422: Chapter 422 Exploring the Valley, A Mysterious Aura Pervades

The gray mist was thicker than expected.

The mecha tracks rolled over the last earthen slope of the wasteland. The valley ahead resembled a half-open mouth, with rock walls on both sides so dark they appeared bluish-green. Mist flowed out from the valley entrance, hugging the ground rather than floating toward the sky.

Chen Wuwang sat in the cockpit of the "eye of wuwang." His Mechanical Prosthetic Eye automatically adjusted its frequency, scanning a distorted stream of data across his retina in blue light.

"Temperature normal, humidity high by seventeen percent, Spiritual Qi fluctuations... are chaotic," he said in a low voice.

No one responded on the communication channel.

The three hundred mechas had already switched to spiritual energy silence mode. Engine noise was suppressed to the minimum, and the tracks were wrapped in a soft rubber layer, making almost no sound as they stepped on the ground.

The team stretched into a thin line, slowly sliding into the valley entrance.

"Stop." Chen Wuwang raised his hand, and the global communication was instantly locked down.

All mechas braked in synchronization. Shoulder cannons drooped slightly; the weapon Systems weren't locked on, but the energy tubes had already begun charging. A hum was hidden inside the metal, like a pack of beasts holding their breath.

"Disperse for reconnaissance, stop every three steps," he ordered. "Three on the left wing, three on the right wing. Advance in a fan shape, one rotation every ten meters."

The moment the command was given, six warriors separated from the queue. Their mecha joints made micro-adjustments, and grip nails popped out from their soles as they moved silently toward the rock walls on both sides.

Their Divine Sense reached out, only to be torn to pieces by the etched patterns on the rock walls.

"Family Head, these patterns... look like remnants of an ancient array," a scout whispered. "The interference is too great; I can't scan anything beyond thirty meters."

"Don't force the scan." Chen Wuwang tapped the console, his fingertips rhythmically clicking. "Use your feet to feel, use your eyes to watch. If there's movement, use hand signals."

He closed his right eye, leaving only the Mechanical Prosthetic Eye operational.

In his field of vision, the gray mist appeared as a lavender granular flow. It wasn't a natural phenomenon; it looked more like some kind of energy field slowly permeating the area.

The thin layer of moss on the ground was silent when stepped on, but he had just seen a faint green light flash at the edge of the moss when a mecha passed by.

"Something's wrong," he murmured.

The temperature inside the cockpit was constant, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

"Family Head, left side clear."

"Right side clear."

"Ten meters ahead, no ambush."

Reports from the three groups came in one after another, their voices kept extremely low, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"Continue." Chen Wuwang opened his eyes. "Tighten the formation, maintain spacing, don't get too close."

The team moved again, even slower this time. They stopped every ten meters to wait for reconnaissance confirmation before moving to the next section.

The deeper they went into the valley, the higher the rock walls became. The sky above was sliced into a narrow strip, and the gray mist floated within it, breathing slowly like a living thing.

"This damn place..." a warrior muttered softly. "There isn't even a breeze, yet the mist is still moving."

"Shut up." The person next to him bumped him. "The Family Head said no firing and no shouting. Are you deaf?"

"I'm not scared, I just feel... like this mist is following us." The man shrunk his neck.

Chen Wuwang heard him but said nothing.

His Mechanical Prosthetic Eye was recording the trajectory of the mist flow frame by frame, and the background program was automatically comparing it with their route—

Indeed, every time the team paused, the flow of the mist would subtly adjust, as if probing, as if closing in.

"Don't look back," he suddenly said over the comms. "And don't speed up. If it wants to haunt us, let it haunt us for a while longer."

Everyone held their breath. Some hands were already on weapon triggers, their knuckles turning white.

After another fifty meters, the terrain began to dip. The ground was no longer hard earth but a fine sand similar to bone meal, soft and silent underfoot.

The etched patterns on the rock walls changed as well. They were no longer random scratches but clusters of symbols, slanted and distorted, as if gouged out by fingernails.

"These symbols..." a young clansman stared at the rock wall, his voice trembling. "I think I've seen them in the Family's forbidden books... Are they remnants of the 'Nine Rotations of the Yin Pupil'?"

