He carried a crowbar and squatted down next to Fu Tianhe, who was busy dismantling the squid’s exoskeleton. This layer of steel armor looked like a haphazard pile of metal pieces thrown together, and aside from being sold to a smelting factory, it had little other value. 

Fu Tianhe wanted precision parts, and with materials being scarce these days, while metal recycling was expensive, it was just too heavy for the two of them to carry much. It would be better to find something with a higher cost-performance ratio. 

A pile of metal scraps had already been tossed onto the beach, and Chen Ci took out tools from Fu Tianhe’s bag, joining in the dismantling effort. Having learned the relevant theories from Fu Tianhe and having been taken to the junkyard several times, Chen Ci was now quite skilled at disassembling. 

The two worked together to remove the exoskeleton, exposing the squid’s head and the internal part of its body. Chen Ci saw the slimy, wriggling innards, and the ink flowing from the shattered ink sac stained everything a deep black, with a stench that was overwhelming. 

Fu Tianhe had no interest in the biological tissues, and neither did Chen Ci. Inside the sac beneath the skin on the back of the body, there was a long, olive-shaped inner shell made of machinery, which, along with cartilage, formed the squid’s internal skeleton. 

With ease, mental energy found the hidden mechanical parts within the biological tissues. Just as Chen Ci thought, such a large and highly mechanized primordial creature basically had a mechanical core. 

“It’s in the heart.” 

Fu Tianhe really didn’t know where the squid’s heart was. He poked around with the crowbar but couldn’t find the right spot, and instead, he felt nauseated. Chen Ci simply took the crowbar from him, moved to the back of the squid’s abdominal cavity, and thrust the over-a-meter-long crowbar in, then lifted it up, extracting the heart encased in the pericardium, still attached to the major arteries. 

The sight made Fu Tianhe’s eyelids twitch, and he finally mustered the courage to get a little closer, only to turn his head away, gagging violently. However, Chen Ci remained calm. 

Fu Tianhe steadied himself and took out a knife to cut the heart free. The soft, rotten biological tissue was tossed onto the ground, a huge mass. Thanks to years of scavenging, Fu Tianhe could still breathe without fainting from the stench. 

The Alpha began searching for the mechanical core hidden within the heart, while Chen Ci turned back and pressed his hand against the squid’s body wall. The voice in his mind became extremely faint, undoubtedly sliding toward the eternal silence of death. 

It was killed. 

Chen Ci felt no waves of emotion. Should he feel something? Compassion or sympathy? After all, just minutes ago, this creature had been pitifully pleading for its life, struggling to survive. Perhaps if a human died in front of him, he would feel a bit more, or more likely, just like now, feel nothing at all. 

Chen Ci gently pressed his chest, his heart beating steadily at 75 beats per minute. But in a certain sense, it felt empty there. 

The sky had brightened, and the entire abandoned suburb was cast in the shadow of Cinnabar, with the tide gradually receding, exposing more of the shallows and leaving behind many small crustaceans that couldn’t escape in time. 

Fu Tianhe found the mechanical core in the squid’s heart. He walked to the seaside, rinsed the flesh and blood off the core, and packed it into the inner layer of his backpack. Important components were dismantled, but most of the machinery was piled up like garbage beside the corpse. 

The three set off again, searching for the camp of the matchstick. The squid’s remains would rot over time, ultimately leaving only the black mechanical shell, making future generations wonder what kind of creature it was. Just like the jellyfish Chen Ci had discovered on the second floor of the office. 

Before leaving, Chen Ci gave it one last gentle touch; it could no longer hear anything. 

—

Eight hours earlier. 

On the top floor of Cinnabar, the Royal Palace. 

Chen Nian had just seen Gui Zhiqi off and returned to his bedroom, feeling quite satisfied. It was getting late, and according to Chen Ci’s routine, he should wash up and rest soon. 

His brother had sent him many interesting photos; the vast ocean looked completely different from various angles, majestic yet hiding dangers. Maybe he should ask Shavri to take him to the Ring Sea Base sometime for a closer look. 

Why not just tell Shavri now? 

The terminal Chen Nian was using was under the surveillance of the White Tower, and any messages sent would be uploaded. He preferred to discuss matters face-to-face with Shavri. 

Thinking about how Shavri mentioned he had something to do at noon and hadn’t seen him all afternoon and evening, Chen Nian couldn’t help but feel curious. What did he usually do as the Crown Prince? 

Chen Nian wondered, knowing that human society now operated under an electoral prince system, with each beacon having its own electoral prince, holding major autonomy. The Emperor was elected by the electoral princes, leading all of humanity. 

From Chen Nian’s understanding, the royal family was more like a spiritual leader, not too busy with many affairs. So what was Shavri up to? 

“Where is Shavri?” Chen Nian asked the smart butler. 

The smart butler replied honestly, “Your Highness is in his room.” 

“In his room?” 

“Yes, Your Highness has been in his room the whole time.” 

Chen Nian thought Shavri had gone out, but hearing the smart butler’s explanation, he got up from the bedside and headed straight out, turning left. 

Chen Nian raised his hand and gently knocked on Shavri’s door. If Shavri was busy with something important, the smart butler wouldn’t let him in. Conversely, if the door opened in front of him, it meant Shavri was done. 

With his mind racing, he saw Shavri’s door silently open before him. 

Chen Nian stepped inside and closed the door behind him. At this time, Shavri should be done and ready to rest. Chen Nian stood in the living room and called out a few times, but didn’t hear a response from the Alpha. 

But the smart butler clearly said he was in the room. Was he in the shower? If he was in the bathroom, he should have heard him come in. 

