“Such a miracle… heh. Good enough to fool those old bones waiting to die. Playing this card with me? Has the Main Brain’s broken system not been updated in years?”
Qin Hongyi glanced at the puddle of sludge.
Her killing intent dropped.
Gu Chen’s pupils glowed with golden light through the cigarette smoke.
Qin Hongyi stared at him.
The possessive urge she could never suppress grew heavier after that brutal disassembly.
She loved watching this wolf go to work.
Even dressed in that skirt, the ruthlessness in his bones hadn’t changed one bit—it still made her fingertips tremble with excitement.
“You saw through it ages ago?”
Qin Hongyi raised an eyebrow.
She snatched the cigarette from Gu Chen’s hand and took a drag.
“From the second he bowed, every move was full of holes.”
Gu Chen leaned back, long legs crossed. The black velvet dress sat on him with an air of absolute dominance.
“The real Gu Mingzhe had an old waist injury. When he bent over, the left side of his flesh would twitch. This copy was too perfect—reeking of death.”
He turned and stared at Su Rou in the driver’s seat.
She was shaking so hard she couldn’t stop.
The instant the core shattered, something inside her had snapped, and a strange sound had escaped her throat.
“Drive,” Gu Chen said, calm and unhurried.
“Where?” Su Rou’s voice cracked. Her eyes were full of fear.
“To the place he wanted us to go.”
Gu Chen gazed out at the rain, white as cold sweat.
It was west.
“The No. 7 Biological Research Institute.”
Qin Hongyi sneered and reached behind her.
The safety clicked off.
She leaned against Gu Chen’s shoulder.
“If that’s hell, are you dragging me down there with you?”
“No.”
Gu Chen lowered his head until his nose brushed her earlobe.
The Key’s scent steadied him a fraction.
“I’ll step on those ashes and climb out with you. After all, you still haven’t transferred that five percent of shares to me.”
***
Half an hour later, the Phantom sliced through the rain curtain and charged into Beijing’s most remote restricted zone.
Streetlights grew sparser.
When the car turned onto the long-abandoned tree-lined road, the withered trees on both sides thrashed wildly in the wind like rows of skeletal hands reaching up from the earth.
The Phantom’s tires crushed overgrown iron rails and finally stopped in front of a building covered in black vines.
No. 7 Biological Research Institute.
The sign’s paint had peeled away. The faded letters stood in the rain.
The air carried a thick, cloying stench.
Disinfectant mixed with rotting plant roots.
Su Rou sat rigid in the driver’s seat.
Her shoulders were locked from extreme tension.
She didn’t look in the rearview mirror. She simply killed the engine with mechanical precision.
“Get out,” Gu Chen said.
Qin Hongyi pushed open the car door.
Her shoes sank into the mud with a soft squelch.
“In this godforsaken wilderness, if the three-billion body gets scratched I’ll be heartbroken.”
Gu Chen ignored her teasing and stepped out barefoot.
The rain was ice-cold, crawling up his smooth calves.
His mind cleared a little.
The institute’s main doors were ajar.
The three of them entered the hall. The strange smell slammed straight into their skulls.
In the center of the hall stood a circular metal altar more than ten meters wide.
It was covered in intricate patterns that looked like circuit boards.
Twelve thick black metal pillars ringed the altar.
Dense cables ran from their tops into the darkness of the dome.
It was too quiet.
The thick walls blocked the rain. Only the sound of their breathing remained.
“Playing god in the dark.”
Qin Hongyi drew the Desert Eagle from her thigh holster.
Click.
The chambering sound echoed crisply through the empty hall.
Snap.
The hall lights suddenly blazed on.
The light was blinding.
The ground at the center of the altar split open.
A massive holographic projection rose.
It was a face.
A giant face made of countless blue data streams.
Features blurred, radiating overwhelming superiority.
“Welcome, Test Subject 001.”
“Welcome, Key.”
The voice was neither male nor female—like thousands of voices layered together.
“And the Holy Grail I have waited for far too long.”
The entity turned its face toward Su Rou.
Su Rou shuddered violently. Her face went deathly pale, as if all the blood had been drained from her body.
“An old antique hiding in a database dares call itself a god?”
Gu Chen scoffed.
