Millennium Witch

Yvette's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she roughly understood why the giant wolf hadn't dodged or fled, but instead fought her to the death.

Did he have a death wish from the very beginning?

Eileen pressed on, "Why? Was it the Scaled Creatures? Did they force you?"

Tennyson did not answer, silently looking at the ground, but it was clear that as long as he did not express a negative attitude, it could be taken as an affirmation.

"Are you afraid to say it, unwilling to say it, or... unable to say it?" Yvette asked.

These are the three directions she gave: not daring to speak means fear, not wanting to speak means hardship, and being unable to speak is another matter. Compared to the previous two, this is more like a forced shackle, but what exactly that shackle is remains unknown.

“I can’t say…” Tennyson remained silent for a long time before saying softly, “I’m just a… testing tool… I can’t say anything…”

It's hard to say. It seems there really are special constraints. No wonder Lintui Biotechnology dared to let him roam freely in the outside world, killing people everywhere... Testing tools—that's the strongest possible implication...

Yvette understood, but she didn't intend to actually take action. She planned to send Tennyson to the AJSP, firstly in exchange for the $100 million bounty, and secondly, perhaps in this situation, it would actually protect him.

After all, Erin's "Byrd News" is a media outlet belonging to the "Black Tower" system, and it's inherently at odds with Lintui Biotechnology. The werewolf killer is headline news, so there's no shortage of traffic. Combining the two, even if Tennyson has to spend the rest of his life in prison, it's better than continuing to be controlled by Lintui Biotechnology and becoming a cruel serial killer.

But just as she made that decision, the sound of footsteps approached from afar.

She looked up and saw more figures appearing in front of and behind the road, each one radiating magical light. Their expressions were blank and indifferent, as if they were all like Tennyson.

Eileen covered her mouth in horror. She had obviously understood the meaning of the glowing patterns on these people, but the key point was that there were more than a dozen enemies!

If so many people were like Tennyson, how could Miss Nameless protect her, no matter how strong she was?

"Hehe..." Then, accompanied by a round of clapping, the werewolf assassins made way for a middle-aged man in a white coat to walk over. He looked at the three people in front of him and said, "It's unbelievable that a young mercenary who has just started out could defeat a 'beast warrior' like this. Miss Nameless, who exactly are you?"

Yvette stared expressionlessly at the middle-aged man before her. She immediately searched online and obtained his information. She said, "Hewlett Sean, bioengineering consultant for Lintui Biotechnology, and professor of runic biology at Agathe University?"

“That’s right.” The middle-aged man nodded without hesitation, pushed up his glasses, and revealed his thick arms covered with rune marks.

"You're researching... the ability to turn humans into beasts? Tennyson Norton was your test subject?" Yvette asked.

“Although it’s obvious, Miss Nameless, or rather, Miss Yvette Theon… if you ask me this, wouldn’t it be unfair of me to have to answer?” Hewlett said with a smile.

Yvette frowned slightly, then heard the other person continue, "How about you answer one question for me, and I'll answer one for you? We'll do an equal exchange."

"What are you asking?"

"Um, my first question is... are you Zero?"

A deathly silence filled the air. Looking at Hewlett's strange gaze, Yvette's first reaction was one of bewilderment.

She asked, "What is number zero?"

"You're not Zero?" Hewlett was somewhat surprised to see the genuine confusion in Yvette's eyes. He then asked, "How old are you this year?"

"That's the second question."

"Alright, alright... Go ahead and ask your question."

"Answer my question: Are you researching the ability of humans to transform into beasts?"

"Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no. Beast warriors' abilities are not within my research scope; I was just testing them as an afterthought," Hewlett said with a slight smile.

Yvette, speculating on the veracity of these words, said calmly, "My age is 16."

After answering, she continued, "What experiments did you conduct on Tennyson Norton?"

"This is a technology still in testing. I'd probably call it 'Soul Protocol.' This technology allows us to input specific commands into a living organism, much like inputting a low-level protocol into the core of the mind, to effectively restrain those originally unruly biological weapons. You can imagine the application of this technology, such as cultivating powerful war behemoths. By imprinting the same content into the behemoths, similar to the 'Three Laws of Mechanical Puppets,' they will always prioritize humans and obey orders like puppets... What a perfect technology! Just thinking about it is exciting, isn't it?"

