137: Broken rebirth

“Crack.”

A crisp sound, as if a soul were shattering, rang out abruptly in the extremely chaotic laboratory.

The [Spiritual Shackles] that had flickered on Eve's neck for countless days and nights cracked at the sound.

The [schrödingers lockpick] in Chen Feng's hand, after emitting one final blinding flash of light bright enough to burn the retina, completely exhausted its existence and silently turned into a handful of silver powder, slipping through his fingers.

“No—!”

Almost at the same instant, Eve let out a shrill scream that didn't sound human.

It wasn't a cheer of liberation, but the wail of a collapsing dam.

Countless suppressed memories, locked data, and twisted emotions, like a tsunami that had been building for years, instantly overwhelmed her consciousness.

“Aaaaah—!” She clutched her head and fell heavily to her knees, those hollow eyes flooded for the first time with terror and confusion.

She stared fixedly at the strange man before her who had destroyed her only “stable” world, her eyes filled with beast-like wariness.

“You destroyed it! You destroyed my artwork!”

Aris Thorne had gone completely mad; the skin on his arms split open, and several cold-gleaming metal blades popped out as he lunged like an infuriated beast straight for Chen Feng's heart!

“Perfect! You are my experimental subject too!” he roared.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Feng didn't retreat but instead took a step forward, grabbing the still-screaming Eve's shoulder and using her frail body to forcefully meet the lethal blade!

“Squelch!”

The blade sliced through the research lab coat on Eve's shoulder, drawing a spray of blood.

The intense pain brought Eve's scream to a sudden halt; she turned her head in disbelief, looking at the man's face behind her, which was calm to the point of being cold.

The shock of that one glance even outweighed the chaos in her mind.

“You...?”

“Now, Su Li!”

Chen Feng ignored her completely, letting out a deafening roar into his communicator!

Almost simultaneously, out of the corner of his eye, Aris Thorne caught sight of the memory drive he had just secretly hidden—the one engraved with the [Mechanical Divine Court] logo—bursting with a blinding red light on his main console!

“What?!” he cried out in shock.

“Boom—!”

The [Logic Bomb] inside, via a physical interface, was like a drop of poison in boiling oil, instantly contaminating the Academy's main control AI!

“Warning! AI core... contaminated... by unknown data stream... sizzle...”

“Defense systems... collapsing...”

“Energy supply... out of control...”

All the Academy's automated defense systems, dazzling lights, and secure access controls... at this moment, as if their spines had been removed, all fell into paralysis!

“Chen Feng! The system is down for three minutes!” Su Li's urgent voice came through the communicator. “I've overloaded the lock on Emergency Exit 7 using a backup circuit. Hurry!”

“Do you think you can escape?!” Aris Thorne's rage reached its peak.

Chen Feng didn't linger; he grabbed an “Ether Wind Collection Bottle” containing blue gas from a nearby lab bench and, without even looking, hurled it at the backup power supply.

“Boom!”

A violent arc explosion temporarily forced the enraged Aris Thorne back.

“Go!”

Chen Feng pulled the incoherent Eve, smashed through the observation window cracked by the explosion, and leaped into the high-altitude winds!

“Boss!”

From below came Reno's raspy roar!

Chen Feng activated a grappling hook hidden in his suit; the steel cable spiked firmly into the building's exterior wall, carrying him and Eve in a rapid descent.

Below, Reno led his few remaining men, pinned down behind ruins by enemies several times their number, fighting a bloody battle. The crisscrossing fire was like a web of death, sealing off all landing spots.

“There's no way out, Boss!” Reno shouted.

Just then, Eve, nearly fainting from the stimulation of the gale in his arms, looked at the crisscrossing energy trajectories below and suddenly, as if jolted awake from a nightmare, instinctively screamed:

“Left! To the left! Adjust the angle!”

Chen Feng's heart skipped a beat!

Without the slightest hesitation, he completely followed those delirious ravings, kicked off the wall with force, and violently altered their descent trajectory!

“Boom!”

The very next second after they left their original path, a lethal Plasma Shell accurately struck their previous position, blasting a massive hole.

The two narrowly escaped and slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Boss!” Reno rushed over with the last of his men, shielding them in the center.

However, before they could even catch their breath.

“Don't move.”

A cold voice came from ahead. Shadow Chaser-J, leading his unharmed Agents, emerged from the shadows like a ghost, their dark muzzles pointed at them.

“You won't escape, my ‘experimental subject’!”

From behind, the crazed Aris Thorne also leaped down from the smashed window, grinning hideously; behind him, the Academy's backup security robots were constantly pouring out.

“Hum—”

Overhead, a suffocating shadow loomed.

Port Master Hecate's Private Patrol Fleet finally arrived. The massive hulls blotted out the sky, and dozens of dark ship-mounted cannons slowly rotated, locking onto everyone confronting each other on the ground.

“In my, Hecate's, port, who gave you the audacity?”

The cold, queen-like voice, like a final judgment, echoed over the silent ruins.