[Scene 1: Isolation and Breath]

  Black Tooth City Sewer System, Sector B-9, "The Silent Line."黑牙城下水道系统，B-9 区，“寂静线”。

  There was no light here, only the faint red glow emitting from the lenses of everyone's gas masks. The humidity reading was pinned firmly at the 100% red line. The surrounding darkness was so thick it felt tangible; with every breath, the muffled hiss of the filtration canister echoed in their ears.这里没有一丝光亮，只有每个人防毒面具镜片上发出的微弱红光。湿度计的指针牢牢地卡在了 100%的红线处。四周的黑暗浓得仿佛能触摸到；每呼吸一次，过滤罐发出的低沉嘶嘶声就在耳畔回响。

  Suddenly, Shadow, who was walking at the front, stopped.突然走在前面的影子停了下来。

  He made no sound, yet everyone felt a sudden, cold prick in their minds without warning—it was Shadow's unique high-dimensional thought projection.他没有发出任何声响，然而所有人都毫无预兆地突然感到头脑中一阵冰冷的刺痛——这是影子那独特的高维度思维投射。

  [Stop.] [Ahead... it is alive.][停下。] [前面……它还活着。]

  The voice did not pass through ears; it reverberated directly inside the skull, carrying an ethereal emptiness and absolute calm from the void.那声音并非经由耳朵传来，而是直接在颅腔内回荡，从虚无中带来一种超凡脱俗的空灵与绝对的宁静。

  The group halted before a massive circular airlock.这群人停在了一个巨大的圆形气闸前。

  This isolation gate, originally cast from three layers of special alloy steel, now displayed a horrifying state of "Pathology." Countless purple-black, vein-like vines had burrowed deep into the metal, secreting a strong acid that softened and corroded the steel. In the gaps where hinges should have been, a layer of translucent, fleshy membrane was slowly pulsating.这道隔离门原本由三层特种合金钢铸成，如今却呈现出一种令人毛骨悚然的“病态”。无数紫色黑色、像血管一样的藤蔓深深钻进了金属里，分泌出一种强酸，将钢铁软化腐蚀。本该是铰链的地方，一层半透明的肉膜正缓缓地跳动着。

  Squelch... Squelch... 扑哧……扑哧……

  The sound was like chewing, or perhaps swallowing.那声音像是咀嚼，又或许是在吞咽。

  "Damn it." Savage shook his head, trying to shake off the cold lingering sensation in his brain. He raised the searchlight with his remaining left hand, the beam sweeping over the mucus on the door. "This door isn't blocked. It's been half 'digested.'"“该死。”萨维奇摇摇头，试图驱散脑海中那股挥之不去的寒意。他用仅剩的左手举起探照灯，灯光扫过门上的黏液。“这扇门不是被堵住了，而是被半消化了。”

  "Savage, can we open it physically?" Carlyle stood in the center of the formation, asking calmly. Three defensive runes hovered at his fingertips, ready to ignite.“萨维奇，我们能直接打开它吗？”卡莱尔站在阵型中央，平静地问道。三道防御符文在他指尖盘旋，随时准备点燃。

  "One-handed operation? Tough." Savage cursed as he stepped forward, but he didn't back down.“单手操作？太难了。”萨维奇咒骂着向前迈步，但他并未退缩。

  As a mechanic, even with one hand, he understood structure better than anyone. He placed his left hand on a hydraulic valve that was still functioning near the door frame, closing his eyes to feel the vibration.作为一名机械师，即便只有一只手，他对结构的理解也胜过任何人。他把左手放在门框附近仍在运转的一个液压阀上，闭上眼睛感受着振动。

  "The hydraulic pipes are full of air and... some kind of fluid. If we cut it open by force, the high-pressure biogas inside will blast us into shrapnel."“液压管里充满了空气和……某种液体。如果我们强行切开，里面的高压沼气会把我们炸成碎片。”

