After leaving her private number, Sakura vanished into the night.
What she needed to do now was bring Rin to a city near the Flame-Chasing Moth headquarters.
The longer Rin stayed, the greater the danger.
After Sakura left, Chang Yuan continued listening in on what those councilors were up to.
It did not take long for the councilors to realize that one person from their faction was missing. Through the spies they had sent out, they all received grim news: an explosion had occurred where that councilor had been staying.
The councilors who received the news soon broke out in cold sweats, because that councilor had been the one who first proposed the assassination and was also the mastermind behind the entire affair.
By then, they all knew that Chang Yuan could monitor them anytime, anywhere. They hurriedly drafted a pile of contract documents overnight.
They did not want to die. They wanted to live. Even if they handed over all their power and visible assets to Chang Yuan, they still had quite a few gray-market operations hidden away.
Those operations alone were enough to let them live lavishly for the rest of their lives.
The next day, Chang Yuan arrived at the conference room.
It was filled with the councilors from yesterday, though the mastermind was missing.
When Chang Yuan received the news that morning, he could only marvel at just how terrified of death these people were.
"Mr. Chang Yuan, these are all the assets under my name. However, for the transfer of authority, I have to train a successor first—it cannot be transferred directly. You understand that, right?"
The first councilor to surrender spoke cautiously.
He was terrified that one wrong word would get him killed by the man before him.
Chang Yuan had naturally known this already, so he merely nodded.
He had his own plans for the full transfer of authority. Once Velvie finished making the armed dolls, the transfer could begin.
After all, he did not trust anyone else. Only the absolute loyalty of armed dolls was trustworthy.
"Mebius, Velvie, sign it. Take over all the industries under their names, then devote everything to fighting Honkai. I want Honkai dead."
He did not care about money at all. After becoming friends with Velvie, all he had to do when he was short on cash was ask her to research a few little inventions and sell the patents for a fortune.
Velvie herself seemed not to know she could make money that way, or what happened on Twilight Street would not have happened in the first place.
"Th-this... so much money, and so many materials. Hehehe, so many of my ideas can finally be realized."
Looking at the world-renowned military-industrial materials and everything else, Velvie looked as though her eyes were about to turn into money signs.
With these, she would no longer have to scrimp and save. She could spend as freely as she pleased.
Mebius's eyes also lit up at the sight.
At last, those brats would no longer be able to choke her research budget. She could finally test all of her bold ideas.
"Ahem. Your expression, Velvie. Tone down that smile."
Seeing the two women already lost in their fantasies, Chang Yuan had no choice but to cough lightly and pull them back to reality.
After being brought back to reality, Velvie began considering which Divine Key prototype she should start developing first.
Mebius, meanwhile, was thinking of buying hundreds of copies of every research material she needed and experimenting to her heart's content.
The councilors could only swallow their bitterness in silence.
That was their money. Their money!
But when one was under another's roof, one had no choice but to bow one's head. The price of refusing was losing it altogether.
"You see, we've already given you everything, and these contracts are legally binding. Even if we wanted to go back on them, we couldn't. So, the nanobots in our bodies...?"
"Not yet. At least wait until the transfer of authority is complete. With your status, taking all this back would not merely be easy—it would take just one word."
Chang Yuan knew exactly what these old foxes were thinking. Besides, he had never intended to let them live.
At his words, every councilor's face turned livid, yet none of them dared argue.
In the end, they could only swallow this silent loss.
"All right, you may leave now. Or do you need me to see you off?"
Now that Chang Yuan was throwing them out, what else could the councilors say? They could only leave obediently.
Once they were gone, only Chang Yuan, Mebius, and Velvie remained in the conference room.
"So, please give it everything you have against Honkai. I want Honkai dead. We already have the script in advance. If we still fail, then it can only mean the destruction of our civilization was inevitable."
"Leave it to me. You still don't trust me? I'm the great inventor Velvie. As long as I want to, there's nothing I can't do."
Velvie was immensely confident, to the point of seeming arrogant.
But she truly had the right to be. The Moonlight Throne had stripped away thirty percent of the Herrscher of Finality's Honkai Energy. What if there were more? What about one hundred?
Of course, no one knew whether the Herrscher of Finality would develop resistance. Chang Yuan did not know either, so they could only proceed with the worst-case scenario in mind.
"Since there's nothing else, I need to continue my experiments. This time, no one can choke my budget. I'll let everyone know that evolution is the only way forward."
After talking for a while, they all left the conference room.
Within the Flame-Chasing Moth headquarters, a Spiral Workshop had also appeared. Chang Yuan had naturally prepared it for Velvie.
Several months later...
"It's done, it's done! Hehe, I did it! Chang Yuan, hurry up and come see it with me."
Having completed a great treasure, Velvie immediately excitedly wanted to drag Chang Yuan over to see it.
Chang Yuan could only let her pull him into the Spiral Workshop she was so proud of.
Once inside, the first thing he saw was a suit of female armor.
"This is the Blank Divine Key created from the inspiration you suggested before. As long as a Herrscher Core is installed to connect it to the Imaginary Space, it can grant the user a Herrscher's abilities.
"Of course, using it means enduring the erosion brought by Honkai. Even you, Chang Yuan, cannot sustain it for long despite having been injected with a Honkai resistance serum.
"I estimate that three consecutive hours will be your limit. Beyond that, you will also suffer Honkai erosion."
As she removed the Blank Divine Key, Velvie introduced it while explaining its flaw.
That flaw was unavoidable. To connect to the Imaginary Space, one inevitably had to endure Honkai erosion.
"That's still pretty good. The power of a Herrscher? In a sense, this is far more powerful than a Divine Key. After all, it's the genuine power of a Herrscher."
With that, Chang Yuan looked at Velvie and posed a hypothetical question.
Before you continue