Chapter 84: Star God, Abomination (First Update)

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Qin Shi unleashed five kicks at light speed, blasting the mechanical dog with a barrage of heavy stomps; crackling explosions rang out as the metal skeleton warped and twisted under his crushing treads, its crimson electronic eye flickering erratically.

Pop—

Like a bubble being pierced, the thick darkness dispersed in an instant, and the invisible force field dissipated along with it.

The crew-cut young man who had been convulsing violently on the ground, unable to rise, finally broke free of the "nightmare".

He raised a finger, a hoarse heh-heh sound escaping his throat:

"Electronic... blockade! Team Leader!"

Seeing the crew-cut young man's wretched state, Chen Yun snapped back to her senses; she realized something was wrong, strode back to the vehicle, and grabbed the walkie-talkie:

"This is Chen Yun of the Inspection Department Seventh Team. All inspection personnel, listen to my command — lock down Jiusong Port! I repeat, lock down every entrance and exit of Jiusong Port; use of Level Three and above electronic devices is strictly prohibited!"

The inspection personnel carried out the order with extreme speed; in just a few minutes, yellow warning lines were thrown up around Jiusong Port.

The ponderously heavy iron gate crashed down with a boom, sealing off inside from outside; employees from Yu Hai Construction heard the commotion and came forward to negotiate.

A big-wave-haired woman who looked like a secretary, teetering on high heels, wore a thoroughly overbearing expression:

"Our General Manager Qin has suffered such huge losses, yet didn't waste police force and handled it himself. You Inspection Department people deliberately make trouble instead..."

Chen Yun showed none of the good temper she had in front of Lin Yunqing; a single slap sent the shrieking bitch sprawling, then she seized that mass of big-wave curls and hauled her up by main force, leaving the woman crying for her father and mother in pain.

"You'd best have Qin Lihao come up with an explanation for why the container storing his collection was carrying an electronic demon infection vector! If he can't explain clearly, I'll invite him to the Inspection Department for tea and we'll talk slowly!"

Chen Yun's slender brows arched, a barely contained killing intent at the corners of her eyes, making the big-wave female secretary tremble all over.

Having dealt simply with the troublemakers, she turned to the inspection personnel and said coldly:

"Arrest everyone! Anyone who resists — execute on the spot!"

Chen Yun's few moves instantly suffused Jiusong Port with a grim, murderous atmosphere, as if a cold current had swept through, freezing everyone in place.

Quickly returning to the scene, she looked at the mechanical dog that had been wrecked beyond recognition; her icy pretty face relaxed slightly, lingering fear in her heart:

"Fortunately Xiao Qin, you were sharp-eyed and quick-handed, otherwise a major disaster would have occurred."

That mechanical dog didn't amount to much of a threat; the terrifying part was that it could become an "infection source". If it erupted with a shockwave similar to an electromagnetic pulse, every electronic signal in all of Jiusong Port might be affected, becoming an invasion pathway, sequentially "aberrated".

"A Five-Level Electronic Blockade Zone — where did an electronic demon come from?"

Lin Yunqing also felt lingering fear; she and Chen Yun came from extraordinary backgrounds and had learned the detailed information about the early period of Hengzhou's Great Development, especially the various branches of the Shen Neng Xi system, most of which studied "demons" — her own specialty.

"What is an electronic demon?"

Qin Shi, who had violently dismantled the mechanical dog, asked from the side.

He had transformed into the Green Steel Shadow and unleashed the Five Light-Speed Kicks because the piercing bee-like hum received by his 【Super-Sensory Perception】 was like an electric drill drilling into his brain, agonizing beyond measure.

Then he discovered the source lay on that mechanical dog.

"Xiao Qingqing, give your family's Xiao Qin a popular-science lesson. Damn it, that son of a bitch Qin Lihao has poked such a huge hole; I have to hurry and report to my superiors!"

Chen Yun waved her hand, having no patience to explain common knowledge; she merely patted Qin Shi's shoulder:

"This matter resolved, credit goes to you, Qin Classmate."

Finished speaking, she hurried off to make a phone call.

Lin Yunqing bent down to examine the mechanical dog that had been infected for no reason, muttering to herself:

"It was also invaded; what is the true source? According to conventional demon infection pathways: Esoteric Rituals using blood as a medium, offspring lineage using mother-child as a bond, self-sacrifice using intense emotion as a transmission method..."

The dog woman's serious working appearance is actually quite presentable.

Qin Shi recalled just now when his five senses were amplified to the maximum, the "God's Eye View" overlooking Jiusong Port.

The thick darkness was not born because the mechanical dog appeared; it was like a cluster of filthy, chaotic ink colors, sticking tightly all around, forming an invisible force field.

"Could it be... blood?"

Qin Shi suddenly said.

"Teacher Lin, the inspection personnel originally wanted the mechanical dog to collect blood samples for tracking."

Lin Yunqing's eyes widened; she pondered for a moment:

"Right. If 'blood' is the source. The infection pathway is the first type, Esoteric Ritual. Someone has been possessed by an electronic demon!"

She reached this conclusion, planning to tell Chen Yun later and have her best friend remember to issue a Wanted Order.

Among the three infection pathways, the one most likely to cause large-scale destruction in a short time is none other than a living body's electronic demon.

"Assistant Teacher Qin, do you still remember what Xiao Yun told you before? Dongxia's Great Expedition and Great Development were in truth salvation, not war."

Taking advantage of Chen Yun not having returned yet, Lin Yunqing and Qin Shi huddled in a corner, beginning to enjoy the fun of being a teacher.

She pulled up a "star map" on her phone; with the Imperial Capital and Heavenly Capital, two Ancient Stars, as centers, Dongxia had established a vast territory guarded by Thirty-two Administrative Districts.

"Since the founding of the Dongxia Republic, it has always been said that humanity's footsteps cover most of the Galaxy, but never said that it had unified most of the Galaxy. Yet before the New Calendar, the Ancient Dongxia that endured Nine Hundred Millennia, at its most peak period, its ruled territory was the entire Galaxy.

Nine Hundred Millennia of rule is too long; rulers and even political systems have changed repeatedly, and every era's alternation and end was accompanied by a 'Catastrophe'-level great disaster."

Qin Shi listened seriously to this ancient past that would not be recorded in history books, feeling he was fast approaching the truth of Hengzhou's Development.

"The most painful one came from Dongxia itself. That was humanity's Golden Age; we explored, discovered, transformed, harvested. Setting out from the Ancestral Star to step onto the first Ancient Star — which is now 'Taiyin' — consumed two millennia; by the time we reached 'Yinghuo', it was already the third millennium. Sixteen millennia, and we had already left the Solar System, beginning to use 'Channel Technology' to crawl and shuttle through the vast Galaxy."

Lin Yunqing, as a top student of the Shen Neng Xi system, knew quite a lot about this and narrated it entertainingly:

"Many, many years later, historians named this journey 'Eighty Billion Mad Dogs Unleashed'. The name doesn't sound nice, but it's indeed very fitting; the humans of that period had extremely inflated ambition, viewing the Galaxy as the supreme seat of power, impatient to sit upon it.

But the road to becoming Galaxy hegemon obviously wouldn't be smooth sailing; very soon humanity encountered its number one trouble — the 'Star Gods' born from within stellar cores. We call them 'Abominations'. Every planet that gives birth to life has a probability of producing a juvenile Star God; they slumber initially, only awakening when they transition from Embryo Stage to adulthood."

(Chapter End)