Hunter x Hunter: Card Master, the Strongest in the World.

Chapter 263 Orochimaru Unleashes His Power! The Importance of the Emperor's Engine!

Are we about to become that powerful person's subordinates?

The chimeric ants had a variety of thoughts, but they were not overly opposed to each other.

Not only because of what I just saw and heard, but also because they are essentially wild animals, only they have human genes.

In particular, most of them do not yet have memories of the time when humans were awakened.

Therefore, their current actions rely more on the mindset of wild animals.

The law of the jungle is the ironclad rule of nature. Lynn's strength had already subdued them, so they were not strongly opposed to him.

What followed left them speechless with astonishment.

Lynn released the queen ant and explained, "Since you're here, don't have any ulterior motives. Just do your job honestly and you'll have a good life."

"Your queen is no exception; from now on, she will work under my command, just like you."

Seeing the queen, who had fully recovered and showed no signs of her previous severe injuries and near death, Zazan and the others were so shocked that their pupils trembled.

How is this possible?!

They witnessed firsthand how the Queen was severely injured because of the King's premature birth—an injury so severe that there was no hope of recovery!

Haga, a chimera ant who had been here before, didn't have such a deep feeling; he was just surprised that even the queen had been brought along.

But Zazan, Guido, and the others were different. Given this context, they were even more surprised that Lynn was able to completely heal the seriously injured queen in such a short time.

What incredible power this is!

Even a highly capable guard team could not do that.

Just how many unknown abilities does this powerful human possess?

The unknown represents danger, and the chimera ants dared not think any further about it, but they were more accepting of becoming Lynn's subordinates.

Since things have come to this, they have no choice but to comply.

We can't win.

They can't compete with him.

They even brought the queen with them; she was their original "king," at least before the arrival of the ant king.

The former bosses have all become subordinates of the current boss, so what reason do they have to rebel? It seems they're just continuing to work under the Queen.

Many chimeric ants even began to regard Lynn as their queen, which best fits their position within the chimeric ant colony.

Seeing that the chimeric ants had no objections, Lynn nodded slightly.

Although I have only been in contact with these chimeric ants for a short time, it is clear that they no longer have a strong sense of resistance. With a little training, they can be regarded as capable subordinates.

Of course, there may still be a small number of chimeric ant hearts that have concerns.

But once he brings back the Ant King and his guards, or at the very least, his corpse, they will be completely won over.

From that moment on, he will become the true king of the chimeric ants.

Immediately afterwards, Lynn left and headed to the laboratory where Orochimaru often stayed.

After he left, Haga and Kurapika took charge of settling the Chimera Ants and teaching them how to systematically learn Nen.

The estate is very large, with several villas alone. He usually lives in the most luxurious one, located in the center of the estate.

The laboratory should be called an experimental institute, because it was formed by converting a house that was originally located in a relatively remote corner of the manor.

It has three floors above ground and two floors below ground, with a very spacious interior equipped with all kinds of the most advanced and top-notch facilities.

The total cost, roughly in the hundreds of billions of yen, was spent to provide Orochimaru with the best research environment.

And this only covers the environment and equipment aspects; it doesn't even include the large amount of materials that need to be purchased during the research.

For example, in order to find a metal that could replace vanilla, Orochimaru would have Capone send people to purchase various minerals from the six continents.

Minerals range from extremely cheap to outrageously expensive; for example, minerals are among the "Seven Most Beautiful Things in the World."

Fortunately, he is extremely wealthy now, and he can easily take out hundreds of billions of jin from himself, not to mention Capone, who is one of the Ten Elders.

The Capone family's power grew larger and larger. Although he was only one of the Ten Elders, he was backed by Capone and was exceptionally capable.

It could be said that Capone alone held half of the power of the Ten Elders.

The Capone family is no longer the small-time, upstart gang it once was; it has become a behemoth across the six continents.

He received countless junipers every minute and every second, accumulating an astronomical sum of money, so he never really worried about money.

Orochimaru fully utilized his scientific research abilities.

Capone also made full use of his "logistics" abilities. Whatever Orochimaru needed, he would make it his top priority and have his subordinates do it as quickly as possible, such as purchasing materials.

