Darkness swallowed the entire city like a tidal wave, with turbulent waves crashing along the coastline and undercurrents swirling ominously.

The Infinite train sat silently in the maintenance section of the civil air defense structure, engines shut down, all lights extinguished. Everyone aboard deliberately suppressed even their breathing sounds. Inside the carriages, only the faint red glow from instrument panels occasionally flickered, illuminating the tense expressions of people throughout the various compartments. Even Ding Junyi cooperated by stopping her movements, hands tucked in pockets as she stood waiting for the darkness's response.

This moment was often the most dangerous.

Chen Sixuan stood before the observation window of the cockpit, staring intently into the depths of the tunnel through night vision goggles—that was the passage to the main tracks.

"Something's coming." Monica activated her sonic ability, acutely detecting the eerie sounds coming from deep within the tracks. Chen Sixuan's eyes focused sharply;

her sensory evolution had greatly enhanced her sensitivity to sound. Though not as supernaturally acute as Monica's ability, she could still hear numerous scraping sounds approaching from afar.

"Everyone prepare to engage the enemy," Chen Sixuan said in a low voice through the comms, her expression tense.

Scraping sounds echoed through the tunnel, like some multi-legged creature crawling along the rails, occasionally mixed with low growls as if throats were stuffed with rotting flesh. As the sounds multiplied, everyone aboard the Infinite clenched their fists. Shu Qin and others rested their fingers lightly on triggers, ready to open fire.

Just then, Chen Sixuan and Monica watched through their night vision goggles as several bizarre figures swiftly flashed past, charging into the distance accompanied by roars, seemingly unaware of the Infinite's presence.

"Something's coming." Monica activated her sonic ability, acutely detecting the eerie sounds coming from deep within the tracks. Chen Sixuan's eyes focused sharply;

her sensory evolution had greatly enhanced her sensitivity to sound. Though not as supernaturally acute as Monica's ability, she could still hear numerous scraping sounds approaching from afar.

"Not just what we released—there's also that big thing released earlier by the Sanctum Organization. The darkness must have focused its attention in that direction!" Qian Dele analyzed.

"How strange, these monsters... are they fleeing...?" Shasha stared at the screen, her voice barely a whisper.

"No, not fleeing." Takahashi Ryunosuke's telekinesis subtly fluctuated as he sensed the energy flow in the distance. "They're being driven by something."

Boom. At that moment, continuous, faint tremors echoed through the tunnel. Dust kept falling, causing the Infinite hidden in the maintenance section to rumble. Everyone felt the vibrations, their expressions shifting.

"A large creature is coming..."

Chen Sixuan's expression was grave. "Everyone stay calm and wait for the right moment to act!"

Luo Yang operated the drones with extreme caution, sweat beading on his forehead as he carefully withdrew them. "It must be what Captain Lin and Ning Jing saw along the coast and in the sea, and what Laine mentioned—those massive creatures converging on Haiyan Island. At least A-level or special-level, very likely including S-level."

"S-level? Isn't that too exaggerated?" Lü Chang said nervously.

Shu Qin looked calm. "With that Oceanic Titan appearing, S-level isn't surprising at all."

In the cockpit, Monica and Chen Sixuan quietly watched the pitch-black passage. Monica then asked Chen Sixuan, "If we're discovered, do we have any other options?"

Chen Sixuan took a deep breath, gazing ahead. "If we were going to be discovered, we would have been attacked when darkness fell. So..."

"I mean, what if?" Monica's gaze was intense.

Chen Sixuan paused, then calmly replied, "Then we fight. It's not like we haven't experienced all-night blood battles before."

"No, not fleeing." Takahashi Ryunosuke's telekinesis subtly fluctuated as he sensed the energy flow in the distance. "They're being driven by something."

Chen Sixuan looked at her, seeming to detect something different in her tone. "Does he have any thoughts?"

