MM Racing Page 83
Page 83
Lin Ye's left eye suddenly throbbed with pain, his vision filled with blood red. The system notifications blared frantically: [Assimilation rate 39%...40%...Neural link nearing irreversibility...Immediate severance recommended...Fragmentation of the cerebral cortex detected...] Countless images flashed through his mind: the ecstasy of summoning the Dragon God for the first time, the rage upon seeing Vegeta fall, the perpetually stalled rescue progress on the system interface.
Jasmine...now! Lin Ye roared into the communicator with his last bit of consciousness, his voice now a deep, dragon-like roar.
A beam of holy white light shot from behind, striking Chaos Lin Ye precisely between the eyebrows. The black matter screamed and scattered, revealing distorted star trails within. Lin Ye turned his head and saw Zhen Moli's corpse floating not far away, her chest pierced by black spikes, her hand still clutching an empty holy light bullet launcher—the response from the communicator earlier was a Chaos-simulated trap.
Taking advantage of the instant Lin Ye reassembled his body amidst the chaos, he lunged at the core, his dragon-transformed hands plunging into the beating heart. The moment of contact, billions of pieces of information flooded his brain like a quantum torrent: in countless devoured universes, system hosts fought across various timelines; their energy, memories, and even souls were collected by the system and transported to this core through their blood vessels. He saw that every time he traveled through time, every battle he fought, he was providing nourishment for the chaos; the so-called salvation was merely a process of nurturing.
[Assimilation rate 58%...59%...System core begins to collapse...Invasion of foreign consciousness detected...] The system's voice began to distort, accompanied by electrical noise.
So...we were the food...Lin Ye's scales fell off in large areas, revealing the writhing black substance beneath, which was crawling along his blood vessels toward his heart. He trembled as he raised the last Holy Light Orb, only to see his fingers melt and drip like hot wax, the Holy Light Orb teetering precariously in his palm.
The chaotic core suddenly contracted violently, and all the connecting blood vessels broke simultaneously, producing a loud cracking sound like a snapped string. In Lin Ye's blurred vision, a silver-white light cleaved through the void—Wukong's Ultra Instinct form broke through the outer defenses, and the black matter in its path melted away like snow. His fist, carrying the primordial light of the universe, was shattering layer upon layer of chaotic barriers.
Hold on! Goku's voice pierced the chaos, resonating with divine power. Vegeta had used his life to analyze the core weakness! It was afraid—
The communication suddenly cut off, as if forcibly severed by some force. Lin Ye felt cold fingers digging into the back of his neck. Chaos chuckled in his ear, its voice full of mockery: "Look, even Sun Wukong doesn't know that his divine energy is the best catalyst... Every host who has used the system has a Chaos Seed within them, and pure divine power... can make the seed sprout instantly."
Black matter surged wildly into Lin Ye's brain through the system link, his consciousness flickering like a candle in the wind. In his final moment, he made a chaotic and unpredictable decision—to reverse the flow of all Dragon God power into the system core, detonating the remaining life energy in the devoured universe. Golden dragon might collided with black chaos within his body, his blood vessels throbbing like pipes about to explode.
Since assimilation is the goal... Blood tears flowed from Lin Ye's remaining human right eye, his pupil reflecting countless struggling souls—fragments of consciousness left behind by past hosts. Let him taste... the feeling of being devoured!
He abruptly clasped his hands together, pressing the Holy Light Bullet into its core. Golden dragon god power and holy white light erupted simultaneously, forming an energy sphere ten thousand meters in diameter. The black matter emitted a deafening shriek, and the devoured cosmic fragments, like giant beasts breaking free of their shackles, scattered in all directions, carrying their respective stars, rivers, and lives. Lin Ye felt his body being torn into atoms, but then he heard the system issue an unprecedented alarm:
[Warning! Dragon gene awakening detected... Bloodline purity 89%... Assimilation process reversed... 1%... 2%... First generation Dragon God bloodline resonance detected...]
