Chapter 79

Boom!!!

The sound of vibrations from a distant place came from overhead again.

In the narrow tunnel, dust fell down, startling the Little Niu Ma, which stopped in its tracks and looked around in terror. The high beams were turned on brighter than anyone else's, for fear of it being even a little darker.

It's ridiculous to say that a crappy motorcycle like you is afraid of the dark!

Ji Jue was so angry that he went up and kicked its wheel, "Walk faster, scout the way ahead!"

"The earthquake seems to be getting more frequent." Little An reached out and pressed against the wall, feeling the vibrations coming from afar: "It's as if the Rift Realm is collapsing."

"A complete and sound system must have its own update mechanism. In addition to repairing when errors occur, when the accumulation is too heavy to return, it must destroy everything and then create a new set."

The Prophet said indifferently: "According to calculations, the original restart should have been in eighty years. The appearance of outsiders has accelerated the distortion that appeared within the workshop."

"It seems our speed must be a little faster."

Once these words were spoken, the team fell silent.

Even the Little Niu Ma stiffened in place.

Only Ji Jue coughed awkwardly twice: "Uh, Prophet, everyone knows that explanations are important at this time, but could you please, speak a little less."

"Hmm?" The Prophet was puzzled: "Did I say something wrong?"

On the handlebars of the Little Niu Ma, the head in the basket turned in a direction, and the pitch-black eyes, like glass beads, looked toward the back.

It's even more terrifying, okay!

It's getting more and more ghostly!

After the two sides initially reached a cooperation intention, the 'character recruitment mission' common in RPG games was completed. If there were some prompt box, it would pop up at this time to tell you: The Prophet has joined the team.

If it were a mobile game, it might be a dirty routine to let you experience a powerful character first and then trick you into paying for microtransactions. But the reality is more complicated.

The problem is... the Prophet's body is already very old, so old that it drops parts everywhere if it moves a little, and shatters all over if it's touched.

It's basically an ICU patient with high paraplegia who can't walk at all!

But as for the others, they have no way to lead the way either.

There is already someone with inconvenient legs and feet in the team, Little An. If there's one more, Ji Jue feels that his trip to the Rift Realm is about to become a disabled association outing.

To this, the Prophet calmly stated: "Don't you have a vehicle? Just chop off my head and hang it on the front of the vehicle, isn't that it? Anyway, for an old model like me, besides navigation and leading the way, there are no other functions."

It was as crisp and neat as if she were chopping off someone else's head.

But Ji Jue is not a pervert who chops off heads for fun. Although they are not familiar with each other, they are at least teammates, and he can't bring himself to do it!

As a result, the Prophet's shoulders shook slightly, and her head rolled down by itself.

Just like that, two people, one vehicle, and one head, with such a bizarre lineup configuration, the team set off again.

Downward!

Through the intricate sewers like a spider web, they arrived at the deepest part of the town, and then took the elevator, as if on a spring outing, and ran to the bottom floor.

All the way, smooth and unimpeded!

There wasn't even a doorman.

Isn't the local guide a bit too proficient?

【Do you think we're a bit too relaxed?】 He asked the Qiu Ge in his arms quietly.

【Otherwise? If I wanted to rebel, you going to the master's workshop would definitely be easier than strolling in a park.】

The Ghost Work Ball answered indifferently: 【Just now at those few forks, if you had taken one wrong step, you would have turned into ashes by now. Don't be ungrateful for your blessings, okay?】

Boom!!!

Before the words fell, a loud noise suddenly came from the deepest part of the underground, shaking violently, and he could vaguely hear gunshots and wailing, which made Ji Jue slightly stunned.

Little An reached out and stuck to the wall, as if listening: "About two kilometers, four people, and a guy who doesn't know what it is, very big, very scary."

"Someone triggered the alarm, the peripheral protection program was activated, and the guardians are awake." The Prophet's eyelids lifted slightly, not caring at all: "Don't worry, the maintenance passage is not within the isolation range. You have permissions, those rigid tools won't stop you."

The moment the words fell, on the ceiling, something as agile as a small spider crawled past.

When it passed them, it seemed to scan slightly with its compound eyes. But Ji Jue himself had the furnace's permissions, and Little An, sitting on the Little Niu Ma, had the Prophet's shielding, so it didn't discover any clues at all and left without caring.

Ji Jue breathed a sigh of relief and heard the Ghost Work Ball's voice.

【Be careful, the more beautiful the Heavenly Work, the more it will deceive people.】

The Ghost Work Ball said: 【This woman definitely has a problem, you be careful, don't capsize the boat.】

【Is she a Heavenly Work?】

【Possessing thought and reason, able to violate underlying commands and spiritual quality circuits, and able to remain alone and grow after leaving the user—meeting these points is already the foundation of a Heavenly Work.

Others can still be said to be puppets endowed with consciousness, but she alone has a completion degree that is I don't know how many times higher than other puppets. You haven't forgotten the alchemy history lesson I gave you before, have you?】

What he was talking about was the hearty competition in the ancient quality realm, which Ji Jue had almost carved into his bones. God knows how lively the tools left by Mercury would be.

