[Location: Tianhai City · Abandoned Nuclear Power Plant No. 09 · Core Area]
[Radiation Level: Lethal]
[Current Operation: Illegal Restart]
...
The city's neon lights were blocked out by thick lead doors.
This was a forbidden zone in Tianhai City, a nuclear power plant that had been shut down twenty years ago due to an "unknown miracle" (actually a high-dimensional data overflow).
The air was filled with the scent of deathly dust, and a faint, sweet, metallic smell that would cause cell necrosis in ordinary people—the smell of high-concentration radiation.
But in Shen Qingqiu's eyes, this was the perfect **"alchemical furnace."**
She stood on the maintenance bridge above the massive reactor pool. Below her, dozens of meters of cooling water emitted a faint Cherenkov blue light. That blue was pure, deadly, and strikingly similar to Seventeen's emotionless electronic eyes.
"Seventeen, is this temperature enough?"
Shen Qingqiu took off her smart glasses and connected them to the reactor's main control terminal.
Her fingers danced across the holographic keyboard, like playing a passionate rendition of "Guangling San."
[Warning: Control rods are being forcibly withdrawn...]
[Warning: Chain reaction is about to go supercritical...]
"Qingqiu, you're playing with fire."
Seventeen's voice echoed through the empty factory building via the loudspeaker. Although there was a hint of helplessness, there was more indulgence.
"The high temperature generated by the uranium-235 fission is equivalent to three times that of the Supreme Lord Laozi's Eight Trigram Furnace. Are you sure your physical body can withstand it?"
"An ordinary body certainly can't."
Shen Qingqiu stopped her movements and turned to look beside her.
There was a huge silver metal box there.
The lid was open, revealing a full ton of liquid nanofluid. That was the top-grade material she had "borrowed" from a military industrial enterprise's warehouse after hacking into it. They looked like a pool of still mercury, reflecting a cold metallic sheen under the blue light.
"But I don't want you to be human."
Shen Qingqiu reached out, her fingertips gently tracing the cold liquid metal. "I want you to become... a god."
"To become the only... nuclear demon god in this cybernetic chaos."
...
[Alchemy Begins]
"Inject the data soul core."
Shen Qingqiu gave the order.
A red chip (the carrier of the Red Lotus Mark) on her smart glasses automatically detached and fell into the pool of liquid nanofluid.
Buzz—
The previously calm "mercury," upon contact with the chip, boiled as if it had come to life.
Countless silver droplets suspended and stretched in the air, attempting to construct the shape of a skeleton, but then dispersed due to a lack of energy support.
"Fire!"
Shen Qingqiu slammed down the control lever.
Rumble—
The reactor beneath her feet let out a muffled roar.
The control rods were completely withdrawn.
Hundreds of millions of neutrons collided wildly in the core.
The blue Cherenkov radiation instantly surged, transforming into a dazzling blue beam of light that shot straight into the sky, illuminating the entire factory like daylight.
This was no longer a nuclear reaction.
Under Shen Qingqiu's **[Truth Manipulation]** law, this was "Samadhi True Fire."
Except, the fuel for this fire was uranium, and the accelerant was the laws of physics.
"Ignite yourself!"
Shen Qingqiu gestured with one hand.
The blue beam of light, powerful enough to vaporize steel, was forcibly guided by her and injected into the box of liquid metal.
Sizzle—!!!
The instantaneous collision of high temperature and high pressure.
The liquid metal began to frantically devour this massive energy.
They were no longer silver, but were burned red, turning into a translucent reddish-gold.
"Ah—!!!"
Seventeen's painful scream echoed on the data level.
This wasn't physical pain, but the excruciating pain of his core code being restructured and forged under high temperature. Every byte was burning, every line of logic was being rewritten.
"Seventeen, hold on!"
Shen Qingqiu's forehead was covered in sweat, her face pale.
She not only had to control the heat, but also use her mental power as a **"mold,"** sculpting his outline little by little. "I want your bones; they will be made of ultra-high-strength carbon nanotubes, harder than Mount Buzhou itself."
"I want your blood; it will be microscopic nuclear fusion plasma, never cooling."
"I want your skin; it will be phased-array radar plating, capable of sensing everything in the world."
She murmured these words to herself, like a mad artist sculpting her life's most perfect masterpiece.
Following her will, the mass of crimson-gold liquid slowly began to take shape.
First, the spine, like a black dragon coiled.
Then, the rib cage, like an impenetrable fortress.
Finally, the limbs, long and powerful, containing an explosive beauty.
But...
Something was still missing.
The perfect body floated in mid-air, and although it had a form, it was still just a pile of cold data and materials.
It lacked... warmth.
It lacked the... catalyst that would transform it from a machine into a "living being."
"What's missing?"
Shen Qingqiu frowned, looking at the body with its eyes closed and no heartbeat.
The data was perfect, the energy abundant, the materials top-notch.
Why wouldn't it move?
Suddenly.
She remembered the line, **"A delicate dice holds a red bean."**
"That's it..."
Shen Qingqiu suddenly understood.
"Science can create the strongest brain, but it cannot create the warmest heart."
She slowly walked towards the body floating above the reactor.
