39: Chapter 39 Shifting the Blame East and Tracking the Ratman Spy
The flames of ambition ignited in the depths of Su Chen's pupils, burning away the last vestiges of fear.
His heart beat like a war drum, each pulsation pumping scalding blood to his limbs and throughout his body, bringing a near-twisted exhilaration.
The key!
The key to glimpsing the power of higher dimensions!
This eighth-tier bio-weapon, codenamed X-998, was the first fulcrum he would use to pry open the underlying rules of this world.
Su Chen's consciousness detached from the shock of the ancient secret, refocusing on the mine shaft before him.
The terrifying pressure emanating from the Magma Behemoth was like a physical mountain range, bearing down heavily upon the soul of every living being. The air was no longer gas, but a viscous, scorching force field; each breath carried the scent of sulfur and destruction, scraping against the lungs.
At the center of this force field, the Gray Dwarves' leader Okale's defensive line was finally and utterly crushed.
His proud, meticulously crafted obsidian armor now groaned under the strain, sparks shooting from its metal joints. His vaunted fourth-tier strength was as insignificant as a speck of dust before this cataclysmic might.
He didn't even dare to look up at the eighth-tier behemoth.
A single cold glance from Sarah became the final straw that broke him.
That gaze held no emotion whatsoever, only the pure indifference of regarding a piece of flesh, an object.
*Thud!*
The armor plates at Okale's knees shattered in response, and he fell heavily to his knees, the hard rock floor cracking like a spiderweb beneath him.
He abandoned all dignity and resistance.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!*
The dwarf's forehead slammed violently against the ground again and again, emitting dull, thunderous booms.
"Great Queen! Spare my life!"
His voice was hoarse and broken, filled with the most primal fear.
"We didn't want to hide in this damned place and live next to monsters either!"
Okale completely broke down. Tears and snot smeared his rough face as he blurted out his clan's secrets like beans from a bamboo tube.
"It's all the fault of those damned Corrupted Ratkin next door!"
"They rely on the backing of a false god called the 'Plague Walker' and harass us every day, forcing us to hand over our obsidian ore as tribute!"
"Otherwise... otherwise they'll capture our entire clan to use as Plague test subjects!"
Okale's voice carried a despair that wept blood, each word soaked in humiliation and fury.
"Plague Walker?"
Su Chen's psychic network captured this name, and a faint glimmer flashed through his core consciousness.
Another one playing with Plagues?
He could clearly sense that his recently fused 'Calamity' divine portfolio, upon hearing this name, produced a faint, hungry resonance.
It seemed these guys were destined to become the first nourishment for his new divine portfolio.
Su Chen's mind operated at hyper-speed, countless streams of information being decomposed, recombined, and deduced.
On one side of the chessboard was the slumbering eighth-tier Titan construct, possessing world-shattering combat power, but its condition was unknown—the greatest variable.
On the other side of the chessboard was the false god 'Plague Walker' entrenched nearby, possessing resources and armies, like a buzzing fly—unpleasant.
Two points.
One line.
A plan that perfectly connected all elements rapidly took shape within his cold logic.
Since this Magma Behemoth had been sealed for eons, it must be in a state of extreme energy starvation.
Why not let this unlucky neighbor help feed it?
And... scout the way while at it?
Thinking this, the corner of Su Chen's mouth silently curved into a faint arc—a smile mixed with cunning and absolute desire for control.
He issued a brief command to Sarah through the psychic link.
"Sarah, let him go."
"Hmm?"
A flicker of doubt passed through Sarah's inhuman golden vertical pupils, but she did not question it. Her brain parsed her Emperor's intent within 0.01 seconds, instantly grasping the entire logical chain of the plan.
Obey, then understand.
In an inconspicuous dark corner deep within the mine, a small, skinny Ratkin scout pressed itself desperately into a crevice in the rock wall, every hair on its body standing on end from extreme fear.
It dared not breathe loudly, its heart almost leaping from its throat.
It had witnessed firsthand how those stubborn Gray Dwarves knelt and begged for mercy like insects under the terrifying woman's pressure.
It had to bring this intelligence back!
That woman, and the swarm behind her, were enemies ten thousand times more terrifying than the Gray Dwarves!
It was preparing to wait for an opportunity to slip away quietly via another branching tunnel.
Suddenly.
Several of the ferocious Zerg that had been blocking its escape route seemed to be 'accidentally' tripped by the gravel underfoot, clumsily shifting their bodies.
The previously impenetrable blockade thus, quite conveniently, revealed a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.
The Ratkin scout's pupils contracted sharply.
The light of survival erupted in its murky eyes.
It had no time to ponder the strangeness of it; the instinct to surviveOverwhelmed everything.
It scrambled out of the crevice using all four limbs, its body contorting into an incredible angle, and plunged headfirst into that narrow, deep tunnel.
The scent of sulfur and terrifying pressure from behind fueled its desperate flight.
It wanted to go home.
It wanted to return to the great 'Plague Walker's' divine domain!
"It's gone."
Sarah's voice sounded in the psychic network, calm and unruffled.
"Follow it."
Su Chen's voice was cold, devoid of any warmth, like eternal, unmeltable black ice.
"Activate optical camouflage. Don't lose it."
"As you command, Emperor."
The moment the order was given.
From behind Sarah, a special operations squad composed of three hundred elite Zerglings silently detached.
A strange, rippling distortion suddenly appeared on the surface of their black carapaces.
Light refracted and bent across their bodies. Their originally ferocious black forms rapidly became transparent, blurred, and within a second, perfectly merged with the surrounding gray-brown rock.
Even the heat they emitted while moving, and the unique Zerg pheromones, were completely shielded and contained by a special energy field.
This was a textbook infiltration and hunt.
They were no longer living beings, but a group of intangible phantoms, absolutely rational killing machines.
They moved their blade-like limbs without making the slightest sound, silently tailing the desperately fleeing Ratkin scout, precisely heading towards the so-called 'Plague Walker's' lair.
Strike at the heart of the enemy's stronghold.
Su Chen's calculations were precise.
Step one: Locate the Ratkin's divine domain.
Step two: Slay that false god 'Plague Walker', devour his divine portfolio, and take over all his resources,believer, and armies.
Step three, and the most crucial one.
Use these two newly acquired forces—whether the still-warm corpses or the wailing living creatures—and throw them all into that bottomless pit sealing X-998.
He would use a grand flesh-and-blood sacrifice to see what secrets that Titan construct from the previous era still hid!
Su Chen's gaze pierced through the darkness, as if he could already see the bloody feast about to unfold.
His voice sounded in Sarah's mind one last time, carrying a trace of cold anticipation.
"Go. Bring the prey back."