114: Chapter 114 The True Face of the White Robe! Standoff at the Lead and Silver Warehouse

He held the void-rending ship-slaying blade across his chest, his Mental Power maintained on the blade without being withdrawn.

The three people behind him fanned out.

Jiang Yanxue was on the right, her blade pressed against her forearm, her dark red pupils locked onto the White Robe's position.

Su Xiaoqi was on the left, her fists clenched, the golden halo's brightness suppressed.

Blood Rose retreated to the back, holding a high-frequency dagger in a reverse grip, her back pressed against the doorframe.

Over the communicator, Shen Wanbing's breathing hitched for two beats.

"The shielding was lifted after the door opened; I can scan the inside of the warehouse now. That White Robe—it still has no vital signs. Heat source, infrared, bioelectric field, all zero."

Just like that time on the street.

A rule-level presence shielding?

Or does it simply not belong to any known category of life?

The White Robe sat cross-legged on top of the reactor, left hand propped on its knee, while its right hand tossed a silver-gray pebble in a spin and caught it.

It had no mouth, but that synthesized mechanical voice once again poured into Chen Chen's spiritual sea.

"You're faster than I expected. Forty-eight hounds should have delayed you for at least ten minutes. Instead, you didn't even draw your blade, crushing them directly with a gravity field."

The way it "spoke" was through mental projection.

It didn't use air vibrations, instead stuffing signals directly into the brain.

Chen Chen's Spirit attribute was currently eighty-eight points.

This level of mental projection posed no threat to him, but the precision of that directional ability itself proved the White Robe's Mental Power was not low.

"You planned ahead; the hounds were your creation." Chen Chen's voice was steady.

"How did you know I would come?"

The White Robe tilted its "head."

Silver threads squirmed, forming a curve—it was simulating the expression of tilting its head.

"An heretic's movements are not hard to track. The Lord of Flesh's hatred mark will not disappear; the residual divine aura on you is a beacon. The moment you entered Rusted Waste City, I received the fluctuations."

Chen Chen twirled his fingers around the hilt of his blade.

It could sense the fluctuations of the hatred mark.

This meant it was either a subordinate of the Lord of Flesh or some kind of existence associated with the Lord of Flesh's system.

"Are you one of the Lord of Flesh's people?"

The White Robe remained silent for two seconds.

The squirming frequency of the silver threads changed, shifting from uniform to irregular pulsing.

Chen Chen wasn't sure what emotion this was—anger?

Or mockery?

"People?"

A layer of static noise entered its synthesized voice. "The Lord of Flesh has no 'people.' It only has livestock and fuel."

"Answer the question."

"I was once... one of its tools. A seed sown upon this wasteland."

The White Robe switched the pebble from its left hand to its right. "But the seed sprouted, and the sprout grew its own consciousness. It doesn't quite like that sort of thing."

"A defector?"

"You could put it that way."

The White Robe slid down from the top of the reactor.

It had no legs—to be precise, its lower body was flowing silver liquid metal, trickling down the reactor's shell like mercury before finally recoalescing into humanoid legs on the ground.

It walked toward Chen Chen, stopping five meters away.

The "face" woven from silver threads faced Chen Chen. There were no eyeballs in the hollow sockets, but the direction of its gaze was uncomfortably precise.

"My name is Zhijin. I chose this name myself; it wasn't given by the Lord of Flesh."

"Zhijin" raised the pebble in its hand.

"Let's make a deal, heretic."

"You want the things in this warehouse. The reactor, the refinery, the A-grade equipment in the lockers, and this—"

Zhijin rolled the pebble in its palm. "The Snake Scale Tribe's inheritance pebble."

"Your conditions."

"Very simple." Zhijin's synthesized voice became extremely soft, the signal strength of the mental projection suppressed to the minimum.

"Take me away from this place."

There was no delay in the communicator inside the vehicle.

Shen Wanbing's voice cut in almost simultaneously: "Don't agree."

Chen Chen ignored the communicator.

"Why can't you leave?"

Zhijin's silver threads twitched.

"Do you see the door to this warehouse? Three-meter-thick lead-silver alloy. It wasn't meant to keep things out—it was to keep things in."

