204. Vishnu
While they were judging the id, the Grand Magician had already successfully escaped, becoming the second person to capture Ling.
"Aren't you afraid of being betrayed?" Ling asked.
"Don't worry. If it were just one person, perhaps that Vill-V would become the target of everyone's attacks, but if there are two or more, the meaning is different."
The Grand Magician nuzzled against Ling's chest, saying nonchalantly.
Given the current situation, the other Vill-Vs would only start vying for third and fourth place, and would definitely not engage in any more internal fighting.
And indeed, as she expected, the Lecturer called him "brother" even more affectionately. The Mystic Scholar had begun using the potion she was researching, and the Expert always wanted to snuggle in Ling's arms while working.
As for the Transcedent one, she was even more of a heavyweight; she had directly converted her residence into a cage, just waiting for Ling to come and then devour him.
…
"This potion…I wonder how effective it will be…"
The Mystic Scholar fiddled with the round-bottomed test tube in his hand, a strange fragrance emanating from it, making one's mouth water.
"Never mind, we don't have enough lab mice. Let's try the potion again later."
The Mystic Scholar placed the potion aside, got up, and left the Helixcraft.
A short while later, a dark figure crept in. She sniffed, following the fragrance to the test tube.
Pardofelis looked at the test tube in front of her, swallowing hard.
It smelled so good. Just a little, just a tiny bit.
Although she wouldn't risk everything for food, the potion inside seemed to have a tremendous attraction for her.
She picked up the test tube and drank more than half of it in one gulp.
The next second, she collapsed stiffly to the ground.
When the Mystic Scholar returned, she found Pardofelis lying on the ground with an empty reagent bottle beside her and immediately took her to Su for treatment.
"Luckily, she was brought in time, otherwise she might have died," Su breathed a sigh of relief.
"I don't know anything. She suddenly appeared in my Helixcraft and drank the reagent I just prepared," Vill-V said, shrugging to absolve herself of responsibility.
"Let's ask her when she wakes up," Su nodded.
Soon afterward, Pardofelis woke up.
"Little kitty, the surgery was a success. You're a boy now!" Vill-V said playfully.
"Huh? Huh?!!"
Pardofelis immediately sat up, frantically touching her body. After confirming that nothing was missing, she realized Vill-V was joking.
"Uh... um, thank you?" Pardofelis looked at Vill-V cautiously.
"Tell me, why did you choose to drink the reagent I just made when there are so many valuable things in the Helixcraft?" Vill-V asked.
"That…that…" Pardofelis realized she had been caught stealing.
"Don't lie," Vill-V said seriously.
"I…I just got a little carried away. That stuff smelled so good, I couldn't resist…I…"
Pardofelis looked like she was about to cry, pleading with Vill-V for forgiveness.
"Indeed, it smelled wonderful. The lingering scent on Pardofelis even made my mouth water," Su said earnestly.
It didn't smell like a reagent; it smelled more like food.
"Right! So…I really didn't mean to, please don't put me in jail!" Pardofelis's tail curled up around her body in fear.
"...Be thankful, this time you only drank a sedative. It's just that you drank too much at once, so you'll sleep like a log. If I use pesticide next time, you can just wait to start over, little kitty." Vill-V generously forgave Pardofelis.
"Thank you! Thank you, Sister Vill-V!" Pardofelis said hurriedly.
Although she had only recently joined the Fire Moth, she knew the people there quite well. She knew she might offend someone she shouldn't one day, so she always kept an eye out for the particularly dangerous ones.
First was Dr. Mei, second was Dr. Mobius, and third was Vill-V.
"Then I'll be going now." Vill-V waved and left.
However, upon returning to the Helixcraft, she found another person lying on the ground.
Her hand was still holding the same reagent that Pardofelis had taken earlier.
"..." Vill-V was momentarily speechless.
Helpless, she could only take the person to Su again.
"Another one?" Su smelled the same scent on her.
"Hmm." Vill-V rubbed her temples.
"If it's a risky potion, it's better not to make it too delicious; it's easy to make people accidentally ingest it," Su could only advise helplessly.
"I'll consider it," Vill-V nodded.
The Mystic Scholar not only possessed top-notch potion-making skills but also top-notch culinary skills.
This also guaranteed that the potions she created would taste absolutely delicious.
However, two consecutive accidental ingestions had added a bit of worry to her.
"How about separating your culinary skills?" The Conductor suggested.
"Yes, that's the only way." The Mystic Scholar didn't refuse.
Soon, Ling gained a new older sister/younger sister, 'Hundred Flavors' Vill-V.
She was a gentle and understanding girl, a perfect picture of a virtuous wife and loving mother.
Of course, this was just a small interlude in daily life.
Not long after, Vill-V's free time was forcibly taken back.
Mobius took Vill-V to a laboratory.
"This is… a Honkai Beast?" Vill-V raised an eyebrow, looking at the enormous dragon-shaped Honkai Beast before her, wondering why it was imprisoned here.
Wouldn't it be better to just kill it and use it as a test subject?
"His name is Kosma. Due to an accident, he devoured too many Honkai Beasts in battle, causing it to become like this," Mobius explained.
"Devoured Honkai Beasts? You mean Vishnu, right? He's a MANTIS Warrior who fused with Vishnu's ICHOR?" Vill-V instantly understood what Mobius meant.
While most MANTIS Warriors have some beast-like characteristics, the most typical being Pardofelis and Sakura, this was the first time Vill-V had seen such a complete beast-like transformation.
"That's right. It's probably because it devoured too many Honkai Beasts, causing the energy level in its body to exceed a threshold. I call this change 'Artificial Cascade'," Mobius nodded.
"The level of Honkai Beast mutation in his body seems to have surpassed that of a typical Judgment-class Honkai Beast…"
Looking at the examination report, Vill-V felt a slight sense of doubt.
"Perhaps we've underestimated Vishnu. In previous files, I also discovered a small Vishnu, not even reaching the Emperor level, yet it was defeated."
Mobius looked at the Kosma before her, her eyes gleaming with interest.
"You mean Vishnu can continuously increase its power by devouring Honkai Beasts?" Vill-V was hearing this for the first time.
She only knew that Vishnu was a special type of Honkai Beast that frequently attacked and devoured other Honkai Beasts.
"Let's make a bold guess: Vishnu was once a lowest-ranking Honkai Beast, evolving through devouring other Honkai Beasts, eventually becoming the Judgment-class Honkai Beast that was defeated a few years ago."
"And what's the upper limit of this devouring?" Vill-V continued to inquire.
"That depends on how long our young soldier can hold out." Mobius smiled, a smile that was undeniably beautiful yet chilling.
...