166: Chapter 166 Thirteenth Trial

Outside the door, nine teenagers stood in a row.

Every one of them had Jiang Feng's face.

Some were fifteen or sixteen years old.

Some were seventeen or eighteen.

There were even some who looked only twelve or thirteen.

Most eerily, every one of them had a hole in their chest.

There were no hearts inside the holes.

Only blue cables were slowly writhing within.

The teenager at the very front raised his head.

His voice was very soft.

"Pangu No. 1."

"Welcome back to the production line."

Li Yan's scalp went numb on the spot.

"Holy crap."

"Mass-producing Jiang Feng?"

Zhang Changlin's expression also darkened.

"If these things were truly mass-produced, the myriad heavens and worlds would have to apply for a reboot."

The Dragon Girl hugged her bag of chips tightly and carefully observed the nine teenagers.

After watching for a long while, she shook her head.

"They don't smell as good as Master."

Zero Seven's face turned pale.

"They aren't clones."

She stared intently at the hollows in those teenagers' chests.

"They are failed variable bodies."

"After their cores were gouged out, only the shells remain."

Jiang Feng said nothing.

The nine earth keys closed in his palm, transforming into a complete blue key.

On the back of the key, that line of text was still glowing.

[The First Blue Star is not home.]

[It is a delivery room.]

Jiang Feng looked at the teenager at the very front.

"Who gouged them out?"

The teenager did not answer.

He simply raised his hand and pointed behind him.

In the next second.

The corridor outside the classroom began to elongate.

The walls peeled away layer by layer.

Little red flowers, blackboard posters, and children's drawings all faded in color.

Hidden beneath were rows of cold, blue pods.

Inside each pod, an infant was submerged.

On their foreheads, the same serial number was engraved.

[Pangu Variable Embryo.]

Li Yan smashed the small table next to him with a punch.

"These bastards are truly raising people like piglets!"

Zero Seven's throat tightened.

"The First Blue Star has always been creating variables capable of breaking the chessboard."

"But it's not to resist the chessboard."

"It's screening for keys."

Zhang Changlin said in a low voice, "Screening for the strongest, then dismantling them?"

Zero Seven nodded.

"More or less."

"Once a variable grows to a certain point, its core is recycled and used to calibrate the next batch."

Hearing this made Li Yan even angrier.

"Good grief, raising Geniuses on an assembly line."

"This is so wicked their ancestors' graves must be smoking."

Jiang Feng walked forward.

The nine teenagers stepped aside simultaneously.

At the end of the corridor, an iron door appeared.

On the doorplate were four characters.

[Variable Workshop]

The door opened automatically.

There was no roar of machinery inside.

Only the sound of heartbeats.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

So rhythmic they didn't seem like living things.

In the center of the workshop, nine gouged-out cores hung suspended.

Every core was missing a piece.

One of them perfectly matched the hollow in Pangu No. 2's chest.

A System notification popped up.

[Detected Pangu Variable Remnant Core.]

[Plunderable.]

[Warning: Remnant core contains failed archive pollution; ordinary absorption will result in personality overwrite.]

Jiang Feng glanced at it.

"Ordinary?"

He raised his hand and grabbed the first remnant core.

Blue light instantly exploded.

An image of a teenager emerged.

He stood upon a field of ruins, covered in blood, roaring at the sky.

[Pangu No. 3: Maternal Return Complete.]

[Result: Consciousness wiped.]

[Remnant core retained for subsequent variable calibration.]

The image shattered.

Jiang Feng's fingers tightened.

"Plunder."

[Secret Art: Pangu Plunder activated.]

[Erasing archive pollution.]

[Plundering Pangu No. 3 remnant core.]

[Gained All Attributes: 10 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 442 Ji.]

The first remnant core went dark.

The blue lines in the corresponding teenager's chest snapped.

He looked down at his own chest.

The hollow was still there.

But those eyes finally had light.

He whispered, "Thank you."

Jiang Feng didn't reply.

He reached out for the second one.

