His hands trembled as he tried to check his body, but he froze when he raised his right arm.
A strange pattern stretched from his wrist to his arm. It was neither a scar nor a totem, but a crystalline circuit composed of countless runes finer than a hair, as if a high-precision circuit board had been etched directly into his flesh, emitting a cold, pure white glow.
[System notification: High-dimensional logic contamination residue detected – Logical Paradox Chip.]
[Effect: Can cause unknown interference to mechanical, structural, and puppet-type creations.]
[Negative effect: This chip will continuously send high-intensity positioning beacons to specific coordinates, which cannot be blocked or removed.]
An inescapable tracker!
Xiao Han sank. The methods of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion were even more bizarre and domineering than he had imagined. He fumbled in his pocket and took out the last healing pill, carefully feeding it into Lin Qingxia's mouth. The pill turned into a warm current, which restored a little color to her pale face, but she remained unconscious.
Just then, the huge, scarlet electronic eye on the dilapidated warship shone brightly.
"Click--Squeak--"
With a grating metallic scraping sound, a rusty hatch slowly opened, and a group of figures emerged. They wore cobbled-together armor, wielded a motley collection of weapons, and each exuded a fierce aura of someone who had tasted blood on the edge of a knife.
The leader was a woman. Her left side, from her eyeballs and arms to half of her torso, was entirely replaced by intricate machinery crackling with eerie blue arcs of electricity. On her bare right cheek was a hideous scar, and her eyes were sharp as an eagle's. The fluctuations of her Martial Emperor Second Layer cultivation were deep and dangerous.
She remained silent, her cold, mechanical prosthetic eye sweeping over Xiao Han before finally locking onto the glowing chip circuitry on his arm.
Her pupils, whether human or mechanical, contracted simultaneously. It was a complex expression, a mixture of fear, disgust, and a hint of understanding.
"The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's dog leash." The woman spoke, her voice a slightly metallic, hoarse tone, as if emanating from an old loudspeaker. "Looks like yet another piece of trash thrown out after being 'purified'."
Xiao Han's gaze sharpened, but he did not refute. He simply silently protected Lin Qingxia behind him, quietly circulating the remaining power within his body.
"My name is Iron Crow." The woman seemed unfazed by his wariness. "I was once a 'Purifier.' After failing my mission, I was discarded here like scrap." She patted her mechanical arm, which crackled with electricity, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "This outfit was painstakingly salvaged from this graveyard. I know far more about the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's methods of pursuit than you imagine."
Her mechanical eye flickered, and a stream of data flashed by.
"This [Logical Paradox Chip] is unsolvable unless the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's mothership arrives in person. It will be like a leech, constantly broadcasting your location until the 'Heavenly Retribution' -class fleet arrives and completely formats you."
Xiao Han's heart sank to the bottom.
Iron Crow changed the subject. "However, this Star Sea Graveyard is a signal dead zone in the entire universe. I do know a place where its signal can be temporarily blocked."
"Conditions?" Xiao Han asked succinctly.
"A clever man." A hint of approval flashed in Iron Crow's eyes. "I need you to retrieve something for me from the lair of some monster."
She raised her mechanical arm and projected a holographic image into the air. The image depicted a horrifying monster. It had a worm-like, bloated body, covered in shattered starship armor and twisted metal cables. Countless cannons and claws grew savagely from its flesh, and its enormous maw was large enough to swallow an asteroid whole.
"The Star-Devouring Worm, a hybrid of biological and mechanical beings, at the Martial Emperor Sixth Layer Peak. Its lair is in the 'Core Furnace' at the deepest part of the graveyard. What I need is there—a 'Defector Core' from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's mothership."
Iron Crow's gaze was fixed intently on Xiao Han: "That thing can completely free me from the shackles of this broken metal. In return, I'll take you to the 'Signal Black Zone,' the only sanctuary in the graveyard where you can evade the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's pursuit. Furthermore, I'll tell you how to use the energy tides here to temporarily suppress this chip, so you won't be a shining target all the time."
A monster at the Martial Emperor Sixth Layer Peak...
Feeling his nearly depleted strength and the unconscious Lin Qingxia, Xiao Han knew he had no choice. This might be their only chance to survive.
He was silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.
"Very good." Iron Crow showed a satisfied expression, turned around and waved his hand, "Take them back to the stronghold."
She led Xiao Han toward the dilapidated warship. The sanctuary was right before them, and a faint glimmer of hope seemed about to pierce through this endless despair.
However, just as Xiao Han was about to step onto the warship's gangway—
The [Divine Oracle Tracking Mark] within him, the brand from the Pseudo-God, suddenly became scorching hot, like a red-hot iron, fiercely searing his soul!
"Well!"
The excruciating pain caused Xiao Han to groan and nearly collapse to his knees.
At the same time, above this eternally dark and desolate Star Sea Graveyard, space, like a fragile curtain, was forcibly torn apart by a beam of light!
It was a pure, holy, and incomparably domineering golden pillar of light, which dispelled billions of years of darkness and showered its sacred radiance upon this decaying garbage dump. From within the pillar of light, a figure slowly descended.
He wore magnificent and elaborate silver-white judge's armor, with a huge cross emblem on his chest. He held a cross-shaped holy sword burning with golden flames. His face was hidden beneath a majestic helmet, with only a pair of golden eyes that looked down on all living beings visible.
The Martial Emperor Eighth Layer! That pure and supremely divine pressure caused the entire Star Sea Graveyard's ruins to tremble slightly!
Iron Crow suddenly looked up, and for the first time, a look of horror and disbelief appeared on her eternally unchanging, icy face.
A godlike figure hovered in the air, its golden eyes locking onto Xiao Han below with unerring precision. Its majestic, grand, and unquestionable voice, like the law of the gods, resounded throughout the desolate star field.
"The Seventh Inquisitor, under the Pseudo-God, has come by divine decree!"
"Blasphemer Xiao Han, kneel down and await your purification!"
Ahead lay the Star-Devouring Worm Martial Emperor, eyeing them covetously.
Behind them was the deadly pursuit of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's "Heavenly Retribution" class fleet.
Above their heads, the Judge of the Martial Emperor Eighth Layer of the Divine Court Martial Emperor descended with lightning.
In that instant, Xiao Han felt the entire world collapse, all paths to survival were simultaneously severed, leaving only an end called "death." He was trapped in an unprecedented three-way deadly situation.
Dead silence.
Three distinct yet equally deadly auras intertwined and collided in this Star Sea Graveyard, forming a bizarre balance.