I am a hero of the former civilization.

“You won’t die in the simulator, but you’ll really die if you encounter a Herrscher.” Ryan replied thoughtfully, then turned around. “I’m leaving headquarters today. I’ll leave the rest to you. I hope that by the time I return, the thirteen squads will have made progress.”

If he wanted to leave, Mei wouldn't stop him. She glanced at Mebius, who was pursing his lips, and said, "Why don't you join us? Maybe you can find inspiration for the Overweight Transformation Project."

Because it's just data, excessive weight gain won't actually affect the physical body, although there will be plenty of psychological trauma.

But this statement had nothing to do with official business, and with Möbius's intelligence, he certainly understood what the woman was talking about.

If you want to stay by his side in the future, combat strength is the most important thing, because Ryan always manages to cause a big stir whenever he goes out.

Mebius, who usually disdained combat, simply nodded slightly this time: "Give me the highest difficulty, and I don't need any teammates."

"You said it yourself, so don't blame me if you can't stand it."

"Hmph, even if it's a simulator, intelligence is still the deciding factor. I'm not afraid of him no matter the environment or the time!"

Ryan's lips twitched slightly; he knew Mebius was going to suffer, but he didn't say anything to comfort him.

To be honest, Mebius and Velvet's fighting ability is not considered strong among the Thirteen Heroes. They have a good foundation, but unfortunately, they have been sitting in the laboratory for too long and lack the experience and ferocity.

But the laboratory has an end, and in the end, strength will prevail. At the very least, we must be able to protect ourselves in the final battle.

So he didn't say anything and just walked away.

“Wait a minute, you name this system. I’ve already rejected the lousy name ‘Vilvie’.” May called him back again.

It wasn't important, but it was quite interesting, Ryan thought to himself.

"Let's call it...Dark Souls."

No one knew what Dark Souls meant, and Ryan left without explaining. May and Mebius looked at each other, thought for a long time, and guessed that the Fusion Warriors would attract the darkest shadow, capable of touching the soul.

The matter was settled amicably. Mei typed on the keyboard to confirm the system name, and then asked a question without looking up.

"Are you sure you want to leave the lab? Don't you think it's a waste of time?"

"Experiments need to be done, but I also need to participate in the battles. I hate being a burden." Mebius sat on the control panel, half-dumping his high heels and gently swinging his feet.

Because of the 'gift', Mei felt indebted to someone and agreed that she needed to have strong combat power in this apocalypse, so as not to become a burden to others.

"Like with Vilvie, how about this, one of the thirteen squads will be assigned to you. This is good for both the public and private reasons. At least it will be in your hands, and I will feel more at ease."

"Why is she getting involved?!" Mebius's voice suddenly became shrill.

"Multiple personalities, who knows what she's thinking? If I were you, I'd be more open about it."

“You don’t need to worry about my affairs. Ryan isn’t like Kevin, that paramecium, who just follows you around in circles.”

“I think being single-minded is a good thing.” May pushed up her glasses, her cold gaze making Möbius swallow back the sarcasm that was about to come, before continuing to type on the keyboard. “You’re not worried about Alicia, are you? You say you hate her, but you don’t want her to actually get into trouble, so you want to help?”

Mebius's pupils contracted instantly, and he blurted out, "How did you know?"

“Alishia has more than just you friends. I’ve already talked to her and discovered that she has some kind of cognitive impairment. And this enthusiastic and cheerful Alishia, what do you think her cognitive impairment is?”

Mebius did not answer; it was clearly a good thing for him, but he dared not think about it.

If a girl who embodies all the beauty of humanity suffers from cognitive impairment, then what about the opposite...?

"Don't overthink it, just do what you're supposed to do." Mei walked over and patted her on the shoulder, her eyes rational and serious.

"Because he can solve all problems."

Chapter 299 A New Herrscher?

A small, sleek business jet soars through the sky, with the inky black Pacific Ocean beneath its wings. Sunlight reflects off the sea, and shimmering waves occasionally surge and ripple.

A giant tentacle lashed out, a thing that was over ten meters long and covered with suckers, looking just like a giant whale emerging from the water.

"The war has dragged on for too long, and the Honkai Beasts have begun to mutate."

Ryan glanced out of the cabin, leaned back in his chair, and squinted.

It can't be said to last too long; this state of confrontation is the root of everything. In the original timeline, the appearance of any Herrscher would be a major test for humanity, a test that requires desperate efforts to overcome.

