I am a hero of the former civilization.

Thinking of this, he gripped the teacup slightly tighter. In just two or three days, he had already gotten used to his current life.

Leisurely, peaceful, and without any waves, the tumultuous emotions from the previous attempt to seize the Fire Moth were quickly calmed, which is why I occasionally feel a lack of energy.

'Having experienced so many adventures, I actually hope this kind of life can continue for a long time. Humans really are lazy creatures.' Ryan took a sip of tea, swallowed, and his eyes sharpened.

"But the Honkai won't let me live such a comfortable life. Judging by the time, the Eighth Herrscher should be arriving soon."

Based on the Skynet detection and estimation, Ryan could roughly deduce the time of the Herrscher's arrival, so May also strengthened her realm.

If it's a Herrscher of Knowledge, that would be a bit troublesome, since this guy is a mental authority. But there's no need to worry too much. At worst, we can gang up on him. Anyway, there are quite a few mental fusion warriors. Once we know the nature of the authority, we can set a trap.

Since he was a mental fusion warrior, he suddenly thought of Su and felt it was time to bring his friend on board. Then his thoughts wandered, and he thought of Kevin from Su. He looked up at the clock and saw that it was already nine o'clock in the evening.

'Mebius isn't coming back today. Is he going to perform surgery on Qianjie directly?'

This is certainly inappropriate. Ryan is currently focused on success rate and there is no need to gamble. If we really want to consider combat effectiveness, we might as well kick Kevin into the fire.

That shouldn't be the case. Since Blanca is here, she will definitely come back to visit.

Ryan frowned subconsciously. He had been feeling uneasy for the past few days. He reached for his phone on the table, but as soon as he touched it, he stood up as if he had been electrocuted.

Earthquake? No, that's not right.

The slight tremor in my feet lasted only for a moment, which was unusual.

Before he could react, the bathroom door opened, and Sakura, wrapped in a bathrobe and carrying a knife, rushed out.

Water droplets slid down her thighs, her pink hair was wet, and her beautiful figure was on full display, but at this moment neither of them had any other thoughts, and the two of them only glanced at each other.

"Make sure everyone is dressed, seal off the entrances, and leave someone to guard the house."

"Yes."

Without any hesitation, Sakura didn't find it abrupt at all. She was already prepared for battle at any time. When Hua rushed out of the bathroom second, she only saw the window shaking slightly.

"Something happened?" The girl pursed her lips and subconsciously looked towards the kitchen, where bowls and chopsticks were still piled up. Just half an hour ago, she was grumbling and helping Mebius wash the dishes.

"Hmm, you haven't forgotten what kind of world we live in, have you?"

Looking at the aloof assassin, Hua felt somewhat lost. This past week had been too easy, like going back to school. She even started planning how to spend time alone with her senior brother.

But as Sakura said, the enemy won't give you a heads-up, nor will they give you time to prepare mentally, just like the sudden arrival of the Third Honkai.

She took a breath of warm air and shook her head solemnly.

"I haven't forgotten, and I dare not forget."

Chapter 291 Prometheus

Ryan moved through the night like lightning, his furrowed brows never relaxing.

Unlike Hua, he was mentally prepared for anything to happen at any time. The Honkai was an opponent with no discernible pattern, and even after dealing with them for ten years, Ryan still didn't know what move they would make next.

'There are only two rules governing Honkai: first, the energy limit is the Herald of the End; second, it will constantly adjust itself based on the current situation.'

These two points are deadly enough; the upper limit is too high, and constantly adjusting is like playing chess with a robot, where every move is precise and fatal.

I'm outwardly relaxed but inwardly tense, yet I've mindlessly come here to offer myself; this doesn't seem like my usual style.

Ryan was worried but not afraid. He had left a dozen or so fighters in the underground. If they couldn't defeat them, then he would die now and there was no need to wait for later.

He plunged headfirst into the giant building, kicked open the elevator door, and jumped directly into the underground. Red alarms flashed in the well, and he sensed that dense Honkai energy entities were moving at high speed.

