"The so-called genius of the Genius Society isn't all that impressive."
"Farewell."
Tingyun stood frozen.
Her hands trembled slightly, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"H-how… how could this happen…"
"This… this is a disaster…"
The Cloud Knights who had been secretly guarding the area arrived late.
Too late to change anything.
Because several Borisin wolf soldiers had already reached the battlefield.
Some of the knights immediately tried to stabilize Lin Yi's body.
The rest formed battle formations and prepared to fight the approaching enemies.
The Borisin had paused briefly in shock when the traitorous Cloud Knight struck Lin Yi.
But they quickly recovered.
They charged forward without hesitation.
In the bustling streets of the Xianzhou, the Cloud Knights had many concerns.
The Borisin had none.
In the end—
Nearly seventy to eighty percent of the Cloud Knights were wounded or killed.
More than a hundred Borisin soldiers also died forcing their way through the formation.
But they succeeded.
From Lin Yi's blood-soaked corpse, they seized the vine bracelet on his wrist.
The moment they obtained it—
They retreated immediately.
All remaining Borisin soldiers focused on protecting the one who carried the bracelet.
"Strike!"
"Without mercy!"
A golden giant hundreds of meters tall appeared in the sky.
Lightning wrapped around its body.
Its divine gaze burned with wrath.
With a massive war blade—
It struck down toward the fleeing Borisin.
It was clear that General Jing Yuan had deliberately held back.
"General!"
Yukong arrived with a squad of Cloud Knights and joined the main force behind Jing Yuan.
"Summon Lady Bailu immediately," Jing Yuan ordered.
"See if there is any chance to save him."
Though he said this—
Even Jing Yuan knew it was impossible.
Lin Yi wasn't a Xianzhou native.
Xianzhou people could survive even losing their heads.
Others could not.
"Seal the Xianzhou."
"External lockdown, internal monitoring."
"Search for accomplices."
"There should still be surviving infiltrators."
"Send them to the Ten-Lords Commission for interrogation."
Jing Yuan issued commands calmly and steadily.
But the dark expression on his face made it clear—
He was suppressing immense anger.
"Seal the nearby districts."
"Have the Ten-Lords Commission investigate immediately."
"We must find clues."
Meanwhile—
On a space route near the IPC headquarters, Pier Point—
A ship identical to the Rainbowlight Vessel was traveling quietly.
"Data collection complete, Teacher."
A frail girl holding a stack of files hurried over.
Lin Yi stepped out of a cultivation chamber.
"As expected."
"Phantylia had already planted arrangements on the Xianzhou."
Both Lin Yi and the girl named Zhuxing had been traveling outside using cloned bodies.
These bodies were created from something called Origin Cells.
Their consciousness controlled the bodies through soul-code synchronization.
From the moment they were created—
Lin Yi ensured the clones could never develop independent consciousness.
"Teacher," Zhuxing asked quietly.
"Should we inform the people we trust about the situation?"
"Not yet."
"Not even Sister?"
"The trap isn't finished yet."
"Before Phantylia is caught, we cannot make unnecessary moves."
Zhuxing hesitated.
"But… weren't we going to Pier Point?"
"Are we still going?"
Lin Yi stared silently.
Then—
Bonk.
He flicked Zhuxing on the forehead.
"You talk too much."
"Of course I know that."
"…Alright, I actually forgot."
He sighed.
"What a waste."
"This was the first time revealing that card."
"My first death."
"A perfect chance to make Phantylia lower her guard."
"Now it's wasted."
"We'll have to wait for the next opportunity."
"Zhuxing."
"Prepare the data analysis."
"Yes, Teacher!"
Zhuxing was a child Lin Yi had once rescued.
Or more accurately—
taken away.
Years ago, after his conflict with the Garden of Recollection, Lin Yi began researching weapons against memetic lifeforms.
To do that, he sought out the infamous Dr. Primitive.
He hoped to exchange technology.
Specifically—
Memetic virus research.
He did obtain part of the technology.
But the negotiation had been…
Extremely unpleasant.
Very unpleasant.
Extremely unpleasant.
So—
To clear his mind—
Lin Yi destroyed four research facilities belonging to the Source Research Forest.
Well…
Technically three and a half.
For Dr. Primitive, that level of damage was trivial.
And Lin Yi had no intention of starting a full war.
So the scale was just right.
His evaluation of Dr. Primitive was simple:
"His intentions are good."
"But perhaps he should stop acting on them."
When Lin Yi arrived at the fourth facility—
He discovered someone else had already attacked it.
The Galaxy Rangers.
That was where he found two children.
One was a blood-covered girl—
AKA-3: Rappa.
The other was even younger.
Still trapped inside a cultivation chamber.
AKA-4: Zhuxing.
Because Lin Yi arrived in time, the researchers failed to destroy their data.
The Rangers continued their pursuit.
The two children were left in Lin Yi's care.
The name Zhuxing was chosen by the girl herself.
Because on the day she escaped—
She saw a brilliant shooting star streak across the sky.
Despite sharing the same genetic template, Zhuxing and Rappa developed in completely opposite ways.
Rappa possessed:
incredible physical strength
enhanced perception
extremely high intelligence
But the researchers had forced her development too aggressively.
Combined with memetic viruses during her formative years—
Her mind suffered severe damage.
She could have been a complete genius.
Now she was merely a specialized prodigy, obsessed with her own world.
Zhuxing, meanwhile, was the opposite.
To prevent her from becoming uncontrollable like Rappa—
The researchers deliberately modified her development.
They enhanced brain growth.
And suppressed physical growth.
Then disaster struck before she even fully left the cultivation chamber.
Her premature awakening left her somewhat physically weak.
Of course—
That weakness was only relative to Rappa.
Lin Yi treated her condition gently.
He balanced genetic conflicts.
Corrected artificial defects.
Gradually awakened her natural potential.
The process was slower—
But safe.
Returning to the present—
Lin Yi and Zhuxing finished analyzing the data.
Lin Yi frowned.
The results were far from his expectations.
The body that had just died was a clone created using Origin Cells.
Just like the one he currently inhabited.
His real body had always remained inside Shenxiao Space City.
He stared at the data.
"The stronger version of the Verdant Life replica…"
"…performed worse than the version that simply resembled the original more closely."
"What kind of logic is that?"
"Does power scale with appearance now?"
The Verdant Life bracelet had originally been created by Ruan Mei using a miracle from the Path of Abundance.
When Lin Yi began the Panacea Project, the Aeon Yaoshi briefly gazed upon him.
Granting him a gift—
A single green vine.
Later, Ruan Mei borrowed the vine for research.
When she returned it—
She also gave him a bracelet woven from a secondary vine branch.
The bracelet preserved the vine's original power—
While making it far easier to control.
Naturally, Lin Yi had studied it extensively.
He even cultivated multiple replica versions using Origin Cells.
Yet the results were strange.
Clones whose appearance closely matched the original body displayed unexpectedly high performance.
Clones with genetically optimized designs—
Actually performed worse.
It seemed the power of the Path of Abundance had quietly interfered with the experiment.
Lin Yi found the phenomenon fascinating.
But he lacked time.
There were too many things to study.
And too little time.
Then—
His gaze suddenly fell on Zhuxing.
Standing quietly nearby.
His eyes lit up.
"I don't have time to research this deeply."
"Zhuxing."
"You're already capable of working independently."
"How about I give you this project?"
"Oh."
She nodded obediently.
Strangely—
Lin Yi felt like he had forgotten something.
After assigning the research task to Zhuxing, he thought for a moment.
Then shook his head.
If he forgot it—
It probably wasn't important.