bookrandom Chapter 1414 Determination
Chapter 1414 Determination
The enigmatic smile on Xiao Ce's face was like ripples on the surface of a deep pool, carrying an all-knowing coldness and a hint of mockery. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze piercing Xiao Dingshan in the metal cage with surgical precision, his voice as calm as stating a simple fact:
"You've finally told the truth."
This seemingly casual remark was like a cold bullet, instantly piercing Xiao Dingshan's frenzied euphoria that had inflated to its extreme.
On his grotesque face, made up of broken metal and pipes, the smugness, excitement, and ferocity receded rapidly like a tide, replaced by an unexpected stiffness and incredulous astonishment.
The will-o'-the-wisp burning in the single eye suddenly stopped, as if frozen by invisible ice.
"you..."
Xiao Dingshan's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out of rusty gears with difficulty, accompanied by a harsh grinding sound and a slight, imperceptible tremor!
"You...you're playing me?!"
He stared intently at Xiao Ce, trying to find a trace of guilt or panic on the other's face, or any evidence that he was trying to trick Xiao Ce into revealing information.
However, Xiao Ce's face only showed that chilling calm and... well-informed certainty.
"Playing you?"
Xiao Ce's smile deepened slightly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes; instead, his deep, pool-like eyes became even colder.
“No, Xiao Dingshan. This is a test.”
His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through the lingering madness in the cell, carrying an absolute sense of control as he slowly and deliberately said, "Clearly, you have completely exposed yourself."
"Exposed?!"
Xiao Dingshan seemed to be burned by those two words. His broken metal body trembled violently and crashed into the restraint device with a loud "bang".
His only remaining eye stared intently at Xiao Ce, filled with confusion, disbelief, and the fury of being fooled.
"Impossible! Your expression just now... that shock and anger! That panic! You clearly..."
He cried out like a drowning man grasping at a straw, his voice shrill and piercing: "Didn't you say the fleet was here?! Didn't you ask so earnestly, 'Are those your people?'?! You lied to me?!"
He practically screamed it out...
"Correct."
Xiao Ce's answer was crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation, and even carried a hint of relaxed smile, as if he were confirming something trivial.
"I was lying to you. That roar, that vibration, was the sound waves and energy fluctuations from the starship's warp drive being overloaded, as simulated in the control room. As for my expression..."
He shrugged and said casually, "The acting was pretty realistic, wasn't it?"
After all, someone terrified by reinforcements is more likely to make you, the 'hunter' who has suppressed your true nature for thousands of years, eagerly spill all your dirty secrets.
"you!"
Xiao Dingshan's thinking was completely shattered by this naked truth.
That maniacal laughter that he saw as a declaration of final victory, that meticulously planned declaration of revenge, that triumphant revelation of the secrets of the "Creation Council" and "his" "cowardice"!
It turns out that all of this was just a dead end that Xiao Ce had laid out for him!
He was like a clown performing energetically on stage, while the only audience member was recording all his ugly behavior and secrets with cold eyes!
The immense humiliation and the fear of being completely manipulated overwhelmed Xiao Dingshan's remaining rationality like highly toxic lava.
"Cunning! Despicable! Shameless bastard!!"
Xiao Dingshan let out a beast-like roar, no longer the arrogant madness of before, but filled with utter, hysterical anger and despair.
He struggled with all his might!
His hideous face was twisted to the extreme, and his single eye seemed to spew forth flames of resentment, as if he wanted to devour Xiao Ce alive.
It was all for naught. If looks could kill, Xiao Ce would have died a thousand times over...
"You filthy worm from the gutter! You cunning little bug! You deserve to die a horrible death! I'll tear you apart! I'll rip your soul..."
Filthy and vicious curses poured from his mouth like a flood, each word soaked with millennia of resentment and the fury of being fooled.
He cursed Xiao Ce's origins, his bloodline, the planet he protected, and even hurled the most vile words at the long-deceased emperor of the Dragon Kingdom and that "him".
