You piloted the small assault ship, seized during your defection from the Xianzhou, drifting alone in the vast, boundless cosmos.
The experience of a millennium of imprisonment gnawed at your consciousness day and night, like a maggot embedded in bone. Those dark days fermented within your heart, ultimately transforming into a hatred for the Xianzhou Alliance that permeated your very marrow. The flames of vengeance burned deep within your core, but you understood that the time was not yet ripe. The Xianzhou Alliance, that colossal entity, was not something you could easily shake at your current strength. The immediate priority was to find a new host, a vessel that could temporarily shelter you and allow you to continue to grow stronger.
You continued to wander through the star sea, searching for isolated ships that would be easy targets. By chance, you successfully possessed a low-level employee of the Interstellar Peace Corporation. From his chaotic memories, you learned about this universe-spanning commercial behemoth—the "Interstellar Peace Corporation." What made your Heliobus Fire surge even higher was the realization that this company was an ally of the Xianzhou Alliance!
"Hmph, they're truly birds of a feather!" A murderous intent arose in your heart. Since you couldn't touch the Xianzhou Alliance for now, then extracting some interest from its ally, throwing it into utter chaos, would be a small form of revenge. Your hatred found a new outlet.
[At 1800 years old, after a meticulous selection process, your gaze settled on a stellar cruise ship named the "Queen."]
This cruise ship, belonging to the Interstellar Peace Corporation, was one of its most luxurious flagships. It was renowned across various star systems for its extreme opulence and a security system boasted to be watertight, consistently carrying high-ranking Interstellar Peace Corporation executives, cosmic magnates and tycoons, and influential figures from various stellar civilizations. The "Queen" was not merely a cruise ship; it was the Interstellar Peace Corporation's face to the world, showcasing its power and wealth.
If you could stir up some trouble on this ship, it would undoubtedly be the loudest slap in the face to the Interstellar Peace Corporation. You began to prepare. After some effort, you targeted a low-level maintenance worker on the "Queen." The process was not complicated; for you, who had lived for nearly two millennia, possessing a weak-willed ordinary person was as easy as turning over your hand. Thus, you gained the qualification to board the "Queen."
[Soon, the "Queen" was about to embark on a luxurious voyage, and you successfully blended in.]
The moment you stepped onto the "Queen," the invisible Golden Threads within you spread to every corner of the cruise ship. The hypocritical conversations of clinking glasses in the VIP lounge, every command issued by the captain in the cockpit, the loopholes in the security system, the hidden scandals in executives' personal terminals, even the most unspeakable secrets deep within certain passengers… everything continuously poured into your consciousness. You felt yourself transform into an omnipresent ghost of this colossal vessel, hidden in the shadows, coldly observing every prey. You felt an inexplicable excitement and satisfaction.
[Subsequently, you planned to begin by dismantling the security system from within.]
You successfully possessed a security captain responsible for a specific area. Using this security captain as a springboard, you repeated your tactic, and over the next few days, you infiltrated the cruise ship's critical positions like a virus. The Stellar Wheel Captain, Communications Supervisor, Catering Manager… these personnel who held core operational power of the cruise ship, one after another, fell under your control. You carefully erased parts of their memories from when they were possessed, allowing them to act freely like puppets on strings under your mental suggestion, as if everything were normal.
[Under your clandestine manipulation, the "Queen's" seemingly calm voyage began to show cracks.]
The navigation system would occasionally experience brief malfunctions, causing the route to deviate. The meticulously prepared food in the restaurant would sometimes cause diners to vomit, and at other times, make terrifying illusions flash before their eyes. Monitoring footage would inexplicably cut out for a few seconds, as if something had been deliberately erased. The ship's broadcast system would occasionally suddenly play distorted, ear-piercing static, or interference signals with terrifying whispers.
[These inexplicable and bizarre events stirred unease among the passengers.]
Commotion began to spread throughout the ship. And you were waiting for the most opportune moment.
[Finally, at a grand banquet held for a high-ranking Interstellar Peace Corporation executive, you drew back the curtain on your "feast."]
The crew members you controlled infiltrated the system, and evidence of this executive's corruption, embezzlement, and suppression of dissent using his authority was suddenly projected onto the giant screen in the banquet hall. The images and recordings on the screen were clear and explicit, instantly turning the normally sanctimonious executive's face ashen.
But this was just the beginning. Immediately following, scandals of other executives and wealthy merchants were also exposed in various unexpected ways: Private communication records were directly broadcast, illicit transaction contracts appeared on public terminals, and even certain photos were projected onto the advertising screens on the ship's exterior. In an instant, the upper crust of the cruise ship lost all their proud composure, and the banquet hall instantly transformed into a hellish scene.
Panicked dignitaries accused each other, desperately trying to contact the outside world for help. However, they soon discovered with despair that no matter what communication device they used, they could not connect to the external network. What terrified them even more was that when someone tried to leave in an escape pod, they found that all the escape pod doors could not be opened. This stellar cruise ship became an isolated island in the cosmos.
[Subsequently, people began to suspect each other, and panic spread wildly like a virus within this confined space.]
You further unleashed the power of Heliobus, stimulating people's most primal fears with large-scale illusions. Some saw the ship's hull cracking, with the deep cosmos about to swallow everything. Some saw hideous and terrifying monsters crawling out of the walls, ready to devour people. Some saw their loved ones and friends suddenly become distorted and unfamiliar, revealing malicious smiles. The cruise ship instantly plummeted from a luxurious paradise into a bloody hell.
Everyone revealed their ugliest side. These individuals, who were usually high and mighty, were no different from beggars on the street in the face of death. To seize the limited survival resources, they began to attack each other, drawing blades. A brutal and bloody "battle royale" began to unfold within this massive metal cage.
You swam in this ocean of negative emotions… these intense emotions were, for you, more delicious "food" than any material substance. Your Heliobus Fire grew at a visible rate, its color changing from emerald green to increasingly deep and eerie, as if burning with the fires of hell. You watched this madness, which you had personally orchestrated, and felt an incomparable exhilaration.
[Battle royale successfully created! Villain Value +500!]