64: Chapter 64 The Conspiracy of the Mechanical God and the Deal at the Genetic Level

That emotionless divine pronouncement, like a billion tons of glaciers, instantly crushed the last shred of hope in the Crystal Goddess's soul.

She froze in place, every inch of her crystal divine body transmitting a tremor of impending total annihilation.

The countless crystal lattices forming her body emitted an unbearable, infinitesimally faint hum under this extreme fear.

"Trespasser, die."

This was not a threat, not intimidation, and it did not even contain killing intent.

It was simply a result.

An unquestionable law of physics, just like "fire is hot" or "the void is cold."

In this domain, this was the supreme law.

Her gaze swept uncontrollably around her.

The biological weapons known as "Hydralisks" reflected her desperate figure in their compound eyes.

Thick, foul-smelling mucus slowly oozed from the gaps in their carapaces, dripping onto the creep and making a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

They were not waiting for orders.

They were waiting for a "fire" signal, a pre-programmed procedure.

The sky.

The soul-fire eye sockets of that giant Bone Dragon were like two ghastly green vortexes of death, pinning her soul down so tightly that she couldn't even form the thought of escaping.

Destructive energy was gathering within the dragon's maw, causing the surrounding space to begin to warp slightly.

Underground.

The muzzles of thousands of flesh cannons, like countless single eyes peering into the abyss, locked onto her in unison.

The strong acid venom churning inside the muzzles bubbled with green gas, and the pungent odor was enough to almost melt the air.

She had no doubt that in just 0.01 seconds, she would be instantly decomposed and evaporated, without even a single complete crystal particle remaining.

Hope was completely extinguished.

The dignity of a god was crushed to pieces in the face of absolute, irresistible violence.

The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything.

"Don't!"

A sharp, dry, completely distorted voice erupted from her divine body.

The sound carried a high-frequency metallic tremor, like the wail of crystal on the verge of shattering when struck by a heavy hammer at the edge.

"Don't kill me!"

Under the gaze of all the hideous biological weapons, this deity from the "Crystal Plane," once a high and mighty existence, felt her knees give way and she knelt heavily onto the warm, writhing creep.

She trembled violently all over, and fine cracks even appeared on her flawless crystal body due to structural instability.

"I have value!"

She put forward her last and only bargaining chip.

As her voice fell, the terrifying pressure enveloping the world seemed to loosen imperceptibly.

Behind the giant Bone Dragon in the sky, a figure slowly descended.

He had no wings, yet he seemed to step on invisible stairs, walking down from the sky step by step.

His frame was not burly; in fact, compared to the massive Bone Dragon and the hideous Zerg Swarm, he appeared somewhat "slender."

However, he was the sole center of this domain.

As he descended, the surrounding violent and bloodthirsty biological weapons all lowered their heads and bone blades, emitting low hisses; it was a form of absolute submission stemming from the deepest part of their genes.

The Crystal Goddess raised her head, finally seeing the true face of this domain overlord.

It was a humanoid form covered in dark purple carapace, its smooth lines filled with a sense of power and a bizarre biological aesthetic.

Behind him extended four hideous bone spikes like arthropod limbs, shimmering with a cold, ghastly metallic luster.

What made her soul tremble the most was his face.

It was not a face belonging to any known intelligent race, but a cold, hard carapace mask with only one pair of... eyes on it.

A pair of huge, deep compound eyes composed of countless tiny crystal lattices.

There was no emotion in those eyes.

No anger, no curiosity, and no pity.

Only pure, absolute indifference.

Like a god looking down on struggling ants.

Like a creator examining a flawed work.

Su Chen's overlord avatar hovered in front of her, looking down at her from above.

Those cold insect eyes stared fixedly at her, and the icy divine thought sounded again.

"Give me a reason not to kill you."

This sentence gave the Crystal Goddess a glimmer of hope, like a drowning person grasping at a straw.

She dared not conceal anything and, with the fastest speed, poured out her information and situation.

"My name is Lisa... I am an innate deity born from the 'Crystal Plane'..."

Lisa's trembling voice echoed in the deathly silent encirclement.

Her plane was an extremely special world composed of pure energy crystals.

And she was the condensation of that plane's consciousness, a natural crystal life form, a deity.

Originally, she lived a peaceful life in her own plane, until a terrifying existence descended.

"It's the 'Mechanical True God'! He has set his sights on me!"

Mentioning this name, Lisa's crystal body trembled violently again; it was fear stemming from the depths of her soul.

"He... he is a notorious predator in the nearby star sector."

"He is executing a crazy plan... a terrifying plan capable of overturning the balance of the entire star sector!"

Su Chen's compound eyes flickered slightly, signaling her to continue.

"He is secretly building an army... an army that does not need faith, does not need flesh and blood, and can expand infinitely by consuming only pure energy!"

"[Mechanical Scourge Legion]!"

When this term was uttered from Lisa's mouth, within Su Chen's overlord avatar, massive mental power instantly began high-speed computation.

