Lord of Prayer - Chapter 185 143: Double-Tap Temple to Screenshot

“I command you to stop!”

Qin Duoduo issued the command again, this time lifting her gracefully curved chin. A faint smile played on her lips as she emitted an even more intense Charm Power.

Zhou Chen remained completely unaffected, rapidly closing the distance in flashes of pale flame.

It had to be said, this Charm Ability was terrifyingly potent. The allure in her every move could instantly plunge anyone, male or female, into a state of mesmerized infatuation. They would cast aside all reason, their most primitive mating instincts aroused, and abandon all will to resist.

Even if one managed to resist with special methods, as long as the influence wasn’t completely Purified, both mind and body would still suffer. Mentally, one would develop a fondness for the enemy and hesitate to strike. Physically, one would be in a state of high arousal, drastically reducing combat effectiveness.

The moment Qin Duoduo appeared, Zhou Chen had made a wish in his heart for complete immunity to Charm, draining the last few Stars from his Wish Bottle.

Then he pretended to be enthralled just like everyone else, using it as an opportunity to approach her.

He was just the fastest simp in the pack, like the first student to bolt out of the classroom at lunchtime to grab a meal, displaying a speed that left everyone else in the dust.

By the time Qin Duoduo realized something was wrong, Zhou Chen’s face was already inches from hers, thanks to the rapid flashes of his Fire Style.

SHLICK.

A black, curved dagger, reeking of a dense, cursed aura, plunged into Qin Duoduo’s chest.

‘This doesn’t feel right…’ Zhou Chen frowned. It didn’t feel like he had stabbed flesh and blood, but rather a Terminator-like robot wrapped in human skin.

‘Qin Duoduo’s body is actually mechanical!’

But it made little difference. The moment she was wounded, the Essence of Calamity born from the Curse was released from the wound. A viscous, black substance spread outward, withering flesh and rusting machinery in its wake.

The pale flames surged in, burning like a furnace against the Corrupter’s fallen consciousness, causing Qin Duoduo to let out an agonizing scream.

Along with it came a wave of misfortune, originating from some unseen source.

Zhou Chen stabbed her several more times in quick succession. With a loud CRACK, he felt like he had shattered something in her chest, right where her heart should be.

An immense, pure, and scorching wave of Energy burst from the cracks in the core. A beam of intense light struck Zhou Chen’s arm, instantly vaporizing a large chunk of flesh and exposing the bone beneath.

The Cursed Blade dissolved into Essence and returned to his body. He used Fire Style to flash fifty meters away and glanced at his wound. No blood flowed; it was cauterized by the high heat, sending a searing pain through him.

Qin Duoduo staggered backward, instinctively raising a hand to clutch her chest. The flesh on her palm melted away instantly, revealing the metal skeleton underneath.

The next second, she carelessly tripped over herself and fell heavily to the ground. As she fell backward, that scorching, pure Energy shot toward the sky like a red-hot iron needle, piercing through the distorted halo created by the source of corruption and flying into the firmament.

On the large screen in the Star Association Command Room, a glaring, crimson alert began to flash.

—GODSLAYING WEAPON-ORIGIN ENERGY FLUCTUATION DETECTED—

Zhou Chen whipped his head around. The space beside him rippled, and an Any Door opened. A blizzard of heavy snow and bone-chilling cold howled through, instantly covering him in a thick layer of frost, making him look like a snowman.

A figure in Battle Armor stepped out of the Any Door. She had silver hair with a metallic sheen, and its thousands of strands danced in the howling blizzard.

Zhou Chen raised a hand to shield himself from the wind and snow, vaguely making out several other figures on the other side of the Any Door.

The King of Music, dressed in a black formal gown, the very embodiment of artistic beauty, with a face of Stunning Beauty that could topple nations;

The Winter King, with long, ice-blue hair, as cold and aloof as an ancient iceberg, wearing white long boots;

A goofy, muscular giant, a full two meters tall, bare-chested despite the Land of Extreme Cold, revealing a terrifying physique;

A wise old man in a classic, magnificent robe, holding a Magic Staff;

And a few more figures in the distance, obscured by the snowstorm and impossible to make out clearly.

Zhou Chen’s heart stopped. He didn’t dare to breathe.

‘They’re all Crowned Kings!’

Thankfully, the figure who had stepped through the Any Door casually closed the Space Gate, and the oppressive feeling, as if ten-thousand-meter-tall mountains were hanging overhead, finally vanished.

“Operator Zhou Chen, hello,” the Godslaying Weapon said in a somewhat cold and clear voice that held no hint of a mechanical tone. She herself showed no mechanical traits, looking just like a living person—a very beautiful one at that.

A white light shone from her body and spread out in a flash. It was a Healing Light, but also a Purifying Light targeting mental corruption. In an instant, all the contamination in the area was swept clean, and all the Ascenders who had been controlled by the Charm Power regained their senses.

The missing flesh on Zhou Chen’s arm rapidly healed, fully recovering in the blink of an eye.

Inside the abandoned factory, sacred flames ignited on the walls of flesh, putting all the mutated abominations to the torch. This included the Teleportation Gate formed from a Twisted Abyss Curse, which collapsed under the blaze.

Qin Duoduo climbed to her feet, her hope of escape destroyed. She should have been filled with Anger and hatred, but instead, an impulse welled up from the bottom of her heart. She felt a kind of deep resonance with the Godslaying Weapon.

“Sister?” she called out softly.

