Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

Upon seeing Lin Chen and Su Qingxue arrive, Luo Changfeng immediately waved, "Mr. Lin, Miss Su, come and see this!"

On the holographic projection, a rubbing of a severely damaged bronze plate is displayed.

It is engraved with ancient oracle bone script, interspersed with some strange symbols.

"These are newly unearthed artifacts from Yin Ruins, and they have not yet been made public."

Luo Changfeng excitedly pointed to a passage of text, "Look here—'Heavenly decree, with the seven stars as the guide and the nine yangs as the furnace, to plant the seeds of the present world and change the universe.'"

He then pulled up another photo of bamboo slips: "This is a copy of a sacrificial text from a shamanic shrine in the Chu region during the Warring States period. It mentions that 'the seed of chaos is hidden in people's hearts and manifested in the starlight. Whoever obtains it can control the destiny of heaven.'"

Luo Yunyi added, "My dad and I have compiled all the historical records that may be related to special physical constitutions and found a pattern—whenever a record of a 'Seven Stars' or 'Nine Yang' physical constitution appears, there will soon be a large-scale natural disaster, man-made disaster, or dynastic change."

She pulled up a timeline chart: "The end of the Xia Dynasty, the end of the Shang Dynasty, the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the transition from Qin to Han, the unification of the Three Kingdoms under the Jin Dynasty, the transition from Sui to Tang, the change of dynasties from Song to Yuan to Ming to Qing... Before and after these key moments, the activity traces of people with special constitutions were erased or altered."

Su Qingxue's eyes narrowed: "Are you saying that the Heavenly Dao Alliance is using individuals with special physical constitutions to influence the course of history?"

"To be more precise, they are collecting them." Lin Chen stared at the timeline and said slowly, "They search for the Seven Stars and Nine Suns in each era, trying to awaken the seed of chaos."

"But obviously, it hasn't been successful."

Luo Changfeng nodded: "That's right! So this time their scheme is even more elaborate—the Netherworld Sect is the open chess piece, but there are probably many more hidden pieces. And..."

His expression turned serious: "Judging from the Star Core incident, the Heavenly Dao Alliance seems to have mastered some method to catalyze the awakening or enhancement of physical constitutions."

"Otherwise, it's impossible to explain why all eight of you would appear in this era at the same time."

Before he could finish speaking, the institute's alarm suddenly blared!

A red light flashed, and the heavy alloy door began to close automatically.

"What happened?" Luo Changfeng asked in surprise.

Luo Yunyi quickly operated the control panel and brought up the monitoring screen.

On the ground floor of the research institute, several figures in gray uniforms with blurred faces were breaking through the security line at an eerie speed.

Their movements were utterly swift and precise, avoiding all attacks as they charged straight towards the underground entrance.

"It's 'The Cleaner'." A cold, electronic voice rang out from the broadcast, accompanied by eerie static. "Dr. Luo Changfeng, you've touched upon secrets you shouldn't know."

"Hand over all research data, and—that being of the Yao Guang form."

The gray figure had already reached the gate on the third underground level.

The heavy alloy door was like paper in front of them, slowly torn apart by an invisible force.

Lin Chen stepped forward, shielding the Luo family father and daughter behind him.

Su Qingxue had already conjured an ice-blue longsword in her hand.

"It seems," a cold glint flashed in Lin Chen's eyes, "that some guests have arrived uninvited."

The ear-piercing sound of the alloy gate being torn apart echoed in the confined space.

Three gray figures slipped in like ghosts from the crack.

They wore unmarked gray uniforms, had well-proportioned figures, and their faces were shrouded in a distorted halo, making it impossible to see their true features.

The most bizarre thing is that the three of them moved in perfect sync, like puppets on strings.

The leader raised his right hand—a hand so pale it seemed unnatural, with faint dark gold lines flowing beneath the skin.

"Information. The Body of Yao Guang. Hand it over."

The sound was completely flat, a bizarre mixture of electronic synthesized sound and human vocal cords.

Lin Chen didn't waste any words.

His figure suddenly blurred, and in the next instant he appeared in front of the gray-clad leader, striking him in the face with a palm.

This palm strike, seemingly ordinary, contained chaotic true energy; wherever the palm wind passed, the air emitted an unbearable hum.

The man in gray did not dodge or evade, but instead met the attack with a palm strike of his own.

Touch each other with palms together.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a dull thud, like leather tearing.

The gray-clad man's right sleeve instantly shattered into dust, revealing the dark gold patterns cracking on his pale skin beneath—patterns that resembled circuit boards, now flickering with an unstable light.

But the man in gray only took three steps back to regain his balance.

The cracks repair themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"A high-level puppet," Su Qingxue said coldly, her icy blue sword light already slashing towards another gray-clad man. "Not a living person, but a crafted combat weapon."

The sword light touched the gray-clad man's neck, but instead produced a metallic clang.

The skin on the gray-clad man's neck was peeled back, revealing the silvery-white metal skeleton beneath.

He reached for the sword with his backhand, his five fingers flicking out sharp alloy nails.

At the same time, a third man in gray pounced on Luo Yunyi.

He moved so fast that he left afterimages, his right hand grabbing straight for Luo Yunyi's throat.

Luo Changfeng tried to stand in front of his daughter, but was repelled by an invisible force field.

Just as the gray-clad man's fingertips were about to touch Luo Yunyi's skin, a flash of silver light suddenly appeared in Luo Yunyi's eyes!

The silver dagger she had been holding flew out on its own, its blade radiating pure starlight, slicing across the gray-clad man's wrist as easily as cutting tofu.

laugh--

The metal wrist snapped off instantly, and instead of blood, the break was marked by sizzling energy fluid and broken circuitry.

The man in gray froze for a moment.

In that instant, Lin Chen had already dealt with his first opponent, and then turned around and kicked the third gray-clad man in the chest.

Bang!

The man in gray was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing through three layers of alloy walls and disappearing into the ruins.

The chest area was deeply sunken, and the dark gold patterns had completely disappeared.

"Walk!"

Lin Chen pulled Luo Yunyi up, Su Qingxue protected Luo Changfeng, and the four of them rushed towards the emergency exit.

Behind him, the gray-clad man with the severed wrist had a red glint in his eyes and used his remaining hand to tear open his uniform.

In his chest, a dark red crystal was pulsating violently—similar to the cores of the monsters in Death Valley, but purer and more unstable.

"Self-destruct procedure initiated. Eradicate all signs of life."

The crystal's brilliance surged.

"Not good!" Su Qingxue turned around and swung her sword, causing layers of ice walls to rise up.

Lin Chen then transformed his chaotic true energy into a protective shield, firmly enveloping the four of them.

boom--!!!

The dark red light devoured everything.

The explosion produced no flames, only pure annihilation energy.

Wherever it passed, alloys vaporized, concrete crumbled, and all matter decomposed into its most primitive particles.

The light slowly went out after a full ten seconds.

The entrance to the emergency exit has been transformed into a spherical pit with a diameter of twenty meters, its walls as smooth as a mirror.

Lin Chen's chaotic shield was dim and on the verge of shattering, its surface covered with cracks.

Su Qingxue's ice wall has completely evaporated.

The two men in gray, along with a large portion of the research institute, vanished completely.

"This power..." Luo Changfeng's face turned deathly pale, "...comparable to a tactical nuclear warhead, yet leaving no radiation residue...what kind of technology is this?"

Lin Chen removed the protective shield, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth—he had suffered internal injuries even with his Chaos True Qi, despite forcibly resisting the annihilation explosion.

"The Heavenly Alliance's 'cleaners' truly live up to their reputation."