  "That isn't fluid." Lyria’s voice trembled. She clutched the mouthpiece of her mask tightly. Even through the filter, she seemed to smell it. "That is... pus and blood. This door is in pain. It is screaming."“那不是液体。”莉莉娅的声音在颤抖。她紧紧地抓着面罩的口部。即便隔着过滤器，她似乎也闻到了那股味道。“那是……脓和血。这扇门在痛苦。它在尖叫。”

  In this environment, Lyria’s sensory talents became a curse. She was like a radio forced to tune into the wrong frequency, her mind filled with the static of twisted life.在这种环境下，莉瑞亚的感知天赋反倒成了诅咒。她就像一台被迫调到错误频率的收音机，脑海中充斥着扭曲生命的杂音。

  Shadow’s silhouette flickered slightly, and a precise mental image was transmitted directly to Carlyle and Savage:影子的轮廓微微闪烁了一下，一个清晰的意念图像直接传到了卡莱尔和萨维奇的脑海中：

  [Target Point: Upper right, 30 degrees. Green vesicle.] [Property: Pressure Node.][目标点：右上方，30 度。绿色囊泡。] [属性：压力节点。]

  "Got it." Savage pointed to the pulsating green blister above the door seam. "I'll jam the backflow valve with a wrench. Lyria, prepare a Purification Spell; don't let the spewing gas poison us. Carlyle, shields."

  "Execute." Carlyle ordered.

  In an instant, the squad moved.

  Shadow leaped like a phantom, creating no wind noise, his obsidian dagger piercing the blister with surgical precision. Savage gritted his teeth, wrenching the valve down with his left hand. Lyria fought back her nausea, scattering a cloud of green purification dust. Carlyle erected a pale blue repulsion field.

  Pfft—!!

  The airlock let out a sound like the dying wail of a giant beast and collapsed inward with a crash. A stream of thick, sweet, and fishy air slammed into Carlyle’s shield, making a sizzling sound of corrosion.

  Perfect coordination.

  [Scene 2: The Hotbed of Flesh]

  Passing through the airlock was like crossing the boundary of sanity.

  Revealed before them was a subterranean cavern three hundred meters high. But there was no rock here, only endless "Proliferation."

  The original dome was hung with ancient alchemical lamps, but now they were wrapped in drooping luminous mycelium, looking like hanging, glowing corpses. Ghostly blue, sickly green, pathological purple... various toxic fluorescent colors illuminated the place like a psychedelic nightmare.

  The ground was soft. With every step, the humus—meters thick—oozed yellow grease, the product of countless corpses fermenting over hundreds of years.

  "This is... the legacy of the First Era?" Savage looked at the "Meat Trees" towering a hundred meters high before him, his throat going dry.

  The trunks were translucent, with pink luminous fluid flowing inside. Through the bark, one could clearly see thick veins pulsing, pumping nutrients from the depths of the earth to the canopy high above.

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  "This is a biological laboratory of the 'Primordial Civilization.'" Carlyle activated his [Sight of Truth], data streams refreshing madly in his eyes. "The laws of life here have been rewritten by 'Chaos.' There is no death, only infinite fusion and mutation."

  Suddenly, Lyria stopped.

  "Don't move." Her voice became sharp. "Don't touch those flowers."

  At Savage’s feet, a cluster of brilliant red flowers was blooming quietly. But upon closer inspection, the stamens were actually rotating eyeballs.

  A mutated rat darted out from the shadows. The moment it brushed against a petal—

  Snap!

  It wasn't a flower at all; it was a mouth lined with barbs. The flower clamped shut instantly. The rat was chewed to pieces before it could even scream. Immediately after, the stem wriggled, and a few seconds later, a new sprout shot up from the top of the plant, blooming into a new flower that bore the texture of the rat's fur.

  "Hyper-speed evolution," Carlyle commented, a trace of cold appreciation in his tone. "Every cell here is engaging in a frantic arms race for survival."

