A sharp, needle-like pain stabbed through the back of Lin Feng's neck, and the holographic projections on the cave wall suddenly distorted into a DNA helix. The pupils of the young observer contracted into two vertical bronze lines, and his mechanical fingers traced scarlet cooking equations in the void: "Welcome to the Taste Genome Bank, Sample No. 10000."
The glass cover of the incubation chamber automatically dissolved, and countless "Lin Fengs" slowly rose from the viscous nutrient fluid. Quantum recipes flickered on their skin, and data cables extending from their spines were connected to the central brain – a hemispherical device modified from the remains of the Eye of the Abyss, its surface densely covered with constantly opening and closing compound eyes. The left eye of each clone shimmered with the same mutated patterns as Lin Feng's, which were taste imprints written into the genes.
"You are perfect carriers of seasonings." The young observer lightly touched the control panel, and a holographic image of Earth III unfolded above everyone's heads. In this universe that had been transformed into the form of a spicy hot pot, the stars were boiling chili oil, and the planets were floating spice balls. "All we need to do is purify your despair, and we can inject the ultimate umami flavor into Lord Abyss's rebirth feast."
Suddenly, Lin Feng felt a searing pain explode on his tongue tip, and memories flooded back like a tidal wave. He saw himself, at the age of three, pinned down on the kitchen counter by his father while the Golden Sui Ling reagent flowed down his carotid artery; he saw Orangey disintegrate into light particles in the entropy fire, its damaged tail brushing his cheek for the last time; he saw the primitive tribes of Earth II gathered around a campfire, with the grease from the roasted meat projecting compound eye totems onto the rock wall. These memories were being extracted by some force and transformed into a dark golden liquid seeping from the corners of his eyes.
"Stop him quickly!" Orangey's afterimage suddenly screamed in the depths of his consciousness. "Your tears are the purifier!"
Suddenly, the group of incubation chambers burst open all at once, and the clones leaped towards the central brain like puppets on strings. Their molecular cooking knives intertwined in the air to form a web of light, trapping Lin Feng in a cage made of memories. Each grid node flickered with painful taste signals: the bitterness of failure, the sourness of betrayal, and the saltiness of loss...
Lin Feng grabbed the nearest clone and found that the clone's quantum kitchen knife was actually a replica of his right eye. The moment the blade pierced the clone's chest, a vast amount of taste data flooded into his brain – those were 9,999 failed experiences of slaying gods. In each universe, Lin Feng had become an ingredient in different ways.
"Do you think you're special?" The young observer sneered as he unfolded a star map. Among the countless light dots were all the "Lin Fengs" that had been devoured. "You're just the closest we've got to a successful culture medium."
Suddenly, the gravity in the cultivation area distorted strangely. A dark matter stove rose from the ground, and Wu Li's mechanical remains became intertwined with the nerve cords of the Eye of the Abyss, forming an ugly fusion. Her chest split open, revealing the budding taste bud embryos, and on those pink granulations were tiny Lin Feng's faces.
"Come and taste yourself." Wu Li's vocal cords vibrated at twelve frequencies, and Lin Feng's arm uncontrollably stretched towards the stove. His quantized flesh automatically decomposed into sashimi slices, each reflecting a death scene from a different timeline.
At this moment, Orangey's afterimage burned out completely, and its final energy transformed into a light blade that split open the taste cage. Lin Feng took the opportunity to grab the budding taste bud embryo and, in great pain, forcibly tore off the nerve cords connected to the Eye of the Abyss. The embryo let out a baby-like cry, and the splashing mucus plunged the clones into chaos – it was a pain of "maternal separation" that the Eye of the Abyss had never tasted before.
Lin Feng leaped onto the central brain, and his compound eye pupils formed a quantum entanglement with thousands of compound eyes. He crushed the taste bud embryo snatched from Wu Li's body, and the dark golden liquid mixed with his own tears dripped into the control core. Suddenly, the entire genome bank trembled violently, and the imprisoned clone memories began to flow backwards.
"Are you crazy?" Sparks burst out from the mechanical eyes of the young observer. "This will trigger a taste paradox..."
Bronze debris fell from the quaking dome, revealing the real starry sky outside – humans on Earth II were holding a grand sacrifice. They tied the "seasoning human sacrifices" cultivated from Lin Feng's genes to the altar, and the compound eye giant beast in the rock paintings opened its huge mouth. But when the first drop of blood fell into the fire, the flames suddenly turned into a strange dark golden color.
Lin Feng poured his last strength into the Godslayer's Tears. These liquids, fused with 9,999 failures, formed a taste virus at the quantum level. The compound eyes of the Eye of the Abyss burst one after another, and each broken pupil released the imprisoned civilizations. The Milky Way changed from a hot pot back to a spiral arm, and the compressed stars reignited their nuclear fusion.
The body of the young observer began to dissipate quantumly, and he frantically grabbed at the collapsing genome bank: "Impossible... A perfect dish shouldn't have pain..."
When Lin Feng woke up in the ruins, his left hand had returned to human form, but the compound eye patterns on his right eye had become permanent scars. The cosmic bubble of Earth III floated in his palm, with the starlight inside shimmering with a spicy flavor. A familiar snoring sound came from the depths of the cave – Orangey's afterimage had attached itself to a stray cat, and only the tip of its tail still retained the quantum fluorescence.
"I used the last data fragments to reconstruct this carbon-based carrier." The orange cat jumped onto his shoulder, its whiskers brushing across the dark golden tear stains. "But the fish tail can't be restored for now."
When Lin Feng walked out of the cave, he was shocked by the sight in front of him. Humans on Earth II were burning the compound eye totems, but their cooking methods had subtly changed – the spices for roasted meat had incorporated the crystals of the Godslayer's Tears, and the shape of the campfire vaguely resembled a bronze key.
A new fluctuation came from deep in the starry sky. In an as-yet-unpolluted universe, a girl named "Lin Yu" suddenly looked up. She always deliberately burned one corner of the cakes she made. The remains of the mechanical whale pods on the edge of the Milky Way hummed, and their alloy bones grew anti-entropy scales that resisted being turned into food.
What made Lin Feng most uneasy was the change in his palm – whenever his emotions fluctuated, miniature recipes would appear beneath his skin. The genes rewritten by the Godslayer's Tears were turning him into a living taste bomb.
The orange cat suddenly bristled and pointed to the sky. In the direction of Orion, twelve stars were arranged in the shape of a fork, and a supernova explosion formed a new taste symbol. The whisper of the Eye of the Abyss echoed at the quantum level, this time with the pleasure of tasting new ingredients:
"Deliciousness requires thousands of failures..."