This is an out-of-control outburst, a powerless rage after one's dignity has been utterly trampled.
However, no matter how much he roared, how much he rammed, or how much he cursed, the energy barrier remained unmoved, firmly locking him in that small area.
Outside the barrier, Xiao Ce maintained a chilling calm, not even frowning, simply watching him perform this desperate one-man show with his unfathomable eyes.
He actually found it somewhat amusing, since the reason he was so hysterical was because he had broken down.
Gradually, Xiao Dingshan's roar became hoarse, and the force of his impact weakened.
Under absolute confinement and Xiao Ce's icy gaze, that raging anger was quickly cooled, as if doused with ice water, revealing a deeper, suffocating fear beneath.
He realized that insults and curses had no effect on this hard-hearted and calculating young man.
The raging tide receded, leaving behind only a chilling reality and utter despair.
"no no..."
Xiao Dingshan's voice suddenly changed tone, from a roar to rapid panting, carrying a chilling panic.
"What I just said...those things...about the fleet, about the Creation Council, about him...it was all...all nonsense! Yes! It was a joke! I was locked up for too long, and I was delirious, talking nonsense! Xiao Ce! Listen to me, that was..."
He desperately tried to "make amends," forcing a distorted, almost ingratiating expression onto his metallic face, but what flickered in his single eye was an undisguised fear and a humble plea.
"Is it a joke?"
Xiao Ce finally spoke, his voice calm and even, yet it struck Xiao Dingshan's heart like a heavy hammer.
"Yes, yes, it's a joke!"
As if grasping at a straw, Xiao Dingshan quickly began to explain, "You know, I've been locked up here for too long, my mind isn't clear! The commotion outside just now scared me, so I... I made up a story to scare you!"
"Orion Fleet? Creation Council? They're all my imaginations! The Seventh Fleet doesn't exist! Planetary Disintegration Cannon? That's something from starship novels!"
And that story about 'him' is all made up! Star marrow? What star marrow? I don't understand what you're talking about!
His explanations were weak, illogical, incoherent, and full of obvious lies.
He was like a gambler who, after revealing all his cards, tried to pick them up from the floor and pretend nothing had happened—futile and laughable.
Xiao Ce simply watched him quietly, his eyes unwavering, as if he were watching a farce.
This silence is more oppressive than any rebuke.
Seeing that Xiao Ce did not respond, Xiao Dingshan's expression became increasingly awkward.
He sensed the absolute negation in that gaze.
Fear gripped him completely. The shadow of thousands of years of imprisonment, the fear of annihilation, and the dread of Xiao Ce's unfathomable methods crushed his last shred of pride as a "hunter."
"Xiao Ce... Lord Xiao..."
His voice suddenly dropped to a minimum, with a nauseating groveling quality, his metal head struggling to adopt a lowered posture, his single eye filled with a pitiful, groveling look.
"I...I was wrong...I shouldn't have lied to you, shouldn't have threatened you...I deserve to die! I really deserve to die! But...please...please consider me...I am, after all, a distant ancestor of the Xiao family...Although our bloodline has faded...but...but we are still of the same origin..."
He paused, as if organizing more humble words, his metallic chest heaving violently with rapid "breathing".
"I know...I know a lot! The Creation Council's true trump card! The Seventh Fleet's weakness! The Planetary Disintegration Cannon's charging cycle!"
And...and precise distribution maps of the Star Marrow veins! Lots and lots of them...all real!
"What I said before was 90% true!" He was eager to prove his worth, and his words became incoherent.
"Just...just let me go...no! Just give me a chance! I can help you! I can help you deal with them!"
"If the Orion Seventh Fleet really comes, I'll be your hostage! No! I'll be your mole! I know their communication frequencies, their commander's weaknesses! I can help you destroy them! Turn them all into cosmic dust!"
His voice was filled with a desperate allure, as if he were willing to betray everything, even his so-called "master," just to survive.
