Chapter 87 Singularity
It was a method of extreme simplicity, without any unnecessary sound or light. Simply a flash of red light from the True Machine's eyes, and a beam of light the same color as his eyes shot out. That beam pierced through the rock, gouged through the mountain, and everything in its path became invisible.
It didn't evaporate from the heat, nor did it crumble under the force of the impact. It simply collapsed. It was broken apart. It was decomposed. Matter was reduced to its most basic units, then transported to the distant empire. There was no hostility or malice, all was carried out with the utmost efficiency. The Immortal Machine faithfully completed its task, and the ray was its tool.
Specially designed for resource recovery, material decomposition ray.
A region of literal emptiness appeared, and then the surrounding air surged in, triggering a fierce wind that swept into the mountains. Yingshi Town lay at the end of this wind tunnel. The Immortal Machine's gaze shifted away from the town and turned to the upper right. The Jade Fox's shadow faded among the jagged rocks. The detection system reflected the coordinates of each experimental subject in real time, continuing its self-checking process.
Self-inspection completed, minor damage.
The demon-specific coating consumes 81.2% and the existing energy consumption is 15.8%.
The matter-disintegration ray was released for 0.3 seconds, eliminating 79.9% of the secret text reactions in the test field.
Import environmental information and start simulation.
"Secret Messenger" Qi Su: a threat from China.
Chu Hengkong and Fan De: low threat.
Other test subjects: No threat.
Sorting is complete, erasure begins.
The logic check took an extremely short time. By the time the matter-disintegration beam ceased, the Immortal Machine had completed its self-checks and combat calculations. Its needle-thin spikes stepped forward, echoing crisply in the hollow valley. This sound, like a gong on a stage, reignited the momentary pause in the battle. A blood-red wind blew from behind the Immortal Machine. Chu Hengkong, like a shadow, swept across the land, his tentacles lashing out at the True Machine's tail.
The tentacle struck the steel with a crackling sound like thunder. His second strike was a thunder whip, a wide-area destructive force that spread outward and impacted the body of the True Machine. However, white lines began to form on the surface of the Immortal Machine, and the force of the thunder whip was absorbed by the lines and reversed back into the tentacle, sending Chu Hengkong flying backwards.
Kinetic reflective armor, absolute defense against physical attacks.
The reflected force surged through Chu Hengkong's body, nearly vomiting blood. He silently forced himself to throw the flying leaf, but the attack didn't even trigger the Immortal Machine's armor before it deflected. Its body was a perfect alloy derived from the Empire. Against this crystallization of technology, the flying leaf's attack was no different from that of ordinary fallen leaves.
The Immortal Machine advanced along the wind path, its crimson eyes locked onto Qisu within the mountain range. It maintained a steady pace, tracking the fox shadow within the mountains. Chu Hengkong caught up from behind and struck with his sword, faster and more powerful than before. However, the rock blade's strike towards the needle foot was deflected by the recoil, and even the unreturned attack was unable to damage the True Machine's body.
He was completely ignored. A skilled hand without the fire of ambition was just like many other townspeople, not worthy of the Immortal Machine allocating combat resources!
The Immortal Machine arrived in front of a low mountain and launched its forelimbs, shaped like iron pincers. When the pincers struck, the entire mountain peak shook, and the rocks suddenly collapsed, as if several tons of dynamite had exploded within the mountain, turning the rocks to dust and crumbling.
This wasn't a special attack either. The Immortal Machine had analyzed the mountain's structure, using minimal force to destroy its weak points, causing it to naturally collapse. Its computational power far surpassed that of a similarly ranked staff of painstaking effort. A single strike from it surpassed the achievements of a warrior trained for decades.
A white shadow flew out from the crumbling mountain. It was the scarred Jade Fox. It had narrowly escaped the fission ray, but nearly a quarter of its body had been swept away by it. One of its front paws was missing, and wounds through its chest and abdomen had nearly shattered its form. Yet it continued to move, more agile than in its "life." Qi Su lurked within the Jade Fox, becoming almost a shadow, seeking to merge with its own remains.
She hissed in anger, and secret words flowed from the jade fox's fur, transforming into twelve shimmering balls of light. Each ball of light was a makeshift secret bead. The balls flew as fast as hummingbirds, emitting high-heat beams of light that formed a net of light that surrounded the Immortal Machine.
Jade Fox, Bu, and Qi Su ran wildly through the mountains, their secret orbs dancing at their will. Twelve beams of light pierced the dust, drawing a charred chessboard across the earth. The Immortal Machine stepped onto the chessboard, its six needles and various points on its body ejecting directional nozzles, each of which emitted streams of pale white light.
Just one such device could provide sufficient power for the heavy industrial machinery in Huilong City, and the Immortal Machine was equipped with 265 nozzles for steering and attitude adjustment. This unprecedented configuration made it extremely agile. When the nozzles were opened, it glided across the mountain like ice skates, its posture as light as dancing in the dust.
