Chapter 369: Unable to Fuse
Chapter 369: Chapter 369: Unable to Fuse
Yue Qingtian’s relaxed expression didn’t last long. An entire wall before him displayed projections of the battle, a live feed from the front lines.
He saw dozens of human Mecha engaging the Insect Race, but they were clearly at a disadvantage. The new type of Insect Race soldier was a species resembling a giant centipede that could spew green slime from its abdomen. Mecha hit by it immediately billowed white smoke, their movements slowing down.
Even the Mecha units were losing ground. Yue Qingtian was overcome with anxiety.
On another projection, a giant White Tiger faced the surging Insect Race, unleashing a Talent Skill to protect the soldiers trapped in a heavy encirclement.
Lin Mo was not faring well. His Companion Spirit, the White Tiger, had one paw dug deep into the scorched earth, its limbs trembling uncontrollably from exhaustion. The White Tiger’s silver fur was mottled and patchy, corroded by the insectoid slime. In some places, the fur was gone entirely, revealing skin covered in burns.
"ROAR—!" A wave of energy erupted from the White Tiger’s mouth, blasting the vanguard of the oncoming Insect Race to pieces. But this attack was clearly much weaker than before. A few agile, scythe-like insects broke through the Energy Barrier, their sharp limbs slashing across the White Tiger’s body and sending a spray of blood into the air.
Lin Mo’s consciousness began to fade. The energy his Companion Spirit expended in battle came directly from him, and after such a long and continuous fight, he could feel his own energy reserves depleting. Each heartbeat felt like a desperate struggle for life.
"Squad Two, break out through the eastern gap!" Lin Mo ordered through his communicator.
Lin Mo had fought hard to create that eastern gap, precisely to open a path for their escape.
Watching his squad successfully break out as planned, Lin Mo managed to turn his heavy head. He tried to muster his remaining strength to recall his Companion Spirit, but his limbs felt like they were filled with lead. Even lifting a hand had become an immense struggle.
’I can’t go on...’ The thought surfaced clearly in Lin Mo’s mind for the first time. Black spots appeared in his vision and his ears began to ring—the precursors to spiritual power exhaustion.
’I can’t collapse here. I have to keep going.’ Lin Mo forced his eyes open, took a deep breath, and compelled himself to gather his strength one more time to recall his Companion Spirit.
A subordinate near Lin Mo quickly noticed his condition and realized he must have exhausted his spiritual power. Thankfully, the escape route was open. The subordinate simply hoisted Lin Mo onto his back and carried him through the breach.
This was the first time Lin Mo had deployed a Talent Skill with such a wide range. The Skill was incredibly powerful, but casting it demanded an enormous amount of his energy. For the first time, Lin Mo truly understood the feeling of complete exhaustion.
"Doctor, doctor! General Lin is injured! He’s in critical condition and needs immediate attention! Doctor, hurry!" Just as Ning Xuan was meeting with Dean Lin of the medical center, she heard a voice shouting urgently from far away, not yet even at the medical center’s main entrance.
The color drained from Dean Lin’s face. As far as she knew, there was only one general in the Second Legion with the surname Lin—her son, Lin Mo.
"Miss Ning, your timing is perfect. It must be Lin Mo who’s hurt. Let’s go take a look," Lin Yuzhi said, already rushing toward the sound of the cries.
When Ning Xuan heard it was Lin Mo who was injured, her heart sank, and she immediately followed.
Ning Xuan followed the medic through a noisy, temporary medical area. The smell of disinfectant mixed with blood grew stronger. Rounding the last isolation curtain, Ning Xuan saw the injured Lin Mo. He was lying quietly in a medical pod, his eyes shut tight. His face was so pale it was almost translucent, and even his lips had lost all color.
On the pod’s transparent hood, his vital signs flickered across the display. Most of the numbers were flashing a dangerous red.
"There are no wounds on the surface of his body. Why is he suffering from severe blood loss?" a doctor was discussing Lin Mo’s condition with a colleague.
"It’s internal bleeding caused by spiritual power exhaustion. You can’t see it from the outside, but all his internal organs are likely hemorrhaging," Lin Yuzhi said, looking at Ning Xuan with a grave expression.
Lin Yuzhi’s hands, hidden behind her back, were trembling slightly. She was worried sick; she hadn’t expected Lin Mo to be this badly injured.
Ning Xuan took a few steps closer. The cold light of the medical pod illuminated Lin Mo’s face, making him look like a marble statue. She noticed his eyelashes fluttering restlessly, as if he were trapped in a terrible nightmare.
Even more bizarrely, silvery-white tiger stripes would occasionally surface on his skin, only to vanish just as quickly—a sign that his Talent Ability was out of control.
"He exhausted his spiritual power by forcing the use of his Companion Spirit’s Talent Skill to protect wounded soldiers. Now, his fusion with his Companion Spirit, the White Tiger, has become unstable," a doctor said, pointing to the erratic waveforms on the Life Monitor.
"Miss Ning, is there any way you can save him?" Lin Yuzhi didn’t ask anyone else, but addressed Ning Xuan directly.
Ning Xuan didn’t answer. She gently placed her palm on the medical pod’s cover. Suddenly, Lin Mo’s right hand twitched violently. His fingers contorted into a claw, his nails lengthening and sharpening at a visible rate, only to return to normal the next second. During this process, his heart rate on the monitor shot up to 180, then plummeted just as sharply.
"What’s happening? Why are his vital signs so unstable?" Lin Yuzhi asked nervously.
"The Companion Spirit fusion has become unstable due to his extreme exhaustion. However, he is still subconsciously trying to draw the Companion Spirit back into his body, which is causing these reactions," the same doctor from before explained.
Ning Xuan watched as Lin Mo’s violently convulsing limbs were held down by restraints inside the medical pod. A needle pierced the bulging veins in his arm. After the medicine was injected, Lin Mo’s struggles gradually subsided. It was clearly a sedative that had just been administered.
A fresh trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Lin Mo’s mouth, strikingly conspicuous against his pale skin.
"General Lin is severely injured. Each time he subconsciously tries to force the fusion, it worsens the damage to his internal organs," the doctor said helplessly, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Is there a way to save him?" Lin Yuzhi heard her own voice, which sounded impossibly hoarse. She directed the question to Ning Xuan.
"Dean Lin, I’m very sorry. I’ve done my best, but I can’t save him," the doctor replied immediately, thinking Dean Lin had been asking her.
Ning Xuan looked up at Dean Lin. Although she and Lin Yuzhi weren’t close, Lin Yuzhi was Lin Mo’s mother after all, and they had met a few times.
"I can save him. Dean Lin, could you please arrange a quiet treatment room for me?" Ning Xuan said with absolute certainty.
Hearing Ning Xuan say she could save him, Lin Yuzhi felt a huge weight lift from her heart. She quickly arranged a quiet treatment room for Ning Xuan and had Lin Mo’s medical pod moved there.