bioinnovel Chapter 407 It's here!
Chapter 407 It's here!
Three minutes and fifty seconds.
Zhang Yan did not stop.
The golden light of the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart continued to pour into the broken area, and the runes were restored inch by inch.
The Zhuque power furnace was operating under overload, with 110% power causing the link temperature to continue to rise.
He's gambling with time.
Three minutes and twenty seconds.
"White Tiger, Xing Tian, enter battle mode."
Both mechs simultaneously lit up with red indicator lights. Baihu's metal claws unfolded, and Xingtian moved forward, shield raised.
three minutes.
The stargazer retreated deeper into the passageway, but did not leave.
She had an extra item in her hand—a spare sky anchor.
It wasn't given by Zhang Yan; it was the last one that Guantiange kept for itself.
Two and a half minutes.
Repair progress: 33%.
Zhang Yan's attention was divided into two streams. One was focused on the runes at the break point, ensuring the accuracy was perfect; the other was on the approaching red signal on the system panel.
Two minutes.
Nie Qingcheng's voice came through the communicator. It was very calm.
"Heart rate 141. Body temperature 36.1. Synchronization rate of Tiangong Heart 61%."
A second later she added another sentence.
"I am here."
One and a half.
Zhang Yan made a final judgment.
If it arrives, can it be materialized? Last time at the Sixth Gate, it was just a barefoot footprint—meaning it could project some power onto the physical plane. But complete materialization requires sufficient space and energy.
This spherical space is the core area of the first gate. It is the master control node of the gate network.
If there's anywhere that can materialize it with the highest efficiency, it's here.
One minute.
34%.
The runes on the inner wall of the spherical space suddenly flickered. It wasn't a flicker caused by Zhang Yan's repairs; it was a different frequency.
Thirty seconds.
The flickering intensified. The runes on the inner wall flashed on and off like a signal being interfered with. The flow of liquid metal on the surface of the black sphere suddenly accelerated, changing from a gentle surge to a rapid churning.
ten seconds.
Zhang Yan didn't look up. His hands never stopped repairing the wound.
Five seconds.
"It's here," the locksmith's voice came through the channel.
zero.
The spherical space trembled.
It wasn't a physical vibration. It was a "displacement" at some dimensional level—the entire space seemed to be squeezed from the inside for a moment by something, and then it recovered.
Then Zhang Yan saw it.
The surface of the door. The left side of the black sphere.
What's moving beneath the liquid metal?
At first, it was just a slight bulge, like ripples on the surface of a calm lake when a fish swims by. But within three seconds, the bulge became a protrusion, and the protrusion grew into a fist-sized bulge.
It wasn't pushed in from the outside.
It was "squeezed" from the transmission channel inside the gate network.
The channels between nodes are abstract energy paths, lacking physical dimensions in themselves. But this thing—it compresses itself into the channel, uses a gate network to transmit between different nodes, and then attempts to rematerialize itself at the target node.
The bulge is expanding.
Repair progress: 35%.
Zhang Yan's voice was flat. "Observe the stars, retreat fifty meters away."
"I--"
"Now."
The stargazing has ended.
The bulge transformed into a hemispherical protrusion. The liquid metal on the door's surface was stretched to an extremely thin layer, revealing something grayish-white wriggling beneath.
The white tiger crouches low, its mechanical tail taut, in an attack stance.
Zhang Yan didn't give the attack order. He was waiting.
Wait for it to come out.
38%. 39%.
The power output of the Zhuque power furnace was increased to 115%. It was accelerating.
The bulge continued to expand, growing from a hemisphere into a bulge the size of a human head. The liquid metal finally couldn't withstand it.
A crack appeared on the surface.
It's not broken. It's being forced open from the inside.
A finger emerged from the gap.
Grayish-white. No joints. No nails. It lacks any of the structural features a human finger should have. It resembles some kind of material shaved into the shape of a finger—smooth and non-reflective, the color of dead human bone.
The temperature sensor on the white tiger's back immediately triggered an alarm.
Zhang Yan saw the data.
The surface temperature of that finger was absolute zero. -273.15 degrees Celsius.
It exists in this space, but it does not belong to the physical laws of this space.
41%.
Zhang Yan's hands didn't tremble. The output of the Heavenly Craftsmanship was as steady as a machine.
"Nie Qingcheng".
"I saw it." There was a tension in her voice he rarely heard. "Your body temperature is dropping. That thing is affecting the surrounding environment."
"How many."
"35.8. Still dropping."
The temperature drop wasn't due to fear. It was because that finger physically lowered the temperature of the surrounding space.
45%.
The finger is slowly extending outwards. The entire length of the finger is now fully exposed—approximately thirty centimeters. Five times longer than a normal human finger.
It is pulling itself outward.
"White Tiger. Attack."
The white tiger pounced. Its right paw slammed down with all its might on that finger.
The instant the metal claw tip touched the grayish-white surface—frost formed. Ice crystals spread from the point of contact at a visible speed, covering the white tiger's entire right paw.
Then the three claw tips at the front of the right claw shattered.
Like glass.
The white tiger was pushed back two steps by the rebound force.
Physical attacks are ineffective.
Zhang Yan didn't waste time being surprised. "Xingtian. Shield. Push up. Don't attack, just block."
Xing Tian stepped forward and slid his thick composite shield towards the finger. The moment the shield made contact, ice crystals began to spread as well. But the shield was ten times thicker than the claw.
It can hold out for a while.
48%.
On the surface of the door, the gap next to the first finger is widening.
Something is moving inside.
The Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship suddenly trembled violently in Zhang Yan's chest.
This is not a warning. It is not due to excessive synchronization.
It's some kind of more primal response. It's like the object itself is sending a signal.
A line of text popped up. It was red. A format I'd never seen before.
"Maintainer warning: Gate network integrity is insufficient to prevent inter-node penetration. Immediate action recommended—"
The text was not fully displayed.
Because the second finger has extended.