RPAGF Chapter 599 “Click…click…click…click…tap…”
Chapter 599 “Click…click…click…click…tap…”
With a slight sound, a small puff of foul-smelling black smoke suddenly rose when the edge of the red-gold flame came into contact with the sticky mucus on the surface of the tentacle.
In just a moment, with the sudden burst of light from the Lihuo, Shen Jia'an's sharp eyes penetrated the shadow of the damaged part of the puppet's breastplate and clearly saw a line of dusty but still dazzling inscriptions branded on the inner core skeleton -
Xuanyuan Shaoze, Guardian of Civilization
And below the inscription, there seems to be a crude emblem of a gear and a sword crossed.
However, something strange happened at this moment!
It seemed to be the girl's continuous and devout prayers, or perhaps it was some kind of energy stimulation brought by the proximity of Suzaku to the fire, the broken puppet that had been motionless and like scrap metal, its two eyeballs made of inferior crystal embedded in the metal eye sockets, suddenly lit up with two scarlet lights!
“Click….Click…Click…Click…Tap…”
A harsh and piercing sound, like the friction of countless rusty gears being forced to turn, came from inside the puppet's chest.
The puppet's head, connected by metal rods, was slowly turning with an extremely stiff and teeth-grinding sound. The next second, the pair of scarlet crystal "eyeballs" were seen aimed at the girl kneeling in front of it.
Then, a synthesized sound, devoid of any emotion, simulated entirely by the friction of gears and airflow through metal channels, rang out. Every syllable was accompanied by a "clicking" noise, coldly echoing in the deadly ruins.
"Faith...energy...is insufficient...unable to...start...annihilation...program..."
The puppet's relatively intact metal arm was raised with difficulty, accompanied by the hissing sound of the hydraulic rod, and a few dazzling sparks were produced by the friction at the joints.
Its hand, made of three metal bones, pointed to a more dilapidated area in the distance of the city, shrouded in the shadow of giant gears. There was the slums at the bottom of the Gear City.
"Needs... Supplements... Sacrifice..." The cold synthesized voice, at this moment, uttered the chilling words without a ripple, "...fifty...pure...souls...priority given...children...and...cyborgs..."
"Om-!"
When Shen Jia'an heard this, he felt his ears were empty, as if something was stuffed into his ears, and a chill rushed to his head!
He stared intently at the girl's expression, as if trying to grasp something. On the contrary, the moment she heard the words "sacrifice fifty pure souls," her numb face showed no surprise or anger, only a deeper, heartbreaking despair and confusion.
It seemed...that this was not an unacceptable price for her, but rather the rules of the cruel world that she had long been accustomed to.
This scene, like an icy awl, pierced deeply into Shen Jia'an's memory. He suddenly remembered what Xuanyuan Shaoze had said to him in a serious tone long ago during his reincarnation:
"Xiao An, remember, when faith becomes an excuse for violence and extortion, the true gods must leave. That is not protection, but shackles, a poison worse than destruction."
At this moment, these words echoed in his ears again, lingering for a long time. Looking at the empty eyes of this girl, he realized something -
The essence of the K-system pollution is not devouring, but distortion. It is a sophisticated scam that alienates faith into "fuel"!
"Master You!" Shen Jia'an turned his head abruptly, sparks flying from the self-destruct talisman crafted by Laojun himself. His voice trembled slightly with suppressed anger. "Use your divine dragon bloodline! Activate it! Burn the core puppet!"
"Are you crazy?!" You Fuyao's golden dragon pupils suddenly shrank, and a look of tangled shock and disbelief appeared on his face: "That thing is prepared for the worst case scenario!"
"Activate the self-destruct sequence. The energy shockwaves from the core annihilation will spread instantly. That broken puppet is still connected to the entire city's spiritual veins, affecting the entire neighborhood! It might even trigger a chain reaction explosion in the city's energy pipelines! There are still people alive down there!"
"I know!" Shen Jia'an's voice was firm and resolute, with an unquestionable determination. His eyes held a trace of compassion, piercing the despair that permeated the crowd below. "But the real Xuanyuan Shaoze would never allow a mortal to use his life and soul as fuel to pray for so-called power from a cold machine!"
"That would be the greatest blasphemy to him, and to the word 'protection'!"
You Fuyao's expression froze instantly, "But..."
"What would the real Xuanyuan do?" Shen Jia'an laughed in anger. When he asked, his eyes swept towards the direction of the slums.
There, a group of children were using scrap gears to create a stick figure of Xuanyuan Shaoze. One of the girls was wearing the same robotic arm as the girl in front of him. "He would say, 'Screw your divine authority, protect the living first.'"
You Fuyao said no more and transformed into a dragon in the blink of an eye. When the huge dragon tail slammed heavily on the clouds, the airflow it created swept the girl away from the puppet.
Shen Jiaan took the opportunity to throw the talisman. Just before the bronze box exploded on the puppet's chest, a voice resounded throughout the world.
"Attention all believers," the puppet's mechanical voice suddenly became clear, unexpectedly overlapping with Xuanyuan Shaoze's voice, "I have never asked for sacrifice. The true power lies in you—"
When the talisman exploded, the roar swallowed up the rest of the sentence. Shen Jia'an's sight seemed to penetrate the dilapidated buildings and the pervasive steam, looking towards the other end of Gear City. There, at the top of the tallest clock tower, like a steel behemoth, in the shadow of the giant gears slowly turning—
Another figure of "Shen Jia'an" has quietly stood up without anyone noticing.
The figure was also wearing a robe with the Vermillion Bird divine pattern, and his face was exactly the same as his, but his temperament was even colder, and his eyes were like ten thousand years of ice.
What he held in his hand was not a talisman, but a golden sword shadow that was as condensed as a substance, exuding brilliant power, and seemed to be able to cut through time and space!
That is...the projection of the Xuanyuan Sword!
The gaze of "Shen Jia'an" seemed to penetrate the barriers of time and space, confronting his true self from afar above the clouds. His lips moved silently, as if uttering a cruel truth.
Shen Jia'an's heart suddenly sank. He took a deep breath and spoke a prophetic word to You Fuyao, but also to the sinking land below:
"Sometimes... only by completely destroying the false idol, letting it collapse before mortals... can they, amidst the despairing ruins, look up and see... the true starlight."
When the self-destructive light dissipated, Shen Jiaan saw another "self" holding the Xuanyuan Sword, waving countless gear-shaped fragments of faith into the sky, and each piece reflected the daily life of mortals -