I am a hero of the former civilization.

It was all over. She loosened her grip on the knife, already contemplating how to assassinate the doctor, and then what gift to buy for Rin on her way home...

Until, a bright purple light illuminated their eyes.

The lightning bolt shattered the rock wall and struck straight down from above, instantly diminishing the dazzling blade light, which was then completely engulfed in an instant.

boom! !

The sound reached her ears, and the girl instinctively gripped the knife handle tightly until her fingertips turned white.

Not only her, but all the poisonous pupae tensed their muscles. Dust rose, and the captain, known for his intuition and dazzling swordsmanship, was buried in the dust, leaving only one figure visible.

A white shirt, casual pants, frameless glasses—the newcomer was impeccably clean, so clean he shouldn't have appeared before the assassins, yet the place beneath his feet was rife with cruelty.

The invincible hound was trampled in two, its head tilted back, its bulging eyes still filled with doubt, as if it were still lingering in the feedback of its instincts.

Everything was silent. The man in the center of their line of sight dusted off his shirt, looked at the assassins with gentle eyes, and slowly floated up.

Good afternoon, everyone. Can we save some time?

Unlike the gentle gaze, the violent lightning bolts lashed out like snakes, leaving deep marks on the ground.

"Which of you will come to your death first?"

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Sakura and Vervi

Ryan doesn't like to play dumb to fool others, because a tiger is always a tiger, and its overwhelming power is enough to crush everything, so why bother acting?

At least during this period of time, there are few people in the human population that he can be wary of, at least not among the poisonous pupae.

The purple lightning raged, but the special effects were secondary. The more than a thousand Honkai energies were like an invisible hand choking him, making even breathing a luxury. Even seasoned assassins felt helpless.

The pink-haired girl gasped for breath, as if using it to fight her fear, but her mind was still in a daze.

Who is this...?

Her appearance was worthless, but the power was real; she even thought she was under mind control.

Mind control? Could he be the pursuer, creating illusions for us?

She immediately recalled her previous investigation, but her companions were even faster than her.

Swish swish.

Several miniature missiles were launched, and the sound of machine guns roared as a storm of metal poured down on Ryan, while the man merely raised an eyebrow.

The full-power output only startled me for five seconds; no wonder it's a poisonous pupa, its mental fortitude is quite strong, but—

So what?

The electric current swept across the scene like a knife, and bullets and missiles were broken down into atoms as if they had vanished into thin air, without even a spark.

The eerie scene silenced the void for a moment, until a hysterical roar erupted.

"It was indeed mind control. Kill him!"

The sound of the powered exoskeleton's jets echoed continuously. Now that they were under mind control, the venomous pupae chose to draw their swords and engage in close combat, charging out from all directions.

"Wait a minute." The pink-haired girl quickly spoke up. Her dynamic vision was naturally superior to that of ordinary people. She had seen all the weapons melt down in an instant. This was not an illusion at all.

But no one listened to her. The sounds of charging, spitting air, and gunfire blended together as the poisonous pupae attacked and tore at Ryan like a pack of wolves.

"When faced with things that are incomprehensible, humans are only willing to believe in the results they want."

Ryan looked up and around. These poisonous pupae were pushing their powered exoskeletons to the limit, moving with agility and reaching speeds of 100 meters per second.

That's fast, but not fast enough.

He took a step forward, and the sledgehammer crashed to the ground with a 'boom,' sending up a shower of rocks. The equipment emitted white smoke due to overload, and the burly man, over two meters tall, wielded the sledgehammer with both hands, sweeping it horizontally with all his might.

"Die!"

Boom!

Ryan used a rabbit kick to knock out the eagle, and the burly man was gone, leaving only a cloud of smoke exploding on the stone wall a hundred meters away.

One.

Ryan glanced to the side and could 'see' a short man who had crept up to him, firing a short crossbow almost to his ribs, before slapping him across the face.

The meandering electric current covered everything directly, the optical camouflage instantly disappeared, leaving only a pair of camouflage legs on the ground, while the rest of the body turned into a patch of crimson 'paint'.

two.

Machine guns and machetes seized the opportunity to close in, attacking Ryan's vital points, and then all of them showed expressions of utter disbelief.

The target seemed to be surrounded by an invisible barrier, making it impossible to penetrate. The scene before them was simply incomprehensible.

“Power can change the essence; no wonder Mebius pursues it so much.” Ryan was also very satisfied. In the past, he would have had to put in a lot of effort, and with the will of these poisonous pupae, mind control probably wouldn’t have worked.

You can kill, but you must never crush them, just now—

Before these people could retreat, Ryan spread out his hand, gathered lightning into a blade, and swept it across.

Swish.

The alloy was cut like tofu, and after the knife marks, it was completely split in two.

There is one left.

Ryan turned around with a horizontal slash and saw the last slender figure rushing towards him. He admired the other's courage and judgment.

Running away is a dead end, so it's better to fight back. Of course, there's not much difference between the two options.

Seeing his opponent charging straight ahead, Ryan casually waved his hand, and Honkai energy swept across like a laser. As the opponent dodged, he threw out a constantly disintegrating lightning blade.

boom!

When the Thunder Blade landed, it exploded like a grenade, except that what was ejected was not shrapnel, but an electric arc powerful enough to sever any object from its atom.