"Not really any thoughts." Monica crossed her arms and let out a long sigh, a slight curve forming at the corner of her lips. "It's just that since meeting Lin Xian, he always gives me this illusion of hope amidst despair."

"Is that bad?"

"In my view, he's not the type who can lead large convoys, but he always gives off a certain feeling—a sense of security? No, more like an irrational brilliance that makes people diminish or reduce rational consideration of the fear of the dark civilization and Doomsday. Objectively speaking, everything we've encountered, including our chances of survival, looks utterly hopeless." Monica turned to look at Chen Sixuan, speaking calmly. "That despair is actually more terrifying than the dark invasion, isn't it?"

Chen Sixuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Lin Xian and Professor Ye Lan believe there's another civilization in this disaster, which might offer humanity a chance at survival. So Lin Xian is trying to use his mechanical supernatural power and Sword Bearer identity to explore this. I understand his perspective. The information from Southern Celestial Gate's photovoltaic arrays, Dawn City's Star Abyss retreat—as long as the philosophy proposed by Phoenix Society still exists, as long as these anomalies haven't been definitively concluded, as long as the dark civilization hasn't destroyed the world before the next dawn, for Lin Xian and Professor Ye, it's all valid."

She looked at Monica. "This is what Lin Xian insists on. Though it's all speculation without any trace of evidence, it's precisely because he holds onto this that he maintains this seemingly irrational state."

"Actually, from that angle, he's very rational." Monica nodded. "It seems I don't understand him deeply enough yet."

Chen Sixuan's gaze was faint. "Not deeply enough yet..."

Boom. The earth trembled, interrupting their conversation. The entire underground tunnel seemed to shake violently. A great amount of sand, stones, and fragments from crumbling walls fell, hitting the Infinite's body with clattering sounds.

At this moment, the night was ink-black. Along the coastline, seawater churned violently as massive shadows emerged from the deep sea.

First came tentacles—thick black tentacles as large as buildings slammed against reefs, sending waves dozens of meters high. Then the torso emerged: a mountain-like mass of fleshy tumors slowly surfaced, covered with squirming pores, each pore revealing a rotting human head. Their eyes glowed with an eerie blue light, silently scanning the city.

A giant starfish floating on the water's surface, a massive curled skeleton drifting in the air above the water, and a bizarre floating island accompanied by a storm approaching from afar...

In the urban ruins, split-tailed horrors, Red Bones, and even never-before-seen deformed creatures emerged from sewers, subway entrances, and collapsed buildings. As if summoned by some invisible signal, they slowly gathered toward the abandoned urban areas and the collapsed west orbital station. Chaotic roars echoed through streets and alleys. Empty residential buildings along the coastline were struck and collapsed by the giant starfish's advance. That terrifying black shadow drifted above the city like a cosmic ghost.

In the cockpit, Monica and Chen Sixuan quietly watched the pitch-black passage. Monica then asked Chen Sixuan, "If we're discovered, do we have any other options?"

...

Haiyan Island, offshore island. Darkness as thick as ink engulfed the entire Sea Rock Prison.

The situation had completely exceeded Lin Xian's expectations. Now, he, KIKI, Ning Jing, and several others had all retreated to the prison's massive control tower to take shelter from the night, not rashly entering that underground pit. The night wind carried the salty, fishy scent of seawater, mixed with a faint stench of decay, swirling in from all directions and creating vortices in the prison's empty areas, producing eerie sounds like weeping.

"What is that severed foot? How does it have such powerful dark invasion energy?" Original content can be found at novel·fire.net

Ning Jing kept her voice low as she watched Shiori using her ability to treat A Bai. The bloody tears from A Bai's visor had dried. If he hadn't issued a critical warning for everyone to retreat, that instant burst of dark invasion energy would have severely injured everyone present.

"Strange indeed. It's a pair of human feet, severed yet able to walk freely. Doesn't seem like an abnormal entity or human horror, yet it emits a ferocious aura..." Fire Bro said with grave concern.