Mechanical, Scourge, Legion.

Combining these words, he immediately associated them with his own Zerg Swarm.

"That True God believes that Power Of Faith is an inefficient and unstable energy source."

"What he pursues is the purest and most efficient energy conversion."

"Once his army is built, it will be able to devour plane after plane like locusts, converting all matter and energy into a part of his army, sweeping across all surrounding star sectors!"

Lisa's voice carried a hint of desperate sobbing.

"And I... a natural 'high-energy crystal life form' like me, with an internal energy cycle that approaches perfection and almost no loss... am the... perfect 'eternal energy core' to start and maintain the operation of this massive army."

So that's how it is.

In Su Chen's consciousness, a clear picture was instantly outlined.

A mad scientist-type deity was building an invincible mechanical army, and the Crystal Goddess before him was his designated, one-and-only "super battery."

No wonder she fled so miserably, with her divine body shattered and her divine fire on the verge of extinguishing.

Being hunted by a True God of the same level for such an important plan, and surviving until now, was a miracle in itself.

"Mechanical Scourge... interesting."

Su Chen's emotionless divine thought fluctuated for the first time; it was an interest in discovering new prey, or rather, discovering new research material.

Lisa keenly caught this subtle change, and a ray of intense hope instantly burst forth in her eyes.

"I can help you! I know a lot about the 'Mechanical True God's' plan! I can..."

"I can protect you."

Su Chen interrupted her flatly.

These five words were like the sound of heaven, making Lisa almost weep with joy.

"Really?"

"As long as you are willing to save me, I am willing to offer my faith, I am willing to become your most devout believer, and I will dedicate everything I have to you..."

She was so excited she became incoherent, her divine dignity having long been thrown to the nine heavens.

Nothing was more important than surviving.

"No."

Su Chen's cold divine thought once again cast her from ecstasy into the abyss.

"I do not need your faith."

The overlord avatar moved slowly forward, approaching Lisa who was kneeling on the ground.

He extended a hand covered in carapace, resembling a sharp claw, and gently lifted her chin.

The cold touch made Lisa's crystal body stiffen suddenly.

The corners of Su Chen's mouth, those made of carapace, curled into a cruel arc that did not seem to belong to any living creature.

"I want your genes."

Lisa's soul suddenly stagnated.

"Surrender your [Crystallized Gene Sequence], as well as half of your core essence."

Su Chen's voice, word by word, was like the sharpest scalpel, precisely cutting through her final bottom line.

"Become a vassal of the Zerg Swarm, or..."

His gaze swept over the surrounding Hydralisks that had begun to hiss impatiently, and the flesh cannons whose muzzles were already overflowing with energy.

"Be turned into fertilizer right now."

Lisa's complexion turned instantly pale.

If begging for mercy on her knees before was abandoning her dignity, then the conditions Su Chen proposed were to deprive her of her very "existence."

Surrendering her gene sequence meant that the other party could unscrupulously copy, modify, and even create countless creatures like "her."

She would no longer be unique.

Surrendering half of her core essence was even more of a drastic measure.

That was equivalent to handing half of her life and soul over to the other party.

A single thought from the other party could completely annihilate her.

From that moment on, she would no longer be herself.

She would completely lose her independence, falling into becoming a "private possession" of this terrifying Zerg overlord, a tool that could breathe and think.

Never to rise again.

This was a more humiliating ending than death.

But...

She felt the terrifying killing intent coming from all directions, enough to vaporize her ten thousand times, and felt the unquestionable, absolute will of the overlord avatar before her.

Between survival and destruction, the multiple-choice question had always had only one answer.

After a long, suffocating silence.

Lisa slowly closed her eyes, and two lines of "tears" made of pure energy slid from the corners of her eyes, dripping onto the creep and instantly evaporating.

"I..."

Her voice was filled with endless humiliation and unwillingness, yet it also carried a hint of relief.

"I am willing."

As these two words were uttered, she seemed to have all her strength drained, and the light of her entire crystal body dimmed.

She knew that from this moment on, the former Crystal Goddess Lisa was dead.

What survived was merely an appendage of the Zerg Swarm.

To show her sincerity, and also to make herself appear more valuable.

Lisa endured the humiliation and took the initiative to say: "This is... a pledge of allegiance."

She raised her hand, channeled her remaining divine power, and activated her racial talent [Light Refraction].

In an instant, an incredibly complex, precise, and shimmering three-dimensional star map appeared out of thin air, projected in the space between her and Su Chen.

Countless stars revolved slowly within it, forming a magnificent picture of this star sector.

Lisa extended a trembling finger and pointed to the edge of the star map, deep within an inconspicuous asteroid belt.

A red dot there was instantly magnified by her.

"This is a secret stronghold of the Mechanical True God, with relatively weak defensive forces."

"Inside... inside is hidden the elimination plan he formulated against your kind of... biological domain."