31: Chapter 31 System! What exactly do you want me to confess?!
The sarcophagus lid slid open slowly, and the sound of ancient, heavy metal grinding echoed through the empty mausoleum, making one's hair stand on end.
A fair, slender hand was the first to emerge from the coffin, its fingertips pale and cold, and immediately after, the entire figure slowly revealed itself.
The stature was absurdly tall; even while lying down, the upright build and perfect proportions could not be hidden.
Golden hair was spread across the bottom of the coffin, soft and glowing with a faint light.
Her skin was as white as snow, her features exquisitely flawless, her long eyelashes drooping, her nose bridge high and straight, and her lips a pale crimson—cold, glamorous, and noble.
She wore a black, tight-fitting robe that outlined her exquisite curves, embroidered with eerie green patterns that shimmered in harmony with the green light of the mausoleum; a faint green halo surrounded her, wrapping her stunning appearance in intimidating majesty and eeriness, maximizing the sense of contrast.
Most eye-catching was her attire.
In one hand, she held a scepter that glowed with a faint green fluorescent light; the staff was engraved with runes, and its top was embedded with an irregular green crystal, with light flowing within it.
On her head was a simple yet majestic headpiece. Fu Haoran couldn't help but think it looked like a simplified version of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh's white crown. He didn't know if it was just decoration or something else, but it looked intimidating.
A thought flashed through Fu Haoran's mind: "Necrons Pharaoh... this design is just too classic."
The woman slowly sat up, her form fully stretching out, her height completely overwhelming everyone present.
Before her, everyone looked like a primary school student.
Ronan and the others instinctively took a step back, and Yuri retreated directly to the exit, only to find the door had slammed shut.
Father Karen's processor emitted a sharp buzzing sound, his metallic cybernetic eye staring fixedly at her, on the verge of overloading.
Fu Haoran's first reaction was to tighten his grip on his plasma pistol.
His second reaction was... "Holy crap, she's tall."
Her height wasn't like the muscle-stacked build of the Ultramarines; it was the natural majesty of a queen looking down upon her subjects. Without any extra movement, she carried her own sense of oppression.
"There's this kind of physique among the Necrons?" Fu Haoran's mind raced. "No, wait, didn't the Necrons all turn into metal skeletons? How does she have flesh and blood?"
Below her collarbone, her curves rose and fell with assertive confidence.
Massive.
Fu Haoran's first thought was, "Holy crap, the system didn't scam me this time; her looks and figure are all up to standard... but this green light and eerie aura, why does it look more and more wrong?"
The next second, the system's black-bellied prompt sounded in his mind, carrying a clear sense of revenge: [Perfectly adapted to the Reincarnator's needs, exclusive subordinate (modified version) has been awakened!]
[Warm reminder: Because the host only specified appearance and figure, and did not mention requirements such as loyalty or docility, the system follows the reward adaptation principle and is not responsible for other factors.]
[Identity Information: Lucifer Farah, last Pharaoh of the Nova Bone Shadow Dynasty, King of Psionic Judgment. Sleeping time: approximately 63 million standard years.]
[System Note: Don't ask why a Necrons Pharaoh has flesh and blood; if you must ask, it's the "modified version." Host, good luck to yourself.]
[Triggered SSS-level emergency mission: Strategy: Ancient Overlord]
[Mission Content: Survive the first contact and lead the target out of the mausoleum.]
[Failure Penalty: Target fully awakens ancient killing intent; Host and all subordinates will be executed.]
Fu Haoran: ...?
Fu Haoran broke down on the spot.
"You black-bellied system! You actually backstabbed me? This is a subordinate? This is clearly a killing god!"
Fu Haoran wanted to drag the system out of his consciousness and smash it on the ground.
This is a fucking subordinate?
This is clearly a Pharaoh who just crawled out of a grave!
While Fu Haoran was complaining internally, the woman slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes were green, and very beautiful.
Her gaze fell upon Fu Haoran, not as if looking at a person, but at a primitive mammal that dared to disturb her 60-million-year slumber and didn't know whether it was living or dying.
"Do you know what you have done?" she spoke, her voice low and carrying the magnetism unique to a smoky voice—a standard trait of a dominant woman, exceptionally alluring.
As she spoke, the green light around her surged. Yuri and the guards instinctively retreated another step, feeling cold all over, not daring to even breathe loudly.
If it were a different time and place, Fu Haoran wouldn't mind flirting with this dominant woman, but now... the more he looked, the colder his heart felt.
"Why would a beautiful subordinate trigger an SSS-level mission?"
"System, come out and explain yourself!"
The usually chatty system chose to go completely silent at this moment.
Fu Haoran stared at the woman in front of him, cursing the system a thousand times in his heart: "You damn dog system, you actually dared to scam me! What on earth is this thing?!"
