He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 83 "The Serpent," The Principle of Metamorphosis

As soon as they touched the fox's shoulder, they started flapping their wings and cooing incessantly.

Ai pricked up her ears and listened carefully for a while, repeatedly responding, "Snake? What snake?", "Something bad—has my colleagues already discovered it?", "Then I guess I'd better hurry—"

"Um--

The two birds finally quieted down, and Ai, who had heard everything, felt utterly exhausted: "Fine, let me see it with my own eyes."

Memory is the domain of "Ember"—the fox holds one black and white goblin in each hand, carefully examining the scene they see, then seems to be deep in thought.

Two minutes later, he gently lifted his hand and put the bird back on his shoulder, squinting his eyes: "My colleagues worked very hard too—they found their lair so quickly—the process was indeed a bit easy, but it's clear that the Foundation's lower-level agents are also very capable."

He has a particular focus now.

"Little White, do you recognize that snake?"

Through Gugu's memories, Ai saw the statue that was both eerie and sacred—he really didn't take those quack cultists seriously, even the seemingly crazy leader only piqued the fox's interest slightly.

But Ai was still very interested in the objects of their worship.

The main thing is "that opposite corner —"

Ai said softly, looking at the top of the statue in the clip, at the two bloody, ugly creations that looked like tumors growing on its head, which were completely out of place with the snake girl's perfect and graceful body.

A pair of deformed, short horns that have not yet fully grown.

A long snake with horns.

This made him think of something rather subtle.

"I don't recognize her—among the magnificent beings I know, there are indeed beings that take the form of snakes—but none of her characteristics match. This may not be the magnificent deity that exists at the bottom of the pool at all, or it may be a new being that was born during the time I was broken and was not known to me."

The door seemed a little puzzled, but after a moment's hesitation, it revealed the truth: "I know what you're thinking—the snake is indeed a controversial form, like a fairy. But while a fairy is ambiguous between 'winged' and 'shelled,' the snake is ambiguous between 'beast' and 'shelled.'"

Legless, it crawls on the ground like a snake, yet lacks the lightness and fragility common to shelled species; its entire body is covered in scales.

"Instead, it's more like—a transitional species between a dragon and a shelled creature," Ai pondered.

—A long, wingless worm with scales, crawling and wriggling.

Xiao Bai's suggestion was completely unreliable: "Maybe you could ask Hong Long? He'll probably know—"

However, if you call for her from inside the nest, the Foundation will definitely blow up your phone.

"That's not necessary—"

The fox shuddered at the thought of Anda's words, "You'll never lose me." If he were to actually call out to that monstrous dragon, it would probably smash its head against the ceiling and burst in—

As for Mo Ya, Boss Ya has been extremely busy lately, yet he still managed to find time to check on me. I feel a little bad about troubling him so often.

After thinking it over, Ai's gaze settled on the little lion with a tearful face.

His eyes lit up.

Because of the long period of fragmentation it experienced, Xiaobai's memories are in a "dipolar" state—its knowledge is fragmented, some so ancient that it has been forgotten by the world, and others are no different from Aiyi's.

The winged lion before us is a mysterious being born from the land of the winged, and its father is an apostle, so it must have extensive knowledge.

Moreover, while he was foolish, his eyes were clear.

— Worth taking advantage of.

Ai smiled and moved closer.

The fox had just scolded him a couple of times, but he was quickly interrupted by the returning Gugu. After that, the honest boy didn't dare to take the opportunity to slip away and just stood there in a daze.

Smiling, Ai patted the lion's head and said softly, "Simba—we're friends now, right?"

"Huh? Hmm!"

Startled, Simba quickly nodded, while the fox didn't stop, directly presenting the memory fragments to him through the red liquid.

"Can you take a look at this person for me—do you recognize him?"

'

Simba's pupils were unfocused as he stared blankly at the scene before him, his voice muffled as if he were dreaming, "Snake—"

"You recognize it?" Ai asked excitedly.

"No."

Simba suddenly snapped out of his daze, quickly shook his head, and muttered embarrassedly, "Don't know him—"

Seeing the fox's expression become subtle, the little lion quickly waved his hand and hurriedly explained.

"Every winged creature hates snakes—sometimes even more than scaled insects."

Simba sniffed, a look of disgust flashing in his eyes. He said softly, "Legless and crawling—these characteristics seem to be the hostility branded into our instincts—though I am not a pure bird, the moment I saw this creature, I felt disgusted and particularly wanted to kill her."

"so----"

Ai sensed his unspoken message: "You've never actually seen a real serpentine being?"

"Yes."

Simba confirmed.

"I've heard my fathers say that the sworn enemies of the winged are the shell-like creatures because they killed our first father god. But actually, our hatred for the shell-like creatures doesn't seem to be that strong. After all, we were once blood relatives born from the same swaddling clothes. Every winged person knows that the scale-like creatures were the brothers of the feathered beasts."