If something goes wrong, civilization will end on the spot. But that's not an issue now. The Herrschers haven't even started their exams yet, and most of humanity doesn't even know about it, and a cheater has already jumped out.

They tore up the exam papers, beat up the proctor, and then, together with the whole class, cornered the examiner and threatened to beat up anyone who dared to hand out the exam papers.

It makes me so angry just thinking about it.

Ryan put himself in Sakura's shoes and couldn't help but smile. He then opened his eyes, took the tea handed to him, and looked Sakura up and down again.

She was very professional. Since she had changed from an assassin to the commander's adjutant, she even changed her appearance. She changed into a Moth of Fire uniform, which was a black suit with gold trim, plus a knee-length narrow skirt. Her pink hair was tied into a ponytail, and a boat hat was placed in the middle of her long fox ears.

She had two long swords at her waist, and wore gray stockings and black short-heeled leather shoes under her narrow skirt, making her look capable and heroic.

"This is important information from Dr. Mei, this is Major Coleman's investigation report, and these are the Inspectorate's 'Project Prism' report."

Along with the tea, there was an information terminal, where everything was summarized and organized. Sakura had never actually worked as an office clerk, but she spent a lot of time learning.

"Thanks. We still have a while before we arrive in Shenzhou, so take a short rest." Ryan took the bag and gave a special instruction, as Sakura had been busy with everything since takeoff.

Sakura seemed not to hear her and pointed to the discolored sea: "There are more and more Honkai Beasts in this ocean. Who knows when something might happen in the sky."

The world is being disconnected, turning into isolated islands, and airplanes are now the only safe mode of transportation.

Ryan glanced at it as well, which was expected, and then looked down at the document again: "The ocean is inherently difficult to control, and there are very few fusion warriors who can make it their home ground, but don't worry, Mei has already taken measures."

"Contract defenses?"

"Yes, the seven branches have been reduced to four, and the number of sub-branches has been reduced to twenty. The focus is on defending the axis of Europe-Shenzhou-Mu Continent, plus Australia in the middle. We can barely maintain the shipping route."

He opened an electronic map, and the areas that were left behind were basically the essence of civilization, possessing the greatest production capacity and population, while the abandoned areas were mostly wastelands, mainly in Africa, South America, and the Middle East.

Only someone as rational as Mei could make the decision to give up so much land. Only by dealing with the Fire Chaser Council could the interest groups behind them be silenced. For example, some Middle Eastern sheikhs, despite being surrounded by the Honkai, still made various exchanges to get the Fire Chaser to invest resources. In Mei's eyes, all of this was a criminal waste.

He didn't need to worry about these things, and he knew that behind every abandonment order lay the blood and tears of countless people, but what could he do?

"Hmm?" He paused slightly as he flipped through the documents, and narrowed his eyes a little.

"Dr. Yodl, a medical researcher, was assassinated; was it his personal secretary?"

Dr. Yodl had communicated with him when he was on the research committee, but unexpectedly he died.

This is a real talent! Their main research area is Honkai disease, and...

He quickly swiped backwards. This incident had happened just two days ago, and the case report had also arrived. The personal secretary was actually a student and mistress. The two had always had a good relationship, so it could only be inferred that their relationship had changed.

It was strange that they couldn't catch anyone even after two days of thorough searching, since that was the Far East branch, which had a very small area of ​​control. They would have to run to the occupied area.

Occupied territory?

"Sakura, help me retrieve all the recent criminal cases related to the Firemoth, within a week, including but not limited to scholars, experts, commanders, or funders."

"Okay, give me ten minutes." Sakura never complained, nodded and went straight to work.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, and more and more information appeared on the terminal. As Ryan looked at it, he frowned and his expression became increasingly serious.

Two limiting conditions were used to filter out dozens of messages, followed by rows of black and white profile pictures.

Many people have died, but in this world where people die every day, these deaths go unnoticed by anyone because these people are in a very delicate situation.

They're all incredibly talented, yet they didn't influence the world's course. They simply vanished without a trace, only becoming astonishing when searched for.

"Murder, car accident, loss of important documents—these all seem like coincidences that wouldn't be reported as important matters, but they don't seem like coincidences at all."

“I think it’s somewhat similar to the incident at headquarters.” Sakura stroked her chin, going over the incident reports she had read before in her mind. “They were all individual acts, unrelated to each other, but both caused some degree of damage.”

It's not just certain; if it weren't for Prometheus, it would be a real problem. A Trojan program could be planted in the central database, which would be like exposing someone completely naked.