But the person suddenly accelerated several times, rushing towards them while just missing the arc of electricity.

Huh? It actually attacked my poor perception.

Ryan raised an eyebrow slightly. This guy had been hiding something all along. He pretended to be weak to deceive me, and then unleashed his full power at the last moment. Also, why does this hair color look somewhat familiar?

The pink-haired girl pushed her physical body and powered exoskeleton to their limits. With a final stomp, she shot towards Ryan like an arrow, fueled by an insatiable will to survive. With a flick of her thumb—

A desperate escape from death, a single, swift strike!

The sword strike was incredibly fast, accompanied by a long, drawn-out dragon's roar. The blade even sliced ​​through Ryan's defenses, reaching near his neck, before the enemy suddenly vanished.

Ryan crouched down, feeling the coldness of the blade brushing against his hair. The battle just now had made even the Poison Chrysalis think he was a mage with terrifying destructive power, but in reality...

I am a martial artist.

The swift strike, imbued with all her energy and intent, was evaded. The girl had fallen from hope to despair. Now, she was wide open, and her opponent could turn her into charred remains with a mere wave of his hand.

But I can't give up yet!

Without the slightest hesitation, she gripped the knife with both hands and slashed down with all her might, only to catch a glimpse of a fist.

Bang—ding—

The broken tip of the knife spun into the air, reflecting the girl's contracting pupils. Her fist whistled, and the resulting storm blew her mask off, revealing her cool and beautiful face.

Before she could even think, a sharp pain made her muscles tremble, and before she lost consciousness, she heard her last words.

"It's really you."

Ryan exhaled a breath of stale air, looking at the girl in his hand whose body was crackling with electricity. Her eyes were wide open, and fear and reluctance still lingered in her purple pupils. Only her chest was slowly rising and falling.

This girl was none other than Ying Jie, who possessed the name "Moment". Ryan did not expect to see her here. After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that the knife was indeed very fast. If he did not have authority, he would most likely have failed today.

Keep in mind that the girl is still human. If she had become a fusion warrior, Ryan certainly wouldn't have been able to capture her now.

"But you're really unlucky, Sakura."

A surge of sarcasm welled up inside him. This Sakura went to assassinate Mei, only to be stopped by Kevin. Now her luck is even worse; she ran into him again while trying to assassinate Wilvie. It's no wonder she'll get a beating.

The most embarrassing thing is that Sakura was originally one of the key players in his initial plan.

“This counts as the first time I’ve ever beaten up Yingjie, not Kevin’s.” Ryan laid her flat on the ground and called out, “Vilvie, come out now.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a small head popped out of the hole in the ground. It was Vilvie, but her expression was not as exaggerated as before. She looked very serious, even a little ordinary.

"First, lure them into attacking, then blast open the ground to create the illusion of escaping. The bodies left inside the hole are also bait; the real body is indeed hidden inside the hole. You are truly a genius con artist, blurring the lines between truth and falsehood."

Ryan's tone was full of admiration. This elaborate scheme was even more sophisticated than his own. If he hadn't been able to use electromagnetic waves to search, he would have been fooled too.

"Thank you for your compliment." Velvi struggled to climb out of the cave entrance, her clothes soaked through by the groundwater, clinging to her body and outlining her graceful curves. She then gently raised her hand:

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Ryan."

This is the 'true self' of Velvi, who is skilled in multiple personalities. This is a skill she possessed before becoming a fusion warrior. Of course, she is currently just playing a role and cannot achieve the 'splitting' effect later on.

Seeing it now, it truly is extraordinary.

“No wonder you’re so unfathomable. This multiple personality disorder is enough to drive any intelligence analyst crazy.” Ryan lowered his head and gently held the small, fair hand. “Looks like I was just being redundant.”

"No, I can fool them countless times, but I can't escape their pursuit." Velvi's voice was soft, and her face was expressionless, giving the impression that...

Is he a little autistic?

As expected, each of the Vilvies was difficult to communicate with; they were either overly flamboyant or made it hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. But the job was done.

But what about this cherry blossom?

Ryan was in a dilemma. The girl was just a pawn, and killing her would be pointless. Moreover, with her potential, she was capable of becoming one of the top five individual combat experts on the human side. It was just that her identity was a bit troublesome.

"You didn't kill her for some special reason?" Wilvi had noticed the third living person in the cave long ago, but couldn't guess Ryan's intentions.

"Yes, there are indeed special reasons why she cannot die."

"So we can't leave her here, otherwise she'll be the only one alive and will surely die."

Ryan was slightly taken aback, realizing that Wilvi was right. The Poison Chrysalis never hesitated to deal with traitors, even if they couldn't explain themselves no matter how hard they tried. However, because of this unexpected incident, he had to change his plans.

They also said that once they rescued Vilvie, they would move on to the third step and return to the lab as soon as possible.

He wasn't afraid of being exposed, but he was afraid that Mebius would take the opportunity to cause trouble. However, if he took Sakura back, it would probably be even more troublesome. He could already imagine the mocking expression on Mebius's face.

"Let's leave here first and then make plans. The Moth Chasers should be here soon."

Ryan used Honkai energy to decompose all the remaining corpses, destroyed the traces of the battle, and finally carried Sakura on his shoulder.

After the electric shock, the girl's body went limp. Destroying the powered exoskeleton made it feel soft and yielding.