The corridor was dark and narrow.
The bionic mechanical servant smiled as she wielded a knife, her hollow and indifferent eyes dragging a long trail of light in the darkness.
She struck mercilessly, the pointed knife in her hand speeding straight toward the prey's heart, with a swift and decisive style that left no room for Lin Lan to react.
Lin Lan only blinked, and that alluring face had already approached, their eyes locked, as the girl reached out and plunged the dining knife into the boy's chest.
The blade then hit the 'Activated Metal Composite Material' that Lin Lan was blocking in front of his chest.
In the next moment, she gripped the knife handle, twisted her waist, and her right leg whipped toward Lin Lan's abdomen like a whip.
Lin Lan was instantly sent flying, slammed into a wall several meters away, coughed up blood, and curled up in pain as his vision blurred.
In this life-and-death moment, he began to think with all his might.
Facing the company-created monster, did he really stand a chance?
Judging from its appearance, the opponent wasn't a combat-type robot but a household mechanical servant, with no combat skills, relying only on simple and crude slashing and throwing.
Even so, faced with its desperate speed and strength, he still didn't have a chance to win.
Lin Lan struggled to stand up, a fleeting light rapidly magnified in his pupils, he hurriedly dodged, but the dining knife still pierced deeply into his shoulder!
The pain from being injured in the dungeon was very real.
Lin Lan cried out in pain, clutching his bleeding shoulder, as the rhythmic footsteps like a pendulum sounded again in his ears.
He looked up expressionlessly, staring at the approaching bionic maid.
Though in dire straits, his gaze became increasingly calm.
Lin Lan was born with a certain madness.
Born in peaceful times, he was at most an ordinary person with a somewhat awkward personality.
His characteristic was that when playing games, even if the situation had completely collapsed, teammates had all disconnected, and the enemy surrounded the crystal, he would never hit the surrender button, even if he gave away another kill, he would bite a piece off the opponent.
Since crossing into the eerily styled Otherworld, the harsh environment began to continually provoke his extremely obsessive nature bit by bit.
Lin Lan let out a beast-like low roar, gripped the knife handle, and forcibly pulled out the pointed blade stuck in him!
The bionic mechanical servant paused in the darkness.
She tilted her head, her pupils flickering, as if calculating something.
"Master, doing this is likely to worsen the wound."
She gently spoke, a tone full of concern: "Please don't panic, stay where you are, and leave everything to me, okay?"
"What a deranged hag..."
Lin Lan grinned, not attempting to communicate anything with her, instead enduring the severe pain and observing her body.
Think, continue thinking.
He guided his thoughts to the essence of the problem, why did the mechanical servants in Ideal City lose control? Why didn't the company headquarters take corresponding measures?
Lin Lan suddenly realized, the cause was already written on the system's panel.
The space ladder built by the company attracted the gaze of the stars, from that moment on, Ideal City began to 'sink' toward space, ultimately becoming an isolated space station.
The source of the disaster clearly lay in the all-pervasive Starlight.
Lin Lan had a moment of inspiration, just like the Blood Plague Curse from the Abyss, there must be something invisible and intangible hidden in Starlight!
In the brief moment of contemplation, the bionic maid was already within touching distance.
Lin Lan could even see the starlight flickering in the depths of her pupils.
Without hesitation, he pulled out the Philosopher's Stone kept close to him, Lin Lan clenched his fist fiercely, the gold-constructed lines immediately connecting to the corner of his eye, the golden glow seemed ready to ignite!
Although using this thing came with unknown costs, Lin Lan bet right this time!
The bionic maid stood in place, dazed.
The humanoid figure in the observation window suddenly disappeared, replaced by chaotic, blurry, and untraceable golden shadows.
"Master? Where are you?"
She tilted her head, reaching out to slowly explore forward, her demeanor harmless and cute.
Lin Lan cautiously retreated with the knife, the liquid Philosopher's Stone at this moment granted him a new perspective.
In this instant, he saw the essence of starlight, that chilling essence.
Multicolored fungal mats with fibers growing on their surface clung to the ground and walls, slowly contracting and expanding, constantly creeping and growing inward into the building.
"Ugh... how utterly disgusting..."
Lin Lan subconsciously muttered, then his expression froze.
He saw a multicolored round worm emerging from the bionic servant's head.
For the mechanical servants, it was an malicious bug rewriting the chip program indiscriminately, lacking a physical form.
But in Lin Lan's perspective, the elongated worm was crawling in and out of the servant's head, opening its greedy proboscis towards him, its densely packed multicolored tendrils waving erratically.
"Utterly disgusting!" Lin Lan shouted.
With dead fish eyes, he circled behind the bionic maid, poking at the worm's body with his dining knife.
The worm angrily turned, emitting a chilling hiss, seemingly urging something, yet the maid remained motionless.
"Program error... Restarting chip..."
She dropped her head, her once lively voice gradually becoming mechanical: "Master... please don't abandon me..."
Lin Lan was completely relieved.
"Heh heh heh, can't deal with her, but can't I deal with you?"
He laughed sinisterly, grabbed the worm's tail, and swung the knife.
The worm immediately emitted a sharp, painful screech, beginning to writhe and roll frantically.
The more Lin Lan slashed, the more exhilarated he felt, every cut felt solid, the worm in his hand was like a tough rubber band, duang-duang with elastic force.
At this moment, the dying multicolored worm suddenly burst out in an unprecedented scream!
Lin Lan was momentarily dazed, his actions gradually slowing down.
As if something wanted to burrow into his mind, rustling whispers surrounded his ears, the whispers lingered like bone-piercing larvae, weaving chaotic visions in the depths of his psyche.
He saw flesh interwoven with machinery, the sky crammed with layers of eyes.
He heard the moon's sobs, heard the sun's lament, heard the collapse of the Celestial Kingdom and the Monarch's dying curse.
The Celestial Calamity descended, fires of war spread, the church bells echoed at dusk, someone chanted the divine spirits' sacred words painfully, the bewildered kneeled, never again raising their heads to the sky.
These chaotic nightmares piled together, soon vanishing into the depths of his mind, Lin Lan shook his head, his eyes instantly clear.
In the multicolored worm's incredulous wail, the sharp dining knife fell again.
Severing nerves, cleaving flesh, orderly and precise.