Because of the shifts in the timeline, any problems could be blamed on traitors like Kalis. Furthermore, since the Herrschers are always unknown, even May couldn't see anything wrong with them. However, Ryan happened to know that there was a Herrscher whose authority was similar to this.

Could it be that the order in which the Herrschers descend has really changed? This doesn't seem like something a Herrscher of Knowledge could do. Just because humans are too united, they bring in a thousand Herrschers to cause trouble?

He recalled the Herrscher's authority, which was like having millions of clones, each a separate entity. It was a master of sabotage and infiltration, and could be said to have caused far more damage than the Seventh Herrscher when the previous civilization was on its last legs.

The Herrscher of Flame fostered the emergence of Fusion Warriors, while the Herrscher of a Thousand caused mutual distrust, intensifying the infighting within the Fire Moths and leaving them with no chance of a comeback.

'And it's quite effective at restraining me. In a direct confrontation, I can kill it like a chicken, so it's better if it just doesn't come out.'

Ryan rubbed his forehead, thinking that the collapse couldn't be solved by simply throwing bricks with great strength. This thing would resort to overwhelming force if underhanded tactics didn't work, and if that didn't work, it would continue to use underhanded tactics, just like some perverted teacher who would desperately create difficult problems.

Seeing Ryan deep in thought, Sakura didn't disturb him, but silently added tea. She knew that Ryan couldn't have gotten this far on his own strength alone. The reason Mei trusted him was because of his intelligence, which stood at the pinnacle of humanity.

The plane's engines hummed, and the coastline of the Chinese mainland came into view. Ryan, who had been silent all along, finally picked up his teacup.

"Got an idea?"

"Hmm, I'm assuming this is a Herrscher. Does that seem a bit unexpected?"

"Herrschers? Aren't they the ones who spread destruction and terror?"

“Don’t worry too much about the form. The previous Herrschers were indeed known for their destructive power, killing indiscriminately and leveling cities one after another.” Ryan took a sip of tea and said calmly, “But this Herrscher’s power is even more destructive. Often, the unseen blade is the most terrifying. Imagine if Rin was also possessed by her and you couldn’t tell. What would that feel like?”

Sakura instinctively tensed her muscles. Ryan's words were more than just terrifying; they were downright chilling. She was unafraid of battle and sacrifice, and the twin swords at her waist could slash through countless enemies. But if she couldn't see them, where would those swords be pointed?

"How do we solve this?"

She asked hastily, feeling that there was no solution anyway. According to Ryan's description, the Herrscher's greatest strength was secrecy, and solving the problem of the nature of authority alone would take a lot of time.

"I can't think of anything for now. He's too insidious. There are only two methods at this stage." Ryan's biggest advantage is that he assumes there are thousands of Herrschers, which saves him research time.

"First, looking at the target backwards, its purpose is to cause trouble, to silently divide humanity again. At this stage, it is assassinating these seemingly useless but actually very important people."

For example, Dr. Yordle, who is not a Fusion Warrior and does not involve any of Ryan's friends, but his research projects are related to the lives of millions of people. There is also the executive director of Rhine Scientific, who is the son of a congressman, but was assassinated by a Moth of Flame agent. Even May is having a headache about how to deal with it. If this happens a few more times, what do you think those interest groups will think?

No matter how you look at it, you think the Fire Moth is insatiable and is prepared to take back even the soup. When people are driven to the brink, they can make any choice. If all else fails, there are still those traitors like Kalis who can be relied upon.

“Assassination, framing, the next step could be to get some big shot to publicly oppose us.” Sakura pursed her lips, feeling a headache coming on. “What should we do? We’re too passive if we just wait like this. We have no way of knowing what the Herrscher will do next.”

She had already accepted that he was a Herrscher, and as Ryan said, he was absolutely terrifying.

“Since we’re working backward from the target, let’s confront it head-on. In my opinion, the number of Herrschers is limited. If they can split infinitely, then let’s just let all the remaining humans possess them.” Ryan propped his head up, his gaze as cold as winter.

"So let Him assassinate or frame us. He will soon find that it is not very useful and will be quickly exhausted. Even if things get out of hand, I can easily suppress them."

Knowing full well that a thousand Herrschers who specialize in causing trouble would descend, would I not have taken precautions in advance?

For online public opinion, there's Prometheus; no online army can outperform artificial intelligence. For offline disturbances, I have Aponia; its rules can eliminate any doubt.

Human rights? Morality? Are you trying to use these things to bind me?

Innocent!

Chapter 300 So-called Hometown