Ai nodded.

—That ancient, first pilgrimage—it seems that, through the retelling of white doves and black crows, it was able to spread among the winged, so that even a little lion knew about the past of insects and birds.

"Because of their opposing stances and circumstances, the winged species and the shelled species were once mortal enemies, but conflicts do not last forever—over the long course of history, we have also had years of peace—"

"Until a major change occurred."

Simba tried to recall the events as he spoke, but ended up stammering.

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about that upheaval—all I know is that a revolution broke out within the shell species, and different voices emerged in the originally unified group. Perhaps it was due to a conspiracy, or perhaps it was a failed reform, but in any case, they split apart—the King of Scales seems to have suffered a betrayal that had been planned for countless years, or perhaps not, nobody knows."

"All we know is the outcome of this upheaval: the shelled species withdrew from the stage of rivalry with the winged species, and they split into three groups. One group continued to follow the King of Scales, while the other, for unknown reasons, fled to the depths of the Great Gift Pool and hid in the Lost Kingdom of Depth 3, never to be seen again."

Simba lowered his voice slightly and continued.

"The last group, the protagonists of that great change, also disappeared—it is said that the flying insects that originally had thin wings tore off their wings because of the new worship, abandoned their original form, and burrowed into the ground, from which they could no longer fly and could only crawl—"

"They were purged for angering the King of Scales, so they used their soft, boneless bodies to burrow behind the radiance, hiding behind the pupil membrane, a dark place that even the secrets of illumination cannot reach—they hide in the cracks of history, evading pursuit while continuing to exert influence on this world—because of their changed form, their power has become extremely bizarre, and a mere casual overhearing or glance can become the path they crawl towards."

At this point, Simba cautiously looked around. This was the first time he had told outsiders these internal "secrets," and the thrill was like telling a ghost story to a friend in the middle of the night.

The little lion was a little nervous and scared.

However, this place had just been observed by Mo Ya, and its safety level was off the charts, so Simba continued.

"In order to resist their strange power and to protect the present world, not only is the King of Scales hunting them down across the entire Great Gift Pool, but the Great King of Wings is also eliminating their influence—they have become phantoms in history. Even among the winged, only the King's apostles and those magnificent beings know the specific details of that great change."

"call----"

At this point, Simba took a deep breath, looked at Ai's somewhat dazed eyes, and said pitifully, "That's all, that's all I know."

"Tsk—"

Ai narrowed her eyes. "Interesting."

Having shed their old forms, the shelled species transformed into a new life form—hiding in the shadows, challenging the authority of the celestial beings.

—Anda was busy chasing and killing people across different maps.

"So, snakes are forms similar to them?"

Ai Yi, relying on his special status, was able to learn these secrets through various channels—but his colleagues, it's unknown, had any source for this information.

—I thought it would be a small task, but I ended up stepping into a quagmire.

He sighed, "This is going to backfire, those two pure deer-men."

"

After thinking about it again, I suddenly felt a lack of motivation.

—If we were really going to have to face the kind of bizarre life form the winged lion spoke of, a mere commission would not be worth the risk.

Unless—things develop beyond the Foundation's original expectations, and Ellen, in her disguise, performs a deus ex machina—perhaps the reward will be worth the risk.

Or perhaps————

Ai realized that he could use this event to demonstrate the power of the Greys to certain groups—not the Foundation, of course, but the local factions scattered throughout the lower city—and that after gaining complete control of the outskirts, he would certainly continue to expand his influence.

Rather than rashly declaring war on the entire lower city, it would be better to use some means to subtly align those more valuable groups with the gray flag.

-yes!

It's time to add fuel to the fire in this chaotic situation—by the time the Foundation realizes what they consider a "newbie commission," it may have spiraled out of control. As for the ending, whether it's "Grey" making a public display of his abilities or "Ellen" achieving a meteoric rise to power after turning the tide, it will all be subject to Ai's desire for "control."

"To put on a grand and mysterious performance on a stage that is still unknown to even ourselves."

Joy rose up—

Ai took a deep breath, suppressing the agitation in her heart.

"Give it a try."

Before that, Ai needed another angle to stir up trouble while having a comprehensive view of the situation.

Recalling the fragments sent by Gugu, Ai activated the Moth's Criterion, randomly selecting a disciple who seemed to have some status in the scene, and twisted his limbs amidst the buzzing sound.

—It seems a bit off—

He frowned.

I still can't create things out of thin air. Relying on the fox's size, I can't transform into an adult at all—the limit is that I can only transform into a thin, light male high school student.

In such situations, the physical law of conservation of matter proves surprisingly robust.

As Ai's figure writhed in the shockwaves of the red liquid, Simba, who was standing nearby, suddenly spoke up, "Are you trying to—transform?"

"I've run into a bit of trouble—" the fox said helplessly, just as he was about to change the subject, he heard the lion's suggestion.

