Chapter 2：Escape and Choice

The piercing alarm sliced through the mine's silence like a blade, red warning lights flashing frantically, casting the shadowy tunnels in hellish hues. Roy clutched Ling tightly as he sprinted along the rust-streaked rails. Behind them, heavy metallic footsteps and the rumble of mechanical operations drew closer with each passing second.

 "Those things are catching up!" Roy glanced back to see three spider-shaped mechanical guardians moving at high speed across the ground with their multiple metallic limbs, their red scanners locked firmly onto their targets.

 Ling gasped weakly in his arms. The backlash from using Soul Weaving had left her face deathly pale, the dragon horns on her forehead drained of their luster. "I... I have no strength left..." Her voice was barely a whisper.

 "Don't sleep, don't sleep, hang on!" Roy gritted his teeth, shifting Ling to his left shoulder and rapidly deploying his right mechanical prosthetic. "Pandora's Box, defense mode!"

 His prosthetic transformed instantly, the forearm section expanding into an alloy shield that deflected a laser blast in the nick of time, sparks flying. In the brief gap between attacks, Roy retracted the shield and nimbly dodged into a narrow side passage.

 Not far ahead lay an abandoned mine cart transfer platform, several decrepit carts sitting askew on dulled tracks. Roy's eyes flashed with precise calculation.

 "Listen," he spoke rapidly to Ling on his shoulder, "can you still control those mine carts? Nothing complex—just make them move and create chaos!"

 Ling nodded with difficulty, taking a deep breath as if trying to gather what little strength remained within her.

 Roy gently set her down in the depths of the side passage, then burst out. He raised his mechanical arm, its built-in EMP emitter firing at the pursuing mechanical guardians. Though not particularly powerful, it was enough to enrage those mindless hunks of metal.

 As expected, all three guardians immediately turned to pursue Roy. He weaved through the mine's complex terrain at breakneck speed, laser beams narrowly missing him and leaving alarming scorch marks on the rock walls. His adrenaline-fueled superhuman reflexes allowed him to barely dodge each attack.

 "Now!" When the final guardian stepped onto the platform area, Roy roared and rolled behind some abandoned components.

 Ling extended trembling hands, a wisp of ghostly blue light struggling to emerge from her fingertips and flow into the corroded control console at the platform's center. "Move... move..." she whispered with her last ounce of strength.

 The harsh sound of metal grinding filled the air as the abandoned mine carts, as if pushed by invisible hands, began careening wildly across the platform. The mechanical guardians' orderly formation was instantly disrupted—one was knocked over by an out-of-control cart from the side, its heavy body crashing down on its companion. Another was pushed over the platform's edge into the abyss.

 "Well done!" Roy burst from cover, scooping up the nearly collapsing Ling and racing toward the mine's exit.

 Finally, weak moonlight appeared ahead. The two stumbled out of the mine, greedily breathing the tainted but free air. Ling collapsed onto the cold ground, completely drained, gasping heavily. The teardrop-shaped blue gem at her throat swayed gently with her heaving chest, emanating a faint glow.

 Roy leaned against the rock wall to catch his breath, looking at this enigmatic girl beside him. Her dragon horns had gone completely dark, and she appeared like a flower about to wither.

 "Are... are you alright?" Roy asked, his voice slightly hoarse from their frantic escape.

 Ling struggled to slowly lift her head, those ruby-like eyes holding the dazed look of someone who had narrowly escaped death. "I'm still... alive. Thank you." Her voice was so soft it seemed ready to vanish into the night wind.

 Just as Roy was about to ask about her identity, his collar radio crackled with the foreman's anxious voice: "Roy! Where are you? Those damn company supervisors are here! They say you triggered the mining area's defense system!"

 Roy's heart sank. So soon?

 Almost simultaneously, several harsh flashlight beams cut through the night, followed by heavy, synchronized footsteps. Over a dozen well-equipped armed personnel in black uniforms quickly surrounded them from different directions. Leading them was a stern-faced middle-aged man wearing an elaborate "NSRU" badge on his chest.

