Chapter 172

The Hypermutation Surgery was like forcibly stimulating Kevin's potential, allowing him to leap over the dragon gate in a short period of time.

Bai Yan refused the Hypermutation Surgery and did not develop any other new forms; his power growth was very smooth during this period.

Don't modify your body unnecessarily. This is the advice given by Jingliu.

That's exactly what he thought too.

Hua couldn't sit still at the sight of the current situation.

"Captain, is there anything I can do?"

"Continue training, or think carefully about how to break through your mental block and completely unleash the power of your Artificial Collapse."

"..."

"I know you want to be of some use, but the battlefield for Herrscher is too small, and one of the three of us is unconscious. You can't participate right now, and there's no use being anxious. You should think about how to break through."

Bai Yan patted Hua on the shoulder, then walked towards the Mobius Laboratory.

Soon after, Kiana noticed Hua sitting there in a daze, so she went over and sat down next to her.

"What's wrong, Erling?"

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about how to achieve Artificial Collapse."

But even Kiana could tell that she was preoccupied.

In fact, Kiana isn't much better off either.

"To be honest, I feel that ever since the Eleventh Herrscher appeared, our captain has been acting strangely. She's always acting mysteriously, and I don't know what she's discussing with Dr. MEI. When I ask her, I can't get any clear answers. She always gives me some seemingly plausible lies, and I can't refute them. It's really something!"

Upon hearing this, Hua looked over.

"Hey, I'm just feeling this way—but Hua, is something on your mind lately?"

"Um..."

"Don't worry, even though you can't participate this time, I believe you'll be incredibly amazing in the future. Trust me!"

Hua managed a weak smile upon hearing this, "Thank you, Kiana."

Volume 1: Chapter 201: The Final Silence

Kiana's sincerity was palpable, but it wasn't that she didn't trust Kiana; rather, she didn't believe in herself.

Even Bai Yan had to admire Hua on this point.

They believe they are not capable, but when faced with a task, they insist on stepping up, not for any other reason than to fulfill their mission.

In the end, Bai Yan came to a conclusion: choosing Garuda Fusion was absolutely the right decision.

Most people don't need such an excessive number of life-saving skills.

After pondering for a long time, Hua still couldn't come up with a solution. Finally, after telling Kiana, he went back to training.

Kiana felt bored sitting there, so she decided to go find Bai Yan.

"If he's not at the base, could he have gone to Mobius's place?"

Kiana felt uneasy just thinking about that green-haired woman.

Fortunately, Bai Yan might be there, so it's not a big problem.

After leaving the squad base, they walked a rather long way and passed through a dimly lit corridor before arriving outside Mobius's laboratory.

There's someone at the door.

Elysia gripped the wall with one hand, her elf ears pressed tightly together, as if she were eavesdropping on something.

Kiana raised her eyebrows, sensing that something was amiss.

So she tiptoed over and gently approached.

Then, in a voice only the two of them could hear, she asked, "What are you doing, Elysia?"

Elysia jumped in fright, then turned around in alarm, only to find Kiana. She quickly patted her chest as if she had been quite frightened.

She then mouthed to Kiana, "They seem to be researching some kind of secret weapon. Do you want to come and listen?"

Seeing this, Kiana mouthed in response. "What weapon?"

"I'm not too sure, but it seems to be related to Sakura, something about a special transformation."

"Artificial Collapse?"

"It seems like it's going to go even further, maybe the legendary second transformation." A glint flashed in Elysia's eyes.

Another transformation? Like Kevin?

Just as Kiana was wondering what was going on, the door suddenly opened.

Bai Yan glanced at the two people outside and calmly said, "No need to eavesdrop, come in. It's not a big secret."

Elysia stuck her tongue out at Kiana, then went into the laboratory.

Kiana, seeing this, followed in, puzzled.

Inside the laboratory, Sakura wore a strange helmet covered with all sorts of unexplained wires.

As the two entered, Sakura looked at Bai Yan with some concern.

"It's alright, both of them are good people, more reliable than Mobius."

"That's truly an honor," Mobius raised an eyebrow, glancing sideways at Bai Yan. "It's rare to be described as 'reliable' by the great Fu Yan."

"Great? If anyone knew that during the Tenth Herrscher incident, I secretly protected an acquaintance while letting others be harmed, they would probably be secretly gathering to curse me as a selfish villain."

"Ha, just a bunch of idiots. It seems that disasters aren't entirely meaningless after all; at least you can let disasters do the work of killing idiots you can't just kill indiscriminately."

