Asura in Arknights

This part of the truth dealt a significant blow to the young researcher, and whether he can overcome this hurdle depends entirely on Himer himself.

However, her moral principles clashed with Rhine Lab's ruthless methods. Li Ang was not optimistic about Himer's future here, and their conflict was bound to erupt sooner or later, requiring only a small spark.

Li Ang even felt that the survivor named Ifrit was the hidden fuse.

Although she was indeed rescued by Rhine Lab's defense department, looking at the entire structural department... doesn't Himeru think she's a bit too special?

There's only one patient like Ifrit in the entire structural department, and heaven knows what that old goat is up to... Without anyone else's protection, it would be too easy to do something to that child.

Hopefully, rosemary's experience will serve as a wake-up call for Himer...

Meanwhile, on Li Ang's side, after less than half a day of peace, that old goat from the structural engineering department finally unleashed his first move—

He invoked Rhine Life's principle of secrecy.

They said that some treatment methods involving the core secrets of the Structural Department would be used in the treatment of Rosemary, but considering that the patient was indeed young and needed someone to accompany him, the Structural Department generously gave Li Ang two options.

First, leave Rhine Life and keep Rosemary in the Structural Department; they will hire professional nurses to take care of her.

Li Ang and his team were not allowed to participate in Rosemary's treatment, and could only visit her during their designated time each day... This was tantamount to handing over the supervision of Rosemary entirely to Rhine Life.

Secondly... if you insist on staying, that's fine too.

However, for the foreseeable future, they will be prohibited from leaving the Rhine Life Group's territory.

Otherwise, they would have reason to suspect that Leon and Adele were actually corporate spies using their adoptive parents' identities as cover to steal Rhine Life's secrets.

By effectively placing them under house arrest within Rhine Labs, what's the next step? Poisoning? Assassination?

No matter what method they use, as long as they can get rid of these two troublesome guys, they can do whatever they want with Rosemary, right? Leon didn't have any expectations of Rhine Lab's moral bottom line.

However, the reason Parvis came up with was indeed flawless, because Rhodes Island had already signed an agreement with them, and Leon couldn't simply take Rosemary and leave.

After speaking with Adele privately, they ultimately decided to split up.

Leon stayed behind to deal with the cunning old man Palvis, while Adele went to the safer Star to search for clues related to the constructs.

Adele had seen those things before and even dealt with one of them herself, so there shouldn't be any problem sending her to Asterix.

Although the woman named Horhaya is somewhat dangerous, it is unlikely that she will take action. Columbia is generally considered a civilized society, which is why Horhaya gained control of the Astronomical Association through acquisition. Moreover, even if a fight does break out, it is uncertain who will emerge victorious.

However, the situation on Rhine Lab's side is quite unfriendly. They certainly won't confront us directly; instead, they'll use all sorts of insidious methods to test us.

Li Ang is tough and resilient, with very low trial-and-error costs. He has a subtle connection with Hai Si and has not yet shown any symptoms of illness or poisoning. Most underhanded tricks are ineffective against Li Ang. If Palvis wants to overcome Li Ang as an obstacle, he must find a way to start from another direction.

The second day after arriving in Colombia passed quickly.

After Li Ang chose to stay, the Structural Engineering Department arranged a ward for him and Rosemary in the laboratory building.

Unsurprisingly, Li Ang found a number of listening devices in the room. After he destroyed all of them, the structural engineers did not come looking for him.

Li Ang and Palvis have reached a preliminary understanding, but whichever of them finds a suitable opportunity will probably not hesitate to turn against each other.

That night, to prevent Palvis from launching any sneak attack, Leon simply kept himself in the lightest possible sleep, waking him up at the slightest sound.

Just as the night was beginning to fall, Li Ang was awakened from his light sleep by an unusual noise.

The faucet in the ward's washroom turned on by itself, and a large amount of clean water flowed out.

Trevor?

This method of infiltration immediately reminded Li Ang of the robot he had dismantled.

Although Li Ang did not witness it in person, similar situations were described in the accounts of Destreet and Nian.

