Chapter 275: Beneath The Blue Sky

Jade woke up beneath a blue sky.

It was clear, almost pale enough to look white, something she rarely saw during winter. More importantly, it was completely different from the sky above Climber Rift.

For a moment, she didn’t move. A transparent spherical barrier stretched across the sky above her, its curved surface almost invisible except where the sunlight caught it. Despite the barrier, she could still see several birds flying peacefully overhead.

Jade frowned.

Something soft and warm supported her back. When she shifted, her fingers brushed against grass, the fresh blades bending beneath her touch.

She could feel the warmth of the ground seeping through her clothes, and for some reason, the sensation felt strangely familiar.

Jade slowly pushed herself up and looked around.

"Where am I?"

She couldn’t remember coming here.

Her last memory was...

Her expression changed.

The conversation.

She had been talking to one of Gideon’s men about the strange things happening inside the mine. The voices. The white strands. The luminous mushrooms. The strange sacks hanging from the ceiling.

There was no way those things belonged inside an abandoned mine.

And if Gideon’s information was correct, there was almost no doubt that the Hive Mind was somewhere inside.

Gideon asked to order everyone to evacuate as soon as possible, and Jade had been trying to coordinate the situation from the surface.

"I see. Fortunately, we’re already in the middle of the evacuation." Jade sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "If possible, tell Gideon to prevent any fights from breaking out inside the settlement."

She paused before adding with an exasperated expression, "Actually, just tell him not to destroy everything."

The man had barely acknowledged the order when a tremendous noise suddenly came from outside.

The sound was so loud that Jade’s ears began to ring. A violent tremor followed, shaking the entire building hard enough to make cracks spread across the ceiling.

"Shit! What happened?" Jade shouted.

"We should get out first," Lin Yue said, already moving toward the exit.

Jade didn’t need to be told twice.

She followed Lin Yue outside, and the moment they stepped into the open air, they were met with a sight that immediately made Jade stop.

Half of the western canyon was collapsing.

"What the hell..."

Jade’s mouth fell open as she stared at the destruction.

Lin Yue stopped beside her as well. Her eyes narrowed beneath the black veil as she surveyed the ruined canyon.

"Jade," she said calmly, though there was an obvious edge of disbelief in her voice, "I suppose this wasn’t part of your plan?"

Jade slowly shook her head.

"Don’t start with useless arguments, Lin."

"I wasn’t arguing."

"You were about to."

Lin Yue gave her a brief look before turning her attention back toward the destruction.

Buildings and wooden platforms had collapsed beneath the western section of the canyon, burying the lower paths beneath enormous piles of rubble. Dust filled the air, making it difficult to see what had caused the collapse.

But then something moved.

Jade’s eyes narrowed.

Something was pouring out from beneath the ruins.

At first, she thought it was mud or some strange liquid released from the collapsed mine. The substance was white and thick, almost like a mixture of flesh and slime, but it moved far too deliberately to be ordinary debris.

It crawled over the broken structures and spilled across the canyon floor. Thick white strands stretched outward from the mass, slipping through gaps between buildings and wrapping around whatever they touched before pulling the rest of the creature forward.

It wasn’t simply spreading. It was moving toward the settlement.

"Is that..."

"An aberrant, I suppose," Lin Yue said, narrowing her eyes. "And I sincerely hope it isn’t what I think it is."

Jade continued watching the advancing mass.

"It’s the most likely possibility." She paused before glancing at Lin Yue. "If it isn’t, then I’ll make sure Gideon explains exactly what the hell he’s been doing down there."

Before Lin Yue could answer, a burst of gunfire erupted from the central market.

Both women immediately turned toward the sound.

The fighting had started again.

No, it was worse than before.

Gunfire echoed throughout the canyon, followed by screams and people shouting orders. From their position, they couldn’t see the entire central market, but the sheer volume of noise made it obvious that the situation had deteriorated rapidly.

Lin Yue’s expression became serious.

"I’ll call my people."