 "Engineer Roy," the middle-aged man's voice was cold and merciless, his sharp gaze locking directly onto Ling slumped on the ground and the necklace at her throat, "it seems your 'assessment' work yielded quite a harvest."

 Ling sensed the approaching danger and struggled to stand, but was roughly pinned down by two armed personnel.

 "Wait! What are you doing? She's just..." Roy immediately stepped forward.

 "Shut up." The middle-aged man coldly interrupted, signaling to an armed subordinate with his eyes. The man stepped forward and expertly yanked the necklace from Ling's throat.

 "No!" Ling cried out, her ruby eyes instantly filling with despair and rage. But as the necklace left her body, she seemed drained of her last vestige of strength, her body going completely limp as the armed personnel dragged her without mercy.

 The middle-aged man examined the necklace carefully, and after a moment, his rigid face showed satisfaction. "Interesting. Roy, you did well." He pulled a bank card from his pocket and tossed it to Roy. "Here's your payment—triple rate. Now you can go. Remember, you saw nothing tonight."

 Roy instinctively caught the bank card, its cold metallic touch clearing his chaotic thoughts slightly. He watched Ling being roughly handled, her panic-filled eyes gripping his heart tightly.

 He remembered how in the laboratory, this girl had exhausted her strength using Soul Weaving to save him with unwavering determination. She had told him: "You saved me, now it's my turn to save you." But now, when she needed help, he was...

 "I have a question." Roy suddenly spoke, his voice surprisingly calm. "What was that underground laboratory?"

 The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes: "That's not for you to ask."

 "And what's the girl's identity?" Roy continued, meeting the man's gaze directly. "I have the right to know what I was involved in."

 "Engineer Roy," the middle-aged man's voice carried a warning tone, "I suggest you don't be too curious. Take your payment and leave—it's better for everyone."

 Roy looked at the bank card in his hand, then at Ling being escorted toward the landing craft. In that moment, content from the mysterious document about "Entropy Fatalism" surfaced in his mind again. If the universe was truly destined for extinction, then beings like Ling who possessed ancient powers might be the key to breaking that fate.

 More importantly, he felt he'd been used. From the beginning, NSRU had known about the underground laboratory's existence and what it contained. They had hired him merely to break that ancient seal, then reap the benefits.

 "Take her away." The middle-aged man waved his hand, issuing the command.

 Roy gripped the bank card tightly, watching Ling being loaded onto the landing craft. Engine roars filled the night sky before quickly disappearing into the distance.

 Only Roy remained at the mine entrance. He squeezed the bank card in his hand—triple payment, enough for him to live comfortably for a long time. From a mission standpoint, he had exceeded expectations.

 He tried to convince himself this was just ordinary business. Take the money and walk away, return to his life.

 But Ling's words when she saved him—"now it's my turn to save you"—kept echoing in his mind, her final desperate look burned into his memory like a brand.

 "Damn it!" Why did he, who usually just took money and did jobs, now care about a stranger's fate?

 That laboratory, the mysteries surrounding her, and that "Tear of the First Dragon"...

 He suddenly recalled the "Dragon Ark" mentioned in that document. If that underground laboratory truly was part of the ark, then Ling's identity was more than just an ordinary dragon. She might be her entire race's last hope.

 Roy looked toward where the landing craft had vanished, then turned back toward the mine entrance. In those dark depths, perhaps more secrets still lay hidden. But venturing inside would be too dangerous. His right mechanical prosthetic rotated slightly, emitting subtle mechanical sounds.

 He pocketed the bank card and surveyed his surroundings.

 His gaze settled on several small Buzzer aircraft parked at the nearby mining area landing pad—vehicles the miners used for rapid transport between various shafts.

 Roy stared at those aircraft, an impulse he couldn't explain rising within him.

"Roy, you idiot," he said to himself, "isn't triple payment enough to buy your sanity?"

 But his feet had already betrayed his brain.