"Wonder if that thing has noticed us?" Ning Jing asked.

"I can still sense that presence..." Shiori whispered. "It's down there."

Shh~

Chen Sixuan looked at her, seeming to detect something different in her tone. "Does he have any thoughts?"

Lin Xian operated the drones, zooming in on the observation feed. His pupils suddenly contracted.

"Not really any thoughts." Monica crossed her arms and let out a long sigh, a slight curve forming at the corner of her lips. "It's just that since meeting Lin Xian, he always gives me this illusion of hope amidst despair."

On the sea's surface, a massive shadow slowly emerged. At first just a blurry outline, it gradually became clear: a deformed abnormal entity, its body like a rotting whale but with dozens of twisted tentacles, each tentacle tip splitting open into a mouth full of sharp teeth. Its skin was covered with festering sores oozing black-red mucus that spread through the seawater as it swam, like some form of pollution.

"A-level... no, definitely special-level." KIKI's voice was tense.

On the distant horizon, more shadows surfaced—like giant starfish with central splits revealing abyss-like giant mouths, some resembling rotting octopuses with tentacles covered in human eyes, even a floating "island" whose surface was covered with squirming tumors that exhaled black mist with each breath.

"In my view, he's not the type who can lead large convoys, but he always gives off a certain feeling—a sense of security? No, more like an irrational brilliance that makes people diminish or reduce rational consideration of the fear of the dark civilization and Doomsday. Objectively speaking, everything we've encountered, including our chances of survival, looks utterly hopeless." Monica turned to look at Chen Sixuan, speaking calmly. "That despair is actually more terrifying than the dark invasion, isn't it?"

"Probably attracted by the Bait Agent that Sanctum released, but we don't have time to worry about that now." Currently, numerous corners of the prison had been equipped with signals and monitoring devices by Lin Xian's drones. Hundreds of drones began searching and taking over the entire dark network. Simultaneously, he started operating drones to enter that underground pit, preparing to investigate what exactly that pair of severed feet was.

Chen Sixuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Lin Xian and Professor Ye Lan believe there's another civilization in this disaster, which might offer humanity a chance at survival. So Lin Xian is trying to use his mechanical supernatural power and Sword Bearer identity to explore this. I understand his perspective. The information from Southern Celestial Gate's photovoltaic arrays, Dawn City's Star Abyss retreat—as long as the philosophy proposed by Phoenix Society still exists, as long as these anomalies haven't been definitively concluded, as long as the dark civilization hasn't destroyed the world before the next dawn, for Lin Xian and Professor Ye, it's all valid."

"I thought about that too, but this is too bizarre. Good thing we didn't go down directly." Lin Xian said.

She looked at Monica. "This is what Lin Xian insists on. Though it's all speculation without any trace of evidence, it's precisely because he holds onto this that he maintains this seemingly irrational state."

Lin Xian shifted his focus to the drones, operating a scout drone to re-enter that underground warehouse. Under night vision, the pit appeared like a black abyss. Looking at the terrain, Lin Xian's eyes flashed with images from Gu Zheng's consciousness, capturing numerous scenes of Sanctum Organization members emerging from this pit. He felt puzzled—how were these people coming out from here?

He immediately had the drone deploy a small signal device beside the pit before slowly descending into it. The drone moved silently. Lin Xian held his breath as he watched the dark pit outline through the drone's feed filled with night vision noise. What appeared was a deep, large drainage pipe extending beyond sight.

Hum~

A faint flight control sound came through as the drone slowly turned. The other side was also a dark passage. As the drone descended, Lin Xian didn't detect any other abnormalities, yet before darkness fell they had clearly seen a pair of severed feet walking bizarrely in this pit. If A Bai hadn't warned them quickly, who knew what they might have encountered? From those severed feet, Lin Xian seemed to detect something like the fluctuation of a Forbidden Artifact. Thinking this, he immediately activated a search module on the scout drone.