"If anyone hears you say that, you'll get scolded along with me."

"Then wouldn't I be even more honored?"

"..."

Even Elysia felt a little embarrassed.

Sakura remained silent, pretending to be concerned about the data on the screen.

Kiana quickly asked, "Um, is Sakura here for some kind of test?"

She didn't say "experiment" because the word didn't feel right.

Mobius said expressionlessly, "That's exactly what I was going to ask. I just don't know if the great Fu Yan could answer my question about how to make a human body with saturated Hypermutation Factor have more diverse Hypermutation Factor."

"Squeeze it in a little more?" Elysia asked.

"Why don't you demonstrate it for me?"

"Should we extract some of the Yaksha's Hypermutation Factor and then put the others in?" Kiana suggested.

"The first step you mentioned is an idea worthy of being written into a paper."

Bai Yan almost laughed.

Mobius was so angry that he started telling jokes, which was quite rare.

She wrote the Stigmata Project, she was in charge of Sakura's further evolution, and Klein had not yet recovered and was still having her body adjusted.

Since Blanca took the children away, Mobius has never been able to find an assistant as useful as Klein.

She even fantasized about whether there was a way to teach Klein the spell of transformation.

"I heard you two are about to make your move. Is it alright for you to just wander around here?"

"It's precisely because it's just the two of us going up to fight that we dare to wander around aimlessly. After all, this battle only requires teamwork."

The tactics for dealing with the Herrscher of Binding are very simple, and it is precisely because they are simple that accidents can be avoided to the greatest extent.

One person confronts the enemy head-on, while the other seizes the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.

This doesn't require getting along with unfamiliar people, nor does it require using weapons you've never used before.

All they had were the trump cards that the two had secretly prepared.

Upon hearing this, Sakura looked away from the screen and instead looked at Bai Yan with concern.

The latter returned a reassuring look.

"I was being nosy," Mobius said, "But I didn't expect you to care so much about Sakura's situation."

"You know that our clan is skilled in divination, and Sakura is full of the most mysterious and unpredictable variables in our divination arts. It often means that anything is possible, and mastering it means having the hope of mastering the future."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Mobius's eyes flickered slightly as he sized up Sakura.

She then turned her head again. "Isn't it because of Mei's guess?"

"So it was Mei?" Elysia suddenly said, then nodded in realization. "What would Sakura look like if she transformed again?"

"I don't know."

Will we need to use the Herrscher Core?

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this.

Mobius scoffed. "Elysia, the Blank Key cannot achieve the evolution that Mebius envisioned. Even with multiple cores coexisting, Vill-V has proven that this approach is counterproductive."

"Really not working?"

"I don't think it's possible now, but maybe there will be a breakthrough in the future."

Bai Yan glanced at Kiana silently and noticed that she seemed to be deep in thought.

At that moment, messages came through Bai Yan and Kiana's communicators simultaneously.

All preparations at headquarters are complete. We are now summoning the two of you to the command room to prepare for the start of the operation.

With the battle about to begin, Mobius lost interest in continuing his research and simply let Sakura go.

As Bai Yan headed to the command room, Ying called out to him.

"Fu Yan!"

"Um?"

Do you think Dr. MEI's conjecture is correct?

"I hope that's right, because in my premonition, you might be the most unique variable."

Sakura seemed confused. "Me?"

"Mainly, I believe in Mei, and I believe in you. However, I hope even more that you can have a greater desire for power."

"..."

"I know this is difficult for you given your personality, but you really need to think like this now—it's getting late and I have to go to the meeting. If we can meet again later, we can find some time to talk slowly."

Sakura nodded.

Volume 1: Chapter 202: The War of Restraint Begins

When Bai Yan and Kiana arrived at the command center, they found that the technical staff in charge of observation all looked extremely grim.

Bai Yan glanced at everyone and then looked at Mei: "Has something unexpected happened?"

"Yes, the Herrscher's Collapse Energy fluctuations suddenly became active, much earlier than originally expected."

"Looks like we need to hurry up."

"I know Kiana can teleport directly, so we prepared a temporary base on the front line. Here are the coordinates."

Mei had someone hand him a communicator, and Bai Yan took it and nodded as he looked at the signal source on the screen.

"This time, the entire Fire Moth will provide you with technical support. Representatives from various continents have stated that you can call in a nuclear strike if necessary."

"How much power can it call?" Bai Yan asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I can only say that their intentions may be good."

"Let's save our breath—then let's set off."

"Take it with you; Kevin doesn't need it right now."