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

Guan Yan followed closely behind, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the cold, rough stone wall.

Gatomon pricked up its ears, warily scanning the impenetrable darkness ahead, its tail tip twitching slightly; Momomon, on the other hand, clung anxiously to Guan Yan's legs, its round eyes trying to catch any movement outside the light.

“These…are not naturally formed.” Guan Yan’s voice was soft, yet remarkably clear in the silent passage. Her finger paused on a spot on the stone wall. “Look at these carvings, there are traces of tool work, and these symbols…”

The aura of the Digivice lingered on a relatively flat wall as her finger moved. There, large patches of faded, mottled murals covered much of the surface, peeling away and covered in thick layers of dust. But faintly visible were some strange geometric lines, illegible characters, and… some twisted, struggling Digimon forms.

"Do you recognize it?" Cheng Yuan took a step closer, focusing the beam of light on that area.

Guan Yan frowned slightly, staring intently. "Some structures... resemble early variants of ancient digital languages, very old, and mixed with symbols from other unknown systems." She pointed to a broken sphere in the center of the mural, surrounded by several spiral lines. "This... might be some ancient expression symbolizing the core of the digital world? And these around it," she pointed to some small, dot-like objects falling into the dark abyss below the sphere, "look like... falling? Or exile?"

Her voice trembled with a hint of uncertainty.

The gaze shifts to the edge of the mural, where more hastily drawn and blurred depictions appear to have been added later. Several distorted figures, barely recognizable as humanoid or Digimon, stumble forward amidst the chaotic lines, while behind them, a huge, cold, emotionless abstract eye symbol indifferently observes everything.

Below his eyes were several rough, jagged cracks that seemed to represent destruction.

“Digital World… Administrator… Destruction… Program… Erasure…” Guan Yan struggled to decipher a few scattered ancient digital characters, her heart sinking. “Refuge… Dark… Area?” She looked up, her face pale in the dim light. “This mural… vaguely suggests that the Digital World was destroyed by some kind of ‘Administrator’? These… are humans and Digimon who fled to the Dark Area?”

A chill crept up my spine.

Cheng Yuan's expression also became extremely serious.

He immediately raised the arc laser and began a full-scale scan of this crucial area of ​​the mural, recording all the obscure lines and text into the instrument. "The content is too fragmented; even with your knowledge, you can't decipher it completely?"

“Yes,” Guan Yan nodded heavily, her fingertips tracing the cold, etched marks. “Many key symbols are completely unfamiliar, the logic broken. We can only glean fragmented information like ‘destruction,’ ‘administrator,’ ‘refuge,’ and ‘dark area,’ piecing together a chilling outline. More… we can only hope that these scan data will provide clues in the future.” She stared at the scanning progress bar flashing on the Digimon screen, her voice filled with helplessness.

“Let’s go,” Cheng Yuan put away the arc light machine, and the halo range shrank accordingly. “No matter what the truth is, staying here won’t solve the mystery.” Darkness pressed in again, swallowing the apocalyptic scenes on the murals, leaving only the cold stone walls and heavy questions weighing on their hearts.

The path forked ahead. They chose the one where the airflow felt more pronounced.

After traveling for about half a day, a faint ray of light appeared ahead. It wasn't the cold light of the Digivice, but more like... an external light source? It was also accompanied by an unsettling, dense rustling sound and a low hiss.

Cheng Yuan gestured to Guan Yan and the two Digimon to move quietly, close to the cave wall, and slowly move towards the light source.

At the end of the passage, the space opened up into a vast, domed underground cavern. Several irregular cracks in the cavern's ceiling allowed a dim light to pierce the darkness like cold, sharp swords. And even in this faint light, the entire cavern floor and the broken stone pillars were teeming with writhing black shadows—swarms of sandworms! Their grayish-brown carapaces reflected a greasy sheen in the dim light, their mouthparts opening and closing with a chilling "crackling" sound, rubbing and pressing against each other, forming a suffocating sea of ​​insects.

"Hiss..." Guan Yan gasped, instinctively covering her mouth. The adorable beast was even more terrified, its fur standing on end, clinging tightly to Guan Yan's ankle, emitting a very faint "woof" sound. Gatomon's golden pupils narrowed to slits, its claws silently extended, and its entire body tensed.

“There are too many,” Cheng Yuan said in a low voice, each word heavy with seriousness. “Trying to force our way through is suicide. Let’s take a detour!” He decisively gestured for them to retreat. The group held their breath and carefully retreated back to the fork in the road, choosing another, deeper passage where the air seemed even more stagnant.

The nauseating rustling of the sandworm was blocked by the thick rock wall and gradually faded away, leaving only a lingering sense of relief in the darkness.