However, this time Li Ang guessed wrong, and his guess was quite far off.

The clear water flowing from the tap was like a ball of elastic colloid, "bouncing" from the washbasin onto the floor, then quickly elongating and turning a light green color, transforming into a slender figure.

A woman? Li Boli?

However, Li Ang quickly realized that the woman's head ornaments were not ear feathers of the Liberi tribe, but a pair of similar-looking hair ornaments.

Is this Trevor's real identity? The contrast is a bit too much, isn't it? I wonder what this guy is up to this time.

Li Ang frowned, feeling that something was not quite right.

The woman before me, whose race I do not know, is also a kind of clone, but she uses some kind of unique Originium Arts.

Although it was very faint, Li Ang could indeed sense a slight Originium energy reaction from her.

As for the 'Treff' we met before... although he was powerful, he did not use any Originium Arts. The liquid metal that could be transformed into a construct was more like a pure technological creation, without any trace of Originium Arts.

The woman stretched lazily as if no one else was around, then tiptoed over to the rosemary.

"Is this the child...? Hmm, she's quite cute... It was worth the trip to see her."

The woman nodded in satisfaction, but just as she reached out to wake the sleeping rosemary, her movements suddenly froze.

An object radiating terrifying energy was pressed against her back, accompanied by a deep voice.

"Oh? Then why don't you tell me what you came all this way for?"

"Trevor Friston".

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Chapter Thirteen: Muirsay

Realizing the threat that had come upon her, the woman was immediately alarmed.

A wave-like pattern instantly rippled across her body, making her unstable and seemingly about to disintegrate into a pool of liquid again.

Having failed to infiltrate and been caught red-handed, she was already preparing to run away. In any case, this was just a clone created using Originium Arts, so even if it was destroyed, it wouldn't affect her main body.

She has always done it this way.

However, this time the situation seemed a little different. An immense pressure descended upon her without warning, forcibly pushing the clone that had just been partially released back into place.

At the same time, the object behind her, which was releasing an extremely high Originium energy reaction, pierced her back without hesitation.

The raging Originium energy flowed into her body through the wound, tearing the structure of her clone to shreds. Every corner of her body was wracked with excruciating pain, as if being cut by a dull knife.

The problem is... it's just a water clone! Where did it get pain receptors??

As the woman continued to try to dispel the clone and return her consciousness to her original body, the voice behind her said, "Don't waste your energy. You can't escape from here."

"You shouldn't have used Originium Arts to create clones; that was the biggest mistake you made."

To some extent, Originium Arts is an extension of a person's soul and will, while the robot that Li Ang dismantled last time was just a puppet controlled by some kind of technology.

Although Li Ang could detect the signal sent from afar, even if he destroyed the puppet, he could not affect Trevor's main body in any way.

He can't just follow the signal to hit someone.

But now, the woman before him, who seems to be Trevor's true form...

"You can take a gamble and see if I can use this connection of Originium Arts to destroy your soul," Li Ang said with a sneer. "You might not die, but becoming an idiot... that's not a bad ending for you either."

Destroying souls? Is that even possible?

Wait a minute... Upon hearing this, the woman felt a sudden chill run down her spine.

That inexplicable pain... could it be because her soul was damaged?

It seems that she has inadvertently gotten herself into a lot of trouble because of that damned curiosity.

Seeing that the woman remained silent, Li Ang increased the power of his killing intent fluctuations and at the same time catalyzed the cluster of active Originium crystals in his hand once again, causing them to release even more violent Originium energy.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

The woman was in so much pain she almost jumped up, but under Li Ang's threat, she forcibly suppressed the urge.

Sensing that her life might be in danger, she quickly shouted, "Y-you, you, you've mistaken me for someone else! I'm not Trevor, I'm Muirsay, the head of the Ecology Department!"

"Ecology Department? They can't even come up with a plausible excuse... Would the head of the ecology department sneak off to a place like this?"

Li Ang almost laughed out of anger at this woman.

Rhine Lab has only ten directors in total. Although Li Ang has only met Ferdinand and Palvis, both of them are extremely difficult to deal with.