Suddenly, the woman moved.
Without any superfluous movement, she raised her hand and swung it at the guard next to her. The force was absurdly high; the guard was sent flying directly, crashing into the stone wall and falling unconscious.
The remaining guards, seeing this, immediately raised their guns and fired. The bullets whistled out, but upon approaching within a meter of her, they were blocked by the faint green halo and deflected, not even touching the corner of her clothes.
She walked forward slowly, her movements elegant yet filled with killing intent. She struck down several people with her bare hands. Yuri was so scared he shrank into a corner, not daring to make a sound. Father Karen remained frozen in place, his processor buzzing incessantly.
Fu Haoran watched this scene, his mind racing: "The Necrons' super-alloy skeletons... no, wait, she has flesh and blood, but her strength is still at the Necron level. What the hell did the system stuff into her?"
In an instant, all the guards had fallen to the ground, and only Fu Haoran was left standing in the center of the mausoleum.
The woman walked up to Fu Haoran, raised her hand, and grabbed his throat. Her grip tightened, and Fu Haoran's feet left the ground. He struggled to breathe, his face turning bright red.
"Speak, who are you?" she asked, her tone icy, killing intent surging in her eyes, yet hiding a trace of imperceptible confusion.
Fu Haoran felt weak all over from being choked, catching a glimpse of the confusion in her eyes.
"No, I have to take a gamble!"
Fu Haoran used his last bit of strength to speak with difficulty, his tone wrapped in the most sincere emotion of his life.
Fu Haoran guaranteed that even when he was caught skipping high school to go to an internet cafe and was called in for tea to admit his mistakes, he had never been this sincere.
"D-dear, do you not remember me?"
"I... I am your lover! I came here just to wake you up!"
Yuri, hiding in the corner, stared at Fu Haoran with a look of seeing a ghost, his heart frantically complaining: "Holy crap? The Governor has gone crazy, right? This thing could kill us all, and he actually dares to say he's her lover?!"
He covered his mouth tightly, not daring to even breathe, for fear of being noticed by the woman and suffering along with him.
The woman's hand, which was choking Fu Haoran's throat, loosened slightly.
The confusion in her dark green eyes grew thicker, and her icy gaze rippled with the faintest sign of disturbance.
It wasn't belief.
It was a logical conflict.
She vaguely remembered that before she fell asleep, she was already a cold metal shell, without flesh, without a heartbeat, without any so-called "lover."
But now.
Heartbeat, temperature, tactile sensation.
The carotid artery of this primitive mammal in front of her was pulsing under her fingertips.
Two segments of memory were fighting in her mind.
One was metallic, cold, and 60 million years of loneliness.
The other was flesh-and-blood, warm, and... the vague, fragmented bonds implanted by the system.
She couldn't tell which part was real.
But she vaguely remembered that to consolidate his rule, an emperor had wiped the memories of some nobles on a large scale.
That was the last fragment before she fell asleep. That emperor was wrapped in a cold metallic luster, and the indifference in his tone still remained in her consciousness to this day.
Her memories might have been fake to begin with.
She stared at Fu Haoran and let go.
It wasn't because she believed him.
It was because she couldn't prove he was lying within her logical loop.
Fu Haoran fell, coughing violently.
"Cough, cough, cough~"
The woman looked down at him, her voice still cold, but with a little less killing intent: "I don't remember you, nor do I remember any agreement."
"But I can spend some time with you; perhaps I can find those lost memories from you."
"I am Lucifer Farah, Pharaoh of the Nova Bone Shadow Dynasty, King of Psionic Judgment."
When the woman stated her name, a trace of faint trance flashed across her eyes, as if she herself hadn't spoken this name in a long time.
Fu Haoran's heart skipped a beat: "Nova Bone Shadow Dynasty... never heard of it, but the title "Pharaoh," and the psionics... it's definitely the Necrons without a doubt."
Fu Haoran climbed up from the ground, rubbing the finger marks on his neck, and answered with difficulty: "Fu Haoran."
She looked at him.
"I'm not sure if what you said is true or false."
She paused, slowly leaning down. Her pale, cold fingertips precisely pinched Fu Haoran's chin, not with much force, but carrying an inescapable sense of oppression, her tone icy and bone-chilling: "Before the verification is complete... your life is protected by the dynasty's laws, and also decided by my own hands."
She let go and turned around. The hem of her black robe swept across his knees.
"Let's go."
Fu Haoran stiffened all over and nodded hurriedly, his chin aching slightly. He cursed the system a thousand times more in his heart: "This is not strategy for a subordinate; this is clearly signing a contract of servitude!"
"And it's a Necrons Pharaoh who just crawled out of a 60-million-year-old grave..."
"System, you just wait."