Chapter 34: System Resolved
Branches whipped at Ning Que’s face, stinging his cheeks as he vaulted over a fallen, moss-covered log. His lungs burned, a raw fire that matched the frustration simmering in his gut.
Behind him, he could hear the heavy, panicked breathing of the others, punctuated by the sharp, irritated commands of their self-appointed leader.
"Move! Are your legs made of lead?" Lian Zhen snapped, her voice cutting through the sounds of their flight. She spun on her heel, her gaze sweeping over them, her perfectly braided hair not daring to come loose. "The alert wasn’t a suggestion. It was a promise. Pick up the pace!"
Linx, his face pale and beaded with sweat, glanced down at the flickering device strapped to his wrist.
"She’s right. They’re closing. Fast. Their heat signatures are... elite. Amplified." He clenched his teeth, the muscles in his jaw tight knots of anxiety. "This isn’t a standard patrol."
Aeris and Viera flanked Ning, their movements fluid but their expressions strained. They stayed close, a silent, protective bubble around the one person who should have been leading the charge.
But Ning’s focus was turned inward, screaming into a void that refused to answer. The System, his constant companion, his source of power, was a dead, silent chasm in his mind. No pings.
No status screens. No spectral blade shimmering into existence at his will. He was just a boy running through a forest, and the sheer, infuriating powerlessness of it was a poison seeping into his bones.
Lian Zhen skidded to a halt before the skeletal remains of an old outpost, its stone walls choked with vines and bleached by years of mana fallout.
"In here. Now."
They scrambled inside, pressing their backs against the crumbling, damp stone. For a moment, the only sound was their ragged breathing echoing in the enclosed space.
Viera was the first to break the silence, pushing herself away from the wall.