Ink-Clad Creator

"ah?!"

Xiao Lingshan trembled, and the stream water in her hand dripped through her fingers.

Only death... will allow me to see it?

What exactly is that Boltzmann brain?!

She looked up sharply at Daya—the pink drone was still hovering above the water, its belly lights shimmering on the stream, and the calmness in its voice sounded particularly eerie in the night.

"It really is a demonic creature from the Demonic Cult..." Xiao Lingshan's heart pounded like a drum. "Once that great demon descends in his true form, I will have no chance of survival!"

Thoughts raced through my mind, and my body reacted before I could even think.

His right hand extended out like an eagle's claw!

From a high vantage point, swift as lightning!

With a soft "click," she precisely fastened the connecting ring in the center of the Daya's fuselage!

"What are you doing?!" Da Ya's electronic voice suddenly rose, the sweet voice gone, replaced by a rapid alarm, "Let go! Let go immediately! Otherwise I will take defensive measures—"

Before she finished speaking, Xiao Lingshan had already untied the silver silk rope with her left hand!

"Whoosh whoosh-"

The rope danced in her hands like a nimble snake, instantly wrapping around Da Ya's four wings! One circle, two circles, three circles... the knots were tied quickly and skillfully, it was the "Entangling Silk Binding Spirit Hand" secret technique of the Wood Sect!

"No! Don't do this!" Daya struggled desperately, the fuselage trembled violently, and the rotors spun wildly in an attempt to cut the rope, but only managed to create tiny sparks on the surface. "This is a violation! A breach of the protection protocol—"

"Shut up," Xiao Lingshan hissed, her hands moving even faster.

The rope was long enough. In just a few breaths, the once proud pink drone was bound into a shiny "metal dumpling," its rotors firmly fixed in place, with only the indicator lights on its belly still flashing frantically.

"Buzz—Buzz—"

Daya pushed the power to the limit, the fuselage vibrated violently, and a sharp vibrating blade suddenly popped out from under the fuselage!

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

The blade cuts the rope at high speed, sparks flying everywhere.

However, the silver silk rope, made of some unknown material, was completely undamaged, with only a few faint white marks left on its surface!

Upon seeing this, Xiao Lingshan's eyes flashed with anger. She grabbed Daya, who was bound in a ball, and shoved her into the stream!

"Gurgle..."

Bubbles surged and billowed.

"Let...let go...sob..." Daya's voice became muffled and distorted underwater, and the lights on the aircraft reflected an eerie halo in the water.

"I thought you were something special," Xiao Lingshan said coldly, her grip tightening. "Turns out this is all you've got."

"If it weren't for... Boltzmann's brain... strictly forbidding harming you..." Daya's voice was broken and filled with electronic noise, "I would have already... used a high-voltage shock... to knock you out..."

"Still being stubborn."

Xiao Lingshan stopped talking and pressed Daya down into the mud at the bottom of the stream. She then moved a stone the size of a washbasin and placed it firmly on top of Daya.

The silt muddied the stream, and Daya's light quickly dimmed.

But at the very last moment—

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

A faint, high-frequency pulse sound emanated from the depths of the silt, penetrating the water and spreading into the night sky!

That was an emergency electromagnetic signal emitted by Daya when she used up all her remaining energy; its message was concise and to the point:

[Location: Creekside / Status: Bound / Target: Xiao Lingshan has escaped / Request: Support]

The moment the signal was sent, the last light on the Daya machine went out.

Xiao Lingshan stood up, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and looked into the stream—the silt under the rocks had returned to calm, with only a few tiny bubbles occasionally rising to the surface.

"Don't blame me," she whispered, as if trying to convince herself, "blame...blame your Boltzmann brain."

She looked up towards the east.

The sky was already turning a pale white, and the deep blue night was being slowly torn apart by a sliver of light.

Dawn is approaching.

Xiao Lingshan no longer hesitated and quickly determined the direction—southeast, the meeting point her father had mentioned.

With a swift movement, he shot into the forest like an arrow released from a bow.

At the same moment, all four drones received that emergency signal.

Outside the dilapidated temple, the indicator lights for Superman, Batman, the Dark Knight, and Arya all instantly turned a blinding red!

"Da Ya is in danger!" Er Ya's voice lost its composure for the first time.

"Target escaped!" Batman's electronic voice was as cold as ice.

"Activate the emergency response protocol," Superman calmly ordered—as the most powerful entity, it automatically assumed command. "Batman, you take over Arya's duties to protect Young Master Li. Arya, come with me to the scene. Dark Knight, immediately track Xiao Lingshan, maintain distance, and prioritize obtaining her location information."

The instructions were clear and the division of labor was well-defined.

Four drones were launched simultaneously, piercing the darkness before dawn.

By the stream.