It raised a hand and pointed to its own chest.

"The military implanted an anchoring program into this seed's core. As long as I remain within a fifty-meter radius of this warehouse, the anchoring program will continue to run, suppressing my core energy and preventing me from leaving. But if I forcibly cross the fifty-meter boundary—"

Zhijin simulated a finger-snapping motion.

"Boom, self-destruction. The same principle as the nuclear reactor back at Wild Sand Camp."

Chen Chen stared at it.

"How do you deactivate your anchoring program?"

"It requires a carbon-based lifeform with a Spirit attribute over seventy points to intervene in my core through consciousness resonance and manually shut down the anchoring nodes from within."

Zhijin's hollow eye sockets aimed at Chen Chen.

"I have monitored the entire Sector 069 for ten days. You are the only living person with a Spirit attribute over seventy."

Over the communicator, Shen Wanbing's voice was very low but extremely fast:

"Don't let it touch your spiritual sea. consciousness resonance means a two-way channel; it could take the opportunity to implant a mental anchor or directly contaminate your consciousness core."

Chen Chen's thumb slid halfway around the hilt.

Shen Wanbing was right.

consciousness resonance is a double-edged sword; while Soul Pierce can be fired out, the opponent could also shove things in through the channel.

"The refinery, reactor, equipment, pebble—all yours."

Zhijin tossed the inheritance pebble toward Chen Chen and caught it again.

"You only need to spend three minutes touching my core."

"No."

When those two words were thrown out, the squirming of Zhijin's threads visibly accelerated.

"Are you afraid?"

"Not afraid."

Chen Chen raised the void-rending ship-slaying blade two inches; the purple patterns pulsed.

"It's just not worth it. Even if you are a defector, I can't see what's buried inside a seed core of the Lord of Flesh. What if this 'anchoring program' is just a story you made up?"

Zhijin fell silent for four seconds.

During those four seconds, an extremely subtle change occurred in its silver liquid metal body—the outline of its legs blurred for a moment before solidifying again.

Nervousness?

Or calculating the next move?

"Then how do you plan to take these things?"

Zhijin's synthesized voice turned cold.

"Although I am anchored here, everything in the warehouse is under my control. I have the reactor's activation code, the locker's electronic locks are bound to my signal, and the refinery's startup procedure requires my biological code authentication."

"Are you threatening me?"

The "mouth" formed by Zhijin's silver threads pulled into a curve.

"I am stating facts."

The atmosphere suddenly shifted.

Jiang Yanxue's dark red pupils constricted to pinpoints, her blade turning toward Zhijin, only a thought away from attacking.

Su Xiaoqi's fists creaked as she clenched them, the golden halo pressing against her skin, ready to erupt at any moment.

Chen Chen raised his left hand, and both of them froze mid-motion.

"Sister Bing."

"Here."

"Is there any possibility of physically cracking the locker's electronic locks?"

Shen Wanbing paused for three seconds.

"Scans show that the electronic lock's power module is independent of the warehouse's main circuit. Even if the latch is forcibly removed, there is a layer of nano-scale magnetic seal capsules inside—forcing it open will trigger a degaussing program, and the data chips of all electronic equipment in the locker will be permanently erased."

"What about the refinery?"

"If the biological code authentication is real, a hard start without the code has a chance of triggering security protocols. However, the refinery is purely mechanical equipment; at most, it will lock the startup program, but it won't self-destruct. It can be slowly cracked later."

"The reactor?"

"A nuclear reactor in a dormant state can be moved without an activation code; it's just a large unpowered battery. You have a storage ring, just take it directly."

Chen Chen went over it in his mind.

Reactor—can be taken directly.

refinery—can be forcibly taken and cracked later.

Locker—forcing it open will ruin electronic equipment; physical equipment won't be affected, but A-grade equipment likely contains electronic components.

inheritance pebble—in Zhijin's hands.

The options were clear.

Chen Chen returned the blade to his waist.

"Give me the pebble in your hand."

Zhijin's threads trembled.

"Wait—"

"I'm not taking your deal. I'll take the things myself."