The new passage seemed even older, the carvings on the stone walls almost worn smooth by time, and the air grew increasingly stuffy. After groping their way forward for an unknown amount of time, the outline of another, relatively small exit appeared ahead.

This time, there was no daylight, only deeper darkness, but the wind carried a different scent—a heavy smell of blood, and... the sounds of intense energy collisions and the roars of Digimon!

Cheng Yuan immediately turned off the Tyrannosaurus Rex's lights again, signaling everyone to crouch low and silently sneak to the edge of the exit. Before them was a huge, bowl-shaped, recessed entrance to a ruin, with collapsed stone pillars and massive rocks scattered about, forming a natural shelter.

Just a few dozen meters inside the entrance, in the shadows of the passageway, three enormous bat-like beasts hung upside down from the jagged stalactites, their dark brown fleshy wings folded to cover their bodies, their long, pointed ears drooping, as if they were fast asleep. Each of their slow breaths created a faint gust of air, clearly audible in the silence.

Behind the pile of rubble at the entrance, eight beast tamers, dressed in various styles and looking travel-worn, held their breath in concentration. They directed their partners—several equally thin, dull-colored Champion and Rookie Digimon (Criamon, Mantismon, Igamon, Cactusmon, several Impmon, and Goremon)—to move forward with unusually slow and nimble movements. The leader, a middle-aged man with a scar on his face and wearing a tattered leather vest, carefully unfurled a large net woven from tough black vines, while the others worked in tandem, attempting to silently encircle them from different directions.

A tense, almost frozen atmosphere filled the air. The vine net slowly unfurled, casting a shadow over the slumbering bat-beast. Just as the net was about to fall—

"Squeak—!"

A bat-like beast hanging upside down on the edge suddenly had its tightly closed eyelids ripped open! Its small, scarlet eyes instantly spotted the shadowy figure approaching below! A piercing shriek, like a red-hot iron rod, abruptly shattered the silence!

Warning!

The other two bat-beasts awoke instantly, their fleshy wings flapping wildly with a whoosh! A powerful gust of air whipped up dust. The bat-beast that had given the warning first was even more ferocious, its sharp claws lashing out with lightning speed, tearing through the tough vine net with several sharp, ripping sounds!

"Attack!" The scarred man roared in shock and rage! The horned dragon beside him immediately lowered its head and charged, its sharp horns glowing faintly yellow as it crashed into a bat beast; the mantis beast slashed out two dim green blades with its crossed arms; the Iga beast threw out sharp darts; the cactus beast also released its thorns, and the other small monsters and mineral beasts also fired energy blasts or threw stones.

The battle erupted instantly! Energy beams flickered in the dimly lit passageway.

However, the Digimon of these tamers were clearly in extremely poor condition. The Diablos's charge was easily deflected by the Batmon, causing it to stagger backward, its dull carapace even showing tiny cracks.

The Mantis Beast's blade struck the Bat Beast's tough wings, leaving only shallow bloodstains. Instead, it was swept back by the Bat Beast's claw, letting out a painful screech. The ranged attacks from Iga Beast and Cactus Beast also failed to cause significant damage, only causing some trouble for the Bat Beast. The attacks from Imp Beast and Mineral Beast were like tickling.

The three bat-like beasts let out ferocious screechs, their scarlet eyes locking onto their targets. They opened their mouths, which were filled with fine, sharp teeth, and the visible shockwaves, like twisted ripples, slammed into the beast tamers with a piercing shriek that tore through the air!

"Damn it!" The scarred man watched as his Digimon staggered and fell under the sonic shockwave, his eyes filled with despair.

Malnourished, lacking data, and corrupted and mutated by the filthy power of the dark area, their partners were utterly powerless against these ferocious mature beings! One bat-beast even broke through the horned dragon's defenses, its claws carrying a foul stench, and pounced straight at a young beast tamer who was frozen in terror!

At this critical moment—

call out!call out!call out!

Several fist-sized, dazzling white orbs of light shot out from the dark depths of the ruins' passage without warning! Trailing pure light tails, they struck the heads of two bat-like beasts that were about to pounce, like precise meteors!

"Screech—!" A shrill, distorted scream rang out! The two bat-beasts that were hit head-on by the holy light bullet were as if they had been struck by an invisible hammer. Their scarlet eyes instantly dimmed, and they spewed out filthy streams of data light from their mouths. Their massive bodies plummeted from mid-air like kites with broken strings, crashing heavily onto the gravel-strewn ground with two loud "bangs," twitching and groaning in pain.

