ABFA Chapter 26

“What?”

“She’s gone!”

The executives in the conference room frowned, their faces unusually grim.

A prodigy with limitless potential, still in the seedling stage and not yet given the chance to grow, had been snuffed out, this was an incalculable loss.

The male Alpha who had called Jiang Yue over to help looked guilty as he reported the scene truthfully.

“It was I who asked Jiang Yue to come assist. She summoned her spiritual body and held up a barrier at the edge of the high platform. Because the attacks from the Thousand Threads kept coming without pause, the barrier became unstable under the onslaught. She stepped forward a few paces to stabilize it, but no one expected her spiritual body to suddenly dive into the giant pit, flying straight down below.”

The guilt and anxiety on the male Alpha’s face grew heavier. He rubbed his hands together, forcing himself to stay composed, and continued to recount the situation to everyone.

“When Jiang Yue’s spiritual body flew toward the giant pit, all of the Thousand Threads suddenly lit up. The intense light was so blinding that we couldn’t open our eyes. Everyone was caught completely off guard. The dazzling brightness lasted for about three seconds, and when we finally opened our eyes to check, we found that only Jiang Yue was missing.”

The conference room fell into complete silence.

Even the highly trained spiritual squads had repeatedly fallen into the giant pit, let alone a rookie like Jiang Yue, who had only received basic training at the base.

It was basically a one-way trip, young life frozen forever at seventeen.

“Her birthday was just a month and a half away.”

“Yes… she was about to turn eighteen.”

Someone lamented, “First Xiang Sui, now Jiang Yue… If they had been properly trained, they might have become pillars of strength like Xiang Liu. Such promising young talents, gone to waste.”

After the sighs, someone raised the most critical question: “What caused the Thousand Threads to behave abnormally? We sent out so many elites, and each of their spiritual bodies was at least as strong as Jiang Yue’s, if not stronger. Our recorded data showed no abnormalities whatsoever.”

Xiang Yan, seated at the head of the conference table, paused in thought before speaking: “Perhaps it wasn’t the Thousand Threads that went awry, but the mutant deep within the giant pit.”

“Thousand Threads has always coexisted with the mutants. Perhaps Jiang Yue’s spiritual body is somewhat special to it.”

Seated in the middle of the conference table, Chu Xiao spoke up: “General, these are just speculations. We have no data to support them.”

Xiang Yan remained silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “Jiang Yue’s background… it’s somewhat unusual, isn’t it?”

No one in the conference room had expected the general to raise this question.

As the current principal of the Federal Military Academy, Chu Xiao straightened his disheveled uniform and stood to report: “That’s correct. Jiang Yue was born in the slums of Yucheng’s western district. When the Zerg plague struck, that section of the slums was burned down by the military. Jiang Yue was the sole survivor.”

Immediately, someone in the conference room exclaimed in shock: “How is that possible? Were there no people outside?”

Chu Xiao paused for a moment before slowly explaining: “That day was when social aid was distributed. In addition to financial assistance, food and medicine were also handed out. The slums were severely lacking in resources, so almost no one went outside that day. Even those who did venture out wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to receive aid. The Zerg plague occurred precisely during the aid distribution.”

Among the executives present, three or five had also come from slums, and they remembered the days when social aid was distributed very clearly, so their expressions were subtly affected.

Chu Xiao scanned the room, cleared his throat, and continued: “I believe everyone here is already somewhat familiar with that Zerg plague, so I won’t dwell on it. As the sole survivor, Jiang Yue’s body underwent some unusual changes. She became immune to the lethal strains of the Zerg species, with an astonishing immunity rate exceeding ninety percent. For this reason, we consider her a perfect host for parasitism.”

A series of urgent knocks on the door interrupted Chu Xiao.

In a meeting like this, such interruptions rarely occur, unless there was something particularly urgent to report.

The conference room door opened, and the female Alpha who had been on shift with Jiang Yue at the observation station stepped in. She activated the 3D display and, her lips pale and bloodless, said, “The mutant has stopped hibernating.”

