Chapter 124 Soul Buffet

"Heavenly Court" Fortress, Sector C Arsenal.

Beneath the massive dome, ten thousand unpainted black mechs stood silently, like a silent forest of steel.

They possessed the most perfect mechanical structures and the sturdiest alloy armor, yet they lacked one thing—a soul.

Lin Yuan stood on the maintenance bridge, looking at this spectacular yet deathly still scene, and felt his teeth ache.

It was the kind of feeling where you win a five-million-dollar jackpot and rush to claim it, only for the staff to tell you: the processing fee is also five million.

"Ten thousand units of high-dimensional psionic energy..."

Lin Yuan glanced at his remaining three-digit authority points, then at gaia standing nearby with an innocent face, feeding machine oil to "Xingtian-01".

"gaia, if I sold you right now, how many points do you think I could get?"

gaia's mercury-like eyes blinked, and she calculated with a serious face: "Commander, according to the cosmic black market's quotes for 'native god-level AI', I could be exchanged for about one standard fleet. But since I am bound to you, if you sell me, your system will self-destruct. I suggest you try a different approach."

"For example?"

"For example... go rob someone?" gaia waved her little hand, pulling up the interface of the deep space salvage system. "Although the system does not produce energy, it is a transporter for Mother Nature."

On the holographic screen, countless red high-risk zones were flashing.

Lin Yuan's gaze swept past the ruins that had already been explored, finally settling on a coordinate he had never set foot in before.

【Zone 005: Psionic Ascendant Graveyard】

【Danger Level: SSS】

【Entrance Ticket: 1000 authority points (System discount: 100 points)】

【Brief: A failed civilization that attempted to abandon its physical form and pursue pure spiritual ascension. There is no matter here, only eternal gray mist and billions of restless... obsessions.】

【Warning: Physical attacks are ineffective. Due to the nature of this zone, no technological creations can be brought in; only the host's consciousness can descend.】

"Physically immune? Can only enter via consciousness?" Lin Yuan rubbed his chin.

This sounded like a trap specifically prepared for him. No mechs, no guns, not even a body, which was just a burden.

But looking at the ten thousand mechs waiting to be awakened beneath his feet, the hesitation in Lin Yuan's eyes instantly turned into ruthlessness.

Poverty is the greatest original sin.

"Buy the ticket."

Lin Yuan found a comfortable position on the command chair and closed his eyes. "gaia, watch over my physical body. Don't let anyone cut out my kidneys."

"Understood, Commander."

...

Dizziness. An intense sensation of weightlessness.

When Lin Yuan opened his eyes again, the mechanical roaring in his ears had disappeared, replaced by a teeth-grinding screech that sounded like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.

There was no sky here, no earth.

All around was thick, impenetrable gray mist; visibility was less than five meters. The air was permeated with a cold atmosphere—not a low temperature, but a chill that could directly freeze the soul.

Lin Yuan raised his hand and looked at his "body."

It was a translucent energy form, maintaining his appearance from reality.

"Is this Zone 005?" Lin Yuan tried moving his limbs, feeling as if he were swimming in thick glue.

"Whoosh—" A cold wind blew by. The gray mist suddenly churned violently.

Lin Yuan turned his head sharply. Behind him, the gray mist had condensed into a huge, twisted human face. It had no features, only three pitch-black abysses representing eyes and a mouth.

"Liv...ing... person..." "Fresh... and... delicious..."

The intermittent whispering exploded directly in Lin Yuan's mind, as if countless flies were buzzing around inside his skull.

Following that, the gray mist boiled. Hundreds, thousands of translucent shadows surged in from all directions. Some were shaped like withered bones, others like aliens, but the only thing they had in common was that their eyes, when looking at Lin Yuan, were filled with hunger.

It was like ghosts that had been starving for millions of years suddenly seeing a piece of Kobe beef.

"Tsk, so enthusiastic right from the start?"

Lin Yuan instinctively wanted to draw his gun, but grabbed empty air. That was when he remembered that guns were forbidden here.

"Roar!" The giant mist face launched the first attack. It opened its abyss-like mouth and bit down directly at Lin Yuan's head.

There was no physical sensation of impact; Lin Yuan only felt a sharp pain in his brain, as if someone had stabbed a red-hot iron rod into his skull.

Possession! These ghost things weren't craving his meat, they were craving his spiritual body!

"Get out!" Lin Yuan's eyes turned blood-red, and he instinctively mobilized all his spiritual power to counterattack.

If it were an ordinary person, their consciousness would have already been crushed by that massive resentment, turning them into new nutrients for this graveyard. But Lin Yuan was no ordinary person.

