Chapter 115: The Arrival of Pran

The one who had struck was none other than the Blood Tendril Main Soul, who had returned alongside the Soul Continent.

As early as when Lu Yan began containing the Soul Continent, the Blood Tendril had been released to guard him, ensuring he would not be disturbed.

Caught completely off guard, the scarlet tendrils pierced through the bodies of the High-Rank psionic users.

These psionic elites had long undergone full cybernetic augmentation. By normal standards, their metal bodies should have been nearly invulnerable to conventional attacks.

But the Blood Tendril, as one of the Soul Banner’s Main Souls, struck directly at their spirits. The scarlet tendrils shredded through their transformed souls, causing them to let out agonizing howls of pain.

Blood Tendril’s face twisted with a maddened grin. Beside him, the Primordial Giant Spirit Main Soul, who had finally shaken off the divine pressure of the AI God, began to recover its form. Its soul body, which had been compressed to half its size, now returned to its towering ghost-god stature of over ten meters.

With a mighty swing, the Primordial Giant Spirit slammed his palm toward one of the High-Rank psionic users.

This one had already been injured, his body pierced by a high-energy sniper shot. He barely had time to lift his arms to block.

But in the very next moment, the Primordial Giant Spirit’s eyes widened like a wrathful titan, and his right arm, now engulfed in surging ghostly energy, doubled in size.

Boom!

The palm struck down, shaking several levels of the spiral tower. The tremendous force smashed the High-Rank psionic user through three alloy-reinforced floors.

His cybernetic body was reduced to a heap of scrap, and the psionic codes etched across his form went completely dark.

Another High-Rank psionic user was eliminated. The sheer intimidation shown by the Primordial Giant Spirit now left the four remaining elites visibly shaken.

Gone was the earlier madness and arrogance they’d displayed when the AI God had descended. What replaced it was pure terror—fear of the Blood Tendril and the Giant Spirit.

Realizing the battlefield had stabilized, Buvise let out a long breath of relief—but inwardly, he remained deeply wary of the strength these two possessed.

He was certain that both the Blood Tendril and Giant Spirit originated from Lu Yan. In the entire Lower City District, only the mysterious and unfathomable Lu Yan could summon such overwhelming forces.

That thought gave Buvise both concern and comfort—the stronger his allies, the greater their chance of success in this strike on the Paradise Computation Center.

After a brief consideration, Buvise spoke to the two great ghostly spirits:

“Esteemed ones, please help us hold off these High-Rank psionic users. We must reach the control core on the eighteenth floor as soon as possible.”

Though once transformed from extraordinary zombies, both Blood Tendril and Giant Spirit had more sentience than regular specters. They understood Buvise’s intentions clearly.

The Giant Spirit gave a slight nod.

With a wave of his hand, Buvise led the heavily armed assault squad in a rapid advance upward.

“Damn you all! How dare you trespass into the domain of the God!”

One of the High-Rank psionic users roared with rage—but in the blink of an eye, Blood Tendril had already rushed in front of him.

Hundreds of crimson tendrils erupted from his back and lashed toward the opponent.

The clash was instant and violent. These tendrils, refined over many days of drawing Heavenly Code through controlling specters, had gained incredible agility.

Every strike precisely severed the flow of psionic code at its critical transmission nodes. Against Blood Tendril, even cybernetic constructs moved like rusted, clunky machines—completely helpless.

Just moments later, Blood Tendril retreated to the edge of the ghost mist.

His enemy tried to pursue, but after taking a few steps, the components in his right arm shattered and collapsed, falling to the ground in pieces.

In their brief skirmish, Blood Tendril had completely dismantled his mechanical arm, reducing it to junk.

Staring into that playful, cat-and-mouse grin on Blood Tendril’s face, the remaining High-Rank psionic users felt their dread reach a new height.

At that moment, another round of explosions thundered outside—three more sky warships had arrived at the Paradise Computation Center.

Hundreds of mechanical soldiers dropped from the ships and joined the battle.

“All right, enough playing.”

Lu Yan, while still focused on absorbing the Soul Continent, spared a bit of attention to observe the battlefield. He quickly determined that these few surviving High-Rank psionic users weren’t combat specialists at all—they were probably old research types who had lived far too long.

They had discarded their own brains, replacing their bodies with cybernetic shells just to prolong their lives. In terms of actual combat ability, Lu Yan could defeat them even without using the Soul Banner.

“Kill them. But remember—preserve their brains and souls. I have great use for them.”

Lu Yan hadn’t forgotten that Scott’s father once told him that all soul-modification research within City No. 14 was stored in the Paradise Computation Center.

If that were true, then these research-type High-Rank psionic users likely possessed key technologies in soul modification.

If he could acquire that…

It would greatly enhance the capabilities of his specters.

Upon receiving Lu Yan’s command, the Blood Tendril and Giant Spirit both dropped all pretense of playfulness. They no longer held back.

Ghost mist surged—

Eight hundred specters charged out from the fog and pounced upon the remaining four High-Rank psionic users, devouring them in a flash.

The elevators had already been disabled, but the shafts remained. For someone like Buvise, an elite psionic user, climbing an elevator shaft was no harder than using stairs.

As he ascended, Buvise could see that the Lower City psionic agents who had been planted in advance were already taking action. Many rooms had their hibernation pods shut down, and one by one, civilians began to awaken.

Some had only been inside a few days, their faces lit with joy upon rescue.

Others had been drained continuously for over a decade, their expressions still numb despite being freed.

There were fathers and daughters, mothers and sons—imprisoned in different eras—who awoke to find that the one they thought long-lost had been sleeping just a few pods away.

And there were even some with white hair and wrinkled faces, who had been forced to work in the center for over 120 years.

One such man had been released twenty years ago… only to return a month later, unable to find his family and too old to work. A single overdue soul-tax payment had resulted in his forced re-incarceration.

The full tapestry of human suffering was on display here in the Paradise Computation Center.

After ascending numerous levels, Buvise finally reached the eighteenth floor’s control core.

Using a cutting torch, he forcibly opened the heavy metal door.

From his pack, he retrieved metal plates inscribed with Heavenly Code, pre-prepared for this mission. He placed them in a ring around the giant AI terminal.

Immediately, the AI’s control over the center was severed.

Buvise began manually disabling the Computation Center’s defensive systems.

The auto turrets, power barriers, and guardian mechs ceased functioning, leaving only the two recent batches of mechanical soldiers from the airships. But most of them no longer posed any real threat.

“The battle’s won!”

Just as Buvise joyfully declared victory, a golden beam of light suddenly pierced the skies above the Paradise Computation Center and blasted into the spiral tower.

An ocean of psionic energy descended like a mountain, crushing down with immense force.

Buvise’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he blurted out:

“Director Pran?! Why is he here?! What are the Upper City’s High-Rank psionic users doing?!”

(End of Chapter)