216: The Monster's New Name and War Bonus

*Snap.*

The specially-made alloy spoon bent into a bizarre ninety-degree angle in the boy's hand.

The boy froze. He stared at the completely deformed metal utensil in his hand, then at the clump of pasty nutritional paste on his plate, the biological conduits at his neck writhing uneasily. His processor could not comprehend this sense of frustration—fingers that could easily tear through tank armor were defeated by a mere spoon.

"Too much force."

Eve sat across from him, holding another spoon, her movements as gentle as if she were demonstrating a precision surgery. She scooped up a spoonful of the pale yellow paste, brought it to her mouth, and then looked at the boy.

"Eating is for ingesting energy, not for killing the food. Try lowering your output power to 0.1%."

The boy hesitated, picking up a new spoon. This time, his movements were as slow as if he were disarming an antimatter bomb. The metal handle trembled slightly in his fingertips, but he finally succeeded in scooping up a spoonful and clumsily brought it to his mouth.

There was no taste of blood.

Only a faint sweetness dissolved on the tip of his tongue.

The boy's chewing paused for a moment, then he increased his speed.

Chen Feng leaned against the lounge doorframe, quietly watching the scene. The shuttle's engine hummed low and steady, isolating them from the starry sky outside that had just witnessed a slaughter.

"He learns very quickly." Eve didn't turn around, her long silver hair swaying gently with the fine-tuning of the gravity simulation system. "But he doesn't have a name yet. Designations like 'Subject' or '734' aren't suitable for an employee file."

Chen Feng walked to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down.

The boy immediately stopped eating, his body instinctively tensing up—a stress response to a "superior" etched into his very bones.

"Eat your food." Chen Feng tapped the table, the sound causing the boy's tensed muscles to relax slightly.

"Chimera."

Chen Feng looked into the boy's heterochromatic eyes and slowly uttered the word.

The boy tilted his head, a bit of nutritional paste still clinging to the corner of his mouth.

"In ancient legends, that was a monster formed by the fusion of multiple creatures." Chen Feng pulled a coin from his pocket and flipped it between his fingers. "Some think it's a profanity, a mongrel. But in my eyes, it's the pinnacle of evolution, a perfect creation that gathers the strengths of many."

He reached out and wiped the smudge from the boy's mouth with his thumb.

"From today on, your name is Chimera."

The boy felt the pronunciation of the name. Chimera. No longer a cold number, no longer a model of some tool.

"Chimera..." the boy repeated hoarsely, his voice carrying a texture like metal scraping. "Am I... human?"

"Not yet."

Chen Feng's answer was cold and direct. "Right now, you are still a weapon with self-awareness. But that is your starting point, not your destination."

He pointed out the window at the vast sea of stars.

"Follow me. I will teach you how to control your power, how to judge good and evil, until one day, you no longer swing your blade because of an order, but to fight for what you want to protect."

"At that time, you will be human."

The boy looked in the direction Chen Feng pointed. Starlight reflected off his semi-mechanized face, and in his intact left eye, countless burning stars were mirrored.

It was a type of data fluctuation he had never experienced before.

Not a killing command, not a tactical analysis.

It was a fragment of code called 'expectation'.

The boy turned his head, looked at Chen Feng, and nodded heavily. Then he lowered his head, gripped the spoon in his hand even tighter, and began gulping down the food on his plate... Hanhai Base, Central Spaceport.

The massive hull of the vengeance slowly cut into its berth. The charred bullet holes and the still-cooling armor plates on the ship's surface silently spoke of the intensity of the battle just now.

But what greeted them was not panic, but cheers like a mountain tsunami.

Thousands of base members gathered at the pier. Among them were former Mine Slaves, exiled technicians, and newly joined mercenaries. Everyone's gaze was focused on that scarred but proudly returning warship, and the mountain of spoils being towed in by the tugboats behind it.

It was the wreckage of an entire Blackwater Fleet.

Even as scrap metal, it was a priceless treasure in this resource-scarce sector.

"Boss, you're a complete lunatic."

Su Li stood at the elevator entrance, the electronic tablet in her hand nearly crushed by her grip. She looked at Chen Feng as he walked down the gangway; although her tone was stern, her eyes behind her glasses flashed with irrepressible excitement.