Chen Nian tiptoed, searching for Shavri’s figure. The bedroom door was inexplicably ajar, and as he passed by, he glanced through the crack. 

He swore he really just looked in subconsciously. 

But the sight before him made him stop in his tracks. 

Shavri was sitting on a metal chair, his arms resting on the armrests, legs naturally apart, sitting upright and straight. 

Dozens of black leather straps extended from the wall, securing Shavri’s shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, waist, and legs. The leather restraints were very tight, and Chen Nian could clearly see Shavri’s chest muscles bulging out, rising and falling slowly with his breath, the fabric forced against his skin, revealing a hint of his complexion through the white shirt. 

The black trousers and leather matched, and the restrained thighs also showed a sense of fleshiness, making Chen Nian involuntarily think of some harmless little pleasures. 

On Shavri’s head was a large silver-gray device. 

The uniquely shaped helmet covered Shavri’s face, revealing only a pair of thin lips and his chin, the lip color a very normal pale hue, with some retractable tubes hanging on either side. Chen Nian didn’t know what they were for, but if viewed as decoration, they looked pretty good. 

The scene before him was incredibly shocking, especially since Chen Nian was peering through the narrow door crack, with a heavy and secretive sense of voyeurism. 

—Who would have thought that the taciturn Crown Prince would tie himself up like this behind closed doors? 

Chen Nian took a deep breath; he had to admit that at this moment, his face was shamefully hot. 

In the nightclub of the Underground City, Chen Nian had seen many tricks; the Black Box had not only guests with special preferences but also colleagues with unique skills, and there were even Alphas kneeling on the ground, begging Chen Nian to whip them. 

But none of that compared to the immense shock brought by the sight before him. 

“May I come in?” Chen Nian asked softly. 

“Your Highness, please feel free.” The smart butler replied. 

Chen Nian gently pushed the door open, walking into the bedroom and sitting down on the bed opposite Shavri. 

Getting closer, Chen Nian noticed every detail more clearly. 

The chair was directly fixed to the wall, ensuring it wouldn’t be easily moved. Shavri’s muscles were tense, indicating he was in some sort of focused state. 

On the nearby table was a portable terminal, the most advanced model, all pages closed, but the screen still lit up with the desktop. 

Chen Nian recognized that the device on Shavri’s head was a neural adapter, but it didn’t seem to belong to any known model on the market. 

If it was for gaming, there shouldn’t be a need to tie oneself up like this, unless Shavri really had some unspeakable preferences. 

Chen Nian didn’t expect to stumble upon such an interesting sight. He crossed his legs, sitting relaxed on Shavri’s soft bed, waiting for the moment the neural adapter would be removed from the Alpha. 

The last string of code disappeared from view, and only then did Shavri finally release Cinnabar’s hand. 

“Everything is normal,” Shavri said softly, resisting the intense sense of disorientation. No matter how many times he went through it, he still couldn’t quite adapt to the dizziness from jumping out of the program library. 

—You’ve worked hard. 

The girl nodded at Shavri, turning to look at another figure behind her that looked exactly like her, raising her hand to touch the other’s shoulder. 

At the moment their hands touched, Cinnabar’s hand melted from between her fingers, as if carrying some kind of suction, merging entirely into the other body in a liquid form. 

In the blink of an eye, Cinnabar returned to her original form, still gazing up at the sky, while Shavri followed her gaze, seeing nothing but darkness. 

Perhaps there was something he, as a human, couldn’t see. 

The rain continued to rise toward the sky, the so-called coolness and dampness all sensory stimuli brought by data simulation and electrical signals. 

Shavri didn’t know what else was hidden beneath the gray-black surface of this alternate space. 

His task was complete. 

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.” 

—Alright, if there’s something, I will call you. 

Cinnabar looked at him, her lips marked with vermilion on either side, making any change in expression quite noticeable. 

Shavri had seen Cinnabar’s raw stone; it was indeed the same color as her pupils. 

Shavri nodded in agreement, raising his hand to write a line of code in the air, and a door as thin as paper reappeared before him. 

Taking one last look at the marvelous scene around him, Shavri pushed the door open and left the core program of Cinnabar. 

The alternate space began to fold from an infinite distance, ultimately shrinking into a small square beneath his feet, and Shavri fell through, the simulated image disappearing directly from his mind. 

He opened his eyes, seeing a small house on the green fields in the adapter’s lenses, with white walls and a red roof, quietly standing in the forever unreachable distance. 

The program repair consumed a great deal of mental energy; every time he exited the space, Shavri would feel dizzy for a long time, or else he wouldn’t need a specially made mental adapter. He didn’t feel this way when playing games. 

Shavri sat quietly for a while, resting until the nausea gradually faded, then let out a long breath. 

The smart butler extended a mechanical arm to remove the neural adapter from him. 

The dim light in the bedroom illuminated the scene before him, and Shavri immediately saw the young man sitting across from him. 

Chen Nian was sitting on his bed, legs crossed, one hand propped on the bed, the other resting on his knee, supporting his chin, watching him with great interest. 

The top button of the boy’s shirt was undone, revealing his neck and a small patch of collarbone, probably because he had intended to rest and wasn’t wearing a bite-proof collar. 

His bare feet were on the floor, one on the carpet and the other hanging in the air, the arch of his foot taut, creating a graceful curve from ankle to toe. 

The dim light cast an ambiguous hue over everything, making even breathing feel lighter. 

—How did Chen Nian end up here? 

Shavri instinctively wanted to move, but he was tightly bound by the dozens of leather straps on him, the pressure and suffocation making his already dizzy mind even duller.