"And...and the 'Genesis'! Yes! The core control key for the Genesis Base!"
I know where it is! Once you get it, you can control the remaining power of the Creation! There are also many usable weapons and technologies inside! Much more powerful than the Starlink Nexus!
If you let me go... I can take you there!
I can give you everything! This planet, these star marrow, are all yours! You are their true master! I...I only ask...
I just want to survive... even if... even if I'm locked up here forever... or...
Or become your lowest servant... cleaning up trash...
"I'll do anything..."
Xiao Dingshan's voice had taken on a sobbing tone; it was a shrill, extremely unpleasant sound produced by the friction of metal, mimicking human crying.
He abandoned all dignity, like the most despicable beggar, using every conceivable bargaining chip to try and gain a sliver of hope.
In his single eye, the burning ambition and arrogance that once burned within him have been completely extinguished, leaving only the most instinctive, primal, and humble desire for survival.
Xiao Ce remained silent throughout, like an unchanging iceberg. Only when Xiao Dingshan's pleading gradually weakened into intermittent sobs did his cold eyes slightly shift, landing on Xiao Dingshan's metallic face, which was twisted beyond recognition by despair and pleas.
That gaze was devoid of warmth, devoid of pity, containing only a deep, soul-piercing indifference.
After a long silence, just as Xiao Dingshan was about to be crushed by the deathly silence, Xiao Ce finally spoke.
The voice wasn't loud, but it was like a frigid polar wind, instantly freezing the last glimmer of hope Xiao Dingshan had left.
Why should I believe you?
These five short words, like five icicles, precisely pierced through all of Xiao Dingshan's fantasies.
There was no questioning of details, no bargaining, only a fundamental and thorough denial of him as a person and everything he said.
Xiao Dingshan opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word. All his bargaining chips, all his lies, and his final pleas seemed so pale, laughable, and utterly vulnerable in the face of the question, "Why should I believe you?"
He then realized with despair that in Xiao Ce's eyes, he was already a worthless piece of trash, devoid of any credibility, value, or even reliable as a tool.
All his performances, from maniacal laughter to angry curses to the final humble pleas, were probably seen by the other party as nothing more than the dying struggle of a clown.
Xiao Ce gave him one last cold look.
That glance held no anger, no disgust, not even contempt, only a profound emptiness that seemed to have seen through a thousand years of dust and the very essence of decay.
It was as if confirming that a piece of debris was about to be completely swept into the dustbin of history.
Then, without any hesitation, Xiao Ce turned around decisively.
The black figure, tall and straight as a pine tree, walked steadily without pausing, heading straight for the heavy alloy door of the prison cell.
The sound of footsteps echoed clearly in the empty, deathly silent cell, each step feeling like it was treading on Xiao Dingshan's heart, which was on the verge of collapse.
"Xiao Ce! Xiao Ce! Wait! Listen to me! I can still..."
Xiao Dingshan let out a final, shrill scream, his voice distorted, as he slammed his last remaining strength into the barrier, creating a dull thud.
However, Xiao Ce did not stop in his tracks.
Hum...!
The heavy alloy door slid open silently to both sides, letting in the cold light from the passageway outside, outlining Xiao Ce's resolute silhouette.
"No...!!! You can't leave! Come back! Please! Come back...!!!" Xiao Dingshan's scream turned into a desperate wail, accompanied by the ear-piercing noise of metal scraping together, like the wailing of a vengeful ghost from the depths of hell. He frantically slammed against the restraint device, the energy lines bursting with sparks due to overload, and his entire metal torso groaning under the strain.
Xiao Ce's figure had already disappeared into the light outside the door.
Hum...!
The alloy door behind him, like a cold judgment, slowly and emotionlessly closed again.
Xiao Dingshan's hysterical desperate cries, frantic banging sounds, and the nauseating fear and humiliation that permeated the entire cell were all isolated within that cold metal cage.
The door was completely shut.
Xiao Ce was also preparing to leave at this moment...