After leveling the glacial cavern, the Slayer didn't stop.
Abyss Layer 8 — "Mist of Chaos."
Visibility here was practically zero. A gray, perception-blocking fog permeated everything. Worse still were the locals: "Shadow Demons."
These were cunning, assassin-type entities. Lacking a fixed physical form, they could teleport through shadows and even enter a state of brief invisibility.
The Slayer was currently dancing with a pack of them.
*Whoosh!*
A black shadow flashed to his left. Relying on instinct, the Slayer raised the Yin Yang Super Shotgun and blasted a dual-element shell.
Missed.
The Shadow Demon teleported to his right a split second before the trigger pull.
The Slayer spun around rapidly, but the demon vanished again. Immediately, three shadow blades slashed at his back.
Although the Equipment Launcher (Shoulder Cannon) on his left shoulder was fully charged, manual aiming was nearly impossible in this high-mobility chaos. The Slayer was forced to constantly pivot, using the shotgun to deal with harassment from all angles.
This was severely dragging down his Killing Flow.
Rage.
A low growl rumbled in the Slayer's throat.
He hated enemies that buzzed around like flies.
...
Netherworld, Control Center.
Singularity stared at the screen, watching the Slayer's "clumsy" responses (clumsy only relative to his usual instant-kill standards), his brow furrowed.
"No, this efficiency is too low."
Singularity's fingers flew across the holographic keyboard, pulling up the backend control for the Slayer's shoulder cannon.
"The launcher was designed for auxiliary fire, but in this high-agility combat, it's dead weight. The Slayer can't spare a hand to control it."
"It must be automated. It needs to think for itself."
But how?
Singularity fell into deep thought.
"Standard 'Thermal Locking'? No, these Shadow Demons have the same temperature as the environment—cold as death."
"'Energy Fluctuation Detection'? Useless. The Abyss is full of random radiation; the false positive rate would be astronomical."
"'Biometric Scan'? Even more ridiculous. These things don't even have heartbeats."
Singularity looked at the swirling chaos of the mist on the screen, and the elusive, patternless Shadow Demons within it.
Conventional tech had failed.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"I need a different approach... I need to distinguish them at a more fundamental level."
Singularity suddenly remembered a concept from his cultivation days: "The Distinction between Clear and Turbid."
In Daoist theory, everything has "Qi." Clear Qi rises; Turbid Qi falls.
If he translated this metaphysical concept into data language for this demon-filled Abyss...
Singularity's eyes snapped open.
"Information Entropy!"
He pulled up a comparison chart on the screen.
On the left was the Slayer's data model: rigorous structure, clear energy circuits, action logic that was violent but extremely efficient. This was a Low Entropy existence. Highly ordered. Like a perfect crystal.
On the right was the Shadow Demon's data model: chaotic, disordered, filled with noise and randomness. Like a pile of rotting garbage.
"That's it! That's the key!"
Singularity slapped the table in excitement.
"In this chaotic Abyss, the only thing 'Ordered' is the Slayer. Everything else—anything with high entropy, high disorder, anything that looks like glitched code—is the enemy!"
"I don't need to identify *what* it is. I just need to identify *how messy* it is!"
Singularity got to work immediately.
He dug through the pile of loot from Heaven and found a backup eyeball crystal belonging to "Clairvoyant" (Qianliyan, the god with thousand-mile vision).
He hardwired this crystal into the shoulder launcher's fire control system and rewrote the underlying targeting code.
[Targeting Logic Reset:]
[1. Scan Field Information Entropy.]
[2. Exclude Low-Entropy Entities (Slayer & Friendlies).]
[3. Lock onto all High-Entropy Targets (Sources of Chaos).]
[4. FIRE AT WILL.]
"I call this... the 'Garbage Collection' Algorithm."
Singularity hit [UPLOAD].
...
Abyssal Battlefield.
The Slayer was preparing to smash a Shadow Demon in front of him with a Blood Punch.
Suddenly, he felt a slight vibration on his left shoulder.
The indicator light on the silent shoulder cannon shifted from yellow to a piercing red. The turret rotated automatically, emitting a soft mechanical whir of target acquisition.
*Zzzzt—*
The cannon did not wait for the Slayer's command.
It autonomously spun 180 degrees, aiming directly at the empty air behind the Slayer.
It looked like there was nothing there.
But the cannon fired without hesitation.
*THUMP!*
A high-explosive frag grenade launched.
Directly in the grenade's flight path, a Shadow Demon materialized, preparing for a backstab—and caught the grenade with its face.
*BOOM!*
The demon was blown into confetti.
The Slayer paused for a microsecond. But he didn't stop; he followed through with his punch, obliterating the enemy in front of him.
Then.
*Zzzzt—BANG!*
*Zzzzt—BANG!*
The shoulder launcher acted like a sentry with a mind of its own. Spinning, locking, firing.
It didn't matter how the Shadow Demons teleported, it didn't matter how deep in the mist they hid. As long as their chaotic information entropy was exposed, the cannon locked on instantly.
The Slayer didn't even need to look back.
He simply marched forward, clearing the enemies in front with his shotgun. His flanks, his back, the air above him—all were covered by this tireless automated turret.
It was a perfect symphony of destruction.
The Slayer provided the Rip.
The Shoulder Cannon provided the Sweep.
The frustration of being harassed vanished. Replacing it was the absolute pleasure of total battlefield control.
The Slayer reloaded.
He ignored the cannon on his shoulder. But he tilted his head slightly, catching a glimpse of the smoking barrel in his peripheral vision.
Though expressionless, his stride became noticeably more swaggering.
As if to say: *Nice hack.*
...
Netherworld Control Room.
Singularity watched the stream of [AUTO-KILL] notifications scrolling down the screen and slumped into his chair, satisfied.
"That's the way. In a chaotic world, the messier things are, the faster they die."
However...
Singularity's gaze shifted to the Crucible (Energy Sword) on the Slayer's back.
During the chaotic melee, the Slayer had drawn the sword a few times, but the blade's energy output seemed unstable. The red beam looked dim in the mist.
"The Crucible runs on Argent Energy. But the ambient Argent concentration here is too low; recharge efficiency can't keep up with consumption."
Singularity rubbed his chin.
"Need to swap the 'battery'."
Just then, the lights in the entire control center flickered and died for a second.
Singularity snapped his head toward a shelf nearby. There sat a sealed jar plastered with yellow Taoist talismans. Inside, a violent, purple bolt of lightning—capable of burning through space itself—was thrashing against the glass.
"Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder... Who the hell put that thing right next to the fuse box?!"
*Next Chapter: Charging the Crucible. The Slayer finds his sword out of juice. Singularity says: Don't worry, I'm swapping in a 'Nuclear Battery'—it leaks a bit, but it hits like a truck.*
