A rustling sound of fabric rubbing came from the darkness. The figure moved—first, long, slender fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, then the crossed legs slowly lowered. When the moonlight moved to the figure's face, it illuminated a pair of heterochromatic pupils: the left eye like a burning blue flame, the right eye like solidified blood crystal.
"Is it just an imperial edict?" Aya Ikegami's voice was colder than ice. "Don't your people object to your words?"
The Emperor's head remained pressed against the ground: "No. If anyone dares to object, then please, Your Excellency, brand their souls, just as you did mine."
Aya Ikegami chuckled softly and rose from her throne. The moonlight gradually illuminated her entire body—her once innocent academy attire had been replaced by a dark, flowing kimono, its hem embroidered with eerie blue patterns, like some kind of ancient script. She strolled to the window, her heterochromatic eyes reflecting the Tokyo nightscape.
"These useless trash," Aya Ikegami suddenly turned around, the hem of her kimono tracing a sharp arc, "do they even deserve to be controlled by my Moon Eyes?"
As she spoke, her right eye, a bloodshot pupil, suddenly lit up, and a red light swept across the Emperor's entire body like a searchlight. The Emperor immediately convulsed violently, making a gurgling sound in his throat, and blue patterns identical to those on the hem of Ikegami Aya's robe appeared beneath his skin.
"M-My lord, spare my life..." the Emperor pleaded through gritted teeth. "Your Majesty... I know I was wrong..."
Aya Ikegami narrowed her eyes, and the red light diminished. The Emperor immediately collapsed to the ground, like a fish with its bones removed. She looked down at the nominal ruler of the country, a cruel smile curving her lips:
"Remember, you're only alive to be this puppet because we need your signature and seal." She lifted the Emperor's chin with the tip of her clogs. "Next time you dare to convene a family meeting on your own..."
"I wouldn't dare! I'd never dare again!" The Emperor shook his head frantically, blue liquid, not sweat, seeping from his forehead. "I was just worried those old fogies would become suspicious..."
Aya Ikegami withdrew her foot and turned to look out the window. The reflection of Tokyo Bay appeared in her left blue eye, and further away, the faint outline of an island could be seen.
"Sister Mu should be almost done with the preparations..." she murmured to herself, drawing a complex symbol on the glass with her fingertip. Blue ice crystals immediately formed on the glass surface, creating a miniature Mount Fuji shape.
The Emperor struggled to his feet and cautiously asked, "Sir, are all these families' laboratories really going to be handed over? Our research, which we've conducted for many years, is there..."
"You think I care about that trash?" Aya Ikegami suddenly erupted in fury, her right eye blazing with a blinding light. "The gene serum you researched can't even harm a single hair on my head!"
The temperature in the room plummeted, and frost crystals formed on the surfaces of all the glassware. The Emperor knelt again, his teeth chattering from the cold.
Aya Ikegami took a deep breath, and her heterochromatic pupils gradually returned to normal. She walked up to the Emperor and suddenly gently stroked his gray hair, a gesture that made him tremble even more violently.
"Good girl, go issue the second decree." Her voice was as sweet as honey. "Have the Matsui family deliver 'that thing' to the designated location."
"But...but..." The Emperor mustered his last bit of courage. "Matsui Ryuichi won't listen. His family has methods to combat mind control..."
Aya Ikegami's hand suddenly stopped. She slowly crouched down, meeting the Emperor's gaze at him directly: "Who said I wanted to control him?" Her lips parted to her ears, revealing a superhuman smile. "I want you to 'requisition' him openly and legitimately in the name of the Imperial Family."
She took an ancient scroll from her sleeve and tossed it in front of the Emperor. The scroll unfurled automatically, revealing an imperial edict stamped with a chrysanthemum crest—but upon closer inspection, one could see that the centers of those golden chrysanthemums were miniature blue eye patterns.
"Within three days." Aya Ikegami stood up, the hem of her kimono brushing against the Emperor's face. "Otherwise, I'll have someone else sit in this position. Anyway..." She walked into the shadows, her figure gradually blurring, "...Your royal family has plenty of illegitimate children."
When the Emperor finally dared to look up, the lounge was empty. Only the ice crystal Mount Fuji pattern on the windowpane shone faintly in the moonlight, like a watchful eye.
The Emperor leaned against the table, panting heavily. The events that had just occurred made him too afraid to even breathe. At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind: to do exactly as Aya Ikegami requested.
---This is the dividing line---
At this moment, Han Feng hovered a hundred meters above the sea in the air above the R country's waters. The seawater beneath his feet was an unnatural deep blue, forming a clear boundary with the surrounding sea, as if someone had used a giant paintbrush to draw a precise circle on the ocean.
"There was definitely a problem..."
He closed his eyes, his divine sense spreading outwards like radar waves. When it reached that unusual sea area, the perception range, which originally covered a radius of fifty miles, was forcibly compressed to less than a hundred meters. Even stranger, the feedback from his divine sense was not the usual marine ecology, but a blurry "noise," as if countless tiny metal fragments were interfering with the scan.
Opening his eyes, Han Feng landed on the deck of a reconnaissance boat disguised as a fishing vessel. This was Longyuan's submersible; its exterior was dilapidated, but its interior was equipped with the most advanced deep-sea exploration equipment.
"Star Lord, all preparations are complete." An agent dressed as a fisherman handed over a tablet. "But it's recommended to wait for the support team..."
"No need." Han Feng scrolled through the data on the screen. "This level of energy interference is too dangerous for ordinary people."
The tablet showed that the magnetic field strength in this area was 300 times higher than normal, and the water temperature was 7 degrees Celsius lower than the surrounding area. The strangest thing was the sonar imagery—at a depth of about 3,000 meters, there was a perfectly circular "blind spot" with a diameter of about 500 meters, where all signals disappeared.
The agent hesitated, then simply stood at attention and saluted: "The submersible is in position and can withstand the pressure of 10,000 meters. However, the communication system may be lost after descending to 2,000 meters."
Han Feng nodded and walked towards the sealed compartment at the rear of the deck. The silver-gray miniature submersible was embedded in the launch rail like a bullet, and the words "Starburst-7" on the hatch gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
Entering the cramped cockpit, the blue light from the various instrument panels reflected on his face. Han Feng fastened his seatbelt and channeled his Star Power into the control panel—a special modification he had made for this mission, allowing him to directly power the equipment with energy in critical moments.
Launch countdown: 10, 9, 8...
With the sound of the hydraulic system starting, the submersible was slowly pushed towards the stern ramp. Han Feng gave the Star Mirror in his dantian one last check; the three crystals were slightly warm, seemingly responding to some kind of call from the seabed.
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