is the case... you shall be executed!"
"After your demise... your soul... will reveal the truth... at that time... all secrets... will be exposed!"
Zhang Su's pupils contracted sharply, knowing that the final moment had arrived.
He stared intently at the two points of destructive light, his eyes showing no fear, only an unyielding spirit burning to the very last moment and a resolute determination to face death!
He gritted his teeth, using the last ounce of his willpower to stand up, and roared at the terrifying humanoid figure, "Come on! Even if I die, I'll die standing up!"
The terrifying humanoid said no more. A giant hand, formed from viscous blood and water, slowly rose and gently grasped Zhang Su, who was floating in front of it!
There was no earth-shattering noise, only a suffocating, dull cracking sound of biomass being forcibly compressed.
puff--!
The tiny figure, along with the hideous, mutated curved sword arm, was like a fragile sac filled with liquid, instantly crushed in the face of that absolute power!
Blood, bone fragments, and shattered internal organs... mixed with viscous, crimson seawater, splattered between the huge fingers, forming a brief but horrifying cloud of blood mist!
At the moment when the excruciating pain reached its peak, Zhang Su's consciousness was completely swallowed up by the boundless darkness.
His last remaining thought was: "At least I didn't disgrace the transmigrators; I didn't back down until the very end!"
dark.
Absolute, cold, and empty darkness.
However, the darkness only lasted... about two seconds?
It was as if it had only been a blink of an eye, or as if it had been forcibly awakened from a long, deathly slumber.
Zhang Su suddenly "opened" his eyes!
There was no expected soul-shattering or hellish torment.
What came into his view was a completely different, yet equally oppressive and shocking scene—an endless, monotonous, and despair-inducing gray concrete sky.
Beneath my feet lay the hard, cold, lifeless concrete earth*, flat as if it had been rolled over by a giant road roller millions of times, stretching to the horizon and merging with the gray sky.
In the very center of this desolate and gloomy world stood a colossal object!
It was a building whose grandeur and imposing presence were beyond words!
Just like what he had seen in his previous dreams, it was a colossal building whose grandeur and oppressive presence were beyond description!
It is made entirely of rough, heavy, unadorned concrete, with hard lines and sharp angles, full of absolute geometric power and cold, ruthless industrial aesthetics.
The massive, fortress-like base extends upwards, forming layers upon layers of enormous, staggered cubic structures, some resembling inverted mountains, others like giant tombstones thrust into the earth. Thick concrete pillars, like the ribs of a giant god, support the cantilevered, sky-obscuring platform.
Countless deep, square windows, like the eye sockets of monsters, are randomly embedded in the gray wall, letting in no light, only a deep darkness that swallows up all light.
It exudes an absolute, inhuman, and eternally unchanging sense of order and oppression!
It is the ultimate embodiment of the concrete core style!