Fan Yumei froze. A voice inside her head? From a biotech beast? And what name?! She didn't even know what it was!
[No worries, Master. I monitor your beasts, skills, missions, and can give rewards all given and assigned by my creator! Trust me, I am very reliable!]
Who's reliable?! She didn't even trust you, nor did she feel "reassured" by its so-called "reliability"!
She was speechless, overwhelmed.
What did she get herself into?
Maxius's feathers ruffled nervously. "What is it, Master? That old rusted relic again?"
"No, not him. Just… pain. My eyes feel like roots growing inside," she whispered.
[Master, you have merged with me—an ancient biotech frowned upon by heaven. Integration is nearly complete. You suffer heaven's backlash: permanent blindness as punishment for possessing the All-Seeking Seeing God Eyes. Eyes stolen from a fallen God, heaven's brother.]
[Syncing at 96.4%. Please be patient before removing eye protection.]
"Permanent blindness?!" Fan Yumei's voice cracked. "Who's talking?!"
Maxius cried out, panicked. "Master! Blind… permanently?!"
Old Thief's voice softened, serious. "Human girl, be lucky you survived the little ancestor. You've passed a test no one else has."
[Master, don't worry. Once rooted, you will 'see'—but not in the usual way. Please give me a name so I can complete the bonding.]
Fan Yumei blinked, overwhelmed. See but not see? What did that mean?
Maxius stiffened. "That aura… the beast's overwhelming presence. We must be careful."
She tried to stand, voice bitter. "Alive? Bonded? When? Can I keep my old sight?"
[Only possible removal is death, Master.]
"…" She suddenly felt maybe these eyes weren't so bad to adapt to.
[Please wait as eyes fully merge and integrate.]
Before she could ask more, excruciating pain slammed through her. She passed out.
[All-Seeking Seeing God Eyes completely synced.]
Maxius panicked anew.
Old Thief trembled, watching the forming beast.
The alloy orb glowed faintly, disappearing like a swallowed sun. A sick stillness fell, as if the air itself held its breath. Then it flickered.
Sparks arced through the air in deep purples and neon blues.
Inside, something moved.
No longer metal—it pulsed.
Tendrils erupted from the beast's chest, sparking with eerie light. They slithered like living nerves.
The tendrils wrapped around her right wrist, coiling up her arm with terrifying precision. The main cord stabbed into her palm, drawing blood.
Her blood hit the core—
And everything reacted.
A brilliant pulse rippled outward like a sonar wave.
Recognition.
A hum roared in her skull as her qi twisted, feeding the alloy like long-starved roots drinking water.
She screamed, pressure exploding behind her eyes.
"You dare!"
The metal blob hovered ahead, shifting shape erratically. It grew.
The case covering her eyes dropped, leaving three star-like brands beneath her right eye, faintly glowing with heavenly energy.
Maxius staggered to her side.
"Yuyu—"
Her nerves felt rewritten. Vision reconstructed.
She gasped, convulsing.
The beast pulsed through her bloodstream like hungry vines.
The voice echoed inside her mind—SF-Hub's voice, but older, stranger.
"Master Fan Yumei. Do not resist. High compatibility confirmed. Activating All-Seeking Seeing God Eyes…"
"You're not activating—violating!" she screamed, twisting away in her soul world.
Blood leaked from her nose.
"Hey, sparrow! Cool your master down or she'll dry boil alive! Get her into that cave—the crystals should help!" Old Thief's urgent voice cut through.
Maxius froze, listening, then lifted her toward the cave entrance.
Her skin steamed from forced resonance.
As Maxius moved, the blob held tight.
Panicked, he attacked it while trying to free her.
"Get out! You don't belong here!"
The thing ignored him, pulsing with her heartbeat.
"Get out!" More blade slices.
The roots only grew deeper.
Her soul trembled—not weakness, but collision.
"Stop! You'll kill your master! Cool her body down! The bond's almost complete," Old Thief yelled, desperate.
In Fan Yumei's mental space, a fierce battle was taking place.
Her will clashed with the beast's instincts. It fought back.
Which thing dared to invade her mental space!?
