215: Chapter 215 Then let those weaklings die!

"You... why..."

The young Wu Tian's eyes widened, looking at his most trusted friend and companion before him in disbelief as blood surged from his mouth.

"Sorry about this, Old Wu."

The Black-Robed Man slowly pulled out the dagger, his voice laced with a spine-chilling fanaticism and greed.

"You're too pedantic. Shut it down? Why would we shut it down?"

"Can't you see? The radiation emitted by this ship has granted us power like that of gods! This is the ultimate opportunity for human evolution!"

"But... those monsters will destroy humanity!" Wu Tian gripped the control console tightly, attempting a final struggle.

"Then let those weaklings die!"

The Black-Robed Man kicked Wu Tian away with a sudden force, his eyes fixated fanatically on the pulsing core of the ship—the [Origin Stone].

"As long as I control this Origin Stone, I can control the awakening path of all humanity! I can mass-produce countless god-level powerhouses!"

"Survival of the fittest, the weak are prey to the strong! This is the true law of the universe!"

"The old world will be destroyed in blood and fire, and I shall establish a new world ruled by gods!"

The Black-Robed Man turned and unhesitatingly pressed the red button on the console representing 'Energy Overload'.

BOOM—!!!

In the image, endless blue light completely swallowed Wu Tian's despairing face, as well as the entire holographic projection of the fiftieth floor.

Everything returned to darkness and dead silence.

Chen Xi and the other three stood in the empty hall of the fiftieth floor, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

Cold sweat had already soaked through their backs.

"This... this is the truth behind everything?"

Li Murou's voice trembled as she hugged her arms tightly. "So, that Black-Robed Man who backstabbed Wu Tian Wu is the founder of the current Black-Clothed Organization?!"

"Yes."

Chen Xi's gaze became colder than ever before, a thick killing intent churning in his chest.

"What they want was never to save the world, nor was it simple Mechanical Ascension."

"What they want is to create gods! To monopolize the path of human evolution and become the sole sovereigns of this world!"

"Captain, what should we do now?" Ye Fei took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

"Keep climbing!"

Chen Xi looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through the heavy layers of the tower, stabbing straight toward the top.

"Since Wu Tian Wu couldn't shut it down a hundred years ago..."

"...then today, it falls to our Nirvana Battle Team to complete this unfinished mission for him!"

"Let's go! To the top of the tower, destroy that Origin Stone!"

As they climbed further up the Tower of Heaven, the environmental anomalies became increasingly despair-inducing.

From the fiftieth floor onward, the holographic historical images that were once relatively clear disappeared entirely, replaced by an extreme sense of coldness and machinery.

There was no gravity inversion or bizarre mental pollution here; there were only countless energy pipes as thick as giant pythons, writhing on the metal walls like blood vessels, emitting a heart-palpitating ghostly blue light.

The air was thick with the scent of high-concentration ozone. The surroundings were so quiet that only the faint breathing and heavy footsteps of the four Nirvana members could be heard.

"Captain Chen, the energy suppression here is too terrifying..."

Su Xiaoxiao's knuckles turned white as she gripped her staff. As an SS-grade [Void Thunder Punishment Valkyrie], she could normally easily manipulate the lightning elements in the void. But here, she felt as if her mana had been filled with silt; it was extremely sluggish to circulate, and the power of her skills was suppressed by at least seventy percent!

"This is the domain suppression inherent to the ship's core, the [Origin Stone]."

Chen Xi's expression was grave. His [Miracle Deduction] was also experiencing significant interference here, and the data streams in his vision became intermittent.

"Everyone, try to restrain your aura as much as possible. Don't use high-tier skills unless necessary, and conserve your strength."

Floor sixty... seventy... seventy-five...

Along the way, they hadn't even encountered a single decent monster. This calm before the storm felt even more oppressive and unsettling than facing a beast tide directly.

When the four of them, dragging their exhausted bodies, finally crossed the metal light curtain leading to the eightieth floor—

Click.

The extremely faint sound of a metal mechanism echoed in the empty space.

"Watch out!"

Chen Xi's hair stood on end. He roared instinctively and lunged, pushing Ye Fei to the ground beside him.

Swish swish swish swish—!!!

In an instant, thousands of deep blue laser beams shot out from the metal walls in all directions like a torrential rain!

The temperature of these lasers was absurdly high; even the air was instantly ionized, producing piercing sonic booms.

"[Time Reversal: Absolute Stillness]!"

Li Murou reacted extremely quickly, frantically plucking her strings while lying on the ground.

Blue ripples of sound waves struggled to spread through the laser net, but in this space suppressed by the Origin Stone's domain, the effect of time rules was drastically weakened. Those lethal lasers paused for less than half a second before continuing to shoot forward with unstoppable force!

"We can't block it!!" Li Murou closed her eyes in despair.

At that critical moment—

Boom!

A massive, heavy black metal tower shield fell from the sky without warning, slamming down heavily in front of the four members of the Nirvana Battle Team.

Sizzle—!

The sky full of laser beams bombarded the surface of the tower shield, triggering layers of golden hexagonal energy shields. Though the impacts made the shields flicker wildly, they managed to block everything!

"Get up quickly, children. The Automatic Defense Matrix here doesn't recognize people."

An extremely raspy voice, sounding like two pieces of rusted metal rubbing together, came from behind the tower shield.

Chen Xi and the others scrambled to their feet, still shaken, and looked toward the source of the voice.

Behind the tower shield stood an extremely bizarre 'person'.

Only a small portion of his face still retained human flesh, which was covered in the furrows and scars of time; the other half of his head, his entire torso, and his limbs had all been replaced by crude and ancient mechanical parts!

His chest was open, and inside was not a beating heart, but a miniature reactor emitting a faint blue light. Various rusted gears and exposed wires were entangled with his remaining flesh, and the smell of machine oil mixed with some kind of preservative fluid wafted toward them.

[Watcher of the Tower: Unit 003 (Damaged State)]

[Level: ???]

[Status: Life Force Critical / Soul Binding in Progress]

"You are..." Chen Xi stared warily at the half-human, half-mechanical monster before him, but he didn't pull out any cards because he couldn't sense any killing intent from the other party.

"Don't be nervous. If I wanted to kill you, that salvo from the matrix just now would have turned you into ash."

The cyborg slowly retracted the massive tower shield. His mechanical left leg made a creaking sound as he walked, appearing incredibly heavy.

His only remaining human eye took a deep look at Chen Xi and the others, and finally, his gaze froze intently on Ye Fei.

"So similar... too similar..."