The word "want" was squeezed out of Ji Ling's throat, raw like metal grinding.
Lu Cheng smiled.
His smile held the pleasure of appreciating a work of art, and the playful malice of a demon.
He didn't immediately agree. Instead, he released his hand from her waist and re-examined her with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Wanting is a good thing."
"It means you, this defective product, still have value for repair."
He reached out a finger, hooked Ji Ling's chin, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes.
"But, Ji Ling, you must understand."
"There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world."
"I grant you completeness, and what do you offer in return?"
Exchange?
Ji Ling was silent for a moment, then, with her still flat but incredibly serious tone, she offered everything she could.
"All of me."
"My power, my life..."
"No."
Lu Cheng shook his head.
"These will be mine anyway."
"So, they are not the price of exchange, but proof of your becoming my possession."
He leaned down, close to her ear, his voice seemingly luring her into depravity.
"What I want is your future."
"From now on, what scenery you see, what tastes you savor, what emotions you feel... all must be with my permission."
"Are you willing to sign this... contract of the soul?"
No hesitation.
Not even a millisecond of processing delay.
"I am willing."
Ji Ling nodded at him; compared to becoming whole, a future that might be formatted in less than three days seemed insignificant.
"Very good."
Lu Cheng's mind stirred, and he brought up the System Smeltery.
This time, he wasn't "creating" a system.
Instead, he was performing a more precise operation—linking.
He fed the parsed data of the "nanosuit fragments" into the Smeltery.
Immediately after, he drew a wisp of the True Dragon Saint Body's primordial aura from his own body.
That was the mark of his life's essence, overbearing, tyrannical, above all things.
The Smeltery hummed.
High-tech data created basic rule particles, and that wisp of True Dragon primordial aura, like a monarch, forcibly twisted and reorganized these particles.
Finally, a [Link Module] composed purely of "rules" and "energy" appeared within the Smeltery.
Lu Cheng extended his index finger and gently touched Ji Ling's smooth forehead.
There was no imagined flash of lightning.
Nor were there any earth-shattering phenomena.
Ji Ling only felt a warm, yet incredibly reassuring aura, flowing from Lu Cheng's fingertip into her spiritual world.
This aura, like an omnipresent tide, forcefully scoured every one of her underlying codes.
At the same time, a "backdoor" exclusive to Lu Cheng, with the highest authority, was implanted deep within her soul.
From this moment on, she was no longer a product created by Ji Tianxing.
She was Ji Ling, or rather, Lu Cheng's Ji Ling... Her world, for the first time, had "color."
This color was not visual, but an explosion of sensation.
She could "feel" Lu Cheng's pleasure and satisfaction in controlling everything.
She could "feel" his unique, intoxicating aura in the air.
She could "feel" something called "warmth" flowing through her cold body for the first time.
Her glazed pupils contracted and trembled violently.
A new, never-before-seen data stream furiously refreshed in her mind.
[Emotional Link... Activating...]
[Synchronization 1%...]
[Synchronization 2%...]
...She raised her hand, somewhat clumsily, and gently touched the back of Lu Cheng's hand.
The moment their skin touched, an unprecedented "flutter" made her entire body tremble slightly.
So, this was the emotion that "touch" could produce... At the same time.
In another building of the Lu Family Manor.
In Dongfang Yue's room, sandalwood incense wafted, and the atmosphere was solemn.
She sat cross-legged before a giant astrolabe, her eyes closed, her fair fingertips constantly calculating something in the void.
Her main quest, [Heavenly Secrets Seeker], required her to personally mark the "Great Destiny Bearers" hidden in the corners of the world, which was no simple task.
She pushed her Dao Arts to their limit, vowing to find the existence with the most intense disturbance of heavenly secrets!
"Buzz—!"
The astrolabe before her suddenly accelerated its rotation, and the stellar trajectories on it became chaotic and violent.
Fine beads of sweat permeated Dongfang Yue's forehead, and her face grew somewhat pale.
Finally, just before the astrolabe was about to collapse, she suddenly opened her eyes, locking onto an extremely strange target!
In the center of the astrolabe, a blurry image appeared.
It was a golden pillar of light, almost solidifying, soaring into the sky over a certain area of the Demon City!
"Imperial Destiny!"
Dongfang Yue's heart trembled.
But immediately after, the divination she interpreted sent a chill down her spine.
"Arrogant Dragon Repents, a Sign of the End!"
This was an extremely contradictory, even self-destructive, divination.
It meant that although this person possessed the overwhelming destiny of an emperor, his appearance was not auspicious; instead, it would bring a devastating catastrophe!
His destiny was built upon "doomsday"!
"A Great Destiny Bearer... yet accompanied by a great calamity?"
Dongfang Yue fell into deep confusion.
She couldn't understand why the person "destined by heaven" would be an out-and-out "calamity star."
But the system's task was to "mark," not to "judge."
She took a deep breath, deciding to personally investigate the place to figure out who this person, emanating an aura of calamity, truly was, and what was going on.
Just as Dongfang Yue completed her deduction and made her decision.
In the study's lounge.
Lu Cheng, who was closing his eyes and sensing the wondrous changes after linking with Ji Ling, the corner of his mouth curved slightly.
On his system interface, the "tool person" module bound to Dongfang Yue's sub-system, popped up a new message.
[Dongfang Yue has successfully detected a new Son of Destiny and is currently searching for a mark.]
[Worldline Source: "Doomsday: Stockpile Consumption, Hundredfold Return"]
[Current Status: Currently frantically stockpiling supplies, preparing for the apocalypse.]
Lu Cheng opened his eyes, looking at this message, and a "just as I expected" smile appeared on his face.
A doomsday leek from the stockpiling genre?
And a calamity star bearing destiny.
Interesting.
However, one must eat bite by bite, and leeks must be harvested one crop at a time.
"Perfect, once I deal with the big trouble that is Ji Tianxing, I'll come and play with you slowly."
He casually closed the panel, refocusing his attention entirely on Ji Ling before him.
At this moment, Ji Ling was like a newborn infant, curiously and clumsily exploring this brand new "world."
Her once empty eyes now sparkled with the pure light of a newborn.
A perfect work of art had finally been infused with a soul.
Lu Cheng looked at this perfect creation, which had just completed its "soul link" and was in a state of "newborn," and nodded in satisfaction.
He reached out and pulled her back into his embrace.
"How do you feel?"
"Very... wonderful."
Ji Ling looked up, gazing at him, his reflection clearly mirrored in her glazed pupils.
"I can feel you."
"This is just the beginning."
Lu Cheng's finger gently traced her soft lips, his voice full of allure.
"Your emotional repair needs a catalyst."
"And the best catalyst is your good father; go and experience for yourself what kind of emotion he truly has towards you!"
"How about this," Lu Cheng smiled, "call him to Demon City."
"Just say you've successfully killed me."
"This is also your first lesson, lying."
"Go and see what kind of emotions he... will have when you betray him with a lie!"