Chapter 40: Crisis Erupts

The purple light erupting from the spacetime prism was like a poisoned ancient divine blade, ripping a grotesque wound into the heart of the universe with unstoppable force. Even though the supply line had been successfully severed and the activation ritual heavily crippled, the mysterious organization still made a desperate, do-or-die gamble to forcibly activate the spacetime conduit. In an instant, the air in Florence twisted violently like boiling mercury. The lead-gray clouds were stirred frantically by an invisible giant hand, forming a colossal funnel several kilometers in diameter whose pitch-black opening resembled the maw of an abyss, ready at any moment to drag the entire city into irredeemable chaos.

"Warning! Spacetime fluctuation index has broken through the critical threshold of 372%!" The red light in Old Zhou's tactical visor flashed like blood, and the piercing alarm sounded like countless steel needles stabbing into his eardrums, causing his temples to throb violently. His hands, with veins bulging like ropes, gripped the edge of the console so hard that his knuckles turned a sickly pale white, as if he meant to leave fingerprint impressions in the metal surface. The already precarious energy shield suddenly vibrated violently, its pale golden light flickering like a dying candle in the wind, while cracks spread across its surface in a spiderweb pattern at a visible rate. The eight energy shield generators emitted a near-death shriek—a sound like the mournful dying cry of an ancient behemoth, heralding the arrival of total destruction.

Fissures slithered wildly from the central plaza toward every corner of the city like a swarm of awakened giant pythons. The earth groaned under an unbearable burden, splitting open consecutive massive gaps from which ink-black fog mixed with a scent of decay spewed forth. Wherever it reached, medieval architecture collapsed with a roar like fragile card houses, turning into dust swept into the void. The corpses accumulated from the Black Death did not escape either, being torn to shreds in mid-air as a rain of blood mixed with bone fragments fell in flurries, creating a horrifying spectacle. Spacetime turbulence, like an unleashed ancient fierce beast, recklessly smashed against the defense installations. Every impact forced the stabilizing anchors driven deep into the ground to emit a painful groan, causing ripple-like folds of spacetime to spread across the ground.

"Initiate secondary charging immediately! Full squad, suppress with firepower!" Ah Jie's roar pierced through the curtain of rain. Rainwater mixed with sweat streamed continuously down his sharply defined jawline, condensing into droplets on his tactical visor and blurring his vision. His hands, operating the heavy particle cannon, trembled slightly from excessive force. The orange-red beam erupting from the barrel struck the eerie tentacles probing out from the fissures, instantly bursting into a blinding glare, while a pungent burning smell mixed with ozone permeated the air. Yet more tentacles, covered in suction cups, surged out like a tidal wave, twisting and writhing in the air to produce a teeth-grating friction sound. The gunfire of the team members and the roar of energy beams echoed across the sky, yet they appeared so pale and weak in the face of this overwhelming, terrifying power—like a child's helpless resistance against a giant beast.

The energy readings of the shield generators drained away as fast as fine sand in an hourglass. Old Zhou stared at the rapidly jumping red numerical values, his throat feeling as though it were tightly gripped by an invisible giant hand. "Energy reserves are down to only 12%! We can't hold out for more than three minutes!" he roared into the communicator with a despairing tremor in his voice. Before his words could fade, a massive spacetime turbulence wrapped in purple lightning, like an awakened ancient Leviathan, roared and slammed into the energy shield. Amidst a deafening roar, the cracks on the shield's surface instantly widened into a massive breach, and the pitch-black fog poured in like a breached flood embankment.

At the most critical juncture, young team member Xiao Li rushed toward the breach like an arrow released from a bow, blocking the turbulence with his own body. "No!" Ah Jie's heart-wrenching roar echoed over the city, but it was all too late. The spacetime turbulence mercilessly swept Xiao Li into its vortex, leaving behind only a shattered tactical visor and half a section of blood-stained equipment debris. Gritting his teeth until his gums bled, Old Zhou burned with resolute flames in his eyes: "Activate all backup energy cores! Even if it means mutual destruction, we must hold the final defense line for humanity!"

Under the dual torment of the howling storm and the spacetime turbulence, the members of the defense squad held their posts like tenacious reefs in a tempest. Their tactical suits were torn into rags, their skin carved with countless bloody gashes by the turbulence, and fresh blood mixed with rain stained the earth beneath their feet. Yet an indomitable fighting spirit burned in everyone's eyes; every trigger pulled and every defense parameter adjusted was their life-and-death gamble with the Grim reaper. At this moment, the ever-expanding spacetime rift resembled a greedy, deep abyss, seemingly eager to devour all the light and hope of the entire world. This ultimate confrontation concerning the survival of humanity had undeniably reached its most desperate hour.