"Don’t put it so harshly."
Lacy wasn’t angered by the accusation of "eavesdropping," instead, she looked at Ning Xuan with a calm demeanor.
"After all, you came here specifically to see me, didn’t you?"
Ning Xuan also understood that now wasn’t the time to dwell on such matters, so she quickly got to the point.
"As you can see, Chen Xing will be leading a horde of the undead to City A in 2-3 days."
"She intends to kill the mission target, which will undoubtedly disrupt the plans of 'that person.'"
"Lady Lacy, although I can’t provide you with evidence, I..."
She was about to continue, but Lacy interrupted her.
"I believe you."
"That Chen Xing has been preparing for so long—I wondered what she was up to. So, this is it."
Lacy turned around, gazing at the battle below that was nearing its end. The semi-cyborg Wrath was about to finish off the last few cyborg Gluttons.
"Taking advantage of Leon’s absence these days, she’s finally making her move?"
Her eyes flickered, clearly deep in thought.
"Leon?"
It took Ning Xuan only a second to recognize the name.
In this organization, there was only one person above Chen Xing—the one always referred to by subordinates as "that person."
"You..."
Lacy suddenly turned back, scrutinizing Ning Xuan with a gaze that seemed to pierce through her soul, making Ning Xuan extremely uncomfortable.
"You’ve already betrayed the organization, haven’t you? This intel must have come from your sister."
"Otherwise, with her abilities, you wouldn’t have made it back here alive."
With a smile, Lacy exposed Ning Xuan’s secret.
Hearing this, Ning Xuan’s heart skipped a beat, her expression flickered for a moment, but she quickly suppressed it, almost imperceptibly.
"You’re joking. Bringing back Lady Ning Yu was merely my task..."
Suddenly, her vision blurred as Lacy vanished from in front of her.
The metallic blade she had hidden behind her back, now cybernetically enhanced, was gently grasped by Lacy.
The blade seemed to lose control, reverting to the shape of her hand, which Lacy now held softly.
"Don’t be nervous."
Lacy spoke from behind her, as if soothing a frightened animal.
It was impossible not to be nervous, but Ning Xuan realized that her anxiety was futile, as she couldn’t activate her cybernetic enhancements to attack.
"I’ve known for a long time that you didn’t fully commit to cybernetic enhancement."
"You still miss your dear sister."
"I know all of this."
Lacy’s words, spoken from behind her, left Ning Xuan in disbelief.
A chill crept up Ning Xuan’s spine. She lunged forward, breaking free from Lacy’s grip, and with a flick of her wrists, her hands transformed back into blades.
She turned around, her icy gaze fixed on Lacy, her killing intent unmistakable.
But deep down, she knew there was likely a significant gap in their abilities. When it came to cybernetic enhancement, she was merely a flawed product.
Standing before her was humanity’s greatest cybernetic masterpiece.
She wasn’t even sure if Lacy had ever been truly human.
Yet, she had no choice but to act. Her long-prepared plan had already been seen through by Lacy.
Seeing Ning Xuan ready to strike, Lacy showed no intention of fighting. Even the mechanical device behind her ear flickered at a low frequency.
This indicated she wasn’t taking things seriously—or perhaps, she had no intention of doing so.
"We share a common enemy."
Lacy’s expression remained calm, her saintly golden eyes shimmering with an otherworldly light.
"I can help you."
Ning Xuan’s mechanical wings had already fully extended, operating at full power. Yet, hearing Lacy’s words, she furrowed her brow.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because..."
Lacy’s blue hair suddenly billowed, and without any visible change, she began to float in the air.
Unlike Ning Xuan, who relied on cybernetic devices to hover, Lacy moved like a deity walking the earth.
With a motion of her right hand, she drew a massive cracked sword from the air.
Ning Xuan’s eyes fell on the sword, its surface adorned with intricate patterns so numerous that the blade appeared to be made of fragments.
A strange mechanical chant echoed around them, lingering in Ning Xuan’s ears.
"ROAR!!!!"
A deafening roar erupted from below. The semi-cyborg Wrath had slain all the Gluttons, but its rage was far from spent.
The mechanical androids tasked with overseeing the area flew up to restrain it, but they were swatted away one by one.
Crashing into the floor, they left deep dents, their bodies sparking and twitching as they malfunctioned.
This cybernetically enhanced Wrath was far more destructive and reactive than any ordinary Wrath Ning Xuan had seen.
The testing grounds below were on the verge of chaos.
Lacy raised the cracked sword in her right hand, her arm slightly bent.
Before she even struck, Ning Xuan felt an overwhelming sense of suffocation, as if death itself had locked onto her.
The glass used to observe the scene below shattered instantly, raining down in a cacophony of shards, even though Lacy hadn’t yet launched her attack.
The Wrath below looked up, drawn by the commotion, its eyes glaring fiercely at the two figures above.
Lacy didn’t even glance downward. With a casual swing of her hand, she unleashed the sword’s power.
An invisible ripple surged through the air, moving steadily toward the ground.
Though it seemed unremarkable, wherever it passed, even the toughest alloy walls were deeply gouged, a testament to its unstoppable force.
The semi-cyborg Wrath coiled its legs, preparing to leap upward.
Its massive body barely left the ground before it was abruptly halted, cleaved in two.
As the ripple passed through its torso, the surrounding shockwave pulverized its flesh into dust.
It didn’t even have time to let out a roar before Lacy’s strike erased it from existence.
All that remained below was a mess of gore, mechanical parts, and metal fragments.
The surviving mechanical androids began silently cleaning the area and repairing their damaged counterparts.
"You have no choice but to trust me."
Lacy’s tone brooked no argument as she thrust the sword into the ground, suddenly narrowing her eyes with a smile.
Ning Xuan was stunned by the terrifying strike. She understood the underlying message in Lacy’s words and actions:
"If I wanted to harm you, you wouldn’t stand a chance."
"Why?"
Ning Xuan couldn’t comprehend it.
Lacy already knew she had betrayed the organization, yet instead of eliminating her, she offered to help her and Ning Yu.
Perhaps Lacy intended to use them as pawns in her power struggle with Chen Xing.
"Do you want to eliminate Chen Xing?"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
