Chapter 39: The Lamp Oil Barrel

"Pure life energy! The red mist and pink mist fear this! They infect the body and the spirit; only the same kind of energy or something purer and more powerful can resist them!"

She jerked her head up, her gaze burning as she looked at Lorrain, pointing to the area at the stern that had been completely swallowed by the red mist, as well as the churning edges of the encroaching pink mist:

"It’s still there! The power that guards you is still there! Guide it! One last time! You don't need a complete cure; you just need to light a fire at the stern and burn that damned mist back for five minutes! After five minutes, whether we live or die is not for you to worry about!"

"This is the final battle you can fight for it!"

The confusion and despair in Lorrain’s eyes were shattered by Su Liu’s rational words.

A suppressed, intense drive born from protection and atonement erupted from the depths of her heart! Her immense grief transformed into strength.

She took a deep breath, her body stopped trembling, and she wiped away her tears with force.

She lowered her head, pressing her forehead gently against Little Moon's cold ears. Her voice was choked with sobs, yet filled with unprecedented firmness and tenderness, like the most devout prayer:

"Little Moon... I'm sorry... help me one last time... will you? With me... one last time..."

As she whispered, her blood-stained hands carefully and cherishingly wrapped around Little Moon’s cold little body and the cracked heart that had been barely stabilized by the emerald herb juice.

*Hum—*

An extremely faint, yet exceptionally pure, soft, and warm silvery-white radiance, carrying the familiar scent of moonlight, struggled to ignite deep within Little Moon’s shattered heart, as if in response!

This light no longer held the domineering power to burn everything; it was reduced to a warm ember, like a candle flickering in the wind.

The next second, a command—dozens of times stronger than this faint halo, condensed from all of Lorrain’s will, all her emotions, and her final call to Little Moon’s life—transformed into a materialized wave of spiritual energy and crashed into the core that was about to extinguish!

"—Purify them!"

*Whoosh!*

A faint yet condensed beam of moonlight, like a silver thread, emerged from Little Moon in Lorrain’s hands. It was no longer a dispersed halo of purification, but an arrow tempered by the final embers of life, carrying an unyielding determination and tenderness!

It pierced precisely and silently through the thick red mist ahead and exploded violently at the edge of the deck at the stern, which had already been completely swallowed!

There was no deafening sound, only the sound of melting, like a warm, clear stream falling into a filthy mire.

*Hiss—!*

Centered at the point of the explosion, the vast patch of thick red mist covering the stern began to wail violently and dissolve, evaporating in an instant like snow cast into molten lava! The eroded, ghastly ship hull beneath it was laid bare!

A silvery-white purification zone, about three meters in diameter—just enough to encompass the chaotic mess—miraculously held its ground!

The churning red mist was forced back to three meters away!

—Though the range was narrow, and the time was breathlessly short—only five minutes!

But this three-meter distance, this precious five minutes of forcibly maintained space, was like a ray of light suddenly breaking through the bottom of a dark abyss, dragging everyone back from the brink of total sinking to a moment of respite!

***

Su Liu’s eyes sharpened, her voice rising abruptly:

"Aya! Don't just stare! Reinforce the base! Calculate how long we can hold out!"

At the same time, her gaze swept rapidly over the flickering green light at the bow and the perilous surroundings. Her brain raced, searching for any opportunity to exploit.

Mo Yu stood at the very front of the bow, his sharp eyes piercing through the dancing green light and the thick mist beyond the faint moonlight. A black crow perched on his shoulder, maintaining maximum vigilance and reporting the subtle changes in energy from further away.

Chen Wu’s fists were clenched, his muscles bulging. He stared fixedly into the darkness beyond the five-meter radius of light, like the sturdiest rock, ready to face a greater impact.

Mo Yu stood at the bow. The crow landed back on his shoulder, a hoarse murmur escaping its beak:

"1.2 kilometers to the northeast, an abandoned buoy. There are sealed metal drums. The analyst’s residual data identifies them as 'high-purity lamp fuel'."

