Chapter 140: Core Area-1

To let the story unfold from another perspective:

After Bai Yuxi and his team burst through the circular tunnel carved out by their "Ultimate Attack," they collided head-on with the core area. The sight before them left them speechless, their jaws dropping in shock.

The interior of Mount Hualan had been hollowed out by mutant rats into a colossal subterranean cavern. The center had collapsed entirely, creating a vertical, crater-like shaft hundreds of meters deep. Circling the walls of this shaft were spiral-shaped "rat tunnels," carved relentlessly into the rock by the creatures' claws and teeth.

At the very bottom of the pit, a crystalline, radiant glow pulsed. It was a massive "anomaly point"—a so-called "dimensional spatial rift." Unlike the oval-shaped rifts, roughly the size of a standing human, that Bai Yuxi’s team had encountered before, this one was dozens of meters in diameter. It resembled a bird’s nest, occupying the base of the shaft like a dark, deep pool. The shattered-glass-like spatial fragments that composed it shimmered with an obscure, gloomy luster.

The center of this "nest" was slightly concave, appearing at once like an abyss leading to an unknown destination, a black hole devouring all matter, or perhaps a slowly rotating black nebula. In truth, the human eye struggled to find the right words to describe it.

Within the shaft, the concentration of X-particles had reached a staggering density. They had even begun to manifest as tiny, twinkling spots of light within the theoretically pitch-black interior of the mountain. Even hundreds of meters above the base, where the high-density X-particles were held within a certain range by the gravity of the anomaly, the cloud-like, misty substance—stray particles drifting outward—was already becoming unbearable for the members of the Seventh Squad.

One might wonder: do Transcendent Warriors not rely on absorbing X-particles to increase their strength? Why, then, would they find such a high concentration difficult to adapt to? Is it not the case that the higher the concentration of X-particles, the better?

It must be understood that X-particles are officially known as "Multi-dimensional Zero-point Energy Particles." They are, in essence, a highly specialized form of energy that can be absorbed by transcendent beings, not a nutritional substance. More is not necessarily better—just as eating too many supplements causes nosebleeds, or overcharging a phone causes it to explode. Transcendent Warriors rely on the "multi-dimensional energy pheromones" they carry from the multi-dimensional zero-point space to attract the stray X-particles in their surroundings, absorbing them slowly to refine their own cells and genes.

Each Transcendent possesses a different level of these "pheromones," which exert different levels of "gravitational pull" on X-particles. Naturally, their physical tolerance limits for X-particle concentrations vary accordingly. Provided their physical constitution can handle it, Transcendent Warriors certainly prefer to absorb X-particles as rapidly and abundantly as possible. However, if their physical limits are exceeded, health issues—or even death—can occur. Not everyone is as fortunate as Bai Yuxi.

A scientific explanation might be hard to grasp, but comparing X-particles to water molecules makes it easier to understand. Water is essential, even vital, for the human body, but that does not mean the more you drink, the better. If you drink too much and the body cannot absorb it, it is naturally expelled. The same applies to X-particles; if a Transcendent cannot absorb the stray particles drawn from the environment, they will simply leak back out. But what happens if the amount of "water" exceeds the body’s limit?

The stray X-particles that Transcendents absorb normally are like the "humidity" in the air: too little feels dry, too much feels damp. A higher concentration forms fog; remaining in dense fog for too long might lead to "fluid in the lungs." If it gets even thicker? You drown.

The environment Bai Yuxi and his team were in was not quite like being submerged in water, but they were effectively wrapped in a thick, dense fog, leaving them short of breath and feeling suffocated. This situation would only grow more severe the closer one moved toward the anomaly.

This forced the team to search for a route away from the anomaly, hoping to escape as soon as possible. But this was the core of the Mount Hualan incident; finding a path to the outside world was no easy task. The anomalous tremors from earlier, whatever their cause, had triggered the collapse of the containment barrier established by the LDH. A vast swarm of mutant rats, previously sealed behind the barrier, had surged forth and flooded the area above the shaft.

This meant that Bai Yuxi and his team were now trapped "behind" the rat tide, positioned "below" the swarm that was currently launching a frantic assault on the outside world. To escape, they would have to fight their way through the entire tide—a task that, in reality, was impossible given their strength. The smaller groups of rats they had eliminated earlier, the larger group they had encountered later, and the heavily mutated beast they had faced last were likely there simply because they had taken a "wrong turn" while wandering aimlessly.

Fortunately, due to the sudden nature of the event, a large number of Transcendent Warriors remained in the shaft, unable to evacuate in time, and were huddled together in their respective squads to hold off the rat attacks. It was precisely these squads, drawing the attention of the remaining mutant rats, that allowed Bai Yuxi’s team to emerge from a side tunnel without being immediately set upon.

Hiding in a relatively concealed opening, the team peered out to assess their surroundings. They realized they were roughly in the middle section of the shaft. The spiraling rat tunnels above were almost completely choked with the surging tide of monsters. Mutant rats were constantly squealing and struggling, falling from above like dumplings being dropped into a pot—whether pushed by their own kind or struck down by the Transcendent Warriors holding the line above, it was impossible to tell. Meanwhile, dozens of combat teams, composed of Transcendent Warriors huddled together, were scattered along the lower spiral tunnels... (To be continued.)