213: Purchase Gods and Five-Minute Countdown

That cry was not an end, but a prelude to a massacre.

Residual ripples in the air continued to vibrate like countless invisible steel needles, indiscriminately stabbing into the central hub of every living thing. The surviving Blackwater Mercenaries had long since lost their elite discipline. They discarded their expensive firearms, clawing their fingers deep into their scalps until their nails tore skin. Blood streamed down their twisted features, and animalistic, death-rattle gasps escaped their throats.

"System, block pain feedback."

Chen Feng’s command flashed through his consciousness. Even with the system's mental barrier, his temples throbbed violently as if someone were pounding them with a hammer.

Beside him, Eve's situation was slightly better. As a data entity, she felt no biological pain, but her silver eyes—usually flowing with the light of rationality—were currently filled with static noise. Unstable rings of corrupted code flickered around her body like a malfunctioning holographic projection.

"That thing... its thoughts are a tangled mess." Eve's voice carried the crackle of electronic interference as she knelt on one knee, attempting to reboot her logic modules. "It's the wails of tens of thousands of deceased forcibly compressed together. No priority, no logic."

In the center of the battlefield, the pale youth moved.

There was no run-up, no buildup of force.

His figure simply flickered in place, and a white sonic boom cloud erupted in the air.

Bang!

The upper body of a Blackwater elite mercenary, who had been trying to crawl toward the exit, suddenly vanished.

Vanished in the literal sense.

The youth's figure abruptly appeared behind the mercenary, clutching two sections of a shattered spine. The blood only reacted half a second later, geysering from the mercenary's remaining lower half like a fountain and drenching the youth.

There was no beauty in this scene, only the most primal, bloody violence.

"Roar!!!"

The youth discarded the severed limbs, and his void-like eyes turned toward them.

He possessed no reason, only a hatred for the concept of 'life.' In his vision, anything living and breathing was merely noise that had to be erased.

The next target was Reno.

"Come on! You monster!"

Reno spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his mechanical eye spinning frantically as it locked onto the high-speed moving figure. Since energy weapons were useless, he would solve the problem in the most primitive way.

The battle-hardened veteran did not flinch. He lowered his center of gravity, and his black mechanical arm—salvaged from the wreckage of a high-dimensional battleship—let out the hiss of an overloaded hydraulic pump as he threw a full-force punch at the blurred shadow.

Clang!!!

A deafening boom, like the tolling of a massive bell, vibrated throughout the entire hall.

A visible shockwave swept outward, sending surrounding corpses and rubble flying.

Reno maintained his punching stance, but his feet had plowed two ruts half a meter deep into the metal floor.

Crack.

A crisp sound rang out.

That black mechanical arm, strong enough to tear through a tank, actually developed a fine hairline fracture at the elbow joint.

"What..."

For the first time, astonishment appeared on Reno's scar-covered face.

Before he could change his move, the youth's seemingly slender hand of flesh and blood pressed against his chest.

It looked like a light, airy push.

Boom!

Reno was sent flying like a baseball, instantly smashing into the alloy wall dozens of meters away. The thick wall buckled like paper, embedding him deep inside, his fate unknown.

"Reno!" Grom roared, lifting the alloy case in his hand to charge forward.

"Don't move."

Chen Feng's voice was as cold as ice.

He didn't look at Reno, nor at the approaching monster. His gaze was focused on a single point in the void—the system interface that only he could see.

[Interstellar Exchange System: Deep Scan Complete]

As a waterfall of data streamed down, a golden item label appeared above the youth's head.

[Product Name: Failed Vessel of God (Codename: Chimera)]

[Category: Biological/Mechanical/Psionic Composite]

[Status: Berserk (Missing Self-Awareness)]

[Value Assessment: Extremely High (Requires Personality Restoration)]

[Defect Analysis: Giant Star Mining attempted to use commands to control a god, but a god does not need commands; a god needs a 'self.' Currently, it is merely an empty shell driven by pain.]

"I see."

Chen Feng's fingertips lightly rubbed the cold coin in his trench coat pocket—a habitual movement when he was thinking.

This wasn't a battle.

It was a trade negotiation. It just so happened that the party he was negotiating with was a madman who could tear them to pieces at any moment.

"Eve, stop the intrusion," Chen Feng said suddenly. "You can't break its firewall because it isn't a firewall at all; it's its 'pain.' You can't use code to deconstruct pain."

"Then what do we do? Boss, its energy index is still rising!" Eve shouted anxiously, her fingers moving rapidly in the air as she tried to establish physical isolation. "It's coming!"

The youth had already finished off all the Blackwater Mercenaries.

Now, in this hall filled with body parts and the smell of blood, only the Vast Sea Squad remained.

He turned around, the red light on the mechanical half of his body growing increasingly blinding—a sign that the energy core was about to overload. Those void-like eyes locked onto Chen Feng.

