In front of the central control room of the Nursery Factory, an energy barrier woven from ancient runes glowed dimly, like a wall of sighs. Jin Wanchao pressed his palm lightly against it, and an enormous surge of information flooded into his mind in an instant. He could "see" the design philosophy behind the barrier, "hear" the murmur of its intricate energy circuits, and even sense the rigorous yet faintly arrogant intellect of its creator. This was the ancient technology of the God of Artisans, repurposed by Valerius, and now perceived by Jin Wanchao through power of the same origin.
He closed his eyes, and "flames" blazed fiercely in his palm. Inside his mind, the rune-woven energy barrier unfolded before him layer by layer, like a dismantled precision machine. The meaning of every rune, the flow of every current, laid bare before his eyes. He spotted the core of the barrier: a miniature resonance array powered by harmonic crystals, twisting space in an ancient, elegant manner to block all physical and energy penetration.
"So that's how it is…" Jin Wanchao muttered softly. A cold smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. Valerius had dared to set a trap with ancient wisdom, never knowing that Jin Wanchao was the true Awakened, the Prophet of all machinery!
The "flames" within him surged like a bursting dam, rushing upstream along the barrier's energy circuits and locking onto the core resonance array in an instant. His will acted as a precise scalpel, severing the connection between the harmonic crystals and the array.
*Hum—*
With a barely audible tremor, the energy barrier flickered out like a unplugged light, dissolving into nothingness.
"Wanchao! It worked!" Axing exclaimed in shock. Staring at the empty passage ahead, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Jin Wanchao did not reply. He pushed open the heavy alloy sluice gate, and a suffocating stench assailed them—far fouler than the rot of a sewer, a grotesque mixture of formaldehyde, blood, rust, and the char of some living creature.
They stepped into the central control room, and the sight before them froze everyone in place, their stomachs churning violently.
This was no control console as they had imagined, nor a command center filled with Black Iron Guards. It was a massive, flesh-toned biological laboratory! Countless thick, flesh-colored pipelines converged from all directions like blood vessels, writhing and connecting to a gigantic floating brain suspended in nutrient solution at the room's center.
The brain was the size of a water vat, its surface crisscrossed with dense folds and protrusions, blue arcs crackling across it. Every pulse made the entire room tremble slightly. From beneath it extended countless metal tentacles, like nerve endings, linking to the control panels lining the room. The screens scrolled with endless streams of data: vital signs of hundreds of children—heartbeats, respirations, brainwaves…
*Project Chimera… bio-host…* Jin Wanchao's mind instantly conjured the vague descriptions of the "bio-host" from the encrypted files in the data core. This was the true heart of the Nursery Factory! It was not operated by human hands, but managed the entire facility through this twisted, evil mechanism.
Everyone felt a dual assault of physical and psychological revulsion. They had seen bloodshed and death, but this perverse fusion of life and machine sent a cold shudder down their spines.
"Ugh…" One team member could no longer hold back, leaning against the wall and retching violently.
Axing's face had turned ashen. He ground his teeth so hard his jaw ached, and steam hissed from his gauntlets.
"That's… a monster!" Lao Zhong's voice shook. Glaring at the pulsing brain, his eyes blazed with terror and rage.
Jin Wanchao's "flames" roared in response to this abomination of "life." He could clearly "see" the vast, chaotic energy currents swirling within the bio-host; every flicker of a data node represented an imprisoned child. He could "hear" countless faint consciousnesses struggling inside—their pain, their despair, crashing into his mind like tidal waves.
Rage hardened into cold resolve.
"Destroy it!" Jin Wanchao's voice was heavy and unyielding, every word carrying unshakable will. He raised his right hand clad in a steam gauntlet, aiming straight for the core of the bio-host.
In the instant before his fist landed to end it all—
*Creak—*
From deep within the central control room, the door marked "Black Box" rumbled open slowly.
A cold, overwhelming energy wave, like an invisible storm, swept through the entire chamber in an instant.
A towering figure stepped forth, a demon god risen from the depths of hell. Clad in heavy, savage steam armor, two scarlet beams glowed from beneath his helmet in the darkness, like a beast hunting its prey. Every step he took echoed with heavy metallic scraping, and the air seemed to freeze under his oppressive presence.
His voice, modulated by machinery, was deep and authoritative, calm in a way that sent chills down the spine.
"Traitors, halt here."
"Your commotion has disturbed the children's 'evolution'."