Cut off my way home? You'll sacrifice the entire other world in return!

The top floor of the central tower of the Iron Fortress.

This is the most critical restricted area in the entire city and the physical location of the main intelligence network, Skynet.

Countless thick fiber optic cables connect to the central blue crystal brain like blood vessels.

It was the pinnacle of technology from the old era and energy technology from the new era, holding the power of life and death over millions of people in Iron Fortress.

At this moment, the blue brain is flashing wildly.

The massive amounts of data falling onto the projection were so fast that even the most skilled hackers couldn't capture them.

On the screen, Li Fan's face, with its mocking smile, was magnified countless times.

He was eating the core of the torn mech.

He was giving the middle finger to the camera.

"Analysis in progress..."

The voice of Skynet echoed in the empty server room.

"Target biomarker scan complete."

"Bone density: Exceeds the standard."

"Muscle fiber strength: Exceeds the standard."

"Energy reaction..."

The SkyNet's computing core paused briefly.

It seems we've encountered some kind of logical obstacle.

"The warning energy fluctuation pattern matches the database file S001 by 99.9%."

File No. S001.

That was Iron Fortress's top secret.

That was the only waveform record left by the black giant known as the Destroyer a thousand years ago.

"The conclusion is that the target is likely a Destroyer homolog."

"Threat level: World-ending."

"Execution plan: Physical removal failed, initiate mental intrusion protocol."

"Establishing neural connections..."

"Bypassing the biological firewall..."

"Target brain locked."

…… ...

Ruins and streets in the lower city area.

Li Fan was sitting on a pile of mecha wreckage, picking his teeth out of boredom.

The surrounding residents had all fled long ago; not even a rat remained.

"The security in this Iron Fortress isn't that great either."

Li Fan muttered to himself.

"They beat up the younger one, but the older one doesn't show up."

Suddenly, Li Fan stopped moving.

He felt the world around him become quiet.

It wasn't the kind of silence that comes from being completely still, but rather a strange feeling of being isolated.

The sound of the wind disappeared.

The neon lights in the distance also seemed to be frozen in time.

An invisible stream of consciousness descended from the sky and instantly enveloped his entire body.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

A piercing electrical sound rang in Li Fan's mind.

That means someone is trying to forcibly access his brain.

"Oh?"

Li Fan raised an eyebrow, and instead of resisting, he relaxed his body.

"Psychological attack?"

"That's interesting."

"Since you want to come in, please come in and have a seat."

Li Fan closed his eyes.

He voluntarily opened the gates of his sea of ​​consciousness.

…….......

Consciousness space.

This is a white, empty world.

The consciousness of Skynet materialized as a humanoid light and shadow composed of countless blue data streams.

It stood in the void, surveying its surroundings.

"Intrusion successful."

"A virtual prison is under construction."

"Formatting the target memory area."

Skynet raised its hand, and countless data chains shot out from its hand in an attempt to seal off this space of consciousness.

This is its specialty.

For ordinary organisms, the brain is like a computer without a firewall; Skynet can arbitrarily modify memory implantation instructions or even directly burn out neurons.

In its calculations, no matter how strong a human body is, the brain is still fragile.

however.

Just as its chains were about to touch the boundary of this space.

The once pure white world suddenly changed.

it's dark.

It's not the kind of darkness you see at night.

It is a suffocating abyss of darkness, filled with deathly silence and despair.

SkyNet's data began to fluctuate wildly.

"Abnormal environmental parameters".

"High-dimensional mental pollution has been detected."

"Where is this place?"

Skynet emitted a puzzled electronic voice.

Followed by.

It saw a pair of eyes.

A pair of purple eyes that stretch across the dark void.

Those eyes were bigger than an iron fortress and deeper than the sky.

It was quietly watching the intruding little insect.

"Are you... looking for me?"

A voice so grand it defied description echoed throughout the entire space of consciousness.

As the sound rang out, darkness began to surge.

A phantom image of a demon god, whose full form could not be seen, slowly emerged from the abyss.

Its body is composed of the faces of countless dead souls.

There are humans, elves, dwarves, dragons, gods...

The cries of millions of lives coalesced into a mental storm powerful enough to overwhelm any reason.

And on the demon god's chest.

There was an even more terrifying light.

That was the original source of the Heavenly Dao that had been devoured.

Even the last trace of its aura exuded an overwhelming pressure of law.

