"Blanca!"

Mobius's Laboratory.

Inside a horizontally placed cylindrical biological pod, Blanca, Mobius's former assistant and Trace's wife, floated silently.

Her physical signs were temporarily stable.

However, signals fed back from the detection instruments showed that Blanca's brain activity had become a thin, straight line.

In other words…

"Brain death."

Mobius slowly rose from the swivel chair in front of the instruments. In an extremely rare gesture, she pushed away the coffee Klein had prepared for her at the side.

To Trace, whose hands were tightly gripping the outer shell of the pod, she delivered the final "pronouncement."

Mobius wasn't particularly fond of Trace, who had "spirited away" Blanca.

In Mobius's evaluation, Blanca possessed the potential to become a scientist "only slightly inferior to herself." Yet, such a rare talent had willingly given up her career to become a simple housewife.

If Klein, whom Blanca had recommended as her replacement, hadn't been so competent, Mobius might very well have kidnapped Blanca back.

Such an outstanding woman…

No one could comfort Trace.

To lose a comrade and a lover simultaneously in such a short period — not everyone could empathize with such pain.

Moreover—

Mobius shifted her gaze to the side. In the biological pod next to Blanca's, Trace's daughter, Griseo, also floated silently.

"Griseo's consciousness hasn't dissipated yet."

Mobius stated with a solemn gaze.

"She's different from Blanca. This child inherited parts of Trace's genes… No, her genes are even more 'outstanding' than Trace's. This child's adaptability to Honkai energy is not much inferior to Kevin's."

"This is cruel."

Mobius once again shifted her gaze back to Trace.

"But regardless, you must make a choice — either let Griseo become a Fusion Soldier, or…"

Watch her die.

Mobius did not voice this sentence.

Fusion Soldiers were incarnations of power, but at the same time, due to their unique nature, they constantly faced all sorts of suspicions and criticisms.

Living like that.

It was immense pressure even for adults, let alone a child like Griseo.

"Success rate…"

"In the gene bank, there's a Honkai Beast with a compatibility match of 97.49% with this child. Moreover, this 'material' was discovered by Elysia."

When Trace underwent the experiment, his fusion compatibility was only a little over 94%.

This Honkai Beast gene, whether in terms of compatibility or material source, had no issues whatsoever.

What remained—

"Doctor, I'm begging you."

The moment Trace's words fell, the former squad member who had just brought the bad news suddenly, without any warning…

"Thump."

Collapsed to the ground.

"I need to go to the 'Deepest Place'."

"Aponia's [Discipline] can help me resist the [Nightmare]'s encroachment."

The situation was even more critical than imagined.

This was the Flame-Chasers' most crucial research base, its importance second only to headquarters — both Dr. Mei's and Mobius's laboratories were built here.

In other words.

Both Keys of God and Fusion Soldiers were born here.

But now.

The situation was developing in the worst possible direction.

From the moment the first Flame-Chaser member succumbed to the [Nightmare]'s encroachment, to now, barely more than half an hour had passed, and nearly 40% of the members had successively fallen into a coma.

Fusion Soldiers could still survive, but ordinary staff members eroded by the [Nightmare] all died instantly from brain death.

Even someone as strong as Kevin was beginning to feel drowsy — Sakura, also a Fusion Soldier and currently protecting Dr. Mei, had even fallen into a comatose state.

Mobius was overwhelmed.

Besides Griseo's modification surgery, the treatment of other Fusion Soldiers was also entrusted to Mobius.

As for the head of the medical department who should have been in charge of the latter…

"Obtain entry permission, travel to and from the Deepest Place."

"Kevin, this process will take too long. Elysia is still pinning down the Honkai Beast legions in the Atlantic. If you can't return in time, the Eastern Pacific, the entirety of North America, will directly face the iron hooves of the Honkai Beasts."

The speaker was precisely the head of the Medical Department, Su's mentor and guide:

Spaxi.

He didn't oppose Kevin's idea but raised his own concerns.

"Moreover, Kevin."

"A contest on the mental plane is not your area of expertise."

"If anything goes wrong… The Flame-Chasers, no, the entire human world cannot bear such a loss."

Spaxi was not a Fusion Soldier.

As a researcher, his talent might not be as high as Mei's or Mobius's, but he possessed extremely rich experience in dealing with Honkai — the Flame-Chasers had only lost 40% of their personnel in half an hour, instead of being completely wiped out, entirely thanks to Spaxi's achievement:

[Consciousness Shackle]

The Herrscher of Sentience's [Meme Infection] authority, also known by the Flame-Chasers as the [Nightmare] ability, was not without its tells.

Before the concept of "Flame-Chasers" was polluted, those human individuals who had latent consciousness implanted in them had already been detected as abnormal by Spaxi in advance. With Dr. Mei's cooperation, the Medical Department successfully developed a mental drug called [Consciousness Shackle].

This drug.

It allowed users to passively filter out specific keywords upon seeing them, thereby avoiding mental contamination.

But this was merely a stopgap measure.

As the number of polluted keywords increased, the drug's binding force would soon lose its effect — laboratory production was not an industrialized assembly line; the currently manufactured [Consciousness Shackle] simply couldn't keep up with consumption.

This was also why Kevin wished to take the initiative.

If this continued, a total wipeout was simply a matter of time.

"Don't worry."

Kevin picked up where Spaxi left off.

"Although the specific reason is unclear, the offensive from the Honkai Beast legions from the deep sea has suddenly weakened by more than half in these past two days."

"Not a single high-ranking Honkai Beast has appeared."

"Even… we tailed the retreating Honkai Beasts and discovered the approximate area where the Honkai Energy Rift is located."

"If…"

"If you're still worried about problems even then, let me go with Kevin."

Su, sitting beside Spaxi, interrupted his friend's latter sentence and then turned to his mentor, saying:

"Teacher."

"Doesn't Dr. Mobius have the remains of a Herrscher's companion Honkai Beast?"

"If it's possible…"

Su had never become a Fusion Soldier.

In his eyes, Honkai energy was the culprit that had taken away the seniors he revered and countless colleagues — he wished to use true "medical" methods to cure Honkai, rather than abandoning reverence for life and using the enemy's violence to suppress violence.

But now.

There was no more time for him to be willful.

Looking at this disciple who upheld his friend's obsession, carrying the wishes of tens of millions who had perished, and continuously pressed forward.

After much hesitation, Spaxi finally condensed all his thoughts into a single, simple word:

"Alright."