Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

The bullet struck the rock at Guan Yan's feet, sending up a string of sparks.

Guan Yan screamed in surprise. Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou had already rushed behind her and pressed the muzzle of his gun against her temple.

"Stop!" he shouted sternly, "or I'll blow her head off!"

Cheng Yuan and Gatomon stopped fighting at the same time. Blood Wolfmon took the opportunity to escape, baring its teeth as it retreated to Vice Commander Zhou's side.

"Without her, you won't find the dimensional portal! If you don't want her to die, hand over the Dark Warrior's Soul." Deputy Commander Zhou pulled the trigger, the pistol emitting a chilling click. "I'll count to three—"

Chapter 141 A Glimmer of Light in the Darkness (5000 words in two parts)

"three!"

Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou's icy voice echoed like a death knell in the desert, and he tightened his grip on the trigger.

Guan Yan was so frightened that her whole body stiffened, her face turned ashen, and she even stopped breathing.

"Don't move!" Cheng Yuan roared, his voice coming through the hideous bone armor, carrying the hoarse sound of a dark beast scraping against metal.

He and Gatomon instantly stopped moving, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Blood Wolf Beast broke free from the entanglement, and with several deep, bone-revealing knife wounds, it stiffly retreated behind Deputy Commander Zhou.

"Release this Digimon and throw the item over here! Now!" Vice Commander Zhou's eyes were filled with madness. He pressed the muzzle of his gun hard against Guan Yan's temple, leaving a glaring red mark on her fair skin. He opened his other hand and greedily reached for the Darkmon.

Cheng Yuan's mind raced with thoughts.

The Soul of the Dark Warrior must never be handed over! If this thing falls into the hands of Vice Commander Zhou, with his insane nature and the background of the Bloodblade Guild, the gathering place will never have peace, and may even evolve into a malignant tumor in the land of the dead.

But Guan Yan's life... she was not only the key to finding her way home, but also a living, breathing human life!

"Cheng Yuan! We can't give it to him!" Gatomon whispered behind Cheng Yuan. "He'll never let Guan Yan off the hook once he gets the item!"

“I know!” Cheng Yuan nodded in response, seemingly addressing Deputy Commander Zhou, but actually responding to Gatomon.

The seven evil eyes on the Darkmongoose armor flashed wildly, analyzing every subtle movement and expression of Vice Commander Zhou—his muscles were tense, his breathing rapid, and his eyes held a desperate madness. Gatomon's judgment was correct; this kind of person had no credibility whatsoever.

"Two!" Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou pulled the trigger, and Cheng Yuan had no choice but to agree. His body gradually became digitized, a sign of disarmament and evolution.

"What's wrong? You really don't want to find the passage anymore? It seems you don't really want to go back."

Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou's voice trembled slightly with excitement.

The thought of getting the weapon evolution item soon and possessing the strength of Cheng Yuan's Dark Beast, or even stronger, filled him with excitement. After all, he had been a hunter for many years and his skills were far superior to those of Cheng Yuan, a mere high school student.

"Now's the time!" Gatomon said.

"one!"

"Shh!"

"boom!"

Blood splattered!

The gunshots sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silent desert.

Almost at the same moment the gun went off, an arm was thrown into the air!

"Blood Wolf Beast? Why!" Deputy Commander Zhou fell to the ground, staring in utter horror at the dazed Blood Wolf Beast. Its blades and claws still bore traces of Deputy Commander Zhou's blood and fragments of his sleeve.

At this moment, the red light in the eyes of the Gatomon behind Cheng Yuan gradually faded, and the entire beast knelt on the ground.

It turns out that during the battle just now, its cat eye and Cheng Yuan's [Ghost Twilight] were activated at the same time, and under the continuous attack suppression, it successfully made Blood Wolf Beast lose its mind and was charmed and controlled by Tailmon.

From hiding behind Vice Commander Zhou to severing Vice Commander Zhou's gun-wielding arm with its claws, it was all controlled by Gatomon, while Cheng Yuan was responsible for attracting Vice Commander Zhou's attention.

Otherwise, it would be easy to spot if a long-time partner did something wrong.

Cheng Yuan and Gatomon showed incredible teamwork.

"Ugh—!" Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou let out a shrill scream as his right hand, holding the gun, flew off along with the old pistol, blood gushing from his severed wrist.

The excruciating pain instantly rendered him incapable of fighting. He curled up on the ground, clutching his severed arm, and let out a painful howl.

