As soon as Shangyang entered Jade City, Zhou Yi carefully observed him.

Under the [Alert] perspective, this Panda Man was an A-level Skywalker.

[Panoramic Reading], however, revealed his hidden secrets.

[This unit has a certain level of intelligence, very weak consciousness, and an energy structure of LV1 Light Core Body.]

Zhou Yi stared at Shangyang.

The double-layer perspective unfolded.

The consciousness side appeared normal.

On the material side, Shangyang experienced a perspective shift, revealing a curved light-emitting organ inside his body.

The Light Core Body originated from this glowing object.

Zhou Yi continued to stare, and the perspective grew clearer. Shangyang's spine was mostly metallic, with high-energy reactions resulting from modifications.

This weapon was hidden within the spine.

Under normal circumstances, the obscuration and interference of Guangna Organs made it impossible to discern internal details.

Yet the destructive weapon hidden within the spine was now fully visible to Zhou Yi.

[The Compound Light Core is highly unstable, producing fission fragments and releasing energy.]

...

[More fission fragments are produced, increasing the instability of the Compound Light Core.]

...

The observations brought forth a new description phase not long after.

[Chain reaction initiated, energy surging, approaching uncontrollable phase.]

It was at this moment that Zhou Yi spoke to expose Shangyang, having the Cat God take control of him.

The Condenser used a light blade based on the [Panoramic Reading], piercing his metallic spine to halt the internal reactions, but the attempt failed.

Next was the interrogation phase.

Zhou Yi immersed himself in the BGM realm.

Inside was a sea of flames.

Ash and dust floated heavily in the air.

On the crater- and rubble-covered ground, an over 100-meter tall monster was devouring a Panda Man.

The monster was entirely azure, its body crystalline and transparent.

It had a human-like head and limbs, but the head was small, and limbs unnaturally coordinated; it moved dragging its limbs on the ground, as if still unaccustomed to walking upright.

The giant devoured the Panda Man with its hands—if the gem-studded fingers on its palms could be considered hands.

It gripped the Panda Man, slowly absorbing it into its body through its head.

On the scar-ridden ground, the crystal monster grabbed another injured Panda Man and stuffed it into its mouth.

The sound of stones grinding echoed in the air.

Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 23" played in the background.

Zhou Yi frowned at the sight.

A monster made of gem cells.

It seemed like this was indeed a Light Core Giant.

The Panda Men on the ground were all severely injured, some missing limbs, others barely clinging to life, and looked unlikely to survive.

The giant merely consumed the remaining soldiers.

The battle was a one-sided slaughter.

Zhou Yi noticed Shangyang angrily holding a bamboo spear, glaring at the Light Core Giant.

The giant slowly turned and approached him.

This seemed to be the Resistance Army's battlefield.

Shangyang promptly turned and fled, running fast.

Zhou Yi's silhouette flashed, floating above the running Shangyang.

"It appears that you deserted the battlefield, causing Black Emperor to expel you from the Dawn Guard."

"Knowing it was impossible, I wouldn't throw my life away so foolishly."

Shangyang's eyes suddenly focused: "Wait, this is a mental attack. So this is… inside my memory? An arrangement based on my memories?"

The Panda Man reacted quickly.

"In other words… everything here is a distorted consciousness."

"If I stabilize myself, I can break free."

Zhou Yi remained noncommittal.

As Shangyang momentarily lost focus, the giant's gem-encrusted hand grabbed him and stuck him directly into its mouth.

The scene changed again.

Shangyang returned to the battlefield's ruins, the giant resumed hunting and devouring Panda Men everywhere.

His memory restarted.

He looked shocked: "How can this be… what kind of place is this?"

Zhou Yi asked: "You can keep trying to figure it out."

...

The giant resumed its chase, and Shangyang began another desperate escape.

He shouted as he ran: "Who are you? You're not a human, not any lifeform in this world! You shouldn't exist! What are you?"

Zhou Yi floated beside him: "That's because you've seen too little. I'm a true native of Earth."

"You should exercise, release your excess energy, and then we can have a proper chat."

To his surprise, Shangyang showed remarkable endurance and perseverance.

Even after being devoured 224 times consecutively, he continued to try various ways to break through, without a hint of giving up.

Thankfully, the time flow in the consciousness world was much faster than reality, and the whole process took only 2 minutes.

Zhou Yi snapped his fingers: "Increase the intensity."

"Yes, sir."

The Cat God immediately responded.

The entire world suddenly transformed.

The surroundings became a misty Dead Sea.

Zhou Yi saw that Shangyang was now fixed in a block of White Gemstone.

A multitude of gem fibers flexibly stretched out, skillfully dissecting the Panda Man.

His heart, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles were being extracted piece by piece and placed into individual White Gemstones nearby.

Next were layers of fat, skin, and fur, being delicately stripped away.

Blood was also drawn out, collected in a large gemstone.

Then came the bones, eyes, tongue, and each tooth…

What was once a living being was now divided into chunks of tissue by the surgically sharp gem fibers.