The third bat-beast was startled by this sudden turn of events and froze for a moment. It was this fleeting hesitation—

"Roar!" The scarred man seized the opportunity, roaring with bloodshot eyes, "Focus fire! Attack it!"

Despite its injuries, the Horned Dragon charged forward again, head bowed! The Mantis Beast slashed with its crossed blades, unleashing its strongest green cross-shaped attack! Several smaller monsters and the Mineral Beast also exerted all their strength, transforming all their remaining energy into light bullets and rocks, which rained down on the stunned Bat Beast!

Boom! Splat! Bang bang bang!

The dense attacks all hit their mark! The bat-beast's massive body was forced back repeatedly, its fleshy wings shattered, and clumps of filthy data streams exploded from its body. Finally, it let out a mournful cry of unwillingness and crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Amidst the billowing dust, the entrance was deathly silent.

The eight tamers, along with their wounded and panting Digimon, stood frozen in place, staring dumbfounded into the depths of the passage. Those ferocious bat-mon that had driven them to their doom had been dealt with in the blink of an eye?

Those few holy light orbs, radiating a pure and powerful aura, were still suspended in the air, dispelling the surrounding darkness and bloodshed like miniature suns. Their swirling light silently proclaimed the extraordinary nature of the newcomers.

Tap, tap, tap.

Clear footsteps came from the shadows of the passageway.

Two figures slowly emerged, bathed in holy light.

The young man at the head of the group was tall and straight, his face still bearing a hint of childishness, yet his eyes were calm and sharp. Beside him stood a beautiful young woman, her gentle demeanor tempered with resilience. A small, white cat-like Digimon (Gatomon) perched on the young man's shoulder, its golden eyes alert. Another round, fluffy Digimon, with large, curious eyes, followed closely at the woman's feet.

It was Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan.

Cheng Yuan walked over to the three incapacitated bat-beasts, glanced at them briefly, then looked up, his gaze calmly sweeping over the still shocked and highly vigilant beast tamers. A friendly smile appeared on his face: "I apologize. These bat-beasts seemed to be trying to escape, so I acted in a moment of panic. I hope I didn't disrupt your plans." He paused, his tone frank, "Don't worry, we're not interested in these prey. We just wanted to ask you for some information, is that convenient?"

The eight animal trainers exchanged bewildered glances, then burst into a rapid, varied, and incoherent conversation, clearly from different countries. Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan couldn't understand a word, and both wore expressions of confusion.

Could they be a group of foreign scavengers?

At this moment, the middle-aged man with a scar on his face and wearing a tattered leather vest pushed through the crowd and stepped out.

He looked at Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan with a complicated expression, as well as the two Digimon beside them that were clearly in excellent condition. He asked in the heavily accented but still fairly fluent Dongguo language, "You... really don't want these Batmon?"

He pointed to his prey, still convulsing on the ground, his tone filled with disbelief and wariness, "Who exactly are you people? Which settlement are you from? The Digimon lurking in this passage are dangerous, why...why did you come out from there?"

“Of course it’s true, we have plenty of food.” Cheng Yuan answered again with certainty, his tone calm. “We came from the rocky area and were looking for a way to the dead volcano when we accidentally stumbled into this underground ruin.”

"The rocky area?" The scarred man's wariness lessened considerably, even showing a hint of approval. "So it's the hideout of the Eastern Great Kingdom's scavengers!" His tense shoulders relaxed, and he waved his hand. "Alright, what do you want to ask? Ask away."

Although his companions behind him were still curiously observing Cheng Yuan and his companion, the atmosphere had clearly eased.

"Which gathering place are you from?" Cheng Yuan asked.

“We’re all from the Oasis Island community!” the scarred man answered crisply, then added with a touch of Oasis pride, “We’re not far from here, and we live off this little oasis.”

“Oasis Island? That’s great.” Cheng Yuan nodded, then smoothly got to the point. “We’d like to inquire whether your settlement has recently accepted any new people from outside? For example… those with archaeological knowledge?” As he spoke, his gaze inadvertently swept over Guan Yan. Guan Yan’s heart instantly jumped to her throat, and her fingers unconsciously tightened around the hem of her clothes.

"A newcomer? Someone who knows archaeology?" The scarred man frowned, trying to recall. "No! In the last month..." His voice lowered, carrying a hint of heaviness, "we did find a few... skeletons on the edge of the Dark Tide activity area. There were men and women, and their clothes, Digivices, and some personal belongings were still there. Unfortunately... they were all chewed up beyond recognition by Dark Digimon." He hesitated for a moment before stating this cruel fact.

boom!

