184: The president shows up, but you are already trapped!

Gu Zhixia's combat had long transcended the realm of mere "fighting."

It was a death tour.

She piloted the thunder dragon mecha, weaving through the fortress's labyrinthine interior. Wherever her will directed, bolts of lightning precisely struck, eradicating every Life signal that dared to resist along the way.

The three thunder laws were the most lethal brushes in her hand, freely splashing colors named "end" onto the canvas of this steel fortress.

The Natural Selection, meanwhile, floated silently outside the battlefield, like a silent deep-space Grim Reaper.

The main cannon "fire god" on the Bridge had already finished charging. The destructive glow of crimson lotus thunder flames was contained within the muzzle, locking onto the fortress's core power reactor, awaiting the command to deliver the final blow.

The battle was decided.

However, Lin Mo never issued that command.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

Something was wrong.

Everything was too smooth.

So smooth, in fact, that it felt like a meticulously choreographed play.

Fifteen minutes had passed since the attack began. They had destroyed over seventy percent of Leviathan's armed forces, yet the most crucial figure—Leviathan's chairman—and his core personal guard had yet to appear.

According to "World Tree" intelligence, Leviathan's chairman was extremely arrogant. His throne was located at the apex of the fortress, within the obsidian tower named "Summit of the Divine Kingdom."

That was Leviathan's heart.

"Gu Zhixia, go to the 'Summit of the Divine Kingdom.'"

Lin Mo's voice came through the tactical channel.

"I want him alive."

"Understood."

Gu Zhixia's slightly excited response came through the communicator.

The thunder dragon mecha instantly changed direction, its back light wings spewing out immense energy. Along the massive verticalRift Valley torn open by the Scepter of God (Code name for attack sequence), it transformed into a three-colored stream of light, soaring directly towards the top of the fortress.

Minutes later, the thunder dragon mecha crashed through the last layer of symbolic defensive gates and descended upon the "Summit of the Divine Kingdom."

This was not a command center, but an extremely luxurious palace.

The floor was paved with flawless black crystals, the walls were embedded with star diamonds, and the dome was a slowly rotating dynamic holographic universe map.

In the center of the palace, there was only a ferocious throne carved from a single piece of dark energy crystal.

The throne was empty.

The entire palace was so quiet that one could hear the low hum of the mecha's energy core.

"No one's here."

A hint of displeasure, as if she had been toyed with, was in Gu Zhixia's voice.

"There's not even a speck of dust. Is the 'King' here a coward?"

The alarm bells in Lin Mo's heart reached their peak at this moment.

He immediately ordered: "World Tree, full power scan! Search for any energy fluctuations at the law level!"

"Command received... Deep scan initiated..."

"Scan complete... Warning! No high-energy Life forms matching the 'Leviathan chairman's' characteristics detected within the fortress!"

"Warning! No law-level energy reactions exist within the fortress!"

The place was deserted.

The only variable had vanished before the battle even began.

A warlord who abandoned his entire guild's foundation?

This was illogical.

Unless... unless this entire fortress, along with the tens of thousands of Life wailing within it, was merely bait.

A trap... designed to capture them!

The moment the thought arose, disaster struck.

It wasn't a physical attack, but an invisible, intangible, terrifying wave that directly pierced through the real dimension and descended upon the soul!

"Ugh!"

In the Bridge, Lin Mo's body trembled violently.

His world disintegrated.

Everything before his eyes didn't twist, but was "polluted." The sturdy metal Bridge turned into writhing flesh and fascia in his eyes, and the cold control panel began to ooze viscous, malevolent liquid.

His proud mental world, like a precision instrument, was forcibly invaded by a foreign entity full of madness and distortion.

His connection with "World Tree," deeply rooted in his soul, was brutally severed by this force!

"War...ning! De...tecting unknown spiritual...law...invasion! Invasion intensity...#￥@#%#%"

"'World Tree'...system...concept...pollution...auth...ority...strip...ped..."

System alerts in his mind turned into sharp, meaningless static, mixed with countless mad whispers.

Almost at the same time, Gu Zhixia, far away at the "Summit of the Divine Kingdom," let out a suppressed groan of pain.

She clutched her head, feeling as if the three thunder laws she had just perfectly mastered instantly transformed into three malevolent dragons devouring their master, wildly crashing and tearing through her mental sea.

Meanwhile, by the dining cart in the Bridge, Gu Nianqiu, who was wiping a spoon with a flannel cloth, simply softened her small body slightly and silently collapsed.

The carrot-carved pillow she cherished, which she held in her arms, rolled onto the cold deck, stained with that illusory "slime."

Lin Mo used the last shred of clarity, which was about to be drowned, to desperately look out the viewport.

The pockmarked Leviathan fortress was "healing."

Grotesque wounds grew granulation tissue as they writhed, and collapsed armor reassembled, but what reassembled was no longer cold steel, but huge, distorted, pain-filled human faces.

The entire fortress came alive, transforming into a terrifying Life form composed of illusions, spirits, and flesh.

The massive holes pierced by the Scepter of God (Code name for attack sequence) now transformed into slowly opening, bloodshot giant eyes, staring fixedly at the Natural Selection with endless mockery and malice.

At the apex of the fortress, on the empty throne.

A distorted shadow, composed of pure spiritual energy, slowly coalesced into form.

A voice, not from vocal cord vibrations but directly in their souls, enveloped them with the playful appreciation of an art connoisseur.

"Welcome."

"To my... collection."

The next second, Lin Mo's consciousness completely sank into boundless darkness.