"Ugh!!" Lu Chen's body suddenly arched upward! The veins on his neck, tightly bound by the restraints, bulged, and his right eye nearly popped out of its socket! Worse than the physical pain was the horrifying feeling of his soul being forcibly torn apart, being brutally spied on and controlled by some cold will!
The firewood in the furnace was being ignited, emitting a final, silent wail. And the fire was becoming increasingly eerie and fierce.
"Synchronous peak! The mental pollution index has exceeded the critical threshold!" A cold electronic sound rang out rapidly, with a hint of alarm.
Dr. Heisen's face was filled with ecstasy. He rushed to the control panel, his fingers rapidly operating on several key nodes: "Suppress! Use neural pain feedback to suppress his resistance! Inject the 'resonance agent'! Let the 'worm's' will completely cover him! This is the critical moment of fusion! Quick!"
An even more intense pain, like a high-voltage electric current, instantly shot through Lu Cheneng's spine! His body twitched and arched violently on the platform, and a hoarse, inhuman sound emanated from his throat. At the same time, a sticky, cold substance with a strong hypnotic and soothing effect was injected into his carotid artery through the catheter and quickly spread. It was an extremely strange feeling. While his body was enduring extreme pain, his consciousness was forcibly dragged into a cold, sticky abyss, as if he was drowning.
"Yes... That's it... Give up resistance... Embrace it..." Haisen's voice was like a devil's whisper, penetrating Lu Cheneng's gradually blurring consciousness through the speaker. "You are the chosen key, Lu Cheneng! The one and only key!"
Key? Lu Chen's remaining consciousness caught hold of the word, like a glimmer of light in the darkness. What key?
"Lord Vincent is right! Only you! Only you, who have fused the protoplasm of the 'Burnside Worm' and the power of the 'Legacy', can bear that immense will and become the living key to unlocking the 'Ark Engine'!" Dr. Heisen's voice trembled with excitement. He pointed to the internal structure of the madly wriggling mithril left arm on the holographic screen. The dark purple lines were eroding and assimilating the silvery-white metal at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming a constantly beating energy node at its core, like a miniature heart. "Look! The will of the 'worm' is rewriting the underlying code of the 'Legacy'! When the fusion is complete, when the 'virus' fully awakens within you, your body, your will, will become the bridge connecting to the 'Ark'! You will open the door to a new era! Everything in the old world will be reconstructed! And I... Heisen... will be the witness and promoter of this great moment! Hahahaha!"
Ark Engine… Living Key… Reconstructing a New Era… These fragmented words exploded like thunder in Lu Chenen's mind, which was ravaged by pain and drugs! So that's it! This was Vincent K's true purpose! He didn't want to create a simple killing weapon, but a "key" that could unlock a certain ultimate power! And he was the chosen sacrifice and tool! A huge sense of absurdity and the anger of being completely exploited, like the last spark, suddenly ignited in the abyss of his consciousness that was about to sink!
The stench. The smell of extremely decayed organic matter, mixed with rusted metal, acrid chemicals, and the pervasive presence of radioactive dust, clung to Wen Shifei's mouth, nose, and lungs like a sticky, poisonous glue. Every breath felt like swallowing a scalding blade, sending a piercing, tearing pain through her ribs and arms, a cruel reminder of her hellish reality.
Heavy. Ajie's body felt like a cold, blood-soaked iron block, pressing down on her shoulder. Every stumbling step drained her already depleted strength, and she could clearly feel the life force within him, so weak it was practically gone, dying bit by bit in this filthy, hopeless place. The hollow in his chest was tightly wrapped with tattered, blood-soaked cloth strips torn from Wen Shifei, but the dark red liquid still seeped out slowly and stubbornly, leaving intermittent, glaring marks on the filthy ground.
Fear. Like a maggot on the tarsal bone, it coiled coldly around her spine, making her scalp tingle. It wasn't just the fear of the chaebol troops that could pursue her at any moment—especially those executioners who looked like the Grim Reaper—but a deeper, more acute fear came from the faint green light on Lu Cheneng's chest! It was like a curse, an inescapable mark of death! At this moment when the "Weavers" had rebelled and the entire resistance network had likely been infiltrated like a sieve, this stable signal was the most striking beacon for the pursuers! Wen Shifei could even hear the hum of ion engines high in the sky, and imagine a single crimson eye staring coldly at her from behind the shadows of the piled-up garbage mountain.
"Follow me! Don't stop if you want to live!" A hoarse and low roar came from the front from the man who called himself Rick. Through the rough metal breathing mask, there was an unquestionable iron-blooded meaning.
He moved with swiftness and precision, like a bull slashing through steel brambles. His heavy homemade shotgun (which he called "Thunder Roar") was now slung back, replaced by a heavy machete with a gleaming, serrated blade. He swung the machete, hacking through the rotting cables, corroded iron mesh, and tangled piles of discarded polymer waste that blocked his path, forcing a narrow passage through the maze of piled garbage that reeked of death. The ground beneath his feet trembled with the constant underground rumble, and the rotting garbage pile occasionally collapsed, revealing the rusted metal framework beneath, like the fangs of a monster.
Wen Shifei dragged Ajie, following closely behind him, one foot deep, one foot shallow. Her vision darkened with dehydration and extreme exhaustion. Sweat mixed with blood and dust, washing muddy furrows across her face and blurring her vision. Ajie's body grew heavier, and each drag made the muscles in her arms whine under the strain. She could feel Ajie's weak breath brushing against her neck, bringing a heartbreaking chill.
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