A warrior must eventually face death.
Villon had envisioned countless scenarios for her death, but the one thing she never expected was a garbage dump on a low-level planet.
The Violet Lantern Ring could grant its user self-healing factors, but self-healing and regeneration were not the same. With half her body missing, she couldn't possibly survive unless she found the Defender.
"I'm really going to die."
"I'm so unwilling!"
Villon gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with extreme reluctance. Soon, that reluctance turned into the terror that comes with impending death. The fear of a Zamaronian was different from that of an Earthling; their superior mental talent would amplify fear countless times over.
"I smell fear."
Hector Hammond appeared in the alley, lowering his enormous head and curiously examining the humanoid creature in the garbage pile.
"Green skin, no hair, half a body, ho ho ho ho!"
"My luck is really good; I actually encountered another alien, and a live one at that."
Hector nodded slightly, greeting her sincerely and earnestly,
"Hello, friend from outer space. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Villon raised her right hand, and a sword materialized out of thin air, stopping eerily in front of Hector.
"Another superpower user?"
Villon's pupils constricted. Just as she was about to act, her right arm froze in mid-air, unable to move.
"Friend from outer space, don't be nervous. I don't mean to attack you. I just want to talk to you as the owner of Earth."
"I almost forgot, can you understand our language?"
"If you can't understand, I have another way to communicate, but that would cause a little damage to your brain nerves."
Hector wore a wide smile, like a warm and hospitable host, but his dark yellow eyes were too eerie. Every time Villon met his gaze, she felt a profound fear emanating from deep within her.
Yellow eyes! Fear!
Villon's expression froze. She seemed to recall something, and her remaining half-face contorted.
Parallax!
This Earthling was actually Parallax, possessed by the Yellow Will! Damn it, why would such a thing exist on a backward planet like Earth?
Recalling Parallax's terrifying abilities, Villon involuntarily trembled, turning her head away to avoid his gaze.
"Alien friend, you seem to know me?"
Hector narrowed his eyes, "Or rather, you know my abilities."
"This is troublesome. My greatest wish in life is to sit down and chat with intelligent life forms from outer space, to understand what the world beyond Earth is like. Unfortunately, you happen to understand my power and are therefore experiencing fear."
"I'm sorry, alien friend, I can't save you now."
"I like your fear."
Hector chuckled softly, his eyes emitting a nearly solid yellow beam of light. Villon's face changed drastically. She clenched her fist, using the power granted by the Violet Lantern Ring to resist the yellow beam, but unfortunately, her body was too weak. She only lasted a few seconds before her right hand went limp on the ground.
The yellow light enveloped her body, and large patches of yellow particles seeped out from within.
They converged into a torrent that Hector swallowed with an open mouth. As the yellow light spread, Villon's body rapidly shriveled. Her muscles lost vitality, her blood became dry, and finally, only bones and some unabsorbable outer tissue remained.
Hector sighed contentedly. The fear of an alien was completely different from that of an Earthling—so rich, so profound, so lingering.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed the ring on the corpse.
A purple ring!
It emitted an alluring glow.
Hector reached out to pick it up, but the ring suddenly flew into the air, disappearing into the sky like a streak of light.
Hector frowned slightly, feeling like he had missed something. He lingered for a while, and after confirming that the ring wouldn't return, he left the alley to search for his next target.
The night was vast and dark. In Coast City, shrouded in panic, who knew how many would die from fear... Villon was dead. Carol, who possessed the Defender, soon received this welcome news.
Under the Defender's guidance, Luke found half a corpse in the garbage pile and brought it back to the dock base.
The corpse's surface was withered and yellow, devoid of flesh and blood, only bones, as if it had been in a coffin for hundreds of years. Carol said with great uncertainty,
"Are you sure she's Villon?"
Luke frowned, remaining silent. He suddenly recalled Director Hugo's mummified corpse case. Based on the characteristics of the case, Villon had likely encountered the perpetrator of the mummified corpse case, and that person had transformed her into this state.
"It's only been an hour, and she's already a mummy. This... this is too exaggerated!" Carol turned to look at the cultivation tank. "Defender, can you confirm that this is Villon?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, she is Villon, my former master."
Carol fell silent, her face somewhat pale.
A living person, in the blink of an eye, turned into a mummy. Vampires? Or some other evil creature? Horrifying stories were best not dwelled upon; the more she thought, the more afraid she became.
Luke comforted her, "It's late. Go rest. I'll take care of things here."
Carol nodded, picked up the petri dish, and headed to the first-floor bedroom.
Luke walked up to the mummy and pressed it with his hand. A hard, stiff sensation came back, like a piece of wood.
"Adam, take it to the secret laboratory."
Adam, with his charred skin, picked up the half-mummified corpse and went with Luke to the third basement level. In a corner of the third level was a hidden door. Walking down the stairs for thirty meters led to the fourth level.
The secret laboratory was on the fourth level, the core part of the entire underground base. No one knew about it except Luke.
Adam placed the mummy on the analyzer in the middle of the laboratory, then turned and left, standing guard at the door.
"Ava, turn off the surveillance equipment."
"Yes, Young Master."
All four cameras in the laboratory were turned off. Luke opened his right hand, and a point of green light seeped out from his palm. The green light expanded, turning into a fiercely burning green flame.
"My target wasn't you initially, but you actively appeared and even possessed mind technology that made me drool. If I didn't devour you, I'd feel bad myself."
Luke stepped forward, his hand, enveloped in green flames, gently brushed over the corpse, pulling out a tattered soul.
"You are the fifth soul I've devoured. I've fulfilled the last wishes of the previous four, and you're no exception. So, in exchange, I hope you pass on peacefully, and don't have any more special quirks. I'm really fed up."
Luke sighed inexplicably, then opened his mouth and swallowed the soul whole.
The green flames burned within him. As the soul dissipated, images representing memories began to surface.
Villon's entire life was condensed into a movie: her childhood, youth, family, friends, budding romance, warrior career, and a vast amount of memory fragments.
Luke automatically ignored her daily life, focusing his attention on knowledge.
Hundreds of types of knowledge, such as biological science, intelligent brain science, mind science, spatial theory, principles and applications of biological alloys, development and extension of psionic energy, and so on, appeared one by one in his mind.
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