Chapter 326 Lu Yuan Arrives

He should have died.

But then a few more wriggling worms crawled out of his ear. He seemed to notice them, picked them up, chewed them in his mouth, and continued walking.

New insects kept crawling out of his body, which he would crush and eat. He peeled back his skin and flesh, touched his bones, and gouged them into his empty eye sockets. But the insects kept coming.

He didn't know how long he had walked. He was finally exhausted, and an endless weariness washed over him. It was dark all around him, and he didn't know how he had gotten through the whole journey.

Whether it was good luck or bad luck, he didn't encounter any cracks or anything strange, but at this moment he didn't want to struggle anymore.

He lay down unsteadily and pulled another worm out of his body.

Put it in your mouth.

"Hehehe..."

Just as he closed his eyes, a voice came from afar.

"Captain, there's a rotting corpse here, still moving. It looks like a child. It's contaminated, damn it."

The screen then shattered.

Reck stood once again on the rocky platform in the gray fog.

His face was extremely gloomy.

That was the scene he least wanted to face, the reason he embarked on the path of the extraordinary, and also the beginning of all the tragedies.

The other child did not survive; she lost herself in the insect swarm and became utterly monstrous.

Rick followed the Night's Watch back to the place, where he saw many husks that had been eaten and were now wandering the ground, luring other strange prey.

Those were people Rex knew well. They had been turned into the most tempting bait by the swarming insects, walking around on the open ground and hovering in the darkness, attracting things from the shadows to come closer.

Later, Rick killed them with his own hands, dismantling each body and burning it.

The person on the wall had a clear purpose in placing this memory—to find a crack in their faith. What was the deepest, most primal desire of that child, hollowed out by insects?

"Save them."

This was the last syllable that Rick managed to squeeze out with his hollowed-out throat before he completely lost consciousness as a child. He couldn't make a sound, but his mind was filled with this sentence.

Those on the wall are trying to turn this phrase into a new breakthrough. "Save them" can be misinterpreted, exploited, and twisted into any shape they want.

But Rick's faith had since been forged into something else.

The man in the worn-out uniform, as Rick later learned, was Klaus's elder.

A Night's Watchman nearing retirement fights to the last second in the most remote corner of the Empire to protect the people of the town.

Rick chose the same path to prevent the same thing from happening again.

The person on the wall fell silent. He clearly realized that, within the rules, he seemed powerless against the human before him.

The outline of the head in the gray mist slowly receded, and the enormous gray-white eyeball shifted from a gaze to a deeper scrutiny. It searched through Rek's will, but found not a single crack.

Are you going to break your promise?

Rex's voice carried far through the gray fog.

He took a step toward the edge of the rock platform, with the bottomless gray-white void beneath his feet.

He was well aware of his situation: he had no supernatural powers, no ability to resist, and if the people on the wall made a forceful move, he would have nowhere to escape.

But Lake doesn't want to be contaminated.

Death is never scary. The moment you join the Night's Watch, your head is already at the blade. Some people dance with the blade, but most of your companions fall on the way.

Therefore, contamination is absolutely unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!

The person on the wall seemed to sense Rick's determination to jump off at any moment.

After a brief silence, the outline of the head disappeared back into the depths of the gray mist. The gray mist closed in, obscuring the eyeball.

Rick stood motionless on the rocky platform.

The person on the wall retreated, but he was still trapped here.

All that remained were rocky platforms, empty space, and gray mist; there was nothing else.

Rick frowned, starting to get a little anxious.

He was worried about Lu Yuan, because Lu Yuan was still in the pipeline. If he didn't wake up, what would he do alone in that environment? Klaus's body hadn't fully recovered yet, and he was the only one in the Night Watch who could directly take the lead.

He had no idea whether the flow of time in this space was synchronized with that outside.

If they are not synchronized, a long time may have passed outside.

Rick clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms.

But just then, a voice suddenly came from above.

The sound lacked the deep, overlapping echoes of the person on the wall.

A voice came from above the gray fog, far away, but very clear.

"Lake, where are you?"

Rick suddenly looked up.

It's Lu Yuan.

More than ten minutes ago.

Lu Yuan carried Lei Ke and quickly retreated to the outer edge of the pipeline network.

The worm-like body was surprisingly heavy, and felt icy cold to the touch when carried on my shoulder. The wriggling on its surface had completely stopped, but its faint breathing continued.

Rick's short brown hair clung to his stiff face, and his dark red pupils were unfocused.

After leaving the area densely covered with inscriptions, the oppressive aura created by the silver sheet completely dissipated, and the surrounding eerie inscriptions returned to their static state. The concentration of the remaining gray-gold aura in the air gradually decreased, and the beams of the marching lanterns returned to their normal illumination range.

Lu Yuan placed Lei Ke in a relatively clean section of the pipeline, against the wall.