The chaotic shriek turned into a terrified scream: Impossible! How can you possess the bloodline of the First Dragon God?! That race perished long ago in the Great Annihilation of the Universe—
The sound abruptly ceased. Lin Ye's consciousness disintegrated and reassembled at the boundary between light and darkness, countless golden runes flowing in the void, forming dragon language he had never seen before. His body was reshaped, the dragonized parts covered with finer golden scales, each scale etched with the patterns of the birth of the universe. Before completely losing consciousness, he saw the system interface turn completely golden, ancient dragon language flowing across his retina, and deep within his core, something was pulsating in rhythm with his heartbeat—a rhythm like another dormant heart beginning to awaken.
In the void, Wukong's silver-white figure finally broke through the chaos, only to find a golden cocoon of light remaining after the explosion. Within the cocoon, Lin Ye's body floated, liquid starlight flowing between his scales, and a faint dragon-shaped mark appeared between his brows. Outside the cocoon, the fragments of the detonated chaotic core were rapidly reassembling, but this time, the reassembly was no longer of black matter, but of shimmering cosmic dust.
Chapter 220 The Truth About the System
Lin Ye's consciousness traversed the data stream, as if falling into a galaxy woven from 0s and 1s. Countless shimmering blue dots floated around him, each flowing with binary code, producing a soft, chiming sound when touched. This was the first time he had broken through the system's access barrier; the core areas that had previously displayed insufficient permissions were now revealed before him like a shattered crystal.
Is this the true nature of the system? He reached out, his scale-covered fingertips tracing the band of light. The points of light gathered and scattered like fireflies, forming a brief star map in his palm before quickly dissipating. The air was filled with a cool scent of ozone mixed with metal, and the sound of data flowing was like the distant tides.
Suddenly, all the points of light burst into blinding white light simultaneously, and the binary code exploded into fragments like fireworks. Lin Ye subconsciously closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found himself standing under an endless starry sky—not the real universe, but a galaxy composed of billions of fragments of memory. Each point of light contained a life story: the cries of an infant, the roar of a warrior, the sighs of an old man, countless images intertwining in the void to form a flowing epic.
Welcome to the Land of Origin, the 3972nd host.
A deep voice came from every corner of the four-dimensional space. Lin Ye turned around abruptly and saw a semi-transparent figure floating in the center of the Milky Way of Memory. The person wore ancient armor covered in rust, with the system's symbol engraved on the breastplate—a rotating silver spiral, its edges cracked like a broken promise.
Who are you? Lin Ye's dragon form pupils contracted, and the power of the dragon god within his body surged subconsciously. Even in his conscious state, his scales still emitted a faint glow.
A figure chuckled softly, his voice carrying the weight of countless millennia: "I am the first, and also the one who failed." He raised his hand and lightly tapped, causing the surrounding fragments of memory to vibrate like plucked strings, transforming into a series of three-dimensional images—
In the scene, a massive silver city floats between the rings of a gas giant, with spaceships streaking across it in rainbow-colored trails, and liquid light flowing across the surfaces of the buildings. But the next second, a pitch-black crack tears open the sky, rapidly polluting the heavens like ink dripping into clear water. The city shatters like glass in the turbulent energy flow, and countless points of light (life) are swallowed by the crack.
Our civilization once traversed three thousand galaxies, the voice of the figure somber, until the true nature of chaos was discovered—it is not energy, not matter, but the destroyer of rules, the cancer of the universe. The scene shifts; hundreds of people clad in identical armor stand in a circle, their bodies disintegrating in a blinding light, transforming into data streams that flow into the central crystal. The system's initial code emerges on the crystal's surface.
The system is the last weapon we created. The figure pointed at Lin Ye, and blue data streams seeped from the cracks in the armor. It requires the host's consciousness as fuel, but the price of full activation... His image suddenly blurred, revealing the flashing code below: Your very existence.
