Ruan Bai’s expression turned stern as he quietly trailed behind a group of people in white lab coats.
Given the current scene, was someone injured?
Could it be Huo Jiuxiao?!
A flash of cold light swept through the solemn, untouchable youth’s eyes. For a split second, his pretty eyes appeared to gleam with an inorganic, cold light, much like a deity high above the nine heavens looking down with disdain upon the dark, crawling ants below.
The dangerous expression vanished in an instant, replaced by a look of irritation on the pretty youth’s face as the worry in his eyes remained entirely unmasked.
This human truly didn’t give a cat peace of mind. When they first met, he was all battered and torn, and how long has it been since then before he’s injured again?!
He really is disobedient.
Brats like him who didn’t obey would have their bottoms spanked if they were on Myriad Monster Mountain.
While his inner complaints kept pouring out, his feet didn’t stop moving for a single second.
Growing angrier the more he thought about it, the little cat demon was already considering how he could make this human obedient in the future so that he wouldn’t always go looking to pick fights outside.
A delicate and fragile human should be properly protected.
The fickle-tempered little cat demon had completely forgotten that just a few days ago, he hadn’t even been able to break free from this human’s restraint.
The silver-haired youth’s form moved like a phantom, silently following behind that group of people into an area dominated by harsh, rigid metallic styling.
Ruan Bai looked at the cold machinery surrounding him and paused slightly in his steps.
The architecture before him was entirely cast from steel, and the earthy aura was exceedingly weak, meaning the flooring throughout this building consisted entirely of these cold metals.
He hesitated for a split second, but quickly thought otherwise: these humans didn’t possess the capability to track his movements anyway.
Having woken up not too long ago, Ruan Bai had yet to truly witness what the power of technology was truly capable of.
Little did he know that every single move he made right then was being recorded by the micro-surveillance cameras throughout the military camp, displaying it crystal-clear to Pei Er and Qin Lang stationed in front of the monitors.
Watching the youth move like a phantom whose motions required a machine to break down frame-by-frame before they could even clearly see them, a chill crept up from the soles of both men’s feet and soaked straight through their spines.
If this youth was truly transformed from a Zerg, did the Empire or humanity as a whole, stand any chance of winning against them?
The answer was self-evident; even they couldn’t capture the youth’s movements, let alone those ordinary soldiers.
An inexpressible heaviness weighed upon both men’s hearts.
Over on his side, after weighing his options repeatedly, Ruan Bai ultimately decided to follow along.
If things went sideways, he could just run away again.
Following them through several corridors, Ruan Bai arrived at the innermost corridor.
Cold white lights cast down from above, making the already chilly structure feel even colder, resembling a giant metallic monster.
In some respects, Ruan Bai was still quite cautious. His figure moved swiftly through the surroundings at a speed difficult for human eyes to catch, significantly lowering the probability of getting caught.
Yet in the eyes of Pei Er and others, this scene played out like a terrifying apocalyptic horror movie brought to reality, plunging both men’s hearts down to rock bottom.
That group of white-robed individuals, whose bearing looked exceptionally refined, walked into the room at the very end of the corridor, and Ruan Bai followed right behind without a single shred of hesitation.
The split second he stepped across the threshold, a cage suddenly dropped from above.
Ruan Bai’s gaze turned sharp. Just as he was about to dodge, a wave of spiritual power washed down overwhelmingly. Catching the familiar aura within that spiritual power, Ruan Bai blanked out for a split second.
And right in that brief split second, the cage slammed shut.
In the area enclosed by the cage, the metal-paved flooring beneath his feet slowly rose in height, forming a completely enclosed enclosure on all sides.
Ruan Bai: “……”
So the metal on the floor served that purpose.
You humans don’t play fair!
Had he not been momentarily fooled by the suddenly appearing spiritual power just now, he wouldn’t have been caught.
Though he couldn’t fathom how humans managed to wield such powerful spiritual power in a world where spiritual energy was sparse to the point of being virtually nonexistent.
That didn’t stop him from being angry, though.
