119: Chapter 119 The Bait for Devouring the True God and the Decisive Escape

"Deal."

Su Chen's will was like a brand, deeply engraved into the Void Realm.

The giant scarlet electronic eye of the Remnant Soul of the Ghost Dragon finally stabilized its flickering frequency.

The red light representing maximum alert completely faded, transforming into a soft yellow light representing negotiation and standby.

Its translucent dragon body, composed of data streams, no longer flickered erratically, as if it had been pulled back from the brink of overload.

"Please follow me..."

The voice of the Remnant Soul of the Ghost Dragon rang out again, its data-synthesized tone still icy, but with a few degrees less of the Soul-freezing killing intent.

Its massive body slowly turned, translucent dragon wings silently slicing through the air, signaling the others to follow.

"Incubation requires proceeding to the 'Devouring Evolution Pool'..."

"Only the energy there can awaken it..."

A seemingly friendly invitation, a logical follow-up to a transaction.

Kerrigan and Theodore exchanged a glance, their tense muscles relaxing slightly, but their weapons remained unsheathed.

They were warriors, not merchants.

Until they completely left this dead land, any so-called "peace" was merely a truce.

Su Chen did not release his descent state upon Hyperis; he controlled the massive dragon body, taking heavy strides, his golden dragon pupils indifferently watching the remnant Soul leading the way.

His will, like an invisible giant net, enveloped the entire domed space, sensing every thread of energy flow.

However, as the team delved deeper into the ruins, a strange sensation began to drift in from the edges of his web of will.

It was an extremely obscure fluctuation.

Chilling.

Viscous.

Filled with greed and a craving for flesh.

This fluctuation did not come from the Remnant Soul of the Ghost Dragon leading them, but seeped out in thin strands from the direction it pointed—the deepest part of the ruins.

It did not seem like an incubation pool meant for nurturing life.

It was more like... a giant abyssal maw slowly opening, waiting for food to fall in.

A stomach lined with digestive glands, secreting corrosive acid.

Deep within Su Chen's will, alarm bells roared.

On the surface, he remained calm, still controlling Hyperis to follow unhurriedly with the posture of a monarch inspecting his territory.

But on the Soul level, an icy command had already been issued.

"System, analyze the energy fluctuations there."

In the next instant, Su Chen's sea of consciousness was no longer a calm stream of data, but a surging tide of blood!

[Warning! High-concentration sacrificial array reaction detected!]

[Energy model matching... 98.7% match... Confirmed as the 'Xel'naga True God Resurrection Ritual' altar!]

[Warning! This altar is in a state of hunger on the eve of activation! Once any high-tier life form enters its core range, all biological tissue, Soul energy, and Law insights will be instantly decomposed into the most primitive flesh-and-blood nutrients!]

A series of blood-red warnings, like red-hot needles, stabbed fiercely into the core of Su Chen's consciousness.

What an AI!

What a "deal"!

Su Chen's dragon pupils, occupied by brilliant gold, suddenly contracted into the most dangerous vertical slits.

This wasn't a compromise for the sake of continuing a Legacy at all.

This was a conspiracy brewed for ten thousand years!

This damned AI never intended to follow any agreement from the start. Its so-called survival and its so-called deal were all disguises to lure them into a trap!

Its true purpose was to trick Su Chen, along with his powerful demigod legion, into that so-called "evolution pool," using their flesh and Divine Souls as fuel to resurrect its master who had been dead for ten thousand years!

A rage originating from the Divine Soul level surged violently.

The fury of being deceived, of being treated as a sacrificial offering by a remnant data program!

"Dominator?"

Theodore, who had been following beside Hyperis, keenly sensed the instantaneous change in Su Chen's will.

That pressure, which had been as calm as the deep sea just a moment ago, suddenly turned into a volcano about to erupt, with violent energy surging wildly within Hyperis's dragon body.

He also felt that something was wrong.

The air ahead seemed permeated with a faint, sickly sweet smell of blood, making the dark energy within him begin to stir restlessly.

"Withdraw."