Mei has already laid a trap, and that leisurely atmosphere is just an illusion. Some powerful figures have never actually moved into the lakeside villas.

Ryan landed silently, swatting away the electromagnetic rifle pressed against his forehead, startling the fusion warrior.

"Your Excellency, Commander!"

"How is the situation? Where is Dr. May?" Ryan asked expressionlessly, exuding an invisible pressure. He was a far cry from the way he had been scolded by a little girl just moments before.

"Five minutes ago, the defense alarm was triggered, and the defense team immediately went into combat mode and killed fifteen Honkai Beasts."

"Wait a minute, where did this Honkai Beast come from?" Ryan stopped abruptly and looked at the bewildered soldier. This was the lair of the Fire Moth, and theoretically, it was impossible for a Honkai Beast to be born here.

"I'll answer it."

At that moment, a hand covered in fine scales pushed the soldier aside, who left with a sigh of relief. Ryan turned his head and saw a man with messy purple hair and sharp horns on both sides of his forehead.

“Colonel Kidman.” Ryan recognized him; he was the head of the Inspectorate, and he had been on official business when the Firemoth was attacked last time.

"Commander-in-Chief, I apologize for the lateness of my report." A smile appeared on the man's effeminate face, giving off a slightly lizard-like, chilling feeling.

Military rank is derived from seniority. This person is not a high-ranking fusion warrior, and Ryan is certainly not very gentle with people other than his friends.

"You can just report to Dr. Mei as you walk."

Ryan turned and walked away, passing a blood-stained corridor where several tank-class Honkai Beasts lay dead, the alloy walls were dented, and some researchers in white lab coats were scattered around.

As a veteran, Kidman's report got straight to the point, and in just a few sentences, Ryan understood the cause and effect.

It turns out that these Honkai Beasts escaped from Mebius's laboratory. An explosion occurred in the material storage area, and the monsters broke free of their restraints. They were then smashed to pieces by the soldiers who rushed to the scene.

"The material storage area is Class A protected; how could an explosion have occurred there?"

"The specific cause of the accident is still under investigation, but here is a surveillance video that you can take a look at first."

Kidman handed over a tablet displaying surveillance footage. Ryan glanced at it and saw a middle-aged man in a white coat enter using his access privileges, then inflate like a balloon in front of the door, exploding with blood and flesh everywhere.

Self-destruct?

He was momentarily confused. What reason would this person have to expose himself? Moreover, he vaguely remembered this person; he seemed to have seen him in the research department.

But Mei personally conducted background checks on each researcher. What reason would he have to risk his life to cause trouble? And what effect would doing so have?

Moreover, this self-destruction itself is problematic; there was no bomb or anything like that in sight.

He walked through a chaotic passage, where the protective door at the end had been blasted open with a large hole, and fragments of various Honkai Beasts were scattered everywhere. A masked man was leaning against the wall.

Mebius has a rich resource pool with considerable strength, including several Honkai Emperors, but all of these monsters were torn apart without any chance of defense or resistance.

There was also a large crater in the ceiling, the steel plate was torn apart, and it was probably this heavy blow that woke Ryan up.

"You've arrived?" Qianjie lowered her arms from her chest, glanced at the purple-haired man, who tactfully took his leave.

"Yeah, I didn't expect to run into this kind of mess." Ryan was also a little helpless. He came here excitedly, but there were no powerful intruders. "It's strange. Doing this is pointless. Even if they are buried assassins, it's such a waste."

Ryan simply couldn't understand how many infiltrators of this caliber could there be. Even if they wanted to cause damage, they should have targeted key areas.

"Who knows? Maybe he just can't stand that woman!"

"Keep your voice down, aren't you afraid that Mebius will hold a grudge and add something to your super transformation surgery?"

"Let her join if she dares." Qianjie snorted disdainfully, then put his hands in his pockets and disappeared down the corridor.

He was all talk and no action; his body language betrayed him, though he was clearly afraid of being targeted by Mebius.