  "I hate this place." Savage raised his modified repair hammer (his current weapon). "It makes me feel like a can of meat waiting to be digested."

  [Scene 3: Time to Hunt]

  "Watch formation." Carlyle’s voice rang out in the communication channel. "We are heading to the core zone; the red mist is thickest there. Savage, watch the right flank. Shadow, scout ten meters ahead. Lyria, you are the guide; tell me where the malice is strongest."

  "Everywhere... the malice is everywhere." Lyria’s face was pale, sweat soaking her hair. "They are watching us. Every leaf is watching us."

  Before her voice faded, the anomaly struck.

  Rustle... Rustle...

  A dense friction sound, enough to numb the scalp, erupted from all directions.

  A sharp mental alarm exploded in everyone's mind, like a needle piercing the cerebral cortex:

  [Above!]

  Almost simultaneously, the translucent tentacles hanging overhead like willow branches suddenly came alive! Like a massive predatory net, accompanied by a high-frequency vibration, they slammed down toward the squad.

  At the same time, the ground exploded.

  Countless basin-sized [Man-Faced Corpse Beetles] drilled out of the humus. The shells on their backs bore pale human face patterns, and their mouthparts sprayed acid.

  "Defensive formation!!" Carlyle roared.

  He slammed his hands outward, and a spherical [Thermodynamic Barrier] formed instantly, enveloping the four of them.

  Sizzle—

  The aerial tentacles struck the high-temperature barrier, instantly curling up black and burnt. But the beetles underground were frantically gnawing at the base of the barrier.

  "Too many!" Savage roared, swinging his repair hammer with his left hand, smashing a beetle that had drilled inside into pulp. Green acid splattered. He instinctively tried to block with his right hand, but swung at empty air.

  This fatal lack of a limb exposed him to the mandibles of another beetle.

  "Get down!"

  A blur flashed.

  Shadow wasted no words. He leaped directly out of the Shadow Plane, sliding under Savage’s armpit. With his dagger held in reverse, he carved a black arc in the air, instantly severing the beetle’s head.

  Savage was still in shock when Shadow’s emotionless thought echoed in his mind:

  [Blind spot. Watch it.] [Don't increase the healer's burden.]

  "Dammit! I know!" Savage was enraged; this mental taunt hurt more than words. He pulled a homemade incendiary bomb from his waist and bit the pin off with his teeth. "Taste this!!"

  Boom!

  Fire exploded among the insect swarm, temporarily forcing back the frontal assault.

  But more bugs surged forward, and the light of the barrier began to flicker.

  "Lyria!!" Carlyle turned, grabbing the trembling Elf by the shoulders. "Stop shaking! This is the domain of plants. Even if they are mad plants, they are still plants!"

  "I... I can't control them! They only want to eat!" Lyria cried out in despair.

  "Then make them FEAR!!"

  The blue light in Carlyle’s eyes almost pierced into Lyria’s soul. He was like a harsh mentor, perhaps even a tyrant:

  "You are a Druid! You are at the top of the natural chain! If you cannot be their mother, then be their Queen! Crush them with your will! NOW!!"

  Carlyle’s roar shattered Lyria’s panic.

  She bit her lip; the taste of blood awakened her wild nature. She closed her eyes. Instead of using her mana to communicate, she converted it into pure, tyrannical mental pressure.

  "BEGONE—!!!"

  Lyria’s eyes snapped open. Her originally green pupils had turned a dangerous golden yellow.

  A piercing shriek exploded outward, accompanied by ripples of mana.

  A miracle happened.

  The beetles attacking frantically suddenly froze. As if encountering a natural predator carved into their deepest genetic code, the red light in their compound eyes instantly dimmed, and they began to tremble violently.

  A second later, the swarm retreated in panic like a receding tide, trampling over each other to escape. The tentacles overhead also recoiled fearfully into the shadows.

  Silence returned.

  [Scene 4: Variables]

  Lyria collapsed to her knees, gasping for air. Carlyle immediately dropped the barrier and supported her.