Zhou Yi frowned at the sight.

Was this some sort of Heavenly People experiment?

However, gem fiber operations could be performed by mechanical life and ordinary people if equipped with the appropriate Ruby Manuals, as they were merely tools.

Zhou Yi continued to watch.

Each organ and tissue underwent inspection or experimentation under the control of gem fibers.

Then Green Gemstones joined in, with glassmen's fluids being infused into the Panda Man's tissues.

Zhou Yi understood.

It seemed the Heavenly People—or whoever was operating the gem tools—were trying to integrate Glassman genetic material using Shangyang's flesh, to cultivate new Glassmen.

But this step failed.

All they produced were some malformed tissues and wriggling anomalous organs.

The remaining tissues were reassembled by the gem fibers.

Carefully cut pieces were connected and stitched together, forming a large mockup of a Panda Man, with one missing eye. His internal organs were partially absent, parts of his chest and head lacked skin and fur, and his bones were visibly incomplete.

He looked like a lifelike specimen.

With the aid of gemstones, the damaged parts slowly regenerated and were infused with blue energy from Blue Gemstones.

The reconstituted Shangyang was released from the gem.

As soon as he stepped on the ground, his body disintegrated into an unrecognizable heap of flesh.

The gem fibers once again attempted to rescue and repair every piece, but they failed to put the incomplete parts together.

Each time Shangyang emerged, he soon crumbled into a pile of flesh.

Eventually, the operator sourced some external resources, extracting bones, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves from other Panda Men to patch up and replace Shangyang's missing, undeveloped parts.

With the guidance and stimulation of the gem fibers, Shangyang finally managed to stand shakily on his feet.

The fibers wove around his body, seemingly applauding or inspecting him.

The Panda Man was sullen and clenched his fists.

"Have you seen enough?!"

"How else do you want to humiliate me?!"

"Kill me! Just kill me!"

He gritted his teeth and growled in deep fury.

Zhou Yi twitched his thoughts.

The scene changed again, becoming a bamboo forest.

The music in the air also became soothing and relaxed.

Zhou Yi and Shangyang stood facing each other.

"Just kill me."

The Panda Man exclaimed despondently.

"Normally, since you came to assassinate me, you would be at my mercy."

Zhou Yi said, "But whether you'll live or die, suffer pain, or endure a living hell, I haven't decided yet."

...

"If you answer my questions, I'll give you a quick death."

"What do you want to know?"

"Why did you assassinate me?"

"Because killing you is the best way to resolve the current predicament."

Shangyang explained, "Your death will make the Wasteland Development Company and the Development Alliance collapse, removing the greatest external pressure from the Legal Front."

Zhou Yi nodded: "So you're willing to sacrifice your life for this?"

"If successful."

The Panda Man appeared calm: "The Legal Front would no longer face its greatest obstacle and pressure, allowing the mechanical lifeforms to continue growing rapidly. Sacrificing myself to kill you is a worthwhile trade."

Zhou Yi gave a thumbs-up: "Quite courageous."

He was glad to have had an education.

The story of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on Qin was well-known among Chinese students.

When Shangyang suggested compensating with taxes and goods, the resemblance became strong.

"The device implanted in your spine, is it the ［Light Explosion Stick］?"

"It seems you know."

The Panda Man acknowledged: "It's a modified Light Explosion Stick, now called a ［Light Explosion Tube］. It greatly compresses its size, can be installed in various devices, and upon detonation, achieves Light Core level energy, enough to destroy a Light Core Body at close range…"

Zhou Yi looked at Shangyang: "Did you consider the possibility of failure?"

"I did."

"Do you know the outcome of failure?"

"I die, the conflict between the Legal Front and Wasteland Company intensifies, leading to full-scale war."

The Panda Man remained clear-headed.

"But this is a fundamental solution; the longer the delay, the lower the chance of success, high risk, high reward."

Zhou Yi frowned: "Is this your idea or a calculation by the Legal Front?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"Yes."

"What if I said it's my own idea, would you believe it?"

"I would."

Shangyang paused: "You're a peculiar person."

Zhou Yi snapped his fingers.

They both returned to Jade City.

Shangyang's eyes went unfocused, he looked around confused: "We're back… how…?"

"Wait? How did this happen, where's the Light Explosion Tube? Did you remove the section of my spine?"

Zhou Yi had brought Da Vinci in for an emergency operation on Shangyang.

While they couldn't prevent the Light Explosion Tube from detonating, they could remove the metallic spine serving as its carrier. After the operation, the Light Core level explosive device had been sent deep into the Dead Sea's safe zone and detonated. The danger had long since been neutralized.

Zhou Yi raised his hand: "The tea is cold."

"The steam has cleared, the chaos calmed, let's eat first."

He looked to the side: "Yuan Xiao, fix us some dishes, make it light."

"Yes."

Angel of Death donned an apron and bustled in the kitchen.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.