The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

The silver cocoon trembled slightly.

It wasn't the "heartbeat" flickering of the past, but rather like something stretching from within—first a slight pulling sound, then the entire sealed hall's talismanic light dimmed simultaneously, as if some invisible hand had pressed down on the wick.

Li Haotian's pupils contracted, and the token felt hot in his palm. He subconsciously took half a step forward, then stopped abruptly: the rune lines around the array platform were still there, and the "window" of the Xuan Coffin nail was still there, but the death energy in the air seemed to have suddenly found an outlet, flowing towards the silver cocoon, flowing silently.

Qin Yue raised her gun, its muzzle unusually steady, but her voice was low: "Is it eating?"

The tomb keeper tapped the ground with his wooden staff, and a talismanic light rose, only to be suppressed slightly. He stared at the silver-black patterns on the surface of the silver cocoon, his Adam's apple bobbing: "It's not eating... it's like sifting."

"Sieve?" Liu Hu didn't understand, but a cold sweat broke out on his back.

The next second, the first crack appeared on the surface of the silver cocoon.

It wasn't torn open from the outside, but rather felt as if something inside was gently run through with a fingertip—the crack was as fine as a hair, yet it extended precisely along the silver-black lines, as if it had already calculated which part was the thinnest and which part best fit the "shell".

The crack opened a little wider.

Silver light seeped out from within, only to be immediately swallowed back by darkness. That darkness was not an ordinary shadow, but more like a liquid, sliding across the edge of the crack, carrying a kind of "emptiness" that made one's teeth ache.

Li Haotian uttered two words in a low voice: "Here they come."

When the third crack appeared, the silver cocoon suddenly paused for a moment.

The entire sealing hall seemed to freeze for a moment—the flickering lamplight appeared to be choked, the bluish-white light solidified in mid-air, and even everyone's breath seemed to be caught in their throats. Then, the silver cocoon disintegrated with a deafening roar.

It wasn't an explosion; there were no fragments scattered.

The silver cocoon resembled a peeled skin; its silver outer shell and black inner layer collapsed simultaneously, transforming into a mass of silver-black fluid that rolled back inward at an incredibly fast pace, like a tide pouring into an unseen hole. The fluid converged, compressed, and solidified—in the blink of an eye, a black cat landed in the center of the platform.

It was slightly larger than before, with a tighter frame, and its limbs made no extra sound when they landed. Its fur was still black, but it was no longer a simple black: faint silver lines ran deep within its fur, like extremely fine runes etched into its blood, flashing on and off with each breath. The most striking feature was its forehead—where a small silver stripe had appeared, vertical, like the "vertical pupil" of a third eye; it was not open, yet it gave the impression that it was always watching.

Xiao Hei looked up and slowly took a breath.

The surging death energy around them was blocked by an invisible sieve, first "straightened," then "crushed," and finally turned into fine dust that fell down. The dust landed on the rune lines, and the rune patterns dimmed, as if their luster had been worn away. It wasn't destruction, but rather as if the "rules" had been casually wiped away by its breath, leaving a scratch that was neither painful nor itchy, but extremely dangerous.

The tomb keeper's face turned pale. He slammed his wooden staff into the ground, and Fu Guang barely managed to lift his head: "It... is a curse."

Li Haotian's heart sank.

Previously, Xiao Hei "bite," using its teeth to tear at the edges of the rules; now, Xiao Hei seems to carry an innate aversion—you set rules, and it makes those rules stiff, weak, and dark. It's not attacking, but it's causing the most important thing in the Sealing Hall—the stability of the runes—to weaken.

They are even stronger in combat.

They are also more difficult to manage.

He suppressed the dryness in his throat and tried to keep his voice steady: "Xiao Hei, look at me."

The black cat's ear tips twitched, as if it had heard something, or perhaps it was simply uninterested. Its gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on the token in Li Haotian's hand. In that instant, the token's chill intensified, as if a hand had reached out from within and gently pressed against his palm bone.

Li Haotian forced himself not to look away, rubbed the edge of the token with his fingertip, and used the "power" to convey his aura: "Rules."

The black cat didn't meow.

It blinked—the silver mark on its forehead seemed to become a little finer and brighter. The dust falling in the sealing hall suddenly stopped, suspended in mid-air, as if held up by invisible glass. The next moment, the dust gently fell again, as if it had casually put the "movement" back.

Qin Yue finally let out a slow breath, but the gun barrel remained raised: "It... doesn't listen like it used to."

"Listen," Li Haotian said, staring at the black cat, "but you're even more selective in what you listen to."

Before the words were finished, a very faint friction sound came from deep within the sealed hall.

The sound was familiar—like teeth scraping against the edge of space. The "window" of the coffin nail temporarily blinded the pursuers, but blindness did not mean non-existence; it merely extended its tongue again in the darkness.

A tiny bump suddenly appeared at the edge of a crack that had been nailed shut on the stone wall.

The protrusion elongates, becoming a thin "sniffing limb," like a transparent tentacle, or a tendril extending from the crack itself. It doesn't dare to make a big show of itself, but only trembles gently in the air, probing the direction and the scent.

The gravedigger shouted sternly, "Don't move! Don't give it—"

Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Hei had already looked up.

It wasn't a turn, nor a jump; it was just a glance upwards. The silver mark on its forehead, like a vertical pupil, finally had a "focus," and a thin line of silver light, as thin as the back of a knife, fell upon the probing limb.