Lin Ye's consciousness, specifically his heart (an energy vortex), suddenly contracted: What does this mean?
"It means you will be assimilated by the system, becoming a string of code that keeps the program running." Another voice interrupted. A new figure emerged from the memory screen, a female warrior with a ponytail. The left half of her body was a semi-transparent data form, each flash accompanied by electrical noise. "I am the 1739th host. I tried to build a consciousness barrier with my telekinesis, but the system overload almost tore apart the M78 Nebula." She smiled wryly and showed her arm, data particles constantly falling off like sand.
More figures emerged from the galaxy of memories: an elderly mechanical being with six arms, a child with an energy head, and even a ball of burning plasma. They surrounded Lin Ye, each radiating a different energy frequency, yet sharing the same weariness and resolve.
The consciousness of Lin Ye, who had been the host of countless generations, felt his throat go dry, and a sadness that did not belong to him welled up in his heart—it was the despair accumulated from countless failures.
The first figure nodded, cracks spreading from his armor to his neck: We wait in the cracks of time, waiting for a host who can make the final decision. Chaos is breaking through the last seal; you only have three heartbeats left.
A strange memory invaded Lin Ye's consciousness like a virus: he stood high above the familiar Earth, holding a longsword formed from the power of the Dragon God. Below, a black, tidal wave of chaos was engulfing the Tokyo Tower; the roar of collapsing buildings was absorbed by an invisible silence; and the crowds running on the ground turned into flashing data streams the moment they came into contact with the chaos, only to be sucked into cracks in the sky.
Is this the future? Lin Ye's consciousness trembled. The sense of powerlessness in that memory was so real that it almost suffocated him.
The ponytail-wearing female warrior walked up to him, her data-form hand pressing against his brow. A surge of icy energy flowed into him: "No, this is my past." The memory shifted, and Lin Ye saw the female warrior hesitate at the last moment, trying to find a way to preserve herself, causing the system's core energy to go berserk. In the white light of the explosion, she only had time to use her last bit of energy to deploy a small protective shield, saving one percent of the population; the rest turned into cosmic dust.
"The system is not a weapon," Lin Ye, a one-eyed mechanical elder, said in a deep voice. His prosthetic eye flashed a red warning light. "It is alive; it is the collective will of 3,732 sacrifices. To control it, you must become a part of it, like a river flowing into the sea."
Lin Ye suddenly remembered the notification sound when he first activated the system: "[Fusion Progress 1%]". At that time, he thought it was a binding program, but now he realized that it was a literal fusion of consciousness, and each upgrade was erasing Lin Ye's existence.
Is there no other way? His consciousness clenched his fist, the scales rubbing together and making a soft, crackling sound.
The previous hosts exchanged silent glances, the light of their memory galaxy dimming. Finally, the first host spoke, his voice as soft as a candle flickering in the wind: "Yes. But the risk is over 99.9%, and no one has ever succeeded."
The starry sky of memories shifted once more, revealing an energy spectrum so complex it was dizzying. Lin Ye recognized it as the underlying code of the system's skill tree, but at this moment, each node was connected by burning chains, and the central core flickered with a destructive red light. Theoretically, a firewall of consciousness could be constructed. The ponytail-wearing female warrior's fingers traced across the spectrum, leaving a trail of blue light, but three conditions needed to be met simultaneously—the host's mental strength must reach S-level, they must possess chaos resistance genes, and...
And what? Lin Ye's consciousness moved forward, the golden patterns on his scales flashing intensely.
Before the system's integration reaches 100%, locate and destroy the Chaos Core. The one-eyed old man continued, his prosthetic eye projecting a pitch-black star field. The problem is, from the first host until now, no one knows the core's exact form; it's like a shadow hidden deep within the chaos.
