The conduit was slick with frozen, dark fluid. Lin Mo pushed off, gliding silently. [ENERGY CLOAK ACTIVE: 0.5 UNITS/MINUTE]
Alien hieroglyphs glowed faintly on the walls. The ring translated:
[CONTAINMENT BREACH: SUBJECT OMEGA]
[TERMINATION ORDER ISSUED]
[STATUS: UNKNOWN]
Deeper in, he found the source of the breach. A shattered containment cell. Scorch marks. And frozen, multi-limbed corpses – Tomb Keepers? – ripped apart.
[SCANNING… RESIDUAL ENTITY SIGNATURE: OMEGA - MATCH 0% TO KNOWN DATABASES]
Core Alpha pulsed ahead, embedded in a console. Lin Mo reached for it.
A shadow detached from the ceiling. Not machine. Not Sleeper. Something… organic. Chitinous plates. Too many jointed legs. A cluster of glowing red eyes locked onto him.
Subject Omega.
It moved. Faster than thought. A barbed limb lashed out.
Lin Mo absorbed the kinetic impact, but the force sent him spinning down the corridor. [ENERGY +3 UNITS | CLOAK INTEGRITY 85%]
Omega scuttled after him, clicking hungrily. It fed on energy. His cloak was a beacon.
Lin Mo ran. Not away. Toward a junction glowing with emergency lights. [DETECTING BACKUP POWER CONDUIT]
He ripped open a panel. Raw power cables spat arcs. [ENERGY SIGNATURE: HIGH]
Omega shrieked, drawn to the feast.
Lin Mo jammed the Void Seed ring into the conduit. [ABSORB OVERDRIVE: INITIATE]
The lights died. Omega lunged at the sudden power vacuum – straight into the dark conduit mouth.
Lin Mo released the absorbed energy back into the cables. A supercharged surge.
ZZZAAAAAPPP!
Omega lit up like a supernova, cooked from the inside. It crashed, smoking.
Lin Mo grabbed Core Alpha. The rift portal flickered. 30 seconds.
He raced back. Past Omega's twitching corpse. Past the dead Keepers.
As he dove through the collapsing rift, he saw it – deep within the shattered containment cell, half-buried in ice: a smaller, damaged Void Seed ring.
[ARTIFACT FRAGMENT DETECTED: VOID SEED (OMEGA)]
Then the portal snapped shut.