Then, it was as if a piece of space had been bitten off.

It wasn't a severance, nor a tear; it was a "missing" part. The sniffer limb, along with a small section of air in front of it, was simply missing—no cut, no blood, no debris, as if it had never existed. The next instant, the remaining part of the sniffer twitched violently, as if trying to make up for the missing part, but only produced an empty ripple before silently dissipating.

The sealing hall was eerily quiet.

Liu Hu swallowed hard, his voice weak: "It...ate it?"

Li Haotian slowly shook his head, his eyes turning cold: "It's not about eating it. It's about making it 'unfounded'."

This is more troublesome than eating. Eating involves digestion and comes at a cost; to directly eliminate a space is like erasing a line of text from a set of rules—the cost may be even greater, but the cost may not necessarily fall on that space; it could fall on any surrounding area that can bear it.

Sure enough, after the sniffer limbs disappeared, the runes in the four corners of the sealing hall all darkened, as if a bit of their "interpretive power" had been taken away. The flames of the ghostly lamps also flickered, and their bluish-white color became a little lighter, as if they had been diluted.

The tomb keeper steadied his staff, veins bulging on his forehead: "That one glance from it is worth three times breaking the formation. If it happens again, the Sealing Hall will be downgraded."

Qin Yue frowned: "What does 'dropping a level' mean?"

"It means—the door that could have blocked it will become a window that allows it to reach out." Li Haotian finished the tomb keeper's sentence, his voice was very soft, but it made people's chests tighten.

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the crack.

Then, a lower, softer friction came from afar, like a predator pressing its nose against a door crack, and when it can't smell the limbs, it resorts to another method. A cool sensation crept up the air, following the skin like invisible saliva.

Little Black flicked its tail and stood up.

It wasn't nervous; it was even somewhat excited. The brightness of the silver mark on its forehead was slowly increasing, like some newborn organ adapting to opening and closing. It took two steps towards the crack, and the runes beneath its feet immediately dimmed, as if suppressed by its shadow.

Li Haotian's heart tightened suddenly, and he immediately said in a deep voice, "Stop."

The black cat stopped.

It wasn't because of an order, but rather because it seemed willing to give this "stop" a chance. It turned to look at him, its vertical pupils with silver lines slightly narrowed, as if asking: Why?

Li Haotian gripped the token tightly, his knuckles turning white. He knew he couldn't force it now—forcing it would only expose more of its "deficiencies," and the Sealed Hall couldn't afford a second chance. But letting it get closer to the crack was also unacceptable: the Disaster Chaser wasn't stupid; it would use its power to pry open the opening.

He lowered his voice, as if negotiating with a wild beast: "We can't bite those things over there. If they do, we'll all be buried here."

Xiao Hei tilted its head.

The movements were still those of a cat, yet they lacked any trace of feline gentleness, instead conveying a calm acceptance of "understanding, but not necessarily agreement." Its nose twitched slightly, as if it too were sniffing the cool air. Then, it turned and slowly walked back to the center of the platform, lay down, and crossed its front paws, as if guarding its "nest."

The sense of clarity in the Sealed Hall gradually returned.

The embers after the silver cocoon disintegrated—some tiny fragments of silver light and black dust—drifted in the air, disappearing upon landing, as if casually filtered clean by this new form of breath. The deathly aura ceased to surge, the stone patterns on the ground became clearer, and the ancient runes on the walls lit up again, though a little dimmer than before, as if they had just undergone a bloodless attrition.

Qin Yue slowly lowered the muzzle of her gun, remaining vigilant: "What... is it now?"

The gravedigger's voice was hoarse: "Child of the Void. Second Form."

Li Haotian stared at the silver mark on Xiao Hei's forehead, feeling as if a stone was pressing on his chest. He suddenly understood why the previous "three rules" seemed like a joke: for it, rules weren't impossible to establish, but rather that it was inherently outside the bounds of rules. You could temporarily give it a line with a token, but it could turn that line into "absence" at any time.

He tucked the token back into his sleeve, his voice calm to the point of being cold: "Everyone, take three steps back, don't touch the runes. Tomb Keeper, hold your ground, re-enhance the runes—don't let its breath wear through the sealing hall."

The tomb keeper nodded, raised his wooden staff, and the talismanic light spread out like a thin mist, barely suppressing the dimness.

Liu Hu asked in a low voice, "Then what should we do with it? Just leave it like this?"

Li Haotian looked at the black cat on the platform. Its eyes were closed, as if it were asleep, but even the tip of its tail was not relaxed. The silver markings on its forehead occasionally flashed, as if it were biting into something unseen in a dream.

"Leave it," Li Haotian said, "but no one should assume it's ours."

He paused, his gaze passing over Little Black and landing on the nailed-on "mouth" deep within the sealed hall. The crack no longer stretched out, as if frightened away by that glance. Ember-like black mist drifted gently along the edge of the crack, like a predator holding its breath, relearning to wait.

Qingming Festival is back.

But beneath the Qingming Festival, an even more dangerous void has emerged.

Li Haotian swallowed the chill and said in a low voice, "The window is still there. While it's still 'blind,' let's go find the second door."

Inside the sealed hall, the pale blue flame of the lamp stood firm once more, illuminating a cat, a nail, and a room full of runes, as if illuminating a victory that would be even more difficult to end.