A ruthless smile crept across your face. Though your eyes were obscured by swirling white paper, the madness hidden deep within you erupted like magma.
'Want to inhabit my head? That depends on how big your appetite is. Yinling, devour all that dusty old debt and incomplete, despairing data from the 'Rebirth Bookstore'!"
"You're insane! That's unfiltered, raw virus!" Yinling roared urgently at the other end of the phone. But his movements were faster than anyone else's. His fingertips typed a series of destructive commands onto the keyboard. "Link established! Data storm backflow!"
Buzz—!!! "
A terrifying torrent of information, carried by satellite signals, passed through your prosthetic left arm and crashed directly into your brain. It was the wailing of Chang Le Town's destruction three years ago; the despair of Shen Qing when his spiritual root was severed; the mournful cries of countless paper figures turning to ash in the fire; and the malignant data you had previously sealed away and compressed.
Now they had transformed into black and red lightning, raging wildly within your central nervous system.
[System Feedback: Humanity Meltdown]
Humanity Value: 65 → 45 (On the verge of extreme danger!)
Status: Empathic Overload, Data Virus Outbreak
The Painter's scream: 'No… what are these? Why weren't these memories formatted? Stop! My consciousness is about to burst!' The 'skin maker', who had so gracefully stepped out of the screen, began to contort violently. His face, made of wires and paper, curled and melted like charred plastic the moment it came into contact with 'real despair'. He had intended to use your nervous system as a breeding ground, but you had instead turned your head into an incinerator filled with high-pressure explosives.
'Is this the humanity you wanted?' As you endured the excruciating pain of your brain seemingly about to explode, you grabbed the collar of the illusory figure, your eyes filled with dark red data streams. 'Then take these ashes and get out of this dimension!' Unable to withstand the impact of the high-frequency data, the internal components of the film projector in the projection room melted instantly, bursting into a dazzling light. The image on the screen began to collapse and the oppressive smell of paper pulp dissipated instantly.
You kneel on one knee, panting heavily. The dragon scales on your left arm had turned an eerie dark purple from overheating while the girl remained unconscious. However, the paper-like texture on her body seems to have stabilised slightly due to the data clash.'
'Ha... ha...' You wipe the blood from your nose and watch the humanity value display bar jump wildly before finally stabilising at 45 points. Data storm backflow!"
Buzz—!!! "
A terrifying torrent of information, carried by satellite signals, passed through your prosthetic left arm and crashed directly into your brain. It was the wailing of Chang Le Town's destruction three years ago; the despair of Shen Qing when his spiritual root was severed; the mournful cries of countless paper figures turning to ash in the fire; and the malignant data you had previously sealed away and compressed.
Now they had transformed into black and red lightning, raging wildly within your central nervous system.
[System Feedback: Humanity Meltdown]
Humanity Value: 65 → 45 (On the verge of extreme danger!)
Status: Empathic Overload, Data Virus Outbreak
The Painter's scream: 'No… what are these? Why weren't these memories formatted? Stop! My consciousness is about to burst!' The 'skin maker', who had so gracefully stepped out of the screen, began to contort violently. His face, made of wires and paper, curled and melted like charred plastic the moment it came into contact with 'real despair'. He had intended to use your nervous system as a breeding ground, but you had instead turned your head into an incinerator filled with high-pressure explosives.
You staggered to your feet, the high-pitched hum of your prosthetic left arm echoing in your brain. However, you ignored the fact that your humanity had been drastically lowered. You bent down and touched the girl known as 'Shen Qingzhi' sharply on the forehead.
'Since you are the fuse he left behind, then light this path to heaven!' Your left hand clenched tightly around the girl's grey-blue prosthetic eye. This time, you didn't just suppress it; you poured all of the black dragon's remaining ferocity into it without reservation.
'Crack!' As the crystal's internal structure reformed, the girl let out a short, sharp shriek and the laser you had forcibly severed erupted again. But this time, it wasn't a weak glow; it was dark red lightning mixed with the colour of your dragon's blood.
The lightning pierced the roof of the screening room and pointed directly at the faintly shimmering floating island, 'The Crimson Lotus Eye', above the clouds.
[Card Resonance: Mechanical Black Dragon – Reverse Scale Form] The liquid metal in your left arm went out of control instantly, devouring the iron supports and wires of the dilapidated cinema around you and weaving into a pair of enormous metal dragon wings behind you, filled with forbidden circuits.
'Boss Zhang! You can't risk your life like this!" the ghostly voice practically roared down the phone. 'This girl's body can't withstand this level of power output, and your humanity is burning too!'
'Enough nonsense, watch the house!' You swept the girl up in your arms as the concrete beneath your feet shattered and transformed into a red meteor flowing upstream along the laser beam.
Humanity: 45 -> 35 (rapidly decreasing; consciousness begins to blur!)
Environmental changes: As the altitude increases, the surrounding raindrops have completely transformed into sharp pieces of paper.
Status: High-altitude hypoxia, Dragon Blood Boiling. As you approach the 'Eye of the Crimson Lotus', swarms of automated defence drones covered in talismanic paper emerge from all directions. Rather than spraying bullets, they spray corrosive ink capable of dissolving metal and stone.
You snorted coldly, your dragon wings unfurling dramatically as each scale transformed into a floating, high-frequency vibrating blade. "Those who stand in my way shall die!" you cried.
Carrying the girl, you broke through the outer force field of the observation station and crashed heavily onto the landing platform. The air here was thick with the scent of sandalwood.
All the instruments were wrapped in exquisite silk paper. This place didn't seem like an observation station, but rather like a gigantic, high-tech altar. The enormous holographic projection of 'The Skin Painter' reappeared, his figure both sacred and distorted amidst the clouds and lightning.
