The array pulsed.
Historical administrator signature accepted
Secondary authority detected
Supreme Villain Authority
Evaluating succession
Shen Tian stared.
Caius went pale.
"No."
Then...
The system displayed:
Original administrator: deceased
Current administrator: Crowned Serpent
Current administrator legitimacy: stolen
Host classification: Villain
Host Fate Authority: Superior
Host Sovereign Authority: Superior
Host has defeated previous Crowned Serpent control structure
Succession conditions satisfied
Caius screamed.
"NO!"
Shen Tian smiled.
Transfer ownership?
"Yes."
Confirm?
"Yes."
Final confirmation. Fate structures may be permanently altered.
Shen Tian sighed.
"Yes."
Xu Ning smiled.
[It likes paperwork.]
"Apparently."
Then...
OWNERSHIP TRANSFERRED
Silence.
Nothing happened.
Qin Hao stared.
Adrian stared.
Chen Mo stared.
Caius stared.
Shen Tian stared.
Then...
Qin Hao slowly asked...
"That’s it?"
Shen Tian shrugged.
"Apparently."
Then...
Every golden chain vanished.
Qin Hao dropped.
Adrian fell forward.
Chen Mo stumbled.
Subject Zero collapsed.
Caius’ connection to the machine severed.
His eyes widened.
Then...
A new panel appeared before Shen Tian.
Welcome, Administrator Shen Tian
He smiled.
"There it is."
Qin Hao’s face darkened.
"I hate that sentence."
. . .
Xu Ning immediately began scanning.
[Host.]
"What?"
[You have complete control.]
"Storage?"
[Yes.]
"Records?"
[Yes.]
"Research?"
[Yes.]
"Fate reserves?"
Silence.
Xu Ning froze.
Shen Tian noticed.
"How much?"
[Host.]
"How much?"
[The array has been operating for more than seventy years.]
"Xu Ning."
She slowly opened the panel.
Stored Raw Fate Reserve
1,864,700
Silence.
Shen Tian stared.
Then...
Slowly...
Smiled.
Qin Hao saw the smile.
His expression changed.
"No."
Adrian looked between them.
"What?"
Qin Hao pointed.
"That face."
Adrian looked toward Shen Tian.
Then...
"Oh."
Chen Mo frowned.
"What?"
Adrian sighed.
"Money face."
Shen Tian looked offended.
"It’s not money."
Qin Hao stared.
"It’s worse than money."
Shen Tian ignored him.
"Can I take it?"
Xu Ning analyzed.
[Not all.]
His smile faded.
"Why?"
[Corrupted.]
"How much?"
[Analyzing.]
Numbers shifted.
Stored Raw Fate: 1,864,700
Corrupted beyond recovery: 488,000
Bound to living subjects: 302,000
Bound to Subject Zero: 812,000
Unbound recoverable reserve: 262,700
Shen Tian stared.
"Only 262,700?"
Qin Hao’s mouth opened.
"ONLY?"
Shen Tian looked toward him.
"Yes."
Qin Hao stared.
Then...
At Han Yuer.
"Am I insane?"
Han Yuer smiled.
"Sometimes."
"No, specifically now."
She looked toward Shen Tian.
Then...
"Not this time."
Qin Hao pointed triumphantly.
"Thank you."
Shen Tian ignored them.
Xu Ning continued.
[Supreme Villain Authority bonus applies if seized through hostile takeover.]
His eyebrow rose.
"Twenty percent."
[Correct.]
Shen Tian smiled again.
Qin Hao groaned.
"Stop smiling."
Unbound Fate seized: 262,700
Villainous Plunder Bonus: +52,540
Total Fate Harvest: 315,240
Golden energy entered Shen Tian.
His eyes closed.
Not Qi.
Not cultivation.
Something stranger.
Authority.
Luck.
Narrative weight.
The world itself becoming slightly less resistant to him.
Xu Ning stared.
[Host Fate density increased substantially.]
Shen Tian opened his eyes.
"Good."
Then...
He looked toward the 302,000 Fate bound to living subjects.
"Return it."
Xu Ning froze.
[What?]
"Return it."
[To the original owners?]
"Whoever is alive."
Xu Ning stared.
[You could purify it.]
"I know."
[That’s over three hundred thousand.]
"I can count."
[With your bonus...]
"Xu Ning."
She stopped.
Shen Tian looked toward the medical chambers.
"Give it back."
Silence.
Then...
Xu Ning smiled.
[Understood.]
The array activated.
Golden light traveled upward.
Through floors.
Into chambers.
Bodies.
People who had spent years weakened.
Drained.
Broken.
Their stolen fragments returned.
Not all.
Some owners were dead.
Some Fate signatures were too damaged.
But...
What could return...
Did.
Lin Yue stood in the medical wing.
