S-rank contamination zone

"I don't want to either," Cang Yun said.

She lowered the guide from her shoulder with great care, sitting the girl against the wall at the point farthest from the contamination. Luo Ruzhuo's head tilted to one side, her breathing slow and steady, her face serene.

Cang Yun gave her another look.

The exiled guide looked remarkably unblemished, in stark contrast to what she had been through. Nothing about her appearance suggested the ruthlessness with which she struck when killing.

"But orders are orders." Cang Yun stood and swept her gaze over both ends of the corridor. "Deputy Captain Liu told us to hold our position, so that's what we'll do."

Xiao Xue opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more. Holding his weapon, he took up a position on the other side, forming an angle with Cang Yun as they sheltered the unconscious sentinels and guides on the floor behind them.

The corridor fell silent.

The inner walls of the black cocoons they had cut open were still writhing slowly, like organs that had been sliced apart but had yet to die. Pale yellow liquid trickled down the walls and collected in shallow puddles on the floor, reflecting the few emergency lights still glowing overhead. Their dim yellow light stretched every shadow long and twisted.

Xiao Xue watched the shadows for a few seconds, then suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The shadows were moving!

Apart from the shifting caused by the flickering lights, the black substance seeping from every cocoon was gliding silently along the floor. Like countless tiny black snakes, it converged at the far end of the corridor.

"Cang Yun!" Xiao Xue's voice tightened.

"I see it!"

Cang Yun raised her weapon. The goshawk landed on her shoulder, its iron-gray flight feathers bristling. Its golden-brown eyes locked onto the end of the corridor, ready to fight the unknown enemy.

The black substance gathered faster. What began as trickles became a surging river in the blink of an eye. Every cocoon was frantically spewing something out, its inner walls shriveling rapidly.

At the end of the corridor, an enormous, constantly churning black mass was taking shape.

It had no fixed form yet, looking like a pool of dark liquid that continually changed shape. Each surge came with a wet, viscous sound.

Xiao Xue's optical computer was vibrating frantically, its red warning lights blazing. He glanced down at the screen, and his expression changed abruptly.

"The contamination level is rising so fast!" he exclaimed. "This rate isn't right!"

Cang Yun's optical computer was screaming too. She glanced at the numbers... In four seconds, they had leaped from a safe level to the warning threshold and were still climbing.

The contamination level was rising much faster than in previous Pollution Domains, which meant this Pollution Domain's rank was not low.

"Seal your mental domain!" Cang Yun ordered decisively. "Xiao Xue, lower your sensory threshold to the minimum!"

When facing an unstable contaminated environment, shutting down the five senses was the best way to prevent contamination levels from rising rapidly.

But even though both of them complied immediately, their defenses were like paper before the black monster.

Violent, chaotic emotions still seeped through every opening. Xiao Xue's temples throbbed, and it was as if countless figures were screaming inside his head at once.

He gritted his teeth and summoned his Mental Entity.

A snowy owl appeared out of thin air and landed on Xiao Xue's shoulder. Its body was pure white, densely marked with fine dark bars, and its apricot-yellow eyes were wide and round. It stared fixedly at the black mass swelling at the end of the corridor, trying to discern the location of the contamination core within it. That was the contaminant's only weakness.

The goshawk also took wing, circling through the narrow corridor.

Cang Yun had blocked out most of her senses, retaining only her sight. She had even deliberately enhanced it to its limit and, enduring the stabbing pain in her head, was analyzing the enemy before her frame by frame.

"I see the contamination core!" Her eyes lit up, and she called out, "But it's changing shape too quickly, and the core keeps moving!"

"Got it. I'll try first!"

Xiao Xue received the core's transmitted location and moved first.

He was fast, leaving an afterimage in the narrow corridor. The snowy owl sprang out in sync with him, spreading its wings fully in the air, their pure white edges gleaming coldly like blades.

Though the snowy owl's combat abilities were somewhat weaker than the others on the squad, it was no pushover. As its wings beat, they whipped up a bone-chilling wind that swept straight toward the black monster.

At the same time, Xiao Xue had already drawn his weapon, a lightsaber made from the highest-grade materials and issued as standard equipment to Firmament Squad. It could cut through iron as easily as mud, and ordinary contaminants were no problem for it.

Yet when his first strike landed on the surface of the black substance, it did not slice straight through as it had before.

It felt like chopping into a lump of sodden clay. The instant the blade sank in, not only did it fail to sever the contaminant, but countless tiny black tendrils crawled up the blade and spread toward the back of his hand.

