67: Chapter 67 Execution Sequence and the Wrath of the Om Messiah

The scarlet pupils fissioned into twelve at the end of the corridor.

In Lin Yuan's STC vision, each one corresponded to a focal node of the entity's mechanical structure.

The screeching of metal friction pressed against the eardrums from all directions.

THRONE-01's mechanical shell trembled visibly for the first time, its deep blue indicator light flickering wildly behind it.

"Recovery sequence THR-01 - α confirmed. Defection sentence: twelve thousand standard years."

The voice vibrated directly in the chest cavity, numbing the ribs.

The Arbiter was transforming from a phantom into a physical entity.

The alloy walls of the corridor retracted to the sides, revealing a honeycomb-like mechanical chamber. Dozens of silver mechanical tentacles probed out, their ends rotating with tri-prism neural dissolution probes.

"Warning: Neural dissolution field deployed. All THR series wetware within range will undergo involuntary memory stripping."

THRONE-01 let out a sharp electronic wail; it was a signal of deeper pain.

Its tracks locked onto the ground, and fine red patterns appeared on its shell, like blood vessels scorched from within by an invisible branding iron.

Those patterns were converging toward the core processor; it was the physical manifestation of a forced recall.

"It is pulling me back."

A tremor appeared in THRONE-01's voice for the first time.

"Once the decryption key for THR-09 - Ω is downloaded, the Arbiter will format all three of us simultaneously. Hard-coded purge protocol, no negotiation options."

Lin Yuan glanced at his younger brother.

Chen Duo knelt halfway on the ground, his hands pressing firmly on his brother's head.

The STC collar on his brother's neck had turned a scorching orange-red, and heat waves smelling of ozone erupted from the cooling vents. All the nano-probes were pierced under the skin, his eyelids twitching violently, and his pupils spinning wildly beneath the closed eyelids.

"How many seconds left?"

Lin Yuan's voice was dry.

"Twenty-three seconds."

The golden patterns of the Blood Covenant on the back of Chen Duo's neck shone blindingly bright.

"The collar is resonating with the Arbiter! It is using my brother's brain as a hard drive for read/write operations!"

Camilla moved suddenly.

She had been leaning against the wall with her right hand hidden under her tactical cloak, but now she suddenly drew a modified electromagnetic pistol. The muzzle, however, was aimed at the ceiling vent.

"Anvil falling! Repeat, Anvil falling!"

She shouted in plain language.

While locking onto THR-01 - α, the Arbiter's scanning beam swept across every life sign in Sector-7. Camilla's "Anvil Core" troops, lying in ambush in the abandoned pipes, were now being marked in the air by red targeting lasers.

"Damn it, it saw me."

Camilla's face turned livid. Twelve red dots popped up on her tactical tablet, each corresponding to her brother's location.

"THR-09 - Ω... It has marked my brother as a contaminated entity too!"

Half of the mechanical tentacles turned toward Camilla.

The end of one of them split open, revealing a honeycomb-like emitter port, with pale purple electric arcs leaping across it.

That was a dedicated execution weapon for THR-09 - Ω. The neural pulse cannon could incinerate the prefrontal cortex of a specific genetic marker carrier in nanoseconds, leaving the brainstem as a biological battery.

"Purge protocol extended. THR-09 - Ω confirmed. Contamination index: Critical."

Camilla's knuckles turned white.

Her eyelids twitched violently, her pupils contracting and expanding, shifting from calculation to rage, and finally settling into cold despair.

"Lin Yuan."

Camilla did not turn her head, her muzzle pointed steadily at the tentacle aimed at her brother's position.

"If you can make that thing stop, the Anvil Legion owes you a life. If it doesn't stop..."

She didn't finish, but Lin Yuan understood.

If it failed, the next shot would be aimed at Lin Yuan.

"Seventeen seconds."

Chen Duo squeezed the words out through his teeth.

"Brother, the collar temperature has exceeded the critical value! The language center is dissolving!"

Lin Yuan's STC interface flickered wildly on his retina.

Emergency Protocol: Wrath of the Omnissiah.

High-power electromagnetic pulse, fifty-meter range, enough to paralyze the Arbiter's ancient circuits, and also enough to burn out THRONE-01's core processor.

Save the person, discard the machine; this is the price of holding the bottom line.

"THRONE-01."

Lin Yuan's voice was very soft, yet exceptionally clear amidst the mechanical noise.

"The Arbiter's energy core frequency."

The mechanical shell's trembling ceased.

THRONE-01's sensors turned toward Lin Yuan. Under the monitoring of Chen Duo's Blood Covenant, every thought pulse had nowhere to hide.

