The environment in the room exceeded Luke's expectations. He had assumed that since Verun dressed so provocatively, her personal life would be full of many indulgences. He never imagined it would be so dull and boring.
Luke walked around and said to Carol, who was equally curious,
"Did you find anything?"
The girl stared at the chair, "It should be it."
"The central hub?"
"Yes."
"Got it." Luke turned, "Adam! Come here."
The tall and muscular Adam quickly walked in, "Young Master!"
Luke pointed at the chair, "Sit on it."
Adam didn't hesitate and sat directly on the chair. A dozen energy rings appeared, binding his hands and feet, restricting him to the chair, unable to move. At the same time, a head-ring, similar to a taser, appeared above Adam's head.
He didn't resist or struggle, letting the electric ring encircle his head.
Current overflowed from the head-ring, making his body tremble violently. Before long, a smell of scorching filled the air. Even so, Adam didn't utter a sound, and no emotion other than indifference appeared on his stern face.
"How terrifying!"
Carol covered her mouth, both admiring and horrified.
Luke paced the room, then suddenly raised his hand and stabbed downwards. The particle blade sank into the floor, the current immediately disappeared, and the lights in the room dimmed accordingly.
"It really is here."
Luke's face lit up with joy. He quickly chiseled open the floor and, following the crystal pipes below, found the control hub. The metal sphere's control hub was vastly different from a Kryptonian spaceship's; it wasn't a super AI constructed from fluid metal, but a white sphere resembling a human brain.
The sphere was placed in a cultivation tank, connected to many tubes.
"Interesting."
Luke observed it up and down, then carefully removed the cultivation tank and placed it in front of him. Staring at the "white brain" inside, he said word by word,
"Since you have consciousness, you know what death is. This is your last chance. If you don't speak now, I'll smash the cultivation tank to pieces."
A few seconds later, an unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind,
"Hello, Earthling."
Luke's lips curled into a strange smile, and he chuckled,
"Hello, alien. What should I call you? Male alien? Female alien? Or an androgynous alien?"
"I am the psychic core created by Zamaron scientists. I do not belong to organic life forms and have no gender."
"What's your name?"
"I have no name."
"Then how should I address you?"
"You can call me Defender."
"Defender!" Luke clicked his tongue, somewhat displeased, "That's too ugly, like a rigid machine. How about this, I'll give you a name?"
"You do not have the authority to name me."
"Who does?"
"Verun!"
"If I kill her, will I have it?"
"In principle, Verun is my master, and I must protect her."
Luke bared his teeth, grinning as he said, "So you're planning to go to hell with her?"
After a brief pause, the voice spoke again, "My first mission is to protect Her Great Majesty the Queen. My second mission is to protect Verun. When the first mission and the second mission conflict, the second mission is automatically discarded."
Luke immediately understood, and the smile on his face grew wider. He discovered something interesting: this so-called psychic core was very likely a fence-sitter.
Of course, it was just a guess, not yet confirmed.
"So, you're on our side now?"
"I will always support Her Great Majesty the Queen."
Luke burst out laughing, tossing the cultivation tank to Carol, "Congratulations, you've gained a loyal fence-sitter subordinate."
The girl's face was bewildered. The next second, she heard something and her face turned pale,
"She told me Verun is planning to harm our family."
...At the Xiao family manor, ever since Luke stood him up, the old man had become moody. At the slightest displeasure, he would smash things indiscriminately. Everyone in the house had been yelled at by him, and even Linda, as a guest, wasn't spared.
Strangely, the usually rebellious and arrogant Kryptonian girl remained silent in the face of the old man's scolding, which terrified Ling Xuzi, her "master."
Not only him, but Lin Fu, who knew the girl's strength, was also startled. Fortunately, the worst didn't happen; the old man cursed a couple of times and then left, leaning on his cane. Linda stomped her feet angrily a couple of times and dragged her "master" to the backyard to practice martial arts.
After numerous attempts, Ling Xuzi finally created a martial arts secret manual suitable for Kryptonians. As for its effectiveness, to be honest, he had no confidence at all.
Cultivating inner breath first requires opening meridians, which are connected to nerves. A slight mistake can cause irreversible damage to the human body. Therefore, opening meridians must strictly follow the secret manual, without any errors.
Initially, Ling Xuzi thought the same. But when he witnessed Linda's superhuman recovery ability, he suddenly had a new idea.
The girl was an alien, and her body structure was fundamentally different from Earthlings. Who knew how her meridians were distributed? Since that was the case, he might as well go all out and open all the meridians in her body. Once the meridians were open, even a fool could become a master.
Ling Xuzi felt he was too smart; he had actually come up with such a brilliant idea.
So, after a series of completely incomprehensible martial arts terms, Linda, whose mind was a muddle, began to open the meridians in her body as instructed by her "master."
Due to her recovery ability, the process was even more troublesome than imagined. The forcibly opened meridians always returned to their original state. It took several hours for the meridians in one arm to stabilize.
Linda was truly speechless. Seeing that it was already dark, she and her "master" returned to the villa for dinner. After only a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
Ling Xuzi asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Linda pouted,
"You go in first, I have something to deal with."
Ling Xuzi assented and obediently left. After turning the corner of the corridor, his body swayed, and he hid in the bushes to secretly watch.
Verun floated in mid-air, looking expressionlessly at the brightly lit villa. This was the home of that damned Earthling, Luke Xiao.
Very good, I'll capture your family members as human shields. Let's see how arrogant you can be then.
Just then, a feeling of being targeted by a wild beast emerged from the bottom of her heart. Verun quickly looked down. In the distance, a sweet-looking blonde girl stood there. The girl's lips were slightly curled, her eyes half-closed, revealing undisguised mockery.
Verun: "..."
After a moment of silence, she hissed, "You can see me."
Linda grinned, "What do you think?"
Verun took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to attack, and said,
"Who are you, and what is your relationship with Luke Xiao?"
"Met a few times, no other relationship. What about you?"
"He and I are enemies."
Linda suddenly understood, "So, you're here for revenge?"
"That's right. If you don't want to get hurt, stay away. This has nothing to do with you."
Due to the oppressive feeling the girl brought, Verun's tone became unusually conciliatory.
"That won't do. I'm eating and living well here; I can't just ignore everything. How about this..." Linda extended a finger and smiled, "I'll stand here without moving, and you stand there without moving. As long as you can withstand one of my Void-Breaking Punches, I'll leave and not interfere."
Verun remained silent. After considering the pros and cons in her mind, she said in a deep voice,
"You must keep your word."
"Don't worry." Linda rolled up her sleeve, bent her knees slightly, and assumed a punching stance, "I'm not like some people. If I say one punch, I'll never do it a second time."
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