Free Web NovelChapter 289: Chapter 289: Ash Child Ravine
Ash Child Ravine lay beneath cliffs blackened by old fire.
No trees grew there. No birds crossed above it. The ground was covered in gray ash that kept the footprints of those who walked through it for only a few breaths before smoothing itself flat.
Qin Yuheng’s rescue coalition stopped at the ravine entrance.
Participants:
Qin Yuheng’s core team.
Qin Yuchen, Qin Lian, Qin Mo.
Han Shuren as academy combat supervisor.
Two military scouts.
One Central Academy seal analyst.
Three local province guards.
Silent Heaven shadows hidden beyond official formation.
Jiang Yuexuan’s remote residue guidance through a sealed jade.
The two rescued children were already evacuated.
Four remained.
The mission was no longer a Tower floor, but Qin Yuheng treated it with the same discipline.
No rushing.
No splitting without anchor.
No accepting "choose one child" traps.
No blood payment.
No dream doors.
At the ravine entrance, Qin Mo placed the Dream Boundary Recognition Bell and Child Talent Root Protection Core resonance into a portable array.
The bell rang faintly.
Children were inside.
Alive.
Sedated.
Qin Yuheng’s expression did not change, but his aura sharpened.
Han Shuren looked at him.
"Steady."
"I am."
"Good."
The first trap was emotional.
Four paths opened, each carrying one child’s voice crying for help.
The Familiar Voice Verification Pearl confirmed all voices were copied from real children.
But not live.
Qin Mo used the Unbroken Team Path Anchor and Dream Boundary Bell.
The four paths were false.
The true path was beneath the ash.
Qin Lian found it.
They descended.
The ravine interior contained old cages, broken training dolls, and red-black dream stones. This was not the final Blood Sun base. It was a temporary processing site for child-path marking.
That alone was enough to make everyone’s killing intent rise.
The guards they encountered were stronger than disposable agents.
[Blood Sun Child-Path Handler]
Estimated Equivalent Level: 52–58
Specialty:
Sedation seals, dream-script needles, talent root probes.
The battle became fierce.
Qin Yuheng used direct thunder movement. More action than negotiation. He could not allow handlers time to trigger child-root damage.
Qin Yuchen held the left corridor against three handlers.
Qin Lian moved through ash shadows, cutting alarm threads before they spread.
Qin Mo disabled dream-script arrays while cursing continuously.
Han Shuren demonstrated why he was an academy battle instructor: he crushed two handlers with blunt force, leaving them alive for interrogation.
One tried to destroy his memory.
The Central Academy analyst sealed him in time.
A small victory.
They reached the child chamber.
Four children lay inside crystal sleep coffins. Above them floated a red-black seed.
Qin Mo’s face changed.
"Centralized dream graft. If we break wrong, roots scar."
Qin Yuheng took out the Future Talent Scar Healing Core, Child Talent Root Protection Core, and Innocent Guarantor Liberation Seal.
Then the red-black seed opened like an eye.
A projection appeared.
Mo Cangyan.
Not fully.
A prepared recording.
He smiled faintly.
"Standards fight in the dark after all."
Qin Yuheng did not answer.
Mo Cangyan continued.
"You saved two. You found four. Good. But while you are here, three other villages will doubt whether standards protect or provoke."
Qin Mo whispered, "Ignore."
Qin Yuheng ignored.
The projection smiled wider.
"Can your roads trust themselves when children bleed?"
Then it vanished.
The red-black seed activated.
A countdown began.
Qin Mo shouted, "Root collapse in sixty breaths!"
Qin Yuheng assigned instantly.
"Mo, central seal. Yuchen, guard door. Lian, cut projection remnants. Han Shuren, suppress handlers. I stabilize children."
He placed both hands near the coffins and activated the Self That Cannot Be Owned Core resonance.
"These futures are not yours."
The red-black seed resisted.
It tried to claim the children as "standard failure evidence."
That was new.
Blood Sun had turned rescued children into symbolic weapons.
Qin Yuheng used the Public Truth Resonance Mirror and Talent Theft Evidence Codex.
"No. Evidence belongs to truth, not enemy narrative."
The seed cracked.
Qin Mo completed the seal.
The coffins opened.
Four children breathed.
Alive.
Talent roots damaged, but not destroyed.
[Child root collapse prevented.]
[Residual scar level:
Moderate.]
Not perfect.
Not full victory.
The Future Talent Scar Healing Core could help, but scars would remain for some time.
Qin Yuheng closed his eyes briefly.
Mo Cangyan had achieved something.
The children were saved, but harmed.
Clear Reed Hamlet would never fully return to before.
The standards had not failed completely.
But they had been bloodied. freewebnovёl.ƈom
Qin Yuheng opened his eyes.
"Evacuate."
As they left Ash Child Ravine, Qin Yuheng looked back once.
He did not swear revenge aloud.
He did not need to.
The next stage would change.
Defense alone was no longer enough.
They needed to strike at the networks enabling these attacks.