In the monster's perception, the light of 'value' emanating from Chen Feng was the brightest, and it made him the most agitated.

Thump.

The youth took a step.

Chen Feng did not retreat, nor did he draw the dagger at his waist. He performed an action that made everyone's heart stop.

He straightened the collar of his trench coat and stepped out from behind cover.

"Boss?!" Embedded in the wall, Reno struggled to lift his head, blood obscuring his eyes. "Run... don't go..."

Chen Feng was deaf to his words.

He walked steadily, each step landing as if on a precisely calculated node. The sound of his leather boots striking the metal floor was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent hall.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

Three meters.

The youth stopped.

The dripping claw hung an inch from Chen Feng's face. A sharp fingertip even pierced the skin between Chen Feng's eyebrows, and a drop of bright red blood rolled down.

The violent wind pressure whipped Chen Feng's trench coat, but he didn't even blink.

He was gambling.

Gambling on the system's judgment, and gambling on the instinct of life.

"You are in a lot of pain, aren't you?"

Chen Feng looked into those void-like eyes, his voice as steady as if he were discussing the weather.

The youth tilted his head. There was no expression on his pale face, but the claw did not strike. There was no protocol in his logic processor for this behavior—why didn't the prey run? Why didn't it attack?

"They gave you power, they gave you a body, but they forgot to give you one thing."

Chen Feng slowly raised his right hand.

This movement was extremely dangerous; any hint of hostility could trigger the other's killing reflex. But his open palm held no weapon, only a soft, pale golden halo of light.

It was a special item he had purchased through the system from the [Chronos Musician Guild].

It was not a physical object, but an encapsulated 'concept.'

[Item: Pure Childhood Memories (Attached Attribute: The Feeling of Being Loved)]

[Source: An ordinary human child from a peaceful dimension]

[Description: This isn't anything earth-shattering. It's just an afternoon, the touch of a mother's hand brushing through hair, and the words, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."]

"Trade request."

Chen Feng uttered these two words, sending the information directly into the depths of the youth's consciousness via the system's mental link.

"I will not use commands to control you, nor weapons to destroy you."

"I am giving you a 'self.'"

"In exchange, lend me your strength."

The halo left his hand. It wasn't repelled; instead, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, it entered the youth's brow without resistance.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The youth's raised claw went rigid.

In his eyes, which had been filled with void and tyranny, the chaotic data streams suddenly stalled and then began to reorganize frantically.

A memory that did not belong to him exploded across the desolate wasteland of his soul.

There was no blood, no scalpels, no cold nutrient solution.

There was only warm sunlight, soft grass, and a warm hand gently patting his back. A warm current he had never experienced—called 'security'—flowed through his nerve endings and across his entire body, instantly diluting the heart-wrenching agony.

"Ugh..."

The youth opened his mouth and let out a low moan.

It was no longer a piercing cry, but a whimper full of confusion and vulnerability, like a lost child.

The red light on his body began to fade, replaced by a stable, light-blue energy cycle. The claw capable of tearing through steel slowly retracted, returning to the shape of a human hand.

He looked at Chen Feng, the chaos in his eyes gradually dissipating to reveal a sliver of clarity.

It was the gaze of a 'human.'

"Su... success?"

In the distance, Eve covered her mouth, staring at the scene in disbelief. The fortress she had tried to breach with the most complex algorithms had actually been melted by a simple memory.

Chen Feng breathed a secret sigh of relief, his back already soaked in cold sweat.

This deal was done.

[System Notification: Trade complete. Gained temporary control of 'Chimera' (Loyalty: Fluctuating).]

However, before he could enjoy the joy of victory—

"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct sequence initiated!"

A cold, synthesized electronic voice abruptly echoed through the hall, shattering the brief moment of warmth.

"Damn it!" Eve snapped her head toward the console, her face pale. "It's the Blackwater people! They triggered the fortress reactor's overload sequence before they died!"

Red alarm lights around the hall began to spin frantically, and the piercing countdown sounded like a death knell.

"Self-destruct countdown: 05:00."

"04:59."

The ground began to shake violently. The dome overhead cracked, and massive stones mixed with metal fragments began to rain down.

"Boss! All exits are sealed!" Reno struggled to crawl out from the wall, coughing up a blood clot. "Those bastards want to take us down with them!"

Chen Feng turned and grabbed the shoulders of the still-dazed youth.

"The trade isn't over yet."

Chen Feng stared into the youth's eyes, speaking rapidly. "If you want to live, if you want to know who that person in the memory is, then follow me. Now, get us out of here."

The youth looked at Chen Feng. The 'self' he had just acquired was still trembling, but he understood the words 'want to live.'

He nodded and extended his semi-mechanical arm, pointing toward the alloy dome several meters thick directly above the hall.

That was the only path to space.

It was also a dead end.

But in the eyes of a god, a path is carved out through slaughter.