Crash.
Pouring hot water over his head cleared away the fatigue and sharpened Ryan senses. He stroked his chest muscles, which still carried the faint traces of shallow scars.
By killing Śeṣa, he had gained some repair capabilities on the side, so there was no need to take the risk of doing it again.
Being cautious was Ryan habit. Without fully understanding the essence of fate, everything seemed like metaphysics. Unless the situation was urgent, there was no need to gamble.
"If you inject one super-mutation factor and then want a second or third one, you'll end up killing yourself sooner or later."
Ryan walked out of the bathroom with a towel draped over his face, water dripping down his shoulder-length black hair. Of course, he knew about the 'Chimera Project', but the experiment was still in its early stages, so why rush to be a test subject?
Moreover, there was still room for improvement in the super-mutation factor itself. The improvement caused by artificial collapse was equally terrifying. He wasn't a Mantis.
He pulled up a chair, brewed some coffee, and leisurely examined the documents on the table. After over a month, the new identity recognition had been issued.
CM002, his new identification code, confirmed that he was the second upper-level Mantis. At the end of it, there was a small bracket that read [Śeṣa] Judgment Level.
The Fire Council was furious. Two superior Mantis had been born without their knowledge. When Mobius was about to take away Śeṣa's body, she claimed to be conducting theoretical research.
This was definitely not according to procedure. At least, it wasn't a historic moment under supervision, but they couldn't let Mobius and Ryan simply explain it away. So, they eventually accepted the reality and took all the surgical information as compensation.
"Besides allowing Mobius to obtain CM001, this rather 'honorable' number only benefits me in one way—I no longer have to use my authority in secret."
Ryan took a sip of his coffee. He had merged the Śeṣa gene and gained the power to control "lightning." That made sense. He wasn't foolish enough to reveal his power's nature while in combat.
On the other hand, Ryan had discovered the biggest difference between "understanding" and "integration."
What Mobius gained was immortality, while he had gained high-speed repair at a price.
"It's a downgraded version, or maybe I just didn't understand it thoroughly enough at the time. It's a shame the Herrscher cores have lost their activity; otherwise, I would have put them all into my body."
He put the cup down, opened a blank document, and used this moment to summarize his work.
"The authority of the Herrscher of Thunder—upper limit of Honkai energy is 1200HW, with available abilities including mental interference and high-speed repair."
Considering that it had been less than a year since he left Qianyu Academy, Ryan was already satisfied enough. Back then, he couldn't even defeat a lower-level Mantis.
After hesitating for a moment, he deleted the text and began typing again.
Fusion of the super-mutation factor, the authority of the Herrscher, and the Key of God—raising the upper limit of Honkai energy.
Ryan typed out a series of characters, his gray eyes focused on each paragraph, thinking carefully. These were the four ways for him to become stronger.
"The first goal is to increase Honkai energy to 2000HW, completely surpassing the threshold of Herrscher level. After that, I'll consider the use of authority."
No matter how good the skills are, you still need 'magic points' to use them. After reviewing the battle with the Fourth Herrscher, Ryan realized that the real problem lay here.
If his speed had been faster and his destructive power greater, the Herrscher of Wind would have died at his hands long ago, with no chance to escape.
"It's still the powerful flying brick. Quantitative change alone doesn't lead to qualitative change. Otherwise, I'd have been killing people all over the world. This is actually the most difficult part, but other aspects are going smoothly."
Ryan smiled. He wasn't alone in the dungeon and could make up for it with other methods.
The construction of the small group was progressing well, and a hilltop had already been formed inside the Fire Moth, but there was no way to counter it from above.
"This is all thanks to the Fourth Herrscher. As long as she's alive, these little geniuses won't be able to rest. They can only agree to my conditions and watch their group grow stronger."
The Herrscher doesn't need to be killed to be used. Ryan had said long ago that he was dirtier than anyone else when it came to playing tactics.
Knock knock.
There was a knock on the door. Ryan deleted the document, walked over in his pajamas, and opened the door to find Klein standing there.
"Is the operation complete?"
"Well, the first stage of the operation has been completed, and Miss Sakura has woken up," Klein said, swallowing nervously. "But there was a small accident."
Accident?
Ryan heart tightened. The word 'accident' always made him nervous. After all, becoming a Mantis depended on luck, and who knew if that luck would hold?
"Give me a minute."
He closed the door, changed into his white coat, and hurried toward the operating room, trying to remain calm.
It was just a small accident. If Sakura had died, Mobius would have contacted him long ago.
Ryan walked quickly and arrived at the operating room in just a few minutes. Mobius stood by the door with her hands in her pockets, nodding at the camera above her head.
The parliament had provided the corpse of the Honkai beast, under the condition that they must observe the entire surgical process and supervise Mobius work. They could not let the talent they had selected be killed inexplicably.
