Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The light completely disappeared.

It felt solid, but the texture was strange. It wasn't rock or soil, but rather a warm, slightly elastic texture, like the visceral wall of some huge creature.

The sight before them left everyone speechless, their minds blank.

There was no sky, no earth, no concept of up, down, left, or right. They seemed to be inside a vast, boundless "cavity" woven from countless flowing, translucent veins of dark blue and gold energy. These energy veins were as thick as mountains.

As fine as a hair, they resemble living blood vessels and nerves, slowly pulsating, extending, and converging in the void, forming a vast, unimaginably large three-dimensional network. Deep within this network, countless points of light flicker, like stars, or perhaps like… dormant nodes of consciousness.

Around the relatively "solid" area where they stood—perhaps just a dense "platform" formed by the convergence of energy veins—many things floated silently.

It is a "cocoon".

They vary in size, shape, and material. Some seem to be wrapped in a translucent energy membrane with flowing dark gold patterns; others are composed of dark blue, crystal-like crystals; and still others are covered with strange surfaces.

Like a proliferating tissue that is a mixture of metal and flesh. All the "cocoons" are quietly suspended on different nodes of the energy network, rising and falling slightly with the pulse of the network, as if they are sleeping, or as if they are being "nourished".

The most recent "cocoons" are translucent, revealing vague human figures inside. These figures are in various postures: some sit cross-legged, some lie flat, and some are curled up. But without exception, they all exude an extremely faint yet exceptionally ancient and profound life force, as well as... a trace of bloodline fluctuations that are of the same origin as Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling," but even more ancient and "mixed."

"This is..." Wu Xie's voice trembled. He had never seen such a scene beyond his comprehension. "These... people inside the cocoons... are they... ancestors of the Zhang family? Are they... still alive? In this form?"

"Not alive," Zhang Qiling stared at the nearest energy membrane cocoon, inside which was a man with a blurred face, but whose features vaguely resembled Zhang Qiling's. "They are... asleep. Or, sealed. Their bodies and most of their consciousness have been assimilated and stagnated by the energy field here. To... delay the alienation? Or... as 'anchor points'?"

"It is both an 'anchor' and a 'filter'," Zhang Qiling said slowly, his gaze sweeping over the suspended "cocoons" before finally landing on the deepest part of the energy network, where darkness and light meet.

There seemed to be a much larger, more indescribable shadowy outline. "Using pure blood and will, combined with the unique energy field here, we construct a barrier to filter out the 'nuclear' contamination, maintaining this... relatively stable 'source' space. But the price is..."

He pointed to a "cocoon" whose energy membrane had begun to show fine cracks and whose internal humanoid outlines were vaguely distorted and deformed. "Pollution cannot be completely isolated. Over time, the 'anchor' itself will also be eroded, alienated, and eventually... collapse, or become a new source of pollution."

Xie Yuchen's face turned pale. He forced himself to remain calm and observe: "Look at the distribution and state of these 'cocoons'... The closer to the outer edge, the more unstable the energy membrane, and the more obvious the signs of mutation. The deeper they go..."

The 'cocoons' of crystals and proliferating tissue seemed more 'stable,' but the aura they emitted was also more…ancient, even inhuman. It was like a…failed purification or isolation system, layered with defenses, yet the contamination was slowly seeping inward.

Huo Xiuxiu used instruments to monitor the surrounding energy readings. The values ​​were alarmingly high, but the fluctuations were much more stable than at the vertical shaft: "We are still within the 'nuclear' range, but here the contamination may have been filtered through layers."

The most "mild" area is also... the source of the secret. The original, relatively controllable source of the "immortality" power recorded in those murals may have been here. The later uncontrolled spread of pollution leaked from a deeper source.

The levitating livestream sphere seemed to be severely disrupted upon entering this space; the image flickered and distorted violently, barely revealing any blurry energy streams and the outline of the levitating "cocoon," and the sound was also intermittent. After a brief pause, the livestream chat finally managed to display a few disjointed words:

…signal…poor…

...Where is this...?

…Those…are…people?

...Hey bro...

"Look there." Black Bear suddenly pointed to the edge of the platform, deep below where energy veins intertwined. There was a small, relatively "empty" area there, without any suspended "cocoons," only a few exceptionally thick ones.

Dark, almost black energy veins, like chains, coiled and bound a massive, dark red "cocoon" whose surface was covered with jagged cracks and writhing growths. The aura emanating from that "cocoon" was filled with pain, struggle, and a suffocating, violent pollution, completely out of place with the relatively "gentle" energy field around it.

"That..." Jiang Xun Gu's pupils contracted, "It feels really bad... even worse than those 'Iron Corpse Guards' above..."

"They are losers," Zhang Qiling's voice carried a hint of coldness, "completely corrupted and alienated, but for some reason (perhaps their original identity as 'anchors', or perhaps they were deliberately bound) they cannot escape and are trapped here."