It's clear that Hewlett is very passionate about his research, as he spoke at length.

"Like hypnosis or cognitive modification?" Yvette asked.

"No, no, no, the difference is huge. The power of the Soul Protocol lies in the fact that it uses the spirit as an anchor to influence the memory and the body. For example, using this technology, even if I don't make any changes to my understanding of the test subjects, I can still lock their 'beastification' ability, and turning it on and off only requires setting a 'safety word'."

Hewlett immediately added with regret: "Of course, as a technology in the testing phase, it still has many problems and is difficult to leave the laboratory. It may be a century before it is truly applied on a large scale."

Using spirits as anchors? Yvette's heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly said, "You've also colluded with the Holy Spirit Cult?"

She was just testing him, but to her surprise, Hewlett gave a strange smile.

He said, "Miss Anonymous, your insight is truly frightening. You realized so quickly that this is a technology based on soul runes."

Then, without directly answering the question about the Holy Spirit Cult, he said, "Alright, it's my turn to ask a question. Miss Nameless, according to our investigation, you and a blonde little girl appeared and disappeared on Ish Island, vanishing in four years. Where did you go during that time?"

“I’ve been hiding for a while.” Yvette naturally wouldn’t tell the truth, so she gave a perfunctory answer and continued to ask, “What is this number zero you’re talking about?”

"Hehehe... Zero, and Number One, aren't they you and your blond-haired companion?"

Hewlett said something that left Yvette completely bewildered, then gave what he thought was a friendly smile and said, "Miss Nameless, I hope you can cooperate with me. The company has goodwill towards you and Number One. Whatever you want, the company can provide it. Just ask... Why not cooperate for a win-win situation?"

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I don’t know what Zero and Number One are, nor do I know what this cooperation you’re talking about is. I’m still waiting for you to explain it to me,” Yvette said expressionlessly.

"You...really not?" Hewlett hesitated, muttering to himself, "Although the age doesn't match, who else could it be but you..."

Then his expression turned cold, and he said, "Whether it is or not, the result is the same, Miss Anonymous. The company is sincere towards you, and I am also sincere, which is why I am willing to talk to you so much. If you refuse to cooperate non-violently, then I will have no choice but to use some means."

……

These words immediately sent a chill through the room.

Miss Eileen's heart leaped into her throat as she nervously looked around, thinking that if a conflict broke out, she and Tennyson would surely die.

Miss Wuming seems to have a mysterious identity and possesses great power, so she'll definitely be fine. But what about her? What about Tennyson? Won't he be silenced by the Qilin creature?

Then Eileen heard Yvette say, "We can discuss it. You can let them both leave first, and once Miss Eileen and Tennyson Norton are out of sight, I'll talk to you about this."

“Miss No Name…” Eileen couldn’t help but call out, deeply moved.

Clearly, in her opinion, with Miss Wuming's strength, she would definitely have a chance to escape if she wanted to, but she actually chose to take care of her employer first!

What kindness!

What a strong sense of contractual spirit!

Of course, she knew she was a burden, so she didn't waste any more words. She pulled Tennyson along and walked step by step towards the end of the dimly lit road, while secretly calling the police to call AJSP to come quickly and stop the evil corporation from kidnapping people on the street.

……

Miss Eileen walked rather slowly, but fortunately, Tennyson still had some strength left. After transforming into a giant wolf, he carried her far away and disappeared at the end of the dark highway.

Seeing this, Hewlett showed no particular expression. He didn't care whether Eileen called the police or not, because he had already taken some measures beforehand to ensure that AJSP would arrive very slowly.

He said, "Now that the irrelevant people have left, shouldn't we, Miss Anonymous, also leave?"

"Is that so?" Yvette said expressionlessly. "What if I refuse?"

“That will be a little troublesome,” Hewlett sneered. “But I still hope you won’t continue to test my patience. Although I will guarantee your safety, that doesn’t mean the process can be a little rough…”

He stopped speaking there because he suddenly noticed that the whites of the unnamed woman's eyes had turned completely black.