Squat down to take a look.

Grayish-white text appeared at the edge of the field of vision.

[Target for detection: Rick (mysterious and extraordinary) (mentally abnormal)]

[The target's consciousness appears to have been drawn elsewhere by external forces...]

Exactly the same as before. Leaving the copper wall area did not restore Rek's health.

Lu Yuan squatted down in front of Lei Ke and stared at the gray and white text for a few seconds.

"Consciousness was pulled away by an external force"—consciousness was directly extracted.

He began to analyze.

Last time, when Burren walked in front of the copper wall, he triggered the inscription reaction, suffering from mental erosion, consciousness trauma, nausea, and obsession. It was severe, but he was still alive; his consciousness hadn't been taken away.

This time, Rick's situation was completely different; his consciousness was directly transported to another location.

The most crucial point is that he was clearly in the lead and closer to the copper wall than Rex. If the entity behind the copper wall were to make a move, he should be the first to suffer!

The things that attacked Rex are most likely unrelated to the entity behind the copper wall; they are something else entirely.

But whatever it is, forcibly waking up Rick is too risky.

Once the rational connection is forcibly broken, the consequences range from minor mental trauma to outright loss of control. Rex is a fourth-tier, bizarre, extraordinary being; if he loses control, even with time synchronization enabled, he might not be able to escape within the distance of the pipeline network.

More importantly, the area sealed by the copper wall must not be damaged in any way. If the uncontrolled swarm of bugs by Rek were to spread there, the consequences would be unpredictable.

Lu Yuan looked at the stiff-faced Lei Ke in front of him and couldn't think of a solution for a moment.

There was little he could do. Wait? How long? Rick's physical condition was slowly deteriorating; the surface temperature of his worm-like body was dropping, and his breathing was becoming shallower.

Just when I was getting really anxious, I heard a symbiotic connection coming from deep inside my left eye.

The Insect of Knowledge seemed to sense Lu Yuan's emotions and flew out on its own.

It circled around Rick's head a few times, its antennae constantly touching Rick's temples and forehead, as if sensing something.

The colored light flickered on the surface of the insect's body, at a much faster frequency than usual.

Then it landed on Rex's head and stretched its tentacles downwards.

"Chirp chirp chirp"

A vague imagery emerges from the symbiotic connection.

It's like a bridge, connecting this side to that side. Insects can stand on the bridge and cross over.

Lu Yuan's heart stirred as he looked at the Knowledge Worm perched on Lei Ke's head.

Rex's swarming insects can read memories, directly extracting images from the minds of third-tier gray-bond members.

One's own knowledge and reason are naturally compatible, so it's not impossible to do similar things.

But he immediately followed up with a question for the worm of knowledge.

Can you pull yourself out?

If the person on the other side really is someone of His level, then going in would be like getting one free.

The worm of knowledge swam back into the depths of its left eye, circled the key, and touched its surface. A sense of peace washed over it from the symbiotic connection.

The meaning is obvious: if you have the key, you can get out.

Lu Yuan's gaze fell on the bottom of the key. The second newly contracted Little Knowledge Worm was now huddled at the bottom of the key, its luster much brighter than when it was first contracted, as if it was absorbing something.

Its curled-up posture was relaxed, completely out of place with the tense atmosphere outside.

Upon seeing this, Lu Yuan made a decisive decision: to go inside.

He knelt down next to Rick, placed one hand on Rick's forehead, and closed his eyes.

The worm of knowledge flew out from the left eye and landed at the point of contact between Lu Yuan and Lei Ke.

A sense of attraction emanated from the symbiotic connection, and a colorful glow spread from the Worm of Knowledge, extending downwards along Lu Yuan's arm and seeping into Rex's temples.

A very thin beam of light formed between the two of them, the frequency of its pulsating light synchronized with Lu Yuan's consciousness.

Lu Yuan felt his consciousness being gently pulled out of his body, slowly rising little by little.

He suddenly turned around.

At this moment, Lu Yuan realized that his body was still squatting there, one hand pressed on Lei Ke's forehead, the posture unchanged, as if his soul had left his body.

The worm of knowledge hovered above the point of contact between the two, its colorful glow forming an extremely thin bridge connecting Lu Yuan's body and Lei Ke's head.

The next instant, the view changed abruptly.

A hazy gray sky. Beneath my feet is a platform just wide enough for one person, suspended in the gray-white void. Scattered rock formations float at different heights, gray mist filling every crevice.

Lu Yuan stood on a small platform above. Looking down, he could vaguely see the outline of a lower rocky platform through the gray mist.

Lu Yuan didn't know where he was, but one thing was certain: Lei Ke was very likely nearby.

"Lake, where are you?"

The sound traveled through the gray fog, as if it had been mostly swallowed up by something, leaving no echo.

But somewhere below, something is moving.