Chapter 504: Fuel Depot Crisis

The alloy gate of the fuel depot jammed in midair after the hydraulic system failed, and a pungent‑sweet corrosive gas spewed out from the cracks. Ao Li's protective visor instantly filled with ice crystals, and nanometer‑scale black‑blood particles were gnawing at the filter layer. She swung her sword to cut the gate's hinge, but the Sword Qi of the Dragon‑Song Sword triggered a strange resonance when it touched the frame— the entire wall suddenly displayed a relief of a mechanical Utan, and the black blood dripping between the petals mixed with the leaking fuel into a purple‑black slime.

###**1. Living Fuel**

Technician Lao Zhang's searchlight swept over the storage tank, and the light refracted star‑nebula‑shaped spots on the slime surface. "This… this isn't a leak!" he staggered backward, and where the light fell, the metal on the tank's surface was "growing" at a naked‑eye speed, twisting into the shape of a curled fetus. A bulging metal lump suddenly cracked open, extending an infant arm coated in engine oil; the slime dripping from its fingertip etched countdown numbers onto the floor.

Ao Li swung her sword to cut off the arm, and the severed stump spewed black fuel bearing pocket‑watch gears. The gears automatically assembled in midair into a micro Utan, and at its blossom the mechanical ocular of 9527 opened: "Welcome to my birthing ceremony."

###**2. Blood‑Flesh Furnace**

The fallen worker suddenly ceased convulsing, and a metallic lump rose and roamed beneath his skin. His pupils split into double irises; the left eye reflected the fuel depot's live surveillance, the right eye flickered with the brain‑wave frequency of a Star Sea fetus. "Purify… need to purify…" the worker shrieked, lunging at the nearest colleague, his corroded hands easily tearing the hazmat suit. No blood flowed from the victim's wound; instead black fuel bearing gears gushed out, and the liquid solidified on contact into a pocket‑size Utan.

"Establish a quarantine zone!" Ao Li's Sword Qi wove a golden net to trap the mutant, but she discovered the black‑blood fuel was corroding Dragon Qi. The bound worker suddenly grinned, a Utan flower stalk protruding from his throat, and from the bud a voice of 9527 sounded: "The Dragon Clan's lineage truly is the best petri dish."

###**3. Reverse‑Entropy Contamination**

The energy‑monitoring screen suddenly overloaded, displaying data that defied cognition: the leaking fuel was generating negative Entropy Value. The tech team discovered that the time flow rate in the contaminated fuel depot zone was abnormal, and pocket‑watch components in a patch of slime were spinning wildly counter‑clockwise. Worse, everyone who had touched the fuel grew metallic birthmarks on the inner layer of their protective suits—the pattern matched Ai Lin's countdown tattoo on her wrist exactly.

"This isn't an accident," Ao Li's dragon horns sensed the space‑time distortion, "someone is reverse‑compiling the underlying code of this universe." She lifted a droplet of suspended fuel with her sword tip, and under dragon‑flame it revealed a three‑dimensional model of gene chains polluted by black blood—each chromosome end bore a Utan mark.

###**4. Umbilical Connection**

When the emergency repair team reached the main leak, everyone froze in place. The three‑meter‑diameter Fuel Pipeline had mutated into a massive umbilical cord, and pulsating vessels on its surface carried the Cerebrospinal Fluid of a Star Sea fetus. The cord's end was linked to the wreckage of a Tongfeng Guandao, and Ai Lin hovered within it, her spine extending a luminous neural strand that exchanged billions of data packets per second with the umbilical.

"She is becoming the Mother Body of a new universe," 9527's holographic projection rose from the surface of the umbilical, its mechanical ocular flashing with a delighted light, "The Observer has cultivated the optimal gene for three thousand years and finally reached the moment of result." The projection suddenly reached in and pierced its own chest, pulling out not a heart but a Dragon Scale crystal engraved with Ao Li's birth chart.

###**5. Burning‑Star Fire**

Amid the roaring as the countdown hit zero, Ao Li made her decision. She sliced her wrist, and the dragon blood, guided by Sword Qi, transformed into Burning‑Star Fire—the final inheritance of the Dragon Clan's Forbidden Art. Wherever the golden flame spread, space‑time moaned, and the black‑blood fuel solidified in purification into brilliant Stardust. The mutated fuel tank unfurled into a fetal shape in the fire, emitting a cry that shook dimensions.

When the last droplet of black blood vaporized, the entire fuel depot suddenly fell into absolute silence. Everyone, in terror, realized that their shadows no longer followed their bodies— they were kneeling toward the Star Sea direction, necks twisted at a bizarre angle, and the backs of their necks displayed blooming Utan tattoos.

**End, Observer's Finale**

Ao Li's Dragon Scale crystal, illuminated by the flame, revealed the ultimate truth: the so‑called Observer organization is merely a Fertilized Egg sown by an ancient god across countless universes. Every member is a genetic carrier; when the countdown reaches zero, the optimal gene will give birth to a new god. And 9527's defection is nothing but the instinctive reaction of a Fertilized Egg reaching its birthing stage.

Before the evacuation tunnel sealed, Ao Li cast one last glance at the collapsing fuel depot. Within the twisted space‑time bubble, she clearly saw Ai Lin's figure—the Girl's abdomen swelled with starlight, weaving a Xie Dai for the new god. And every survivor's shadow faced her, showing a devout smile.