The rain didn't stop.
Worse—it was insane. Neuroth acid rain mixed with Aethra mist, sticky, cold, crawling on skin like insects.
Lin Yao dragged Rhea down the mountain. Her prosthetic arm was dead black, dangling, joints smoking. Blood mixed with oil, dripping on rusted steps, hissing.
"Hold on…" His throat felt full of sand. "Qing He… she can save you."
"Hah…" Rhea laughed, teeth bloody. "How do you know? She doesn't even talk…"
"She did," Lin Yao panted, pressing his hand hard on her wound. The Xihua threads trembled like a snapping string. "Use grass. Use soil. Use… heartbeat."
The mountaintop was right there. Broken walls. Dead trees. A dried-up Spirit Spring.
Qing He was crouched at the edge.
Not waiting. Digging.
Hands caked with mud, fingertips bloody. In front of her, a half-human-deep pit. Stone at the bottom, engraved with chaotic circuit and spiritual patterns. But look closely—Neuroth circuits and Aethra veins converged at certain points.
She heard footsteps. Didn't look up. Just raised her hand.
Two dark-green grass balls rolled to Lin Yao's feet.
"Eat."
One word. Raspy, flat—but urgent. Not a command.
He shoved one into Rhea's mouth. It melted instantly. Bitter. She coughed. "Shit… worse than anti-corrosive meds."
But then her shoulder glowed.
Not Xihua gold. Mossy green, moving like a living thing, weaving around the Xihua threads. The strands stopped writhing, obeyed the green light… forming a net.
"She's… weaving?" Rhea blinked.
Qing He nodded. Looked at them for the first time. Expressionless face. Eyes blazing—like twin lights in a storm. She pointed at the pit, her chest, then Lin Yao's right hand. The dark-gold ember there resonated with the stone. Vibrating.
"Mirror outpost…" Lin Yao realized. "You're building a… relay?"
She nodded hard. Right hand plunged into her left arm—under the skin.
Shing!
A vine! Thin as hair, tough as alloy. Split in three: one to her chest, one to the stone, one hanging, trembling, waiting.
Lin Yao didn't ask. Placed his right hand on it.
Zzzzzt!
Pain exploded. High-voltage electricity in boiling medicine ran through his bones. Vision blacked out. Left-eye sensor went haywire. Right eye blazed gold.
The stone glowed.
Circuits blue, spiritual patterns gold. Twisting together, spiraling up the well.
Gray mist tore open—Mirror Rift visible.
Three seconds.
Boom!
Silver ship beam struck! Needle-thin Xihua piercing the well.
"Guì!" Rhea screamed. "He timed it! Waited for the outpost to form!"
Qing He's face turned pale. Her chest vine wilted instantly.
The outpost… was collapsing.
Lin Yao's mind went blank. One thought: cannot break.
He ripped off the left-eye sensor—metal cutting into skin, blood smeared his face. Shoved the scorching ring into the slot in the stone pit.
"Hold it!" he roared.
Qing He didn't blink. Wilted vine surged, wrapping the sensor.
Blue light (Neuroth) + Gold light (Aethra) + Blood (Lin Yao)…
Three lights twisted.
Mirror Rift… held.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
The beam pulsed like breathing, but it stayed.
A temporary mirror outpost.
"Shit…" Rhea laughed, collapsing in mud. "You two… crazy."
Qing He finally exhaled. Then, she froze, eyes fixed on the Rift.
Gray mist swirled. Half a face appeared.
Not a ghost. A living person.
Pale, thin. Left eye covered, right eye pure silver, rotating data streams, no pupil.
Lips moved, silent.
But Lin Yao heard it.
Not sound. Direct into his mind:
"Don't trust… 'Unity'… trap…"
"I'm… Kael… Bone Tower… bottom…"
Name cut off.
Silver beam descended again—giant this time. Whole mountaintop shook.
Rocks rained down. Qing He dove, shielding Lin Yao and Rhea. Vine grew, forming a green shield—
BOOM!
Shield shattered. Qing He flew back, bleeding.
Mirror Rift contracted violently. That half-face flashed once more. Silver eye… blinked.
Beam extinguished.
Outpost dark.
Dead silence.
Only rain.
Rhea crawled to Qing He, tore open her sleeve. The vine… snapped. Burned black.
"…Kael?" she whispered.
Lin Yao wiped blood and rain, staring at his empty left socket. Burning pain. Heart even worse.
That face. That voice.
Not enemy.
A prisoner… trying to break free.
He picked up a chunk of stone. Sensor melted, but spiral circuits and spiritual patterns glowed faintly.
"Outpost… didn't die," he croaked. "Just… hiding."
Qing He touched the faint glow.
Dark-gold ember in the stone… flickered.
Like a star… refusing to die.
Far away, silver ship hovered. Bone whip slowly rose.
Guì, coming.
Author's Note | After Chapter 4
Hey.
Wrote this chapter, spilled my coffee, keyboard covered in mess. Hands shaking—not tired, exhilarated.
Qing He spoke—one word, enough.
Kael appeared—half-face, straight to the heart.
Outpost formed—three seconds, but alive.
Some say webnovels need "stability."
I say: one second before collapse, use blood, vines, melted sensors, hold up the light.
When Qing He pulled the vine, I shook—not fear, but… disbelief you'd believe it.
You did.
Healing is never painless.
Kael?
"Unity" a trap?
I don't know.
But I know:
When Lin Yao shoved the sensor into the stone,
When Qing He's broken vine shielded them,
When Rhea laughed in the mud—
The story… was alive.
Thanks for breathing with it.
Next chapter: Bone Tower.
—KHChing
(Keyboard wet, heart burning)