Lacy suddenly placed a finger to her lips, making a gesture for silence.
"Keep it down. Don't conspire so loudly."
Ning Xuan looked around in confusion. The area was filled with her mechanical android subordinates; there were no outsiders here.
Lacy didn’t pick up the cracked greatsword embedded in the ground. Instead, she walked forward gracefully, her divine eyes fixed on Ning Xuan as she spoke:
"I’ll help you in the shadows, but I won’t act openly."
She didn’t reveal her true intentions to Ning Xuan, and at this moment, Ning Xuan wasn’t overly concerned about Lacy’s motives.
What Ning Xuan needed to do was gather intelligence or power from within to aid in the fight against Chen Xing.
As for Lacy’s reasons, that was something to worry about later.
"Alright."
Thinking this, Ning Xuan immediately agreed.
The cracked greatsword in Lacy’s hand suddenly vanished. She raised her finger and pulled it downward in the air.
A massive screen descended straight from the ceiling of the room.
"Then, let’s have a pleasant collaboration."
Lacy tapped and swiped on the screen, and a large map suddenly appeared. She turned the screen to face Ning Xuan.
"This is where I can assist you."
......
30 minutes later.
The screen slowly retracted, and Lacy handed Ning Xuan a small chip.
The golden light in her eyes began to fade.
Before the light disappeared completely, she spoke with a mysterious smile:
"No one was here today."
After saying this, her eyes turned back to their cold ice-blue hue, and her voice became mechanical and distant:
"You should leave now."
Ning Xuan stared at the completely transformed Lacy, feeling a strong sense of unfamiliarity. It was as if Lacy had been entirely replaced by someone else.
Ning Xuan said nothing more and, guided by a white-robed mechanical android, left the underground -50th floor.
Only after Ning Xuan had exited the room did Lacy turn around. Several mechanical androids approached and began repairing the glass and facilities damaged during the earlier battle.
Her face was expressionless as she walked a few steps into another compartment deep within the room.
A barrier of energy patterns separated the compartment, and as she entered, the patterns lit up, emitting a dangerous aura.
The entrance was clearly sealed.
Inside the compartment were countless densely packed screens, connected to form an even larger display.
As soon as Lacy entered, all the screens began to operate, and the image of a man was pieced together and displayed.
When Lacy saw him, her expression became complex and strange. Her eyes alternated between gold and blue, as if malfunctioning.
Yet she simply floated silently into the air and closed her eyes.
"Lacy, you’ve arrived."
The man spoke, his tone neither fast nor slow.
"Yes, Lord William. It’s been a long time."
Lacy’s expression relaxed only after hearing William’s voice.
"Are you really going to do this? I still can’t understand you."
William asked again from the screen.
"Of course you can’t understand."
Lacy frowned before she could finish her sentence, seemingly dissatisfied with the line.
"Because I’m not him. I’m just a replacement you created."
William in the screen smiled gently, his eyes sparkling as if he could see Lacy beyond the screen.
"So don’t say anything unnecessary."
Lacy gave him a cold look.
"But my programming doesn’t allow me... perhaps you should..."
Lacy didn’t want to hear any more. She raised her hand and shut off all the screens, cutting off William’s words mid-sentence.
"Lord William, I truly miss you."
"To see you again, I will..."
Lacy closed her eyes once more, and the compartment fell into complete silence, as if everything had died.
......
"Xiao Yu... are you sure this is the place?"
Shen Yiyue looked somewhat disheveled, and Ning Yu beside her wasn’t faring much better.
The two were in a vast underground space, looking around.
Above them was a small hole, seemingly the way they had descended.
"It’s hard to believe. Such a massive project couldn’t possibly have been completed by humans."
Ning Yu surveyed the surroundings.
"It must be. This is likely one of the passages the zombie horde used to reach City A."
She immediately activated [Advanced Detection], but there was no response. This meant that in this vast, empty underground space, only the two of them were present.
Of course, there might still be ordinary zombies around.
"Who could have imagined that such a place exists beneath City A?"
Shen Yiyue also marveled.
The two of them had used a rather "friendly" method to forcefully open the mechanical door with mysterious patterns deep beneath the Ark.
The passage behind the door led to a very deep place. After winding left and right for a long time underground, they finally arrived at this vast space.
This kind of scenario, often found in Lovecraftian fiction, was now happening in real life.
There should have been some indescribable presence behind that door, but now there was nothing here, only an eerie silence.
Anyone with claustrophobia would surely find this environment unbearable.
"Boom."
The previously quiet underground suddenly echoed with a dull sound, as if something had fallen.
Ning Yu closed her eyes and listened for a moment, then pointed in a direction:
"Over there."
She and Shen Yiyue exchanged a glance and quickly moved in that direction.
Soon, the two reached the end of the vast space, which seemed to be an undeveloped area.
As they passed through the middle, they noticed a massive mechanical base, as if waiting for something to be installed.
Following the passage at the end of the space, they continued to move swiftly.
Gradually, a faint smell of decay began to fill the air.
"Be careful."
Ning Yu reminded her and activated [Advanced Detection] once more, but there was still no response.
This reassured her slightly.
Ahead, a faint light began to appear, and Ning Yu heard the sound of footsteps. She frowned.
"It seems there are people here, not just zombies."
Shen Yiyue also heard the sound and came to the same conclusion as Ning Yu.
"Let’s go up."
If they went out the front, they might run into whatever was outside. Ning Yu pointed to a narrow stairway above the passage, seemingly leading to a higher level.
She shot a grappling hook upward, with Shen Yiyue following closely behind.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