This was purely judging others by their own standards. Ryan could still distinguish between major contradictions and minor contradictions.
"How's it going?"
"The operation went smoothly, there were just some minor incidents. Here are the data."
Ryan took a thick stack of surgical materials, which were filled with various charts and data. The super-mutation factor used on Sakura originated from the Emperor-level Honkai beast [Yasha]. Mobius had become quite proficient with it.
All three experimental subjects recommended by the Fire Council had died, without exception. Their average success rate was about 24%, which seemed high, but none of them survived.
Sakura success rate was 36.7%, which wasn't much higher, making Ryan worried.
"Mild mutation? What does that mean?"
"Literally, you didn't sleep yourself into insanity, did you?" Mobius yawned and patted Ryan shoulder. "I don't know why, but I've been feeling sleepy lately. I'll leave the rest to you from now on."
"Hey, you're the surgeon in charge."
Ryan turned around and saw that Mobius had disappeared, as if she had flashed. Each step of her high heels covered more than ten meters, making her appear ghost-like.
Damn it, she's showing off again. She doesn't even want to go to the battlefield. What's the point of being so strong?
Ryan spat, opened the door to the operating room, and saw a pink figure sitting beside the bed, staring at her palm in a daze.
Sakura was wrapped in a thin white sheet. If you looked closely, you could see two bulges on her chest. Ryan quickly glanced and didn't notice anything unusual, finally looking at her head.
Although her head was also covered under the sheets, there was an obvious curvature.
"Sakura, your head..."
The girl's cold expression froze for a moment. She didn't know how to answer and stammered, "There were some unexpected events during the operation."
"Let me take a look. It's no big deal."
"But..." Sakura seemed to be very concerned about the hidden parts. Seeing Ryan determined eyes, she slowly removed the sheets.
Sure enough, is this a fixed genetic mutation?
What was exposed were a pair of pink, furry ears. Upon closer inspection, they were shorter than in the original world line. It turned out that the hypothesis was effective.
The phased injection was indeed a little shorter, which didn't matter to Sakura, but meant a lot to Kevin.
When Ryan first saw Sakura, he always felt something was missing. Seeing the long ears, he couldn't help but smile.
That's right, this completes it.
He walked over, stretched out his finger, and poked one of the ears lightly. It immediately trembled like it was alive, and when he tried again, it dodged.
"Please, please don't tease me..."
Just as he was about to poke her for the third time, he heard a faint sound. He lowered his head and saw Sakura, her arms crossed over her chest, her face flushed. A mist formed in her purple eyes.
Ryan was stunned for a moment. In his impression, Sakura had always been a cold killer—sharp yet gentle. He had never seen her look so soft before. But he quickly regained his composure.
"This donkey ear, is it more than just decoration?"
"Yeah, I don't know why, but when you touch it, I get a weird feeling. Also, Dr. Mobius said it's a fox ear!"
Are fox ears this long? Well, that doesn't matter.
Ryan glanced at the girl's expression, pinched his chin, and carefully observed the trembling ear. "It seems that you mind it?"
Sakura expression darkened, and she hugged her chest tighter. "This is the price. It's also a sign that I'm no longer human. I... seem to have become a monster."
So that's it. Not everyone was as obsessed with not being human as Mobius. Just like the Pure Blood faction, they had always been obsessed with maintaining the purity of the human bloodline. People with similar ideas were the majority in this world.
Ryan thought about what happened in San Diego. He had stopped the hurricane and saved millions of people, but no one had thanked him. He still remembered those gazes as if they were looking at a monster.
Are humans incapable of gratitude? No, they just instinctively reject those who are different from them.
"Are you worried that these ears will cause you to be discriminated against and stared at with disgust?"
"A little bit, but I'm more worried about what Rin will think." Sakura seemed uneasy. For a killer, this was a weakness.
"Don't worry. No matter what you become, the fact that you're my sister will never change. You need to have more faith in Rin." Ryan smiled gently and touched the girl's head. "As for me, personally, these ears are quite cute."
Cute?
Her long ears trembled slightly. Sakura hadn't expected Ryan to not be disgusted, but she didn't expect him to say they were cute. However, his eyes made her feel at ease.
"Thank you, Ryan. You are such a gentle person."
Tenderness, perhaps.
Ryan didn't refute, but his smile held a hint of sarcasm.
False gentleness is just saying nice things. Real gentleness is about being able to crush your enemy's head and provide psychological counseling to your companions. This method is also quite simple.
"Sakura, take your knife and follow me."
"Ah? What did you say?"
"I said bring a knife and follow me. There's only one way to make you forget your inferiority complex—" Ryan clenched his fists and answered his own question.
"the feeling brought by power!"