Having power is the most comfortable thing; you don't have to do everything yourself and waste your time.

If you want something or plan to do something, you can often just have your subordinates do it, which is extremely efficient.

Soon Lynn arrived at the laboratory and saw Orochimaru, who had stopped working, and the mechanical Maru assisting him.

One was a renowned scientist in the ninja world, and the other was an all-around AI robot. The two worked together exceptionally well, and Lynn simply gave them the nickname "Double Ball Combination".

Inside the laboratory, the walls were silver-white, with a cold metallic sheen, and looked very clean.

Orochimaru, dressed in a pristine white lab coat, still wore that same cold, sinister face, his eyes like those of a venomous snake lurking in the shadows.

Let alone cooperating with Orochimaru, others couldn't even withstand the chilling aura that seemed to solidify just by standing in front of him.

However, when facing Lynn, Orochimaru would deliberately restrain himself and act normally.

Upon learning that Lynn was coming, Orochimaru was already prepared and immediately reported on the current research progress.

Orochimaru currently has two main research projects at hand.

The first one is the [Vanilla Research], which existed from the very beginning.

After his previous research, he encountered the first problem: the cultivation of vanilla requires a specific metal. He then began to experiment and has recently made some progress.

He tried many metals, and so far, gold has been the most effective.

Of course, it's not that effective, but the precursor to vanilla, the parasitic plant, doesn't react to most metals, but it does react a little when it comes into contact with gold.

The portion size is too small and not enough.

To get a small parasitic plant to react, you need a pound of gold, and that's all you get is a reaction.

He also tried increasing the amount of gold, but it seemed like something was missing, and the changes were not obvious. Further research is needed.

A pound of gold?

Since the six continents are based on Earth, the amount of gold here is also not large, and its price is higher than most minerals.

Fortunately, he wasn't short of money, so he could afford to support Orochimaru.

The second point concerns the study of chimeric ants.

Thanks to the continuous supply of research materials, Orochimaru's research is progressing very smoothly. He has collected a wealth of chimeric ant genes and is currently conducting further research.

With Orochimaru's abilities, perhaps one day he will be able to use these gene banks to select appropriate genes, edit the strongest chimeric ants, and then mass-produce them?

From this perspective, the ant owner's value is even higher, especially its research value.

Lynn collected his thoughts and then released the queen ant.

"This is the queen ant you've always wanted; it's yours now."

As the originator of the Chimera Ants, Orochimaru had longed to study the Queen Ant for a long time, and now he could finally have his wish fulfilled.

Orochimaru stared at the Queen Ant, his eyes gleaming with barely concealed excitement, and said in a hoarse voice, "Understood, I will not betray your trust."

Ever since he came into contact with these chimeric ants from the dark continent, he has been very curious about these creatures.

He knew that common chimeric ants, as the name suggests, can feed on different organisms, filling their genes into the next generation, and thus breeding different species of chimeric ants.

Ordinary chimeric ants are only a small size and have extremely limited capabilities.

But the chimeric ants of the Dark Continent are different. They have the same height as humans and can even mix the genes of humans, monsters, and other creatures into their next generation.

They have completely broken free from the constraints of normal chimeric ants, and could even be called another kind of creature.

As a leading figure in the field of biology, Orochimaru was immediately drawn to this creature and couldn't wait to study the underlying principles and put its abilities to use.

He had also considered using it on himself.

For example, once the technology matures, one could transform oneself into a chimeric ant and add carefully selected biological genes, which obviously has enormous potential for development.

Especially since he didn't want to die!

As the least fearless scientist in the ninja world, Orochimaru's "skills" all stemmed from two very simple ideas.

Become stronger.

Don't want to die.

If we simplify it further, we can also omit the part about becoming stronger, because part of Orochimaru's desire to become stronger is to prevent others from killing him and to pursue immortality.

Even in the character card, this "fear of death" personality still exists in him. Of course, if Lynn is in danger, he is still willing to risk his life to save him. This is the underlying logic.

But that doesn't stop him from wanting to become more resilient.

Chimera Ant's talent is a good thing; if he possesses it, he can add the genes of some creatures with exceptionally long lifespans or extreme resilience.

As for his appearance, he doesn't really care.