Lin Ye suddenly remembered something and forcibly accessed the system's underlying logs. Amidst the dense data stream, a triple-encrypted entry flickered faintly: [Observation Record of Chaotic Sample #7]. He attempted to crack it, and an ancient-looking password box popped up, the cursor jumping in the air.
"Does anyone know this password?" Lin Ye's voice echoed in the memory space.
The hosts from previous generations suddenly stirred, their data flashing violently. The first host drifted closer to investigate, and the system icon on his armor suddenly resonated: This is... the lost number 7th Laboratory? He tried entering Genesis Era 001, but the password box didn't respond; he then tried the Day of Chaos' Birth, but it was still incorrect.
The ponytail-wearing female warrior stared at the password box, her data arm drawing ancient runes in the air: Try spelling "Sacrifice is not the end" in the ancient language of the first civilization.
Following her instructions, Lin Ye entered a string of distorted characters, and the password box unlocked with a bang. The log content appeared: the image showed a black shadow writhing in a force field, like a heart composed of countless tentacles, with the following label: [Core characteristics: Strong attraction to higher-dimensional energy, will actively approach when in contact with the system's full-power fluctuations].
Damn it! So the core was waiting for us to activate the system all along? The one-eyed old man's prosthetic eye burst forth with red light, drawn to the energy fluctuations of the system running at full power, like a moth to a flame!
A crazy plan flashed through Lin Ye's consciousness: if he could use the power of the Dragon God as bait the moment the system was fully activated...
No! The first host immediately saw through his thoughts. The data stream seeping from the cracks in the armor became violent. Without a consciousness firewall, your mind would be corrupted by chaos before it even came into contact with the core, turning you into its puppet!
Lin Ye brought up his personal consciousness panel, where his mental strength rating was displayed as [A+]. The progress bar next to it trembled slightly under the impact of the memories of past hosts. He was just one step away from breaking through to S-level.
What if I forcefully break through to S-rank? His consciousness erupted with golden dragon might, and layers of illusory scales unfolded.
The data entities of past hosts exploded, the galaxy of memories violently trembled. The ponytail-wearing female warrior's data hand grabbed his shoulder, an electric current coursing through Lin Ye's consciousness: That's like putting your brain in an antimatter furnace! Even if you succeed, your consciousness will be left with permanent logical fragments, turning you into an incapable energy entity!
Lin Ye's consciousness laughed, its dragon-like pupils reflecting fragments of a galaxy of memories: Compared to complete annihilation, becoming an idiot seems more acceptable, doesn't it? It turned to its first host, "Help me. Tell me how previous hosts broke through their mental limits."
The galaxy of memories froze instantly, all the light focusing on Lin Ye. After a long while, the first host sighed, cracks on his armor extending to his face: "You will experience the deaths of everyone, the 3972nd host. The scene of each host's sacrifice, the despair of every defeat, will replay in your consciousness."
"Come on." Lin Ye sat cross-legged in the consciousness space, his dragon-like tail encircling his body, forming a protective barrier. Chaos won't wait for us to have afternoon tea.
The first host placed his hand (a palm formed from the data stream) on Lin Ye's head, and a torrent of memories rushed in like a flood bursting its banks—
He became a one-eyed old man, standing on the desolate surface of his home planet, watching the last Tree of Life wither in the chaos, the chilling sound of consciousness disintegrating; he became a ponytail-wearing female warrior, screaming in excruciating pain from system overload, feeling powerless as his body turned into data particles; he was an unnamed Zerg host, feeling his exoskeleton shatter inch by inch, the madness of his soul being assimilated by chaos...
[Warning! Host's mental load has exceeded the critical threshold! Neural link stability has decreased to 17%!]
A system alarm blared in the consciousness space, forming a blinding red light curtain. Golden data streams seeped from Lin Ye's seven orifices, cracks appeared on the illusory scales, and his body resembled shattered glass.
[Mental Strength Rating Updated: S-]
[S]
[Abnormal mental resilience detected... Rating upgraded to S+!]