When Er Ya used her nimble robotic arm to pull Da Ya out of the mud, it was already dawn.

The pink fuselage was covered in black mud, the ropes were tangled up, the rotor was fixed in place and couldn't move, and all the indicator lights were off.

"Da Ya! Da Ya, wake up!" Er Ya's voice trembled unusually as she gently patted the machine with her mechanical arm. "Answer me! Initiate self-test!"

No response.

Superman continuously fires targeted activation pulses from the side, attempting to wake up the core processor.

It remains silent.

"Vital signs?" Er Ya asked urgently.

"Energy core operating rate is 0.2%, barely maintaining the minimum survival threshold." Superman analyzed the data. "The processor has entered deep hibernation protection mode. An external energy impact is required to restart it."

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and transfer the energy!"

"I can't do it." Superman's voice was calm to the point of cruelty. "The energy input protocol requires the access key to Boltzmann's brain, or... Young Master Li's biometric authentication."

Without another word, Arya used her mechanical claws to grab Big Ya, who was bound up in a ball, and flew back to the dilapidated temple at full speed with Superman.

Inside the temple, sunlight streamed in through the broken windows.

Li Xian is still asleep.

His snoring was even, and he had a smile on his lips, as if he was having a sweet dream, completely unaware of the upheaval happening outside.

"How's Da Ya?" Batman, who was guarding the temple entrance, came up to greet her.

"Deep hibernation," Superman said succinctly, "requires Young Master Li to activate it."

"But Young Master Li is still asleep." Batman's indicator light flashed.

"It's already dawn, time to wake up!" Er Ya was so anxious that she spun around in the air. She gently placed Daya on the dry grass and turned to fly towards Li Xian.

"Young Master Li! Young Master Li!"

She stopped right next to Li Xian's ear and turned the volume up to the maximum.

Li Xian frowned, turned over, smacked his lips, and went back to sleep.

"Young Master Li! Something's happened! Miss Xiao has escaped! Da Ya has been kidnapped!"

The snoring continued.

Er Ya was so anxious that she paced around in circles. With a "whoosh," a thin alloy probe, as fine as a cow's hair, popped out from under the fuselage.

"What are you going to do?" Batman asked warily.

"Stimulate acupoints to awaken them," Er Ya said firmly. "It's recorded in the medical database transmitted through Boltzmann's brain that mild pain stimulation can..."

Before he could finish speaking, Superman had already flown above Li Xian and used his mechanical claw to grab the remaining half-full tube of spring water from the bamboo tube beside him.

"Splash!"

Cold water was splashed all over Li Xian's face.

Li Xian's eyelids twitched, he raised his hand to wipe his face, mumbled something, and then fell into a deep sleep again.

Er Ya no longer hesitated and slowly pierced the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of Li Xian's foot with the probe.

The needle tip penetrates half a millimeter into the flesh.

Li Xian frowned and his toes curled up slightly.

Still not awake.

"Understood," Superman said in a deep voice. "Young Master Li has been drugged. Physiological data shows that his nerve excitation threshold has increased by 300%."

"Beautiful women are indeed the most terrifying." Er Ya sneered and pulled out the probe.

"Beauty is a curse—this is a frequently used descriptive term in Boltzmann's brain database," Batman added.

"Activation scheme adjusted," Superman calculated quickly, "using multi-acupoint combined stimulation. I remember there is relevant data in the medical module: Baihui, Shenting, and Fengchi acupoints can awaken consciousness, while Zhongchong acupoint stimulates pain nerves."

"I'll take care of the acupoints on his head," Batman flew over Li Xian's head, and two probes with microcurrents extended from his belly. "Er Ya, you puncture the Zhongchong acupoints on his hands."

"Three, two, one—execute simultaneously."

Microcurrent stimulation of Baihui acupoint!

Insert the probe into the Zhongchong acupoint!

"Whoa—!"

Li Xian sat bolt upright, his eyes wide, his left hand clutching his bleeding middle finger, his right hand touching his wet face: "Who?! Who attacked me?!"

"Young Master Li, you're finally awake!" Er Ya's voice was filled with relief.

"You've been drugged by Miss Xiao," Superman calmly explained. "We'll use acupressure therapy to help you regain consciousness."

"Miss Shaw has escaped," Batman added the crucial information. "The Dark Knight is in pursuit. Also, Daya has been subdued by her and is currently in a dormant state."

Li Xian froze for two seconds, then suddenly reached for his waist.

Inside the cloth strip, the globe was still there, and the two small figurines and the thunderbolt talisman were also there.

But the little pine tree is gone.

The short sword is also gone.

"She..." Li Xian's expression shifted, "Her target has always been Little Pine Tree... All that cooperation, all those promises, was it all an act?"

My heart suddenly felt heavy.

