The anesthetic froze into ice in my veins, and when I opened my eyes, I was immersed in a vertical cylindrical incubation chamber. The pale green nutrient solution was glowing with an eerie fluorescence, twelve mechanical arms were writhing on my naked torso, and the laser cutter was peeling off the star-shaped brand on the back of my neck.
"Subject 9527 regaining consciousness!" The white coats outside the blast glass were in disarray, and I heard them read out the data in shaky voices, "Genetic entropy value breaking through the critical point... Activate level three fusion!"
The incubation chamber suddenly filled with a blood-colored liquid that wasn't disinfectant- my skin was dissolving. Black matter erupted from my pores, transforming into thousands of nanomite swarms in the nutrient solution. They gnawed at the molecular bonds of the reinforced glass, and the swarming mind allowed meto perceive the entire structure of the shelter simultaneouslyr: seven floors below ground, holding 137 alien runaways.
The third second the alarm sounded, I heard a heartbeat coming from underground. It wasn't a human heartbeat, but the pulsation of some flooded beast, and even the air twisted into ripples at the resonant frequency.
"Quickly release the one on level B7!" The Chief Researcher's face was pressed against the observation window: "Use the Endbreed against the Endbreed!"
The load-bearing wall came crashing down, and the entity of nightmare burrowed out of the shelter's floor. I had imagined what countless Calamity Seeds looked like. Still, the presence in front of me was beyond all biology - it was a mass of proliferating flesh, changing form every second, sometimes resembling a whale skeleton, sometimes like a blooming human brain. The metal it touched directly vaporised into purple smoke.
[Void pollution source detected]
[Immediate devouring recommended]
The black swarm converged spontaneously into a vortex, and my consciousness suddenly split into billions of parts. Each nanomite became my senses as they burrowed into the Final Species, tasting the material structure beyond three dimensions. The monster's cells hid miniature black holes, and its genetic chain was composed of antimatte. Iff it weren't for the Devouring Ability's automatic evolution of the Quantum Lock function, I would have been ashes at this moment.
"Roar!!!"
The Final Species let out a time-shattering roar, and the entire shelter began to fold. I saw the fellows twisting like crumpled pieces of paper, their screams stuck in the moment of dimensional descent, turning into two-dimensional silhouettes on the walls. Only my body flickered between the real and the imaginary, as the swarm of nanites converted the devoured energy into spatial anchor points.
As the last wisps of purple smoke were eaten away, the retina exploded with a blood-colored warning:
[Acquired Void Resistance (Elementary)]
[Genetic entropy value breaks through the safety threshold]
[Mental pollution value has risen to 19%]
The sound of dense footsteps came from the end of the corridor, and I casually pulled off the radiation curtain to wrap myself. Devouring the Final Seed brought power and a tsunami of hunger - those nanites screamed in my veins, urging me to keep eating.
"Freeze!" Thirty particle rifles recharged simultaneously, the officer at the head wore a cognitive contamination-proof mask, "You have violated Fae Regulation No...."
His voice came to an abrupt halt. My fingertips rested against the knot of his throat at some point, and a swarm of nanites burrowed down his pores. Memories of the Shelter came flooding back like a tidal wave: the Alien Prison on Level B2, the clone army being bred in Sector D, and... The Omega-level archives were left behind by his parents before they were born.
"Thanks for the hospitality." When I drew back my fingers, the officer had been transformed into a fungus-covered humanoid sculpture. The other soldiers watched in horror as the purple spores erupted from their seven orifices, a gift left over from the Final Seed.
The blast doors of the archive room were null and void before the swarm of nanites. The moment the iris scanner lit up, the star-shaped brand on the back of my neck suddenly glowed, and the metal door automatically recognized it as:
[Deep Blue Program Highest Privilege Authentication Passed]
[Welcome back, Dr. Rimmer]
A yellowed photo floats out of the cryopod: the scene of a plane crash twenty years ago, Professor Qin, who should have died in the crash, is standing in the wreckage with a baby in his arms, and the star-shaped birthmark is faintly visible on the back of that baby's neck. The holographic projection automatically played the encrypted video, and the father's voice exploded in his ears:
"We have created the perfect carrier, the genetic key of the Star Spirit Race will awaken in 2025..." Mother's face appeared at the edge of the screen, "But humanity can't withstand the ancient memories, when the contamination value reaches 100%, Lin Mo will become the new Void Gate."
The incubation chamber suddenly shook violently, and I gouged out the safe embedded in the wall. The meteorite material of the box melted in my palm, revealing the holographic diary left behind by my parents. The moment my fingertips touched the core chip, the lights of the entire shelter suddenly went out.
A blue holographic projection lit up in the darkness, and the virtual image of my mother gently caressed my face. A vast star map emerged behind her, and a certain language beyond human comprehension was poured directly into my mind:
"By the time you see this image, mom has become bait for the abyss. Remember, devouring is not a curse, but a gift for the Star Spirits to continue their civilization. Go to the Pacific Trench and look for the Ark of Origins before the contamination level reaches 50%..."
Alarms engulfed the second half of the sentence, and the hologram suddenly distorted into the face of a hideous monster. I crushed the projected core that was mutating with my bare hands, and a swarm of nanites went crazy, gnawing at the quantum signals in the air.
Helicopters roared from outside the shelter, but what drew me in more were the cries coming from the third basement level. Twenty xenos were held there, and their tantalizing energy fluctuations sent my salivary glands into a frenzy.
The countdown on my retina suddenly surfaced in blood-red text:
[Current Devouring Desire: Controllable in human form]
[Immediate replenishment of biomass recommended]
When I kicked open the prison alloy door, what I saw was the young girl curled up in the corner. Her antler-like energy crystals were falling off, and the teddy bear doll in her arms was stained with blood. Swarms of nanites gathered behind me in the shape of demon wings, and the star-shaped birthmark at the neck of the young girl glowed in the darkness.
"Brother..." When she looked up, a galactic halo of light flowed through her pupils, "Are you here to eat me too?