Chapter Eighty-Nine: Out of Control Again

Chapter Eighty-Nine

When the power of darkness entered her body of its own accord, Mei was startled.

She had not intended to merge with it so soon.

At once she waved away the ants that were closing in on her and hastily divided off most of her mental force to wrap the power of darkness that had entered her body, sending it into her spiritual world.

Sikong Huang had never imagined that his half day of labor would end in a wedding gown for another, and his face instantly turned as dark as thunder. His gaze toward Mei was steeped in gloom.

"Ah Ye, let's go!"

Since they had the treasure in hand, there was naturally no reason to linger. Light burst forth, sweeping open a path, and urging Ye Jingxuan to retreat at once.

Ye Jingxuan knew Mei was extremely fast, so he did not refuse. He ran ahead to the staircase and rushed upward.

With the power of darkness gone, the earth quickly began to tremble. Those mutated ants no longer had any mind to attack Mei and the others, scattering in all directions.

Seeing this, Mei dared not delay either. With a few leaps she caught up to Ye Jingxuan. But just as they were about to leave the inner layer, the glass separating the inner and outer sections suddenly shattered. Fragments flew in all directions, and the two of them hurriedly raised protective shields to avoid the splinters.

The shards were still whirling through the air when several bolts of lightning crashed wildly down within the confined space, the dense and violent current sealing off their retreat.

Mei turned and looked down, only to see a giant ant struggling upward from underground. Although many cracks had already appeared in the ground, the ant's body was far too cumbersome; after long and desperate efforts, only a small portion of it had managed to emerge.

Its body was trapped, and animal instinct told it danger was closing in. The giant ant, by instinct, vented its unease and agitation by releasing electricity.

Mei saw that the currents could not harm them, but they also kept them from leaving. By then the trembling of the ground was growing more violent by the moment; if they did not go now, they might never get out. So she took out her bow and prepared to shoot the giant ant dead.

In order to end the battle quickly, Mei no longer hid her true strength. Light power condensed directly into an arrow and flew toward the giant ant.

This ant was the queen of the mutated swarm and of very high rank. Mei's arrow struck it, yet still failed to kill it, instead thoroughly enraging the queen.

The furious queen no longer released electricity blindly. Instead, she gathered it together and hurled it at Mei. Mei leaped and dodged while looking for another opening to attack.

The currents blocking their path vanished, and Sikong Huang immediately ran out. Yet before he entered the lift, he suddenly turned back and used earth power to strike the cliff wall!

The outer layer had originally been suspended against the cliff face, already teetering on the edge of collapse from the earthquake. With that blow, it could no longer hold, breaking apart and crashing down toward the ground.

Ye Jingxuan, who had been helping Mei attack the queen ant, had not expected the earth beneath him to suddenly give way. He tried to seize something to steady himself, but everything around him was falling—there was nothing to grab.

Just as he was about to drop to the ground and be buried beneath the falling metal supports and the like, a green vine suddenly swept away the debris around him and accurately wound around his waist, hanging him against the cliff wall.

Ye Jingxuan looked up and found that the other end of the vine was wrapped around the metal mesh door of the lift, only a few meters away. He had no time to think where the vine had come from; he quickly grasped it and climbed up.

The first thing Ye Jingxuan did after getting up was turn back to look for Mei. He saw her dodging the falling debris overhead while stepping on the rubble to avoid the queen ant's lightning strikes.

"Meier, come here quickly!"

Seeing the cracks in the ground grow wider and the rocks falling from above increase, Ye Jingxuan shouted anxiously at Mei.

Mei also knew she could not continue tangling with the queen ant, even if it was nearly finished. At his cry, she used the falling stones to leap toward Ye Jingxuan.

Yet at that very moment, something changed again.

Her body once more slipped out of control, and she plunged rapidly from midair.

Ye Jingxuan never imagined she would suddenly fall. Seeing that she was about to drop into the fissure in the ground, he leaped toward her without a second thought.

Ye Jingxuan fell swiftly, reaching her just before she dropped into the crack and gathering her wholly into his arms. He shielded her with his own body, and in an instant his metal power spread over his back, blocking the falling rocks and the queen ant's dying strike.

However, metal power defended poorly against lightning. In an instant, Ye Jingxuan's back was scorched by the current in a large area.

He clenched his teeth and endured it. The two of them fell together into the fissure and soon vanished underground.

Not long after they disappeared, the entire base collapsed at great speed. The crowd in the safety passage evacuated quickly and retreated far away to a distant mountain ridge.

Mo Chen stared at the laboratory, which had been completely collapsed and buried. His eyes were blood-red, his hands clenched so tightly that the veins on the backs of them bulged sharply. His breathing was ragged, and an astonishing pressure rolled off him, like a ferocious beast ready to harm at any moment, keeping everyone from daring to approach.

When the earthquake subsided, Mo Chen lifted his foot and was about to go down, but Bai Qing grabbed him.

"Let go!" Mo Chen's voice was ice-cold, his gaze even more terrifying. Bai Qing was so frightened that he instinctively stepped back several paces.

