Volume 1, Chapter 34: Entering Within

Su Mengyi was not idle. With a flick of her slender fingers, vibrant green radiance shimmered as resilient vines burst from the water, instantly intertwining into a verdant wall around the group. While it could not block the impact of every wolf-hound, it significantly slowed their onslaught.

Simultaneously, she continuously flicked points of green light from her fingertips, which landed with precision upon the wounded team members. As the green light flickered, the wounds of her teammates—and even those of the neighboring group—began to heal rapidly.

The middle-aged man and the vine-wielding woman were taken aback by Su Mengyi’s masterful control over plants and her highly efficient healing abilities.

"This young lady has impressive skills!" The middle-aged man slashed down the final lunging wolf-hound, wiped the blood and grime from his face, and strode over. He gave Su Mengyi a thumbs-up before turning to Li Hexuan and cupping his hands in a gesture of respect. "Many thanks to you and your brothers for the assist! I am Lu Jiu; friends in the trade are kind enough to call me Old Nine. This is my sister, Lu Yao. We are the 'Jiuzhou Squad.'"

"Li Hexuan," Li Hexuan replied succinctly. "Thunder God Base."

After a brief exchange of names, the team members efficiently cleared the battlefield, digging gray source crystals that emitted a faint red glow from the carcasses of the wolf-hounds. The quality was not high, but they were numerous. Per their agreement, the spoils were split equally.

"Brother Li, are you also here for this Source Energy Tower?" Old Nine scrutinized Li Hexuan, his tone probing.

Li Hexuan hummed in acknowledgment. "A tower this conspicuous... I doubt we are the only ones with designs on it."

Old Nine’s face took on a bitter expression upon hearing this. "Not just 'not the only ones'! Since this Source Energy Tower appeared, the entirety of E City has practically become a slaughterhouse! They say this tower has several levels; the higher you go, the purer the energy, and the greater the benefits for ability users. But the mutant monsters guarding the tower are also fiercer. Many squads have perished inside, unable to even breach the first level!"

"Are Chen Hao's men in this area as well?" Li Hexuan asked casually.

At the mention of that name, Old Nine instinctively lowered his voice, his expression growing somber. "Brother Li knows Chen Hao? That bastard is no pushover. He is ruthless, powerful, and keeps a gang of cutthroats under his command. They arrived a few days before us and are incredibly overbearing. They've already occupied an abandoned armory on the eastern outskirts of the tower as their base, and I hear they are already figuring out how to breach the entrance to the first level."

The eastern armory. Li Hexuan noted the location.

While they spoke, Li Hexuan’s attention was drawn to a stone tablet partially buried under a pile of boulders and building debris at the base of the Source Energy Tower.

The tablet was about the height of a man, its surface a dull, dark color typical of energy-saturated materials. It was covered in strange, distorted symbols that were twisted and arranged in bizarre patterns. This thing... he scoured his memories from his previous life, but he had never seen such cryptic markings.

"What is that?" Li Hexuan pointed to the tablet and asked Old Nine.

Old Nine looked in the direction he indicated and shook his head. "No idea. That tablet has been there since the tower appeared. The stone is quite strange, and no one can decipher the scrawls on it. Others have tried to get a closer look, but there are too many mutant monsters around it; it's impossible to get near."

Li Hexuan rubbed his fingertips together. These unknown symbols might hide some key to the Source Energy Tower.

"We won't cross paths with Chen Hao’s group for now," Li Hexuan decided, speaking to Old Nine. "Old Nine, thanks. We’re going to head in and scout from the west."

Old Nine smacked his lips. "The west? The terrain there is even more treacherous than the east, and there are even more types of monsters lurking about. You’d best be careful!"

Li Hexuan said no more, only waving to his team. "Check your gear, replenish your ammunition! Prepare to enter the tower!"

"The symbols on that tablet are quite peculiar."

Li Hexuan shifted his gaze away from the stone tablet; those twisted strokes seemed to conceal some of the secrets of the Source Energy Tower. He did not waste any more time in front of the tablet; entering the tower was the priority.

"Old Nine, thanks for the intel." Li Hexuan gave a slight nod to Lu Jiu.

"We'll be heading out first."

Lu Jiu cupped his hands. "Brother Li, be extremely careful!"

Parting ways with the Jiuzhou Squad, Li Hexuan led his team, avoiding the wolf-hound-infested area in front of the tower, and carefully searched for an entrance along the ruins of the western side of the Source Energy Tower.

"Brother Xuan, here!"

A team member discovered an inconspicuous gap beneath some collapsed architecture, just large enough for a person to squeeze through. The gap was pitch black, and pure energy was slowly seeping out from within.

Li Hexuan stepped forward and sensed it for a moment.

"This is it. Get ready to go in!"

Passing through the narrow passage, the view ahead suddenly opened up. The space inside the tower was far larger than what could be seen from the outside, with a soaring dome and hazy light flowing throughout. The source energy in the air was astonishingly dense; with every breath, one could feel pure energy pouring into their limbs and bones.

Complex corridors and strange energy structures interlaced and extended, stretching endlessly, exuding mystery and danger at every turn.

"The energy is so concentrated!" Zhang Nan took a deep breath, feeling invigorated throughout his body.

Su Mengyi warned, "The energy flow here is quite active, but it seems somewhat disordered." She could sense the purity of the energy within the tower, yet it was also laced with a hint of restlessness.

Li Hexuan commanded in a low voice, "Stay close to me. Don't fall behind."

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

No sooner had he finished speaking than several translucent energy bodies coalesced out of thin air. Their forms were unstable and distorted, radiating dangerous fluctuations as they lunged silently!

"Energy Guardian Puppets!" Li Hexuan immediately concluded. "Physical attacks are ineffective. Use energy blasts!"

*Bang! Bang!*

Several team members instinctively opened fire, but the bullets passed through the energy puppets to no effect.

"Damn it, these things are wicked!" one team member cursed under his breath.

Li Hexuan snorted coldly, his right hand splayed open, lightning gathering in his palm. "Thunder-Magnetic Storm!"

A deep blue electromagnetic field instantly expanded, weaving together violent currents and chaotic magnetic forces, engulfing all the energy puppets!

*Zzzzt—!*

The energy puppets twisted violently within the electromagnetic storm, emitting piercing shrieks. Their light dimmed rapidly, and within moments, they dissolved into primordial energy particles, vanishing without a trace.

"Brother Xuan is a beast!" Zhang Nan grinned broadly.

Li Hexuan’s "Electromagnetic Control" was like a hot knife through butter against these pure energy entities. Relying on Li Hexuan’s formidable abilities, the team swept through the energy puppets, making their way through the labyrinthine structure of the tower.

Soon, they entered a vast hall. The energy nodes here were denser, and the source energy was even more mellow. In the center of the hall, several shards of source energy, emitting a soft glow, floated quietly; their quality far surpassed the gray source crystals dropped by the wolf-hounds earlier.

Just as Li Hexuan and the others were about to step forward, a rush of footsteps suddenly echoed from a passage on the other side.

"Hurry! It's here, I can sense the pure source energy fluctuations!" A sharp, shrill voice rang out.

More than a dozen well-equipped individuals emerged from the passage. They wore uniform deep-blue combat suits adorned with silver bird emblems on their chests, beneath which the word "Apocalypse" was inscribed.

Leading them was a young man in his early twenties. He was decent in appearance, but his demeanor was arrogant. He was surrounded by the energy fluctuations of a peak-level tier one ability user, and he toyed with two small, constantly shifting metal spheres in his hands.