At this moment, Blood Wolfmon also regained consciousness due to Gatomon's exhaustion.

Seeing its master severely injured, its crimson eyes were instantly filled with rage.

"Blood Wolf Beast, this is none of your business, run!" Deputy Commander Zhou said to the Blood Wolf Beast.

But the Blood Wolf Beast completely disregarded its injuries and, with a desperate, suicidal aura, pounced on the Dark Beast. The Blood Wolf Beast ignored everything and bit down on the Dark Beast's neck with its gaping maw full of fangs!

"Watch out!" Gatomon exclaimed as several Holy Light Bullets appeared and shattered. Controlling the mature stage had consumed too much of its mental energy.

However, Cheng Yuan was prepared. The moment the Blood Wolf Beast pounced, the seven evil eyes on the Dark Beast Armor locked onto it at the same time!

【Ghostly Twilight】Activated!

An eerie red light enveloped the Blood Wolf Beast as if it were a tangible substance.

The Blood Wolf Beast, already in a state of mental disarray due to its accidental injury to its tamer, was instantly paralyzed by the [Ghostly Twilight] attack. Its fierce pounce froze, its eyes became empty and vacant, as if it had fallen into the deepest nightmare, and its biting motion turned into unconscious twitching.

But its massive body, propelled by inertia, still hurtled toward the Dark Beast.

Cheng Yuan gave a low shout in his heart, then suddenly slid backward on the spot. The two demonic blades, with a trajectory of devouring blood light, pierced precisely into the relatively soft belly exposed by the blood wolf beast during its pounce—[Conquer]!

puff!

The blade was completely embedded!

"Awooo—!" The intense pain jolted the Blood Wolf Beast awake from its hypnosis, causing it to let out a deafening howl.

It struggled frantically, its claws scratching at the dark beast's bone armor, producing a piercing sound and sparks.

But Cheng Yuan gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, unleashing the full power of [Conquest]!

He could clearly feel a surge of scalding, violent blood energy, imbued with intense savagery and the dark aura of a viral species, rushing into his body like a burst dam through the demonic sword "Blood Evolution"! This power was more than ten times stronger than the scattered blood he had absorbed during the previous battle!

hum!

The Dark Beast's jet-black bone armor suddenly blazed with a blinding crimson light! The crimson patterns seemed to come alive, flowing and spreading across the armor's surface. A surge of immense power filled its digital core, instantly erasing the exhaustion from the previous battle and the weakness inflicted by the Blood Wolf Beast's claws! It even felt as if the data structures of its body were rejoicing, becoming more solid and resilient. The crimson light on its demonic blade also surged several feet, flickering and emanating a chilling, bloodthirsty aura.

"This is... the power to devour the core blood of a Champion-level Digimon?" Cheng Yuan was shocked as he felt the surging energy within his body, imbued with the ferocious will of Blood Wolfmon.

This power is immense, yet it is also filled with primal ferocity, and the Dark Warrior's Soul inherently carries an evil will.

The two combined constantly assaulted his consciousness, attempting to assimilate him.

If it weren't for the system stabilizing his mind deep within his consciousness and shielding him from external consciousness, coupled with the fact that the Dark Flower's essence was pure shadow rather than a chaotic virus, he might have instantly lost his way.

The Blood Wolf Beast's struggles grew weaker and weaker, and the ferocity in its eyes was quickly replaced by fear and weakness.

Its massive body deflated like a punctured balloon, its once glossy crimson fur turned gray and withered. At the same time, the Dark Warrior's Soul drained the Blood Wolf Beast's blood, becoming even more powerful.

Finally, it let out a weak, unwilling whimper, and its massive body transformed into a dissipating stream of black data, swept away by the sandstorms of the underworld, leaving only a faint smell of blood and the aftershocks of dissipated energy in the air.

"No—! My Blood Wolf Beast!" Deputy Commander Zhou watched his partner vanish into thin air, letting out a howl more shrill and desperate than a severed wrist, completely collapsing.

He struggled to lunge at the dissipating data stream, but due to excessive blood loss and the immense shock, his vision went black and he fainted. Blood was still gushing from his severed wrist, staining the black sand beneath him.

The battle ended suddenly and brutally.

"Is he...is he going to die?" Guan Yan scrambled to her feet, still trembling with fear, her voice quivering. She looked at the horrific state of Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou, her face still pale.

"Excessive blood loss, coupled with the mental shock of his partner's death, meant he was not far from dying."