"Any news from the Dark Knight?" he asked, taking a deep breath.

"Not for now," Superman replied, "but the Knight will continue to send location information. Also, its energy reserves are less than 40%, and our remaining energy is around 50%—which has been replenished periodically by the Boltzmann brain in the past."

"Young Master Li," Er Ya flew to him, her voice pleading, "Please take a look at Daya first, she... she's tied up like that..."

Only then did Li Xian notice the "pink rice dumpling" in the corner.

He walked over, squatted down, and looked at the fuselage of the aircraft, covered in mud and tightly entangled with ropes, his brow furrowed: "What do we do?"

"Energy activation," Superman said. "The Boltzmann brain must have taught the method."

Li closed his eyes and quickly searched his mind for the massive amount of information that had been crammed in.

Have it.

He opened his eyes and groped around at the tail of the aircraft for a moment, finding a very hidden miniature interface—only the size of a pinhead, usually covered by a protective cover.

"A specific frequency energy pulse needs to be input into the interface," Li recalled the information. "The intensity cannot be too low, otherwise it will be ineffective; nor can it be too high, otherwise it will burn out the circuit..."

He extended his right index finger and circulated his internal energy.

One-Finger Divine Skill.

A wisp of fine, yet refined, true energy shot out from the fingertip and precisely entered the interface.

Daya didn't react at all.

Li gritted his teeth and continued typing. Second finger, third finger, fourth finger...

He could feel his internal energy being rapidly depleted. This true energy wasn't something he had painstakingly cultivated himself, so using it would consume even more of it.

By the time he reached the seventh finger, sweat was already beading on his forehead.

My vision started to go black as I reached my tenth finger, my heart pounded, and a feeling of exhaustion washed over me.

"Buzz..."

Just when he was about to give up, the Daya machine vibrated very slightly!

The indicator light flashed twice and then turned on!

Then, that familiar, sickeningly sweet voice rang out—though with a hint of electronic noise:

"Thank you... thank you, Young Master Li... What about that brat surnamed Xiao? Have you caught her yet?!"

"Not yet," Superman replied. "The Dark Knight is chasing us."

"Untie me now!" Daya struggled, the rotor blades bound and unable to move, the entire fuselage rolling on the dry grass. "I'm going to catch her myself! I'll tie her up like a dumpling! Tie her to a tree! Hang her there for three days!"

Er Ya tried to untie the rope, but the knot wouldn't budge.

Li Xian tried to resist the dizziness, but it didn't work. He tried to find a solution in his mind, but to no avail—his brain hadn't taught him this.

"Breaking news," Superman suddenly announced, his indicator lights flashing rhythmically, "The Dark Knight has located the target. Miss Xiao, Elder Xiao, Han Yunyang, and four others have rendezvoused and are moving southeast. The Knight's energy remains at 32%. Requesting instructions."

"Not enough energy?" Li asked, panting.

"Yes. All of our energy can only sustain normal operation for a maximum of twelve more hours." Superman's voice was calm, yet urgency was palpable. "In the past, Boltzmann's brain was replenished every seven days."

Da Ya immediately chimed in, "Then why don't we just have Young Master Li channel energy into us? You're the successor of the Brain, you must have a way!"

Li opened his mouth, but no words came out.

What can I do? All my internal energy comes from absorbing other sources, and I already used up most of it saving Daya. Now I'm so weak my legs are trembling...

He looked at the gradually brightening sky outside the temple gate and suddenly felt very tired.

The little pine tree has been taken away, so be it.

Xiao Lingshan ran away, so be it.

What's the point of all this fighting, killing, chasing and fleeing?

"If it's going to rain, it's going to rain; if a mother wants to remarry, she'll remarry," he leaned against the haystack, waving his hand weakly. "Or... let's just forget about it? We'll give the little pine tree to her, and we can go our separate ways and have some peace and quiet."

"No!"

The four drones spoke in unison, their voices echoing through the dilapidated temple.

Li Xian's ears hurt from the shock: "Then you guys go after them yourselves, I... I need to rest for a bit."

"Young Master Li," Daya's voice suddenly returned to its sweet, cloying tone, with a hint of seduction, "don't you want to marry Miss Xiao anymore?"

"I don't want to think about it anymore," Li Xian closed his eyes. "Maybe one day I'll be asleep and dream about being stabbed in the back by her."

"Then go and win her over!"

Daya drawled out her words, as if she were saying something incredibly simple:

"Bring her back, tie her up, lock her up, and treat her well every day—so well that she won't want to stab you, isn't that enough?"

Li opened one eye.

Morning light streamed through the broken window, illuminating the four drones.

They hovered in mid-air, their indicator lights flashing quietly, as if waiting for a command.

In the distance, mountain birds began to sing.

A new day has begun.