Panic, cold and sharp, threatened to overwhelm Lin Ke. He was trapped. The exit was blocked by a monster of terrifying power, its enraged, purple eyes glowing in the gloom, fixing on him and the stolen prize in his arms. Its massive body radiated a palpable heat, and a low, guttural growl rumbled in its chest, a promise of the violent death that awaited him.
His first instinct was to command the Rock Vole to fight, to go down in a blaze of glory. But he instantly suppressed it. The Gene Editor's analysis was stark and absolute: a direct confrontation would result in their annihilation in under ten seconds.
But as the seconds stretched on, Lin Ke noticed something strange. The Alpha wasn't attacking. It took a menacing step forward, then another, but it did not lunge. Its furious gaze kept darting from Lin Ke's face to the pulsating egg he was holding.
And in that moment of hesitation, Lin Ke understood. The Alpha's fury was at war with its parental instinct. It wanted to tear apart the intruder who had violated its nest, but it was terrified of harming its own offspring in the process.
The egg was not just his prize. It was his shield.
Hope, fragile but fierce, ignited in Lin Ke's chest. He tightened his grip on the warm, heavy egg and deliberately held it up higher, positioning it clearly between his own body and the Alpha.
"Hssssssss!" The Alpha hissed, smoke-like fumes wafting from its nostrils. It was a sound of pure, frustrated rage. It recognized the hostage situation.
Lin Ke knew this tense standoff was a temporary state, a delicate equilibrium that could shatter at any moment. He couldn't stay here. He had to force an escape. His eyes, now adjusted to the dim light, darted around the cavern, desperately searching for another option, another path.
He saw it. At the very back of the cave, partially hidden by a rock formation, was a narrow vertical fissure—a crack in the mountain itself. It looked far too small for the Alpha's colossal frame, but for him… it might be just wide enough.
A new, desperate plan—a gamble born of sheer terror and adrenaline—flashed in his mind. He needed one more powerful diversion. One final distraction to give him the single second he needed to make a run for it.
He looked at the egg in his arms. He was about to do something unthinkable.
"Forgive me," he whispered to the dormant life within the shell.
With his free hand, he reached down and picked up a sharp-edged shard of rock from the cave floor. Then, in one swift, deliberate motion, he scraped the sharp edge firmly against the side of the egg he was holding.
SKREEE!
The sound was like nails on a chalkboard. It didn't crack the resilient shell, but it sent a high-pitched, grating vibration through it. A puff of concentrated, corrupt scent was released into the air.
To the Alpha, this was the ultimate act of aggression. The intruder was not just stealing its young; it was actively harming it. The monster's conflicted mind snapped. Its parental panic completely overwhelmed its tactical caution. It let out a deafening roar of pure, unadulterated fury and lunged, not at Lin Ke, but at the egg itself, its claws extended to snatch it back.
That was the opening Lin Ke needed.
"Rock Vole, now! Dust Cloud!" he yelled.
In the split second that the Alpha was blinded by its own parental panic, Lin Ke spun around and sprinted for the back of the cave. The Rock Vole, acting instantly, slammed its paws on the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dust and debris, momentarily obscuring the Alpha's vision.
Lin Ke reached the fissure and threw himself into the narrow opening, scrambling into the tight, suffocating darkness. The enraged roar of the Alpha echoed right behind him, so close it made his bones vibrate. He heard its claws, each the size of a dagger, scrabbling against the rock face, trying to rip the mountain apart to get to him. He had escaped the cave, but he was now trapped within the stone itself, with no idea where the narrow passage led.