"You resist connection. Inefficient," the voice said coldly.
"Then break, or submit," she hissed, summoning her soul's full power—27 years of strength and resilience—casting a binding rune to lock the creature, protecting her soul.
A beat.
The creature was locked in place; its appearance was still not clear.
Then silence.
Fan Yumei felt a bit relieved to be able to stop whatever was happening.
In the black hole pit on a floating platform lay the unconscious Fan Yumei, with Maxius and the bracelet Old Thief Kang guarding her.
The egg blob ceased flickering.
The cords loosened.
Maxius seized the moment, spiraling upward through the narrow cave entrance, the cool air soothing her burning skin.
The blob dimmed, stabilizing.
It shaped into a small figure, cloaked in black with tiny bone-like limbs, wielding a scythe taller than itself. Its baby-like face was masked with mechanical plating—soft, yet unsettling. It looked very similar to the device that stuck to Fan Yumei's face.
The voice returned—softer, curious.
"Subject exceeded legacy synchronization. Active. All-Seeking Seeing God Eyes have chosen a new owner."
"All done?" Fan Yumei stirred, waking to the voice in her head as she whispered, still trembling.
"Xiao Yu, are you okay? Anything hurt?" Maxius fired questions.
He chirped and hopped around her, making a fuss.
Her head pounded from all the ruckus.
"Shh, please lower your voice, kiddo," Fan Yumei flinched as her senses were being overloaded and attacked.
"Uck," she rode over to her side and vomited, overpowered with bitter tastes in her mouth.
She was a lot more sensitive to smells and sounds. She could even taste particular things in the air.
"Ugh, I'm okay. Despite… being blind now." She rubbed her eyes gingerly as the sickness feeling, she had earlier began to pass.
Maxius stepped back cautiously, uncertain.
She steadied her thoughts and cast a light healing rune. Surface wounds only. She refused to waste precious resources.
[Activating God Eyes.]
A notification popped up in her mental space. As she gathered her core qi, her eyes reacted on their own free will, pulling energy without her consent or command.
"Huh?"
This might be tougher than expected. Fan Yumei silently cursed the damn eyes and the package-deal "companions" that came with them.
"Curse your childlike curiosity, Yumei! Who asked you to stick your nose in places it didn't belong?!"
Fan Yumei had no tears left to cry, but a tear did escape as she thought about now having to support another two-in-one mechanical being—or whatever. It didn't matter, because it sounded expensive as hell.
She was already struggling to feed all her kiddos the best along with training, and often made thief food at home, saying they were on a strict diet for training—which was half true, but it was mostly because most of the items, actual herbs or materials needed to make customized pet food for three uncommon and high-power beasts, were enough to put her back into debt again.
Her eyes were going to be an issue, and as for the other two… she wasn't quite sure yet.
But one thing is for sure—she and Mystic, Lufei, and Maxius would have to pull extra jobs and shifts to support their new younger siblings.
The beauty of being an older sibling, right? It was their burden to bear as well.
Hehe.
Destined to die before she hit 10 from bankruptcy, and her beasts were destined to be on the streets begging for Federation coin and pet treats.
Fan Yumei was already at the dark humour thought patch stage. Light a candle for her fragile heart.
She let those thoughts go and tuned back into reality.
"They are hungry for qi." Her eyes gleamed like galaxies as she stared into the blackness that surrounded her.
Though blind, she sensed change—a shift in perception. She saw faint outlines: everything but Maxius appeared as shadowed figures, colors swirling within each core—blues, purples, reds—like visible moods.
"That is correct, Master," the creature across the way said, its voice heard through the bond.
"We SF-Hub are not machines. We are a living being." It kneeled and bowed its head with an arm across its chest.
OK, forget it. We'll say that they are a cyborg beast. It is.
Her jaw clenched. "Oh, is that so?"
"I wish not to harm you, Master. We are one, but two separate individuals. Please give me a name." The creature bowed its head deeper, respectfully.
Maxius flared his wings, heartbeat steadying.
"What do you want from my master?!"
The voice purred softly.
"We are compatible. The eyes are hers now—rooted and always seeking."