He flicked a deep green spore from his fingertip, letting it fall into the water on the deck.

The spore hissed as it touched the water, steaming white and burning a small dent into the rotting wood.

"But the buoy is at the core of a red-blue mist vortex. The suction is strong enough to tear the ship apart."

Chen Wu’s face sank: "No! The gap at the stern relies entirely on insect shell fragments for support. Going into that vortex is suicide!"

Aya was using a utility knife to scrape the edges of the patch, the black shell powder falling and mixing into the acid rain:

"The insect shell is corroding faster than expected. At most, it can hold for another half hour!"

Mo Yu flipped his wrist, holding three pebbles-sized crystal pods in his palm—"Fluorescent Spores" collected from the crevices of Abyssal Back Reefs. Inside them flowed a lava-like, dark orange light:

"These pods release explosive heat when they touch water. If we stuff them into the largest crack in the shell, thermal expansion can temporarily seal the structure."

Chen Wu gritted his teeth: "Then let's try it! The worst that happens is we lose our supplies!"

He then took the helm with the Xuanwu Turtle, steering the symbiotic boat toward the direction Mo Yu had marked.

Su Liu pondered for a moment and said to Mo Yu: "Can your crow mark the position of the drums? I’ll have Little Tuanzi use [Void Scar] to cut the suction point of the nearby vortex, but I need your coordination. Signal me the moment it reaches the critical point of suction."

Mo Yu watched the approaching vortex: "Understood."

Five hundred meters... one hundred meters... thirty meters...

"Now!"

The moment Mo Yu’s voice rang out, Su Liu’s gaze was like lightning: "Little Tuanzi!"

The silver fox in her arms bristled in response.

"Yip—!"

[Void Scar] activated! Two intersecting jet-black spatial cracks tore through the rain, stabbing straight into the core of the vortex!

They aimed to sever the suction chain to temporarily delay the pulling force. However—

*Boom—!!*

The vortex's energy backlash was like a mountain collapsing! A violent tremor swept through the ship, and the deck tossed like a giant wave!

The already fragile insect shell crack burst with a "crack," and a large amount of dark green acid sprayed out, mixed with corrosive mist!

"The crack is failing!" Aya screamed, the corrosive liquid burning her arm, and her utility knife fell to the deck!

At the critical moment!

Su Liu’s spiritual power surged, and she secretly activated the Hourglass of Chen.

A deceleration field enveloped them instantly!

Time stagnated for a ten-thousandth of a second. The blade of the Void Scar shifted from a slash to a precise "flick," severing only the energy chain pulling the ship, rather than striking the vortex with brute force.

The backlash force plummeted by seventy percent!

Aya’s fingers moved with agility: under the slowed time, her movements were fast as a blur.

She picked up the knife, grabbed the spores, and stuffed them into the crack in one fluid motion—

The three "Fluorescent Spores" thrown by Mo Yu were jammed into the largest crack in the insect shell like lightning!

The pods hissed, steaming with high-temperature white vapor upon touching the acid water. The thermal expansion force forcibly sealed the gap, and the spraying stopped!

Under the deceleration field, Chen Wu roared with effort, the phantom of the Black Tortoise armor covering his body. The rudder remained motionless in his grip, and the bow narrowly avoided the vortex's turbulence!

"Hook it!" Su Liu shouted.

Chen Wu threw the steel hook—guided perfectly by the crow—

*Clang!* It hooked the metal drum on the buoy!

As they pulled it back, half a drum of pure lamp fuel, clear as water, was dragged onto the deck!

"Refuel the lamp!" Aya lunged toward the kerosene lamp.

Fresh oil was poured in, and the eerie green flame turned into a steady, pale blue. The force field expanded to five meters instantly, and the red mist retreated in a panic!

Su Liu looked at the busy Aya and the patch at the stern, a flash of inspiration crossing her mind—