sbdcsierra Chapter 1450 Instigating Rebellion
Chapter 1450 Instigating Rebellion
Xiao Ce's voice wasn't loud, but it was like an ice pick, instantly piercing through the lingering noise and warmth of the interrogation room, freezing the air completely.
The four were stunned by his unusual calm and cold gaze, and for a moment no one responded.
Xiao Dingshan glared at him venomously, his chest heaving violently, then he cursed and said, "So? Whether you're finished cursing or not, what does it have to do with you? Are you going to let us go now? Beg the captain to give you a way out?"
Xiao Ce took two steps forward and stopped in front of the cage. His gaze fell on Xiao Dingshan's face, which was twisted with hatred. He slowly spoke, each word clear and distinct, striking the silent space.
"You cursed me quite vehemently. And you got one thing right. Your commander-in-chief has indeed come, bringing destruction."
"But can't you use your pig brains to think about why I showed you these images..."
The corners of his mouth seemed to twitch upwards very subtly!
But it was not a smile; it was a cold, all-knowing mockery.
"But you seem to have forgotten, or rather, deliberately ignored, another thing."
His gaze swept over Caesar, Raymond, and Evelyn in turn!
Finally, the voice returned to Xiao Dingshan, suddenly dropping to a low pitch, carrying a weight that seemed to announce an end:
"The creation base is destroyed."
"The Source Pool Terminal, which connects to the core of your consciousness and allows you to be reborn countless times after the death of your simulated body, along with all its backups, has sunk completely into the permafrost abyss of the Arctic Ocean along with that steel tomb."
Xiao Ce leaned forward slightly, his gaze piercing into the depths of Xiao Dingshan's cloudy eyes with the precision of a scalpel:
"This means that Xiao Dingshan, Caesar, Raymond, Evelyn..."
He pronounced their names clearly and deliberately, as if reading a death notice.
"This time, if you die here..."
"That is true... annihilation."
"Your consciousness, your existence, will completely vanish. No new emulators will be activated in any secret factory, and no backup data will be uploaded and restarted."
Xiao Ce's voice was cold and cruel, like the coldest wind in the Arctic, blowing away the last glimmer of hope in the hearts of the four!
"No matter how powerful your 'Commander-in-Chief' is, or how fierce your fleet is, even if you could flatten this continent ten thousand times... you still couldn't save a bunch of data dust that has completely vanished."
"Any victory he wins, any land he tramples, belongs to you..."
There is absolutely no connection between them.
“You will truly, completely, and forever…disappear.”
"..."
Dead silence.
Absolute silence.
The interrogation room was just filled with frantic barking a moment ago!
You could hear a pin drop at this moment.
The venomous and crazed expression on Xiao Dingshan's face froze instantly, as if he had been doused with a bucket of liquid nitrogen, quickly fading, stiffening, and finally turning into a deathly pale color.
The murky flame in his sunken eyes went out, replaced by a deep-seated, unprecedented fear!
A fear of utter nothingness. His lips trembled, but no sound came out.
Caesar's projection flickered and distorted violently, like an electrical circuit about to burn out, emitting a crackling electrical noise, as if the core of his logic was falling into a collapsing dead loop because of this ultimate question.
Raymond abruptly stopped sobbing, his curled-up body trembled violently, and he raised his head, his unfocused eyes filled with disbelief and despair, as if he were truly understanding the meaning of death for the first time.
He glanced at Xiao Ce, then at the prison cage, and let out a hissing sound.
Even in the depths of Evelyn's empty eyes, there seemed to be a very subtle fluctuation of fear belonging to the "Evelyn" being.
"No...impossible..."
Xiao Dingshan's voice was hoarse, filled with a dying struggle, as he said to Xiao Ce, "You...you're lying to me...the Captain...he has a way...he must have..."
"Method?"
Xiao Ce coldly interrupted him, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm:
"You mean, you expect a captain who treats you like trash, who can't even be bothered to pinpoint your last hiding place, and who just lets me capture you?"
While destroying entire planets and busy reaping spoils, he still has the time and effort to travel across the stars to find and resurrect you few…
In his eyes, a fragment of consciousness, a 'failed product' even less valuable than a spare part?
These words were like the last straw, completely crushing Xiao Dingshan's last illusions.