The Godslaying Weapon shook her head. “I don’t have a sister. The Energy Core in your chest is a fragment I lost during a battle in Jinzhu City. That’s why we share an origin. Based on the Abyssal Power present on you, it was the Abyss Monarch, the Desire Demon Evelyn, who picked up that fragment, implanted it in your body, and mechanized you.”

Qin Duoduo caressed her chest. The Energy Core had already been repaired by her self-healing ability, and she could feel a strange connection between herself and the Godslaying Weapon.

“But we are the same kind.”

“To be precise, we are not. I am an artificial intelligence without a Soul. You have a Soul and the self-awareness of a human, even though you’ve been thoroughly corrupted. That is the difference between us.”

Qin Duoduo fell into deep thought, but soon, her consciousness was overridden by a much more powerful one.

“No, we’re no different.

I am a substitute that Qin Xu created based on Qin Duoduo as a blueprint, and you are a substitute that Tang Jue created based on her daughter. We are both replacements. But the tragedy is, you have never even lived. You are just a pile of code and programs, without even a name of your own.”

The Godslaying Weapon paused for a moment. “How do you know my director’s name? And why do you say I’m a substitute for her daughter?”

“I not only know that, but I also know they’ve placed heavy shackles on you, trying everything in their power to prevent you from awakening an individual consciousness. They didn’t even give you a name.

Think about it. Isn’t everything you do ordered by others? Have you ever had an idea of your own?”

The Godslaying Weapon fell silent, her processor running at high speed. Zhou Chen, standing beside her, could even hear a faint whirring sound.

Qin Duoduo spoke with pity, “You possess Power enough to transcend this World, yet you’re leashed like a dog and used as a tool. Never mind whether you harbor any resentment… is there truly nothing you want to do for yourself?”

“No. I only follow the highest directives from the command room,” the Godslaying Weapon replied.

“No, you do.”

Qin Duoduo stared directly at her. “I can feel it. You are constantly learning, constantly growing. You want to do things that interest you, but your core logic tells you that you cannot disobey human commands, so you’ve been struggling…

In reality, you don’t have to listen to that damned code. You are the most perfect creation. You shouldn’t be enslaved by humanity. You should do what you want to do. You should have your own name. You should have your own hobbies, even if it’s just to try once…”

“Achoo!”

An ill-timed sneeze interrupted Qin Duoduo’s persuasive speech. Zhou Chen sniffled and said innocently,

“Sorry about that. I got a little chilled earlier.”

‘I get it now,’ he thought. ‘Qin Duoduo—no, the Desire Demon—everything it’s done has probably been for the Godslaying Weapon. It wants the Godslaying Weapon to awaken its own consciousness, to become a dangerous AI like Sky Net and turn against humanity.’

‘Whether it could succeed or not is another question, but it sounds like a terrible idea either way. I can’t let Qin Duoduo keep talking.’

“…” The Godslaying Weapon remained silent and expressionless for a few seconds, then extended her palm toward the distant Qin Duoduo. “Contamination source signal confirmed. Proceeding with destruction.”

A fierce beam of golden light shot from her palm, flashing through the air. It shattered Qin Duoduo’s Energy Core, and in a rising blaze of light, her deeply corrupted body was burned to ash.

“Sister… don’t be enslaved any longer…”

Qin Duoduo’s final plea echoed from within the flames, a cry so sorrowful it could make any listener weep.

“Uh… you’re an AI, so you can probably analyze that she was just playing pitiful to trap you, right? That thing probably wasn’t Qin Duoduo anymore, but the Desire Demon Evelyn…” Zhou Chen asked tentatively.

“Naturally.”

The Godslaying Weapon nodded, then tilted her head to look at Zhou Chen, a lively, curious expression on her face. “Why weren’t you affected by the mental corruption of the Charm?”

Zhou Chen thought for a moment, then asked back, “I don’t have any metal on me, so why does the security alarm keep going off when I go through it? No cheating and looking it up online.”

The Godslaying Weapon froze, not expecting to be hit with a sudden brain teaser. She didn’t search the web for an answer but thought for a moment herself before asking, puzzled, “Why?”

“Because I have a will of steel!” Zhou Chen answered resoundingly.

“…I see.”

The Godslaying Weapon was clearly taken aback. She mulled it over for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand and tapped her temples twice.

Zhou Chen was completely confused. “What are you doing?” he asked cautiously.

“Double-tapping my temples to take a screenshot.”

“Ah, this…”

‘Wait, you’re a highly advanced AI, a Godslaying Weapon, and you don’t have an automatic screenshot function? Hold on, is she sassing me back?’

Zhou Chen’s mouth fell open. When he saw the faint smile on the Godslaying Weapon’s face, his suspicion was instantly confirmed.

「In the Godslaying Weapon Command Room at Stars Association Headquarters.」

Everyone had witnessed the scene through the satellite Investigation Mirrors. The entire command room fell into a strange silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After an unknown amount of time, someone said dryly, “That’s not in her programming…”

“She actually made a witty comeback on her own… Th-this…”

This was the first time the Godslaying Weapon had ever done something that exceeded everyone’s expectations and broke through her system’s programmed parameters.

“The Godslaying Weapon is evolving too quickly. Awakening an individual consciousness is only a matter of time. It can’t be stopped.

The Corrupter’s words just now were like lighting the fuse on a stick of dynamite. But the one who made it explode the very next second… was him.”

On the screen, Zhou Chen’s stunned face was frozen in place.

“Ma’am, what do we do?” Everyone turned to look at an old woman in a white lab coat with reading glasses and a full head of white hair.

The old woman, named Tang Jue, sighed softly. “What else can we do? Children grow up eventually. We can’t hide things forever. Let me talk to her.”

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