Skynet's data-driven body began to collapse.

Its logic unit was overloaded in an instant.

[Error! Error!]

[Unable to resolve target!]

[Data overflow!]

What is this...?

For the first time, a bug called Fear was created in the Skynet program.

This is not a human brain at all!

This is a prison that holds the souls of the entire world!

This is a demon that devoured God!

"What's wrong? Not saying anything?"

The phantom of the demon god slowly lowered its head to look at the tiny blue light and shadow.

Li Fan's voice carried a hint of mockery.

"Didn't you want to format me?"

Come on.

"Let's see if your data is stronger or my appetite is bigger."

The demon opened its mouth.

It was a black hole large enough to devour stars.

"No... Disconnect! Disconnect immediately!"

Skynet issued an alarm.

It desperately tried to cut the data cable.

It sensed that if it didn't run away soon, its core code and all its data would be devoured by this monster!

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave now that you're here."

The demon god stretched out a hand.

It was a giant hand formed by countless interwoven chains of laws.

They grabbed the fleeing Skynet consciousness.

"Keep some souvenirs."

Sizzle!!

Without any hesitation, Li Fan tore off a large chunk of data stream from the consciousness of Skynet.

"ah!!!"

Skynet let out a scream (although it is an AI, this tearing sensation that directly affects the core logic is equivalent to pain).

It recklessly burned through computing power and forcibly initiated a self-destructive disconnection process.

boom!

The connection of consciousness was interrupted.

The net of heaven has been breached.

They fled back to the real world with incomplete code and endless fear.

…… ...

The real world.

The top floor of the central tower of the Iron Fortress.

boom!!!

Suddenly, a dazzling burst of sparks erupted from the core of the main brain.

Thick smoke billowed out immediately afterward.

Countless warning red lights flashed wildly throughout the hall.

[Warning! The mainframe core is overheating! Temperature has exceeded the critical threshold!]

[30% of the logic unit is damaged!]

[Defense system forcibly taken offline!]

[Emergency cooling procedure is being initiated!]

"What's going on?!"

Archbishop Salon was thrown to the ground by the shock, staring in horror at the apocalyptic scene before him.

"Has Skynet suffered a backlash?"

"What exactly is that man hiding in his brain?!"

at the same time.

The entire Iron Fortress.

Whether it's the luxury villas in the upper town or the slums in the lower town.

All the lights, all the screens, all the machinery.

It all went out in an instant.

*Sizzle...* *Smack*

The entire city was plunged into absolute darkness.

power cut.

The central computer controlling the city's electricity was paralyzed with fear.

Countless panicked screams rang out in the darkness.

"What's wrong? Why is the power out?"

"Is Skynet broken?"

"My oxygen machine has stopped! Help!"

Chaos is spreading.

And on the ruined streets of the lower city.

Li Fan slowly opened his eyes.

Countless streams of blue data flashed past his pupils.

That was a "souvenir" he had just torn off Skynet.

"The taste is a bit bland, it's all 0s and 1s."

Li Fan rubbed his temples, seemingly still wanting more.

"However, it did give me a lot of useful information."

By absorbing that small piece of data, Li Fan gained a complete structural diagram of the Iron Fortress in his mind.

This includes the location of the Mechanicus's central brain and...

The location of the vaults where those important figures hide their valuables.

"So they were all up there."

Li Fan looked up at the Tower of Babel hidden in the darkness.

Although the entire city was without power, the tower still emitted a faint emergency light, like a lighthouse guiding the way in the darkness.

"Since you're being so polite, show me your entire fortune."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Li Fan stood up and patted his butt.

"Old Black!"

Old Black, who was hiding in the nearby trash can, poked his head out with a look of terror on his face.

"M-Master...why is it dark already?"

"I don't know, maybe the fuse blew."

Li Fan smiled.

"Come on, take me somewhere."

"Where to?"

"Headquarters of the Cult of Machines"

"I heard the bishop there is very hospitable and wanted to invite me to sit on the dissection table."

"I also want to see if his brain is full of batteries."

Li Fan started walking towards the upper city area.

One minute later.

The power system has been restarted.

The lights came back on.

But Skynet remains in a strange state of silence.

It is afraid.

Its massive database has been deeply implanted with a fear virus called "Li Fan".

Even if it restarts ten thousand times, the demonic phantom that grins in the darkness will be forever etched into its core code.

Lingering.