Chapter 404: Hope's Key (Two-in-One)

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By The 300-jin Smile

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“What?”

Du Xue stood outside the cage, her innocent eyes wide with shock.

“Run!” Xia Naiming roared, his voice hoarse with a mixture of fear and agitation, tears streaming down his face as he became hysterical. “I told you to run!!”

After all, he was just an ordinary modern human. Modern people would close their eyes in shock at the sight of a mutilated body from a car accident, let alone witness such a horrific murder scene.

During his time with the goblin tribe, it was just hunting wild beasts; he had never encountered anything this terrifying.

Blood was everywhere, and countless humans were being slaughtered. He was as terrified as any ordinary person from Ishdar, which was only natural, but he still used his last ounce of strength to roar, urging Du Xue to leave quickly.

“I… I…” Du Xue, on the verge of tears, hesitated for a few seconds before turning and running. “I’ll find a way!”

Thump, thump, thump!

She frantically disappeared into the chaotic crowd.

Hoo, hoo, hoo!

Xia Naiming took a deep breath. “She’s escaped, so I can rest easy. Hiding secretly and pretending to be a regular zoo animal is my specialty. If I can just survive, I’ll still be a hero!”

The other God-kin couldn't detect him or react in time. Having just heard Du Xue explain the human racial mechanism—laws written into their genes—his first instinct was naturally this.

Xia Naiming looked outside the cage, his scalp tingling with a profound sense of horror.

“It seems like a beautiful, advanced social system. Future technologically advanced humans directly write ‘laws’ into their genetic DNA, eliminating crimes, murders, and robberies that are difficult for modern humans to monitor. But once a human exists outside these laws, transcending the genetic restraints, it spells utter disaster!”

“Nor would there be a guard force to handle such special cases. Once such a force gains the authority to kill at will, they themselves would be humans outside the law, free from the ‘Shame-Death Mechanism,’ capable of widespread slaughter and causing terrible catastrophes.”

“It’s a paradox! The moment a team to sanction abnormalities exists, the ‘Shame-Death Mechanism’ loses its meaning.”

The more Xia Naiming thought about it, the more terrified he became, watching the young man continue his slaughter. “So, no one can stop him! He isn’t affected by the Shame-Death Mechanism; he must have already broken through his brain’s C-level authority…”

Xia Naiming curled up in a corner, watching the widespread slaughter and hearing screams and roars. It was the first time he had heard the Ishdarians open their mouths so extensively.

It wasn't language, but heart-wrenching screams of agony.

“I hope the powerful individuals outside can find a way to help.” After trying to send an image to the outside, he continued to hide and curl up. “I will, I will definitely survive.”

Gradually, the ground outside the entire zoo was covered in blood, and a young man holding a long blade strode closer.

“You, interesting animal? Were you talking to that little girl just now?” the young man asked.

Click!

A flash of white light.

The cage, part of the research institute’s highest security mechanism, was instantly opened.

The young man strode inside.

Xia Naiming was horrified. “How could you do that?! This is the institute’s highest security mechanism; how did you open the zoo cage?”

The young man simply smiled, confident. “The highest security mechanism? Heh, as long as it’s a program, there will be a day it’s breached. What’s more, we Ishdarians? Every one of us possesses terrifying supercomputing capabilities. A single supercomputer, given enough time, every ordinary Ishdarian can easily hack into it, causing massive social disruption—shopping malls, banks, networks…”

“That’s why the great human sage Caroline foresaw this countless years ago. To maintain the peace of our God-kin civilization and restrict our ability to arbitrarily breach social order, she inscribed the ‘Shame-Death Mechanism’ into our genes, suppressing the ‘God-kin’s’ internal destructive power and forming a perfect society.”

Xia Naiming fell silent.

Any perfect system has its loopholes, and humans in a future sci-fi society were no exception.

“Except for the core firewall’s dynamic key! That requires an immense amount of computation, at least one hundred humans connected online. I, as a single human, cannot breach it. But all other social mechanisms, I’ve already broken through!”

The young man chuckled, looking down at some data.