A young woman’s eyes suddenly opened.
Another patient’s heartbeat strengthened.
Then another.
Medical monitors changed.
Lin Yue stared.
"What..."
A golden thread passed through the room.
She smiled.
"Shen Tian."
. . .
Back in the core chamber...
System notifications exploded.
Fate restored to surviving victims
Living Fate routes stabilized: 41
Dormant destinies reactivated: 17
Narrative correction triggered
Xu Ning’s eyes widened.
[Host.]
"What?"
[You may have just created new Fate entities.]
Shen Tian paused.
Then...
His smile slowly returned.
"Protagonists?"
[Possibly.]
Qin Hao’s expression became horrified.
"No."
Shen Tian laughed.
Qin Hao stared.
"You deliberately returned Fate and created MORE protagonists?"
Shen Tian looked toward him.
"Investment."
"INVESTMENT?"
"They grow."
"Then I take it."
Qin Hao stared.
Adrian started laughing.
Chen Mo shook his head.
Shen Tian smiled.
"Efficient ecosystem."
Xu Ning covered her face.
[Host.]
"What?"
[You are farming protagonists.]
"Exactly."
. . .
Subject Zero remained on the floor.
His artificial Fate...
812,000.
Still bound.
Shen Tian looked toward him.
"Can we separate it?"
Xu Ning analyzed.
[Not safely.]
Subject Zero slowly opened his eyes.
Shen Tian crouched.
"You alive?"
Silence.
Subject Zero stared.
Then...
"Yes."
"Good."
His eyes moved around.
The control marks were gone.
No voice.
No commands.
No Crowned Serpent.
Then...
He looked toward Caius.
The old man lay injured nearby.
Subject Zero’s expression changed.
Caius stared.
"Zero."
Subject Zero froze.
Caius smiled weakly.
"You belong to..."
Shen Tian’s foot landed on Caius’ chest.
CRACK.
Caius gasped.
Shen Tian looked down.
"Finish that sentence."
Caius stared.
Then...
Shut his mouth.
Subject Zero watched.
Then...
Shen Tian looked toward him.
"You need a name."
Subject Zero stared.
"A name?"
"Zero is stupid."
Silence.
Adrian nodded.
"Agreed."
Qin Hao crossed his arms.
"Surprisingly."
Chen Mo looked toward Subject Zero.
Then...
"Let him choose."
Shen Tian nodded.
"Obviously."
Subject Zero became quiet.
Choose.
Again.
That word.
Everything was choice now.
It was terrifying.
Then...
His memories shifted.
Not his.
Stolen fragments.
Thousands of stolen memories.
Names that weren’t his.
People he wasn’t.
Lives he never lived.
Then...
One memory.
A child.
Not Subject Zero.
Someone whose Fate had been harvested decades ago.
A mother calling from a doorway.
"Ren."
Subject Zero froze.
The memory faded.
He looked toward Shen Tian.
"Ren."
Shen Tian stared.
"Ren?"
Subject Zero nodded.
"I choose..."
His voice remained rough.
"Ren."
Shen Tian smiled.
"Better than Zero."
Caius shouted from the floor.
"YOU ARE SUBJECT ZERO."
Ren looked toward him.
Then...
"No."
Silence.
Caius froze.
Ren stared.
"My name..."
He looked toward Shen Tian.
Then...
Back.
"...is Ren."
Something happened.
The system reacted.
Artificial Fate Entity self identity established
Narrative instability decreasing
Artificial Fate Value stabilized
812,000
Xu Ning’s eyes widened.
[Host.]
"What?"
[He created an identity.]
"Good."
[No. You don’t understand.]
She stared at Ren.
[Artificial Fate isn’t supposed to self stabilize.]
[It requires narrative anchoring.]
Shen Tian looked toward Ren.
Then...
His smile slowly appeared.
"He became his own anchor."
Xu Ning became silent.
Then...
[Yes.]
. . .
Caius stared.
Everything.
Seventy six years.
Research.
Bodies.
Bloodlines.
Fate.
Gone.
Then...
His eyes changed.
Desperation.
He reached toward the broken control console.
Shen Tian noticed.
But...
Didn’t move.
Caius’ fingers touched one button.
Emergency purge.
Xu Ning’s eyes widened.
[HOST!]
Caius smiled.
"IF I CAN’T HAVE IT..."
Then...
Ren moved.
One step.
His hand caught Caius’ wrist.
Silence.
Caius stared.
Ren looked down.
Then...
For the first time...
Anger.
Not programmed.
Not controlled.
His own.
"You hurt them."
Caius froze.
Ren’s stolen memories.
Victims.
Thousands.
Pieces.
He remembered their pain.
Not as data.
As fragments inside himself.
"You hurt..."
His voice shook.
"...all of them."
