“Xiaoxi, look at that resentful gaze from Lao Lin, I can’t stop laughing.”
“Well, after all, if your own people joined forces with outsiders to take you down, who could possibly be happy about it?”
“So what exactly happened between Lao Lin and that Cyborg?”
“Brother Zhen, why did you choose to cooperate with Shun Ying… If it was just about cooperating, I could have done it too.” Yun Ruoxi bit her lower lip softly, her long lashes trembling slightly.
“For the sake of victory in the assessment… As the leader, I have a responsibility to the students of Class Three.”
Lin Zhen awkwardly averted his gaze.
Being stared at with Yun Ruoxi’s teary-eyed look, he couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of guilt deep inside.
But there was nothing he could do.
After all, he now had a reason he simply couldn’t lose.
Lin Zhen returned the weakened Yun Ruoxi, who couldn’t even stand, to the watchful Aili by her side.
He stood up and, while walking toward the base’s interior, recalled what had happened not long before.
He still felt that it was all somewhat unbelievable.
When that white light, radiating waves of destruction, was about to swallow him—
Lin Zhen, in desperation, cried out, “I’m from the Empire!”
This was nothing more than a struggle in utter despair.
After all, other than the human bloodline within his body, he had no way to prove his identity.
He couldn’t even be sure.
During the era when this Cyborg had been active, had the Empire even invented the technology for Star Energy bloodline implantation?
Otherwise, the awakened Star Energy bloodline in his body might actually become the reason for the Cyborg to attack him.
But then a miracle happened.
Whether it was because of over a thousand years in standby and his mind had long grown muddled, or for some other reason—
That Cyborg, for some reason, simply chose to believe him, and gave up the attack he had been about to launch.
With the crisis to his life resolved, Lin Zhen let out a sigh of relief and cautiously tried to converse with him.
He soon learned that the other party was actually a Level Four Cyborg who once served in the Empire’s Third Expeditionary Army.
As for why they were here, and how they failed, he remembered nothing at all.
And when Lin Zhen told him that the Empire had already defeated the Heavenly Eye Clan but had since fallen into decline—
That Cyborg fell silent for a long time, then handed Lin Zhen his “Hunxin,” which contained his individual self-awareness.
He wanted Lin Zhen to find a way to bring it back to the Military Headquarters of the Empire.
“Why don’t you return in person? I mean, it seems you’re still able to move now, and with all these materials here, maybe you could just barely repair yourself.”
Lin Zhen looked at the huge pile of parts stacked up behind him.
It was clear that after being injured, he had tried to save himself.
“You don’t understand… The technology in a Level Four Cyborg… it uses advanced bio-metal, not ordinary alloys…”
Lin Zhen cut in, “Maybe I could try.”
As he spoke, he reached out both hands and gently pressed them onto the sparking, broken edge on the Cyborg’s abdomen, closing his eyes.
Back in the lab, under Dr. Shizhi’s guidance, he’d attempted to directly synthesize bio-metal using his powers more than once.
But often, only once in hundreds of tries would he succeed.
However, if it was just stimulating the existing bio-metal to grow and then repairing it—
It might just work!
After all, bio-metal itself had the ability to grow; he only needed to use his power to accelerate the process!
“Hmm?”
The Cyborg frowned slightly. The Star Energy shield within him was just about to activate automatically, but he forcibly suppressed it.
He seemed to…feel his body being pulled and stretched.
No, it was the bio-metal making up his muscles and skin that was slowly writhing and growing.
That sensation, like cell division, was something he hadn’t felt since the day the Heavenly Eye Clan had utterly “killed” his body.
He looked at the sweat-soaked youth with a complicated expression, realizing that perhaps he had just encountered a “miracle” itself.
“To be fair, is this considered arthroplasty?”
“Seeing Lao Lin’s abilities like this, he’s pretty much overpowered.”
“If this was a medieval setting, Lao Lin at most would just be a minor villain. But in the tech level of ‘Starfall’… Tsk, I can’t even imagine Lao Lin’s future.”
The bio-metal on the Cyborg’s surface grew at a slow pace, gradually wrapping the exposed cables inside.
Lin Zhen, panting heavily, let go and said apologetically, “My Star Energy index is still too low—this is already the very limit of what I can do for now.”
“This is… enough. It’ll let me hang on for a few more decades.” The Cyborg spoke in a deep voice.
“Are you an immigrant now living in the Negative Universe?”
“No.” Lin Zhen gave a wry smile and shook his head, explaining his origins in full detail.
“Battle Camp and the Guild of Healing Hands? I once… seem to recall hearing something…”
The Cyborg’s single blue eye flickered as if searching his memories, but at last he shook his head.
“I’ve been in standby too long; my sensors have been recording data the whole time, overwriting most of my memories over and over.”
“That’s why I need you to take my Hunxin to the Military Headquarters. Only they… can retrieve my memories.”
“But since you’re… not free right now, I can’t… entrust my Hunxin to you just yet. I hope you understand.”
“I do.” Lin Zhen nodded.
“You took the warp engine from the ship because you want… to escape?” the Cyborg suddenly asked.
“Yeah.”
Lin Zhen had nothing to hide about such things.
“Maybe… I can help you.”
The Cyborg pointed at the collar around Lin Zhen’s neck. “That collar… is a monitoring terminal. Everything you do is recorded.”
“I know. I already used my powers to block it.”
Lin Zhen had planned his escape for a year already; naturally, he’d taken care of such basic precautions.
“Is that so? But beneath your short-circuited circuits… there’s actually a second system. Maybe it was designed as a backup or redundancy, but in my eyes… it’s still running.”
The Cyborg’s tone was calm, but to Lin Zhen, the words struck like thunder out of a clear sky.
Wait, there were actually two monitoring systems in the collar?
Did that mean all his preparations had been watched by the Battle Camp all along?
Wait, calm down.
Back in the Battle Camp, he had always been careful, never saying or exposing his intention to escape.
His sabotage of the No. 6 ship’s engine had also been done from afar using his powers.
He hadn’t handled it directly—he shouldn’t have been discovered.
So only his recent actions would have been recorded. As long as he found a way to erase them, he might still have a chance.
Lin Zhen abruptly looked up at the Cyborg.
The latter nodded, raised his right hand, and tapped his real-human-like finger lightly on the collar’s shell.
Swish!
The Cyborg’s single eye gleamed blue.
Lin Zhen felt currents rushing through the collar at high speed, making the hairs on his neck stand on end.
After a moment, the blue light in the Cyborg’s eye faded and he lifted his finger.
“I’ve… already disguised your monitoring data for you. The Battle Camp… won’t find out.”
“Now… you’re safe!”