Under his desk was a blood-golden ball the size of a head, like a mixture of molten gold and solidified septic blood, with a metallic dark red glow.
At the same time, black thorns pierced out from the inside of the flesh ball, pulsating at the same frequency as breathing, sometimes contracting into thorn spikes, and sometimes expanding into spider web veins.
At the ends of some silk threads hung translucent egg-shaped vesicles, with unformed embryonic black shadows floating inside. The floor where the blood-colored veins took root had already transformed into biological tissue.
When he saw it for the first time, Steve felt like retching uncontrollably, his stomach churning. He subconsciously turned his head, only to be met head-on by a pale face with bloodshot eyes.
It was the consul who had just gone down.
!!!
Steve's pupils contracted and his expression was horrified, but he couldn't even scream.
The Archon's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was low: "You, shouldn't be here."
………
At the same time, with Li Ming's order, more than 30% of the intelligence forces in the entire galaxy entered an unprecedented active state.
But when the instructions were passed down layer by layer, all those involved were confused and had no idea what "anything abnormal" meant.
"Everything abnormal means everything abnormal. Is it difficult to understand? Report anything abnormal!" At a small secret meeting, the head of the intelligence team gritted his teeth and shouted angrily.
Although I was confused about the instructions from my superiors, I still had to move.
All the activity on the intelligence front triggered a series of chain reactions.
The Federation, the Star Alliance and all the major civilizations had to respond passively, thinking that something big had happened and cautiously conducting various tests.
As a result, when they finally got the four words "everything is abnormal" after going through so much trouble, they were also confused.
"Can you tell me? What does 'all abnormalities' mean? Is this a cipher or an activation code?"
Intelligence workers were filled with doubts, and both the executors and the interceptors were at a loss.
………
A month later, in the Starry Sea, a plunderer's fleet was intercepted by several small warships with sword and shield emblems.
The interceptors were quite cautious and did not use means of mass destruction. After a fierce battle for some time, almost all the pirates in the entire fleet were captured.
On the deck of one of the completely shut down warships, all the plunderers were detained here. Some of them had lost their arms and legs and were shivering.
Fully armed soldiers, holding high-compression energy light guns, stood around, aiming at these plunderers. The surface of their armor was engraved with sword and shield emblems.
"The Covenant's Blade Fleet..." The raiders trembled.
Compared to the patrol fleet, the blade fleet is more advanced and is specially designed to deal with certain higher-level threats.
This group of roving star pirates only operate on the edge of the sea of stars. The highest level of life form among them is only level B. How could they have the ability to attract these people?
The leader was a young man wearing a lavender combat uniform with a sword and shield emblem on his chest. He was tall and burly.
If Li Ming were here, he might recognize this acquaintance. He was the "fellow countryman" Zhang Hengyu who had negotiated with him on behalf of the Star Alliance.
I don’t know why this young man with such a bright future has fallen to this point.
Zhang Hengyu looked down at the group of plunderers without saying a word, just pacing slowly around.
The group of looters were forced to squat on the ground, and only his boots could be seen, with cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Sir!" Someone finally couldn't stand the pressure anymore and wailed, "We won't do it again. We only looted a few spaceships and never killed anyone."
Zhang Hengyu narrowed his eyes slightly and did not respond to the wailing guy. Instead, he walked up to one of them, grabbed his hair and forced him to look at him.
"Iron Claw Johnny..." Zhang Hengyu said slowly, "Why would Blood Wolf's deputy stay in such an unknown plundering group?"
The guy he caught had a hideous face, thick red hair on both sides of his cheeks, and was breathing rapidly.
"Blood Wolf?" The other plunderers looked stunned. This was a famous plundering group in the vicinity, and its leader was an A-level life form.
Johnny's eyes were fierce, and he showed no fear at all. "You can kill me or chop me up, as you wish."
Zhang Hengyu's expression calmed down. He touched the ring with his other hand and projected three pictures. "Have you seen these three people?"
The woman on the left has loose red hair, the man in the middle has a pair of deep blue eyes, and the man on the right looks ordinary.
Johnny's pupils shrank slightly, but he muttered, "Never seen it before!"