Guan Yan felt a buzzing in her head, as if struck by a heavy hammer, and her vision went black. Although she had a premonition, when this worst news was laid bare before her, the chilling despair still gripped her heart instantly, making it almost impossible for her to breathe. Her mentor… really…?

Cheng Yuan keenly noticed Guan Yan's sudden stiffness and deathly pale face beside him. He immediately reached out and subtly supported her arm, providing a bit of support.

The scarred man also noticed Guan Yan's unusual expression. Seeing Cheng Yuan's searching look, he understood. His wariness completely vanished, replaced by a sense of shared misfortune and a heartfelt camaraderie: "Sigh, we buried those remains right away, let them rest in peace. But we collected their belongings and put them in the village warehouse. If you two want to confirm their identities, you can go and take a look!"

Cheng Yuan felt Guan Yan's arm trembling slightly. He took a deep breath and made the decision on behalf of Guan Yan, who was clearly unable to speak: "Alright, then I'll trouble you to lead the way, brother."

"Hehe, no big deal!" The scarred man grinned, beckoning the men behind him to deal with the three precious bat-beast carcasses. "Hurry up! Get the edible parts done before they dissipate into data!" He turned to Cheng Yuan and smiled, his tone carrying the knowing edge of someone with experience. "Young man, judging by your manner of speaking and acting, you're obviously a newbie who hasn't been swept up in this Yellow Springs region for long, right? Tsk, so young and already has a mature partner, you must be a renowned beast tamer outside. Too bad... bad luck." He shook his head, his tone filled with genuine regret. Being swept up in the Yellow Springs region was indeed bad luck.

"The Oasis Island settlement...is a place where animal trainers from various countries live together?" Cheng Yuan asked as he followed the scarred man (who called himself Old Scar) out.

“Absolutely!” Old Scar nodded, kicking away a pebble at his feet. “The Dark Tide Rift in this godforsaken place doesn’t care which country you’re from! From the East, Southeast, North… we’ve got it all! But our Oasis Island only accepts unlucky souls from countries that have a decent relationship with the Eastern Great Power. Let’s stick together and keep warm!” He patted Cheng Yuan on the shoulder to show his friendliness.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuan simply smiled and said nothing more. Guan Yan remained silent, head down, letting the adorable beast rub against her legs, quietly following beside Cheng Yuan.

In the dim light, the group trekked for several kilometers through the monotonous and vast black desert.

When a green outline dotted with sparse drought-resistant plants finally appeared at the edge of her field of vision, Guan Yan's taut heartstrings almost snapped.

Chapter 143 The Legacy of the Broken Bridge

The Oasis Island settlement was built on this small piece of land of life. It was indeed much larger than the rocky area. The stone houses and tents were scattered around a small puddle of murky water, with people moving around. I estimated there were more than a hundred people.

People of different skin colors and attire are busy at work, the air is filled with the smell of smoke and a strange mixture of spices, and also with the hardship of survival.

Old Scar led them straight to a slightly larger stone house built of rough rocks on the edge of the village.

"Look, the warehouse is inside. The stuff is piled up in the corner. Go in and see for yourself. I'm really sorry, I have to hurry and make sure they deal with the bat beasts. If these things are left out for too long, the data will dissipate and everything will be gone!" Old Scar pointed to the dark door of the stone house, his face showing apology, but also a hint of urgency in dealing with the food.

Cheng Yuan nodded understandingly: "Uncle, please go ahead with your work. We'll go in by ourselves."

Old Scar left in a hurry.

Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan stood at the entrance of the stone house, which was filled with all sorts of odds and ends: rusty tools, broken weapons, bones of unknown beasts, bundles of withered vines... and in the corner, a pile of things covered with rags.

Guan Yan's steps were unsteady. She walked over almost instinctively, her hands trembling as she lifted the dirty, tattered cloth. There lay a folded researcher's white coat, once white but now covered in dark brown dried bloodstains and holes; a hardcover notebook, its cover badly worn and covered in sand; and a Digimon machine encased in a brown leather case bearing a special academy emblem, the case itself stained. Most glaringly, the Digimon's screen was covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

Time seemed to stand still.

"This..." Cheng Yuan looked at the shocking pile of relics, his voice hoarse, "Are these really your mentor's things?"

Guan Yan didn't answer. She just stared intently at the blood-stained white coat, her body trembling violently like a leaf in the wind. Her face was deathly pale. She reached out, her fingertips trembling, and very slowly, as if afraid of disturbing something, traced a familiar signature half-hidden by dirt on the notebook cover, then gently touched the unique, all-too-familiar wear mark on the edge of the Dinosaur case.

