The Imperial Marshal’s Darling at the Tip of His Heart - Chapter 22

Yun Shu only had time to feel an irresistible force, both scorching and icy, slam violently into his back. It was Ling Yao.

At the critical moment, Ling Yao did not dodge backward. Instead, he lunged forward and tackled Yun Shu to the ground. Simultaneously, he activated a high-level personal energy shield generator. A translucent, violently fluctuating arched shield snapped open instantly, standing between the two of them just in time.

A deafening roar followed. The destructive flood of energy slammed into the shield, erupting into a blinding light. The surface of the shield rippled frantically like water struck by a massive boulder. Fissures spread instantly, accompanied by a piercing, overburdened shriek. The sheer force of the impact pushed the two men backward along the ground, plowing deep furrows into the earth.

“Ugh!” Yun Shu groaned as he was pinned beneath the weight. The violent tremors felt as though they would crush his fragile chest entirely. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and blood surged uncontrollably, staining the interior of his respiratory mask. The stinging pain of the Crystal-Erosion Disease was amplified to the extreme in this moment, leaving his vision a blur of blood-red.

Ling Yao was in equally poor condition. He knelt on one knee, supporting the shield generator with every ounce of strength. The muscles in his arms bulged and the veins on his temples throbbed, clearly under immense pressure. Even that high-grade shield, designed to withstand naval cannon fire, appeared precarious under this eerie energy assault.

“Marshal!” “Cover them!”

The other soldiers reacted with remarkable speed. The moment the energy erupted, they sought cover or activated their own shields. Their weapons fired at full power in an attempt to interfere with or weaken the light pillar, but the effect was negligible. As the searing energy flow swept across the edge of the perimeter, one soldier who failed to dodge in time was instantly vaporized along with his exoskeleton armor. He did not even have the chance to scream.

The chaos lasted for nearly ten seconds before the terrifying energy eruption ceased as abruptly as it had begun. At the entrance of the ruins, nothing remained but a massive charred crater with edges flickering with unstable energy arcs, surrounded by a mess of wreckage. The air was thick with the heavy scent of ozone and an indescribable, eerie smell of rotting vegetation.

The moment the energy vanished, Ling Yao’s shield collapsed completely, dissolving into a shower of light. He let out a muffled groan and his body swayed, having clearly exhausted a great deal of strength. However, he steadied himself immediately and looked down at Yun Shu, whom he had protected beneath him.

“Are you still alive?”

His voice came through the comms, carrying the slight breathlessness of heavy exertion but remaining cold and hard. Yun Shu coughed violently, each heave racking his body with agonizing pain. The inner wall of his mask was covered in blood spray. His vision was blurred and he was nearly unable to speak, so he managed only a very slight nod.

Ling Yao seemed to click his tongue. His movements were rough yet efficient as he hauled Yun Shu up from the ground to check the readings on his life-support suit. The display was a sea of red. The alarms were silent but flashed urgently.

“Troublesome,” Ling Yao cursed under his breath as he surveyed the surroundings.

The thick fog had been temporarily dispersed by the impact, though the distance remained a chaotic haze. The scout team had lost one member, another was heavily injured, and the rest suffered varying degrees of light injuries and equipment damage.

“Report status! Count the personnel!”

Ling Yao’s voice returned to its usual cold severity, as if that brief, subconscious moment of protection had never occurred.

“Reporting to the Marshal! One sacrifice! One heavily injured and immobilized! Others have sustained light injuries! Equipment damage varies!” the captain reported quickly, his voice tight with suppressed grief and tension.

“Treat the heavily wounded on-site. Inject high-potency analgesics and coagulants. Everyone else, advance to the entrance of the ruins immediately! Move! Do it now!”

Ling Yao made a decisive call without hesitation. The danger of Wuyin Star was beyond imagination. To stay still was to wait for death. They had to use this brief interval to enter the ruins, which could provide relative shelter. He grabbed Yun Shu, who was nearly unable to stand, and half-dragged, half-carried him as they led the charge toward the blasted entrance.

The soldiers executed the order immediately. Two men took charge of the heavily wounded soldier while the others guarded the flanks and rear, following in quick succession.

The moment they stepped into the ruins, they were met with an atmosphere that felt even more ancient, carrying the scent of stale dust and faint residual energy. The external light was filtered by distorted crystal clusters and architectural structures, leaving the interior dim. Only the searchlights on their helmets cut through the darkness, illuminating collapsed and partially intact corridors. Behind them, the thick fog slowly closed in again, walling off the tragic scene outside but bringing a new sense of unease.

“Find a stable spot to rest for five minutes!”

Ling Yao ordered, his voice echoing through the hollow interior of the ruins. The team stopped in a relatively wide corridor where the walls were covered in etchings. The soldiers quickly took up defensive positions while the medic began more detailed treatment for the heavily wounded.

Ling Yao placed Yun Shu against a broken stone pillar to let him lean back. Yun Shu slumped there, his breathing rapid and faint. The alarms on his life-support suit had still not cleared. It was obvious that the recent impact and the rough movement had made his physical condition significantly worse.

Ling Yao crouched down and checked the data ports on Yun Shu’s suit with a deep frown.

“Your vital signs are plummeting. Medical team, inject him with a universal cardiac stimulant and a nerve stabilizer.”

