Chapter 119 Spoils and Prisoners

The outskirts of the Kuiper Belt; the smoke of battle had not yet dissipated.

The once-silent vacuum was now floating with countless metal wrecks.

Those once arrogant vanguard ships of the Mechanical Papacy were now scattered miserably across tens of thousands of kilometers of space, looking like dismantled Lego bricks.

A pyrrhic victory.

The armor surface of the luan bird was pockmarked with craters, its left power wing even snapped off, still sparking with electricity. The surrounding escort fleet had suffered nearly thirty percent losses.

But at this moment, Lin Yuan was piloting the emergency-repaired ghost, weaving through the wreckage.

Lin Yuan manipulated the mechanical arm, skillfully cutting open the main control room of an enemy ship and yanking out the memory metal motherboard inside like pulling a radish.

"gaia! Mark all high-energy reactors! Don't let a single screw slip by!"

In the communication channel, the originally gloomy atmosphere was diluted significantly by this roar filled with mercenary spirit.

"Commander, those are the enemy's corpses..." Li Na reminded him, somewhat helplessly.

"What corpses? Those are resources!" Lin Yuan retorted righteously. "This is a 'gift package' they sent from so far away! Not taking it would be disrespectful to the guests!"

This was the logic of a scavenger. When enemies are alive, they are threats; when they are dead, they are ore.

"Beep—! S-class energy fluctuation detected!"

The system's alarm suddenly made Lin Yuan's eardrums ache.

He stopped deep within the wreckage of a flagship that had been cut in half. Amidst the twisted keel and leaking radiation fluid, there was a fist-sized ball of silver light, pulsing rhythmically like a heart.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

With every beat, the surrounding metal debris would emit a slight resonant vibration.

Lin Yuan controlled the mechanical arm to carefully retrieve it.

It felt heavy in his hand; despite being metal, it had a warm touch.

[Item Name: Primary Mechanical Godhead Fragment (Active)]

[Source: Core of a Mechanical Papacy "Apostle"-class Priest]

[Function: Contains the "Mechanical Ascension" law; can grant inorganic matter primary intelligence and self-evolution capabilities.]

[Note: Congratulations, you have found a part of a true "god"'s part.]

Lin Yuan's breathing stalled for half a second.

Granting machines... a soul?

"Good stuff, it's mine now." Lin Yuan grinned and backhanded it into his highest-security Subspace storage slot.

Just then, the radar screamed again.

"Attention! Weak life signal detected at three o'clock! Attempting to escape!"

Lin Yuan whipped his head around.

He saw an inconspicuous shuttle-shaped escape pod, using the cover of the wreckage to shut down all engines, attempting to glide out of the battlefield using inertia.

"Trying to run?"

The ghost's engine nozzles flared with blue light, accelerating instantly.

In the face of absolute speed, that escape pod was like a turtle targeted by a cheetah. Lin Yuan didn't even bother using weapons; he simply grabbed the escape pod's tail fin with the mechanical arm and dragged it back, despite the panicked thruster firing from the other side.

"Since you've come, don't be in such a rush to leave."

Lin Yuan's voice was like a devil's whisper.

Ten minutes later, Heavenly Court Fortress, maximum-security interrogation room.

A group of scientists in white lab coats gathered in front of the bulletproof glass, pointing and gesturing at the inside, their eyes filled with curiosity.

Behind the glass was a "creature" stripped of its outer armor.

To be precise, it was a giant brain floating in a tank of maintenance fluid. Connected beneath the brain were dense nerve bundles and mechanical interfaces, and on top grew a bloodshot electronic prosthetic eye.

This was a "Missionary" of the Mechanical Papacy.

In pursuit of ultimate computing power and eternity, they had abandoned their "frail" physical bodies, turning themselves into this half-human, half-ghost appearance.

"Lowly... carbon-based lifeforms..."

The speaker in the tank emitted a harsh, electronically synthesized voice, filled with haughty arrogance, "You are desecrating the messenger of God! The great God of Machines will bring down divine punishment and completely format your planet!"

Lin Yuan sat in a chair, holding a cup of goji berry tea, blowing on the steam.

"Format?"

He put down the teacup, walked to the tank, and tapped the glass wall lightly with his finger.