Helsing, standing behind Huo Jiuxiao, wore an icy expression, his unfriendly gaze locked onto the pretty youth trapped inside the cage: “It seems this Zerg really came straight for you, Marshal.”
A Zerg that had transformed into human form had appeared on Capital Star, concentrating its firepower during patrols to attack the military mecha piloted by the Marshal.
Because of the incident last week, the Marshal’s exclusive mecha, Black Blade, was left with only its memory and program chips, requiring a custom-built body that wasn’t completed yet.
Lately, the Marshal had been piloting standard military mechas, identical to everyone else’s. Yet only the Marshal’s mecha had been targeted by heavy fire, giving everyone no choice but to suspect that the Zerg was gunning for the Marshal.
With the Zerg accurately tracking the Empire Marshal’s exact movements and whereabouts, it gave plenty of room for deep reflection.
Huo Jiuxiao paused in his steps as he looked at the silver-haired youth locked inside the cage.
At this moment, the youth resembled a young prince in distress among common folk yet still captured by villains possessing a noble yet pitiful demeanor that made one instinctively itch to see whether a youth driven to absolute extremes would turn his eyes red and beg the villains for mercy.
Before he could dwell on it further, the pretty youth lifted his head and glared angrily at him, his large golden eyes misting over with a layer of vapor from his fury, making him look precisely like a cat whose owner had inexplicably locked it up.
Ruan Bai’s pretty, fair face was flushed red half from anger, half from vexation.
His anger was directed at Huo Jiuxiao: this human was simply going too far; he had clearly been worried about him, yet the man actually locked him up in a cage.
Angry. (╯▔皿▔)╯
His vexation was directed at himself: to think that he, a great demon who had lived for tens of thousands of years though the vast majority of that time had been spent sleeping couldn’t even pry open a human cage?!
An utter humiliation!!
If word got out, he’d be laughed at, QAQ.
Actually, it wasn’t that he couldn’t break it open; if he exerted his full strength, he could probably blow the cage and the building sky-high together. But doing so would turn him back into a cat, and who knew how long it would take him to recover.
Recovering from excessive spiritual depletion was exceptionally difficult.
“Is this a Zerg? Don’t Zergs usually grow however they please without caring about their looks?” An elderly man wearing a white lab coat with a metal name tag pinned to his chest tugged at his hair in utter shock: “Do Zergs these days all grow this pretty?!”
There was more than one exit to this room. To avoid collateral damage to the research institute staff, everyone who entered was escorted away through a back door by designated personnel while the other doors were sealed to prevent the Zerg from escaping.
Yet this old man stubbornly refused to leave, insisting on seeing firsthand what differentiated this Zerg from Frank.
Upon closer inspection, they really were different. The “Zerg” before his eyes was the prettiest “person” he had ever laid eyes on; scratch that, in the over hundred years he had lived, he had never seen a human as good-looking as this.
The delicate and exquisite facial features paired with a pair of watery golden eyes seemed to construct the world’s most perfect painting, while the long silver hair cascading down his back added a touch of divinity, making him look sacred and untouchable.
Still, the vivid expressions on the youth’s face effectively diluted that cold and aloof aura, preventing him from feeling high-and-mighty or distant, making him resemble an exquisite and pretty human youth instead.
Did Zergs have such high standards these days? High combat power wasn’t enough; they had to be good-looking too?
“He’s not one.” Huo Jiuxiao walked over with a headache to let the youth out of the cage; keeping Xiao Bai’s secret was probably going to be impossible now.
Even if he could keep these two quiet, there were still two guys watching the monitors; he couldn’t just silence them all.
Fortunately, to prevent leaks, only a handful of people knew about this.
The two individuals guarding the monitoring room suddenly felt a chill run down their backs, as if they were being targeted by some massive wild beast.
The man looked at the two people staring curiously at Xiaobai, raising an eyebrow before pulling the youth behind him in a non-chalant motion: “He’s Xiaobai.”
Helsing felt his mind drifting, wondering if the Marshal had misspoken, if he himself was experiencing tinnitus, or if his mental state was somewhat compromised.
