Chapter 482: Black Reaper Project

Little Black’s relentless pursuit and pinpoint tracking remained Feng Qi’s greatest mystery.

Historically, Little Black was born long after Feng Qi had died—centuries after his ashes had moldered into dust.

After 1,500 years, the world had transformed beyond recognition. Logically, there should have been no connection between them.

Yet every time Feng Qi appeared in the future world, Little Black would unerringly locate and pursue him.

Staring at the black shadow hovering nearby, Feng Qi wondered if it held the answer to this enigma.

One thing was certain: Little Black’s abilities were linked to the miracle item the black shadow had stolen during their defection.

Only a miracle item could explain Little Black’s seemingly invincible combat prowess.

Even with the Technology Research Institute’s vast resources, they could never have created such a unique lifeform without such an artifact.

Imagine each miracle item as a cheat code.

The future’s Ten Thousand Clans Hegemony was a battle of deities.

Each race, armed with their own cheat codes (miracle items), waged a bloody war for survival.

Among these cheat codes, Little Black stood apart as a singular anomaly.

While other cheats granted races a significant boost in developmental potential, none could provide a species with unparalleled power from the start. Little Black, however, was an unsolvable enigma from the moment of his creation.

The Narrator’s analysis of Little Black’s physical structure revealed three combat forms:

1. The Aggregate Form, the form in which he first encountered Little Black.

2. The Vaporized Form, the black mist state.

Even in these two forms alone, Little Black was virtually invincible, immune to all forms of attack and capable of devouring energy to infinitely reproduce Spirit Energy Nanoworms.

The Scarlet Research Institute once spent a fortune, sacrificing nearly an entire battle group, to capture a single Spirit Energy Nanoworm.

After extensive testing, they discovered that the Nanoworm was utterly indestructible.

In energy consumption tests, they found that a single Nanoworm could devour energy 50 million times its own volume.

This was merely the testing limit, not the Nanoworm’s actual capacity.

The Scarlet Research Institute lacked the means to determine the true limits of the Spirit Energy Nanoworms.

And this was just one of Little Black’s trillion-fold bodies, like a single drop of water in an ocean. The Scarlet Research Institute could no more fathom the ocean’s depth and capacity from this drop than they could comprehend Little Black’s true potential.

Even the strongest opponents felt powerless before Little Black.

Recalling his last Dream Realm experience, he had obtained the collective sacrifice of thousands of Goat-Headed Demons, granting him unimaginable combat power.

At that time, he had even deluded himself into believing he could fight Little Black for three hundred rounds.

He was then abruptly and mercilessly beaten by the suddenly appearing Dark God using art magic, leaving him utterly defenseless.

Yet even the Dark God dared not even contemplate attacking Little Black. Before Little Black could approach, the Dark God decisively tore through space, slinking into a dimensional rift to escape.

This demonstrated Little Black’s overwhelming deterrent force.

Perhaps Little Black’s never-before-seen Third Form could truly achieve the Pillar God’s power, as Old Mist described—standing at the pinnacle of the world, gazing down upon all living beings.

If the miracle items wielded by various races were cheats, then Little Black was the trump card among cheats. Its magic immunity and physical immunity alone made it invincible.

It could be scattered, but never destroyed. Even a trillionth of its body remained Undying and Indestructible.

If the black shadow truly possessed the ability to control Little Black, why would it fear the Spirit Energy Clan’s search?

Now, facing Feng Qi’s inquiry, the black shadow’s face revealed astonishment.

“You know about the Black Reaper Project?!”

The black shadow’s voice was filled with shock, and a storm raged within its consciousness.

The Black Reaper Project was its ultimate trump card, and only core members of the Technology Research Institute under its strict surveillance knew about it.

It immediately realized that there must be a traitor within the institute.

Otherwise, such vital information could never have been leaked.

However, after a brief moment of surprise, the black shadow quickly regained its composure.

In its view, the crimson giant standing before it merely knew the name “Black Reaper Project” but couldn’t possibly understand its detailed contents.

After all, even the core researchers of the Technology Research Institute were unaware of the project’s full scope.

Only “Mo,” whom it had hidden away, possessed complete knowledge of the Black Reaper Project.

As for the other institute personnel involved, they had only been exposed to its superficial aspects.

With this thought, the black shadow’s tense heart finally relaxed.

Its gaze turned icy:

“So, you have your people within the Technology Research Institute? Perhaps… Li Xingchen?”

Li Xingchen’s sudden betrayal had completely caught it off guard.

It was now almost certain that Li Xingchen’s betrayal had been orchestrated by forces within Star City.

However, even though Li Xingchen was a key figure in the Technology Research Institute’s core circle, he had never been privy to the details of the Black Reaper Project. Therefore, it wasn’t concerned about the crimson giant before it learning the project’s specifics.

“Yes, Li Xingchen is one of my people,” Feng Qi admitted without hesitation.

“You’ve traveled all this way just to question me about the details of the Black Reaper Project?”

Feng Qi nodded calmly.

He knew that without providing some concrete information, the black shadow would likely offer evasive answers and withhold the truth.

After all, the Black Reaper Project was the black shadow’s ultimate trump card, the core strategy for its future plans.

It would never reveal such crucial information easily, and might even assume Feng Qi had only heard rumors and lacked detailed knowledge.

In the black shadow’s view, only it, its clansmen, and the mysterious Mo knew the full truth of the project. Even the Technology Research Institute’s core personnel were unaware of its true nature.

Still, Feng Qi decided to test the waters with the black shadow.

With this in mind, he spoke in a deep voice:

“I know you’re creating a special life form—or perhaps we should call it a Spirit Energy Nanoworm. It has the ability to devour all forms of energy, and it can coalesce into entirely new life forms. It’s also immune to magic… Oh, and I bet this plan is connected to that miracle item you stole when you defected from the Spirit Energy Clan, right?”

The sheer volume of information in those few sentences finally shattered the black shadow’s composure.

Those words contained nearly all its secrets.

“Who are you? Where did you get this information?” the black shadow demanded, its expression twisted with rage.

Feng Qi’s words had completely upended the black shadow’s sense of control.

It knew nothing about its enemy, yet the enemy knew everything about it.

The unknown breeds fear, and the black shadow finally cracked.

Seeing the black shadow’s near-hysterical emotional shift, a smile crept across Feng Qi’s face.

There was a time when he had been the one facing the unknown with terror.

He still vividly remembered the bewilderment and fear he felt when he first confronted the black shadow, and his utter confusion about the path ahead.

Now, standing atop the corpses piled up by the Sacrifice Line, he had reached a new starting point and a higher vantage point.

This time, the roles were reversed.

Faced with Feng Qi’s vast knowledge, the black shadow was now the one grappling with bewilderment, fear, and the unknown.

Just as Feng Qi was about to press further, the black shadow’s emotions suddenly receded, and it spoke in a cold voice:

“I suspect you don’t know all my secrets. Stop playing coy. If you truly knew everything, you wouldn’t be standing here, trying to negotiate the truth about the Black Reaper Project.”

Hearing this, Feng Qi nodded frankly.

From the very beginning, the true objective of this war wasn’t to completely crush the Technology Research Institute.

Intelligence was the core requirement driving the conflict.

(End of the Chapter)