They say I'm a world-destroying anomaly.

Chapter 18 Collapse

What's going on?

Am I not dead?

What's going on?

Fields could hear his own heavy breathing, and the air carried a faint, metallic scent of blood.

A cool breeze blew in from the gap in the dome, making him shiver and finally realize that he was still alive.

He looked up, but the sight before him made him wonder if he was still dreaming.

The crystalline hand that blocked out the sunlight stopped outside the stronghold, only a few meters away from the dome.

The owner of the palm, the world-destroying crystal giant, also remained quietly in place, motionless.

Time seemed to stand still, and everything seemed so unreal.

Theodore and the others opened their eyes one after another, their faces blank with the look of newborn babies.

Why am I still alive?

The same question arose in everyone's mind. They recalled everything that had just happened, and remembered Cheng Xu's angry roar.

All eyes turned to Cheng Xu, filled with surprise, doubt, and disbelief.

It's impossible that just because this young man from the Anomaly Management Bureau shouted, the Crystal Giant would actually obey and stop moving, right?

Cheng Xu was completely stunned.

In that instant, the horrific scene of the giant hand of the crystal rock golem falling flashed through his mind, along with the image of the completely collapsed stronghold and the shattered flesh within.

He realized that he would die under this giant hand.

Then only one pure thought remained in his mind—

I want to stop it.

But when the crystal giant actually stopped, Cheng Xu was stunned.

He didn't believe he really had the ability to make the crystal giants immobile with just a roar.

"Did the Bureau's reinforcements arrive? Did they eliminate the Titan at the crucial moment?"

He came up with the most likely explanation.

Hu Zhou looked at Cheng Xu, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

He knew that the Bureau's support couldn't be so quick, and there were no weapons on Golun Star that could take down the Crystal Giant in one strike.

Even though he was the captain of the special operations team and a senior agent of the Administration Bureau, he was powerless in that situation.

From beginning to end, his gaze remained fixed on Cheng Xu, never wavering.

In the face of life-or-death crisis, Hu Zhou remained exceptionally clear-headed. If any miracle could possibly occur at this moment, it would undoubtedly stem from his subordinate, this "final-level anomaly."

And the facts did not disappoint him.

He clearly saw that the crystal giant's movements came to an abrupt halt precisely at the very moment Cheng Xu's last bullet pierced the gap in the dome and struck the giant stone's palm.

During this process, Hu Zhou did not see anything unusual about Cheng Xu.

Just like that afternoon ten days ago, when he received Cheng Xu's report on the abnormal fungal activity, there was nothing unusual about this young "person".

But the truth is, even in this ordinary state, Cheng Xu once again exerted some kind of "influence" on the anomaly.

He wanted the crystal giant to stop, so the crystal giant stopped.

The thought of that sentence struck Hu Zhou like a jolt, sending shivers down his spine.

"Click click click click click—"

A sudden, loud cracking sound jolted everyone in the stronghold out of their daze.

The sound was like a crisp clap of thunder, and it seemed to come from... overhead!

At a certain point on the palm of the giant crystal hand, cracks began to spread, quickly covering the entire palm, and even the wrist and arm.

Small fragments of crystal rock fell down in a flurry, and everyone hurriedly dodged.

Even if it's just a small fragment to the crystal giant, if it really hits it hard, it would probably cause serious injury or even death.

"Damn it! Retreat!"

Theodore and Fields' two bodyguards carried the life support capsule containing the last critically wounded patient and rushed towards the emergency exit without a second thought.

The other explorers also exerted all their strength, tumbling and crawling towards the entrance of the passage.

The Crystal Giant is about to shatter!

They were keenly aware that the danger was not over until everyone had evacuated to the spaceship.

Hu Zhou glanced back at the crystal giant one last time and found that cracks had spread all over its body.

The hand above their heads had begun to disintegrate, and giant crystal blocks, several meters in diameter, rained down.

"Walk!"

Cracks flashed like lightning across the crystal giant's body. Patches of obsidian armor on its neck peeled away, revealing the silicon-based muscle bundles beneath.

These glowing, crimson fibers convulsed violently in the air, each spasm triggering high-frequency shockwaves that whipped up a massive, sky-covering sandstorm of crystalline rocks.

Its legs could no longer support its body, and the giant collapsed to its knees as if a mountain had avalanche.

The right leg snapped at the knee, the massive basalt thigh crashing to the ground, creating a ring of earth at the point of impact. The supporting pillar of the left leg shattered under the immense pressure, scattering pieces across the ground.

The unrestrained lava blood within its body burst through the rock shell, and countless tiny rivers of magma rushed outwards, instantly crystallizing wherever they touched.

The disaster caused by the collapse continues. Those evacuated from the base rushed towards the spaceship through the emergency exits, wishing they had two more legs.

The immense impact shattered the earth, creating countless bottomless cracks. One of these cracks rapidly extended and appeared right beneath the feet of Cheng Xu and Fields, who were running side by side.

Without any time to react or any warning, the two lost their footing and plummeted into the depths of the crevice.

"Cheng Xu!"

"Young Master Fields!"

Hu Zhou, Theodore, and the others watched helplessly as this scene unfolded in the blink of an eye, powerless to stop it.

A rapid, piercing alarm bell rang on the spaceship, urging them to board as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if they were even a fraction of a second slower, the spaceship itself might be swallowed by the fissure in the earth.

Without a second thought, the last group of people rushed into the spaceship. The next moment, the hatch closed, and the transport ship soared into the sky.

-----------------

After an unknown amount of time, Cheng Xu slowly woke up from his coma.

The cave was dark and gloomy, with the faint sound of flowing water in his ears. The crystalline rocks that shimmered in the light all around allowed Cheng Xu to barely see his surroundings.

The air carried a faint smell of metallic corrosion, and moss left dark green marks on the stone walls. Stalactites hung from the dome, dripping water droplets from their tips, while stalagmites quietly grew below.

"Where is this place?"

Cheng Xu sat up and first checked his own condition.

He recalled what happened before he lost consciousness: he fell into a crack created by the impact and lost consciousness in the violent fall.

Perhaps due to the numerous obstacles that cushioned his fall, his entire body ached slightly from the impacts, but he was not seriously injured, thanks to the protection of his combat suit.

"I remember Fields was right next to me then, how is he?"

Thinking of Fields, Cheng Xu struggled to stand up, but the movement aggravated his pain, causing him to hiss and gasp for breath.

Perhaps it was the noise he made getting up that caused a movement in a shadow not far in front of him, and Fields' groggy voice rang out.

"Brother Cheng, is that you? Where are we?"