The Immortal Machine darted freely through the light net, like a pedestrian walking through a curtain of rain without getting wet. The scene was bizarre and counterintuitive. All the secret attacks were deflected, and Chu Hengkong's blade blade was blown away by the beam from the nozzle. The distance between Qisu and the Immortal Machine closed as they danced, and the latter's pincer-like forelimbs glowed with a golden halo. Suddenly, there was a crackling sound, and a stream of light drifted past Qisu's eyes, like the afterimage of a bursting soap bubble.
The golden light from the Immortal Machine's forelimbs grew stronger, and all twelve secret beads shattered at the same time!
"Qi Su, run!" Fander screamed, "It's the force field of the Immortal Machine!"
"What?!" Qi Su didn't hear clearly.
"Phantom Body Annihilation Field!" Finder anxiously poked his head out. "The ultimate mental attack, a sure kill against all non-corporeal life. If you get even a little bit of it, your soul will be shattered!"
Qi Su's hair stood on end, and she turned and fled without a fight. A bright "speed" was branded on the jade fox's back, using the power of the secret code to increase its speed. The wind was so loud that she couldn't even hear Fander's voice, but she could sense the threat of the golden light. If it were just a pure force attack, it would be fine, but the secret code bead disappeared in her perception, as if swallowed by something invisible. She felt a vague urge to turn and run towards the light. The light was like a bonfire in the deep darkness, luring the flying insects closer. But the light contained no warmth, only murderous intent. Any flying insects caught in the bonfire would be annihilated.
As she ran, she glanced back. The golden light was spreading, closing in on the Immortal Machine's pace. Qi Su's spirit body trembled. The golden light was less than five meters away from her! Another moment and she would be captured by the light, transformed into a flying insect in the fire!
"Chu Hengkong, help me!"
She struck the cliff face with her foxtail, and a sudden, unnatural rise emerged from the smooth rock, forming a massive club that rammed into the Immortal Machine behind her. The club, over ten meters long and as wide as a giant tree, was one of the traps Qisu had set. The Immortal Machine manipulated the nozzle, lowering itself to brush under the club, its forelimbs poised to clamp down on Qisu's tail.
But the next moment, the giant rock club snapped from the mountain wall, and another powerful force took over the weapon. Chu Hengkong, who had rushed over, caught the rock club with both hands. He swung the giant club like a baseball bat, and the rough club head spun from the side, hitting the Immortal Machine's body!
The rock stick shattered upon impact, the recoil sending Chu Hengkong flying. The Immortal Machine's forelimbs brushed past Qi Su, its attack trajectory slightly deviating. Chu Hengkong's power had increased, a common trait for martial cultivators: their high spirits always heightened their threat in battle. The Immortal Machine updated its combat data, revising its predictions, its single eye fixed squarely forward.
In the hyper-fast battle, the wind tunnel they had blazed through reached its end. Fifty meters away lay the undead village. Qi Su's fox form returned to Yingshi Town. It crouched before the Sakura Dragon statue. Countless tiny secret symbols converged into glowing lines, extending from the jade sculpture to the fox's body, and then condensing into new secret symbol beads between its claws.
There is only one word in this bead, a simple "gun". The vertical stroke on the left side of the word "gun" is strong and powerful, which is exactly the torture stick that Qi Su carries with him.
High energy reaction detected ahead——
"The divine power of the Sakura Dragon, a true relic of the Netherworld. Reunited through thoughts, preserved in form by hatred. Combating evil according to divine command, punishing the evildoers!"
The fox spoke, unleashing a hymn of resentment. The Sakura Dragon statue behind her then lit up, and a phantom dragon image leaped from the statue and sank into the bead. It was the core of the Yingshi Suppression Formation, a faint remnant of the Sakura Dragon's divine power from the past. The secret bead then transformed, a simple, cherry-colored spear centered on a staff of suffering. The phantom of the dragon god clung to the hilt, transforming into a vivid relief sculpture on the spear's hilt.
The sakura spear shot out, carrying with it the resentment of the former survivors and the wrath of the gods. For a moment, heaven and earth were silent, leaving only the sakura color flowing. Like the exquisite cherry blossoms blooming at sunrise, even the sunlight pales before their brilliance. The beam of light traversed villages and valleys, striking the true weapon with a fleeting beauty.
Secret magic: Dragon pattern spear!
A storm of wind and intense light followed. As the spear struck, a sakura-colored glow surged forth, resembling the shadow of a majestic dragon. Qi Su collapsed before the dragon statue. She had long since stopped breathing, yet now she felt a near-suffocating pain. That single shot had consumed all her strength; even in her lifetime, she had never unleashed such a powerful attack.
There was a naive girl in her heart, raising her arms and shouting, proclaiming victory. But her mind knew that victory would not come easily. She did not expect to kill the Immortal Machine in one fell swoop, but only to inflict damage on it. Even if it was just to delay its movement, even if it was just to penetrate its armor...
