Chapter 153: Chapter 152: I Am the Developer
Arthur Seldon’s voice was steady, but tinged with a hint of excitement:
"Good. You’ve come. You will join them, become my puppets, become the puppets of a god."
Shen Feng glanced at the vast sea of the Gray Tide before him, then at the face of Arthur Horton—which looked both shrewd and paranoid. He instantly recalled the bit of information he’d seen about Arthur Seldon in the Holy Sanctuary and asked:
"Do you enjoy this thrill of manipulating all of human civilization? The feeling of treating your own kind like ants? Perhaps even your own descendant, your daughter, is nothing more than a plaything in your eyes..."
"Don’t you dare mention Lisa! You’re not worthy of speaking her name!" Arthur Seldon, instantly enraged by Shen Feng’s last sentence, roared:
"Humanity is nothing but a bunch of parasites, of cold and heartless animals! They deserve to be nothing more than livestock for me to raise! If they were truly human, they wouldn’t have cut off Lisa’s cancer medication when I went bankrupt! They wouldn’t have let a mother sell her own organs in a filthy, illegal clinic for her daughter, only to die a pathetic death from drug abuse!"
Shen Feng asked, his expression impassive, "And where were you then?"
Hearing this question, Arthur Seldon’s expression froze. He said:
"I... I was obsessed with my goddamn research, searching for a final lifeline in the warehouse of my bankrupt company... I was wallowing in self-pity, blaming everyone and everything... But... but I was so close to a breakthrough..."
From the man’s fragmented words, Shen Feng instantly understood what had happened.
He had been obsessed with researching the Nanomechanical Cluster. The excessive investment led to bankruptcy, his daughter’s cancer treatment was halted, and she ultimately died. His wife, trying to raise money by selling her own organs, ended up needing large quantities of painkillers, leading to her death from drug abuse.
By the time Arthur Seldon’s research had a breakthrough, a point where he could have turned everything around, it was already too late.
A true tragedy.
Clearly, this was the most direct and fundamental reason for his hatred of human society, his hatred of the entire world.
Just like Batman’s nemesis, the tragic Joker.
"But none of that matters anymore." Arthur Seldon’s expression suddenly twisted, becoming savage and terrifying. He said grimly, "I am the god of this world now. I control everything. I will forever punish arrogant humanity, manipulating their every joy and sorrow... As for you... despair!"
As he spoke, the sea of Gray Tide under his control suddenly shot out sharp spikes, thousands of meters long, stabbing toward the small patch of Gray Tide controlled by Shen Feng.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! A series of metallic clashes rang out as tens of thousands of densely packed metal spikes shot forth, instantly piercing the Gray Tide where Shen Feng was.
In the next instant, Shen Feng had his Gray Tide immediately envelop these metal spikes, severing them from Seldon’s main mass.
But immediately after, another dense barrage of metal spikes stabbed over.
Arthur Seldon’s tactic was simple: use the dense volleys of metal spikes to pierce Shen Feng, who was hiding within the Gray Tide, and thereby defeat him completely.
Shen Feng snorted coldly. The Gray Tide under his control no longer held the shape of a human face. Instead, it instantly formed into a metallic structure riddled with holes, like a sponge. The internal voids caused the volume of his Gray Tide to expand several times over.
Immediately after, humanoid Construction Machines emerged from his Gray Tide and charged, expressionless, toward Arthur Seldon’s.
Arthur Seldon snorted coldly, not even bothering to stop them. He simply extended thick metal tentacles to envelop the Construction Machines.
WHOOM— A soft hum, and then a powerful electromagnetic pulse erupted from the part of the Gray Tide that had just enveloped the Construction Machines.
The electromagnetic pulse was so strong that even the Gray Tide, which possessed a resistance to it, couldn’t withstand it. A dead zone, hundreds of meters wide, was instantly blasted into Arthur Seldon’s Gray Tide.
Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb!
Shen Feng still had seven or eight Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs on hand; they were his trump card.
The intensity of these things far surpassed that of an Electromagnetic Pulse Gun. Although they were indiscriminate, this tactic was absolutely effective against Arthur Seldon.
Seeing the bomb’s effectiveness, Shen Feng once again manifested hundreds of Construction Machines. The moment they landed, they charged toward Arthur Seldon’s Gray Tide like a horde of berserkers.
His opponent had no idea how many bombs he had. Every single Construction Machine could potentially be carrying an Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb. The feint was the reality, and the reality was the feint!
The previous Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb had clearly left Arthur Seldon bewildered. Unsure of Shen Feng’s hand, he hesitated for a moment.
The main body of the huge Gray Tide abruptly retreated, opening up a nearly kilometer-wide empty space between them. Then, Construction Machines began to detach from his Gray Tide as well, moving to intercept Shen Feng’s.
As long as he could intercept all of the enemy’s Construction Machines and let them explode in the middle ground, it wouldn’t matter.
