Ten minutes later...
"Oxygen supply system: 40 minutes remaining."
Ethan opened his eyes as the electronic voice chid. His face was grim. He had just compressed his Soul Sense into a single thread, probing upward. The compressed Soul Sense stretched in a straight line, reaching over four thousand ters underground. But it wasn’t enough. He still hadn’t seen the surface.
Adjusting his direction, Ethan spent another ten minutes scanning almost every angle around them. All he sensed was endless yellow sand. It was as if sand was the only substance left in the world. And he realized, with a sinking feeling, that they were still slowly descending.
About eight hours earlier, the sand had started swallowing them, dragging them to an unknown depth far beyond four thousand ters. Even if the flow stopped, climbing out would be impossible. If they dared to leave the vehicle, they’d suffocate within minutes.
What to do?
This was the most serious crisis Ethan had ever faced. And he wasn’t even sure whether dying here would an truly dying.
"Damn it... I didn’t die on the battlefield, only to suffocate in this place..." Uncle Jed slamd the seat in front of him. His voice was rough, bordering on desperation. "Should’ve known... I would’ve gladly fought that giant ant—better than dying like this!"
Ethan was already in no mood for complaints. He glared at Uncle Jed, ready to snap at him, but before he could speak, the vehicle lurched suddenly, dropping several ters. The floor shuddered beneath their feet.
This ti, Uncle Jed didn’t dare say another word. But Ethan’s eyes lit up, and the rebuke died in his throat. He rembered sothing he’d read about quicksand: when underground sand encounters water and the pressure shifts, the mixture can start flowing like liquid. Or sotis, a hidden cavity collapses, forming a vortex that pulls everything down.
In the latter case, the sinkage stops once the cavity is filled. But they were still descending. Which ant there was either an underground river beneath them—or a much larger cavity.
Either way, if they could reach the bottom, there might be a chance.
Thinking quickly, Ethan stomped his foot against the floor.
Thud...
The vehicle dropped faster.
"Ethan, are you crazy?" Uncle Jed’s eyes widened in disbelief. Nora Vance and Dot seed worse off, dazed and too frightened to speak. Ordinary people simply couldn’t compare to Ethan and Uncle Jed when it ca to enduring stress.
"Stop grumbling... help !" Ethan snapped, then began shaking the vehicle with both hands, making it sway from side to side. The descent speed increased again.
Uncle Jed clenched his jaw and joined him. The vehicle trembled under their combined effort.
"Oxygen supply system: 30 minutes remaining."
Ethan extended his Soul Sense downward again. Even within four thousand ters, he still couldn’t sense the bottom. His heart sank, but there was no other option. He kept shaking the vehicle.
"Oxygen supply system: 20 minutes remaining."
...
"Oxygen supply system: 10 minutes remaining."
...
"Oxygen supply system: 1 minute remaining."
Ti was running out. Ethan and Uncle Jed were drenched in sweat, muscles aching. The quicksand felt bottomless. In the past half hour, they had already descended a full five kiloters. Now, with only seconds of oxygen left, despair flooded everyone’s eyes.
"Oxygen supply system: Offline. In-vehicle oxygen remaining: maximum 3 minutes. Please evacuate the vehicle imdiately."
Ethan felt a surge of frustration so strong he could barely breathe. He had prepared so many supplies in his Mindscape space—why hadn’t he thought of oxygen equipnt? Three minutes. That was all they had left.
Across from him, Nora Vance was holding Dot close. She cupped the little girl’s face, staring at her as if trying to morize every detail.
"Mommy... what’s wrong?" Dot asked softly, her voice muffled by her mother’s arms. She was still too young to understand.
"Nothing... nothing..." Nora forced a smile even as tears stread down her cheeks. She tried to sound soothing, but her voice cracked.
For a mont, the vehicle fell into heavy silence. Ethan simply sank down against the wall, exhausted. Without their shaking, the descent slowed again, almost to a stop. Seconds ticked by. The only sound was the faint rustling of sand against the hull.
Then, Uncle Jed pulled out his chipped machete. He looked up at Nora and Dot.
Nora froze, and Ethan flinched, fearing the worst. But Uncle Jed’s eyes were clear, almost calm.
"I’ll go first," he said hoarsely. "You all can live a little longer."
He pressed the blade against his own neck.
"Uncle Jed..." Nora’s tears flowed faster, her lips trembling.