Against the backdrop of darkness, the two dark red pupils seemed to glow with a striking red light, like a demon god suddenly awakened, exuding a chilling and evil aura.

“You…” Hewlett’s heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as if some kind of danger-sensing system had been triggered.

But soon, he felt something was off. As a senior advisor to Lintui Biotechnology, and a powerful mage himself with many hidden weapons, he wasn't without trump cards, so why was he so nervous?

But before he could continue threatening, the next second he saw the silver-haired girl's beautiful, long silver hair, which reflected a shimmering halo of light, suddenly twist and dance wildly like a group of snakes!

Then these strands of hair suddenly stretched out, and in the blink of an eye, they pierced the heads of every beast warrior around them, leaving a small hole on their foreheads from which blood seeped out, and they collapsed limply.

Hewlett's pupils contracted sharply.

Instant kill?

Everyone was wiped out instantly?!

At this moment, the abilities this girl displayed were completely different from the methods she used to violently defeat the werewolf killer, and far exceeded Hewlett's imagination!

"You...you...how could this be..."

Watching the beast warriors fall like straw, Hewlett felt a chill run down his spine.

He is clearly among the top tier of mages worldwide, belonging to the strongest 5%.

But at this moment, facing these silver hairs with their eerie piercing ability, he felt a fear he hadn't experienced in years, to the point that even the prosthetic body beneath his clothes couldn't give him a sense of security.

As the silver-haired girl with black eyes and red pupils approached, exuding an aura like that of an evil god, Hewlett trembled and backed away, excitedly saying, "This isn't human! You...you really are Zero!! You still say you're not!!"

Then he turned around and thought of flying. His cybernetic body spread out from under his clothes, like Iron Man's nanotech armor, gradually condensing into a dark blue suit.

But the silver strands of hair quickly wrapped around it, like the devil reaching out his hand.

They tethered the leg armor of the battle suit and dragged it down. Hewlett, now in his blue armored warrior form, crashed to the ground like a kite with a broken string. He then struggled to crawl forward, but was still dragged to the girl's front by the silver hair.

"Let go of me! You witch!!" As the beautiful yet terrifying face drew closer, Hewlett screamed, like a helpless girl about to be dragged into an alley by thugs.

He immediately released several rune rings, each with a crimson energy pulse, which blasted towards the silver-haired girl.

This was a 10-level military-grade spell, powerful enough to threaten military vehicles, yet it was intercepted by the silver-white hair without exception, unleashing ripples of violent explosions.

This unbelievable scene terrified Hewlett, making him feel as if he were in a nightmare.

Chapter 60 Erosion Seed

After binding Hewlett tightly with her tentacle-like hair, Yvette did not kill him. Instead, she quickly left the highway and flew to a desolate suburban area.

She wasn't sure if Hewlett had any backup plans, or if staying too long would attract the armed forces of the Lintui Creatures, so she decided to find another place to question him.

After loosening the hair that was blocking his mouth, Yvette sighed inwardly at the thought that the guy might have smeared his saliva on her hair. She decided to go back and cut off the excess hair before saying, "Answer my question."

"Why...why should I answer your question? Can you guarantee you won't kill me?" Hewlett asked, his face pale, but he still stubbornly asked.

“I can guarantee you won’t be tortured before you die,” Yvette said. “Is that reason enough?”

"Um... can you really spare my life? I can assure you I know nothing..." Hewlett gave a fawning smile.

Yvette didn't speak; her puppet-like face was expressionless, but the meaning she conveyed was clear—you've seen my secret, and you still want to live? How could you have such a dream?

After thinking for a moment, she said, "I can give you the opportunity to leave your last words so you can send them to your family."

Hewlett's smile froze for a moment.

Yvette's lips curled into a slight smile. As an advisor to Lintui Biotechnology and a professor at Agathe University, she could retrieve much of Hewlett's information through hacking, which gave her a lot of room to exploit. She said, "I think you don't want to die without being able to leave a single word for your parents, wife, and children, do you? Your mother is probably looking forward to you sending her a goodnight message tonight, and your wife and daughter are waiting for you to come home this weekend and spend a wonderful weekend with them."

