The weather on Mars was always like this. Whether it was winter, summer, spring, or autumn, the sky remained perpetually overcast, and the dust storms were a constant nuisance.

They possessed such immense power, yet they refused to spare even a tiny fraction of surplus energy to improve their environment. Compared to the creatures they deemed the most disgusting in the universe—Earthlings—how much better were they? Fragile, filthy, savage, primitive Earthlings had managed to restore their planet's environment over the last century, and what had they been doing?

Xiao, you must remember, half the blood flowing in your veins comes from those fragile, filthy, savage, primitive Earthlings.

Remember the surname 'Xiao'; it is the only inheritance that pitiful woman left you.

Hallsum—what connection does that 'noble' surname have with you?

Remember, Xiao, this is the only thing your mother left you.

Remember how she died on this day twelve years ago.

Nanket Hallsum materialized behind Xiao like a phantom. His pale, delicate features were contorted by rage, his perfect lips pressed into a sharp, thin line. His long, golden hair, radiant as captured sunlight, whipped around him like willow branches in a gale, agitated by the violently fluctuating psychic energy. Nanket Hallsum’s body, towering three meters tall, also levitated due to the outward burst of his mental storm. Visible bands of violet-blue mist, condensed from pure mental force, coiled around Nanket Hallsum’s frame. The spacious, immaculate room, constructed from specialized alloy steel, suddenly groaned with a teeth-grinding shriek as an invisible, surging pressure roiled through the air.

The resentment of a bastard son with impure blood was hardly worthy of Nanket Hallsum’s attention.

Xiao pushed himself upright, straining with all his might to keep his back straight against the overwhelming psychic pressure Nanket Hallsum was intentionally, or perhaps unintentionally, unleashing.

His skin was as fair as freshly congealed sheep fat, and his radiant golden hair shone as brilliantly as Nanket Hallsum’s. His equally refined, art-piece-like features shared a ninety-nine percent resemblance to Nanket Hallsum. Standing beside the equally youthful Nanket Hallsum, the younger Xiao looked like a twin brother. Yet, Xiao’s imposing height of two meters and twenty centimeters seemed pitifully slender next to Nanket Hallsum. His eyes, dark and gleaming like black pearls, were a jarring offense in Nanket Hallsum’s view. His height, nearly a third shorter than a pure-blood Rm, coupled with those completely anomalous black pupils—impossible on an Rm—unmistakably declared Xiao’s identity: a half-breed!

To the Rm people, being a half-breed was an original sin.

Nanket Hallsum stared down at his son, his face grim. Xiao’s stubborn expression reminded him of that woman—the woman who brought him endless aggravation and headaches!

The pressure within the room suddenly intensified more than tenfold. Nanket Hallsum’s golden eyes flared with a brilliance that was impossible to look upon directly.

“My son, are you unwilling to show your father the respect due to him?”

Xiao’s body convulsed. The immense pressure forced a terrifying grinding sound from his joints. Large beads of sweat erupted from his pores, quickly soaking through his thin clothes until a small pool began to collect on the sleek alloy floor beneath his feet.

But Xiao remained rigidly standing!

The pressure in the room increased again. Nanket Hallsum let out an angry, cold snort.

The sudden surge of pressure exceeded Xiao’s limit. A faint ring of pale blue light seeped from within him, only to be crushed effortlessly, like an egg under a sledgehammer, by the overwhelming force. A trickle of blood escaped the corner of Xiao’s mouth. He bowed his head, dropping into a reluctant full prostration at Nanket Hallsum’s feet. Nanket Hallsum nodded with satisfaction.

“Doka Hallsum, regardless, you are still the son of me, Nanket Hallsum. Noble blood flows through you, at the very least from my side. Therefore, I cannot simply abandon you.”

Glancing around, Nanket Hallsum narrowed his eyes and let out a few mocking, cold laughs.