“Du Xue. Father: Du Ze. Mother: Gladius. A half-blood. Head of Du’s Mechanical International, who funded the research institute in the central mechanical city of Velia. She’s been visiting here since childhood, making friends with all the small animals and magical beasts. The little sweetheart of the Justice Institute.”

“Home address: [Redacted]. Phone number: [Redacted]. What a lovely little girl.” He extended his tongue, excitedly licking the blood staining the edge of his lips, like a wolf spotting its prey. “Make a choice, little kitty, or little darling? One must die.”

One must die?

Xia Naiming cowered in the cage, his body trembling violently, his eyes suddenly constricting, revealing the intense, struggling fear of an ordinary person.

My death isn't true death… The image of the innocent girl who loved animals flashed through his mind.

“I… I…” His throat burned with fear. “I choose the little kitty.”

“How touching.”

He paused, then with one hand, grabbed the trembling pufferfish, which was glaring at him with hatred.

“I love the fear, the struggle, the helplessness, the wailing in your eyes; it always excites me. However, only children make choices. I will kill both. After I torture you to death, I will go and torture the little darling.”

“You!!!”

Xia Naiming roared, his face a complete mixture of despair, fear, and agitation. His eyes flashed with an unprecedented hatred and malice.

The killer’s pupils dilated with excited frenzy, a bloody madness in his hoarse voice as he said, “I’m already looking forward to it. When I squat down and tell that trembling little darling, showing her screenshots of your torture and how you tried to sacrifice your life to save her in your dying moments, what kind of expression will she have?”

His eyes were filled with expectant longing and desire, as if he were fantasizing about that scene.

“I can’t wait to see that expression!”

He raised his butcher’s blade high.

“Stop!”

The next second, Du Xue’s voice came from a distance.

“Hm? You actually came back?” The young man chuckled strangely twice, then turned to look. In a flash, he lunged, aiming to plunge his blade directly into Du Xue’s chest. “Well then, no need for extra trouble. Please die. I want to see this stubborn-eyed pufferfish suffer even more agonizing pain and screams.”

A figure instantly appeared in front of her, blocking the attack.

Du Xue suddenly cried out, “You damn killer! I brought Auntie Mellie Vina! You’re dead!”

Xia Naiming went numb. The human president?

The true target of his massacre here was actually…

The young man paused, turned, and smiled faintly. “The United Nations President? You’ve actually shown yourself? Just returned from another world, and sure enough, you’re in this research institute. I originally planned to enter the institute last, but you came out on your own.”

“Young man, what should I call you?”

Mellie Vina’s expression was calm. She possessed the composure and dignity of a scientist and a high-ranking official.

The young man thought for a moment, his face serious in contemplation. “Do you still remember the Adam Android Project? The disaster caused by the rampage? Perhaps you could call me Adam the Second? Or even, a demon?”

Mellie Vina looked at him. “Du Xue, he has no restrictions whatsoever; he can do anything he wants. He prepared in advance, blacking out the entire institute’s signal. The outside world can’t sense what’s happening here, not even the scientists inside my institute’s buildings.”

“Take my dynamic key and go notify the scientists inside. Destroy the institute’s mechanical computers. That’s his target. His individual computing power isn’t enough, but the institute still holds a large number of outdated mechanical computers from years ago. If those computers are linked up, they could breach the dynamic key. If that happens, our entire Ishdarian race will be under his control.”

Du Xue hesitated. Her aunt was a non-combat scientist, yet even Fifth-stage, newly Sixth-stage combat geniuses were instantly killed!

“I’ll be fine. Take my dynamic key and go.”

Mellie Vina spoke, her expression steady, as she handed over a small silver cube. “He intends to kill me, but he miscalculated. I am the sole President of the United Nations, representing both the Eastern and Western Human Empires. I am the inheritor of Lady Caroline. In all of human society, I am one of only two individuals who possess the dynamic key. The Shame-Death Mechanism also has no effect on me. We are equals; I can kill him!”

“You go first! I’ll handle this.” Mellie Vina strode forward.

Du Xue was instantly agitated, clutching the dynamic key she had been handed. “This is for all of humanity, for all Ishdarians…”

It felt as if the authority of a crown had been placed in her hands, a profound and heavy sense of mission that made it almost impossible for her to hold the silver box!

This was the future of the Ishdarians.

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