For a time, in the open space between the two Gray Tides, thousands of Construction Machines charged at each other like football players, then crashed together violently and began to fight one-on-one.
At the same time, more and more Construction Machines peeled off from the Gray Tides to join the great battle.
They detached so quickly that they even pulled clumps of nanomachines with them, like splashing mercury.
But just as the battle raged on this side, several fist-sized, silver-gray clumps of nanomachines flew out from Shen Feng’s Gray Tide. Seemingly splashed out by accident, they shot like cannonballs across the thousand-meter distance and landed in Arthur Seldon’s Gray Tide.
WHOOM— WHOOM— WHOOM—
The sound of Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs detonating followed. The silver-gray spheres were all filled with Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs!
Arthur Seldon’s Gray Tide immediately suffered a large-scale collapse.
His colossal Gray Tide retreated abruptly, like a living sea of mercury, leaving behind vast patches of dead Gray Tide.
Shen Feng didn’t press his advantage. Instead, he directed his Gray Tide to envelop the dead Nanomechanical Clusters. After a moment of writhing, it began to pull out Hibernation Pods, one after another!
This section of the Gray Tide was storing the Hibernation Pods of the Salvation Army Warriors!
From the very beginning, his primary objective had been these Salvation Army Warriors!
"Jingwei!" Shen Feng called out in a low voice.
Jingwei immediately hacked into and took control of the Hibernation Pods.
The pods burst open, awakening the sleeping Salvation Army Warriors inside.
The Salvation Army Warriors’ eyes snapped open one by one. They stared at their surroundings, stunned but with extremely wary expressions.
"I... I’m still alive?"
"Weren’t I just fighting the Gray Tide..."
"Who woke me up? No, us..."
"Captain Vasily, is that you? Weren’t you already dead?"
Their movements were all remarkably similar. They either leaped or rolled out of the Hibernation Pods, then immediately began scanning their surroundings for anything that could be used as a weapon.
Upon seeing their comrades beside them, they were overjoyed but remained cautious. Only after confirming that their comrades were real did they truly let their happiness show.
But they also quickly realized their situation.
Right next to them was a massive, lake-like expanse of Gray Tide. Farther away, an even more enormous mass of Gray Tide was constantly writhing, looking like it could charge over at any moment.
The battle had never ended. This world still needed them to fight!
Before the Salvation Army Warriors could voice their questions, Shen Feng had Jingwei stand guard against Arthur Seldon in the distance. At the same time, he made his Gray Tide part to form a long corridor, revealing his true self. He said:
"Members of the Salvation Army, I am proud of you. But now is not the time for small talk. Arthur Seldon is nearby, and he wants to destroy us. As you can see, I control a portion of the Gray Tide. I need you to work with me, to fight alongside me."
The group of Salvation Army Warriors was stunned, not expecting a young man to emerge from the Gray Tide before them. A middle-aged man with glasses slowly asked:
"Who are you? Is this another one of Arthur Seldon’s tricks?"
Many of them had been tortured by Arthur Seldon before being captured, and they still vividly remembered his sick sense of humor.
Shen Feng kept a wary eye on Arthur Seldon’s distant Gray Tide and spoke quickly:
"Mr. Li Tongchen? Do you remember the banknote from 2025 I gave you? Mr. Nick, thank you for your attempt to assassinate Kadi Cohen. Oh, Vasily, did the Kremlin give you enough diplomatic authority? And Ms. Suzy..."
In the blink of an eye, Shen Feng had revealed most of the secrets of those present.
Seeing the shocked expressions on their faces, he knew he had guessed correctly.
This Gray Tide Doomsday World was highly similar to the world he came from, almost like a twin Parallel Cosmos.
The only difference was that this world’s Shen Feng was already dead.
And Shen Feng’s words immediately left the Salvation Army Warriors both shocked and bewildered.
They were all elites from various fields with extremely high intelligence. In an instant, they guessed a certain possibility.
A possibility they wouldn’t have dared to imagine even in their dreams!
"Could it be... could you be... You are... No, impossible... How could you... How could you be so young..."
Li Tongchen said, his voice trembling.
"The last time we met was in the game... I am the developer." Shen Feng said quickly, his eyes fixed on the distant mass of Gray Tide that was regrouping to attack:
"Gentlemen, we will fight together. I will grant you all super-high Level auxiliary administrator privileges. Salvation Army, prepare for battle!"
Hearing Shen Feng personally confirm his identity, everyone’s breath grew ragged with excitement. Their eyes filled with expressions of surprise and relief as they looked at each other, unable to believe what they were seeing.
Some even slapped themselves a few times to make sure they weren’t still dreaming in their Hibernation Pods, to ensure this wasn’t all some crude prank by Arthur Seldon.
But the very next moment, upon hearing Shen Feng’s command, a jolt went through every one of them. They answered in perfect, resounding unison:
"Yes, Commander!"