Su Chen's voice no longer used the dragon's throat to roar, but was sent directly as a Soul transmission, a bone-chilling command that slammed into the minds of every subordinate.

There was not a word of explanation.

Only one word.

But the decisiveness and killing intent contained in that word made all his subordinates instantly understand the drastic change in the situation.

"Immediately! Now!"

"Take the egg and the alloys, and warp out by force!"

The command was broken down into the shortest, most direct words, allowing for no doubt.

"What about this remnant Soul..." A flicker of doubt passed through Kerrigan's mind.

"Ignore it!"

Su Chen's will was like a winter storm.

"It's a trap!"

The moment the order was received, the entire unit's action mode switched from "cautious advance" to "maximum evacuation."

The engines of the Psionic Mothership ramped up from cruising power to an overloaded state within a second, emitting a deafening shriek.

Lumina, who had been responsible for guarding the giant egg, didn't even have time to think.

Her body had already followed the Dominator's will, making the most violent choice.

She grabbed the giant egg, which was over a person's height, completely ignoring the sophisticated life-support instruments next to it.

"Crack—!"

Several thick alloy pipes connected to the eggshell were ripped apart by her brute force!

The ear-piercing sound of snapping metal echoed through the space, and multicolored nutrient fluids and energy streams sprayed out.

Lumina hoisted the heavy giant egg onto her shoulder, turned, and sprinted toward the mothership's hatch.

"Establishing warp coordinates..."

"Coordinates locked! Energy injection!"

"Warp engine preheating... 10%... 50%... 90%..."

The reporting voice of the mothership's main control AI rang out rapidly on the public channel.

The Remnant Soul of the Ghost Dragon leading the way finally noticed the commotion behind it.

The sudden roar of the engines, the sound of instruments being violently dismantled, and the undisguised, skyrocketing spatial fluctuations...

It whipped its head around.

Those electronic eyes that had just regained a soft yellow light were, within a thousandth of a second, completely consumed by a furious blood-red!

"Warning! Betrayal detected!"

"Core instruction conflict... Guardian protocol overriding negotiation protocol... Initiating... Destruction Mode!"

"ROAR—!!!"

This time, the roar was no longer a simple dragon's howl, but a mixture of mechanical failure-like electrical hissing and the scream of data collapsing!

It saw through Su Chen and the others' intentions!

These invaders were going to run away with its master's final creation!

The logical disorder of rage and betrayal brought its data core to the brink of collapse.

It roared, its massive dragon body turning into a translucent ghost shadow, tearing through space as it charged frantically toward Hyperis, who was the last to board!

It wanted to stop them!

At any cost!

But it was too late.

From Su Chen's order to the full execution, the entire process was seamless, without a single moment of delay.

Just as the Ghost Dragon remnant's claws were about to tear open space and touch the mothership's hull, Su Chen had already controlled Hyperis's massive dragon body to retreat inside the hatch.

He looked back, his golden dragon pupils reflecting that psionic dragon face distorted by rage.

An icy thought, acting as a final farewell, stabbed into the other's database.

"Goodbye, stupid dragon."

Before the thought could even settle.

Hyperis opened his giant maw, and a plasma cannon blast charged to its limit—enough to vaporize a mountain range—was fired with maximum power!

Dazzling white light instantly illuminated the entire dome!

With the help of this unparalleled, terrifying recoil, Hyperis's massive body was like it had been struck by a giant hammer, instantly hurtling into the depths of the mothership.

The heavy hatch subsequently closed.

Hum—

A deep blue light that could not be looked at directly with the naked eye bloomed suddenly with the Psionic Mothership as its center, then abruptly contracted inward.

Space, like a piece of paper squeezed by an invisible giant hand, produced violent folds.

In the instant the Ghost Dragon remnant's claws, capable of tearing apart starships, barely touched the residual light-shadow of the mothership's hull, the entire fleet, along with the stolen dragon egg, vanished into thin air.

Deep within the ruins, only the destructive plasma blast remained, and...

The Ghost Dragon remnant's roar—furious to the extreme, having lost its target and sounding like a complete mechanical failure—echoed wildly through the empty, silent ruins.