Caius tried pulling away.
Ren didn’t let go.
Then...
Shen Tian placed one hand on Ren’s shoulder.
Ren looked toward him.
"Don’t."
Ren stared.
Shen Tian continued.
"If you kill him now..."
"You’re doing what they made you to do."
Silence.
Ren’s grip loosened.
Caius gasped.
Then...
Shen Tian smiled.
"I’ll do it."
Absolute silence.
Qin Hao closed his eyes.
Adrian laughed.
Chen Mo stared.
Rose covered her mouth.
Ren looked confused.
Shen Tian summoned the Heaven Severing Sovereign Spear.
Caius’ eyes widened.
"WAIT."
Shen Tian looked down.
Caius crawled backward.
"You need me."
"No."
"My research."
"Copied."
"My knowledge."
"Database."
"The other facilities."
"Records."
"My contacts."
"Bai Xue."
Bai Xue smiled.
Caius stared.
Then...
Fear.
Real.
Shen Tian’s spear lowered.
Then...
Stopped.
Xu Ning spoke.
[Host.]
"What?"
[Alive may be more useful.]
Shen Tian stared.
Then...
At Caius.
His smile disappeared.
Caius exhaled.
Relief.
Wrong reaction.
Shen Tian smiled again.
"Good point."
Caius froze.
Shen Tian looked toward Shen Yan.
His sister smiled.
Caius went pale.
Shen Tian spoke.
"He’s yours."
Shen Yan’s smile widened.
"Alive?"
"For now."
Caius stared.
Then...
At Shen Yan.
Something about her expression terrified him more than Shen Tian’s spear.
"Wait."
Shen Yan grabbed him.
"Come."
"No."
She dragged him away.
"WAIT."
Bai Xue laughed.
Rose looked toward Shen Tian.
"You’re cruel."
He smiled.
"Villain."
She shook her head.
But...
Her lips curved.
. . .
The Crowned Serpent facility began surrendering.
Without Caius.
Without Subject Zero.
Without the array.
Their European network collapsed within hours.
Bai Xue’s contacts moved immediately.
Shen International security secured laboratories.
Gu Qingya and Ling Shuangxue copied corporate records.
Tang Meilin traced financial routes.
Qin Ruobing identified shell organizations.
Rose coordinated extraction.
Lin Yue treated survivors.
Li Lian and Ruan Yizhen catalogued victim identities.
Chu Zijin worked with communications.
The women weren’t just present.
They were useful.
Every one.
The Sovereign’s Court resonance remained active.
Not forcing.
Connecting.
Then...
Xu Ning opened another notification.
Crowned Serpent European Branch Defeated
Major Hidden Organization Route Severed
Host Reward
Fate Value: +315,240 harvested
Cultivation Reward: Sovereign Dragon Meridian Expansion
System Authority Upgrade
Villainous Plunder efficiency increased: 20% → 25%
Shen Tian’s eyebrow rose.
"Nice."
Then...
Another notification.
Hidden Reward
Artificial Fate Entity Ren successfully liberated
Reward: Fate Refinement Core
Function: Purifies corrupted Fate fragments
Shen Tian smiled.
"There we go."
Xu Ning stared.
[Host.]
"What?"
[You can purify the corrupted reserve.]
His smile widened.
[Not all at once.]
"How much?"
[Approximately ten thousand per month.]
Shen Tian calculated.
488,000 corrupted Fate.
Nearly four years.
"Fine."
[You’re patient?]
"No."
Xu Ning stared.
"Upgrade it later."
She sighed.
[Of course.]
. . .
Qin Hao approached.
Shen Tian looked toward him.
"What?"
Qin Hao stared.
Then...
"Nothing."
Shen Tian raised an eyebrow.
"You walked over."
"I know."
"Why?"
Qin Hao paused.
Then...
His thoughts escaped.
I want to ask about the First Villain.
Several women nearby heard.
Rose smiled.
Qin Hao noticed.
"Never mind."
Shen Tian laughed.
"What about him?"
Qin Hao sighed.
Then...
"Lucian."
Adrian looked over.
His expression changed.
Qin Hao continued.
"Your system called him a failed villain."
Shen Tian nodded.
"So?"
"What happened to his system?"
Silence.
Xu Ning froze.
Shen Tian’s expression changed.
Good question.
Lucian died.
Crowned Serpent took his research.
His blood.
His Court.
But...
His system?
No record.
Xu Ning searched.
Nothing.
Then...
The Imperial Vessel Array reacted.
One hidden file.
Encrypted.
Administrator only.
Shen Tian opened it.
Project designation: Counterweight
Qin Hao’s expression changed.
SEND POWESTONES!!!
ALL SUPER GIFTS (Magic Castle, Space Ship, Golden Gachapon) = MORE ChapterS!

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