The other party's subtle reaction naturally did not escape Zhang Hengyu's eyes. He sneered and whispered, "Camilo Civilization, Lord Leir, your daughter is very cute."
But he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, thinking that he was the one who had talked with Qinglong in the past, but now he was using his family to threaten a predator.
"You..." Johnny's face changed drastically. This was his disguised identity, which almost no one knew, but it was seen through by the young man in front of him.
"Alas, your luck is so bad. Do you know who this guy is..." Zhang Hengyu helplessly pointed at the young man with azure eyes, "He is the grandson of Count Ferdinand of the Principality of South Wind, a first-class civilization in the Star Alliance."
"It's fine if you just looted, but why did you kill people? His family will stop at nothing to kill all the relatives and friends of the attackers."
"No, it wasn't us, we didn't do it!" Johnny realized that now was not the time to fight back, and shook his head hurriedly.
"All the evidence points to you, and it's hard for me to help you." Zhang Hengyu said helplessly.
"No, someone commissioned us to do something near the Nyrost civilization. I was somewhere else at the time, and after receiving the news, I was ready to reunite with them," Johnny explained. "But when I got there, all I saw was the ruins of a spaceship."
"This..." He looked at the photo, "These three guys are lying in the rubble, already dead, with claw marks all over their bodies. It really looks like our people did it."
"That's it." Zhang Hengyu shrugged.
"But I felt strange at the time. If someone had killed someone, the body would never be left here," Johnny said hurriedly. "Out of instinct, I searched all three bodies and found... something."
"Oh?" Zhang Hengyu became interested and bent down.
"You, you have to promise not to touch my family." Johnny gritted his teeth.
Zhang Hengyu had a blank expression on his face. "You insist on me bringing your daughter here before you're willing to have a normal conversation, right?"
Johnny's heart trembled, his expression changed, and he said, "In my stomach."
Zhang Hengyu immediately raised his hand, and his men came over and checked his stomach, but found nothing.
"You can't find it..." Johnny raised his hand to indicate that he was not a threat, and then slowly stood up. His chest and abdomen moved, and he opened his mouth and vomited out a white bag.
"The stomach of the beakless beast is naturally shielded from electromagnetic detection..." The subordinate picked up the white bag, opened it, and shook out a pile of things.
"Well, the one in the silver box and the other things are all mine..." Johnny couldn't help but say.
Zhang Hongyu signaled his men to open the silver box, which contained a round film the size of a fingernail and almost transparent.
"Boss... it's a wearable recorder for the pupil, using a special shadow-engraving method for recording, military grade..." The subordinates carefully checked it.
Johnny explained, "Their smart devices and other valuables are all gone. I don't think this thing can change his eye color, and he's still wearing it, so it must be something special. If it were our search, we shouldn't be so careless."
Zhang Hengyu remained silent, waiting for his men to connect the equipment. The so-called shadow engraving method is to leave unique traces through the reaction of external light and shadow.
It is then read using a special decoding device. The entire process will not produce any energy signals or electromagnetic reactions, and is extremely secretive.
But it is also quite blurry and can only be seen clearly after a good high-definition processing.
The video plays bit by bit, accompanied by voiceover.
“…Exploring Nyrost, these young people, why are they so curious…” Zhang Hengyu sighed. He was afraid of the situation in front of him.
As a result, as he watched, his expression changed.
He saw the strange bloody flesh ball, saw the hideous-looking Archon Nerost, heard the wailing and pleading of several people, and then they were controlled and sent aboard the spaceship...
"Replay, lock on to that Nerost man..." Zhang Hengyu's face was solemn, staring at the virtual screen with a dull expression and bloodshot pupils.
"Interesting..." Zhang Hengyu had a feeling that something was wrong.
He wanted to visit the Nyrost civilization, but was hesitant.
"Also, I haven't been able to contact the leader and the others since this incident." Johnny couldn't help but say, "I think something happened to them, so they hid among these predators."
Zhang Hongyu looked at him deeply. He certainly knew that something had happened to Blood Wolf, and the leader's body was still in his warship.
However, he did not mention this matter. He turned around and gave an order, "Take Johnny away. As for the others, kill them all."
………
In the Mechanical Royal Court, Li Ming frowned, feeling Yongyuan's activity.
"It's improved a little bit, almost every day. What on earth is it doing?"