The light faded, and Qi Su struggled to her feet. She heard the townspeople's cheers of delight behind her. A strange, insect-like figure emerged from the dispersing dust. A burn scar etched across its pure white body. Nearly a quarter of the Immortal's front armor was charred black, and sparks danced across its exposed internal wiring.
Qi Su's heart surged with unbelievable joy. It was injured! Even the armor of a true ultimate machine wasn't invincible against the power left behind by a high-quality expert. Scarred, it was no longer perfect; if it could be wounded, it could be defeated. Even the slightest bit of damage meant there was still hope in this battle!
At that moment, a flash of white light passed through the edge of her vision, fluttering like shimmering pollen. The powder, emanating from the Immortal's surface, brushed across its wounds, erasing the man-made damage. Like flesh growing, like a twig sprouting, the white armor multiplied autonomously, repairing the wound in an instant. Even before the townspeople's cheers faded, the Immortal's wounds were mended.
The previously damaged real machine seemed like an illusion in despair. In reality, the white insect stood intact, still cold, still perfect, still invulnerable, shattering the expectations of the dead souls with absolute rationality.
Repair completed, self-test started.
The demon-specific coating consumes 95.7% of the energy and 38.8% of the existing energy.
There are no more threatening individuals within range.
Begin wide-area annihilation.
One of its forelimbs lifted, crushing the Jade Fox's head and destroying the Sakura Dragon statue beneath it. Like a tattered bag of flesh, a torrent of blood, mixed with mechanical debris, gushed from the headless corpse, staining the square's tiles red. This treasured place, held in high esteem by the town, was now tainted by the blood of the gods themselves.
The last bit of resistance on this land was shattered by this blow that didn't even have a name.
The little girl's ghost stood amidst the devastation, a town devoid of her memories. She watched as Jade Fox's corpse flew backwards due to inertia, smashing into her workshop on the north side of the square. She saw the surrounding townspeople rushing in panic, trying to buy her some time. She saw the assassin silently approaching from a distance, swinging his fist at the Immortal Machine's leg. But before the Ultimate True Machine, all this was meaningless. The Immortal Machine raised its right pincer, and its spectral annihilation field slammed into her head.
Then, the limbs of the real machine crashed into the ground, brushing past the undead that was just a few inches away.
The strange white insect's body sank strangely, tilting to the right and nearly toppling over. The shift in its center of gravity caused the entire machine to become nearly unbalanced, as one of its legs sank into the ground...
Because of the faulty needle foot, Chu Hengkong punched it into the ground!
A crimson eye darted sharply to the right, a momentary miscalculation causing the Immortal Machine to change its target. One of its needles shot out, a flash of lightning that resembled a pure white crack. No room for maneuver, certain death. All calculations confirmed that this was completely beyond the target's reflexes. But Chu Heng, with an airborne leap, easily dodged the thrust. He spun in mid-air, launching his leg with the instep of his foot, striking the Immortal Machine's frontal armor, sending it flying a hundred meters away!
The atmosphere trembled, the earth shook. The retreating Immortal machine carved several hairline cracks into the ground. Its body flew through the town and crashed into the mountain wall, triggering a new round of unrest. The calculation results were too erroneous, and the system issued multiple alarms. The silent killer approached, his tentacles once again igniting a cyan flame. Internal alarms sounded one after another. Correct the program, collect information, and restart the calculation.
Chu Hengkong, Fan De: Low threat... Medium threat... High threat... Extremely high threat...
Extremely dangerous! Hostile entity identified as Singularity Z-3000-3. Existing combat records contain serious logical inconsistencies, requiring verification systems to be immediately restarted!
Ultimate True Machines lack emotions, but the sudden onset of multiple critical alarms plunged the Immortal Machine into a human-like "confusion." All singularities are at the top of the battle hierarchy, and only between singularities are there differences in superiority. In over 100,000 simulations, the probability of the enemy defeating the Soul Vessel reached a staggering 37.9%. This is why it applied to be promoted to an Immortal Machine, and why it expended vast resources to create an anti-demon coating against the "Fire of Ambition."
Everything was done for the most efficient victory, to end Experiment Z-3000-3 as soon as the battle began. However, in previous calculations, it had chosen to prioritize fighting Qisu!
This is illogical. This is a vicious programming flaw. A logical contradiction. A flawed mindset. A self-contradictory premise cannot lead to a perfect outcome. Looking at historical records, the contradiction begins...
It saw a sinister eye, a savage laugh erupting from the suicide's pocket. The Immortal Machine understood the truth. He had been attacked the very first second the battle began. The think tank's calculations had been wrong. The "hypnosis" mentioned in the records wasn't psychic interference. It was a psychic tampering attack powerful enough to affect real machines!
A deluge of alerts overwhelmed computing resources, while in reality, the assassin loomed like a phantom. The unsheathed rock blade evoked a sharp whistling sound, and a swift, radiant slash pierced the reflective armor, leaving a second, unsightly scar.
(End of this chapter)
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