Guan Yan initially wanted Moemon to use its healing skill, but then decided against it. Firstly, Digimon healing skills are extremely ineffective against humans, perhaps because humans haven't fully digitized yet. Secondly, it had almost cost her her life.

Cheng Yuan would not kill people on his own initiative, but he would never waste precious medicines to save someone who had just tried to kill them.

After doing all this, Cheng Yuan stood up and looked into the depths of the desert, towards the direction of the dead volcano.

The appearance and attack by Deputy Commander Zhou acted as a shot in the arm, confirming Guan Yan's statement that the route must contain a huge secret or value, otherwise it wouldn't have attracted such covetousness.

"We need to speed things up. If Deputy Commander Zhou was able to find this place, it's hard to guarantee that others in the gathering place aren't also interested, or that the Bloodblade Guild has other backup plans," Cheng Yuan said in a deep voice, his tone filled with urgency.

Guan Yan nodded vigorously, feeling incredibly grateful that she had chosen to trust Cheng Yuan.

The two men and the beast composed themselves and dragged the unconscious Deputy Commander Zhou to a sheltered rocky hollow. Whether he would wake up, whether he would survive, was up to his own fate.

He embarked on his journey once more. As he walked, Cheng Yuan reviewed the battle he had just fought in his mind.

The experience of transforming into a Darkmon was incredibly novel. The data-driven perspective that transcended human senses, the surging sense of power, and the strange state of skills being triggered as if by instinct all gave him a deeper understanding of how Digimon exist.

However, the drawbacks are also obvious: the application of skills is extremely mechanical and rigid, lacking flexibility and combination; the control of one's own enormous power is even more crude, like a child wielding a sledgehammer; more importantly, maintaining this form places an extremely heavy burden on mental strength.

"It seems that the essence of Digimon 'training' is to constantly familiarize themselves with this data-driven body, optimize the energy flow path, and transform skills from 'triggering' to 'controlling', and even reach the level of 'creation'."

Cheng Yuan exclaimed to Gatomon, "Just like your Holy Light Bullets, from the first one to now firing eight at once, and even being able to control their trajectories, this is by no means something that can be achieved by instinct; it is the result of countless practices and real battles."

"Meow~ Yes!" Gatomon proudly raised its little head. "Cheng Yuan, you were able to defeat the bad dog the first time you transformed into Black Skeleton (its nickname for Darkmon). That's amazing! With more practice, you'll definitely become even stronger!" It had blind faith in Cheng Yuan.

"It's all because of your support!"

"You still have to work hard yourself."

"My Gatomon is the most invincible in the world."

……

As Guan Yan listened to the mutual flattery between the human and the beast, her gaze towards Cheng Yuan grew even more awe. This young man not only possessed incredible evolutionary abilities, but his combat talent and comprehension were also astonishing.

We trekked through the monotonous and oppressive black desert for several days.

The sky remained gray, but the light seemed to grow dimmer, and the decaying, cold aura in the air grew stronger.

"Something's not right." Cheng Yuan stopped and frowned as he looked up at the sky.

In the distance, the gray-black clouds that had been slowly rolling were now visibly thickening and becoming heavy, like boiling ink, and were beginning to surge and spread in their direction! Within the clouds, streaks of eerie blue lightning could be vaguely seen silently darting and leaping, emanating a terrifying aura of destruction.

"It's the Dark Tide! And it's vast and incredibly fast!" Guan Yan exclaimed in shock, her face drained of color, her voice trembling with fear. "It's faster and stronger than anything we've encountered before! We have to find shelter immediately! Otherwise, we'll be assimilated by the death data!"

Cheng Yuan's heart skipped a beat. The descriptions of the Dark Tide given by the elders of the settlement instantly flooded his mind: the bone-corroding, soul-consuming black mist of death, the blue lightning containing chaotic data, enough to slowly erode any life form into an unconscious dark data puppet!

"Look over there!" Gatomon pointed to a stretch of undulating sand dunes to the left. On the shady side of the dunes, some huge and jagged black shadows could be vaguely seen, like weathered boulders or the skeletons of some enormous creature.

"Go!" Cheng Yuan made a decisive move, grabbing Guan Yan, who was still a little weak, and called to Gatomon, and sprinted towards the dark shadows with all his might.

Behind them, the sky seemed to be draped with a black curtain by an invisible giant hand. The impenetrable darkness, carrying a chilling aura and countless subtle, spine-chilling hissing sounds (the sound of fragments of death data rubbing against each other), swept in. The eerie blue lightning in the clouds grew denser and denser, like the venomous eyes of a venomous snake ready to devour its prey.

