138: Chapter 138: Indestructible? Then I'll acquire it entirely!

The distorted beam from Little Red Clothes' [memory interference projector] was like water dropped into boiling oil, instantly triggering a chain reaction on the massive soul skeleton gate!

On the surface of the gate, the countless soul faces that previously only wailed in pain now looked like a television screen being forcibly switched between channels, their expressions becoming bizarre—some suddenly showed the warm smiles of family reunions, some revealed the innocent playfulness of children, others were blank and dazed, and a few even began to hum out-of-tune songs!

These memory fragments, which were diametrically opposed to or completely unrelated to "suffering," were forcibly crammed into the operational logic of the soul skeleton gate.

The essence of the soul skeleton gate was a sophisticated construct of rules that operated and strengthened itself by absorbing external attack energy and maintaining the "suffering resonance" generated by the eternal pain of the souls upon it. It was like a precise suffering-energy converter.

And now, Little Red Clothes' interference was equivalent to forcibly injecting a massive amount of garbled code and viruses into the core program of this converter!

"Wu... wuwu? Heehee... AAAAH! No—who am I? Where am I?" The faces of the souls on the gate twisted and shifted violently amidst the chaotic memories, their voices turning into illogical static.

The stable spatial fluctuations emitted by the entire soul skeleton gate began to vibrate and malfunction violently! The dark energy flowing across the gate's surface flickered intermittently, and energy backflows and conflicts even appeared in localized areas!

"It's working!" Zhang Hao's eyes lit up. "The 'suffering consensus' of those souls has been broken! The gate's energy cycle is failing!"

However, the Thousand Faces Cult clearly wouldn't sit idly by and watch their defensive line be breached.

"Target the source of interference! Destroy that machine!" In the enemy ranks, a bishop wearing a gold-trimmed black robe, whose aura reached the high-level Ghost General rank, barked out an order.

Instantly, dozens of Abyssal Monsters and Thousand-Faced Cultists skilled in long-range attacks struck simultaneously. Dark energy arrows, corrosive fireballs, and mental spikes rained down upon Little Red Clothes and her conspicuous projector!

"Protect Little Red Clothes!" Lei Xiao (Original) roared, swinging his axe to slice out a curtain of lightning and fire to block the assault. The surrounding underworld soldiers also immediately formed a defensive formation.

But the attacks were too dense; several stray shots still managed to penetrate the defensive line, heading straight for Little Red Clothes!

Just as the attacks were about to strike—

The tattered ragdoll in Little Red Clothes' arms suddenly moved on its own!

It lunged out of Little Red Clothes' arms, its body instantly expanding and transforming in mid-air! Countless strips of scrap cloth extended and intertwined like living things, transforming in an instant into a massive shield made of ragged fabric and cotton, covered in eerie stitched-on smiley faces, blocking the path in front of Little Red Clothes and the projector!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The energy attacks hit the ragdoll shield like mud falling into the ocean, only causing a few ripples before being absorbed and swallowed by the wriggling fabric! The stitched smiley faces on the shield's surface even seemed to wear mocking expressions.

"Holy shit! That doll has come to life?!" Zhang Hao cried out in surprise.

Little Red Clothes didn't even look at the attacks behind her. She remained focused on controlling the projector, constantly adjusting the beam's frequency to "add some spice" to the other two soul skeleton gates as well. Soon, all three soul skeleton gates fell into varying degrees of memory chaos and energy disorder.

The enemy bishop's face turned ashen. "Activate the backup plan! Sacrifice one-third of the souls within the gates to forcibly stabilize the structures and purge the memory pollution!"

As the order was given, even more shrill and desperate wails echoed from within the three soul skeleton gates! On the gate structures, one-third of the soul faces suddenly became twisted and grey, then melted like burning candles, turning into pure but deathly soul power. This was injected into the gates' cores in an attempt to forcibly suppress the chaos and restore the "suffering resonance."

This move was cruel but effective. The gates' fluctuations indeed began to stabilize, and the chaotic memory images were forcibly erased and overwritten.

"They're actually using their own people's souls as fuel!" Su Qingyu said, both shocked and furious.

Lin Chen watched this scene coldly, showing no hint of surprise on his face.

"A deathbed struggle," he commented indifferently. "A structure that relies on internal exploitation to maintain stability will only collapse faster."

He didn't order a frontal assault, nor did he ask Little Red Clothes to increase the interference—that might consume too much of her origin power.

He raised his hand again, the familiar system tablet resting in his palm.

This time, his target wasn't an area, but... the three "self-combusting" soul skeleton gates themselves!

The nether domain asset system, initiating advanced scanning and evaluation functions.

[Target: soul skeleton gate (Rule-based defensive structure, Thousand Faces Cult creation) *3]

[Status: Moderate damage, energy cycle disordered, massive internal soul loss, in a state of forced stabilization.]

[Core Principle: Absorbs and converts external energy, relies on internal soul suffering resonance for maintenance.]