'You've come, carrying my heart and the scroll.'
You stand on the slightly trembling take-off and landing platform as the gale tears at your clothes. The dragon wings on your back are made of fluid metal and remain open, pointing diagonally at the ground like two silent guillotines. Rather than drawing your sword, you loosen your clenched fists in the presence of the towering, phantom-like figure of the 'Skin Painter'.
'Skin Painter, do you think you're reshaping the world?' You spit out a mouthful of blood mixed with the smell of engine oil; your smile is tinged with an almost destructive absurdity. 'You're just using old-fashioned pulp to make a self-deceiving lantern.' You want humanity? You want a real soul? Fine, I'll give it to you.'
'Wraith, is this the "ultimate backup" you spoke of?' you whisper into the collar microphone. 'Drop that "truth bomb",' you say. 'Let all the screens, prosthetic eyes and brain-computer interfaces in the world see the true nature beneath the altar. Since you're courting death, I'll go crazy with you one last time.' The Wraith's voice no longer comes from the earpiece, but echoes wildly throughout the observatory's entire broadcast system.
Three years ago, that was your last trump card as 'Chief'—a pure data packet containing all the failed experiments of the Crimson Lotus, the truth behind the stripping away of humanity, and the true identity of the Skin Painter (a discarded fragment of an experimental AI). With the command issued, the observatory's massive signal antenna lit up instantly, and an unblockable, unfiltered low-level protocol signal swept across the globe like an indiscriminate tsunami.
'No! What are you doing? This raw, ugly data will destroy my perfect canvas!' The Skin Painter's phantom cried out in anguish as its body turned pale and began to crumble. With the truth revealed, people's blind obedience and fear of the 'New Crimson Lotus' instantly collapsed, and the 'power of belief' that had sustained his fragile reality was rapidly dissipating.
Humanity Value: 35 → 15
(Because you personally detonated the world's filter, your perception of reality has suffered a devastating blow!)
Status: On the verge of rational collapse. All is emptiness.
Observatory warning: The core reactor has initiated a self-destruct sequence due to data storm overload.
The entire floating island is disintegrating at the edge of the atmosphere. The skyscrapers on the distant horizon, which had crumbled like paper, revealed their steel-and-concrete structure again, like a watercolour painting washed by rain. The girl in your arms slowly opened her eyes. The blue light in her crystalline eyes had faded and been replaced by clear, dark human eyes.
'Thank you... for killing me,' she said, clutching your clothes weakly, her voice barely audible. 'And thank you... for letting me see real sunlight.'
'Boss Zhang, the observation station will crash into the Pacific Ocean in 30 seconds.' The eerie voice sounded somewhat relieved. 'I left you an escape pod, but it's at the end of the left runway.' The girl's power has been exhausted. With your current 15 points of humanity, you can only take one person with you.'
The wreckage of the Crimson Eye transformed into countless shooting stars that plummeted into the deep sea.
Beneath your feet, the altar was collapsing.
Ahead of you was the last path to survival.
You look down at the girl in your arms. Her clear, black eyes reflect your cold, hard cyborg face. Her 'thank you' doesn't affect you; your humanity has diminished so much that you have become almost cold and rational.
'The world beyond the "truth" needs a cleaner more than hell itself,' you mutter hoarsely to yourself, your voice strained from the cassette tape.
You abruptly pull the now dimmed Dragon Heart module from the girl's body. Without its core, the light in her eyes quickly fades and she collapses limply into the gap in the landing platform like a paper doll without support.
You don't turn back. The dragon wings behind you are overloaded and spew dark purple sparks, crushing the silk scrolls and instruments in their path.
The observation station completely collapses. A split second before escaping, you force your way into the cramped escape pod.
The 'Eye of the Crimson Lotus' explodes completely at an altitude of ten thousand metres, transforming into a massive fireball that stains the clouds a ghastly crimson. Like a meteorite, the escape pod streaks into the deep sea, accompanied by scorching air currents.
Humanity value: 15 → 10 (extremely dangerous! You feel your soul freezing.)
Status: [Emotional Deficiency], [Divine Tendency].
The eerie voice sounded extremely distant in the channel: 'Boss Zhang, you've chosen the loneliest path. From now on, no one in this world will understand you; you're just a monster walking on the edge of logic.' "
The escape pod crashed heavily into the Pacific Ocean, creating a wave over a hundred metres high. In the icy water, you slowly opened your eyes. Through the porthole, you could see the Dragon Heart module that you had retrieved pulsating faintly and rhythmically in the darkness, as if yearning for a new container. The detonation of the 'Truth Bomb' brought the global 'paperisation' process to an abrupt halt, but the chaos had only just begun. The crowds, their truth exposed, began to destroy prosthetic clinics in a frenzy.
Without the guidance of the 'Painted Skin Maker', forbidden circuits began to mutate within the survivors — those whom you had personally...' The 'humanity' stripped away by the transformation became countless wailing data fragments in the online world.
Three months later...
Beside the ruins on the southern coast, a man appeared. He wore a long black trench coat and a half-metal mask, and his left arm was always hidden in shadow. He no longer repaired watches, but instead retrieved the out-of-control forbidden circuits that had been scattered abroad. With each module he retrieved, a new black dragon scale appeared on his arm and the humanity in his eyes faded a little more.
You stand on the breakwater, watching the cold moon slowly rise on the distant horizon. 'Manager, the ledger isn't finished yet.' You whisper into the air and the familiar sound of turning pages comes from the other end of the communicator. The spirit from a place called 'Rebirth Bookstore' halfway around the world responds: 'Yes, the old karma has burned away and new sins have been born. Which volume should we harvest next?' You clench the dragon heart that has become part of you, feeling its cold, powerful force.