Chapter 869: Deep in the Pipeline

869. Deep in the Pipeline

"Big brother! Give me a chance! I really don't want to die!"

Natalie struggled continuously within the pipeline, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop death from closing in. The inner walls of the flesh-and-blood pipeline were covered in a smooth layer of Flesh Membrane. Natalie poured a large amount of spiritual energy into her Short Knife, yet she couldn't leave even a single scratch on its surface.

"I really can't help you. Although this might not be the best timing, I still have to tell you something very important, and that is, at truly critical moments, a person can only rely on themselves. For you, this is that moment right now. You can choose to give up and accept the cold, merciless reality. Or you can struggle until the very last moment, and maybe you can still do something."

Lin Ye would never rely on others at truly critical moments, because he had long come to terms with a simple truth: trusting others meant handing your own fate over to someone else's hands, which was the most ridiculous thing in this world.

After hearing Lin Ye's words, Natalie suddenly quieted down. She stopped wasting spiritual energy, reduced the range of her movements, and began conserving her strength.

The Chainsaw Tissue had already reached Natalie's front. She took off her heavy Spiritual Energy Armor and held it in her hands like a shield.

Death was approaching, and fear made her body tremble all over. Then she suddenly thought of her experiences over this period of time. Uncontrollable anger and fear mixed together, and her body suddenly grew calm.

"Don't forcefully block those saw blades. Even high-grade materials can't withstand the cutting of the blades. You're different from those corpses. You can change the angle of impact. Ninety degrees won't work. The blades are too smooth, there's hardly any friction. You need to adjust the angle yourself... use your body to feel it."

Lin Ye's voice was very calm, and that calmness infected Natalie. She stuffed Lin Ye into her clothes, held the armor in one hand, and grabbed a corpse with the other.

Just then, the suction force suddenly intensified, dragging Natalie toward the Chainsaw Tissue.

Natalie slammed the corpse diagonally into the Chainsaw Tissue. The corpse and the saw blades collided, producing a piercing screech.

The corpse was quickly sliced through. Natalie kept using corpses to ram against the saw teeth, and her body was being pulled closer and closer to the teeth by the suction force.

Just before she crashed into the saw blades, they finally began to slow down.

After all, this was biological tissue. Continuous impacts would cause discomfort in that area.

"Now!"

Lin Ye suddenly spoke.

Natalie expended spiritual energy and burst forward at her maximum speed, passing through that section of Chainsaw Tissue.

But she was still a little too slow. The saw blade grazed her calf. Just a moment of contact, and her lower leg was severed.

"Ugh..."

Natalie didn't stop. She bit her lip hard and charged toward the next Chainsaw Tissue. The owner of this flesh-and-blood pipeline might have already sensed what was happening here. If she didn't speed up, she would definitely die in this place.

Harsh screeching noises rang out continuously as Natalie passed through one section of Chainsaw Tissue after another. But by the later stages, both the Spiritual Energy Armor and the corpses had been smashed to nothing. There were still several sections of Chainsaw Tissue ahead, and she was being dragged by the suction force toward the next one.

"I'm sorry, I might die here."

Natalie said with a hint of regret.

"You haven't wronged anyone, except yourself... Have you really given it everything you've got?"

Lin Ye looked at the saw blades mere inches away and spoke calmly.

"I... so that's it... use my body to feel it..."

Natalie raised both arms and concentrated spiritual energy into her palms.

She could still use her body to ram into the saw blades. It was dangerous, almost impossible to succeed, but she wasn't about to wait for death.

"I'm going back. I refuse to die here."

Natalie didn't suppress her rapid breathing. She slammed her palms forcefully against the saw teeth.

"Aaaaaaah!"

Amidst the screams, the saw teeth slowed down, and Natalie gritted her teeth and passed through the Chainsaw Tissue.

After sacrificing both arms, Natalie finally made it through the last few sections of Chainsaw Tissue. But as she passed through the final one, the saw blades suddenly accelerated and sliced her body in half at the waist.

A flicker of mental fluctuation passed by. The owner of the flesh-and-blood pipeline had long noticed the situation here. It enjoyed Natalie's screams, which was why it was playing with her a little longer.

The entity didn't kill Natalie outright. It savored the taste of pain and death.

Natalie lay collapsed among a mountain of corpse fragments. She was about to die. Even for a Mid-level Spiritual Energy User, with only her upper body left, she didn't have much time.

"Aren't you afraid I was lying to you? What if I can't help you at all, and I just wanted you to carry me through to survive?"

Lin Ye walked up to Natalie and asked casually.

"You could have... not come in... Even if you can't help me... I have no... other options..."

Natalie answered in broken, halting words.

"Don't worry. Although I can't do anything right now, everything is under my control. You won't die here. But that's not because of my help. It's because you never gave up struggling. You won."

From the moment he entered the flesh-and-blood pipeline, Lin Ye had already foreseen what would happen next. Whether it was Natalie's actions or the reaction of the pipeline's owner, nothing had exceeded his expectations.

This was also their only path to survival.

Of course, he wasn't certain whether Natalie could actually pull it off.

"What... do I do?"

The spiritual energy within her body allowed Natalie to hold on for a few more minutes, but her life had already entered its final countdown.

"At this point, the only thing left is to pray. You can pray to a deity named Lin Ye. The sacrificial offerings are these corpse fragments. I'll help you complete the ritual."

Lin Ye began dragging the corpse fragments around him. He had no idea whether Natalie could complete the ritual, after all, her time was running out.

"What... do I pray for?"

Natalie had studied ritual studies. Praying to a deity was no joke.

"Anything you want. You can state your request, and he will answer you... probably."

Lin Ye naturally couldn't respond to Natalie himself, but his mental network was still stored in the mental world.

His mental energy was too weak right now to connect to the mental network. Natalie's mental energy was far stronger than his, and with the ritual as a guide, she could definitely reach the mental network.

The main factor was that Lin Ye was on this Plane himself, otherwise such a connection would be nearly impossible to establish.

As long as Natalie connected to the mental network, she would receive its help.

A few minutes later, Natalie was on the verge of death. She kept praying to that deity named Lin Ye, but she couldn't feel anything at all.

Death was like a pitch-black canopy, blocking out all hope. Her body gradually stiffened, losing its last trace of vitality.

"Sigh. The time was still too short, and a Mid-level Spiritual Energy User's mental energy is a bit too weak as well."

Lin Ye had no solution either. He couldn't help Natalie.