It has become one of the "tumors" and "sources" of contamination. The previous whispers and violent fluctuations may have originated from it.

Ah Ning gripped the crossbow tightly, aiming in that direction: "Will it attack?"

"Not now," Zhang Qiling shook his head, "They're very tightly bound. But when the energy field is unstable, it's hard to say."

Looking at the densely packed "cocoons" around him, seemingly slumbering in time, and then at the ominous, dark red giant cocoon deep within, Wang Pangzi felt a chill run down his spine: "What... what do we do now? Should we greet these ancestors? Or... quickly find a way out?"

"The path lies deep within." Zhang Qiling's gaze never left the blurry, enormous shadow at the deepest part of the energy network. That was where the bloodline's pull ultimately led, and also the direction from which the jade eye and jade tablet emitted a faint resonance.

"The 'source' mentioned in the scroll might be right there. To 'shut it down' or 'purify' it, you have to go there."

"How do we get across?" Wu Xie looked at the seemingly unsolidified energy platform beneath his feet and the seemingly random, interwoven energy veins flowing through the surrounding void. "Fly across? Or... walk through these 'vessels'?"

Zhang Qiling took out a bronze compass. The compass trembled violently, the pointer spinning wildly for several circles before finally pointing towards the shadow deep within the network. Then, with a "click," seemingly unable to withstand the energy field, the pointer stopped moving.

"The senses are very strong, but the interference is also strong." "Zhang Qiling" put away the compass and looked at Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Qiling didn't speak. He closed his eyes, seemingly using his own bloodline to sense and "touch" the vast and eerie energy network around him. After a moment, he opened his eyes and pointed to a relatively gentle, softly glowing, dark blue energy vein on his left.

"Go this way," he said. "The energy is relatively stable; it's the 'path'."

"A road?" Fatty Wang stared at the slowly pulsating band of light floating in mid-air, his face contorting in a grimace. "Can you even step on that?"

Zhang Qiling had already taken the lead. He stepped onto the edge of the dark blue light band, which dipped slightly and rippled, but steadily supported his weight.

He glanced back at the crowd, then walked forward along the direction the light trail extended. His steps were slow but steady, as if he were walking on an invisible bridge.

Zhang Qiling followed closely behind.

Black Bear whistled and followed second; his balance was superb, and he walked on the strip of light as if it were flat ground. A Ning and Jiang Xun Gu also took a deep breath and cautiously stepped onto it.

Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu exchanged a glance and stepped onto the light strip. Wu Xie gritted his teeth and followed. Finally, Wang Pangzi closed his eyes, muttered incantations, and almost crawled onto the light strip using both hands and feet. The light strip was visibly bent under his weight, which frightened him so much that he screamed, but it did not break in the end.

The levitating live-streaming sphere followed shakily, and the camera, despite severe interference, managed to capture the perilous scene of the group walking along the void energy veins.

As you walk along the pale blue light band, you see slowly flowing, flickering energy veins and suspended "cocoons" on both sides and above and below. Up close, those "cocoons" become clearer, and... even more unsettling.

Some of the human figures inside the "cocoons" are relatively well preserved, with peaceful faces, as if they were just sleeping; others have undergone varying degrees of alienation, with limbs twisted and skin exhibiting an inhuman texture; still others have completely lost their human form, turning into a wriggling, indescribable mass of matter, with only fragments of clothing or ornaments remaining on the surface to prove their former form.

No one spoke. Only the faint pulsation of energy veins beneath their feet and the eternal, ancient, silent hum from the depths of the void.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the scene ahead changed. The pale blue light band connected to a wider "platform" woven from countless fine energy threads.

At the center of the platform, there is no longer a suspended "cocoon," but a low, ancient altar carved entirely from a warm, white jade.

The altar is simple in design and devoid of any decoration. Only in the center of the altar surface is there a recessed, intricate composite symbol. (Part of the symbol.)

One part is a rotating vortex (same as the center of the jade eye), and the other part is a simplified pattern of a Qilin stepping on clouds (same as the back of the jade plaque with the character "启"). In the very center of the symbol, there is also a shallow, palm-shaped indentation.

Behind the altar, in the deepest part of that energy network, the huge shadow that had always been blurry became clearer at this moment.

That doesn't seem to be a shadow.

It is a "tree".

A colossal tree composed entirely of the purest and most condensed azure and dark gold energy, its branches and roots deeply embedded in the endless void's energy veins.

The tree's form exists between solidity and light and shadow, with countless points of light flowing and disappearing among its branches and leaves. At the center of the trunk, a deeper, slowly rotating "hole" can be vaguely seen, radiating an indescribable attraction and... immense terror.

"The source..." Zhang Qiling said softly, looking at the giant energy tree.

"It's also... a projection of the 'door'," Zhang Qiling added.

The altar was located at the edge of the giant tree's "root system." It seemed to be the last node that could be "safely" reached.

Further ahead lies the realm of pure energy and unknown terror.