bullyxtreme Chapter 435 The Entropy Conundrum
Chapter 435 The Entropy Conundrum
Memories slipped away like sand in an hourglass, and the merged entity struggled desperately in the vortex of consciousness. Each lost memory felt like a sharp blade ripping at her heart.
The heartwarming scenes of fighting alongside Xiaoying, and every wrinkle on the resolute faces of the guardians throughout the ages, gradually blurred and became fragmented in the eerie silver light.
The silver light, like a greedy monster, relentlessly devoured the precious marks in her life.
Just when she thought everything was about to vanish into nothingness and she was about to be completely engulfed by darkness, the light of the young firefly suddenly transformed into a golden chain, which swiftly and forcefully hooked her collapsing consciousness.
The warmth emanating from the chains carried Xiaoying's determination and worry, "Sister! Grab the 'Root Memory' from the ancient tree's rings!"
The little girl's voice was choked with sobs, yet her trembling tone was filled with a resolute determination, like a beacon in the darkness, guiding the fusion entity in its direction.
The consciousness of the merged entity groped in the chaos, surrounded by thick, inky darkness, so silent that only its own rapid fluctuations of consciousness could be heard.
Finally, she touched a warm and ancient power, a power like the warm sun in winter, or like a mother's gentle embrace.
Deep within the ancient tree rings, the phantom of a guardian clad in emerald armor emerges. The ancient runes carved on the armor emit a faint light, as if recounting a glorious past.
He held half a jade pendant engraved with star charts in his hand. The stars on the charts seemed to still be twinkling, containing endless mysteries.
"The traitor stole the other half of the jade pendant to awaken the observer's dark side..."
The guardian's voice was deep and hoarse, carrying the vicissitudes of time and an unresolved regret.
Before the words were finished, the silver figure's silver staff suddenly burst forth with an even stronger light. The light was like thousands of sharp swords, and countless dark patterns turned into chains, piercing through the light shield of the young Xiao Ying with overwhelming force, and directly targeting the core consciousness of the fused entity.
The chains grazed the edge of her consciousness, bringing a sharp pain that felt as if they were tearing her soul apart.
At the critical moment, the remaining consciousness of the twelve X-series test subjects suddenly burst forth from the purple patterns.
Their metal bodies were already badly damaged in the previous battles, with sparks still flying from their joints and data seeping out from the broken parts like blood.
But at this moment, their eyes gleamed with determination. They broke free from the woodcutter's control and used their broken bodies to form a shield in front of the fused entity.
"Hurry! To the Tree of Hope!"
The synthesized voice carries the tremor of human emotion; it contains trust in the fused entity as well as the tragic grandeur of self-sacrifice.
Their bodies crumbled inch by inch under the corrosive light of the silver staff, and metal fragments fell like snowflakes. Each fragment carried their last stand, but bought the fused entity precious time to escape.
Despite her grief, the merged entity drew upon the ancient tree's essence, and golden light surrounded her body, resonating with the ancient tree's power.
With a mighty swing, she tore a rift in space, from which a mysterious light emanated, carrying the tiny sparks of light from the young Ying into an unknown dimension.
When they fell into an upside-down forest, the scene before them was both beautiful and eerie.
The roots of trees grow into the sky, like giant blood vessels, intertwined and complex.
The leaves cascade down like a waterfall, each leaf flowing with liquid starlight, shimmering in the darkness like countless tiny lamps.
Starlight dripped onto the ground, making a crisp sound and splashing up tiny sparks.
In the distance, a colossal tree, its trunk shrouded in darkness, hangs upside down in the center of the nebula. Countless luminous fruits are embedded in its trunk, emitting a soft glow—the legendary Tree of Hope.
The scene under the tree was chilling: a child who looked like a woodcutter was directing a replica of a man in black robes to set up a trap. Their movements were synchronized and as cold as machines.
They embedded the dark purple heart into the tree root, and the eerie energy spread along the veins. Wherever it went, the bark began to turn black and rot, and the light of the giant tree was dimming at a visible speed, as if life was being mercilessly taken away.
"Those fruits are the ancient tree's last breath of life!"
The roots of the adult Xiaoying suddenly awakened in the consciousness of the fused entity, her voice weak yet urgent, filled with undisguised anxiety.
"We must activate the entropy-reversing power of the fruit with the jade pendant before the heart corrodes the entire tree!"
The fused entity gripped the half of the jade pendant tightly in its hand. The surface of the jade pendant was cool, and its patterns were faintly visible under the starlight.
At this moment, she noticed that the star map on the surface of the jade pendant was resonating with the patterns on the silver staff in the distance, and a faint light was flashing between the two.
She was suddenly startled to realize that the silver figure and the woodcutter might actually be different forms of the same being. This discovery made her heart race and a chill run from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
Just as the fusion entity was preparing to act, the ground suddenly emitted a teeth-grinding cracking sound, splitting open and countless dark purple tentacles bursting out of the soil.
The surface of the tentacles was covered with raised fleshy growths that were still wriggling. The human face at the top was now clearly visible—it was someone she had saved in various parallel worlds.
Those familiar faces were twisted and deformed, their eyes flashing with a crazed light.
"Come join us and become part of entropy."
Those distorted faces spoke at the same time, their voices containing a familiar tone from the merged entity, yet filled with evil and seduction, sending chills down one's spine.
The fusion entity raised its light blade and slashed fiercely. The blade sliced across the tentacles, splashing out corrosive slime. The slime dripped onto the ground, instantly corroding deep pits and making a sizzling sound.
Every time she severed a tentacle, more mucus would gush out from the wound, as if the tentacles could never be completely severed.
In the moment of crisis, the Tree of Hope suddenly let out a mournful cry, a sound like countless people weeping, which shook the entire space.
The topmost fruit began to turn black and rot, and the black spots spread rapidly like a plague.
The boy, who looked like a woodcutter, laughed loudly, his laughter sharp and piercing. Behind him, black branches grew wildly, like a giant python, coiling the entire tree into a huge cage.
"Now, even the last hope is about to be extinguished!"
His words were filled with smugness and madness.
In the distance, a silver figure slowly approached, leaving a dark purple footprint with each step. The silver staff in his hand had turned completely dark purple, and the gem at the top of the staff shimmered with an eerie light.
More details of his face were revealed beneath the mask—besides features similar to those of the woodcutter, there was also a dark purple crystal forming between his brows, with what appeared to be a small world spinning within it, radiating a dangerous aura.
The fused entity suddenly recalled the memories from the ancient tree rings and pressed half of the jade pendant onto the light blade.
In an instant, the light blade erupted with a light of the same origin as the Tree of Hope, a light so dazzling that it seemed to dispel all the darkness.
She hurled her light blade with all her might toward the nearest fruit, the blade slicing through the air and leaving a golden trail. However, the silver staff suddenly emitted a black light, which, like a bolt of lightning, struck precisely where the light blade had been.
The light blade exploded in mid-air, scattering light in all directions.
The moment the light blade fell, the fusion body was horrified to discover that her arm had also begun to grow black branches similar to those of the woodcutter, covered with sharp thorns that were slowly eroding her body.
Meanwhile, the tiny spark of light from young Hotaru is being forcibly pulled toward the silver figure by a mysterious force. Hotaru's cries echo in her consciousness, filled with fear and helplessness...