Wu Heng did not look at the screen. Instead, he closed his eyes, his right hand in the Balance Gloves hovering over the console as the gloves continuously transmitted minute, precise commands.
He could sense the anomaly in the cage.
Within the gray-white energy barrier, two points of light, one black and one white, were like trapped beasts. Drawing upon the minute yet attribute-compatible Purgatory energy pouring back through the crack, they continuously tried to pry open gaps in the cage's rules.
They had not truly awakened. This was merely the agitation of residual instinct, but it was enough to deform the cage that served as Purgatory's "doorframe."
The Puppet Wraith emerged from the shadows, its tentacles wrapping around the cage.
On the main screen, the energy output bar representing the Puppet Wraith shot upward. At the same time, two precisely calculated streams of four-colored energy were injected into specific nodes on the cage model display.
The crack's declining stability abruptly halted, then, incredibly slowly... began to rise.
76.8% 77% 77.2%...
But Wu Heng's face turned even paler.
Such direct intervention consumed enormous mental strength and required exquisitely precise manipulation of rules. It was like threading a needle over a boiling vat of oil.
"Maintain the channel aperture at its current level." He opened his eyes and looked at another screen displaying an overhead energy map of the Purgatory camp and Sam's squad's real-time location. "Sam's squad is about to reach Renault's last known signal location. Notify Dean: contract the defensive line to within five hundred meters of the crack and establish a rune barrier. The first search-and-rescue coordinates have been issued. Prepare to conduct sector-by-sector searches."
"Understood!"
The orders traveled through the still-stable communication channel toward Purgatory.
Deep within Purgatory, at the location of Renault's squad's final signal.
When