The three of them unleashed their maximum speed.

Just as the suffocating darkness was about to touch their backs, they finally rushed to the shadowy area—not a boulder or skeleton, but a vast expanse of architectural ruins, half-buried in the black sand, made of some kind of black metal and rock! The ruins formed natural barriers and bottomless crevices and pits.

"Quick! Go in!" Cheng Yuan pushed Guan Yan into a relatively spacious, seemingly sturdy triangular entrance formed by a metal skeleton. Gatomon followed closely behind.

Cheng Yuan was the last to rush in. Almost the instant he stepped into the shadows, a dark tide as thick as ink and as cold as ice, like a raging tsunami, engulfed the place where they had just stood!

The world was instantly plunged into absolute darkness, where one could not see their own hand in front of their face. Only the hissing sound of the howling wind outside and the brief but chillingly pale light brought by the occasional flashes of eerie blue lightning that pierced the darkness proved that the outside world had become a forbidden zone for life.

Cheng Yuan leaned against the cold metal wall, breathing heavily. The Gatomon was curled up at his feet, its ears perked up warily. Guan Yan hugged her knees, her body still trembling slightly; the fear and lingering dread of surviving the ordeal had not yet dissipated.

"It's safe for now." Cheng Yuan's voice sounded somewhat muffled in the cramped space. He fumbled in his backpack and took out a piece of energy ore specially made by the settlement, which emitted a faint white light. The soft light barely dispelled the darkness within a few meters around him, illuminating the appearance of this temporary shelter.

This appears to be part of a vast passageway; the floor and walls are made of a black material that is neither gold nor stone, covered with traces of time's erosion and strange patterns. The passageway extends diagonally downwards, leading into an unknown, deep darkness.

"Guan Yan, look here!" The adorable beast hopped and skipped, pointing to the strange patterns on the wall.

“This place… I think I vaguely recognize it.” Guan Yan carefully examined the blurry patterns on the wall by the dim light, her voice tinged with uncertain excitement. “These patterns… this architectural style… it’s very ancient! Extremely ancient! It’s a bit like… a bit like the style of the ruins I saw when I came here!”

"Ruins?" Cheng Yuan's heart skipped a beat. The people in the settlement were puzzled. How could Guan Yan, a woman, and Mengmeng Beast cross the Black Sand Desert? Could it be through these underground ruins?

"Well, my memory of getting out of the desert is very vague. I only know that I walked for a long, long time in the dark passage... Relying on the limited supplies in my backpack... I didn't go crazy only because I occasionally released the cute beasts to chat with them."

"Meow? Sister Guan Yan, do you mean this place might lead to that dead volcano?" Gatomon asked, tilting its head.

“It’s possible!” Guan Yan’s archaeological instincts were triggered, and her fear was temporarily replaced by excitement. She pointed to the darkness deep in the passage, “Before I wandered to the settlement, a long stretch of the way was through underground passages! The architectural style of these underground passages is very similar to the ones I encountered before. It’s very likely that they are the underground network connecting the desert and the volcanic region! It might even be… it might even be a passage left by the builders many years ago! We may have stumbled upon a relatively safe route!”

This deduction invigorated Cheng Yuan. No wonder Guan Yan avoided the Dark Tide when she descended the mountain. If that were true, they might not only have avoided the deadly Dark Tide, but they might have also bypassed the terrifying territory of those Ultimate-level Digimon at the foot of the Death Volcano! This was truly a blessing in disguise!

"Don't get too excited yet." Cheng Yuan suppressed his excitement and remained calm. "We don't know what's inside the passage yet. Besides, we don't know how long the dark tide will last. We need to go down and find a safer, deeper place to hide and wait for the tide to pass."

He carefully walked at the front, carrying the glowing ore. Gatomon guarded Guan Yan's side. The three of them followed the ancient, sloping passage, stepping deeper into the darkness.

The passage was silent, save for the soft sounds of their footsteps and breathing. The patterns on the walls, illuminated by the light of the mineral, appeared mysterious and eerie.

The air was thick with dust and a musty smell, but miraculously, the unsettling sense of pollution from the death data seemed to be largely isolated here.

Chapter 142 Relics and the Doomsday Procedure

The air in the underground passage was stagnant and cold, mixed with the smell of dust and decaying ancient data.

With the help of Gatomon's floating holy light, a small area of ​​visibility was created, barely illuminating the uneven rocky ground beneath their feet.