Published: March 2, 2025
“Patter, patter…” The crisp sound of footsteps echoed through the steel corridor, melodious like a piano yet filled with reverberation. Until the end of the corridor, an old yet upright figure gradually came into focus.
He walked past the corridor filled with the stench of putrid blood, seemingly deep in thought, yet also appearing hesitant. His pace slowed down until the sound of a small cry emerged from his arms.
“Wah~~ Wah~~”
The child had no complex thoughts. For a baby not yet a year old, he could only feel the surrounding air was somewhat stuffy and a bit pungent.
“Don’t cry, little one. Don’t cry. Grandpa is here.”
As the man comforted the small life in his embrace, he sighed deeply and took a step forward, heading straight to the end of the corridor.
Fingerprint verification, pupil verification, inputting a password, electronic keys, and even mechanical locks.
One verification after another.
Until a pleasant mechanical voice announced, “Welcome, Commander Lin.”
“Buzz~~”
The steel door trembled open, and the lights inside the room were somewhat blinding to Lin Haifeng. After adjusting to the light, Lin Haifeng surveyed the entire environment of the secret chamber once again.
It was clean and spotless, with nothing but a culture dish positioned in the center of the room.
In the dark-colored culture dish, a tall humanoid creature was faintly visible, curled up in the culture fluid like a fetus in the womb.
“Goo.”
Lin Haifeng swallowed hard, staring at the humanoid creature in the culture dish. Then he stepped forward and pressed several buttons on the culture dish.
“Activate the celestial god?”
The mechanical voice from the culture dish made Lin Haifeng's fingers tremble twice. After pondering for a moment, he took out an object resembling a magnetic card from his Spatial Ring and placed it into the slot of the culture dish.
“Authorization approved. Please confirm again whether to activate the celestial god?”
The prompt sounded again, but this time Lin Haifeng did not hesitate.
His index finger pressed on the “Confirm” displayed on the screen. Accompanied by the mechanical rumble, the liquid in the culture dish was gradually extracted, and the level of the culture fluid decreased until the humanoid creature inside shivered gently and slowly opened its eyes.
Lin Haifeng took a few steps back, waiting for the extraction of the liquid to complete. When the hatch of the culture dish opened, the humanoid creature staggered out from within, only to lose its balance and fall to the ground.
Just like a baby learning to walk, the celestial god struggled to find its balance, its movements becoming increasingly coordinated and powerful. The irregularly trembling body even left cracks in the steel floor.
Lin Haifeng watched as the tall and strong figure, indistinguishable from a normal human male, lay before him, gazing at the familiar face of the celestial god.
Until the celestial god adjusted to its new body, slowly standing upright, its eyes shifting from confusion to clarity, Lin Haifeng finally spoke.
“Welcome back.”
Then, he handed the small baby in his arms to the celestial god.
“This is your son.”
There was an indescribable special emotion in Lin Haifeng's tone. Watching the familiar figure turn its head, fixating on the baby in his hands, Lin Haifeng repeated his earlier words.
“Welcome back, my child.”
……
“Goo… goo goo…”
Bubbles appeared at the corner of the celestial god's mouth, and as they slowly rose, the being referred to as the celestial god gradually regained its sanity.
Memories surged in its mind, with the last image remaining particularly vivid.
“Lin Kuangliu! Step forward to die!!!”
The furious roar echoed throughout Las Vegas. Having narrowly escaped, it felt powerless under the relentless pursuit of the Netherworld.
Until darkness enveloped the earth, and a black giant raised its foot, mercilessly stomping down on its own body.
In an instant, its body was ground into mush, and then the black war blade cleaved down, splitting it in two. The remaining head bounced like a ball, eventually landing near the feet of a stranger.