After leaving her private number, Sakura disappeared into the night.
Her next task was to bring Rin to a city near Fire Moth's headquarters.
The longer they stayed, the greater the danger.
After Sakura left, Chang Yuan continued monitoring the council members to see what they were up to.
Soon, the council members noticed that one of their own was missing. Through their spies, they received the grim news that the council member's location had been hit by an explosion.
The council members broke into a cold sweat. The one who had died was the one who had first proposed the assassination and was the mastermind behind it.
Now they all knew that Chang Yuan could monitor them at any time. They hastily drafted a series of contracts overnight.
They didn't want to die. They wanted to live. Even if they handed over their power and visible assets to Chang Yuan, they still had plenty of shady businesses to fall back on.
Those businesses would be enough to keep them living comfortably for the rest of their lives.
The next day, Chang Yuan entered the conference room.
It was filled with the same council members as the day before, minus the mastermind.
When Chang Yuan heard the news that morning, he couldn't help but marvel at how cowardly these people were.
"Mr. Chang Yuan, these are all my assets. However, transferring power will require training a successor. You understand, right?"
The first council member to defect spoke cautiously.
He was afraid that saying the wrong thing would get him killed on the spot.
Chang Yuan already knew this, so he simply nodded.
He had his own plans for the power transfer. Once Vill-V created the armed puppets, the process could begin.
After all, he didn't trust anyone else. Only the absolute loyalty of the armed puppets could be relied upon.
"Mobius, Vill-V, sign these. Take over all their assets and focus entirely on fighting the Honkai. I want the Honkai dead."
Chang Yuan didn't care about money. After befriending Vill-V, he could easily make a fortune by patenting a few of her small inventions.
Though Vill-V herself didn't seem to realize she could make money this way, which explained her previous struggles in the Twilight Corridor.
"This, this is so much money! And so many materials! Hehehe, I can finally bring so many of my ideas to life!"
Looking at the globally renowned military-industrial materials and other assets, Vill-V's eyes practically turned into dollar signs.
With these resources, she no longer had to scrimp and save. She could now indulge in her wildest experiments.
Mobius's eyes also lit up.
She no longer had to worry about funding being cut off. She could finally bring her boldest ideas to life.
"Ahem, keep it together, Vill-V. Tone down the excitement."
Seeing the two lost in their fantasies, Chang Yuan had to cough lightly to bring them back to reality.
Once back to reality, Vill-V began considering which Divine Key prototype to work on first.
Meanwhile, Mobius started planning to buy hundreds of research materials for her experiments.
The council members could only watch in silent frustration.
That was their money! Theirs!
But they had no choice. The cost of defiance was their lives.
"So, we've handed over everything, and these contracts are legally binding. We can't back out even if we wanted to. So, what about the nanobots inside us?"
"Not yet. At least not until the power transfer is complete. Otherwise, with your status, you could easily take everything back with a single word."
Chang Yuan knew exactly what these old foxes were thinking. Besides, he never intended to let them live.
Hearing this, the council members' faces turned pale, but they didn't dare argue.
In the end, they had no choice but to swallow their pride.
"Alright, you can leave now. Or do you need me to escort you out?"
Hearing Chang Yuan's dismissal, the council members could only obediently leave.
Once they were gone, only Chang Yuan, Mobius, and Vill-V remained in the conference room.
"So, please give it your all to fight the Honkai. I want the Honkai dead. We already have the script in hand. If we still fail, then it just means our civilization's destruction is inevitable."
"Leave it to me. Don't you trust me? I'm the great inventor Vill-V. If I want to do something, I can do it."
Vill-V was brimming with confidence, almost to the point of arrogance.
But she had the skills to back it up. The Moonlight Throne had stripped the Herrscher of the End of 30% of its Honkai energy. What if there were more? What about 100 Moonlight Thrones?
Of course, no one knew if the Herrscher of the End would develop immunity. Chang Yuan didn't know either, so they had to prepare for the worst.
"If there's nothing else, I need to get back to my experiments. Finally, no one's cutting my funding. I'll show everyone that evolution is the only way forward."
After some more discussion, everyone left the conference room.
At Fire Moth's headquarters, a spiral workshop appeared. This was Chang Yuan's gift to Vill-V.
Several months later...
"It's done! It's done! Hehe, I did it! Chang Yuan, come with me to see!"
After completing a major project, Vill-V excitedly dragged Chang Yuan to see her pride and joy—the spiral workshop.
Inside, they were greeted by a set of female armor.
"This is the Blank Divine Key, inspired by your earlier idea. Once equipped with a Herrscher core and connected to the Imaginary Space, it can grant the user Herrscher-level powers.
However, using it comes with Honkai corruption. Even with your anti-Honkai serum, you can't use it for too long.
I estimate that three hours of continuous use is your limit. Beyond that, you'll start suffering from Honkai corruption."
As she explained, Vill-V also pointed out the Divine Key's flaws.
These flaws were inevitable. Connecting to the Imaginary Space would always come with the risk of Honkai corruption.
"That's still impressive. Gaining Herrscher-level power? In a way, this is even better than a Divine Key. After all, this is genuine Herrscher power."
After saying this, Chang Yuan turned to Vill-V and posed a hypothetical question.