The vast chamber, over a hundred meters wide and ten meters high, was crammed with various exquisite machine tools. Countless mechanical schematics were piled haphazardly on the floor. Between the machines and drawings lay mounds of metal components, ranging from the most common screws and nuts to gigantic photonic circuit boards complex enough to drive an ordinary person insane. These mechanical parts mixed together in a chaotic heap, emitting a strange odor that forced one to cover their nose. Amidst this metallic wreckage, the ‘wreckage’ of a single cot could barely be discerned; draped across the bed frame, missing one leg, lay the skeletal remains of an unfinished armed robot.

Nanket Hallsum stomped heavily on Xiao’s shoulder, shaking his head in disdain again and again.

“Learn from your brothers. The weakest among them possesses strength a hundred times greater than yours!”

Sighing heavily, Nanket Hallsum strained the muscles in his face, forcibly sculpting a look of paternal kindness.

“Though you are a lowly half-breed, the noble blood of the Hallsum family flows within you, and thus you should not be this weak!”

“Remember your station. You are a member of the Hallsum family—though, naturally, you can never become core membership—you can still pass as one of us. Therefore, this degrading work of mechanical design is not for you. Grasp the source of power, command immense strength, gain the power to dominate those inferior beings—that is what you should be doing! Fiddling with these metal objects? By the great God of Black Holes, you bring nothing but shame upon the Hallsum family!”

Xiao lay prone on the floor, his gaze drifting towards a diagram he was suppressing beneath him. He paid no attention to Nanket Hallsum’s words.

Nanket Hallsum, however, grew more animated the longer he spoke. He began enumerating his family’s past glories, from his own father to his grandfather, from his grandfather to his great-grandfather, and from him back to even more ancient ancestors. Judging by his momentum, he was prepared to recite the Hallsum lineage, which spanned untold centuries.

Time ticked by, and only after finishing his reminiscence of his seventeenth-generation ancestor did Nanket Hallsum finally turn to the purpose of his visit today.

“The honor of the Hallsum family cannot be sullied by you acting this way. Since you, this lowly half-breed, have not manifested some superior genetic mutation, you are simply useless. As a useless person, you are still a useless member of our Hallsum family, and your research into these primitive, backward mechanical bodies truly disgraces the entire lineage.”

“Therefore, the family grants you one last chance. If you can survive this trial, you will earn recognition from the family and become a true core member.”

Nanket Hallsum raised his head and announced loudly, in the tone of a deity bestowing favor upon a believer: “In three months, you will enter the Temple for the Christo Fusion Ceremony.”

Xiao was already lost in thought, every bit of his concentration devoted to calculating a minor adjustment on the diagram. He registered none of Nanket Hallsum’s pronouncements.

Nanket Hallsum finally realized that his glorious history lesson had been utterly wasted. Enraged, he delivered a vicious kick that sent Xiao flying back over ten meters.

Xiao crashed into a pile of metal components. A sharp alloy combat knife sliced a deep gash across his face, and crimson blood sprayed out like a fountain.

Nanket Hallsum watched the blood spurt from Xiao with undisguised disgust.

“Damn it, red blood! It is the most repulsive ** in the world!”

He casually struck Xiao’s body with a bolt of blue light, then turned and departed Xiao’s workshop.

“Remember, in three months, you will undergo the Christo Fusion Ceremony!”

The blue light halted the torrent of blood on Xiao’s face, but that was all it did. The wound on his face showed no inclination to heal—Xiao knew Nanket Hallsum possessed the power to mend the injury instantly, but how could the noble contemporary patriarch of the Hallsum family exert any effort on a base, sin-burdened half-breed?

Xiao lay on the floor and extended his tongue to taste the blood dripping from his lip.

Fresh, hot blood.

He opened his personal log file and transcribed new words.

“Today I saw the color of my own blood—my blood is red!”

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, an extra chapter today... Comrades, clap and vote... It was confirmed today that the shelves go up on April 1st, barring unforeseen circumstances... Pig Head’s promise stands: 50,000 words on the first day... Well... Comrades, look forward to it... Not many days left E