“It’s awake.”

All the Thousand Threads in the giant pit lit up at once. Pink threads stretched throughout the abyss, countless glowing points flickering at their tips like breathing light.

Deep down, a terrifying mass of spiritual energy radiated a cold, eerie glow. Its beams, sharp as swords, pierced through the blue mist, shooting straight up from the pit.

Where the countless threads intertwined, Jiang Yue opened her eyes as she fell.

After tumbling here, Jiang Yue cried for a full two hours. During those two hours, she wept while praying to every deity she could remember.

Then she cried herself into unconsciousness.

She didn’t really understand how she had fallen. If she had to describe it, it was like a piece of iron suddenly being flung uncontrollably by a strong magnetic field.

Rubbing her head, still dizzy from crying, she shakily stood up.

All around her were Thousand Threads, she must have fallen into the mutant’s nest. She had tried to summon her spiritual body, but received no response, and had no choice but to give up.

After hitting rock bottom, a blazing rage ignited in Jiang Yue’s chest. Right now, all she wanted was to find her spiritual body and strike it down in a single blow.

The sky is wide, the earth vast, why did it have to fly all the way in here? And with two wings on top of that, the audacity!

Now, it seemed, both she and the bird were destined to die here.

Jiang Yue held back her tears; she felt as utterly desperate as one could possibly be.

She was an extremely timid girl, terribly afraid of the dark. At home, the bathroom light was always left on, and a nightlight glowed beside her bed.

It wasn’t until she started living in a college dorm that she overcame this habit, her roommates were sensitive to light, and if the room was bright, she couldn’t sleep.

Besides, the dorm room wasn’t very big, only four people in total, so she gradually stopped being so afraid of the dark.

In fact, the giant pit wasn’t completely pitch black. Thousand Threads emitted their own glow, and aside from their light, there was also a cold, pale luminescence coming from somewhere unknown.

But both of these lights were eerie, and on top of that, the concentration of blastozyme here was so high that it formed a misty haze. The combination of the three made the place twice as unsettling, making Jiang Yue feel like Tang Seng being trapped in the Spider Cave.¹

Surrounded by Thousand Threads, Jiang Yue cautiously stretched out her toe and stepped forward.

It felt as if she were stepping into damp cotton.

When Jiang Yue had first fallen in, she truly thought she was about to be devoured by the Thousand Threads, leaving not even a trace of her bones behind. Her hands and feet had gone cold as she waited for death, even seriously considering taking off her nano-protective suit and simply letting herself die peacefully in the thick blastozyme mist.

But even a salted fish has the will to live, at the critical moment, everyone wants to survive. To her surprise, however, the Thousand Threads didn’t attack her, and so she gave up on the idea of ending her own life.

Perhaps the concentration of blastozyme was simply too high here; the Thousand Threads themselves seemed intoxicated by it and made no move to strike.

Now, Jiang Yue had mostly calmed down. Though her hands and legs still trembled uncontrollably, she managed to stand, gather her courage, and start looking for a way out.

Surrounded by endless Thousand Threads, Jiang Yue had no idea which way to go. Terrified of the dark, she hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to head toward whichever area was brighter.

Although brighter spots meant greater danger, some light-seeking insects would still risk being torn apart just to fly toward the flame.

Occasionally, a cluster of Thousand Threads blocked her path, and Jiang Yue had no choice but to carefully push them aside.

The Thousand Threads felt like soft silk. In the high concentration of blastozyme, they brushed gently against Jiang Yue’s fingers, showing no sign of aggression.

If she hadn’t witnessed the true power of Thousand Threads herself, someone like Jiang Yue, so easily misled by appearances, would never have imagined that something so beautiful and delicate could be so terrifying.

The farther she went, the brighter the white light became, and the denser the Thousand Threads grew.

After overwhelming fear, her curiosity began to take over.

Curious about the strange, soft, cotton-like sensation under her feet, Jiang Yue couldn’t help but wonder what exactly she was stepping on.