Inside him, he had fused with the 【void crystal core】 and possessed a system-rated SSS passive talent—【Void Affinity】.

Just as the mist was about to devour Lin Yuan's consciousness core, a deep purple light suddenly lit up between his eyebrows. It wasn't light. It was a... vortex. A black hole connecting to the endless void.

The mist face, which had been preparing to feast, suddenly froze. Its originally greedy emotions instantly turned into extreme terror.

It realized that what it had bitten into wasn't a piece of fatty meat, but a... meat grinder spinning in reverse!

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!" This time, it was the ghost face's turn to scream.

It desperately tried to retreat, wanting to pull its spiritual tentacles out of Lin Yuan's brain. But the purple vortex generated an irresistible suction force, like a vacuum cleaner sucking up dust, tearing its massive body apart, stretching it, and devouring it bit by bit.

"Wait... this taste..." Lin Yuan's previously pained expression vanished.

As the mist was shredded and sucked in, a wave of cool, extremely pure energy flowed from his brow throughout his entire body. The previous discomfort was swept away, replaced by a refreshing sensation of spiritual sublimation.

It was like drinking a bottle of ice-cold Sprite on a hot summer day. Refreshing to the core, lifting the spirit.

【System: Consumed one "Fallen Spirit".】 【Psionic power limit +50】 【Brain development: 31.5% -> 31.6%】

The system's notification sound was, at this moment, even more beautiful than a Beethoven symphony.

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment, then an extremely dangerous smile slowly bloomed on his translucent face.

He looked up at the demons and monsters all around that had been preparing to pounce.

Those originally ferocious ghosts stopped in unison. Although they didn't have brains, their instincts as spiritual entities told them—the script ahead seemed to have been flipped. The hunter had become the prey.

"Running?" Lin Yuan licked his lips, purple light surging in his eyes, and the void vortex, which had originally been the size of a coin, instantly expanded to the size of a millstone.

"Since you're already here, you might as well leave behind some specialties." "Buffet time has arrived."

Boom! Lin Yuan's figure turned into a streak of purple light, actively charging into the dense tide of ghosts. This wasn't an expedition; this was a mouse falling into a rice jar!

"Ah!!!" "Spare me!!" "He is a devil! He is more like a devil than we are!!"

Zone 005, this forbidden land for the living that made countless interstellar explorers tremble with fear, was now echoing with shrill screams. But the ones screaming weren't the explorers; they were the native inhabitants.

Lin Yuan was like a hungry wolf that had broken into a sheepfold. He didn't need any technique; all he had to do was open his 【Void Affinity】 force field. Any spirit he touched would instantly be broken down into the purest spiritual particles, becoming nutrients for his brain's evolution.

Devour! Devour! Devour frantically!

【Brain development: 40%... Skill unlocked: Telekinesis (Basic)】 【Brain development: 50%... Skill unlocked: Psionic Spike】 【Brain development: 60%... Skill unlocked: Telepathy (Wide-area)】

Lin Yuan felt his thinking speed soaring exponentially. The originally chaotic gray mist turned into clear lines in his perception. He could even "see" a tiny spirit bug trembling several kilometers away.

Two hours later. Lin Yuan stood at the very center of this graveyard. The surroundings were empty. Within a ten-kilometer radius, not even a single lonely ghost could be found; it was as clean as a hard drive that had just been formatted.

And in front of him, floating there, was a crystal tower condensed from pure spiritual power. That was the final legacy of this failed civilization.

"Is this the aggregate of high-dimensional psionic energy?"

Lin Yuan reached out his hand, encountering no obstacles, and his fingertips touched the brilliant gem at the top of the tower.

【Core treasure detected: Psionic Amplifier (S-rank)】 【Function: Can convert intangible spiritual power into tangible physical kinetic energy and construct a massive hive mind network.】 【Bonus: Basic Psionic Network Construction Blueprint x1】

"Found it." Lin Yuan grasped the gem, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. With this, those ten thousand mechs would no longer be scrap metal, but a... undead legion that obeyed orders and moved as one.

"Return." Following Lin Yuan's command, the surrounding gray mist began to collapse, and the sensation of weightlessness struck again.

...

"Heavenly Court" Fortress, Command Room.

"Beep—" "Vital signs have stabilized, brainwave activity... Oh my god, it's off the charts!"

Lin Yuan opened his eyes abruptly and sat up from the command chair. The feeling of his soul leaving his body had disappeared, replaced by the heaviness of his physical body, but the world in his eyes had changed.

The dust floating in the air, the trajectory of electric currents flowing in the conduits, even the frequency of Li Na's heartbeat hundreds of meters away... everything was clearly perceptible. Is this the world at 60% brain development?