Chapter 702: Blazing Light
The moment the door opened, holy light overflowed like a flowing substance, and pleasant wind chimes echoed in the air, lingering through the long hall.
The psychic resonance in the air seemed to resonate with the rows of neatly arranged black Saint Coffins. The moment the "wind chime sounds" rang out, all the Saint Coffin devices emitted a low hum, and the lights on their surfaces began to flash in sync like breathing.
Eileen was startled on the spot and subconsciously tugged on Yu Sheng's hair. "Hey hey hey what the hell! This scene—I feel like I've seen it before—"
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng couldn't bother with the daily hair loss problem from being with this little thing; he widened his eyes on the spot. "You've seen it? You've been here?!"
Eileen: "The last time I saw a scene with this art style, the BGM started playing right away! Then out of nowhere, a monster with feet bigger than I am jumped out, with a health bar longer than the game designer's life, and it stomped me to death..."
Yu Sheng: "..."
He directly ignored the little one's subsequent babbling, raised a Blood Needle Launcher in one hand, and clutched a Blood Grenade in the other, then carefully walked toward that door.
Hu Li sidled up from beside him, hugging her two large tails, one in each hand, and stepped ahead to cover Yu Sheng. "Benefactor, be careful. I'll take point."
She was afraid that Yu Sheng would die from some unclear AOE—to be fair, the fox girl's worry wasn't unreasonable.
Reaching the doorway, through the hazy light curtain, Yu Sheng finally got a clear view of the other side.
He saw a hall that clashed in art style with the rest of the facility—more than a hall, it looked like a "cave" forged from light.
Dense holy light condensed into solid form like crystal. Flowing light formed the walkway beneath their feet and the hazy dome above. Translucent silver-white curtains surrounded the entire space, runes flowing between the curtains, and streams of light of various sizes darted around like some kind of spirits.
It didn't even look like part of this secret facility, but rather like an alien realm connected to this place.
And in the center of the entire Light-Forged Hall, Yu Sheng saw a familiar figure.
A tall, hazy spirit was imprisoned between pillars of light, floating in midair supported by streams of light of various sizes. Holy white wings gently swayed behind it, and the psychic resonance surrounding the area originated from it.
" !"
Yu Sheng let out a subconscious exclamation. The vixen girl beside him immediately raised her two tails, clusters of blue flames appearing around her. Even Eileen, who had been babbling about her gaming experience just a second ago, instantly snapped into action, swinging up into the air with a frying pan in one hand and golden thread in the other.
However, the " " in the center of the hall showed no reaction at all.
Yu Sheng noticed that it seemed to be in some kind of sleeping state, and the flowing lights supporting it also seemed to be a kind of imprisonment device. He also saw that above the entire hall, there seemed to be a large number of crystalline transmission systems hidden, with streams of light constantly passing through the air and converging into the light pillars around the psychic being.
A faint humming came from beside him. Yu Sheng followed the sound and saw a crystal prism near the entrance rapidly lighting up, and a set of holographic projections appeared around the prism.
The figure of the " " appeared in the holographic image, with large amounts of data and charts scrolling and refreshing beside it. He couldn't understand most of it, only catching a few simple words like "Stability," "Personality Suppression," and "Mental Model."
"This, what the hell is this..."
Eileen hugged her frying pan tightly, staring at the scene with a tense expression, as if afraid that the would suddenly have a health bar pop up over its head.
Yu Sheng said nothing, just looking at the image projected by the crystal prism, lost in thought.
The subtle connection established through blood floated at the edge of his mind, as if constantly transmitting some information to him. The psychic resonance echoing in the air was like whispers, giving him warnings.
Frowning slightly, Yu Sheng stepped toward the crystal and raised his hand. "Luna..."
But this time, the lady saint who usually would quickly come and stab him before he could even finish half a syllable showed no reaction.
Yu Sheng turned his head and saw Luna still standing dumbfounded at the entrance of the hall.
He called again, and finally Luna snapped out of it and quickly came to him.
Yu Sheng gestured with his hand.
"I need to establish a connection with this system."
Luna hesitated, which was rare for her, but still raised her hand. "You must be careful. I remember many sisters disappeared here."
The blade cut his palm, and blood immediately flowed out. Yu Sheng nodded slightly, then without hesitation pressed his hand onto the crystal.
The gentle hum instantly turned into a tumultuous tide. Vast and chaotic thoughts and memories arose like a storm, but gradually converged into a single "voice."
Yu Sheng saw a figure standing in the illusion, blurry, a thin and small figure.
And more blurry phantoms stood behind that figure, even more illusory, even more transparent.
Yu Sheng heard whispers.
