When they burst out of the spiral staircase and returned to the dim upper level of the domed ruins, the rumbling and collapsing behind them clung to them like a relentless curse.
Fortunately, the surviving silicon-based lifeforms seemed to have been frightened out of their wits by the upheaval underground and had long since fled somewhere unknown. The entire upper level was empty, filled only with their ragged, desperate breathing and the distant, bone-chilling muffled crashes.
"Quick! Get out of here!" Captain Rhino's face was deathly pale. Dragging the barely alive Huang along, he sprinted toward the entrance from memory without looking back.
Ten had come in, but only seven remained. Aside from Neji, Xuan, Jiqiao, Rhino, and Huang, there were only two Viscount Rank team members who had escaped by luck. Every one of them was injured, their faces filled with terror.
No one dared stop. They fled desperately along the way they had come. The passage that had seemed so long on the way in now felt painfully short. Before long, they saw the edge of the massive pit formed by the collapse, as well as the faint lead-gray daylight of Planet G-77 filtering down from above.
The rock walls along the pit's edge were constantly shedding debris under the continuing tremors. Clearly, the entire ruin structure was collapsing.
"Get up there! Hurry!" Captain Rhino handed Huang over to a Viscount Rank team member who could still move, then leaped up first. Clinging to protruding rocks, he climbed upward with difficulty.
The others hurried after him. Neji carried Xuan and Jiqiao, yet his movements were the lightest of all. Chaos True Essence formed tiny bursts beneath his feet, and after a few leaps, he was already near the top of the pit.
At last, everyone scrambled out of