His body hunched over visibly, as if all his strength had been drained in an instant, and he slumped at the bottom of the cage, his eyes vacant.
"What...what do you want?"
Caesar's voice seemed to have completely broken him, revealing a urgency and... panic that the program could not simulate!
“State your conditions…”
He realized that since Xiao Ce had pointed out this cruel reality, he must have a backup plan. This was their only remaining, slim chance of survival.
Xiao Ce's gaze, sharp as a hawk's, swept over the four people: "It's simple. I'll give you... a chance to survive."
“Be my eyes and ears, and return to your commander-in-chief.”
The cage fell silent for a moment, then erupted with a completely different reaction.
"A spy?! A traitor to the Commander-in-Chief?!"
Xiao Dingshan looked as if he had been bitten by a venomous snake, and suddenly raised his head and roared, but his voice no longer had the confidence it had before, and was only filled with a fierce but cowardly fear.
Betray that terrifying being?
The outcome might be worse than complete annihilation!
Raymond shook his head in horror: "No...it's impossible...we'll be found out...he'll tear us to pieces..."
Caesar's projection flickered wildly, seemingly calculating various possibilities and probabilities of survival at breakneck speed, with the data stream in complete disarray.
Evelyn remained silent, but her empty eyes shifted slightly, as if she were assessing the situation.
"Betrayal? You still have the right to talk about loyalty?"
Xiao Ce's voice carried a chilling sarcasm as he said, "To him, you are nothing more than a few disposable baits. Now, you only have two paths before you:"
"Firstly, all your ridiculous illusions about so-called rescue must completely dissipate here, at this moment."
Your 'Captain-General' won't even know, much less care, which pile of cosmic dust you disappeared into.
"Article Two..."
Xiao Ce's gaze, like a tangible shackle, firmly locked onto the four of them. He spoke to them slowly and deliberately:
"Accept my gifts, live on, and work for me."
Perhaps, someday in the future, when the dust settles, you will still be able to 'exist' in some form.
"choose."
There were no threats, no coercion.
It simply presents two cold and cruel options.
Life or death?
A humble, controlled life, or a complete, meaningless death?
A suffocating silence fell within the cage. Xiao Dingshan's facial muscles twitched violently as he struggled internally.
Caesar's computational light flickered wildly.
Raymond's fear almost overflowed the cage. Evelyn's fingers unconsciously twitched.
Ultimately, the indescribable fear of complete annihilation overwhelmed the fear of the Captain-General's punishment, and even more so, the fear of that pitiful self-esteem.
"I...I promise..."
Raymond was the first to break down, screaming through tears.
“...Accept...the conditions…” Caesar’s voice was filled with resigned despair.
Evelyn nodded very slightly.
Xiao Dingshan gritted his teeth so hard that his gums were almost bleeding, and his withered fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly!
Finally, a broken syllable was squeezed out from deep in his throat: "...Okay..."
"very good."
Xiao Ce showed no surprise whatsoever, as if everything was under control.
He raised his hand and made a few movements on the console.
The side wall of the interrogation room slid open silently, revealing four mechanical arms that shimmered with a ghostly blue light.
At the end of each robotic arm is a slender, sharp, silver "neural etcher" covered with precision micro-probes.
“Verbal promises are worthless. To ensure you… ‘do your best,’ a little insurance is necessary.”
Xiao Ce's voice was calm and even, yet it carried an undeniable air of absolute control.
"This is the core of the 'Star Eclipse' virus. It will be deeply implanted into the depths of your consciousness, permanently merging with your logical core or neural network."
It will monitor all your conscious activity and transmit information to the Star Network Hub. Any attempt to betray, leak, or seek external removal from it…
All of these will trigger immediate, irreversible... annihilation of consciousness.
Seeing the sudden change in the four people's expressions, he added the final straw that broke the camel's back:
"Don't even think about escaping through mind upload or any technology you have."
The network of the Star Network Hub extends far deeper and wider than you can imagine.
Any attempt to upload or transfer stream of consciousness, as long as it carries the Eclipse symbol, will be immediately…intercepted and purified.
"Either accept it and gain a chance to exist."
"Either choose annihilation now."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Dingshan quickly asked, "I have one last question..."
After hearing Xiao Dingshan's words, Xiao Ce said calmly, "Oh? What's the problem?"