"Uncle Jed... no!" Ethan’s voice rang out suddenly. "We still have a chance!"
Uncle Jed hesitated. Nora turned to look at Ethan, her hope flickering like a candle in the wind. Ethan’s eyes were blazing now.
Just seconds before, his Soul Sense had stretched farther downward. For an instant, he felt the resistance lighten. His perception slipped through the sand and reached a huge cavity. Because nothing blocked it, his Soul Sense extended further—and he saw water.
An underground river.
"There’s an underground river channel below!" he shouted, his voice ragged with urgency. "If we follow it, we can get out."
"Really?" Uncle Jed asked, his voice shaking. "How much further?"
Ethan froze. The excitent drained from his face. He swallowed, feeling his heart seize.
Yes—how much further?
He knew the end of his Soul Sense was still four thousand ters away. At their current descent speed, they would need at least twenty minutes to reach it.
And there wasn’t enough air left for even two.
His expression told them everything. Uncle Jed’s shoulders slumped. Nora clutched Dot tighter, her knuckles white. The dread in the air was suffocating.
They couldn’t just wait to die. They had to find a way to fall faster.
’Speed up... Ethan’s mind raced. We need more speed.’
"Uncle Jed..." Ethan t his eyes, voice urgent. "Listen to ."
"What is it? Quick!" Uncle Jed demanded.
Ethan pulled him to the center of the vehicle and positioned him on the left side. "Use your Force Resonance. Exert all your strength as thrust. No holding back."
He kicked aside a seat in the way, pointing to a reinforced spot on the hull. "Here—focus it right here."
Uncle Jed looked at him, realizing what he intended. Using Force Resonance ant exhaling after each exertion, which would burn through their last traces of oxygen. But Ethan’s determination left no room for argunt.
Without hesitation, Uncle Jed pressed his palms against the spot.
Ethan climbed to the opposite side and braced his own hand on the roof. The vehicle hung nose-first, still descending at a crawl.
"Uncle Jed... get ready. On my count—three, we push together."
"Alright..." Uncle Jed exhaled, steadying himself.
But Ethan didn’t start imdiately. Instead, he climbed to the last row, unbuckled the seatbelts, and secured Nora and Dot to their seats. Then he pulled out a rope and tied Uncle Jed to the back of his own seat. Only then did he lash himself in.
He looked across the dim cabin. This is our last chance.
"One... two... three—GO!"
Their muscles tensed, veins standing out under their skin. Force Resonance made the air shimr faintly, like heat waves.
Thump...
The impact threw them backward, but the vehicle’s body rotated in the sand. The descent speed surged—then stopped again.
Ethan’s heart hamred. It worked.
Uncle Jed looked back at him, wide-eyed. "Harder—keep going!"
Thump... Thump... Thump...
They struck again and again, in perfect unison. Outside, the nose-down Predator Beast X began to rotate faster, like a drill burrowing through the sand.
If anyone could have seen it, they would have thought the machine was alive, straining to claw its way to freedom.
Inside, Ethan thanked every bit of luck that Uncle Jed had trained him this way. Without both of them generating force at the sa ti, the vehicle would never have spun.
Ti blurred. The rotation grew so fast that the entire cabin vibrated, the walls creaking under the pressure.
Thirty seconds before, the oxygen had run out.
Nora and Dot hung limp in their seatbelts, eyes congested and unfocused. Their chests rose in shallow gasps as their bodies fought for any trace of air.
Uncle Jed’s face turned red. His veins bulged, eyes bloodshot. Every heartbeat thundered painfully in Ethan’s ears.
Two hundred ters left... one hundred... fifty...
Ethan’s vision turned red. His hearing faded to a dull, pulsing roar. He could hardly feel his own hands. His thoughts grew slow and heavy, slipping away like sand between his fingers.
Then—suddenly—the resistance vanished.
Boom...
The Predator Beast X burst through the do of the cavity, spinning wildly. It slamd nose-first into the sand pile below. Yellow dust exploded in every direction.
The impact was enormous. Between that and the suffocation, Ethan’s consciousness finally went black. His last thought was fierce and bright: ’We’re saved... If the air system still works...’
After that, everything went silent.
Uncle Jed, Nora Vance, and Dot passed out beside him.
"External air detected as normal. Opening natural ventilation system."
The Predator Beast X, after rolling countless tis, finally settled.
Beep... hiss...
Fresh air flowed in as the sealed ventilation ports opened, filling the cabin with life again.
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