“This notebook… has his signature… this leather case… is unique to our department of teachers and students…” Her voice was low and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing together, each word carrying an unbearable weight. Broken sobs were stuck deep in her throat, eventually turning into suppressed, intermittent murmurs. Tears finally burst forth uncontrollably, large drops falling onto the dusty ground.

Cheng Yuan sighed silently.

He said nothing, only gently patted Guan Yan's slightly trembling shoulder, then quietly left the stone house, gently closing the simple wooden door behind him, shutting out the heavy sorrow inside.

Low, suppressed sobs drifted intermittently from the crack in the door, sounding particularly lonely in the dry air outside the warehouse.

Cheng Yuan leaned against the cold stone wall, looking up at the gray sky of this foreign land, with the Dilu Beast quietly squatting at his feet.

Time ticked by. A full quarter of an hour passed before the wooden door creaked open. Guan Yan stepped out, her eyes red and swollen like peaches, her face still wet with tears, but her expression was unusually calm, even carrying a resolute coldness.

“Let’s go.” Her voice was a little hoarse, but unusually clear and calm. “Thank you, Cheng Yuan. Thank you for helping me find… my mentor’s whereabouts.” She took a deep breath and looked at the outline of the mountain range shrouded in dark clouds in the distance. “Now, let’s go straight to the Death Volcano.”

Cheng Yuan looked at her and understood the power in her eyes that had transformed sorrow into unwavering resolve. He said nothing more, only nodding firmly: "Okay."

Cheng Yuan also felt that it was not advisable to stay in an unfamiliar place for too long, especially in this diverse community of people from different countries, where it was inevitable that someone like Deputy Head of the Regiment Zhou might appear.

"Meow." Gatomon nimbly leaped onto Cheng Yuan's shoulder.

"Puli!" The cute beast sensed Guan Yan's low but determined mood and rubbed against her leg.

The two humans and two beasts embarked on their journey once again.

However, the trip to Oasis Island was not without its rewards. While Guan Yan was sorting through her mentor's belongings, she forced back her grief and opened the tattered notebook.

Even during his desperate journey through the underground passages, the mentor never gave up his research! His notebook was filled with his insights into deciphering the symbols on the ruins along the way, many of which were fragments of interpretations of the obscure texts and patterns they had seen on the murals!

Now, back in the chilly underground passage, Guan Yan once again took out her Dinobot, retrieved the previously scanned mural images, and carefully compared them with the records in her mentor's notebook. Those symbols that had once seemed like gibberish suddenly became clear under her mentor's painstaking annotations!

“Here,” Guan Yan pointed to a twisted spiral and several small dots on the Digivice screen, comparing it with the hastily written annotations in her notebook, “the mentor’s translation is clearer… ‘The administrator’s will awakens, the purification process is initiated… the core world will return to nothingness… darkness… is the final… container?’ And these falling points, he labeled them ‘exiles’… does the core world… refer to the Digital World? Purification… return to nothingness…” Her voice trembled, but her thoughts were clearer than ever before.

Fragments of information are gradually being pieced together in the notes left behind by the mentor with his life, pointing to that suffocating truth.

Following the direction of the dead volcano deduced from their mentor's notes, they continued their groping forward through the labyrinthine underground passages. After several days of tedious and cautious trekking, a faint light appeared ahead once more, not the light of daylight from the exit, but a strange, eerie blue glow that seemed to emanate from the depths of the earth.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered it was yet another exit. But the sight before them made them gasp in horror.

The exit was located on a sheer, almost vertical cliff face! Below lay a bottomless abyss, where endless darkness surged and billowed, like the throat of a colossal beast. Looking up, at the very top, a narrow sliver of sky stretched between two massive rock walls, gray and oppressive—that was the true ground. They were trapped "halfway up" this precipice.

"How...how do we get up there?" Guan Yan stared at the seemingly unreachable sliver of sky, her face pale. The cliff face was smooth and steep, offering almost no foothold.

Cheng Yuan stared at the dizzying height, his eyes narrowing: "Hold on tight to me." Before he finished speaking, the Dark Seed in his hand made contact with the Dark Warrior's Soul, and suddenly lit up with a dark and profound light!

"Dark Beast - Armed Evolution!"

The pain and agonizing screams that accompanied the datafication remained; black mist rose and instantly enveloped Cheng Yuan.

The next moment, Darkmon, a dark and evil Digimon with a hideous black armor clad in three beast skulls and seven blood-red eyes, and whose joints shimmered with blood-red energy patterns, took Cheng Yuan's place.

He lowered his body slightly, his voice coming through the visor with a metallic hum: "Come up."

Tailmon immediately understood and mounted Cheng Yuan's black beast skull helmet.