173: Your ignorance is your only epitaph

Inside the Hangar, there was a deathly silence.

On the cold metal deck, only Jay’s heavy, intermittent gasps remained, like a broken bellows.

His face, usually pampered and always bearing a sickly arrogance, was now being brutally ground into the floor by Gu Zhixia’s black military boot, stained with stardust and gunpowder.

Twisted, disfigured, and utterly hideous.

Extreme fear and extreme humiliation, like two venom-dipped ice snakes, pierced him to the bone, completely destroying all his dignity as the Vice President of the Leviathan Guild.

Gu Zhixia did not apply any more pressure; she simply maintained the posture.

She looked down at Lin Mo, who had walked closer, and slightly raised her fair chin.

Her phoenix eyes, which had just extinguished the thunder of a god, now shone like two obsidian stones immersed in water, dazzling brightly.

In her gaze, there was a hint of pride, waiting for praise, that only Lin Mo could understand.

Lin Mo’s gaze did not linger on Jay’s pathetic face for even a tenth of a second.

He walked in front of Jay and squatted down.

He met the gaze of those pupils, completely unfocused due to fear, at eye level.

His voice was as calm as an ancient well, as if the one-sided slaughter that had just transpired, enough to be recorded in the annals of interstellar warfare, was merely a common post-meal exercise.

“Jay.”

Lin Mo spoke, calling out his name.

The name, uttered from his mouth without any emotion, made Jay’s body tremble violently as if struck by a high-voltage current.

“Do you know why you lost?”

Jay’s throat emitted incomprehensible “ho ho” sounds, mixed with saliva and blood foam; he wanted to shake his head, then nod, his entire facial musculature twitching uncontrollably.

Lin Mo seemed not to expect an answer either, simply continuing in a cold, factual tone, stating:

“Because of your arrogance.”

“In your eyes, we were a ‘broken ship’ that had narrowly escaped, prey you could easily manipulate to wash away your shame.”

“Therefore, you didn’t even consider me.”

Lin Mo extended a finger and lightly tapped Jay’s forehead.

The gesture was as gentle as brushing away dust, yet Jay felt as if his soul had been pierced by that finger.

“You didn’t even bother to investigate why we dared to venture into the ‘Land Where Gods Fell.’ ”

“Or why we were able to emerge unharmed.”

“In your mind, there was only resentment, only revenge, only the desire to piece together your ridiculous and fragile self-esteem.”

“So you mobilized your strongest fleet, cast a net you thought was foolproof, and then, like an idiot, waited for the prey to walk right into it.”

Lin Mo paused, a hint of almost pitying sarcasm flashing in his dark golden pupils.

“Do you know?”

“If you had deployed this fleet when we entered the main channel, instead of sending a bunch of useless cannon fodder to deliver materials to us… perhaps, today’s outcome would have been completely different.”

“At least, you might have caused us a little trouble.”

“Instead of it being a comical, utterly predictable one-sided slaughter, as it is now.”

“Your ignorance made you miss the only chance you had to possibly kill us.”

Every word from Lin Mo was like a red-hot, sharp scalpel, precisely and layer by layer dissecting Jay’s heart, which was wrapped in arrogance and stupidity.

It brutally exposed the ugliest, most unbearable reality to him.

Jay’s psychological defenses completely collapsed.

He no longer trembled; his entire body sagged to the ground like a puddle of mud.

Tears, snot, sweat, and blood mixed together, smearing his face into a desperate, distorted oil painting.

“Now, tell me the precise warp coordinates of the Leviathan Guild headquarters, and your internal highest-level access password.”

Lin Mo’s voice, like a final judgment, carried no warmth.

“Do not try to lie, and do not play any tricks.”

He stood up and walked to the “Thunder Dragon” mech, which had just undergone a sacred transformation, reaching out to gently caress its cold, dragon-scaled armor, which shimmered with golden, blue, and purple light.

“The lava of fire god can allow you to experience seventy-two hours of your skin and bones melting inch by inch, all while remaining absolutely conscious.”

“And the Life force of the ‘World Tree’ can ensure that throughout the entire process, you will not faint from pain, and not even a single nerve will die.”

“Of course.”

“I hope you won’t force me to go to such trouble.”

This was no longer a threat.

This was a calm statement of an impending, unchangeable, terrifying future.

“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything!”

Jay had completely lost his mind.

Like a dog with its throat squeezed, he screamed with all his might, spewing out a string of complex coordinate data and encrypted passwords, without reservation, tumbling over himself to reveal everything.

Lin Mo gave an order without looking back.

“Natural Selection, parse data, create a 3D model, verify authenticity.”