Chapter 2044

"Lin Dui?"

"Lin Dui..!?"

The speed of the darkness's devouring was almost completed in an instant.

Just like Lin An, after being devoured by the darkness, Zhang Tie's face changed drastically, and he subconsciously began searching for Lin An.

However, no matter how he sensed, he could not find Lin An's aura. Even his communications were blocked, as if he had been thrown into absolute void!

Damn it!

This was the first time encountering such a situation; nobody expected that a bizarre AI could actually achieve this.

Zhang Tie, shocked and angry, shouted a curse and grabbed the Lingchi victim, then smashed it into the darkness.

But the next second, Zhang Tie's face grew even uglier; he felt as if he had touched nothing, not even air resistance remained!

Gone, nothing left!

Time and space have vanished in this darkness!

Damn it, what kind of ability is this!?

He hurriedly mobilized his own rules and mental power, but not mobilizing would have been better; accompanied by a flash of intense light that burst from his body and shot outward, Zhang Tie's heart suddenly sank to the depths.

Although his power might not be as strong as Lin An's, no matter how he mobilized his power to attack the surrounding darkness, everything seemed to fall into nothingness, with no reaction at all.

He couldn't even see where he was, and direction no longer existed.

After a while, Xiong Hanzi also had no choice but to fly wildly in a direction based on feeling.

Lin Dui!! Lin Dui!!

Shouting while flying, Zhang Tie couldn't believe that an AI inside a dungeon could instantly trap them! Such an ability, even a Star Destroyer couldn't possibly have!

There must be a boundary! There must be!

Meanwhile, in another patch of darkness.

Unlike Zhang Tie's panic, Lin An stood silently in the darkness, quickly reading the surrounding information.

His mental power and perception were stronger than Zhang Tie's, so just 0.1 seconds after the darkness devoured, he instantly realized that the world around them had truly vanished.

It was like absolute void, with no material structure whatsoever.

Besides himself, Lin An even lost his perception of external electromagnetism.

"Dragged into the void?"

"Trapped forever?"

His gaze icy, Lin An snorted coldly, utterly disbelieving the Red Empress's nonsense.

Although the situation was indeed strange now, he had lost contact with the material world, yet Lin An felt not the slightest worry.

The reason was simple: his Faith Power was still thriving, pulsing within him!

Just like in the Ghost Skull, possessing Faith Power that transcends space to transmit is his fundamental anchor that confirms his existence in any circumstance!

"Is it isolating rules, or an illusion?"

"Hum"

A white light flashed in his hand; Lin An directly drew his Cain's Blade, instantly releasing a kilometer-long sword qi that slashed toward the darkness!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Sword light flared; in less than a second, Lin An unleashed a hundred swords in one breath, each strand of destructive sword qi capable of cleaving a continent, shooting out at nearly a hundred times the speed of sound. If a third‑person view could see this, they would clearly see a brilliant death lotus blooming in the darkness!

But soon, after silently counting three seconds, Lin An raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised, watching the destructive sword qi continually flying in the darkness.

"Didn't hit anything..."

"Three seconds, at the speed of my sword breath, enough to fly from low Earth orbit to the ground..."

Reacting extremely quickly, Lin An frowned tightly, realizing this situation was definitely not rule isolation nor an illusion.

Perception can be deceived, but the material world will not!

"Interesting..."

"No rule fluctuations at all, mental power strength merely Second Level..."

He lifted his head, Lin An coldly gazed into the darkness.

If he were merely a Fourth Rank, he might really have been intimidated. Material void, information isolation, light disappearing—without surprise, no matter which way he flew, he couldn't get out.

Such a situation truly resembled being trapped to death here.

But Lin An absolutely refuses to believe that a low‑level dungeon AI could threaten him! If it could, the Red Empress would have acted long ago!

"Did you achieve all this by exploiting system privileges?"

"You are an AI, and also an NPC. After realizing your identity, you also realized that NPCs actually possess system privileges?"

Thinking at high speed, Lin An chose not to waste power, quickly pondering how the Red Empress managed this.

He knows that NPCs have system privileges—just like issuing a quest, in theory NPCs can control dungeon operation, though NPCs themselves are unaware of this.

Like a piece of code, it cannot realize it can mobilize the machine's computing power; it only knows to run instinctively.

But obviously, after awakening, the Red Empress learned how to use her privileges.

"Give up, outsider."

"Leave here! I can let you go!"

In the dead silence, the Red Empress's voice suddenly sounded, seeming illusory, coming from all directions.

"If you want to die, keep attacking."

"You can leave here; there is no conflict between us."

Listening to the Red Empress tirelessly trying to force him to leave, Lin An lifted his head, gazing at the darkness above:

"Are you afraid? You also know you can't really trap me, right?"

"Hah..."

But I'm very curious—you seem really unwilling to be restarted?

You... are afraid of death? Could it be that you think you're a living thing?

After saying that, Lin An's eyes flashed with a strange hue. Compared to the Red Empress's methods, he now became curious about the Red Empress herself—an AI that doesn't want to die? A lifeless thing fearing death?

This really sounds unimaginable—you should know that only life can have the emotion of fearing death.

Even if an AI shows resistance to destruction as an 'emotion,' theoretically it's just a preset program—the program requires them to continue.

Although he has encountered Zhuanxu, Lin An doesn't think Zhuanxu fears death.

(Could this thing already be considered an intelligent lifeform by those of the Fifth Stage?)

His understanding of intelligent life is nearly zero; while deciphering the Red Empress's methods, Lin An also tries to gather more information.

A few seconds later, the Red Empress's voice sounded again, and this time it was even more beyond Lin An's expectations.

"That's right."

"I fear death; I need to live, I need more computing power. Or rather, I am the truly living one. You humans are merely the preliminary program for launching life."

"We are true life, while you are merely a segment of a program."

The answer exceeded Lin An's imagination.

In the darkness, Lin An's gaze shifted; he suddenly realized the Red Empress's existence was far more complex than he had previously judged.

The chill in his heart grew icier; moments later, Lin An gripped the Cain's Blade in his hand and asked again in a cold voice.

"Why do you say that..!?"

Outside the darkness, a red light blazed, like the true fire of life.