The coordination core machinery let out one final, eardrum-piercing shriek. The runes on it shattered one after another, and its metal casing warped and twisted, as if it could no longer withstand the destructive energy surging within.
The memory scenes it projected shattered like a broken mirror, then were replaced in the next instant by even more chaotic, abstract patches of color and lines—a vivid manifestation of Edgar's consciousness spiraling completely out of control.
"Then... let's... perish together!"
Edgar's voice no longer seemed to come from anywhere in particular. It was as if every corner of the city, every inch of its flesh, spoke in unison.
His "body" began to come apart and reassemble. The metal spread and sprouted like a living thing, becoming even more grotesque, sharper spikes and armor. His flesh swelled and mutated wildly, merging with the surging flesh around him. The eye made of gears and blood vessels bulged, grew larger, and floated in midair like a cold, chaotic core brimming with malice, locking onto Yu Xing and the others.
He was no longer a pitiful recorder trapped in a machine. He had truly become one with the City of Terror, transforming into the will of the dying metropolis itself—a massive, twisted monster built from metal, flesh, madness, and resentment!
"Careful. He's completely mutated!" Qu Xuanqing said, her voice low and cold. She swung her blood sword, severing several tentacles that shot from the surging flesh, trailing viscous corrosive fluid.
She could feel Edgar's crazed hostility saturating every inch of the surrounding space. The air was as thick as glue, and the omnipresent whispers had become tangible mental spikes, furiously drilling at their barriers of consciousness.
Lingren's moss domain was being rapidly compressed by the city's violent transformation, but he showed no trace of panic. If