A dazzling golden light erupted from Lin Ye's consciousness, causing the data bodies of previous hosts to simultaneously retreat, staring at him in shock—never before had a host maintained their complete form after absorbing all the memories of death. The first host murmured: "Insane... His consciousness absorbed all the pain like a sponge..."
Lin Ye slowly stood up, his eyes flashing with countless points of light (fragments of memories from past hosts), but his voice was exceptionally clear: Now, tell me how to build that consciousness firewall.
The one-eyed old man swiftly drew a series of runes in the void, each rune composed of complex codes of consciousness: "Inscribe these on the core of your consciousness, like carving a defensive array deep within your soul. Remember, once you begin, you cannot stop; it's like drawing an ice sculpture on the surface of a burning star."
Lin Ye nodded and focused his mental energy to begin the operation. Each stroke of the rune felt like a red-hot iron being branded onto his soul. His consciousness trembled violently, the phantom of scales appeared and disappeared, and data streams and flesh and blood tissue emerged alternately beneath his skin, demonstrating a tearing sensation between matter and energy.
Suddenly, the entire consciousness space trembled violently, and the light band of the memory galaxy snapped like a harp string, making a sound like shattering glass.
Chaos sensed the energy fluctuations! The data entity of the ponytail warrior flickered even more frequently; it had broken through the seal! It arrived three times faster than expected!
Lin Ye quickened his pace, but the last set of runes was as complex as a cosmic star map, each node connected to the very foundation of consciousness. He looked up at the first host, a resolute glint in his eyes: It's too late. Send me back to the real world.
You haven't completed the firewall yet—
I know what to do. Lin Ye wiped the golden data stream off the consciousness's face, and a smile appeared on his dragon-like lips. Sometimes the best firewall is to deliberately leave a door open for the enemy to think they can get in.
The previous hosts exchanged bewildered glances, but the first host seemed to understand something. His tattered armor emitted a resonant light: "So that's how it is... With Chaos's arrogance, they would think you've made a mistake and left a loophole, thus falling into a trap. You understand deception better than any of us."
The tremors grew stronger, and Lin Ye felt his body being shaken in reality—his teammate Su Yuqing was shaking his shoulders forcefully. His memory galaxy began to collapse, and specks of light fell like raindrops.
Go! All hosts simultaneously stretched out their hands, and the data stream condensed into a thrust.
Lin Ye's consciousness shot through the data tunnel like a cannonball, countless overlapping voices echoing in his ears: Remember! Chaos will disguise itself as the person you trust most! Use the power of the Dragon God as your anchor! Survive—
He jolted his eyes open, the harsh light of the real world causing his pupils to contract. Before him stood Su Yuqing's anxious face, her tactical goggles shattered, bloodstains on her cheek: "Lin Ye! Look at the sky... the sky has cracked open!"
Lin Ye propped himself up on Long Hua's arm, his bones cracking. He looked up and saw a black crack stretching across the once clear sky, like a curtain torn open by an invisible giant hand. Thick, chaotic energy surged at the edges of the crack, each pulsation causing the air to whistle like glass rubbing together, just like the ponytail warrior remembered.
The system alert flashed wildly in my field of vision, and a red warning covered my entire retina:
[Highest Alert for Chaos Invasion! Final Defense Protocol Ready to Activate!]
[Warning: The host's consciousness integration rate is only 68%. Forcibly activating the system will result in a 99% risk of consciousness fragmentation.]
Lin Ye staggered to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with his dragon-transformed fingers, the scales on his fingertips shimmering with a golden-red light in the sunlight. He looked at his terrified teammates around him; their armor was tattered, their faces covered in gunpowder, yet they still gripped their weapons tightly.
Ladies and gentlemen, Lin Ye's voice resonated with the power of the Dragon God, hoarse yet resolute. He looked at the ever-expanding crack in the sky, revealing a smile that was a mixture of madness and determination. His scales rustled softly in the wind. "Want to see me perform a magic trick... perhaps the last one?"