This speed is not slow. After a few years, it is estimated that it will enter the "weak" activity level, and the Yuan clan will begin to appear in the main universe.
In the past two months, the shield has hardly found any clues. We are afraid that it is inside the Eternal Abyss, in which case even destruction is impossible.
However, only by exerting influence on the main universe can the activity level be increased. It is difficult to influence the main universe within the Eternal Abyss.
Once you enter the "medium" active level, the ultimate life form will appear.
The current speed is much faster than he imagined.
It is also much faster than what is recorded in Titan and Glorious Dynasty.
From the time Yongyuan was noticed to be active to the time the Yuan clan appeared, the time recorded in these two evolutionary eras was calculated in hundreds of years.
From the appearance of the Yuan Clan to the appearance of the Lord of Yongyuan, there was a gap of more than a thousand years.
Buzz--
The smart terminal suddenly rang, and Li Ming's eyes narrowed slightly. It was Anduin, and he answered the call immediately.
In the virtual projection that popped up, Anduin frowned slightly and greeted, "Chairman."
"What's the matter?" Li Ming asked directly.
Anduin hesitated and said, "You asked me to look up some information about the Alchemist Baron. I might get something out of it."
Li Ming couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. Levenbeck was no longer that important.
"Tell me about it."
"There are a few pictures..." Anduin said. Li Ming also received new messages. When he clicked on it, he saw a bloody ball of flesh.
Blood species! Li Ming immediately thought of something he had seen before.
"This thing is very similar to the method used by the Alchemist Baron," Anduin said. "It was discovered not long ago in the Nyrost civilization. The person in question was the local governor and is suspected of being controlled."
"Not only that, further investigation revealed that the rulers of more than one nearby civilization were suspected to be under control."
Huh? Li Ming realized something was wrong. Was Levenbeck operating on a large scale?
He remembered something. According to Costat, Levenbeck had been studying Adam's body, and his purpose must be to advance to the ultimate life form.
If he has made some achievements in this area and transformed the blood species, it is indeed possible for it to spread on a large scale and then help himself evolve into the ultimate life form.
But the problem is, this guy saw me stabbing Adam to death with his own eyes, and he must know that I have been sending people to investigate him.
Such a large-scale action is bound to attract one's attention. Even if one can become the ultimate life form in the end, there is no way to turn the tide. Adam is a living example.
Moreover, no matter how his alchemical substances evolve, they will probably have to absorb a large number of living organisms, so it is definitely impossible to evolve silently.
Unless Levenbeck is sure he won't be threatened by me.
Who can help him? Li Ming almost immediately thought of Tanus. Could it be that Yongyuan's increased activity was due to him?
Is it far-fetched?
Li Ming immediately reflected that Levenbeck was a cunning person with many burrows. He would never take the risk to do this thing without being sure. There was a certain probability.
Moreover, this guy and I have had several grievances and entanglements. We can be considered enemies. I definitely cannot sit idly by and watch him become the Ultimate Life Form.
Whether it's because of him or not, it's necessary to go.
"Chairman?" Seeing Li Ming remained silent, Anduin called out tentatively.
"Notify all trustworthy members to go to the Sea of Stars and not to leak the news." Li Ming suddenly spoke.
"Understood." Anduin nodded solemnly.
Li Ming added: "Also, I want to know more details about this matter."
Anduin's expression shifted slightly. "We intercepted this intelligence from the Covenant. You should be familiar with the investigator; his name is Zhang Hengyu."
"Him?" Li Ming was slightly stunned. "Why would he go to the front line..."
"Gutierrez has stepped down," Anduin reminded.
"Oh." Li Ming suddenly realized, "Then I need to have a good talk with him."
After ending the communication, Li Ming's expression flickered. If it was only Levenbeck who was causing trouble, it would be easy to deal with.
But if Tanus really helps, then the situation will be different. Perhaps it means that the other party is already capable of dealing with the threat posed by him.
However, he glanced at the control page and found that all eight machines had been upgraded, and the mechanical bodies manufactured in the past two years had also been stored.
Li Ming's eyes flashed, "If you still think I'm as strong as I was during the "Empire War", you'll be in big trouble..."
(End of this chapter)
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