Orochimaru remembered that there was a similar forbidden technique in the ninja world, the Demon Sprout Technique.

The Demon Sparrow Technique is a forbidden fusion technique that uses the user as the core, allowing them to fuse with a ninja or summoned beast.

It can steal the opponent's abilities and even their bloodline limit.

If used well, the Chimera Ant's talent is no less than that of Oni-Gama.

Immediately afterwards, Lynn gave Orochimaru another surprise.

He took out a stack of papers, the top cover of which read "Insect Gene Technology".

"This technology is very interesting; you should look into it."

Orochimaru took a look, and with his extensive experience, he immediately realized the importance of the technique and became engrossed in studying it.

After a long silence, Orochimaru couldn't help but remark, "This is indeed a very good technique."

"They can actually transplant insect genes into humans, giving them corresponding talents and greatly enhancing their abilities."

"This is similar to the Chimera Ant's talent, but it's even better."

To gain the amplification of insect genes from humans through the chimeric ant's talent, one must first be eaten by the queen ant; there are too many variables involved.

Insect gene technology, on the other hand, is primarily human-based, using relatively safe surgical modifications and drug injections to endow humans with insect-like abilities.

And because of this document, he was confident that he could further improve it in a short time, at least much faster than the Chimera Ant talent.

This would allow them to present fully usable technology sooner, helping Lynn build an army of insectoids.

But this doesn't mean we don't need to study the chimeric ant.

On the contrary, this technology solves the most critical problem!

He wanted to gain the Chimera Ant talent without being eaten by the queen ant, which was the most difficult problem to solve in the entire process.

Fortunately, this insect genetic technology can solve the problem.

Orochimaru quickly devised a plan in his mind: first, he would develop mature insect gene technology, then experiment with ordinary insects, and finally switch to chimeric ant genes.

If all goes well, the combination of the two could create a human army with chimeric ant genes.

"I must say, you've given me a wonderful surprise."

Orochimaru sighed again.

Lynn waved his hand, indicating that it was nothing.

On the contrary, he felt even more that acquiring Orochimaru was a good thing, as the importance of a professional scientist was too great.

Seeing that Orochimaru had become interested in researching, Lynn asked him to wait a moment, as there was something else he wanted to see.

That is the [Emperor Engine]!

Orochimaru is a master of skills, so when he obtains an important new ability, he will inform Orochimaru and they will study it together.

He first gave a brief explanation of the ability, and then used it on his own.

Boom!

Boom boom boom!

In an instant, an unusually loud and powerful heartbeat resounded in the laboratory; an unsuspecting person might mistake it for the sound of a car starting up.

"Hmm?" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.

Lynn did not release any Nen, so there was no aura formed by Nen.

Yet, even from this simple heartbeat, he felt a considerable pressure. People of A rank and below would probably not dare to make a move just from hearing this heartbeat.

Unlike King in the original story, Lynn's Emperor Engine is an active skill; his heartbeat is normal most of the time.

Then Lynn truly released his Nen, forming an aura and demonstrating the effect of the [Emperor Engine].

As expected, the already powerful aura became even more terrifying with the amplification of the Emperor Engine.

Enveloped by Lynn's malevolent aura, and hearing the thunderous heartbeat of an emperor, even Orochimaru subconsciously weakened his aura.

Being overwhelmed by the opponent's momentum is extremely fatal on the battlefield.

After a while, Lynn suppressed his aura. That was all the Emperor Engine could do, because he was still a little unclear about the second and third effects, which was exactly what he wanted to discuss with Orochimaru.

The second effect is the potential to become an emperor, improving one's aptitude in areas such as aura and kingly qualities, and giving the opportunity to learn things without a teacher.

The third effect is ideological distortion, which makes it easier for others to misunderstand your thinking.

Orochimaru did not feel any ideological influence from this, perhaps because the difference in strength was not significant, or perhaps because he was a character card and Lynn's Nen beast.

However, Orochimaru offered his own insights regarding the second effect.

This ability is likely to be more important than we imagine, and it may allow us to learn abilities from other worlds independently without using cards.

This also brought to mind a variety of abilities, such as Conqueror's Haki from One Piece, spiritual pressure from Bleach, and Cosmo from Saint Seiya—