This was a special device for detecting Forbidden Artifacts that Lin Xian had confiscated from that Sacred Revelation member called Old Ghost in Silent City. Later, Lin Xian modified it onto this specialized scout drone specifically for searching Forbidden Artifacts.

Boom. The earth trembled, interrupting their conversation. The entire underground tunnel seemed to shake violently. A great amount of sand, stones, and fragments from crumbling walls fell, hitting the Infinite's body with clattering sounds.

It was a creature resembling intertwined black tapeworms, massive in size, almost occupying the entire pit. It appeared bizarrely in the drone's feed. Lin Xian's eyes widened sharply. Looking downward, he suddenly discovered that the pair of human severed feet had reappeared on the ground ahead, completely torn from the knee area. Those dense black tapeworms grew from the pale, rotting tissue of the severed feet, enveloping the entire pit!

Lin Xian immediately frowned, unable to suppress a sharp intake of breath. He realized what they'd seen earlier wasn't just a pair of severed feet, but a massive pit creature. Bizarrely, aside from the human severed feet, the creature's main body was in an invisible state?!

So dangerous! If A Bai hadn't detected it, none of Lin Xian's team—despite having power armor observation systems and radar—had noticed. If they'd rashly gone down, they wouldn't even have known what bit them if attacked—utterly terrifying!

First came tentacles—thick black tentacles as large as buildings slammed against reefs, sending waves dozens of meters high. Then the torso emerged: a mountain-like mass of fleshy tumors slowly surfaced, covered with squirming pores, each pore revealing a rotting human head. Their eyes glowed with an eerie blue light, silently scanning the city.

At that moment, the collective creature composed of countless black worms surged toward the drone, as if to devour it. In Lin Xian's lagging feed, he only saw numerous long snakes swimming past the lens. The next moment, an even more horrifying scene appeared: among those black worms, large numbers of partially digested human corpses began to emerge—some skeletal, others with severed limbs. Several were even still wearing Sanctum Organization power armor, apparently not dead for long.

Just then, the feed abruptly cut off. Lin Xian didn't know if the drone was damaged or the signal completely lost.

"How is it?" KIKI asked.

In the urban ruins, split-tailed horrors, Red Bones, and even never-before-seen deformed creatures emerged from sewers, subway entrances, and collapsed buildings. As if summoned by some invisible signal, they slowly gathered toward the abandoned urban areas and the collapsed west orbital station. Chaotic roars echoed through streets and alleys. Empty residential buildings along the coastline were struck and collapsed by the giant starfish's advance. That terrifying black shadow drifted above the city like a cosmic ghost.

"Invisible monster?" KIKI frowned. "How big?"

Lin Xian shook his head. "Can't see the full form, but that concentration of dark invasion is definitely not simple."

Then Lin Xian thought of something and said to KIKI, "KIKI, access those materials you got from the Federation earlier. Research this prison. If this passage is military-related, then we should understand what the Sanctum Organization is doing down there."

"Oh right!" KIKI immediately operated her power armor's smart computer. Her information center data had long been imported. Soon, she retrieved information related to the offshore island's Sea Rock Prison and began searching.

Before long, KIKI transmitted a surprised voice from a light screen.

"What did you find?"

"Lin Xian, you guessed right." KIKI synchronized a holographic light screen, enlarging a secret blueprint. Ning Jing and Fire Bro crowded around. Ning Jing's eyes widened as she couldn't help but exclaim:

The situation had completely exceeded Lin Xian's expectations. Now, he, KIKI, Ning Jing, and several others had all retreated to the prison's massive control tower to take shelter from the night, not rashly entering that underground pit. The night wind carried the salty, fishy scent of seawater, mixed with a faint stench of decay, swirling in from all directions and creating vortices in the prison's empty areas, producing eerie sounds like weeping.