The more human-like things are, the more bad water they have.

Although it's not good to say this to the Prophet who is still sparing no effort to support him, one must guard against others, and the more human-like things are, the more one should guard against them.

Now the Prophet is just a head, hanging in the vegetable basket at the mouth of the Little Niu Ma. Ji Jue doesn't even need to give commands; if there is any slight disturbance, the Little Niu Ma will have an extra meal.

If it weren't time to turn against each other, Ji Jue wouldn't want to rashly use his ability to control.

Deus ex machina is not omnipotent.

At least not now.

And just as they moved forward in silence, the passage finally came to an end, with only a sealed door that looked like it came from some ship's cabin blocking their eyes.

"We're almost there."

The Prophet said: "After opening it, it should be the core."

Saying this, she looked back at Ji Jue, not hiding her meaning, and didn't say anything more.

Little An wanted to get out of the vehicle with his crutches, but was pressed down by Ji Jue.

"Is there a password?"

Ji Jue bent down, examined the rusty sealed door before him, knocked on it, and heard a hollow sound. The moment he touched it, relying on the resonance of the deus ex machina, he felt the overall structure. There were no traps worth guarding against or being vigilant about, just an ordinary door, nothing more.

He reached out, gripped the handle tightly, and used all his strength to turn it.

Harsh sounds erupted in bursts.

Transmitting a long distance in the darkness.

Rust spots fell from the ship's wheel-like handle, and with the dry rotation, finally, a gap opened.

Gorgeous waves of light fell from that narrow gap and shone into Ji Jue's eyes.

He subconsciously held his breath.

There were no ambushes or mechanisms, only shimmering light like sea tides, gorgeous and colorful, silently rippling in the air... that was spiritual quality.

Truly, liquid spiritual quality like the sea, rippling endlessly from the huge space behind the door that was simply invisible to the end.

Following the gap, it surged in and washed over their feet.

Stirring up countless ripple-like fragments of light.

That is a real ocean.

The Little Niu Ma turned its tires, curiously leaned forward, and looked at the deep, bottomless sea of spiritual quality on both sides of the road, and even the straight road that was shallowly submerged by liquid spiritual quality.

It extended all the way to the very center of the underground world, a solemn hall that was exaggeratedly as large as half a city.

"Welcome to the deepest layer of the Mercury Workshop, the Spiritual Quality Operational Zone."

The Prophet in the vehicle basket sighed softly, staring at the huge building shrouded in rainbow light and dazzling colors: "Ahead, is the core of the workshop."

"Have you been here?" Ji Jue asked curiously.

"Yes, I've been here, many times." The Prophet laughed softly, glancing at the deep sea of spiritual quality nearby: "In the workshop, everyone has been here, more than once."

She said: "This is where we were born."

In the surging sound of the tide, on the surface of the sea, a huge vortex suddenly appeared...

It was like boiling!

Massive amounts of scarlet spiritual quality spilled down from the top dome like a rainstorm, falling into the ocean, rendering patches of shocking blood color.

Those broken spiritual qualities were still filled with the floating light and shadows of memories, gradually dissipating.

In the wind blowing toward them, it seemed as if wailing was permeated.

But immediately after, in the void, one spiritual quality circuit after another emerged, causing the vortex to rise from the sea, turning into a violent tornado, swallowing all the spiritual quality fragments.

Those fake souls were torn apart in an instant, stirred into powder, and all the insanity and suffering swirled, gradually falling into the huge vortex beneath the sanctuary, disappearing without a trace.

And then, there were severed limbs and broken bodies.

Heads, arms, legs, torsos, internal organs...

Fragments like hailstones, and even the shells of alienated monsters, tilted down as the huge gap on the top dome opened.

Just like that, they fell into the boiling sea of spiritual quality, decomposed rapidly, and in the end, only ash-like dust remained, silently sinking to the deepest part of the sea, piling up into rolling mountain ranges.

No end in sight.

The rainbow light remained, as gorgeous as ever.

It was impossible to see how many bones and remains were deposited in this world that looked like a fairyland, and one could not hear the wailing and crying.

Ji Jue only felt his whole body go cold.

"Those damaged tools, out-of-control puppets, after being recycled, are sent here. The spiritual quality is crushed, filtered, and purified to its purest state."

"After the shells are decomposed, only unusable remains are left."

The Prophet said slowly: "Soon, along the production line below, new empty shells will be produced, first bones, then attached with flesh and blood, finally enlightened with spiritual quality, and then instilled with memories, and a brand-new tool will walk out from the conveyor belt to continue to complete its new mission."

"Until it discovers once again what it actually is..."

She laughed softly, so mockingly: "If there is an afterlife for tools, then this is our hell."

Hell is right before our eyes.

Just like heaven.

Click!

Click, click...

In one vibration after another, a crack suddenly appeared from the top dome.

Dust fell down, like rain.

Earthquake.

"Get ready, Mr. Ji Jue."

The Prophet said finally: "The scope of my ability can only reach here. If you still want to get your wish next, what awaits you is probably a bitter battle..."

Ding—

It seemed as if a crisp sound rang out from the void.