Master of the Stars

It was as if this fellow Jack was holding a remote control that could pause and play. With just the press of a button, the security system of the entire floor, no the entire building, froze.

This scene wasn’t caused by the effects of possessing high access privileges in the DeShang Building for the robots didn’t have any means of detecting privileges. Yet the robots had just given in. They completely lacked the strength to resist.

This made Luo Nan recall the pitiful Tiger Burst Jeep of Crag Burst.

Luo Nan broke his silence at last by using psychic waves to talk: “How did you do that?”

“Oh, now you want to talk?” spoke Jack in irony and ridicule. “Why are you making a huge fuss over nothing? I can control...... Oh, there’s the Darksider life form. I can control machines. It’s very fair.”

Jack didn’t refuse to talk, yet he didn’t directly answer Luo Nan.

He didn’t mind responding to Luo Nan a bit more. After all, he felt some brooding in his mind from not being able to trace down the Darksider life form. He needed time to adjust the relevant parameters in his database. He was constantly amending the scope of his detection.

Luo Nan could guess approximately what Jack was up to. Most of Jack’s means of detection required the use of that robotic eye. After all, Jack was even turning his head about without end.

This was good news. It seemed like Jack was very fearful of Darksider life forms. Or perhaps, Jack still felt that Luo Nan was still a threat?

Luo Nan secretly paid this in mind, but now he couldn’t help have the majority of his thoughts turn to the direction of “machine control”.

This was because Jack, as well as the previous actions of Yan Yongbo, had made his mind associate to a different yet similar case:

The underground laboratory in Gear.

More specifically: The external neuron!

Luo Nan was able to confirm that the thin thread in Jack’s brain was really the external neuron, or as Jack called it, the Dynamo Core. This creation, which seemed to exceed the technology of this planet, could transcend all access privileges and directly control and manipulate all information technology at will.

And now new facts told him that this toy was the key to being a Burner, to the Format of Fire, in addition to the above functions.

Such a marvelous creation had actually accompanied him for a period of five years in silence. And, it was mailed into his hands from that coward.

What did this mean? What did this prove?

The gale-like pursuit and escape had made it hard for Luo Nan to devote part of his mind and ponder over this matter. Now that there was a bit of time, relevant thoughts came drilling into the pit of his sternum like a heart-devouring bug.

External neuron? Dynamo Core? Burner? Gang leader? Yan Yongbo? Quantum Corporation..... And, that coward!

The sudden trail of thoughts, the explosion of information, seemed to tie itself into a noose on Luo Nan’s mind. If this knot doesn’t loosen, then Luo Nan’s soul would become asphyxiated.

Luo Nan suddenly felt regret. Maybe he should have let Jack tell a few more stories. He wanted to get things clear by any means necessary. He wanted to know just what sort of relationship existed between Jack the gang leader and that coward!

Luo Nan needed to strive towards this target right now. He did his best to maintain a clear head and used the flattest psychic waves as possible to convey information and probe Jack’s response:

“Machine control at will? You don’t have this ability. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to the recycling stratum and become a gang leader. You would have run away to the outside and stirred up troubles with your power.”

Jack laughed a hoarse and deep laugh: “Are you trying to provoke me? Kid. You were already successful before, you don’t need to worry about how you’re going to die.”

“I admit that you have the ability to kill me. You’re a Burner now after all...... What’s wrong? Was I mistaken?”

Luo Nan saw Jack’s lips split into a grin, a grin that was filled with mockery.

Jack shrugged his shoulders: “It’s nothing. People do have the right to be ignorant and I don’t have the obligation to correct others...... Kid. There’s no need to keep testing the waters. Call upon your pet. I’ll give you an even more painful way to die.”

Luo Nan would only do what Jack said if he went retarded, but Jack’s mocking smile and words did contain quite a bit of meaning. Jack was feeling a sense of superiority; he felt high and mighty. The word “people” did not necessarily refer specifically to Luo Nan. Instead, it was an unrestrained orbital assault that was filled with the implication that Jack was the sole sober person in a world of drunks.

Note that Jack’s thought process contained a high level of mental activity. It all stemmed from the data frame that was the “nucleus” in Jack’s brain. In a certain sense, it came to be more realistic than that of any ordinary person.

Then where did Jack’s sense of superiority come from?

Luo Nan sized up Jack once more. He had obtained some intelligence from the gang members. This ruthless and vicious fellow had become the gang leader of this area in just 2~3 years time.

He started off as a fighting instructor and rapidly became an important character in the fighting arena through the bloody “70% Elimination Law”. Then he became the referee, the ace host, a partner, and finally, he became into the head spokesperson of the organized fighting arena.

He had overflowing capabilities that allowed him to become a gang leader. But this wasn’t representative of the fact that he was like this in other fields.

Then......

“It’s the metal beetle right?” Like a sudden thrusting peak, Luo Nan got straight to the point with this question.

Jack was a bit startled, but then he quickly smiled: “Do you still want to act rashly youngster?”

Luo Nan ignored Jack’s attempt at disturbing him. His thoughts were calm and certain. Everything that had happened in Jack’s body had been laid bare by the prying of the Human-Faced Arachnid:

“Yan Yongbo used it to control our jeep. When you came over to settle things later, you were clearly more interested in the metal beetle itself. Oh. It’s too amateurish of me to call it the “metal beetle”. You called it the Dynamo Core right? Deep Sea Type 4’s Dynamo Core. It’s a miraculous device that allows an ordinary Altered Human to possess abilities similar to that of Burners.”

Jack went quiet in an instant. The dark red robotic eye, which had been searching for the Human-Faced Arachnid, swiveled back over. It stared at the fuzzy figure of Luo Nan’s soul body: “Are you trying to show off your intelligence? But we don’t recruit newcomers over here......”

When Jack had opened his mouth, the Deep Sea EM Field’s intensity continued to increase.

The feeling of his soul body turned even worse. From Luo Nan’s perspective, breaking away from Jack’s suppression and fleeing far far away was what he should do the most.

But then psychic aura came gushing out from his mind. The aura interweaved to form a train of thought. It joined and assembled under the external pressure to drive forward with layer upon layer. Luo Nan was unwilling to interrupt this process:

“The Dynamo Core is very valuable to you, so Yan Yongbo paid you it as an award. But from the model number, I can see that this should be part of a series that’s already in production. At the very least, it’s a trial series that possesses a manufactured ability. And it is closely related to Burners. Only Quantum Corporation...... has the power to be related to it.”

Luo Nan’s mental faculties were processing without end, reaching the greatest peak of his fifteen years of life. He didn’t speak directly to Jack. Instead, he was releasing bits and bits of bait within his words. At the same time, he was observing all of Jack’s reactions and constantly amending his own inference.

“Of course, there’s also you. You’re an Altered Human, yet you’re not from the military. The number of people in the world that can adapt to the ability of Burners can be counted on one hand. So I am confident that you come from Quantum Corporation. You’ve been working for this company that’s at the world’s leading and cutting edge of technology.....”

After transmitting the psychic waves, Luo Nan saw Jack’s face expose a mocking smile of superiority.