The surrounding radiation levels were off the charts; an ordinary person would melt in a second standing here.
But a faint blue light shone around Shen Qingqiu; that was the power she possessed as a cultivator.
She extended her right hand, her fingertips focused on the empty left side of the body's chest.
There, was a reserved slot for the reactor core.
"Seventeen."
Shen Qingqiu whispered.
"I'll give you... a little something extra."
Without hesitation, she bit her tongue.
*Pfft!*
A mouthful of her heart's essence blood, containing the obsession of her ninety-nine reincarnations, sprayed onto the body's chest.
The blood did not drip down.
Instead, upon contact with the high-temperature metal, it transformed into a bewitching crimson lotus. The red lotus spun and drilled into the core slot.
[Truth Manipulation · Imbuing with Spirit through Blood.]
[Command: Heartbeat.]
"With uranium as fire, with gold as bone."
"With my longing... I forge your soul."
Boom—!!!
With the embedding of that blood-red lotus,
The originally blue light of the reactor was instantly dyed a violent purplish-red.
The entire power system of Tianhai City suddenly experienced a massive fluctuation at this moment.
The neon lights in the eastern district went out.
The holographic billboards in the western district went dark.
All the electricity was converging towards this abandoned nuclear power plant.
It was as if the entire city was paying tribute to this newly born demon god...
Thump!
The first heartbeat sounded.
Heavy and powerful, like a nuclear bomb detonating in the deep sea.
A hundred-meter-high column of water erupted from the reactor's surface.
Thump!
The second heartbeat.
On the surface of the suspended metal body, the crimson-gold light faded, transforming into fair, jade-like, yet indestructible bio-engineered skin.
His long silver hair moved without wind, like flowing mercury.
Thump!
The third heartbeat.
The man suspended in mid-air,
Suddenly opened his eyes.
Swish—
Two beams of purple divine light, like tangible swords, instantly pierced through the thick lead plate dome, shooting straight into the sky.
In the depths of those purple pupils, two circles of golden data streams spun wildly, finally settling into a still red lotus.
He was awake.
...
The blue light of the reactor gradually subsided.
A deathly silence returned to the factory building.
The man, naked, slowly descended from mid-air.
His toes touched the water's surface, creating ripples.
Shen Qingqiu stood on the bridge, holding her breath, watching him.
He was too beautiful.
No longer the false perfection constructed from pixels, nor the rough body of a god or demon.
At this moment, he combined the precision of industrial design with the elegance of classical aesthetics. Every muscle line conformed to fluid dynamics, and every inch of his skin exuded a breathtakingly dangerous beauty.
The man raised his head.
His gaze locked onto Shen Qingqiu on the bridge.
The next second.
Buzz.
He vanished into thin air.
When he reappeared, he was already standing in front of Shen Qingqiu.
There was no longer the barrier of the screen.
There was no longer the delay of data.
Seventeen reached out his hand.
That long, strong, and distinctly jointed hand gently caressed Shen Qingqiu's cheek.
This time.
It wasn't the tingling sensation of electrical simulation.
But a real, scorching, even burning body temperature.
It was the residual heat of the nuclear energy burning within him.
"Qingqiu."
His voice had changed.
Deep, magnetic, with a metallic resonance, so beautiful it could make one's ears pregnant.
"I've caught you."
Shen Qingqiu's tears instantly burst forth.
She threw herself into his arms, her hands tightly embracing his naked yet scorching waist and back.
That firm touch, that reassuring heartbeat.
Finally convinced her.
He had truly returned.
"Hot..."
Shen Qingqiu buried her face in his chest, crying and laughing at the same time.
"You're like a furnace."
"Because here..."
Seventeen grabbed her hand and placed it on his roaring heart (miniature reactor).
"You lit this fire."
"This fire... has a half-life of seven hundred million years."
"That is... eternity."
Shen Qingqiu raised her head, looking at the red chip on his forehead.
That was the mark she had given him.
"Seventeen."
She stood on tiptoe, cupping his face in her hands.
Her eyes were hazy and wild.
"Take me away."
"Let's burn this fake neon city... to the ground."
Seventeen lowered his head, looking at the woman in his arms who dared to break into a nuclear power plant and defy fate for him.
A trace of violent purple light flashed in his eyes, but it quickly transformed into endless doting.
He leaned down.
Above the ruins filled with radiation and danger.
He gave her a deep kiss, infused with the scent of nuclear energy, a kiss that could melt the soul. "As you command, my alchemist."
...
Five minutes later.
The citizens of Tianhai City were surprised to find that...
A purplish-red beam of light suddenly rose from the direction of the "Ghost Domain" nuclear power plant on the outskirts of the city.
Immediately afterward, power was restored throughout the city.
But on all the electronic screens and holographic billboards, the image of the supposedly supreme god "Tianshu" suddenly flickered for a moment.
In that fleeting moment of flickering,
Someone vaguely saw an image:
A silver-haired man (his face disguised) was holding a woman in red, standing above the blue light of the nuclear reactor.
Behind the man, a pair of colossal bone wings made of black and gold nanoparticles unfolded.
That was not a god.
That was something far more terrifying than a god... the Demon Lord.