Hewlett fell silent. He wasn't an invincible man without any ties; on the contrary, like most 35-year-olds, he had many weaknesses, many of which were far more terrifying than death. Especially when his daughter was mentioned, although the other person didn't say much, it didn't stop him from thinking: if he didn't cooperate, would his daughter be harmed or retaliated against by the witch? So, in a deafening silence, after a long while, he finally seemed to make a decision, exhaling deeply and whispering, "Despicable witch... what do you want to know?"

“All the information you know about ‘Zero’ and ‘Number One’,” Yvette said.

“Well… if that’s the case, I don’t know enough about it either.” Hewlett shook his head. “All I know is that last year, an informant from Black Tower Pharmaceuticals passed on intelligence to the company. The information said that two highly classified experimental subjects escaped from Black Tower Pharmaceuticals’ Abyss Base. The codenames of the two experimental subjects were ‘Zero’ and ‘One’. And in terms of appearance, they should be a silver-haired girl and a blonde girl… around eight or nine years old.”

As he spoke, Hewlett glanced at Yvette: "Although you look a bit older, you do look extremely similar to that silver-haired little girl, almost exactly what she looks like when she grew up... Oh, by the way, according to the company's investigation over the past two years, the past identities of those two test subjects have also been confirmed. One of them is called 'Yvette Loshivia,' and the other is called 'Liana Renee.' Before becoming test subjects, they were both orphans from a welfare home sponsored by the Black Tower."

He paused, then said helplessly, "Now you know why I was so sure you were Zero right away, right? Even if it's a fake identity, your alias... the change was a bit too lazy..."

Yvette immediately fell into deep thought.

If Hewlett didn't intend to lie before he died, it would mean that "Zero" was definitively the original owner of this body, which was her. But she wasn't very familiar with Liana Renee. In her first dream long ago, she hadn't spent much time with the other genetically ill orphans from the Metamorphosis Project, only knowing that there seemed to be such a little girl.

The original owner and Liana were Zero and Number One, respectively, with an extremely high level of secrecy, clearly due to the "Immortality Project"...

She then asked, "Why do you say that I am not using human methods?"

"This is just a conjecture... Miss Zero, please allow me to address you this way. Do you know 'Erosion Seed'? Of course, this is a code name circulating within Lintui Biotechnology; perhaps it has another name at Black Tower Pharmaceuticals..."

Seed erosion?

Hearing this strange new word, Yvette was slightly taken aback, and another term immediately popped into her mind.

—Divine transformation!

A divine transformation that may be related to the origins of the apocalypse!

“Go on,” Yvette said noncommittally.

"The 'Erosion Seed' is a code name that came from who-knows-where. We know nothing about it. It might be a living thing, an inanimate object, a concept, or a relic... But many scholars within the company believe it truly exists. It might represent a technological legacy from outer space or a prehistoric civilization. The company obtained its theoretical support from this, which is why it entrusted us with the practical application..."

"Initially, all of this was just speculation, even a joke. But later, we heard similar rumors circulating within Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, and our academic circle began to truly believe it, to believe that Black Tower and Lin Tui were special, that our new technology did not come from research and development, but from some special acquisition, or even inheritance..."

“And you, Miss Zero,” Hewlett said, “you and Number One, as escaped experimental subjects, are under extremely high secrecy within the Black Tower. You must be related to an important and powerful new technology, or even to that elusive ‘Erosion Seed.’ This is why the company is paying extra attention to you, hoping to obtain the Black Tower’s secrets from you.”

"As for myself, the reason I didn't report directly to the company and chose to come to you secretly, besides wanting to take all the credit, was also because I had a selfish motive. I hoped to get an answer from you, an answer that everyone in my academic circle was waiting for..."

"Miss Zero, before I die, can you tell me—does the 'Seed of Corruption,' or a similar technological source, really exist?"

……

After giving Hewlett a positive answer, Yvette saw a complex shift in emotions on Hewlett's face, and finally he let out a sigh of relief, as if he had finally achieved some kind of satisfaction.

After he tearfully sent voice messages to his parents, wife, and children, saying goodnight, Yvette ended his life, using earth magic to make a simple little box.

He will send this small urn to his wife anonymously in the future, which was one of his dying requests.