[Pangu No. 4: Resisted Maternal Final Separation.]

[Result: Mental breakdown.]

Jiang Feng said calmly, "Plunder."

[Plunder successful.]

[Gained All Attributes: 10 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 452 Ji.]

The third one.

[Pangu No. 5: Refused replacement family.]

[Result: Forced dismantling.]

"Plunder."

[Gained All Attributes: 10 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 462 Ji.]

The fourth one.

The fifth one.

The sixth one.

Jiang Feng grabbed and crushed them one after another.

There was no sense of ceremony.

Nor were there any superfluous sentiments.

It was like cleaning out junk that had been piled up at home for years.

But as each remnant core went dark, another teenager in the workshop raised his head.

The blue lines in their chests snapped one by one.

System notifications popped up continuously.

[Gained All Attributes: 10 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 472 Ji.]

[Gained All Attributes: 10 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 482 Ji.]

[Gained All Attributes: 10 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 492 Ji.]

Li Yan's eyelids twitched wildly as he watched.

"With this leveling speed, I suspect the System opened a VIP channel for him."

Zero Seven had a wooden expression.

"You're wrong."

Li Yan asked, "Where am I wrong?"

Zero Seven looked at Jiang Feng.

"The System might be chasing after him to give him coupons."

Li Yan was silent for two seconds.

"That makes sense too."

Jiang Feng grabbed the seventh remnant core.

Another image emerged from the blue light.

[Pangu No. 7: Attempted to destroy the production line.]

[Result: Core stripped.]

[Failed memory deployed to warn subsequent variables.]

Jiang Feng's movements paused for a moment.

"This one has some backbone."

He exerted force with his palm.

Crack.

The seventh remnant core shattered.

[Plunder successful.]

[Gained All Attributes: 15 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 507 Ji.]

In the eighth remnant core, the image of Pangu No. 2 emerged.

He stood behind the Taixu Dimensional Wall.

His chest was torn open.

In his hand, he held that broken stone fragment.

[Pangu No. 2: Refused to open the door.]

[Result: Variable core gouged out.]

[Residual consciousness escaped.]

[Danger Level: High.]

Pangu No. 2 in the image raised his head.

As if across a vast expanse of time, he saw Jiang Feng.

"Don't trust the key."

"And don't trust me."

"The production line is best at disguising itself as one of our own."

Jiang Feng looked at him.

"Got it."

In the next second.

He crushed the eighth remnant core.

[Plunder successful.]

[Gained All Attributes: 20 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 527 Ji.]

Among the nine teenagers, the shell corresponding to Pangu No. 2 knelt down.

He didn't cry.

He simply pressed his forehead to the ground.

As if he could finally get some sleep.

The final remnant core floated at the very top.

It had no serial number.

Only a line of text.

[Pangu No. 1 Reserved Core Slot.]

Li Yan's expression changed.

"Is this for you?"

Zero Seven shouted urgently, "Mr. Jiang, don't touch it!"

"This isn't a failed remnant core."

"This is a slot left for you!"

"The moment you touch it, it will try to stuff your current core back into the production line!"

Jiang Feng looked at the core slot.

"In other words."

"It hasn't been used yet."

Zero Seven froze.

"That's what it means, but that's not the point!"

Jiang Feng had already reached out and grabbed it.

The core slot instantly opened.

Countless blue arms extended from within, reaching directly for Jiang Feng's chest.

[Detected Pangu No. 1 variable body.]

[Core matched.]

[Return-to-position program initiated.]

[Stripping current personality.]

[Recycling maternal anchor.]

[Resetting family relationships.]

[Clearing Blue Star autonomous destiny line.]

The Dragon Girl's pupils instantly narrowed into slits.

"It wants to steal Grandma again!"

Jiang Feng's expression grew cold.

He didn't retreat.

Instead, he gripped the core slot with his fingers.

"If you stole anything else, I might listen to you for a bit longer."

"Stealing my mom?"

"You really don't know how to pick a path to survival."

Boom!

The Zero-er Profound Truth erupted.

