Heishui narrowed his eyes.
While Ye Lan’s way of sizing up others was quite rude, it didn’t warrant someone directly confronting her.
Judging by how this guy called Ye Lan a “newcomer,” he probably mistook her for a newly graduated trainee from this year’s battle camp batch, hence the intense hostility and the initiative to pick a fight.
It was better to avoid trouble.
In that case, as long as he explained that Ye Lan came from the abyss of death row, this matter could be easily resolved.
During his three years in the Mission department, Heishui had personally learned what it meant that there was always someone better, and skies beyond the sky.
The battle camp and the abyss of death row held sessions every three years, continuously supplying the Mission department with talent for thousands of years.
Up to now.
The vast Mission department already had hundreds of millions of members.
Among them, who knew how many were powerful individuals who once dominated their respective sessions in the battle camp or the abyss of death row.
They had grown stronger through year after year of bloody conflict.
Their strength was definitely not something newcomers like him and Ye Lan, who had only joined the Mission department for three years, could contend with.
Heishui hurriedly stepped forward, adopting a humble posture, ready to explain a thing or two. Having participated in many missions, he had become much more tactful.
“Senior, Ye Lan, she also…”
However, he had only just uttered the word “she.”
The man standing in front of him suddenly glared at him, releasing a terrifying pressure.
“Get lost!”
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Heishui’s forehead. He was forced back two steps by the close-range pressure, his expression instantly turning extremely grim.
This pressure… it was actually from a Three-star energy user!
Three-star energy users were already the absolute backbone of the Mission department.
Those of higher levels mostly detached from the Mission department’s jurisdiction and were directly managed by headquarters.
These Three-star energy users were usually out performing high-difficulty missions across the positive and negative universes. He never expected to run into one here.
This was seriously bad luck.
But this was his mission after all.
So, even though he regretted to death why he had warped from over there, Heishui gritted his teeth and quickly said, “She is also a qualified individual from the abyss of death row.”
Hearing this, the man gave the girl a serious look, suddenly retracted that overbearing pressure, then snorted coldly.
“Oh?”
“Since you’re from the abyss of death row, then don’t get too close to these baby soldiers from the battle camp. There won’t be a next time.”
With that, he turned and left.
At that moment, Yun Ruoxi suddenly looked at Heishui and asked coldly, “Only the Death Duel Arena allows fighting?”
Heishui had just breathed a sigh of relief at the resolution of this crisis. Hearing Yun Ruoxi’s sudden question, he subconsciously nodded.
Only then did he react, looking at Yun Ruoxi in shock.
No way…
Heishui’s heart sank. He opened his mouth, preparing to dissuade Yun Ruoxi.
But right then, a blue shadow flickered and vanished abruptly. Yun Ruoxi instantly appeared in front of the man.
Cold white light fell from above.
The girl stood within the man’s shadow, slowly raising her head. Her ruby eyes, which should have symbolized vitality, were now empty and indifferent. A red, murderous aura, almost tangible, seeped from her body.
“I’m going to kill you. Dare to face me on the Death Duel Arena?”
The man licked his lips and grinned savagely.
“Truly a qualified individual from our abyss of death row.”
“Your tone… I don’t like it,” she said coldly.
“Oh? You’ve got guts!”
“Death Duel Arena? Why not!”
“Lead the way.” Yun Ruoxi lifted her chin slightly.
The man turned and walked towards the Space Elevator, with Yun Ruoxi following behind.
Only Heishui was left behind, raising his hand then letting it drop, his face full of bitterness.
“Give it up!” Shi Linglin walked up to him.
“Once sister has decided something, she won’t change her mind. So you’d better not try to persuade her. Be careful she kills you too.”
“But… this is suicide!” Heishui said in a low voice.
He held no feelings for Ye Lan. Maybe he had before.
But three years had passed, and whatever little feeling remained was long gone.
He was just worried about his mission failing, as Ye Lan was someone the doctor had specifically requested.
If Ye Lan died here, angering Dr. Forefinger, whose reputation and power had grown immensely over the past year…
The one to suffer would be him.
“Relax.” Shi Linglin saw through Heishui’s worry. Watching as Yun Ruoxi and the burly man entered the elevator together, she said casually, “That woman is shrewd. She won’t fight a battle she’s bound to lose.”
“Is that so?” Heishui forced a bitter smile. He could only console himself with Shi Linglin’s words.
“But… why aren’t you calling her ‘sister’ anymore? You suddenly changed how you address her?”
“You must have misheard.” Shi Linglin blinked her eyes. “My loyalty to sister is clear as day and earth! I will always love sister the most!”
“Hah! What a joke!” Heishui chuckled lightly.
“Ye Lan just arrived on Sacred fist star and already got into a fight with someone?”
***
In a certain laboratory in the Central District.
Dr. Forefinger listened to Heishui’s report and replied with a smile, “Don’t be nervous. Your mission is now over. Send Shi Linglin to me, then you can go rest. I’ll handle things with Ye Lan.”
He didn’t find this incident too strange.
Over these three years.
Although Yun Ruoxi had completely undergone personality remodeling, becoming the loyal hound of the Saints’ hand society, and through some of his behind-the-scenes manipulations, was now obedient to him.
But everything came with a price.
The remodeled Yun Ruoxi not only had an extremely poor personality—cold, with a morbid need for control over things she cared about, preferring to solve problems with violence—but she had also lost the ability to get along with others, finding it very difficult to integrate into any group or society.
One could even say.
The current Yun Ruoxi was less like a person and more like a Star Beast, or a weapon that hurt others and was easily self-destructive.
But perhaps this wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
Although Yun Ruoxi had lost the feasibility of carrying out infiltration missions, after three years of grinding in the abyss of death row, she had become even more suited to be the Mission department’s killing machine.
Relying on formidable combat power to settle matters decisively!
Recalling Yun Ruoxi’s performance in the abyss of death row, Dr. Forefinger couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl upward.
He maneuvered his hover chair to the screen, switching to the feed of the Death Duel Arena where Yun Ruoxi was.
Resting his chin on his hands, a gleam of sharp light flashed in his eyes.
A divine weapon unsheathed must taste blood.
Why not use this Three-star energy user, this Potential sequence 9 death row inmate, as the signal for your dazzling debut!
I believe the Shengcai and Behemoth… should both be satisfied with this peerless divine weapon I’ve delivered to the Mission department!
“Ye Lan, you… are my most perfect masterpiece to date!”
Dr. Forefinger reached out to touch the girl in the virtual screen, his body trembling uncontrollably.
“I believe you will definitely… bring that young man back for me!”
Three years had passed. He had come into contact with tens of thousands of trainees, hundreds of thousands of star energy users from different places, but not a single one possessed a supernatural power with truly infinite future potential like Lin Zhen’s.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He needed a project result brilliant enough in supernatural power development to finally join that project he had dreamed of.
So…once he completely resolved the hidden dangers on his person, he planned to “invite” Lin Zhen back.