The illusion of death was tightening.
Two crew members were on the verge of losing consciousness, their bodies only twitching instinctively due to the lack of oxygen.
Unnoticed by them, Bob, the Sonar Engineer imprisoned in the rear of the submarine, was in the worst state; he lay on the floor, his injured body convulsing violently, his face turned a cyanotic purple from hypoxia.
"Damn it..."
Tony had also reached his limit. Darkness rapidly eroded the edges of his vision, and the burning sensation in his lungs nearly incinerated his remaining sanity. With every passing second, he felt his brain cells dying off in clusters.
Just then, a strange warm current suddenly came from his side, dispersing part of the cold sensation of drowning.
Tony turned his head with difficulty and saw Lin Huai's hand pressing on his shoulder.
"Its very existence is a form of pollution," Lin Huai's voice pierced through that layer of deathly illusion, clearly reaching Tony's ears. "A spiritual Erosion. If this continues, everyone will suffer brain death."
"We must catch it!"
This was no ordinary creature; it was the source of all the bizarre phenomena, a spreading "cancer"!
Tony understood the meaning of these words almost by instinct.
"But... how do we..." Tony squeezed out a few words with difficulty.
"Trust me this once, Mr. Stark."
Lin Huai let go and walked to the narrow central corridor of the submarine.
He looked around, his gaze sweeping over the few crew members who were still twitching.
"I need a little time to set up a barrier. Find a way to stay alive until I'm finished."
Having said that, Lin Huai closed his eyes.
-
He extended his right index finger and began to trace something in the air before him with a slow, steady rhythm that an ordinary person could not comprehend.
No light emanated from his fingertips, but in Tony's vision—distorted by hypoxia and intense pain—he seemed to see invisible threads extending from Lin Huai's fingertips, intertwining and weaving in the air. The symbols formed by those threads completely transcended any geometry known to humanity; it seemed every turn contained some kind of rule.
Immediately after, the ancient, obscure, and mystically rhythmic Hermes Language was softly chanted from Lin Huai's mouth.
-
"I isolate threats, I guard peace."
"I hereby request the gaze of the Fool."
"With my spirituality as a wall, I construct a place of sanctuary here!"
-
As the last syllable fell, Lin Huai snapped his eyes open!
His right hand, which had drawn the invisible runes, pressed down heavily toward the floor!
Buzz—
A transparent barrier, invisible to the naked eye but clearly perceptible to the soul, radiated from him as the center like an inverted bowl, instantly spreading throughout the interior of the submarine!
-
Wherever the barrier passed, it was like a spring breeze brushing against the face.
That drowning sensation clutching the throat, that bone-deep cold, that suffocating pressure crushing sanity... in an instant, they were all swept clean!
-
"Whew— Ha! Ha-ah—"
-
Inside the submarine, apart from Lin Huai, the four people closest to him simultaneously arched their bodies as if they had been pulled from deep water, breathing the precious air greedily and violently! One Engineer even slumped to the floor, retching and weeping—a vent for the most primal fear of death.
"Just now... what was that..." The Pilot's face was written with the terror of having survived a disaster.
Tony leaned against the console, gasping for breath. He stared intently at the somewhat pale Lin Huai, then looked at the bizarre octopus still swimming slowly outside the porthole, his brain working rapidly.
"Is it that thing's 'field'?" Tony asked hoarsely. "And your 'barrier' isolated it?"
"You could understand it that way." Lin Huai nodded, his tone serious. "But it's not a 'field,' it's a'symbol.' It's one of the manifestations of this World's Erosion. As long as it exists, this spiritual pollution will continue to strengthen and expand its range. Today it only made us 'drown'; over time, perhaps all life in this entire sea area would be drowned to death."
These words sent an unprecedented chill through Tony, more piercing than the drowning sensation from before. It wasn't the fear of death, but the shudder of a top scientist whose understanding of reality had been completely overturned.
Lin Huai gave the final conclusion: "We must take this'source of pollution' away completely."
"A mobile source of pollution..." A terrifying light flashed in Tony's eyes—the fanaticism of a scientist. "Aquatic life below 2,000 meters in the ocean being drowned... I don't even know how to put those words together. Catch it; I want to take it apart and see!"
He turned immediately and roared at the console: "What are you waiting for! Open the external monitors and filter out those damn blue patterns! Extend the submarine's main mechanical arm and use the A-3 Deep-Sea Biological Containment Cage to catch it!"
"But sir, it..." The Engineer looked at the screen, lingering fear in his heart.
"It's already been blocked outside by the consultant's 'wall'!" Tony bellowed. "Right now, it's just an ordinary octopus with a bit of strength! Execute the order!"
-
A massive main mechanical arm, carrying a mesh containment cage made of high-strength titanium alloy, lunged from the side of the [the explorer], like the talons of a giant eagle, grasping toward that bizarre Lava Octopus!
The octopus seemed completely unaware of the danger, still curiously waving its tentacles in the beam of the searchlight.
The mechanical arm approached precisely, and the containment cage snapped open, instantly covering it!
"Closing..."
Just as the alloy mesh was about to close completely, that Lava Octopus, which had always seemed harmless, finally seemed to realize its fate of being imprisoned!
It didn't struggle physically, but the blue patterns on its body surface erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant light in an instant!
-
Buzz—!
-
The Wall of Spirituality Lin Huai had set up flickered violently under this sudden spiritual impact!
-
It was only a moment's fluctuation!
"Ah—!"
-
The switch between heaven and hell happened in a split second! Inside the submarine, the two crew members who had just recovered were hit hard again by that terrifying drowning sensation, letting out a shrill scream in unison! Their pupils dilated instantly, as if their souls were being dragged into the Abyss!
Tony also let out a muffled groan, feeling as if his heart were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand, his breathing stopping once more!
"Hold on!"
Lin Huai barked a low command, his face deathly pale, as he poured his spirituality into the barrier without reservation!
That violently flickering invisible wall finally stabilized again on the brink of collapse!
The drowning sensation receded like a tide once more.
-
"Warning, the containment cage closing procedure is encountering resistance!" Jarvis's voice rang out.
-
"Force it closed with maximum power!" Tony roared through gritted teeth; he knew this was the final moment!
-
Screech— Bang!!!
With a heavy sound of metal clashing, the titanium alloy cage mesh finally locked tight!
At that moment, the blue light on the octopus's body surface dimmed instantly, as if the power had been cut.
All the bizarre spiritual fluctuations vanished.
"Target... successfully captured." Jarvis announced the end of this surreal battle in a steady tone.
The interior of the vessel was silent, save for the heavy, ragged breathing of those who had survived.
Tony Stark looked at the now ordinary-looking creature trapped in the cage on the screen, then turned to look at Lin Huai, who was leaning against the bulkhead with fine beads of sweat on his forehead, his expression complex to the extreme.