The moment he finished speaking, the power of the Dragon God and the system energy within him erupted simultaneously. Golden dragon might and blue data streams intertwined around him, forming a swirling energy vortex. Deep within his consciousness, the unfinished firewall runes subtly changed form, and the final loophole, according to his plan, emitted alluring, chaotic energy fluctuations.
Chapter 221 Time Rift
Lin Ye knelt on one knee, his dragon-transformed chest heaving violently, each breath carrying a metallic, sweet taste. Before him, the mirror image of Lin Ye's body was dissipating into blue-purple specks of light, the residual energy at his fingertips still crackling. Before its annihilation, the mirror image, formed from chaos, had whispered in the same voice as him: You cannot stop the torrent of time.
"All done?" Su Yuqing peeked out from behind a half-concrete wall, her tactical goggles reflecting the flames of a distant burning building. The broken longsword in her hand was still dripping black viscous fluid—residue of mirrored blood.
Just as Lin Ye was about to speak, he suddenly heard a sharp crack, like a diamond being forcibly cleaved. The sound didn't come from the ground, but from the sky above. He looked up abruptly, his pupils contracting in shock—a spiderweb-like crack had appeared in the once azure sky, eerie purple light seeping from the dark fissures, the edges twisted as if scorched by flames, tiny fragments of space peeling off and falling, only to vanish into fluorescent light the instant they touched the air.
What the hell is this? Zhang Wu, carrying a modified rocket launcher, his metal shoulder pads brushed against the steel frame behind him, his jaw almost dropping to the ground. Piccolo's new move?
Bulma had activated the holographic projection on her wrist, and a stream of fluorescent blue data danced at her fingertips: the spacetime curvature monitoring showed an abnormal peak... This wasn't a naturally formed spatial rift! She suddenly zoomed in on the projection, her pupils dilating in the data stream. Wait, there was an energy reaction inside the rift! It wasn't chaos, it was... some kind of coded signal!
Signal? Lin Ye frowned, the scales on his dragon-transformed arm involuntarily standing on end, and a red warning box popped up on his retina: [Cross-dimensional energy fluctuation detection in progress... Danger level assessment in progress].
It resembled a distress signal, but the encoding method was extremely ancient, not belonging to any known database of cosmic civilizations. As Bulma adjusted the parameters, an orange warning light appeared at the edge of the projection, indicating the signal strength was weakening; it had to be deciphered as soon as possible.
Her words were abruptly cut off by a piercing tearing sound. The crack in the sky suddenly widened, the black fissure writhing like a living thing, forming a twisted hole a hundred meters in diameter. Lin Ye immediately condensed a golden energy ball, his dragon might erupting from his palm: All personnel on alert! Prepare to engage!
However, what fell from the crack was not a monster, but a blurry human figure. The figure tumbled in the air, its silver bodysuit reflecting an eerie purple light, and its trajectory formed an irregular spiral.
"Calculate the landing point!" Bulma shouted, and a green trajectory line appeared on the holographic projection.
Zhang Wu cursed, threw down the rocket launcher, and rushed towards the impact point. He slid across the rubble, sparks flying from his military boots, and caught the girl around the waist a fraction of a second before she hit the ground. The two rolled several meters away, Zhang Wu's back slamming against a broken billboard with a dull thud: "Be gentle! My disc is about to herniate!"
The girl in his arms looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old, with short, ear-length hair dyed in a starry gradient, with faint fluorescent particles flowing among the blue-purple strands. Most striking was the teardrop-shaped tattoo under her right eye—it wasn't ordinary paint, but an electronic pattern composed of countless nanobots, which was now shimmering with a faint red light, like a star that was about to go out.
This outfit... is it some kind of cosplay contest from which planet? Su Yuqing sheathed her broken sword, her tactical boots crushing the chaotic crystals at her feet, her eyes filled with vigilance.