Ling Kuang still gazed at the crimson blood shadow with dark eyes, watching the blurry silhouette, a hint of a sneer appearing in his gaze.
"Me?"
"Why would I care?"
"I have no interest in divine artifacts or the future of humanity."
"If you knew that I don't even care about the Shadow Crawler insects infiltrating human society, then you should understand that what you mentioned cannot attract me."
The blurry shadow opposite, upon hearing Ling Kuang's words, seemed to hear something unbelievably audacious. It gasped desperately, its breathing becoming erratic.
"Shadow Crawlers?"
"Those damn Shadow Crawlers… they were the nightmare of all humanity during the insectoid natural disaster… those damn Shadow Crawlers were so terrifying…"
"What do your words mean? You mean to say that Shadow Crawlers have infiltrated human society? Impossible! How could that be possible, there absolutely cannot be any living Shadow Crawlers…"
The voice of the blurry shadow was filled with disbelief and surprise, but it also became immensely dejected. Ling Kuang's words had completely shattered the shadow's arrogance.
"I… I truly know the secret. Do not quench our Blood Clan's divine artifact… do not destroy it."
"Do you know, the Mother Nest's attack on humanity was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but a well-planned one. She seemed to have glimpsed some… fragmented pieces in the river of fate, believing that she would ultimately be destroyed by humanity, which is why she… had to let the insectoids… attack humanity with all their might."
"Otherwise, she had already controlled many small spaces, and in those small spaces, she was close to being a god. There was no need…"
"To stubbornly fight humanity to the death. The insectoids' crazy offensive was also at her behest. In her eyes, the insectoids were merely her tools. She wanted to find – the person who would cause her destruction, and kill them in advance."
This blurry shadow, the Blood Clan's Cain, began to sway.
However, his voice became even clearer.
"She wants to find the person who will cause her demise… she is willing to pay any price for this matter, and she almost succeeded, because it was a female scientist from a planet called Earth. She found her, and the Mother Nest let that female scientist die…"
"She thought everything had ended, and that's when she let her guard down."
Lin Muci's heart suddenly stirred.
And the little rabbit, curled up in her arms, trembled frantically. Because the little rabbit trembled so violently, Lin Muci had to hold down its spine to calm it down. She pressed down on the rabbit's spine, sensing its trembling.
She thought to herself.
Could it be—the Mother Nest's target wasn't Ling Qianhe? But her?
The Mother Nest initially came for that human female scientist, and she was the reincarnation of that human female scientist.
And Ling Qianhe was the powerful force that resisted the Mother Nest, gestated in countless small worlds, the subconscious resistance of those world origin consciousnesses, but he was labeled a villain and bore the malice of the entire world. But this was because those small worlds were controlled by the Mother Nest!
So—
If they joined forces, they would be enough to resist the Mother Nest?
She suddenly widened her eyes, feeling as if everything made sense. Ling Qianhe's expression calmed considerably in an instant. Only upon hearing this did he find some interest in what the blurry shadow said.
"Continue."
"She relaxed her guard, and then?"
The residual consciousness of this Blood Clan Emperor, Cain, shook his head.
"I don't know… at the height of her frenzy, I had my life force drained by her, leaving me on the verge of death. I felt her own power rapidly declining. I don't know what she went through to have her life force suddenly decrease to such an incredibly terrifying degree in an instant."
"Her life force was almost depleted… she was almost dead. And to preserve her own life, she swept away all the remaining life essence of the entire Blood Clan."
"Severing our hope of resurrection!"
At this point.
The aged face contorted in pain, emitting a guttural roar.
"And this—this should never have happened to us!"
"We Blood Clan are originally immortal beings, we can be resurrected—yet we perished like this! The Heavenly Dao is unfair… our residual resentments converged, giving rise to such a divine artifact!"
The aged face took a deep breath, then murmured.
"This divine artifact can no longer allow us to resurrect… I hate it so much!"
Ling Kuang fell silent for a moment, then asked the crucial question.
"So, are you sure the Insectoid Mother Nest is completely destroyed?"
The distorted, aged face opposite remained silent for a long while before silently shaking its head, taking a deep breath, and saying coldly.
"No."
"The Mother Nest did not perish completely."
"But, she will never be able to awaken again. Her origins have been almost entirely drained—I can feel it, she will never wake up."
"Because her power was suppressed, and then drained!"
Ling Kuang was silent for a moment, looked at the divine artifact, and suddenly turned to walk away. His action was sudden, and Lin Muci was also surprised. She followed Ling Kuang, watching him walk away quickly.
Yet, an impulse in her mind urged her forward, prompting her to step forward and grasp Ling Kuang's wrist.
Her voice, however, sounded remarkably firm.
"I can help you! Ling Kuang, believe me, I can help you!"
The man turned his head without a word, looking down at the young girl before him.
She had an extremely delicate face. At this moment, she widened her eyes, looking at him intently, as if wanting to earnestly prove her usefulness. His fingertips slowly brushed over her tender cheek.
"What can you help me with?"
He had never asked such a question before. But his gaze was incredibly serious, fixed directly on Lin Muci's face, waiting for her answer.
Lin Muci remained silent for a long while. She nodded forcefully, telling him.
"I know the Insectoid Mother Nest is very likely to awaken soon."
"I also know—you intend to sacrifice yourself for humanity."
Ling Kuang seemed to sneer. He lowered his head, looking at the fragile little beast before him. His words were no different from what he had said to the Blood Clan earlier.
Then he said.
"Sacrifice myself for humanity?"
"I have never been that great."
"Don't be so self-righteous and guess my thoughts. I won't do that."
But Lin Muci grabbed his palm. Her voice sounded more like a faint sob, making one feel incredibly sympathetic.