"Young man, you can't go down. The earthquake has only calmed for now; soon there may be an even bigger one. It is far too dangerous to go down there now," Bai Qing said kindly, though frightened.

But Mo Chen could not hear a word of it and kept moving forward.

"You cannot go down. We must evacuate at once!" Ling Feng also stepped in to block him.

This sudden earthquake had already cost them many people. He could not allow the team to suffer any more needless losses.

"Get lost!" Mo Chen waved him aside. Purple lightning coiled around his body.

"Calm down! What use will it be if you go down? You're not an earth power user. Are you planning to dig people out with your bare hands?" Ling Feng pushed his glasses up and, with complete composure, pointed out that his actions were utterly meaningless.

"What I do is none of your business!" Mo Chen could not listen at all. Just thinking of Mei being buried alive somewhere beneath this earth made him utterly unable to remain calm.

At that moment, the ground trembled again, more violently than before. Snow from the mountaintop caved and slid down in sheets, and everyone hastily retreated from the slope. Mo Chen, too, was dragged into the safe zone by the pulling of An Zijiu and Lin Shaojie.

"Mo Chen, nothing will happen to Meier! Trust her strength, trust Ye Jingxuan, and please trust my ability. She will be fine, absolutely fine!" Instinct told An Zijiu that Mei was still alive, so although he was very worried, he still calmed himself and soothed Mo Chen.

Hearing that, and thinking of his great prophecy, Mo Chen seemed to grasp a lifeline and clutched An Zijiu's hand tightly. "You swear it? You swear Meier will be all right?"

"I swear it! She will definitely be fine!" An Zijiu looked into Mo Chen's eyes and said with great solemnity.

His assurance finally helped Mo Chen force himself to calm down somewhat. Mo Chen rubbed his face hard and said, "Let go of me. Let's go. We leave now."

They still had a mission, and its success was closely tied to Mei. For Mei's sake, he had to complete it. He had to do so quickly, too, so that he could free his hands to search for her.

Since An Zijiu said Mei would be all right, then she would definitely be all right.

Mo Chen told himself this over and over in his heart, suppressing his worry with difficulty and protecting Bai Qing as they began to withdraw.

Not long after they left, a mound of earth suddenly pushed up through the snow. The mound split open, and a man crawled out in disarray.

That man was none other than Sikong Huang.

At the very instant the experimental base collapsed, Sikong Huang used earth power to quickly raise a stone wall to shield himself, but the steel bars supporting the laboratory also pinned him there, leaving him unable to move. Fortunately, not long after, the ground trembled once more and the steel bars fell away. Only then did he seize the chance to use his power to slip through the earth and escape.

Once outside, Sikong Huang discovered that although there was no one nearby, there were many footprints left behind. Following those tracks, he pursued the direction in which the group had departed.

In such bitter cold, with no food or water and every kind of danger to guard against, it would be difficult for him to survive alone and leave the snowy mountain. Therefore he had to catch up with the others.

As for what he would say after catching up, he had already decided.

Those two who could no longer get out, no matter what, made the best scapegoats, did they not?

All he had to do was push the blame onto those two. After all, they had originally intended to take away the new energy, and in the end the new energy had indeed entered that Mei's body. What he said would not count as a lie.

As for after they left the snowy mountain, he would quickly finish the mission, collect his reward, and return to Changyang. Once Ye Jingxuan was dead, the Ye family would have only two power users left; they would be nothing to fear. The Liu family and the Wang family had also suffered heavy losses on this mission. So long as he moved quickly enough, Changyang would surely become the domain of the Sikong family!

Thinking this, the regret he felt at failing to obtain the new energy vanished at once. Full of bright visions for the future, he quickened his pace to catch up.

By around noon, Sikong Huang finally caught up with the group.

No one had expected that someone could escape from the place that had already collapsed, and they all looked at him in surprise.

Mo Chen was even more agitated. He stood up and looked behind Sikong Huang. Since he had managed to escape, then Mei and the others should have been able to as well. Unfortunately, the result only disappointed him again: Sikong Huang was the only one who had come.

"Welcome back. But how did Mr. Sikong escape from the laboratory? If I remember correctly, Mr. Sikong never said he was a power user?" Ling Feng stepped forward and, while welcoming him, voiced the doubt in his heart.

"But I never said I wasn't one either. In fact, I am an earth power user, and it was by relying on my power that I escaped!" Sikong Huang had long anticipated the question, so he answered very calmly.

"Did Mr. Sikong see Mei and Ye Jingxuan inside? According to those who escaped from the Sikong family, the last people to withdraw with you were those two," An Zijiu asked.

"No, after we left the third level, we split up. Didn't they get out?" Sikong Huang asked in feigned surprise.

At that, An Zijiu only looked disappointed and said no more.

Ling Feng asked again about the earthquake, and Sikong Huang naturally repeated the story he had prepared in advance.

While Sikong Huang shifted the blame with complete cleanliness, deep underground in a cramped space, Ye Jingxuan held Mei tightly in his arms, curled around her as they waited for the trembling to pass.