The Taixu Gang took over the Ghostfire Syndicate's resources. Now possessing the resources of both the Treasure-Stealing Gang and the Ghostfire Syndicate, the Taixu Gang leaped straight to the position of the largest gang in Barcelona.
The Taixu Gang's foundations were now substantial enough to make everyone in the city—including Heliopolis Life Sciences—take notice.
At this scale, the Taixu Gang could no longer be considered the small gang it once was. It had become a large organization with a considerable membership.
And so Su announced the establishment of the Taixu Group!
The Taixu Group became a colossal force in Dusk City capable of standing toe-to-toe with Heliopolis Life Sciences.
While everyone waited for the final battle in Dusk City to begin, watching to see who would ultimately emerge as the city's victor,
no one knew that before the final showdown even arrived, the directors of Heliopolis Life Sciences had already fallen into Vill-V's trap and become the complete losers.
Vill-V had no idea what state those extraterrestrial life-forms were in. What she had done could hardly even be called a scheme, merely an improvised performance and a few carefully chosen words,
yet the results caught everyone off guard, including Vill-V herself.
On Sublevel 2.5 beneath Heliopolis Life Sciences was a secret floor known only to MOTH's upper leadership. Whenever MOTH's senior officials came here, they usually held meetings to discuss the development of Heliopolis Life Sciences, along with secret plans that could never be revealed to the rest of MOTH.
Drip... drip...
A young boy whose flesh churned all over his body walked through the long, dark passageway, clutching a USB drive in one hand.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! This is absurd! Why would They believe the words of some fraud who only just appeared? It makes no damn sense! Why was it so difficult when we tried to deceive Them back then?! We even handed over our wives and children as hostages!"
This young boy was Magellan, chairman of the supreme board of directors of Heliopolis Life Sciences, as well as Sinara, Chief Administrative Officer of MOTH's European Council.
Although MOTH's Human Union Joint Review Council had representatives from seven major international alliances, each representative naturally had more than one person behind them. Those people all participated in MOTH's affairs and possessed a degree of authority.
As a senior leader second only to the chairman and vice-chairman, Chief Administrative Officer Sinara naturally had the qualifications to participate in deliberations at MOTH meetings.
And Sinara naturally knew something about Vill-V, head of the Energy Department.
In his impression, that little girl was nothing more than a charlatan who deceived the world and stole undeserved fame.
Sinara admitted she was a genius, but he had never taken her seriously.
A fraud could never truly enter the halls of power. No amount of clever rhetoric could compare with the experience and calculation of old schemers like them.
And when it came to "deception," politicians like them understood the craft even better.
The moment others could tell you were running a con, the con artist had already lost.
Yet Sinara never could have imagined that the extremely cautious beings from the stars would actually believe such blatant nonsense.
There had been no sincerity in her tone, no conclusive evidence whatsoever, and the two sides had even been enemies.
What in the world were those beings from the stars thinking?!
"If it weren't for the power of the Vampire Duke, I really would have died at Their hands."
"'Look to the stars,' my ass! As expected, the only power humanity can rely upon is humanity's own strength."
"Dr. Mobius' experiments have allowed us to reach one conclusion. Children have far greater adaptability to Honkai energy than adults. That is why I ordered the gangs to gather children from throughout the city."
Through Dr. Mobius' Honkai-energy modification surgery, Tao's grandson had acquired healing abilities far beyond those of an ordinary human.
After Sinara took over the young boy's body, he devoured quite a few more child test subjects, causing his superhuman abilities to rise across the board.
"What a pity. Only three hundred. It's not enough, nowhere near enough! Power... I need to devour more children and obtain overwhelming power!"
"Once I return to MOTH, I can use my authority to transfer another five thousand orphans without any problem."
"Then Herrschers, beings from the stars—every last one of them will have to kneel at my feet!"
"And then..."
"Ascend the steps and become a god!"
Sinara's vision of the future was beautiful, but when he lowered his head and looked at his endlessly churning right hand, his brow furrowed once again.
This injury was no mere flesh wound. An entire section of his genetic structure was collapsing.
His genes had completely lost any intention of reconstructing a "hand."
"The abilities of those things are too bizarre. The wounds they inflicted can't even be healed by the Duke's power."
"I have to find Dr. Mobius immediately and make her treat me. Otherwise, I'll die from genetic collapse..."
"In the end, Mobius' technology is just too poor. She actually left me with such a massive side effect."
Speak of the snake, and the snake appeared.
"Oh my. What a pitiful, pathetic little bug. What's wrong? Only after being bullied by outsiders did you remember to crawl back into Mommy's arms for warmth?"
Mobius stepped out from the shadows around the corner in a white lab coat, her eyes gleaming with a sinister green light.
"Mobius?! Why are you here?!"
Sinara was startled, but in his severely injured state, he had no attention to spare for anything else. He shouted impatiently, "Treat me immediately... I'll let all of you return to the Mu Continent headquarters. Otherwise, you know what methods we're capable of."
"You wouldn't want your 'results' destroyed or your assistants to die in unfortunate accidents, would you..."
Afraid that Mobius might exploit his weakness, Sinara immediately resorted to threats.
Sinara had never believed in trust between people. Only a sufficiently powerful threat could guarantee safety.
"Yes, yes, of course I'll treat you." A cold gleam flashed through Mobius' eyes. "After all, you planted quite a few spies inside my laboratory. The fact that I was captured and brought here was thanks to all of you too."
Although Mobius appeared as cold as a snake on the surface, she actually cared greatly about the people in Mobius' laboratory.
When funding was short, they ate instant noodles together to make do.
When research deadlines approached, they stayed up late and worked overtime together.
She did not have many supporters, but the people in Mobius' laboratory could more or less be considered half-supporters of hers.
"Exactly. You're very fortunate to have made the correct choice. As long as I'm alive, your assistants will remain safe. Stay with me, and you'll never have to worry about being manipulated by the other members of the upper leadership."
Seeing that he still had leverage over Mobius, Sinara finally relaxed completely.
However, what happened next sent a chill through his heart.
A man burning so hot that flames almost rose from his body and another man so cold that the surrounding space seemed on the verge of freezing stepped up beside him, one from the front and one from behind.
"You..." Sinara swallowed. "What are you planning to do? Mobius, hurry up and stop them!"
"Don't worry. They're my little assistants too. They're both in quite a hurry to help 'treat' you."
Sinara frowned.
Looking at the way the two men were cracking their knuckles, there was not the slightest sign that they intended to provide medical treatment.
They very obviously looked ready to beat him to death.
"You said that as long as you're alive, my assistants will all remain safe, right? Then make sure you don't hit these two too hard, okay~?"
"Mobius, this brat is the one behind everything?"
Kalpas flexed a fist wreathed in steam. His warm-up with Kevin earlier had left him in an extremely foul mood.
"That's right. He gave the orders to establish Heliopolis Life Sciences and abduct the children. And there's also..."
Kalpas' booming laughter cut off Dr. Mobius' explanation.
"Good! Hahahahaha! Come on, show me what you're capable of, you bastard who tore Charles' home apart!"
Wasn't the one who tore Charles' home apart you?