Now... a seemingly innocent woman suddenly jumps out and claims to be the head of the ecology department, on par with those two. Should Li Ang believe her or not?

Not to mention, the head of the Ecology Department also held special significance for Li Ang.

Before Adele's parents traveled to the East, their last stop was the Ecology Department of Rhine Life.

Thinking of this, Li Ang's face darkened.

Influenced by his emotions, the power of his murderous intent became even more terrifying.

"Please spare me! I really meant no harm. I just heard about the victims of human experimentation, so I came to check on the situation. I'm so sorry for being so presumptuous. I hope you can forgive me!"

This guy, who called himself Muirsay, seemed to have been provoked, and spoke at a speed like a machine gun.

Even Li Ang was stunned for a few seconds before he realized what that long string of words meant.

As the stinging pain in her body subsided, Muirsey finally breathed a sigh of relief... In any case, her life was temporarily saved.

Regardless of whether the man behind her was lying or not, it was a fact that she was currently unable to dispel her water clone, and Muirsey did not want to gamble with her life.

"...Words are not enough; how can you prove your identity?"

In fact, Li Ang was almost certain that he had mistaken the woman for someone else; this woman gave him a completely different feeling from Trevor.

Even someone with schizophrenia couldn't portray two such diametrically opposed characters well.

Li Ang could sense that the man named Trevor was crazy at heart, while the woman in front of him... was more like a comedic character from a comic book.

"Prove your identity?"

Muirsey was stunned.

She never imagined she would face such a problem one day... So the question is, how can she prove that she is herself?

After racking his brains for a moment, an idea suddenly popped into Muirsey's mind.

"By the way! You can check out Rhine Life's official website. It has introductions of each department head, and my photo is on it!"

Thankfully, I didn't find it troublesome and still managed to take a picture of myself...

Muirsey thought to herself with a smug satisfaction, "This should be enough, after all, there aren't many people as beautiful as her."

However, she received a rather cold reply.

"so what?"

"This is just a clone made of water. You control what it looks like. Rhine Lab's website even has a photo of the head of the ecology department? Now that you mention it, you're even more suspicious."

Muirsay was speechless for a moment.

Just as Li Ang said, the appearance of the water clone can be changed at will, but it may be exposed under strong sunlight.

Although Muirsey often joked with others this way before, this time she really used her own appearance...

She just wanted to build a good relationship with the victims of human experimentation, just like Ifrit not long ago. Little did she know that there was such a ruthless guy hiding in the ward.

Now he has no way to defend himself...

Muirsey was on the verge of tears; was she really going to die in such a foolish way?

Just as Muirsey was considering whether to fight to the death, the strange pain surging from every corner of her body suddenly disappeared, and even the high-energy reaction in her back moved a little further away.

With the threat gone, Muirsey leaped forward with all her might, completing a 180-degree turn in mid-air, and warily watched the man who had quietly crept up behind her.

Under the ominous red light, the man's short white hair turned the color of dried blood, and his scarlet eyes sent chills down Muirsey's spine.

...Wait, a red glow? Where did that red glow come from?

Muirsey's gaze naturally fell on the man's hand, which was the source of the powerful Originium energy she had sensed earlier.

It was a red mist that looked like it was burning, and it was bound by some kind of force, roughly forming a long strip shape. Muirsey recognized what it was at a glance.

"Activated Originium?? Are you crazy?"

Moreover, it is an unstable active source stone that could explode at any time.

How could a madman dare to use this thing as a means of attack?

The pressure that had been enveloping her had disappeared, and Muirsey could now release the water clone at any time and send her consciousness back to her main body.

But having anticipated what would happen next, Muirsey had completely given up on escaping. If she sacrificed this water clone... she should be able to protect the child.

Although Muirsey seemed to have been beaten up for no reason, she was indeed at fault first, and the child was innocent.

Just as she was preparing her Originium Arts, she saw the man in front of her extinguish the cluster of active Originium that was about to explode, as if putting out a cigarette.

"I thought you were going to just run away."