Chapter 358 Void's Change of Move

"Slurp—cough cough!"

On the edge of a near-vacuum lunar crater, Wei Qiang bit down on the water supply straw inside his helmet and took a big gulp, only to be choked and cough repeatedly by the circulating water with its strong metallic rusty taste.

"New guy, drink water in small sips. The water filter at the Guanghan base hasn't been changed in six months, so you'll have to get used to the oily smell."

The squad leader sat on a rock blackened by the extreme Yang True Fire, talking as he rhythmically "crack, crack" polished the newly chipped nicks on the Star Iron Heavy Sword with a file he carried with him.

Wei Qiang recovered, spat out the straw, and looked at the quiet radar scan image on the mask screen.

Three full days have passed since they took over the defense. During these three days, apart from occasionally digging out a few lone low-level mutants from the cracks in the ground, the Black Gate at the bottom of the Aitken Basin has been as quiet as a dry well.

"Captain, are those bastards in the sky scared off by our collision with Earth?" Wei Qiang stretched the slightly sore hydraulic joints of his robotic arm. "Even a mass of 1.2 billion tons couldn't break our shell, what tricks could they possibly have up their sleeves?"

The squad leader stopped filing, just about to say a few words of reprimand.

"Buzz—"

The wide-area dimension detector on Wei Qiang's mecha suddenly emitted an extremely muffled, ear-piercing low hum, similar to fingernails scratching a blackboard.

"What's going on? Is the radar malfunctioning?" Wei Qiang patted the control panel. The physical mass scanner on the screen was still a green that represented safety, with no mass reaction from any physical monsters.

However, the red light in that dimension band was flashing at a crazy frequency.

The squad leader suddenly stood up, plunged his heavy sword into the lunar soil, and stared intently at the abyss below.

"It's not a malfunction... Wei Qiang, look down into the basin!"

Wei Qiang followed the squad leader's gaze.

The massive, previously lifeless black door no longer spewed monsters outwards as before. Instead, its surface was covered with an eerie, multicolored film, resembling industrial waste oil floating on water.

Immediately afterwards, this layer of light, like a bubble that had been punctured, burst open with a "pop" in the absolutely silent space.

It has no substance and no quality.

It was a high-dimensional energy wave that could not be directly detected by the naked eye, but could make a cultivator's consciousness feel extremely uncomfortable. It was like an invisible gust of cold wind, sweeping rapidly towards the Earth through the vacuum.

……

Earth. 700 meters underground in Kyoto, in the joint control room.

"Sizzle—"

The old espresso machine spewed out a plume of hot steam, its strong, bitter aroma filling the air around the counter. Lin Feng held the freshly poured espresso, his eyelids heavy as if weighed down by lead. He had just brought the cup to his lips, but hadn't yet taken a sip.

"Drip—hiss—!"

No air raid sirens sounded in the control room, but all the communication channels and computer speakers simultaneously emitted an extremely sharp static noise, similar to strong acid corroding metal.

Clang!

Lin Feng's hand trembled, and the scalding coffee spilled directly onto his thigh. But he didn't even have time to cry out in pain as he lunged towards the control panel.

"What's going on? Another impact?!" Wang Mingyuan, who had only closed his eyes for less than ten minutes on the folding bed next to him, jumped up like a spring and rushed to the screen without even putting on his shoes properly.

"No quality feedback! Professor Wang, the physical impact radar reading is zero!"

Lin Feng's fingers flew across the keyboard, the keys clattering rapidly. "It's not a meteorite, nor a monster! It's...it's pure dimensional energy!"

The large screen instantly switched to the monitoring image of near-Earth orbit.

Through the optical lens, the bluish-gray barrier surrounding Earth remains intact, gleaming with a cold, metallic sheen. But through the filter of the high-frequency energy detector, everyone can see a chilling scene.

A thick, dark purple "mist," seemingly impossible to dissolve, is silently pounding against Earth's stratosphere across 380,000 kilometers of deep space.

"They've changed tactics!"

The formation team leader, grabbing his messy hair, pointed at the wildly fluctuating data on the screen, "The void has discovered that the impact attack cannot break through the 3,000-meter-thick star iron locking layer. They have now abandoned physical attacks and directly initiated high-density corrosion!"

"It's like..." Lin Feng swallowed hard, "We built an indestructible iron barrel, and they found that they couldn't break it with a hammer, so now they're using the highest concentration of aqua regia, pouring it directly onto our iron barrel!"

on the screen.

The moment that dark purple high-dimensional energy came into contact with the bluish-gray Nine Cauldrons Array Pattern...

"Sizzle—!"

The extremely piercing sound of corrosion was amplified and transmitted back to the main control room through the monitor's radio array, making one's teeth ache.

Those originally indestructible hexagonal metal array patterns, after coming into contact with this pure, extremely yin corrosive energy, began to develop a layer of grayish-white spots on their surface, just like a piece of steel rusting at a speed of millions of times.

"The spiritual pressure of the outer array patterns of the barrier is leaking out!"

"Changbai Mountain node feedback: Earth vein output resistance has surged by 30%! The array patterns are being forcibly downclocked!"

The operators' reports came one after another, filled with barely concealed panic.

Wang Mingyuan gritted his teeth, his cheek muscles bulging. He grabbed the communication microphone.

"What's the panic! Do you really think our barrier is just a block of dead iron?"

Wang Mingyuan roughly ripped off his tie. "Notify the nine nodes! Draw up the extreme yang fire from deep within the earth's crust! Activate the [Great Array Self-Purification Countermeasure System]! Trying to corrode the earth's armor? I'll burn off a layer of their skin!"

Kunlun, the Valley of Death.

Zhao Yi was squatting by the pit, using his military knife to pry open a can of beef. Suddenly, a top order from Kyoto came through the communicator.

He casually tossed the can on the ground, propped himself up with one arm, and rushed to a control panel connected to the main control hub of the earth vein.

"Everyone yanked down the extremely heavy physical gate, producing a dull metallic clang. 'Open the death gate! Ignite the subterranean fire!'"

"Boom—"

The No. 9 cauldron at the bottom of the sinkhole trembled violently, and its deep black surface instantly lit up with a dazzling golden light.

Almost simultaneously, nine of Earth's most famous mountain nodes exerted their power.

The extremely yang earth fire, accumulated deep within the Earth's core over billions of years, surged forward with overwhelming force, following the array patterns of the Nine Cauldrons, against the dark purple mist that was corroding the barrier!

At an altitude of 20,000 meters.

The surface of the barrier outside the stratosphere instantly transformed into a terrifying battlefield of interwoven gold and purple.

The extreme yang fire and the extreme yin corrosive energy underwent a violent "chemical reaction" on a macroscopic level.

There was no cataclysmic destruction like in the previous impact; only a hissing sound of annihilation. Large swaths of dark purple mist were forcibly burned into nothingness by the extreme yang fire, but immediately afterward, even more corrosive energy poured down from space.

"Professor Wang!" Lin Feng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his eyes fixed on the energy countermeasures meter. "The earth fire countermeasure is effective! But... this high-density corrosion is a battle of attrition. The enemy is using an entire mass to deplete the earth's spiritual energy!"

Wang Mingyuan slammed his fist on the table, making the enamel teacup jump.

He stared at the dark purple patches on the screen, clinging to the barrier like a malignant tumor. The will of the void was cold and cruel; since it couldn't be broken, it was prepared to spend countless years slowly melting Earth's proud industrial armor into a pulp.