Ding.

"In that battle just now, your fleet was beaten into scrap metal by us. Is this divine punishment a bit weak?"

"That was an accident! We underestimated the enemy!" The Missionary's single eye spun frantically. "The Crusaders... once the main Crusader fleet arrives, you bugs..."

"Ah, right, the Crusaders."

Lin Yuan interrupted its roaring, his eyes suddenly becoming as sharp as a blade. SSS-rank talent [Void Affinity] activated; an invisible mental spike instantly pierced through the glass and stabbed viciously into the brain's cortex.

"Ahhhhhh—!!!"

The scream was no longer an electronic sound, but a ripple vibration caused by the brain convulsing violently in the liquid.

"I don't like listening to nonsense." Lin Yuan's voice was very soft, yet it sent a chill through everyone present. "Do you want to turn into a pot of brain stew right now, or will you honestly tell me how many ships are coming behind you?"

The mental storm ravaged that fragile brain. For a creature that had abandoned its body and only had its consciousness remaining, Lin Yuan's method of attacking the soul directly was ten thousand times more painful than death by a thousand cuts.

"Speak! I'll speak!!!"

In just three seconds, the so-called "faith in God" collapsed.

"The vanguard was only... only for locating coordinates..."

The Missionary's thought waves were filled with fear. "The 'God's Punishment' Crusader fleet led by the Archbishop is already assembling in Centaurus... Three full-strength fleets... That is to recover the 'gate of hades'... and to erase all witnesses..."

Three full-strength fleets.

Chen Weiguo, standing behind him, sank his face.

In the battle just now, the Great Xia had used all its strength to take out one vanguard fleet. If it were three main fleets...

"How long?" Lin Yuan asked.

"According to your time, three years and eight months..."

Lin Yuan withdrew his mental power.

The brain slumped in the liquid like mush, no longer moving.

"Three years." Lin Yuan turned around, looking at the grim-faced crowd. "Faster than expected."

"But that's not the worst news."

Academician Wang suddenly pushed the door open and entered, holding a lead box, his eyes fanatical to the point of being scary.

"Lin Yuan, the 'Mechanical Godhead' you brought back, gaia has analyzed it."

The old Academician placed the box on the table and opened it.

That pulsing metal heart was exposed to the air.

"It can not only grant intelligence to machines, but more importantly, it contains an energy radiation field called the 'Allspark'." Academician Wang's voice was trembling. "Do you know what this means?"

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow: "Can it make spicy hot pot?"

"It can turn our warships and mechs from dead objects into living ones!"

Academician Wang waved his arms excitedly. "No more need for cumbersome operating systems, no more limitations from the latency of human nerve reaction speeds! If we implant this thing into the core of 'Heavenly Court', or mass-produce this radiation..."

"We can create a brand new type of war weapon."

"A mechanical lifeform that possesses autonomous consciousness, can self-repair, and even evolve during combat!"

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment.

He looked at the metal heart, and a few familiar words suddenly popped into his head.

Autobots? Decepticons?

Is this the rhythm of starting Cybertron in Great Xia?

"Can it be controlled?" Lin Yuan asked the most critical question. "Don't create a bunch of 'Asura' generation two, only for them to turn around and wipe us out."

"That is the most magical part about it." Academician Wang pointed to the faint red light on the heart. "It is just a blank 'soul container'. We can write the underlying logic of absolute loyalty to Great Xia into it—just like swearing an oath for new recruits joining the army!"

"Set the first directive as: Serve the people?" Lin Yuan laughed.

The image of that is exciting just to think about.

A group of hundred-meter-tall mechanical giants lining up in outer space, saluting the Five-Star Red Flag.

That scene, if the Eagle Sauce saw it, they'd wet their pants on the spot.

"Let's do it!"

Lin Yuan slammed the table. "Since they want to bring some Crusaders, we'll prepare a 'Transformer' brigade for them!"

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the busy cleanup scene outside.

Countless engineering ships were dragging the enemy ship wreckage back to the fortress's furnace like ants moving house.

Those sharp swords that once attempted to destroy humanity were about to be melted, recast, and turned into shields to protect this blue planet.

"Three years..."

Lin Yuan's pupils reflected the deep starry sky.