"Do you know the base's energy reserves only have three days left? If you hadn't come back, I would've had to take these thousands of people to starve."

"That's why I brought this back."

Chen Feng stepped aside and pointed to a massive metal canister being hoisted by a crane behind him. It was an antimatter reactor salvaged from the wreckage of the Blackwater flagship; although slightly damaged, it was enough to power the entire base for half a year.

"And this."

Chen Feng patted Chimera's shoulder beside him.

The boy stood quietly, the biological cannon ports on his back retracted, making him look like an ordinary thin youth. But the veterans around them who had experienced war instinctively took half a step back the moment they saw him. It was the biological fear of an apex predator.

"This is our new Security director," Chen Feng introduced flatly.

Su Li pushed up her glasses, her gaze lingering on Chimera for three seconds before she quickly made a note on her tablet.

"I don't care if he's human or a ghost, as long as he can fight." Su Li closed her tablet, her speech rapid. "I've already listed the inventory for the incoming supplies. Also, here is this week's financial report. Even though we won, our liquid capital has bottomed out due to the repairs for the vengeance and the expansion of the shipyard."

"The money issue will be solved very soon."

Chen Feng took the report, didn't even glance at it, and handed it directly to Eve behind him.

"Tell everyone." Chen Feng turned around to face the dense crowd in the plaza, his voice spreading through the entire base via the loudspeakers.

"Blackwater's blockade has been broken."

"From today on, in this sector, Hanhai calls the shots."

The crowd boiled over. Those low-dimensional lives who could once only survive in the cracks stood tall for the first time. They looked at the young figure on the high platform, their eyes burning with a flame called 'ambition'... Deep within the base, Titan Laboratory (Temporary Version).

A holographic projection constructed a double-helix structure in mid-air that was dizzyingly complex. It was Chimera's genetic map, and also the core secret of the Titan Project.

"Incredible..."

Eve's fingers danced rapidly in the air, peeling away layers of data. "They actually did it. Perfectly fusing the 'Regeneration Factor' of high-dimensional beings with mechanical logic. Boss, do you know what this means?"

She turned around, her silver eyes frighteningly bright.

"It means we can mass-produce."

With a wave of Eve's hand, the holographic projection instantly changed. The originally complex genetic map was simplified and dismantled into hundreds of modular mechanical structures.

"While we can't replicate a 'Vessel of God' like Chimera, I've analyzed the biological neural connection technology within. We can create a 'weakened version' of Biological Mecha."

A humanoid mecha about three meters tall appeared in the image. It didn't have thick armor; instead, it featured a biological skin similar to muscle fiber.

"The cost is only one-third of traditional mecha, but the reaction speed is five times faster. Most importantly, it doesn't require high-intensity mental power to pilot; an ordinary person can get the hang of it after a week of training."

"Mass-produced Biological Mecha..." Chen Feng looked at the design drawing, his fingers lightly tapping the table. "We don't want masterpieces; we want quantity. Eve, I want you to have this stuff filling our production lines within a month."

"As long as the raw materials are sufficient, no problem." Eve nodded confidently. "But this requires a large amount of biomass and rare metals."

"There will be." Chen Feng narrowed his eyes. "Someone will deliver these things to our door."

...Communications Room.

The screen was filled with noise and interference bars. K's figure was distorted and deformed within, like a ghost about to dissipate.

"Cough, cough... The signal isn't great. It seems I'm already very far from that hellhole."

K's voice was intermittent, with a strange sound of wind in the background. "Chen Feng, the place I'm going... can't be found on the star chart. It's a stronghold of the 'Touch of the Veil'. It's said there is ancient technology there that can suppress Law Contamination."

"Good luck." Chen Feng looked at the man he had fought alongside. "If you die, I'll burn paper for you."

"Heh... save it." K laughed, but then his expression turned serious, and his bandage-wrapped face leaned closer to the camera.

"Listen, Chen Feng. You've made too much noise this time. The Blackwater Fleet wiped out, Chimera taken... this isn't just a slap in the face, it's digging up Augustus van Cole's ancestral grave."