He flexed his wrists.
“God? No, no, no.”
The voice carried a trace of arrogance.
“I am the Creator. Gu Chen, this perfect shell of yours. Qin Hongyi, the Key genes flowing in your blood. All my creations.”
“Today I descend. Using this vessel as my foundation, I will walk this earth.”
The moment the words finished.
Blue light beams shot from the tops of the twelve metal pillars at the same time.
The beams wove together, forming a giant cage that trapped all three of them inside.
It felt like thousands of needles had been jammed into Gu Chen’s brain.
The pain made his vision go black.
Qin Hongyi let out a muffled groan.
At 200% synchronization, she felt her bone marrow being stirred.
A direct mental attack.
It bypassed every physical defense.
Gu Chen dropped to one knee. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Qin Hongyi leaned against his back, barely standing, gun hand trembling.
“See? In the face of absolute wisdom, your little brute force is a joke.”
The posture of a victor.
It stopped paying attention to the immobilized pair and focused all its pressure on Su Rou.
“Come, child. Merge with me!”
A data torrent several times thicker than before poured down from the dome and slammed into Su Rou’s skull.
“Ah—!”
Su Rou screamed. It didn’t sound human.
She convulsed violently.
Blue code crawled visibly beneath her skin.
Crack. Crack.
Bones snapped.
Her back arched sharply. Her eyes rolled back. White foam leaked from the corner of her mouth.
Her soul was being forcibly torn apart, formatted, and injected with foreign matter.
“Su Rou!”
Gu Chen’s eyes nearly split.
He tried to stand, but the mental pressure was too heavy. It pinned him to the floor.
Qin Hongyi gritted her teeth and fired at the dome.
Bang!
The bullet was stopped mid-air by an invisible force.
It turned to powder in an instant.
They had become spectators to the ritual.
Front-row seats.
“Soon, it will all be over.”
The voice echoed.
“I will replace her, inherit her, and finally possess both of you completely.”
The data torrent reached its peak.
Su Rou’s body was stretched into a grotesque shape.
Her skin cracked inch by inch, revealing blue-glowing muscle tissue underneath.
Her roars grew weaker.
Her life force drained at terrifying speed.
“I have descended.”
The giant holographic face began to sharpen.
It gradually took on Su Rou’s appearance.
But.
The instant it declared victory.
Su Rou’s dying scream twisted strangely at the end.
“Heh.”
A cold laugh.
The blue light in the hall froze solid.
The mental pressure crushing Gu Chen and Qin Hongyi receded like a tide.
The projection flickered violently. A piercing electronic screech exploded.
“Alert! Unknown program intrusion! Alert! Core data corrupted—no! It is being devoured!”
Gu Chen and Qin Hongyi watched in shock.
Su Rou slowly straightened.
The horrific cracks on her body were healing.
Visibly.
The blue code racing beneath her skin met an enemy and fled madly. In the end, a pure white light surging from her heart swallowed every last trace.
She raised her head.
Her rolled-back eyes returned to normal.
The pupils were bottomless black, utterly inhuman.
A burning white lotus imprint emerged on her smooth forehead.
Holy. Yet demonic.
“Descend?”
Su Rou tilted her head and gave a cruel smile.
“What makes you think my body is something trash like you can move into?”
“What the hell are you?!” The voice held fear.
“A bait. A trap. A cup prepared specifically to devour you.”
Su Rou extended her right hand.
She gently closed her fingers toward the terrified holographic giant face.
“Ah!”
The final scream.
The giant face made of data streams twisted and shrieked as it was dragged entirely into the white lotus imprint on Su Rou’s forehead.
The lights changed.
From ghostly blue to pure, holy white.
Control had switched hands.
Su Rou stood at the center of the altar.
Bathed in white light, she looked like a deity.
She lowered her head and examined her slender fingers, as if adapting to the brand-new power.
“Grandfather’s plan was indeed perfect.”
Gu Chen helped Qin Hongyi to her feet.
His expression was complicated.
This woman was both familiar and utterly foreign.
“Old Master Gu?” Qin Hongyi panted, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.
“Yes.”
Su Rou turned around and looked at Gu Chen.
In those pitch-black eyes, emotion finally stirred.
A mix of love, obsession, and pity.