"Your people need to deal with that." Jade pointed toward the white mass. "Half of mine have already been ordered to evacuate the civilians."

"Obviously. They don’t need to know what it is. They just need to destroy it before it reaches the settlement."

Jade looked back toward the creature. It was already spreading farther across the ruined section of the canyon, moving steadily toward the lower settlement.

"If that really is the Hive Mind, I doubt ordinary weapons will be enough."

"Then we’ll find out."

Lin Yue pulled out her communication device and contacted the Mercenary Guild’s combat unit. Jade could hear her giving them directions, explaining where the creature had emerged and ordering them to stop it before it reached the populated areas.

Within minutes, the guild’s soldiers began moving.

Several groups approached the advancing white mass from different directions. They carried rifles, grenades, and explosives, clearly intending to overwhelm the creature with sheer firepower.

Jade watched as the first explosives were brought into position.

"If they’re going to use explosives, at least keep them away from the canyon, Lin. You still want to live here, don’t you?"

Lin Yue lowered the communication device and glanced at her.

"I think we already have bigger problems than whether the canyon survives."

Jade rolled her eyes, but the joke did little to calm her nerves.

Her hands clenched at her sides, and she could feel sweat beginning to roll down her temple despite the cold weather.

If the Climber Rift fell...

What would happen to her people?

She couldn’t let that happen.

The first explosion shook the canyon.

A huge cloud of dust rose from the impact, temporarily hiding the white mass from view. Jade instinctively narrowed her eyes as she tried to see through the smoke.

For a moment, it looked as though the attack had worked.

Then something began drifting out of the dust.

Jade initially thought they were pieces of debris.

Tiny golden particles floated through the air, catching the sunlight as they scattered across the canyon. There were only a few at first, but their numbers quickly increased until the air above the ruins seemed to glitter.

Jade stared at them. "What is that? Sand? No... that’s not sand."

Lin Yue didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. The sudden tension in her shoulders was answer enough.

More golden particles spread through the air.

"They’re coming from the creature," Jade said slowly.

Lin Yue’s expression changed.

"Move back."

Jade looked at her. "Why?"

"It’s some kind of parasitic aberrant. Some parasites can infect other organisms through spores."

"What?"

Another explosion went off.

More of the white mass was torn apart, and an even larger cloud of golden particles rose into the air.

Jade’s eyes widened as she finally understood. Destroying the creature wasn’t necessarily the same as killing it.

They might have just made things worse.

Lin Yue immediately grabbed her communication device again.

"Everyone, cease fire! Do not use any more explosives!"

There was no response. Lin Yue tried again, but the communication channel remained silent.

"Shit. This is bad." She looked toward the battlefield. "I’ll approach them myself. You stay here and try to contact them again."

Jade was moving. She pulled her mask tighter against her face and started running toward the combat unit.

The mask made breathing more difficult, forcing her to control each breath carefully. She couldn’t afford to collapse now. She couldn’t afford to get infected.

She had to be the last one standing. Someone needed to make sure the Hive Mind was destroyed.

The golden particles continued spreading.

Some drifted toward the buildings while others were carried higher by the wind, moving toward the surrounding streets where people were still trying to escape the fighting.

Jade kept running until she could finally see the combat unit Lin Yue had sent.

The soldiers were preparing another attack.

"No!" Jade shouted. "Stop the explosives! Stop it!"

They turned toward her.

But before she could reach them, something changed. The world disappeared into darkness.

That was the last thing Jade remembered.

"Sister, what’s wrong? Did you have another nightmare?"

The gentle voice beside her made Jade tense.

She knew that voice. Even after spending years trying to run from it, she could never truly escape it.

It had been carved into the back of her mind, buried so deeply that hearing it again felt like someone had reached inside her skull and dragged an old, painful memory back into the light.

"Sister?"

Jade clenched her hands. Slowly, almost afraid of what she would see, she turned her head.

And there she was.

Her other half.

Half of her soul. Half of her heart. Half of her Core.

Her twin sister, Amber.