The medic arrived instantly, took a specialized syringe from the medical kit, and injected the drugs through the emergency port of the protective suit. The cold liquid flowed into his veins, causing a brief tremor. Soon, a forced sense of strength propped up his fading consciousness, though the price was a deeper sense of exhaustion and a needle-like stinging in his nerve endings.

Yun Shu struggled to raise his head, his gaze meeting Ling Yao’s through the mask.

“Just now, that energy,” his voice was so raspy it was almost unrecognizable, “it was not pure destruction. There were periodic pulses inside it.”

Even in this state, his brain was working frantically, capturing and analyzing the fragments of perception from his near-death experience.

Ling Yao’s movements paused. He looked at Yun Shu with a sharp gaze. “Explain clearly.”

“Its intensity was not constant. It was like a heartbeat with regular rises and falls. The peak intervals were approximately 1.7 seconds,” Yun Shu spoke intermittently, trying hard to recall the fleeting sensation. “Furthermore, it seems to respond to consciousness. It was only when we approached to probe the etchings that it was startled awake.”

This discovery was vital. If this terrifying energy eruption had an internal rhythm and could be triggered by perception, it meant it could be predicted or even avoided.

Ling Yao’s eyes darkened with thought. He stood up and walked to the nearby wall, looking at the deep purple etchings that shimmered with an eerie light. He reached out his hand. His fingers, encased in heavy gloves, did not touch the surface but hovered over the complex patterns.

“Can you distinguish which specific probe or consciousness triggered it? Or does any form of energy perception do it?” Ling Yao asked in a low voice.

This question was directly related to their next course of action.

Yun Shu closed his eyes, forcing himself to trace back that heart-stopping moment, attempting to match his unique perception with the subtle patterns found within that violent energy.

A splitting headache and the protests of his failing body nearly drowned out his ability to think.

“I am not entirely certain,” he finally answered with great difficulty, “but when I attempted to decode the information flow contained within the etchings, the reaction was most violent. It was as if a core had been touched.”

He coughed abruptly as another surge of blood rose in his throat.

“These etchings are not decorations. They are some kind of living energy recorders, or perhaps an alarm system.”

Just then, the soldier monitoring environmental data suddenly reported, “Marshal! I am detecting a weak energy reading accumulating again! The source is still underground. The pattern is similar to the previous one!”

Everyone’s nerves tightened instantly.

“Intensity? Growth rate?” Ling Yao questioned immediately.

“The intensity is low, but it is increasing rapidly! Estimated time to critical point is approximately three minutes!”

“Relocate immediately! Advance deeper into the ruins! Find a structurally sound bunker or room!”

Ling Yao gave the order without hesitation.

He pulled Yun Shu up once more. This time, his movements seemed slightly less rough and more focused on unquestionable efficiency. Yun Shu relied almost entirely on Ling Yao’s support to move; his legs felt as weak and foreign as if they did not belong to him.

The team moved quickly and silently through the dim, complex corridors.

As he was half-dragged along, Yun Shu maintained consciousness through the sheer force of the drugs. He focused his remaining energy on perceiving the subtle shifts in the surrounding energy.

“Turn left,” he spoke with extreme weakness. “The energy field there is calmer. It feels as if there is shielding.”

Ling Yao did not question him. He immediately ordered, “Turn left! Increase speed!”

The team rushed into a narrower corridor on the left. Sure enough, the sense of energy pressure in the air seemed to lighten slightly. After advancing about fifty meters, a semi-collapsed archway appeared at the end of the corridor, leading to what appeared to be a small stone chamber.

“In here! Move!”

Ling Yao led the way, bringing Yun Shu inside first while the soldiers followed closely behind. The interior space was small, filled with collapsed rubble and dust, but the primary structure remained intact.

Not long after they entered, the heart-pounding low hum and ground tremors echoed from the distance again. However, the intensity seemed much weaker than the first time and soon subsided.

They appeared to be safe for the moment.

With the immediate danger passed, the soldiers quickly reinforced the entrance and established a temporary defensive line. The heavily wounded were carefully settled in a corner where the medic continued their treatment.

Ling Yao placed Yun Shu on a relatively flat stone while he stood at the entrance, keeping a sharp watch on the movements outside. A brief silence fell over the stone chamber, broken only by the suppressed moans of the wounded and the heavy breathing of the team.

Yun Shu leaned against the cold stone wall and closed his eyes in exhaustion. The effects of the medication were fading. A deeper weakness and pain surged toward him like a tide, and a cold sensation began to spread from his extremities. He knew this was a precursor to his body collapsing once again.

Suddenly, an object carrying a hint of body heat was thrown somewhat crudely onto him.

Yun Shu opened his eyes and found it was an Imperial-standard emergency thermal blanket. Though thin and light, it could effectively reflect body heat, which was vital for someone like him whose ability to regulate body temperature was failing.

He looked up at Ling Yao, who remained standing at the entrance with his back turned. That tall, upright silhouette looked like a cold rock in the dim light. Ling Yao made no extra movements or sounds, as if he were not the one who had just thrown the blanket.

Yun Shu remained silent for a moment, using his trembling hands to wrap the thermal blanket more tightly around himself. A trace of warmth that did not belong to these icy ruins struggled through his protective suit and life-support layer, reaching his nearly frozen skin.

This insignificant warmth felt so abrupt yet so real in this desperate abyss.

He lowered his eyelashes to hide the flickering, complex emotions in his eyes, refocusing his attention on recovering his strength and perceiving the surroundings.