Ryan chuckled and stepped through the broken door. In the center of the group of monsters, Mebius stood quietly, her anger and resentment almost overflowing.

The losses were severe, and the repair costs, coupled with the poverty that plagued Möbius, naturally infuriated him.

“What were you doing when the attack happened?” Ryan asked.

"Analyzing that barbarian's cells and discovering a problem with his genes, I'm secretly gloating." Möbius said without turning his head.

Sure enough, they had a hidden agenda.

Ryan knew that Qianjie was a celestial being, so he wondered why Mebius would suddenly become so kind and offer to help him with the super-transformation surgery. It turned out that he had already secretly set a price.

"And now you can't enjoy it anymore?"

“If you’re here to make sarcastic remarks, go back to your place. I’m annoyed right now.” Mebius turned his head and glared at Ryan. “This guy has been with me for five years and almost became my assistant. I really can’t understand why he did that.”

“It’s a problem. The spies who can infiltrate the research department are all highly classified. This is a complete waste.” Ryan glanced at the room full of Honkai Beast corpses. It had indeed caused Mebius heavy losses and would delay the research progress to some extent.

But it's no use. Honkai Beasts are everywhere on Earth. If we lose them, we can just catch more. Nobody is so naive as to think that a few Honkai Beasts can make the center bloom.

Ding.

Just as he was at a loss, his phone rang. Ryan took it out and his expression became more serious.

"Yes, I'll be right there."

"plum?"

"Hmm, so it turns out they were using a feint attack, and someone even went to the central database."

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. That made more sense. The things stored in the central database were hundreds of times more valuable than these Honkai Beasts. Activating the hidden agent after observing Ryan and the others' laxity made sense.

He quickly led Mebius deeper into the area, which was separate from the shelter and entirely encased in heavy alloy armor. The only access route was an elevator, and even if Ryan wanted to force his way in, he would have to put in some effort.

When the elevator doors open, all you see are electronic signal lights and dense cables; further inside, there's a giant void.

A black object, at least two or three stories high, was placed in the center. From the outside, it looked like hundreds of rectangular chassis stacked together, with cables connecting them that were enough to trigger trypophobia.

The flashing electronic lights, and the rows of consoles and servers forming a matrix, made humanity seem insignificant in comparison.

This is the pinnacle of Moth of Fire's electronic technology. It was later specially modified by Vilvi. It is a core asset. Without the support of a database, even if Mei had three heads and six arms, she couldn't manage it.

Ryan immediately spotted Mei next to the Matrix, and beside her was a corpse wearing a white coat, who appeared to have no external injuries. In the corner was another corpse whose head had been smashed open, with red and white liquid sprayed all over the ground.

"He did it?"

“Albert, a first-level staff member in the technical department, is on his and his colleagues’ turn to maintain the server today,” May said casually. Without waiting for Ryan to ask, she pointed and said, “Albert killed his comrade and then tried to hack into the server, but I was prepared. He was just throwing his life away.”

"So I trust you to do things, but why is it a hacking?"

"He can't destroy it if he wants to. Vilvie has installed an electromagnetic shield on the server, which is enough to withstand a single blow from an Emperor-level Honkai Beast. It will activate when a hostile reaction is detected."

Wow, they're even more cunning than me, they dug the trap quietly.

Ryan glanced at the corpse with some pity and was about to speak when Mebius spoke first.

"So, the attack on my resource database was a ruse, a distraction, while the real operation was to secretly infiltrate the central database?"

"You can think so."

Mebius's lips twitched, and a surge of inexplicable anger welled up in his heart.

Why me again? You think I'm easy to bully? You have hundreds of important departments, like the moth chasing the flame.

She turned her head away through gritted teeth and said bitterly, "It's all your fault!"

"Huh? I didn't ask him to do it, so why blame me?"

“If you hadn’t brought that barbarian back, I wouldn’t have forgotten the time. I would have noticed the slightest disturbance long ago. If you hadn’t been slacking off, you would have come to help me. That spy couldn’t have infiltrated at all. He’s just staying outside every day. What kind of commander is he?”