"You will!"
"You told me there was a second Shadow Crawler, but you didn't kill it because you were planning."
"You knew that there must be other insectoids hidden on the central planet, and with the intelligence of Shadow Crawlers, they would definitely seek out other insectoids."
"You want to deal with the insectoids!"
"You might even want to find the Mother Nest that is about to awaken!"
"You took the Burning Heart Mech, so from the beginning, you decided to do what Jiang Yuye did. You were prepared for the outcome of being infamous and hated by all of humanity. You were also prepared to be reduced to ashes."
"You want me to study at the Central Military Academy, and you don't stop Yang Lanyan from contacting me with Alterseus, because you are also unsure of my heart, so you want to give me more choices."
"When you abandoned me at the Eighth Prison, it wasn't because you hated me, but because you didn't want… anything to tie you down."
"You don't need emotions, and you don't want to be swayed."
"Because you are a person with no future. You decided from the start that if necessary, you would sacrifice yourself."
"I told you, I can help you!"
The man's gaze suddenly changed dramatically. His eyes were dark and fixed on the girl before him. He reached out and grasped the girl's wrist, wanting to say something, but then fell silent.
The girl sobbed, her eyes sparkling.
She looked like a remarkably beautiful little beast.
"I know what you want to do—I know everything."
The rabbit was in her arms, her eyes were red. She looked more like a pure little rabbit than the one in her embrace. She said.
"I can help you."
"When I entered the Burning Heart Mech, I saw what you went through back then… I know why you are like this."
Ling Kuang still sneered. His laughter was cold, like piercing ice, carrying a coercive chill.
"Do you really think you know everything?"
"That's just a fool's dream. You will never be able to empathize with me. Also, I told you, don't presumptuously speculate about my feelings, I am not the kind of person you describe!"
"Little crazy, you've over-imagined too much!"
"I would never sacrifice myself for humanity. In this world, no one dislikes hypocrites more than I do!"
He said this forcefully, his eyes filled with a cold shimmer.
That coldness was almost enough to penetrate one's bones, making one feel as if they were plunged into winter.
But the little girl before him still had moist eyes. She didn't seem afraid of his coldness at all. She tilted her head up and looked into his eyes with an extremely pure gaze.
She said.
"If you really hate… hate humans so much, then why is there a portrait of your mother hanging in your mech?"
Her words seemed to cut deep in an instant.
The man's expression changed abruptly.
Lin Muci sighed.
"That's your mother, isn't it?"
"Your mother is a descendant of Jiang Yuye."
"She was a descendant of Jiang Yuye, they held on desperately back then, were protected in a remote star system, and narrowly escaped. But your mother met a scoundrel, your father. Your father knew her identity, and for credit, told everyone that she was a descendant of that human spy, Jiang Yuye."
"She was pregnant with you, was abused, endured unimaginable suffering in the human world. She was pregnant with you, and finally died. Her body was discarded on a distant junk planet, and you are her posthumous child."
"You were raised by underground scavengers hiding on a junk planet from a young age."
"And when people from the central planet went to the junk planet to clear out pirates hiding there, they accidentally discovered your existence."
"They discovered your extraordinary talent, so they kept you. They brought you back to the central planet, and when they discovered that you could pilot the Burning Heart, they started to look at you differently. However, no one knew you were a descendant of the Jiang family, because the descendants of Jiang Yuye were all dead!"
Lin Muci spoke so much that even the little rabbit in her arms was so shocked it almost jumped up.
How did the host guess these secrets?
How did the host suddenly become so smart?
As for herself, her eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she sighed softly. She sighed because she herself felt that he had truly suffered too much.
Her Qianhe…
Without her knowing, he had suffered so much.
And she was ignorant, unaware that he lived such a hard life—unaware of his painful struggles.
"My father, Ji Feng, had repeatedly reminded me that you were different from others."
"Your past is a taboo on the central planet."
"And your father had a noble background on the central planet."
"He was also on a mission in a distant star system when he accidentally met your mother. But such a noble son from a prestigious family was so heartless and ungrateful. When he was in danger, it was your mother who saved him, even using the Jiang family's special abilities and exposing her identity."
"But after your father discovered she was from the Jiang family, he immediately distanced himself from her. He even indifferently watched as her entire clan was wiped out, watched her, pregnant and on the verge of death, being beaten, watched her wander and suffer, and then in the biting snow, she took her last breath before he dumped her on the junk planet."
"That's why you don't believe in feelings."
"Because feelings, in your eyes, are inherently untrustworthy."
Lin Muci finished speaking in one breath, then looked up at Ling Kuang and asked him.
"Am I right?"
That's why he could pilot the Burning Heart.
It wasn't because his heart was exceptionally cold.
But because this mech rightfully belonged to him. She had originally intended to resolve the resentment on this mech for Ling Kuang, but when she personally stepped into the mech, she instantly experienced a sense of resonance—this feeling allowed her to see the resonance power generated between Ling Kuang and Jiang Yuye's soul across countless years within this mech!
In this world, besides him.
No one deserved the Burning Heart.
Ling Kuang's gaze was chillingly fixed on the girl before him. He retorted.
"Since you can guess these things, regardless of whether they are true or not, how can you still conclude that I have the foolish decision to save humanity?"
"Have you ever considered that I would rather this world completely collapse?"
"I want to see those hypocritical scoundrels devoured piece by piece by the insectoids. I want to hear their screams. I want their souls to writhe and struggle in purgatory. Perhaps, that is my original intention!"
Lin Muci remained silent.
She was speechless, but in that brief silence, Ling Kuang heard her suddenly lift her head and ask him.
"You hang a portrait of your mother in your mech, where did you find it?"