A higher-dimensional incarnation, starting by leveraging the stars.

The Sanctuary Laboratory, on the outskirts of the city of Eiffel Tower, Galloland

Inside the control room, a dozen researchers in white lab coats and more than a dozen guards faced off, the atmosphere frozen in place.

Alizee's gaze swept over the faces of the researchers, finally settling on the balding middle-aged man.

Dr. Gabriel Stern.

Fifty-two years old, citizen of the Western Eagle Empire, holds dual doctoral degrees in theoretical physics and anomaly research, and is a senior researcher at the North Sea Alliance's "Sanctuary" project, having been employed there for seven years.

These people, though unremarkable, are very common in any research institute. They have a special name: elite cattle and horses.

They are true elites, and indispensable laborers in any laboratory.

"Dr. Stern." Alizee's voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent control room. "Before the Holy Grail disappeared, you were in charge of observation, right?"

Gabriel adjusted his rimless glasses, his gray eyes behind the lenses calm and unwavering: "Yes, Doctor."

"You're also in charge of the main control computer?!"

"good!"

"Then can you explain to me what exactly happened here?" Alizee walked slowly closer, the sound of her high heels clicking on the ground carrying a certain captivating rhythm.

The air freezes.

Several researchers from the Western Eagles subtly changed their expressions, instinctively putting half a step away from Gabriel. Major Mason's hand was already on his holster, his eyes sharpening.

Gabriel's expression finally changed slightly, but it wasn't panic; rather, it was a brief pause, as if he had been unexpectedly interrupted.

His left hand, seemingly hanging casually at his side, had his index finger curl slightly, touching a tiny protrusion on the side of his watch.

"Doctor, I don't understand what you mean." His voice remained steady, but his speech was a fraction of a second slower. "The control room is under 24-hour surveillance. How could I possibly—"

"You were the closest at the time," Alizee interrupted him. "There are too many coincidences, Dr. Stern. We need to conduct a full review of you."

She turned to Mason: "Major, please conduct a thorough examination of Dr. Stern. Including his personal belongings, recent communications, and—" she paused, then said, word by word, "everything about him."

"Understood." Mason waved his hand, and two fully armed guards immediately stepped forward, flanking Gabriel on either side.

This is the moment.

Gabriel Stern's initially confused expression turned into a helpless wry smile after hearing Alizee's words, and he muttered a curse under his breath.

"This damn office politics!"

Then, his still-movable right hand quickly pressed down on the tiny protrusion on his watch.

No sound.

There was no flash.

But centered on Gabriel, an invisible wave suddenly spread.

The next moment, the trace of docility that belonged to a researcher vanished from him. This core code name, which originated from the legendary intelligence agency of the Great David Nation, meant that he had received training far exceeding that of ordinary intelligence personnel.

You cannot be arrested. Absolutely not.

Arrest meant interrogation, truth serum, and brain scans. The White Wolf's secrecy was absolute—in the event of mission failure, he would either escape or die. But what he carried was more important than his life: the non-shared achievements he had made over the past seven years in his research on the Holy Grail, utilizing the resources of the Sanctuary Laboratory.

The North Sea Alliance project led by the Western Eagles? What a joke. The resources that the David Nation has invested in this infiltration program far exceed what outsiders imagine. Gabriel's real achievement is a theoretical prototype of "directed modulation of mental pollution fields," and—a prototype device based on this principle.

His right hand appeared to be raised obediently, while the protrusion on his left wristwatch was pressed down forcefully by his thumb.

No sound.

There was no flash.

But centered on Gabriel, an invisible "wave" suddenly spread.

"Ugh—!"

The two guards who were holding him were the first to be hit. Their eyes instantly turned bloodshot, their calmness in carrying out orders was replaced by frenzy, their hands holding guns began to tremble, and then they suddenly turned to their comrades.

"You're glaring at me?! What do you want to do?!" a guard roared, suddenly smashing another man's helmet with the butt of his rifle.

"Traitors! They're all traitors!" Another man fired a shot at the ceiling without warning, the ricocheting bullet sparking as it grazed the alloy wall.

Chaos erupted like a virus.

Inside the control room, more than two-thirds of the personnel reacted violently. Researchers screamed, clutched their heads, trembled, or began frantically smashing the control panels. Several less resolute guards completely lost control, firing wildly at any moving shadow; stray bullets pierced several screens, sparks crackling and flying everywhere.

"Get down! Everyone get down!" The sudden turn of events threw Major Mason into a panic. He roared, veins bulging on his forehead, desperately resisting the inexplicable and pervasive irritation and killing intent.

He managed to maintain his composure and knock out two of his crazed subordinates, but many more fell into chaos.

Dr. Alizee was suddenly shoved to the ground by an assistant researcher whose eyes were bloodshot and who was muttering, "The Holy Grail... the curse of the Holy Grail... we will all die..." She struggled to crawl under the control panel and looked at the sudden hellish scene in horror.

And Gabriel made a move.

The instant he pressed the button, he held his breath and simultaneously crushed the microcapsule he had hidden in his molar. This was a medication that came with his watch, a high-concentration combination of a nerve sedative and a sympathetic depressant, which would protect him from the device's damage, but would leave him with a headache for seventy-two hours afterward.

His watch is neither an electromagnetic pulse nor a sonic weapon, but a directional interference field device that directly affects the limbic nervous system and primitive brain regions of living organisms.

The core principle of the device is derived from his long-term observation of the "Holy Grail" and his reverse deduction. He observes the spectrum of human mental fluctuations that are accidentally leaked from the Holy Grail, and uses this spectrum to interfere with the emotional regulation center of the human brain at a specific resonant frequency.

This is his ongoing research, which has yielded some results. However, in another place, this research has made some progress, and his watch is the masterpiece of this research.

He is a doctoral researcher at the Sanctuary Laboratory, but he also has another identity: a spy for the White Wolf, the legendary intelligence agency of the Kingdom of David, a White Wolf lurking in the Western Eagle Empire.

Over the past seven years, he has shared the non-shared achievements he made in the research on the Holy Grail using the resources of the Sanctuary Laboratory with the White Wolf Organization and the Kingdom of David.

The device on his wrist and the capsule in his mouth were developed by combining the research findings of the Sanctuary and the Kingdom of David.

Therefore, he was completely untraceable!

If arrested, the consequences might be dire, but it would certainly put the Kingdom of David in an awkward position.

"Ms. Alizee, I'll remember you!"

He glanced at Alizee, who was already in a semi-frenzied state, and calmly said, "I hope you'll still be this imposing next time we meet!"

Having said that, he slid into the chaotic crowd like a fish swimming away.

The chaos at Jiangcheng University, the library, and the Sanctuary Laboratory was all under Hu Biao's watchful eye, including Gabriel's actions.

He squinted at the white wolf that had blended into the chaotic crowd, a ripple of emotion stirring within him.

"This strange device is an application of mental power, which couldn't have been researched using the Abyss Unit alone. Therefore, this guy and the people behind him must possess another relic from the Third Civilization to have achieved such research results!"