Xiao Dingshan said to Xiao Ce, "I hope the captain won't detect it..."
Xiao Ce smiled and said, "Of course not. If that were the case, why would I bother with all this trouble?"
The cold, robotic arm, glowing with a deadly light, slowly and resolutely reached out towards the four electronic cages.
As Xiao Dingshan looked at the approaching needle, a symbol of utter enslavement, his eyes were filled with endless humiliation and despair, but even more so with fear of that ultimate nothingness.
He closed his eyes, his body trembling violently with extreme resistance and fear, but ultimately made no move to resist.
Caesar's projection dimmed to the extreme, and the core indicator light seemed to have given up the struggle, maintaining only the bare minimum of vital signs.
Raymond let out a desperate sob and closed his eyes.
Evelyn remained expressionless, only slightly raising her head to reveal her neck covered in simulated skin, as if welcoming some kind of ritual.
The pale blue probes silently pierced the energy barrier of the cage, precisely targeting their respective core areas: Xiao Dingshan's cervical nerve interface, Caesar's main processor external port, Raymond's spinal energy node, and Evelyn's simulated subcortical core chip slot.
Sizzle...
A faint sound of energy flowing could be heard.
The eerie blue light representing the core of the Star Eclipse Virus, following the probe, was like the most insidious venom, injected deep into the core of their "life" on which they depended for survival.
Four giants who once shook the world!
In this cold cage, for the sake of the most humble "existence," they were forced or personally shackled with inescapable chains forged by the enemy.
Xiao Ce watched all of this quietly, his eyes deep and unfathomable.
He knew that their surrender at this moment stemmed from fear, and that seeds of resentment and betrayal must be buried in their hearts.
But it is not important.
The important thing is that they are now pieces on his chessboard.
In the upcoming ultimate showdown with the Star Hyena Commander-in-Chief,
These "poison nails" planted in the enemy's heart may bring unexpected changes.
"Program implantation complete. Eclipse activated."
The electronic voice of the Star Network Hub echoed in Xiao Ce's mind.
Xiao Ce withdrew his gaze and turned back to the main light screen!
There, the western purgatory still burns, and the massive flagship "Abyssal Roar" casts a shadow of death like a floating demonic mountain.
The real storm has only just begun. Are these pieces, forcibly planted within the enemy ranks, a surprise attack or a hidden danger?
Xiao Ce's lips curled into an extremely cold smile.
They may be powerful, but Xiao Ce is confident in his intelligence…
The cold alloy tunnel echoed with heavy, rhythmic footsteps…
Frank personally escorted four electronic cages, each shimmering with a ghostly blue energy field, towards the deepest part of the Lingas City underground fortress, their retreat point.
Inside the cage, Xiao Dingshan, Caesar, Raymond, and Evelyn were like four soulless shells, shrouded in the invisible shackles and the shadow of utter annihilation brought by the Star Eclipse Virus.
Their subconscious minds had been infected with a virus that was silently lying dormant, so Xiao Ce wasn't afraid of their resistance at all...
After everything was arranged, Frank reported to Xiao Ce.
"Your Highness, the target has been escorted to the designated area as planned, and the coordinates have been synchronized to the preset leak point."
Frank followed Xiao Ce to report.
"Very good. Remove the three physical locks on the outside of the cage, while retaining the core energy field camouflage. The bait has been laid; we await the shark to take the bait."
Xiao Ce's voice was as cold as the Arctic wind.
He deliberately left a "carefully designed" loophole in the prison's security system.
A weak point that could theoretically be detected and breached by the advanced hacking technology of the Star Hyena Legion was located near an area outside their prison that was currently under heavy feint attack.
Meanwhile, the outlying islands of Britain.
The massive fleet of the Space Hyena Legion resembled a floating steel mountain range, cutting the sky into fragmented dark red.
The captain sat atop the command throne of the flagship "Abyssal Roar," which resembled the skull of a colossal beast, his crimson electronic eyes scanning the panoramic view of the war-torn islands below.
The first few outer islands that were landed on have been reduced to scorched earth, with only weak and feeble resistance remaining.
Hyena infantry and Ripper mechs are methodically establishing outposts and energy shield nodes, connecting the occupied territories into a stable springboard.