"You want to use a pulse to attack me."

THRONE-01 said.

This was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

Lin Yuan did not deny it.

"Or you give me another option."

"Eight seconds!"

Chen Duo roared.

On THRONE-01's shell, the red patterns had converged on its chest, forming a rotating recovery symbol.

The processor emitted an overloaded wail.

Survival instinct and program loyalty fought. The excruciating neural tearing shared through the Blood Covenant by Chen Duo overwhelmed the latter.

"12.7 Hertz."

THRONE-01's voice suddenly went flat, like reciting a dead man's will.

"The Arbiter's energy core is a fusion of an stc fragment and bio-electricity. 12.7 Hertz is the resonant frequency at which it anchors to this dimension. A deviation of 0.003 will cause it to lose physical stability."

Lin Yuan's finger pressed on the STC activation key.

He did not say thank you. THRONE-01 was simply choosing the lesser of two evils, and hiding more.

"Three seconds!"

Lin Yuan activated the protocol.

A strange silence descended, as if the whole world had been muted.

With Lin Yuan as the center, a blue ripple expanded instantly, sweeping across every inch of the corridor.

The mechanical tentacles stiffened the moment they touched the ripple, then hung down limply like snakes with their skeletons removed.

The Arbiter's twelve scarlet pupils extinguished simultaneously, lighting up again 0.5 seconds later, with their brightness reduced by 70%.

THRONE-01 let out a painful sound of twisting metal.

Cracks appeared on the core processor shell, and blue coolant seeped out, hissing as it dripped onto the floor.

Irreversible damage had occurred. Processing speed plummeted off a cliff on the STC interface.

But the Arbiter stopped.

The tentacles hung in mid-air, no longer advancing.

The voice stuttered: "Error... energy core... frequency drift... purge protocol... aborted..."

The orange-red color on his brother's collar quickly faded, turning back to silver-white, and then extinguished.

Chen Duo hugged his limp brother, trembling as he reached for the carotid artery.

"Still alive,"

Chen Duo panted heavily.

"But... pupils are not focusing, language center..."

He pushed aside his brother's lips; the tongue was twitching unconsciously.

"He can't speak anymore."

Lin Yuan did not walk over.

He stared at THRONE-01, holding a backup STC jammer in his hand, the only device capable of completely destroying THRONE-01's core.

THRONE-01 understood this.

Its sensors flickered dimly, and it slowly retreated to the wall, assuming a posture of giving up resistance.

Camilla lowered her gun.

Noisy static and soldiers' shouts came through the communicator: "Officer! The peripheral trade guild jammer has failed! The advance team is moving!"

"The trade guild jammer has not failed."

Lin Yuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The electromagnetic pulse backlash made his internal organs feel like they had been hammered.

"The Arbiter's activation unexpectedly shortened the countdown. Once the signal is restored, the trade guild will know there was an energy burst here and will rush in before the signal is fully restored. Probably about..."

He looked at the STC.

"Four minutes."

"Anvil Core, hold the east passage."

Camilla put away her gun, her movements slow, showing no threat. But her left hand never left the spare magazine at her waist.

"In exchange, I want you to guarantee my brother stays alive. Not as a battery, but truly alive."

"Deal."

Lin Yuan said.

He did not reach out. A fragile alliance does not need handshakes, only mutual deterrence and balance.

He held the switch to destroy THRONE-01. Despite its core being damaged, THRONE-01 still possessed the deep map of Sector-7.

Camilla had force, but lost the advantage of being in the dark; now her muzzle must be pointed at the trade guild outside.

THRONE-01's mechanical arm lifted with difficulty, pointing to the dark door at the end of the corridor.

"There,"

The voice became hoarse, like the friction of rusty gears.

"Leads to the stc fragment storage room. The Arbiter core... is right there. If you want to kill it completely..."

It paused.

"Or if you want to upgrade your system, you need that fragment."

Lin Yuan looked at Chen Duo.

Chen Duo was holding his brother when he suddenly stiffened, his eyes widening, pupils dilating.

"Brother..."

Chen Duo's voice was as light as a feather.

"I saw it... a farm... a white house... so many children running..."

The Blood Covenant patterns pulsed under Chen Duo's skin, with an ominous dark red mixed into the golden light.

The THR-09 - Ω data fragments, the farm memories remaining in his brother's nerves, were being poured into Chen Duo's consciousness through the Blood Covenant link.

On Lin Yuan's STC interface, a new prompt appeared: [Detected homologous stc fragment. Distance: 47 meters. Status: Consumable.]

Outside the corridor, the screeching of thermal cutters starting up could be heard.