The two men staring at the monitors synchronized onto Helsing’s thought train, both sucking in sharp breaths of cold air.
Xiaobai?!
That cat?!!!
Normally, nobody would ever associate him with a cat, simply because the Marshal’s cat was too different.
It ate energy crystals!
It could slap a Zerg general straight into a wall with a single paw!!
It could even stream live and chat with netizens online!!!
They knew Xiaobai wasn’t ordinary, but turning into a human?!
Wasn’t this getting a bit too far outside the scope of science?!!!
Lu Chang knew nothing about Xiaobai. Hearing Marshal Huo declare that the youth wasn’t a Zerg, his spirits instantly perked up: “I knew it! How could a Zerg possibly grow this pretty? They’ve always grown however they felt like.”
That remark wasn’t entirely baseless either. Perhaps because Zergs lived in dark places for prolonged periods where they couldn’t see each other’s faces, they just grew haphazardly.
Giant insects were small fry; there were spiders with human faces, giant creatures pieced together from half a human face and half an insect face, giant slugs crawling around covered in twitching eyes all over their bodies.
All sorts of horrors, if you could dream it, they weren’t afraid to grow it.
Frank transforming into a human had been relatively successful, but he wasn’t good-looking either; placed in a crowd, he’d pass for an utterly unremarkable passerby. That just went to show how truly indifferent Zergs were to their own appearance.
Huo Jiuxiao didn’t feel like dealing with him right now. The reason this man was acting so calm right now was definitely because he didn’t know Xiaobai was a cat demon; otherwise, he’d probably have blown the roof off this quarantine room.
Although Lu Chang might not seem entirely reliable, he was the Dean of the Empire’s Research Institute and its chief researcher, effectively acting as half a teacher who taught Marshal Huo how to conduct himself in the world.
Xiaobai’s current condition was clearly abnormal his ears wouldn’t retract, and he couldn’t revert to his cat form either. Having Lu Chang take a look might prove beneficial to Xiaobai’s cultivation.
Even if it didn’t, as long as Lu Chang recognized Xiaobai as a sentient being just like humans, that would be enough. To a certain extent, his influence far outweighed that of the National Species Bureau.
Nutrient solutions, medical pods, special metals that suppressed Zergs… and a whole series of inventions or discoveries that heavily impacted the Empire were all fruit of this man’s labor; his status in the hearts of Imperial citizens went without saying.
Huo Jiuxiao watched as the youth’s fair, taut, pretty face puffed up into a little steamed bun, looking deeply distressed as his eyes stared fixedly at that cage.
Marshal Huo: “……”
Sometimes the youth was really easy to figure out.
He reached out and pulled the youth into his embrace, wrapping one arm around the youth’s slender waist while using his other hand to stroke the youth’s head: “This cage is made of a special material infused with energy crystals, which severely suppresses Zergs inside. Xiaobai wasn’t affected at all, which means he’s already amazing.”
Ruan Bai looked up at him, his pretty, large golden eyes shining brightly as if they could speak.
“Really?!”
“Mmm.”
Receiving a satisfactory answer, the youth rubbed his little head against the man’s hand resting atop it, his eyes squinted slightly as he looked exceptionally happy.
“Huo Jiuxiao this brat is really lucky.” Lu Chang clicked his tongue in wonder. An iron tree that hadn’t bloomed in ten thousand years finally flowered and even managed to lure in a pretty, easy-to-please youth if that wasn’t luck, what was?
Glancing over to see Helsing standing frozen in place in a daze, he stepped forward and slapped the big oaf on the shoulder, his tone displeased: “Why are you stinking brats standing around like dorks? The Zerg hasn’t been caught yet, why aren’t you hurrying off to deploy defenses?!”
The moment those words fell, the youth nestled in Huo Jiuxiao’s arms twitched his nose, as if sniffing something. The next second, he reached out to rub his nose, a look of utter disgust crossing his face as his eyes locked fiercely toward the direction outside the door.
Before anyone present could react, Ruan Bai broke free from Huo Jiuxiao’s embrace and bolted outside at breakneck speed.