Concerned

The Originium Crystal that suddenly appeared on the body of the 18-year-old...

"What?!"

Maria paused for a few moments, her face slightly angry.

But Sui just smiled.

"I know you're worried about that, so I volunteered to prepare some backup plans for you~"

The girl's smile was pure and innocent...

~~~~~

313

Chapter 313 Caring.

"..."

Maria did not speak.

She simply grasped Sui's hand, looking at the tiny, almost undetectable Originium Crystal on it, her eyes narrowing silently.

She seemed to have made some kind of preparation.

But Sui smiled and stopped Maria from acting.

"Don't be angry~ I did it voluntarily~"

"... initiative?"

"Otherwise what? I know you value these petty people, but do you think they can force me to do things I don't like?"

He shrugged, his tone surprisingly calm.

"Then why did you do that? Even for Great Beast, being infected with Originium is difficult to deal with, isn't it?"

Maria frowned slightly, also somewhat puzzled.

The power of the Great Beast is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Although I mentioned before that even Great Beast are somewhat helpless against Originium... that's simply because they have no way to resist it.

If they wanted to, they could find many ways to solve the problem of Originium infection.

Moreover, the girl's body is only a part of her original body.

Even if this body is completely infected by Originium and becomes immobile, she can return to her original body at any time, leaving this body to be abandoned.

From this perspective, the girl doesn't need to worry about the dangers of Originium like others.

But...

Maria didn't understand why the boy was doing this.

Even if it's just a clone, being infected with Originium will still make her suffer, right?

"Because I think you might need it."

My thoughts remain as simple as ever at this age.

She knew Maria was worried about what was happening here, but for various reasons, she didn't intervene and spent her days feeling depressed.

She didn't want her friend to be so upset, so she chose to handle it in a different way.

I also went to study this area myself.

"Even if those guys go out of control, I'll be able to sense it, and then we'll go together and wipe them all out!"

He laughed, grinning widely, revealing an arrogant smile.

Maria was stunned for a while before silently looking at the other person.

From what Maria had learned earlier, she knew that the girl herself hadn't actually intended to do these things... She would help humanity, but she wouldn't choose to become a test subject for those guys.

The reason for taking such action now is primarily for Maria's sake.

The girl was a bit slow; she didn't understand why Maria was so resistant to these things, but she wanted to help those people complete their plan.

So, after much deliberation, she made this decision.

I also participated in the research myself, ensuring that each experimenter had their own part!

Maria can locate and eliminate those people whenever she needs to.

Is Maria satisfied now?

This was the only way she could think of to help those people complete their plan without angering Maria.

If Maria is still not satisfied... then she really has no other choice.

"..."

Maria was stunned for a long time when she heard the girl's idea.

The girl's concern was so pure, so direct... even compared to Lamaline, the girl's expression was so simple and without any impurities.

She cares about Maria, and she also has things she wants to do.

So this was the only way she could think of to satisfy both of them...

He silently gazed at the girl in front of him, her bright face turned upwards.

After a long while, she hesitantly reached out her hand.

He pulled her into his arms...

"Thanks."

At that moment, she didn't know what to say.

Maria wasn't sure if the other person's actions were even necessary, but...

She was very touched.

"Hey, why are you thanking me?"

Her smile remained as pure as ever; she genuinely just wanted to help her friend.

As for anything else... she couldn't be bothered to think about it.

Maria didn't express her emotions either; she simply hugged the girl for a while, then let go of her hand and looked at her again.

Her complexion has improved a lot.

Soon, the two of them moved on from that topic and began to consider other things.

"How's the progress on your end?"

"Progress?"

Sui tilted her head, touched her lips with her slender white fingers, pondered for a moment, and then shrugged.

"I'd say it's alright, I guess."

"Last time, I used the entire Hundred Refining Bureau to forcefully push through a cannon design... You should have tried it before; the power was indeed impressive, but it was rendered useless after firing."

"But it's definitely a good start. Many people have already come up with a lot of ideas from the collected data. I haven't been teaching them anything lately, but have been letting them research and develop on their own... These little guys are a bit slow, but not completely stupid. I feel that in about six months, they should be able to produce something."

The 12-year-old's words were simple; in just a few words, those geniuses of the Great Yan became fools in her eyes.

But that is indeed the case.

Compared to her, these people really were just a bunch of little kids.

The combined ages of all of them probably wouldn't even amount to a fraction of the girl's life.

Under these circumstances, these people's knowledge, abilities, thinking, and other aspects of their thinking are all difficult to keep up with the girl's pace.

It might take these people half a year to digest and understand something that's just been casually put together.

Even then, it would only be possible if everything went smoothly for at least six months.

After all, there's never such a thing as a smooth journey in learning.

Even if they are one in a million geniuses, it won't work.

"While those blacksmiths aren't very good, there are some decent martial artists among them... Hey, did you know, Zuo Zheng is here too~"

As he spoke, Sui also started to laugh.

Maria listened quietly from the side.

Zuo Zheng's joining the Hundred Refining Bureau was, in a sense, unexpected, but not entirely unexpected.

After all, no matter how magnanimous the current Emperor of Great Yan may be, he could not possibly allow two Great Beasts to run rampant in his territory.

At this moment, he recalled the several meetings he had met not long ago.

At that time, Maria and Sui had not yet revealed their identities, but they did not resist Zuo Zheng's words and actions.

This made the man realize that Great Beast might also possess some human emotions.

So he tried to get Zuo Zheng to join in as well.

The purpose is self-evident.

But Maria and Sui didn't care about any of that, so they naturally agreed.

But...

"With these people, how long do you think it will take for them to grow strong enough to stand up to the Great Beast?"

"Doo... I don't know that."

Upon hearing this question, Sui shook her head slightly.

Although the overall level of the Hundred Refining Bureau has been rapidly improving since she joined, it is still somewhat impossible for them to truly break away and fight against the Great Beast on their own.

As for the most crucial aspect, research on strengthening soldiers, it has also reached a bottleneck.

The main reason is that I hadn't really thought about this before I was 20, and after joining, I had to learn everything from scratch.

There are still quite a few difficulties in pushing this forward.

In conclusion, humanity still has a long way to go before it can truly develop the ability to fight against Great Beast.

As for the colossal Great Beast that conquered the entire Great Yan...

That will take longer...

Thinking of this, Maria fell silent for a moment, then sighed softly.

Just as she was about to put these things aside for the time being, a hurried female voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Maria? Age?"

Zuo Zheng rushed to the pavilion, frowning and anxiously calling out to the two women.

After exchanging a glance, the two of them subtly shifted their bodies.

In the blink of an eye, they were behind the girl.

"What's wrong?"

Maria asked the question somewhat hesitantly.

Zuo Zheng was also startled by the sound.

But soon, he turned his head and looked at the other person.

"Something terrible has happened!"

Zuo Zheng gritted his teeth.

"Your Majesty... has been assassinated!"

"Um?!"

By the time Maria and Sui arrived at the scene of the assassination, it was already surrounded by soldiers in black armor.

The entire hall was filled with layers upon layers of black-clad Imperial Guard.

Heavy and light armor were arranged alternately, and archers and crossbowmen occupied all the high points, vigilantly watching their surroundings.