He didn't know their names, didn't know their lives, didn't know where they came from.
Personality erasure technology had cleaned up all data that could lead to "loss of control," and the long service had long since completely mutated their minds—the was a carefully crafted psychic weapon, powerful, efficient, and stable.
There shouldn't have been a problem originally.
But there was one mind, a mind that had become alienated and had a seed planted in it, that had mixed into the crucible.
This mind had received a gift from death at the end of its life.
Hum—
A pleasant chime, and the illusion before him dissipated. Yu Sheng opened his eyes and let out a soft breath.
Eileen immediately turned her head. "Yu Sheng, what did you see..."
"The is a product forged from the souls of artificial saints." Yu Sheng spoke before the little puppet could finish.
Eileen: "...?!"
The little thing stared wide-eyed, holding back for a few seconds before finally exclaiming, "Damn savages!!"
But Yu Sheng wasn't finished. After briefly organizing his thoughts, he continued to explain. "Strictly speaking, the is the real final 'product' in these cultists' design—the artificial saints are actually semi-finished products made for the final synthesis of the ."
Eileen: "?!"
"All of this is to control the energy extracted from the Shadowless Relic," Yu Sheng said slowly, looking up at the holy light converging above the hall. "All of the Hidden Monastery's psychic technology and forbidden knowledge came from that obscure angel, but the human mind cannot control the vast power from an angel, so... they found an indirect means."
A psychic wind blew through the Light-Forged Hall. The , forged in imitation of an angel, unconsciously gently flapped its wings.
"First step: extract human souls and fuse them with machine spirits to form artificial minds that can resist mental pollution. Second step: use memory fragments extracted from the Shadowless Relic to form a cognitive mask, allowing these minds to grow and gradually 'synchronize,' making them adapt to the next stage of fusion. Third step: harvest the cultivated souls and throw them into this crucible."
Yu Sheng took a light breath, then slowly let it out bit by bit.
"Yu Sheng, your face looks a bit bad..."
The little puppet muttered softly beside him, then climbed onto Yu Sheng's shoulder and fiddled with his hair with her small hands.
"C-Type Buckle," she turned her head to look at Luna beside her, "I won't argue with you for the next couple of days."
This time, Luna was silent for a long time before slightly turning her face away. "Short Lin, argument skill, average. Just mouth foul."
"C-Type Buckle, your accent problem really needs some work..."
Yu Sheng ignored the babbling on his shoulder. After a brief moment of thought, he reached out toward the light pillar in the center of the hall.
The flowing lights in the hall instantly reacted. The light shackles that had surrounded the immediately began to recede, and the tall figure floating between the light pillars slowly descended, casting its gaze in their direction.
The fox girl was instinctively a bit nervous. She hugged her two large tails and moved closer to Yu Sheng. "Benefactor, is this safe?"
"A in its complete state has no independent will. It will completely obey the orders inscribed in its mind by the Hidden Monastery, protect the sect's property, and attack any intruders. But..." Yu Sheng paused. "Do you still remember that nameless saint we encountered in the underground parking lot, the one holding candy and game coins?"
Hu Li: "...Ah?"
"Luna and I waited in the Soul Wilderness for a long time, but we never saw that lost soul," Yu Sheng said with a smile on his face. "At the time, I was wondering where she had gone..."
The tall drifted down from the light, floating about a dozen centimeters above the ground. It unhurriedly floated in front of Yu Sheng, saying nothing, but seemed very curious as it looked at the group before it.
"A soul marked by me cannot be recast by this crucible system, and the secondary contact during the skirmish at the Star Gate awakened this already-fused mind," Yu Sheng said with a smile, extending a hand toward the artificial angel before him. "Long time no see—though you probably don't remember me, and you're also unclear about the current situation, but we need your help now."
The " " tilted its head, seeming to think for a moment, then turned its hand and offered Yu Sheng a handful of colorful, translucent candies condensed from psychic illusions.
Yu Sheng: "...Uh, no, that's not what I meant."
The hesitated, then pulled out a few game coins and stuffed them into the candies, offering them together.
"That's not it either..."
Yu Sheng broke out in a cold sweat and quickly gestured while explaining to her. "We want to destroy the Hidden Monastery, liberate—you know, liberate this place—and also those artificial saints and knights who are still under control. Also, we're looking for a passage that can go deep into the planet's interi—"
He had just gotten halfway through his frantic explanation when he saw a flash of white light before him.
The artificial angel, who had been holding candy and coins just a second ago, somehow produced a blazing holy light greatsword from nowhere, then turned and swung it in a full arc, firing a beam of light in a certain direction of the hall.
Yu Sheng: "...Alright, then."
(End of this chapter)