"That old man may be arrogant, but he's not stupid. He will never let this go. Blackwater is just his glove; next, what you'll face might be the real 'Iron Fist'."

"Let him come." Chen Feng's tone was as calm as if he were discussing tomorrow's weather.

"You're still so arrogant..." K shook his head, his figure beginning to turn transparent. "Watch out for Valerius. He's the only mad dog in the Alliance; he doesn't bark before he bites."

*Zzzzt—*

The communication cut out. The screen returned to static.

Chen Feng stared at the dark screen for a long time, then turned and walked out of the communications room... Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance Headquarters, Cloud City.

This was the most prosperous center of the entire universe, where every floor tile was laid with pure energy crystals. But at the top of the highest spire, the atmosphere was oppressively suffocating.

"Wiped out?"

Augustus stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the brilliant nebula beneath his feet. His voice was soft, yet it made the intelligence officer kneeling behind him tremble.

"The Blackwater Third Fleet, an entire full-strength fleet, wiped out... by a merchant ship?"

"Yes... yes, Lord director." The intelligence officer buried his head even lower. "According to the reports from survivors, the opponent possessed some kind of... some kind of weapon that transcends conventional logic. Furthermore, that 'Subject' was also on that ship."

"Transcends logic..."

Augustus turned around and casually threw the priceless antique crystal glass in his hand onto the floor.

*Smash!*

The crisp sound of shattering echoed in the empty hall. Red wine splashed onto the carpet like a jarring pool of blood.

"That is my property. That is the order of the Alliance."

Augustus walked to his desk and pressed the red communication button.

"Connect me to Admiral Valerius."

A few seconds later, a figure as hulking as a mountain appeared in the holographic projection. The man wore dark red power armor, a hideous scar stretched across his face, and he was sitting on a mountain of alien biological corpses, wiping a combat blade.

"Augustus." The man's voice was like thunder. "What do you want? If it's those boring business negotiations, get lost."

"It's not a negotiation."

Augustus took a deep breath, his expression returning to that of high-and-mighty indifference.

"Initiate Plan B."

"I want you to start a war. Not a proxy conflict, not a local friction."

"I want a real, devastating interstellar war." Augustus pointed to an inconspicuous coordinate on the edge of the star chart. "The target is Hanhai Trade. Completely erase that man named Chen Feng, along with his rat's nest, from a physical level."

The man in the projection stopped wiping his blade and looked up, revealing a set of bone-white teeth.

"Finally..." Valerius grinned as he stood up. "I've been waiting for this day."

...Hanhai Base, Watchtower.

The gale howled, whipping the hem of Chen Feng's trench coat.

He stood at the top of the tower, overlooking the land below that was growing at a frantic pace.

Welding sparks flew in the expanding shipyard, and countless engineering robots were as busy as worker ants. In the distance on the training grounds, Chimera was testing new equipment under Eve's guidance, each punch creating a sonic boom cloud.

This was a war machine being started up.

Chen Feng pulled out that gold coin from his pocket, the only item he had brought with him when he crossed over.

*Ding.*

The gold coin was tossed high, shimmering with a golden halo under the light of the star.

*Clap.*

Chen Feng caught the gold coin and, without looking at the result, directly clenched it in his palm.

"The blockade is broken."

He whispered to himself, his gaze piercing through the atmosphere, looking toward the deep and dangerous depths of the universe.

"Next is the era of expansion."

Just then, a cold mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

[System Prompt]

[Detected that the host has successfully defeated high-dimensional armed forces and established absolute deterrence within the region.]

[credit rating upgraded to: Lv.4 (Regional Overlord)]

[New Authority Unlocked: Issuance of Civilization-Level War Bonds]

[Description: War is the biggest business. Now, you can turn the 'outcome of war' into a financial product and pre-sell it to investors across the universe. Let them pay for your ambition.]

The corners of Chen Feng's mouth curled into a crazed arc.

War bonds?

This was the card he had been waiting for.

Since Augustus wanted war, he would turn this war into the largest IPO in the entire universe.

"Come then."

Chen Feng loosened his hand, and the gold coin fell in the wind, hitting the metal floor with a crisp echo.

"Let's see who will be the final dealer."