Xiao Xue's pupils contracted. He immediately pulled his blade free and retreated. At the same time, the snowy owl let out a shriek and spat a blast of frigid air from its mouth, freezing the black substance clinging to his arm and making it fall off.

"There's something wrong with this damned thing." Xiao Xue retreated as soon as he landed. "The contamination spreads on its own. Don't get close to it!"

Before he had finished speaking, several gunshots had already rung out. Cang Yun was an excellent shot, and several bullets designed for use against contaminants struck the monster's body.

The goshawk also swooped down from above, its iron-gray form flashing like lightning. Wings tucked and talons extended, it plunged like a cannonball straight into the bullet holes Cang Yun had just made.

Mental Entities had a natural advantage against contaminants. Along the path of the goshawk's talons, the black monster let out a piercing hiss as a huge hole was torn through it.

But the next second, black substance surged back into the wounds left by the bullets and talons, filling the hole completely.

"It's recovering too quickly." Cang Yun frowned. "That doesn't make sense. There shouldn't be any hosts left nearby for it to draw on."

The unconscious sentinels and guides had all been gathered behind them, far from the battlefield. Where was it finding a host to draw on for its recovery?

She raised a hand, and her optical computer projected a palm-sized holographic screen in front of her, displaying the monster's real-time scan data. Red warning characters flashed continuously, and one large line in the center stood out:

"Contamination concentration: S-rank. Energy fluctuations: continuously rising."

S-rank.

Cang Yun's heart sank. An S-rank contaminant was a target that was recommended to be attacked only by a full ten-person Firmament Squad formation working together. Now there were only two A-ranks, along with seven or eight unconscious wounded and a guide who needed special protection.

"Xiao Xue!" Cang Yun made a swift decision. "Carry Guide Luo out of here and find reinforcements!"

Xiao Xue froze. "What about the rest of our teammates?"

"Leave them to me," Cang Yun said calmly. "I'll stay here and protect them until reinforcements arrive."

She said it lightly, but Xiao Xue knew it was almost impossible.

The two of them were already struggling against the monster. How could she manage alone, with a group of teammates to protect as well?

The atmosphere froze at that moment, and time nearly stopped.

Every second on the battlefield mattered. Though Xiao Xue could not accept it emotionally, reason told him it was indeed the best choice.

From the moment they awakened, sentinels were expendable, even if the one being sacrificed was his closest teammate.

"All right..." Xiao Xue was about to answer when the ground beneath his feet suddenly shook violently.

The black contaminant before them began to split apart. On the walls on both sides of the corridor, the shriveled black cocoons burst open at once. An arm-thick black tendril sprang from each one, and dozens of tendrils came at the two of them from every direction, ready to crush them.

Too fast!

Xiao Xue only had time to dodge the three coming straight at him, but more had already wrapped around his left arm and right leg.

The instant the black tendrils touched his skin, an overwhelming tide of negative emotions rushed into his mental domain.

The snowy owl let out a piercing scream, its pure white form struggling violently in midair. Black traces of corrosion began to appear on its white feathers, like dirty marks left by footsteps in snow.

"Xiao Xue!"

Cang Yun wanted to save him, but she had fallen into the same predicament herself.

More than a dozen tendrils chased and hemmed the goshawk in from every direction, and every flight feather trembled as it struggled to dodge. Tendrils on the ground coiled around her ankles and yanked her down, slamming her back hard against the floor.

Even with her five senses dulled, the impact hurt enough to make her grunt.

That was not the most lethal part. Worse still was what was happening to her mental domain.

It was as if an invisible hand had brutally torn her mental domain open, forcibly pouring countless negative emotions that were not her own into it.

The goshawk let out a heart-rending cry and fell from the air. It flapped its wings on the ground, struggling to get back into the air, but the black substance held it fast like a mire.

Through vision blurred by the agony, Cang Yun keenly spotted another tentacle heading for the unconscious sentinels and guides behind her-

She had no time to worry about her Mental Entity, which was still trapped in the contamination. Enduring the agony throughout her body, she struggled to roll up from the floor and lunged for the tentacle.

In an instant, the tentacle pierced her back.

"Cang Yun!" Xiao Xue's voice reached her ears, distorted by the agony.

Cang Yun looked down at her abdomen.

The thick tentacle had punched through her torso, its tip still straining to grow forward. Its target was Luo Ruzhuo, whose serene face made her look as though she were asleep.