The pulsation of the broodmother's core suddenly stopped.
The twelve humanoid modified bodies froze in unison.
Then, like machines that had lost power, they collapsed in heaps.
Xu Wuyi walked up to the broodmother's core.
Through the holes in its armor, he could see the destroyed purple rune within—the control core implanted by the Feathered People.
'Just as I thought...'
Xu Wuyi raised his wrist and sent a message to the surface team.
"West broodmother neutralized. Discovered Feathered People biological weapon test subjects. Control core has been destroyed. Recommend recovering all modified body remains for analysis at the research institute."
"Copy that," came He Yayin's voice. "The east broodmother is showing abnormal Energy Fluctuations. It may be initiating its self-destruct sequence. Martial Artist Xu, please proceed there immediately!"
Xu Wuyi's eyes narrowed.
His figure flashed like lightning as he shot out of the nest.
...
On the surface, He Yayin's expression was grim.
On her tactical tablet, the energy readings from the east broodmother were soaring, having already surpassed the safety threshold.
"It's channeling all available terrestrial energy to self-destruct," Lu Wenquan said, pushing up his glasses. "The Feathered People probably set a remote trigger. The moment they lost contact with the west broodmother, it initiated the self-destruct."
Tie Zhan cursed. "Those damn bird-men are a treacherous bunch."
Xu Wuyi burst from the cave entrance and, without pausing, sprinted toward the east broodmother's entrance eight hundred meters away.
Seeing this, He Yayin immediately gave the order, "All personnel, fall back! Establish an Energy Barrier! The blast from the broodmother's self-destruction could have a two-kilometer radius!"
The words had barely left her mouth when the ground above the east broodmother began to shake violently.
Boulders shattered, and fissures spread out like a spiderweb.
A dull roar rumbled from underground, as if some great beast were awakening.
Xu Wuyi went all out, pushing his speed to the limit.
He executed Quicksand Step to its absolute peak, his form becoming a streak of dark golden light.
Three hundred meters, two hundred, one hundred...
He reached the cave entrance.
But it was too late to go down.
The self-destruct sequence had entered its final stage. Going in now would be suicide.
Xu Wuyi stopped at the entrance, his hands coming together in front of his chest without touching.
In his sea of consciousness, the "breathing" of the great, dark golden marsh suddenly ceased.
Then, it contracted to its absolute limit.
All of his Power of Heart Image condensed.
Not into a drop of water.
Nor into a seal.
But into a single "point."
A point where Gravity was compressed to its absolute extreme.
Xu Wuyi thrust his hands forward.
The "point" shot from his hands and vanished into the cave entrance.
There was no sound, no light.
It simply plunged silently into the ground, falling toward the broodmother's core.
Fifty meters, forty, thirty...
Ten meters from the core, the "point" stopped.
Then, it released.
It wasn't an explosion.
It was a "collapse."
With that point as its center, all matter within a thirty-meter radius was compressed inward by an unimaginable Gravity.
Space itself seemed to cave in.
The broodmother's core, along with everything around it, was compressed into a sphere of extreme density, only half a meter in diameter.
The self-destruct sequence came to an abrupt halt.
The matter that hosted the sequence no longer existed.
The ground stopped shaking.
The fissures stopped spreading.
Everything returned to calm.
Xu Wuyi lowered his hands, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
He had just comprehended this technique in a moment of crisis.
It combined the suppression of the Returning Ruins Seal, the Compression of the Water Drop, and the "living" property from his Great Success in Heavy Water to form a momentary "gravity singularity."
Its power far exceeded his expectations, but the cost was also immense.
The great, dark golden marsh in his sea of consciousness now looked somewhat dim and would need time to recover.
He Yayin rushed over with her team. Seeing the placid ground, her eyes flashed with astonishment.
"Martial Artist Xu, you..."
"It's taken care of," Xu Wuyi said calmly. "The self-destruct sequence has been aborted, and the broodmother's core is destroyed. You can send the recovery team down, but tell them to be wary of any remaining modified bodies."
He Yayin gave him a deep look, then nodded. "Understood."
She turned to make the arrangements.
Tie Zhan and Lu Wenquan walked over as well.
"Xu Wuyi, that move just now..." Tie Zhan started, but then trailed off.
"A spur-of-the-moment insight. It's not yet perfected," Xu Wuyi said. "Let's pull out first. We shouldn't linger here."
The three of them returned to the all-terrain vehicles.
He Yayin quickly arranged the recovery operation, and the entire squad boarded the vehicles.
The vehicles started up and headed back toward Resource Point No. 7.
Along the way, Xu Wuyi closed his eyes to meditate and regulate his breathing.
'The mission is complete.'
'All twenty-one broodmothers have been cleared out, and the Feathered People's biological weapons experiment has been interrupted.'
'But it's not over yet.'
'The appearance of Jialou's team and the discovery of the modified bodies both indicate that the Feathered People have invested far more in this area than the military estimated.'
'They won't let this go easily.'
...
「An hour later.」
The convoy rolled into Resource Point No. 7.
Just as Xu Wuyi stepped out of his vehicle, the base commander hurried toward him.
"Martial Artist Xu, an urgent message from the military."
Xu Wuyi took the Communicator.
Feng Zhuohua's voice came through. "Xu Wuyi, good work on the mission. But we have a new situation. The Feathered People have mobilized three Blood Wing Guard squads and are converging on the X-24 Star Domain. You are to evacuate immediately and return to Xingjing."
"Understood."
Xu Wuyi ended the call and looked at He Yayin. "Inform everyone. Board the transports and evacuate, now."
He Yayin didn't hesitate for a second. "Yes, sir."
Ten minutes later, three transport ships lifted off from Resource Point No. 7, speeding toward the Star Realm jump point.
Onboard, Xu Wuyi gazed through the viewport at the gray-brown land receding below.
Under the dark red sky, several gray-white figures could be seen flying rapidly toward them from a distance.
But it was too late.
The transports broke through the clouds and entered the jump trajectory.
One by one, the three transports passed through the jump point. Outside the viewport, the crimson X-24 Star Domain shrank rapidly before being swallowed by the black curtain of the Starry Sky.
Inside the cabin, Xu Wuyi closed his eyes to meditate.
In his sea of consciousness, the "breathing" of the great, dark golden marsh was gradually stabilizing.
The cost of creating the gravity singularity had been far greater than he'd anticipated. It had not only drained nearly seventy percent of his Power of Heart Image but had also caused the marsh's own "vitality" to stagnate temporarily.
Fortunately, his foundation was solid. Recovery was only a matter of time.
"ETA to Xingjing is forty minutes," He Yayin's voice came over the comms channel. "The military has arranged a dedicated berth. People from the research institute are already waiting for us."
Xu Wuyi opened his eyes. "Are the modified body remains intact?"
"Seven are relatively complete, five are damaged. All have been sealed," He Yayin said, then paused. "Academician Zhou from the institute is leading the team personally. It seems they're taking this very seriously."
Academician Zhou Mingyuan was a titan in the Federation's biotechnology field and one of the project leads for Spiritual Body research.
His personal involvement showed that the Feathered People's biological weapon technology had drawn the attention of the highest echelons of command.
Xu Wuyi looked out the window. The Starry Sky was tranquil, the stars like scattered diamonds. But beneath this calm, a dark tide was surging.
The Feathered People's Blood Wing Guards were massing, and the Federation had to uncover their opponent's trump cards before they could make a bigger move.
「Meanwhile, in the X-24 Star Domain.」
Three gray-white figures hovered one hundred twenty kilometers northwest of Resource Point No. 7, directly above the surface of the karst cave region.
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