  "Well done." Carlyle’s voice returned to its calm state. He handed her a recovery potion. "This is calibration. In this world, gentleness is useless. Power is the only universal language."

  "I... I feel dirty." Lyria looked at her hands. The tyrannical sensation just now felt alien to her.

  "You merely adapted to the environment."

  Savage walked over, kicking aside a beetle carcass. He looked at Carlyle, then at Lyria, his expression complex. This cobbled-together team had actually survived that dead end.

  Just then, Shadow’s form condensed under a tree ahead. He didn't speak, simply making a hand gesture to the group while a stream of information flowed into their minds:

  [This way.] [Unnatural death target detected.]

  The group approached.

  There lay a corpse.

  It was an extremely tall, green-skinned Orc. Although he had been dead for some time, his immense strength in life was still evident. His fatal wound was on his neck—severed cleanly by some sharp instrument.

  "A [Blood Chanter]?" Savage recognized the totems on the corpse. "What are these savages from the Western Wastelands doing in the sewer?"

  Carlyle crouched down, examining the traces around the body.

  "This was a slaughter." Carlyle pointed to the deep footprints on the ground. "Look at the depth and the sharpness of the edges. It wasn't a biological creature that killed him. It was heavy machinery."

  "The Order Alliance?" Lyria asked.

  "No." Carlyle shook his head, a glint of excitement flashing in his eyes. "The Order Alliance’s golems only do long-range bombardment. This brutal, flesh-pounding style... is something more primitive, more violent."

  Thud!

  Just then, a dull, thunderous noise came from ahead, shaking the very ground.

  Immediately following it was a roar filled with rage and unyielding defiance. The sound was like a wounded lion, shaking the fluorescent spores from the canopy:

  "For Gul'dan!! For Glory!!"

  The voice was rough, tragic, and filled with the madness of a desperate stand.

  Shadow closed his eyes, the space around his body warping slightly as he scouted ahead through a high-dimensional perspective. Two seconds later, he opened his eyes. His cold intent constructed a tactical map directly in Carlyle’s brain:影子闭上双眼，他身体周围的时空微微扭曲，他以高维视角向前方侦察。两秒后，他睁开双眼。他那冷酷的意图直接在卡莱尔的大脑中构建出了一张战术地图：

  [Distance: 300 meters.] [Status: High-Risk Combat.] [Target: Single biological entity. Life reaction extreme.][距离：300 米。] [状态：高风险战斗。] [目标：单个生物体。生命反应强烈。]

  Carlyle stood up, dusting the dirt from his hands. His black robes snapped in the breeze.卡莱尔站起身来，拍掉手上的尘土。他的黑色长袍在微风中啪啪作响。

  Originally, he just wanted to dig up some herbs and fix an arm. But it seemed this dungeon run had hidden rewards.起初，他只是想挖些草药，再接好一条胳膊。但似乎这次地牢之旅还有隐藏的奖励。

  "Interesting." "Interesting."

  Carlyle looked back at his team members—a grumpy mechanic with one hand. A Druid who had just awakened a Queen’s aura. And an elusive high-dimensional ghost.卡莱尔回头看了看他的团队成员——一个脾气暴躁、只有一只手的机械师。一位刚刚唤醒女王光环的德鲁伊。还有一位难以捉摸的高维幽灵。

  Current party configuration: DPS, Control, Scout... all present. They were just missing a Main Tank who could soak up this kind of damage.

  "Let's move." The corners of Carlyle’s mouth curved up in a greedy smile belonging to a player, pointing in the direction of the roar:“走吧。”卡莱尔嘴角勾起一抹贪婪的笑，那是赌徒特有的笑容，他朝着那声咆哮的方向指了指。

  "It seems that what we can pick up this time isn't just vines, but also a powerful meat shield."“看来这次我们捡到的不只是藤蔓，还有一面强大的肉盾。”

  (End of Chapter 35) （第三十五章结束）