---
The ruins whispered.
Ash curled through the broken sky like mourning spirits. Far above, a faint mechanical hum pulsed in the silence — cold, unnatural, and hungry.
Li Tianming stood over the still-warm corpse of the Hell-Hound Alpha. Its blood soaked into the cracked pavement, steaming faintly. The jagged steel rod still jutted from its ribcage.
He didn't remove it.
He didn't blink.
His eyes were locked on the sky.
> [Hostile Entity Detected.]
[Recon Class Drone – Eagle Dominion – ID: 03X-PHALANX]
[Warning: Optical scan in progress. Cloaking unavailable.]
The mechanical whirr intensified.
Tianming slowly turned his head, tracking the glint of metal floating above a collapsed tower. The drone was spherical, smooth, and deathly silent — except for the faint red crosshair pulsing at its core.
"Eagle Dominion…" he muttered.
In his past life, they had come late — like vultures to a rotting world. But when they came, they brought tech cursed by the old gods: sentient machines, energy cannons, DNA disruptors. One drone could call an entire strike squad if it scanned a hostile mutation.
He wasn't ready for that.
Not yet.
> [Decision Required: Destroy / Hide / Interface]
[Note: Chaos System compatible with Tech-Grade Interfaces. Warning: Unstable]
Tianming smirked. "Unstable? That's my specialty."
He reached into the beast's corpse, grabbing the still-pulsing crystal embedded in its neck — its Core Flame, raw Hellfire essence. The moment his fingers touched it, searing heat stabbed through his veins.
> [Hellfire Core Absorbed. Ability Enhanced: Hellfire Pulse → Hellfire Surge]
[Stat Boost: Strength +2 | Heat Resistance +20%]
The drone spun suddenly, detecting the energy spike.
> [Energy Surge Detected. Subject: Tier-1 Mutant. Uploading Threat Data—]
Tianming leapt.
Steel rod in one hand, flame dancing across his other palm, he slammed the rod through the air. The metal hummed with unstable chaos energy as it connected with the drone's shell.
> CRACK!
Sparks flew. Circuits shrieked. The drone jolted backward.
> [Damage Sustained – 47%.]
[Warning: Core Interface Compromised. Initiating Emergency Transmission—]
"Not today."
Tianming grabbed the core plate and pressed his flaming palm against it.
> [Chaos Interface Request: Override Detected]
[Warning: System contamination in progress...]
[Linked.]
Suddenly, Tianming saw something he hadn't expected — not just the drone's systems… but its memories.
Images flashed through his mind.
Floating fortresses above the clouds. Steel armies marching under blood-red banners. Human experiments — some screaming, some silent. And then a terminal screen:
> "Project: Godless Ascension"
Target Location: Dragon Empire – Dead Zone
Objective: Contain Soul-Level Mutations. Eliminate Potential Chaos Seeds."
Chaos Seed.
They knew.
They were hunting him.
> [Override Complete. System Absorbed: Micro-Uplink + Recon Visibility]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Mind-Hack (LVL 1)]
[Current Surveillance Grid: Online. Visibility: 3 km radius.]
The drone died.
Its core flickered once, then dimmed. Smoke rose from its side and drifted toward Tianming's chest, sinking into the void-like mark that had appeared hours ago: the Chaos Seal.
His body trembled for a moment — not from pain, but power.
A whisper echoed inside him.
> "Consume. Corrupt. Conquer."
> "The system feeds on souls… but what does it feed you to?"
He opened his eyes — colder now, less human.
---
In the distance, hidden between burnt-out towers, a figure watched through a cracked monocle lens. Cloaked in a tattered combat suit with the Eagle Dominion's emblem half-burnt off, she muttered under her breath.
> "He absorbed a recon drone… without a key?"
Her wrist trembled as she typed on her wristpad.
> "Subject confirmed. Chaos Seed protocol initiated."
Far above them, inside a steel citadel floating across the edge of the stratosphere, alarms began to sound.
---