[Property Status: Illegally constructed by the Thousand Faces Cult, no official Underworld certified property rights.]

[Comprehensive Evaluation: High rule research value (related to suffering and souls), but maintenance costs are extremely high, and there are serious ethical risks.]

[Compulsory Acquisition Feasibility: High (Target is in an unstable state, property rights are unclear, and the builder is a hostile force).]

[Suggested Acquisition Price: 8 billion nether talismans per gate (including subsequent purification and stabilization costs). Initiate compulsory acquisition for all three targets simultaneously?]

"All three together. Buy them," Lin Chen said without hesitation.

[Command confirmed. Consuming 24 billion nether talismans. Compulsory acquisition procedure initiated... Overwriting target's underlying ownership rules...]

An invisible force, grander and more fundamental than when he managed the Jingyuan Tributary, crossed through space and directly enveloped the three hundred-foot-tall soul skeleton gates!

This power was not an attack, but "confirmation of rights" and "takeover"!

The Thousand Faces Cult bishop, who was burning souls in an attempt to stabilize the gates, suddenly felt his control connection with the soul skeleton gates... snap!

It wasn't cut off; rather, his status as "owner" was forcibly overwritten and erased by some higher-level, more fundamental rule!

"What's happening?! My control over the gates... is disappearing?!" The bishop was terrified beyond measure.

Then, under the dumbfounded gaze of countless eyes (from both sides), a massive virtual seal flashing with the golden light of nether talismans appeared on the surfaces of the three soul skeleton gates—it was the certification mark of the nether domain asset system, representing that "ownership has been transferred"!

Simultaneously, a cold, mechanical notification rang out through the level of rules in the consciousness of all souls associated with the soul skeleton gates (primarily the Thousand Faces Cult controllers):

[Notification: The asset 'soul skeleton gate (No. 1/2/3)' managed/used by you has been compulsorily acquired through legal channels by the new owner 'Lin Chen (Nether Lord Bloodline Inheritor)'. You have lost all ownership and usage rights to this asset. Please cease all operations immediately and cooperate with the handover. Repeating...]

"Le... legal channels? Compulsory acquisition?!" The Thousand Faces Cult bishop almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He pointed at Lin Chen, his fingers trembling and his voice shrill and distorted: "You! This is robbery! This is cheating! How can there be a logic where you buy someone else's city walls in the middle of a battle?!"

Lin Chen put away the system tablet and gave the bishop a standard business smile:

"Now, there is logic."

With a thought, as the new and sole legal owner of the soul skeleton gates, he directly issued the first and last command to the three gates through the system:

"Asset disposal plan: Format."

[Command confirmed. Executing format operation on asset 'soul skeleton gate (1/2/3)'. Stripping external structures, retaining core rule modules, purifying internal residual souls...]

The three massive gate structures shook thunderously!

The countless skeletons forming the gates began to decompose and fall away. The souls that were imprisoned and tortured, yet not yet sacrificed, were gently stripped away by a soft but irresistible force. The pain on their faces gradually dissipated as they turned into specks of pure soul light, drifting blankly in all directions, waiting for a possible chance at reincarnation.

Ultimately, the three behemoths completely disintegrated, leaving behind only three fist-sized, rotating dark-red core light spheres composed of complex suffering patterns—these were the most fundamental "suffering resonance" rule modules of the soul skeleton gates.

Lin Chen beckoned, and the three core light spheres flew into his hand, where he temporarily stowed them away. These things would be good materials to give to Little Red Clothes for research later, or to use for strengthening the key of suffering.

The three soul skeleton gates, which the Thousand Faces Cult had operated for who knows how long as their final line of defense, were just like that, "bought" out of existence by Lin Chen for 24 billion nether talismans.

The enemy ranks were deathly silent. All the Thousand-Faced Cultists and Abyssal Monsters were stunned. They looked at the empty space ahead, then at their bishop, whose face was as pale as paper, and a sense of absurdity and a chill rushed from the soles of their feet straight to the tops of their heads.

How could they even fight this battle?

Zhang Hao held it in for a long while before finally giving Lin Chen a big thumbs up and squeezing out a sentence with all his might:

"Boss... when it comes to flashy moves... I fucking only look up to you!"

(Hook: Just as the morale of the Thousand Faces Cult fell into chaos, the massive Soul Vortex in the rear seemed to be provoked, its rotation speed suddenly accelerating! A terrifying suction ten times stronger than before erupted, targeting not only Lin Chen's army but even sweeping up a large number of Thousand-Faced Cultists and Abyssal Monsters in front who didn't have time to react into the vortex! Meanwhile, deep within the vortex, a grand will—cold, greedy, and carrying a mixture of dragonic majesty and magistrate's authority—slowly awakened and locked onto Lin Chen. It seemed the consciousnesses of the traitor Dragon Aspect and the Magistrate had temporarily merged and descended with the help of the vortex!)