Those blue arms snapped one by one.

A piercing alarm blared from the core slot.

[Pangu No. 1 refuses to return to position.]

[Initiating forced production authority.]

[Invoking Original Blue Star maternal program.]

Jiang Feng pressed down with his palm.

His voice wasn't loud.

Yet it was like sentencing the entire workshop to death.

“Stop production.”

[Secret Art: Pangu Plunder activated.]

[Plundered Pangu No. 1 Reserved Core Slot.]

[Gained All Attributes: 50 Ji.]

[Current Base Six-Dimensional Attributes: 577 Ji.]

[Gained Special Authority: Variable Core Self-Retention.]

[Effect: No production line, archive pool, or maternal program may forcibly strip the host's variable core.]

[Detected experience threshold Breakthrough.]

[Rank Up: 981.]

[Rank Up: 982.]

[Rank Up: 983.]

...

[Rank Up: 990.]

[Thirteenth Transition Rank threshold reached.]

[Thirteenth Transition Class Trial officially commenced.]

The entire Variable Workshop went silent for a second.

Then.

All pods cracked open simultaneously.

Images of infants.

Teenager shells.

Failure records.

All turned into specks of light.

These specks of light did not fly back to The First Blue Star.

Instead, they flew toward the blue key in Jiang Feng's palm.

The key began to change color.

From blue, it became a translucent colorless.

The System notification popped up again.

[blue star earth key evolved.]

[Current Name: Primordial Delivery Room Key.]

[Unlockable Coordinates: Original Blue Star - Dongjiang City Fourth High School.]

[Trial Objective: Enter the site of the initial Awakening and investigate the source of Pangu variable body production.]

Li Yan looked at the System projection, his throat bobbing.

"Already 990?"

Zhang Changlin was silent for two seconds.

"Other people burn incense for their class transition."

"He dismantles a factory for his."

The Dragon Girl nodded earnestly.

"Master did a good job dismantling it."

Zero Seven no longer wanted to be shocked.

She now felt as if her worldview were being repeatedly shoved into a washing machine to be spun dry by Jiang Feng.

The nine teenagers stood behind Jiang Feng.

The hollows in their chests had not yet healed.

But the blue lines were gone.

The teenager at the very front spoke.

"We cannot leave this place for too long."

Jiang Feng asked, "Is there anything else you haven't said?"

The teenager raised his hand and pointed to the deepest part of the workshop.

There was a massive pane of glass.

Behind the glass was a delivery room.

In the center of the delivery room sat an old delivery bed.

Beside the delivery bed hung a sign.

[First Generation Maternal Room]

When Zero Seven saw that sign, her expression changed instantly.

"Maternal room..."

"Could The First Blue Star have been simulating a mother all this time?"

The teenager shook his head.

"It wasn't a simulation."

"It was an extraction."

Jiang Feng looked at him.

A faint blue light emerged from the hollow in the teenager's chest.

"Every Pangu variable body must have a maternal anchor."

"Liu Cuilan was not the first chosen mother."

"But she is the only one who squeezed out the agent."

This time, Li Yan couldn't even bring himself to curse.

Zhang Changlin's face was as dark as iron.

If Xiao Zhenjiang were here, he would probably have drawn his blade by now.

Jiang Feng said nothing.

He walked toward the glass.

The glass lit up automatically.

The lights in the delivery room inside flickered twice.

A woman was lying on the delivery bed.

Her face was covered with a white cloth.

From beneath the white cloth came the sound of an infant crying.

Then.

A voice rang out.

Very soft.

Very familiar.

"Xiao Feng."

Jiang Feng's footsteps stopped.

That wasn't Liu Cuilan's voice.

Yet it was seventy percent similar to Liu Cuilan's.

The Dragon Girl's tail suddenly stiffened.

"Master..."

A line of text appeared on the glass.

[Thirteenth Transition Trial Question One.]

[Please confirm: Who did you address with your true first word, "Mom"?]

The delivery room door slowly opened.

Behind the door.

The woman lying on the delivery bed sat up.