357: Chapter 358: Hand-crafted Law-based Creatures Stun the Audience; Creating a Fake Seed to Catch a Big Fish

Over the next three days, Lin Qi entered a high-intensity Law Creature manufacturing cycle.

The first batch of supplies from the Federation arrived as scheduled: five tons of alloy, basic potions, military rations, and some daily necessities. The purity of the alloy met the standards, but the quantity was far from what Lin Qi needed.

He didn't wait for the rest and started work immediately.

To outsiders, the manufacturing process of Law Creatures was very tedious.

Lin Qi sat at the workbench next to the Core Array, with cut alloy blocks and categorized Law Residue placed in front of him.

He first calculated the node distribution of the Law Circuits in his mind, then used Dao Source to carve circuit lines on the alloy surface, and finally ground the Law Residue into powder and burned it into the circuits.

The entire process required no tools—his fingers were the carving knives, and the Dao Source was the welding torch.

When Zhang Wei watched the entire manufacturing process for the first time, his mouth was wide open from start to finish.

"Brother Qi, this is somewhat similar to the principles of my Alchemy. Both involve writing specific structures onto Materials to give them new attributes."

"But this precision," he leaned in to look at the hair-thin Law patterns on the alloy surface, "this is ten times finer than the most precise Federation nano-circuits I've ever seen."

"Shut up, don't disturb me."

Zhang Wei hurried back.

Shi Gu and Silent Annihilation were also watching from the side, but their reactions were different from Zhang Wei's.

Shi Gu left after watching for a while—he couldn't understand it. In his perception, power was power, and a hard fist was all that mattered. Such delicate work as building things had nothing to do with him.

Silent Annihilation watched for a full two hours.

Her expression didn't change much from beginning to end, but Lin Qi noticed her breathing rate was gradually slowing down—this indicated she was observing with full concentration.

"See anything?" Lin Qi asked during a gap in the burning process.

Silent Annihilation thought for a moment: "The Law Circuits you're writing into the alloy—the underlying logic is the same as the Brainwashing Contracts the Church brands onto believers."

Lin Qi paused his movements.

"Go on."

"The Church's Brainwashing Contracts are written into the believers' Souls using law seed fragments. The content includes obeying orders, providing faith, and self-destructing when necessary. It's the same as the patrolling, fighting, and obeying commands you're writing into the alloy. The difference is that your subjects are inanimate metal, while the Church's subjects are living people."

"Do you think there's a fundamental difference between the two?"

Silent Annihilation fell silent for a moment.

"Yes. Metal has no free will. People do. The Church destroyed the free will of those people, turning them into tools like your pieces of iron. These iron pieces of yours—at least they have no will that needs to be destroyed."

Lin Qi didn't answer. He lowered his head and continued burning.

In three days, he produced six new Law Creature patrol units, numbered A-13 to A-18.

Combined with the original twelve units, D-3 now had eighteen Law Creatures with Second Transition Peak combat power.

Combined with the three fourth-turn level former Church deacons—Shi Gu, Silent Annihilation, and Rift—plus Instructor Su Qing's own Third-Turn Peak combat power, D-3's regular defensive strength was already quite considerable.

"Even if I'm not here, you should be able to hold off common attacks," Lin Qi said to Instructor Su Qing.

"Common attacks are fine. But if a Law-level or higher comes—"

"Then press the token. Fold into the Subspace, and I'll be back in seven days."

Instructor Su Qing nodded.

She didn't ask questions like "Where are you going?" Where Lin Qi was going and what he was doing, he would say when necessary. Asking when it wasn't necessary was pointless.

This was the tacit understanding built over years of cooperation between them.

However, this time Lin Qi spoke up on his own initiative.

"Regarding the Law Creature leasing, Zhang Wei and Chen Shu have almost finished their negotiations. The Federation agreed to the trial plan for the first batch of ten units. The rent is fifteen percent lower than Zhang Wei's quote, but the charging fees weren't cut. Overall, it's acceptable."

"When will the first batch of ten units be delivered?"

"In five days. The Federation will send someone to receive them. Keep an eye on the process then."

"Okay."

"Additionally," Lin Qi took out the dim law seed from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"I've studied this thing for two days. Its structure is similar to the essence nodes in the earth veins. Although it's dead, the core framework is still there. I'm thinking about something."

"What?"

"Whether I can use this dead seed as a template to create a 'fake seed'."

Instructor Su Qing frowned: "A fake seed? For what?"

"Fishing."

Lin Qi flipped the seed over. On the dim surface, although those wriggling patterns had stopped, their shapes were still clearly visible.

"The Church of Calamity has seven seeds, and I've ruined one. They must be eager to replace it—not by finding a new one, but by finding a way to reactivate this old one, or obtaining a substitute through other channels."

"If I create a fake seed, disguised in a 'reactivated' state, and place it in a suitable location, the Church's people will definitely come to take it. The person who comes will either be Abyssal Fang or someone sent by the other two High Priests."

"No matter who comes, they can provide me with more intelligence."

Instructor Su Qing thought for a moment: "What about the risks?"

"The risk is that the other side might see through it. But I have Dao Source for disguise—this thing can even overwrite underlying code. Faking a seed's energy fluctuation isn't difficult."

"When will you do it?"

"No rush. Sign the leasing contract with the Federation first, and we'll talk after the second batch of alloy arrives. I still need more Materials to support the precision of the forgery."

Instructor Su Qing put the seed away.

"What about the remaining two strongholds? Rotten Wood Forest and Ice Rift Valley."

"There are still thirty-four days in the buffer period. Before that, I must take down at least one more." Lin Qi looked at the dark gold ground outside the window. "Rotten Wood Forest is in the west, two thousand kilometers from Tianhai City. Ice Rift Valley is in the north, further away, four thousand kilometers."

"Attack the closer one first?"

"Attack the weaker one first," Lin Qi corrected. "Distance isn't the key; the key is which High Priest is easier to fight. I need Shi Gu and Silent Annihilation to provide more information about the other two High Priests."

Instructor Su Qing turned to leave.

Lin Qi called out to her: "Instructor Su Qing."

"Hmm?"

"You should sleep too. I've seen you sleep for less than six hours in total over these last three days."

Instructor Su Qing paused her steps.

"I'm fine."

"You're not in the Tongshen Realm; your body can't handle long-term high-load operations. Go sleep. We'll talk about the prisoners and intelligence tomorrow."

Instructor Su Qing hesitated for two seconds, nodded, and left.

Lin Qi sat alone in the headquarters, looking at the dim law seed on the table.

A dead seed. A ruined condition for Descent. A severed faith channel.

But the High Priest's final words were still turning in his mind.

"A true Descent requires..."

A Container.

What kind of Container?