Her curiosity was irresistible. After a brief moment of hesitation, she gave in, crouching down furtively and carefully pushing aside the Thousand Threads on the ground.

The layer of threads was about ten centimeters thick. When she finally cleared the last layer, Jiang Yue saw a surface resembling white bark.

Immediately, she thought of the mutant in the detection imaging map, whose roots had spread across half of Liyue City.

The massive mutant really did resemble a tree.

The thought alone was terrifying, but Jiang Yue’s curiosity was too strong. She reached out a finger and lightly poked it.

The surface was extremely hard, yet the moment her hand touched it, an unusual suction seemed to grip her palm.

Startled, Jiang Yue yanked her hand back in a panic.

Still shaken, she patted her chest and dared not indulge her curiosity any further, carefully moving forward with light, cautious steps.

Pushing aside another cluster of Thousand Threads blocking her way, a sudden, blinding white light forced her to cover her eyes immediately.

The light came from below.

Once her eyes adjusted, Jiang Yue cautiously opened them, squinting as she looked down.

What she saw was a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.

It was a massive mass of spiritual energy, slowly swirling like a vortex, with an enormous, seemingly endless tree canopy clustered at its very center.

Beneath the blinding, eerie light, Jiang Yue saw the mutant whose roots had spread across more than half of Liyue City.

Ever heard of megalophobia, the fear of gigantic things?

Jiang Yue had never understood it before. Now, she finally did.

In the presence of such an enormous creature, humans seemed infinitesimal, less than a speck of dust.

How could one possibly contend with something so immense?

Any one of the countless branches could easily slice a skyscraper in half, not to mention the sheer destructive power radiating from that enormous mass of psychic energy.

It was nothing short of a catastrophe.

Jiang Yue gasped and quickly activated the camera function on her terminal, snapping a photo of the scene.

After taking the picture, she truly didn’t know what to do.

Her mind went blank, and her hands and feet were icy cold. After hesitating for a long moment, she decided to climb upward using the Thousand Threads, hoping she might be able to get out of the giant pit.

There was really no other option. After taking several deep breaths, Jiang Yue began to move, but just as she grabbed a strand of Thousand Threads to start climbing…

A transparent golden eagle suddenly emerged from the nearby Thousand Threads.

It had a strand of Thousand Threads in its beak, the pink glowing points along the thread being sucked into its mouth. Once all the points disappeared, the thread became a dull pink strand.

“You little culprit!”

Jiang Yue grabbed its neck and yanked it over like lifting a large goose.

The golden eagle’s will to survive was strong; it flapped its wings frantically, struggling to get free.

Jiang Yue, boiling with anger, gripped its neck tightly. Frightened, the golden eagle stopped struggling and, sticking out its tongue while straightening its claws, played dead.

“You filthy bird! If I ever get out of here, I’m going to pluck you and make soup!”

Though she scolded it, the appearance of her spiritual body truly relieved Jiang Yue. In a place this terrifying, having her own spiritual companion was a huge psychological comfort.

She released her grip. The golden eagle pecked at her fingers, tidied its ruffled feathers, and then obediently perched on her shoulder.

Jiang Yue calmed down, took a few more photos with her terminal, and began climbing the Thousand Threads.

The threads were slippery and soft, making it difficult to get a good grip. Exhausted and gasping for breath, she hadn’t climbed very far. She paused, stood on a thread to catch her breath, and then resumed climbing.

After a few steps, a sudden shiver ran through her scalp, as if countless eyes were watching her from behind.

On high alert, she looked back, but the mutant below and the swirling spiritual energy remained completely unchanged. Everything was calm, as if nothing had happened.

The terrifying feeling of being watched by countless eyes faded, leaving only the golden eagle on her shoulder pecking at a strand of Thousand Threads.

Maybe she was overthinking it, Jiang Yue thought, turning her head.

But in the next second, that creeping, scalp-tingling sensation returned.

Support me on ko-fi for more additional updates~ ʚ(´꒳`)ɞ