"Look clearly before you speak," Chen Wuwang interrupted coldly. "Those are marks of the 'Eclipse Alliance,' evil cultivators from three hundred years ago, not some forbidden book remnants. Now is not the time for an academic exam."

The man immediately shut up, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Continue advancing," Chen Wuwang's voice was steady. "Don't touch the walls, don't touch the ground, don't leave any traces."

The team moved forward in silence, the atmosphere more tense than before.

Everyone knew they were stepping into a place that shouldn't exist.

There shouldn't be marks of the Eclipse Alliance here, there shouldn't be rock patterns that interfere with Divine Sense, and there certainly shouldn't be this... feeling of being watched by something.

"Family Head." A scout suddenly raised his hand, signaling a stop.

Everyone froze instantly.

"Three hundred meters ahead, there's a sound." The man's lips barely moved as he transmitted his voice directly. "Intermittent, sounds like... metal scraping stone."

Chen Wuwang closed his eyes, and his Divine Sense spread out along the sandy layer of the ground.

At the same time, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye switched to sonic capture mode, amplifying and analyzing the minute vibrations in the air.

"Frequency unstable, intervals of four to seven seconds," he whispered. "Not wind, not a beast, and not natural wear."

He opened his eyes and slowly drew his Titanium Alloy Dagger, lightly swiping it across the control panel.

A mark was left behind.

"Steady," he said into the communication channel. His voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's ears like a hammer. "If the enemy wants to ambush us, let him wait a bit longer—we can afford the time."

The team remained still. Mechas crouched, warriors held their breath, and even their breathing was made as light as possible.

Only that intermittent scraping sound remained in the valley, sometimes far and sometimes near, as if coming from underground, yet also as if it were right by their ears.

Chen Wuwang stared into the depths of the gray mist ahead.

His fingers were still tapping the console, once, then again, as if calculating time, or as if waiting for something.

Suddenly, the sound stopped.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Everyone was strained to their limit.

In that moment of deathly silence, Chen Wuwang abruptly raised his hand, a red light flashing in his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye.

"Don't move," he transmitted. "It hasn't left yet."

The gray mist flowed slowly, like a layer of skin squirming. Without warning, the fine sand on the ground vibrated slightly, then returned to calm.

Inside the cockpit, the warning lights didn't flash, and the System reported no abnormalities, but Chen Wuwang knew—something had just swept past above their heads.

He didn't look up.

He knew that the moment he looked up, it would mean he had panicked.

"Continue." He finally spoke, his voice as steady as before. "Stop every three steps, one rotation every ten meters. Don't look at the sky, don't listen to the sounds, only look at your feet."

The team slowly started up again, mecha tracks rolling over the fine sand with a very light "shasha" sound.

On both sides of the rock walls, the six scouts followed like shadows, their eyes fixed intently on the gray mist ahead.

It took them a full fifteen minutes to cover the three hundred meters.

Every step felt like walking on the edge of a blade.

Chen Wuwang sat in the center of the cockpit, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye scanning continuously as data streams rolled before his eyes. He didn't look at the numbers; he was waiting.

Waiting for the next sound.

Waiting for the next opening.

Waiting for that thing hidden in the mist to show its tail again.

"Family Head." A scout suddenly transmitted his voice, almost inaudibly. "On the ground... there are footprints."

Chen Wuwang's gaze narrowed.

"Not ours?"

"No. Smaller than a mecha's, looks like... bare feet."

He immediately looked down, and his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye switched to ground thermal imaging.

The surface temperature of the fine sand was uniform, but twenty meters ahead of the team, there was a string of very faint depressions. They were irregular in shape, and their edges were slightly warm, as if someone had just stepped there.

But they had been moving along the entire way, never stopping and never splitting their forces.

"It's ahead of us." He sneered inwardly. "Daring to leave traces?"

He raised his hand, but he didn't give the order to attack.

Instead, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"Interesting," he said softly. "Quite bold."

Just then—

Deep within the gray mist ahead, that intermittent scraping sound rang out once more.

This time, it was closer.

It sounded like metal being dragged.

And also like something was slowly crawling over.