"What you were using just now was the Moth's Criterion—in the past, it did indeed control the changes in form—but since the King of Scales fully raised the Criterion of Scales, the principle of metamorphosis has also changed its master. If you simply want to change your form, perhaps using scales would be simpler."

"scale"

Ai was startled, recalling the scene of Anda emerging from the burned body—

Oh right, I almost forgot about this one.

"and----"

On the other side, Simba whispered, "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like I sense two great powers emanating from you—and they're both very close, something that seems familiar to the Winged."

With a thought, Ai Yi raised his palm, and a crimson line, an invisible outline, emerged from his palm:

Simba's eyes widened instantly. "Scales & Feathers / Mysterious Item / Token (Bound) / Unique / Crimson: You have witnessed her growth from lamb to red dragon, shedding her last feather, and then transforming from feather to scale—the weight of this determination, and it is only because of your witness that it is full of meaning."

—Holding it in your hand, the Scales' Principles open the "Principles of Metamorphosis" to you, currently weighted: "Body Editing Power" has been loaded.

"Legacy of Eden / Mysterious Item / Red: Fragments torn apart from Eden—This is a shattered sky, within which the lost 'Old Dome' is frozen—It is the flow of wind, clouds, and mist, interpreting the principles of flight passed down through generations of winged beings."

"Sky----"

Ai's attention was mostly focused on the red feathers, while Simba stared blankly at the invisible substance.

Until the fox gently awakened him: "The principle of metamorphosis, how exactly is it used?"

Simba snapped out of his daze, and the next second his gaze towards Ai was filled with utter worship: "This is a fragment of the sky, a remnant of the Father of Wind. You even know that Lord of Scales, how amazing—"

"Nonsense, of course I know I'm capable—"

After a few casual words, the loud and boisterous little lion finally began to answer the question.

"The fully open principle of metamorphosis allows you to change your physical form almost freely—you cannot create things out of thin air yet, so adding a new organ as a redundant area of ​​matter is the simplest way to satisfy the transformation of flesh and blood."

He suggested, "You could make yourself a pair of wings."

The fox tilted its head, feeling a little dizzy at first, then had to admit:

That is indeed a very good suggestion.

The season of dawn has come to an end.

The winged lion was finally released by the fox, who told him to quickly change his contact information before leaving. Because the think tank could not reach the land of the winged, Ai had to temporarily accept Simba's "free meal summoning ritual".

"Damn it, you want to eat me out of house and home? Just wait and see how I exploit you after I drag you here."

He grinned mischievously.

—This huge, goofy lion possesses mysterious powers. It could probably save us from having to build up the giant machinery needed for developing wasteland. It's a super labor force that consumes a lot of food.

If only the entire pterosaur species were as silly and adorable as Simba.

Next————

After observing her surroundings, Ai Yi realized that Dudu was still asleep at this hour—so she sneaked over to the freezer at the convenience store.

The fox deserves to steal chickens.

To ensure a sufficient supply of materials, Ai Yi simply regarded the entire freezer as an extension of flesh and blood—the quality might be a bit lacking, but it's useful for now, and adjustments can be made gradually later.

The principles of transformation also began to operate at this moment, and the complex structure of the human body came into view.

"Body editing function: in operation"

Blood vessels — organs — pulses — bones —

Ai looked at her own top-down view of her body.

These do not need to be modified for the time being.

Once again, we were introduced to Gray's perspective—he was making the most of his knowledge. Clearly, Gray, who had studied human anatomy for some reason, was quite proficient in this aspect. Combined with the existing information in the think tank, he learned and practiced simultaneously, and Ai Yi also determined her new form.

"Organ Wings"

Using the template as a reference, Ai directly copied the bird wings of the Agdewe people. Anyway, it's just a preliminary organ that can be used as a transfer station for flesh and blood. Just ask what the word "preliminary" means. Isn't it just something to be modified later?

"Start editing."

The principle of transformation manifested its power at this moment: the materials in the entire freezer instantly turned into a pool of red liquid, and bones and flesh began to be assembled according to the pre-set template.

Ai felt an unbearable itch on his back. Something invisible burrowed into his body and then unfolded into a tangible form. His skin and flesh felt as if they had been burned by boiling water, wrinkled and fragile.

Cracks and implants, molting and rebirth.

Until a light sensation rose from behind.

Ai suppressed her instinctive excitement and did not immediately unfold the wings. Instead, she pressed them tightly against both sides of her spine, thus saving the clothes.

It's already done.

Kneading the feathers at the tip of her wing, Ai sighed at how she had also become a bird-woman, while continuing to activate the Scale Criterion to complete the transformation she had just begun.

Soon, a strange man appeared in the hall. He carefully examined his body and then moved his somewhat stiff limbs, as if he were clumsy and unfamiliar with his own body.

—This person's name is—

Ai laughed and patted her face.

"Womikoch".