Ryan walked forward like a road roller, moving straight ahead.
Whether it was Emperor-class Honkai Beasts or mutated self-destructing Honkai Zombies, no living energy could stop his steps, forcing Hua to constantly revise her plans.
At such a time, there was no need to retreat, nor to form defensive formations. Even command became optional; they only needed to follow that figure and charge forward, harvesting the Honkai Beasts with missing limbs.
Every warrior's heart pounded as they watched that figure. A three-story-tall giant Temple-type Honkai Beast was split into two even halves by him. He snatched its large shield, forcibly carving out a path.
The ice-mutated Honkai Emperor was equally unstoppable. The floating ice that climbed onto his armor was instantly torn apart. Just as it tried to hide in the beast horde, the chainsaw halberd descended like a falling star, cutting through a series of meat shields and impaling it to the ground.
The Emperor-class Honkai Beasts were no better off. Like towering trees, they ambushed with 'roots,' but all were crushed. Their main bodies were pursued by Ryan, who embraced and squeezed them into fragments.
A god of war, an absolute god of war. Where he trod, corpses lay everywhere. If Honkai Beasts didn't lack the factor of 'morale,' they would have collapsed on the spot.
Ryan slaughter this time was very simple. He didn't use authorities. Everything was within the ordinary warriors' cognitive range. Precisely because of this, it was astonishing, giving a sense of admiration for a kindred spirit.
If he had instantly ignited the entire jungle, it would only have brought terror and not much else, after all, no one would empathize with a monster from another dimension.
"That's enough."
Ryan slowed his steps. The chainsaw halberd was jammed with fragments. He didn't even know if he had killed hundreds or thousands of Honkai Beasts. Anyway, a path of corpses stretched north along the coast, and the monsters emerging from the jungle were getting fewer and fewer.
The accumulated forces were not infinite. Ryan also had no intention of being a kill-stealer. These things were already enough to destroy several cities by launching a beast tide. Since they had come, eliminating more Honkai power was a good idea.
In fact, these low-tier Honkai Beasts could not provide any 'understanding'. He didn't even bother to understand the two Emperor-class Honkai Beasts, simply cutting them down decisively before they could even unleash their abilities.
'It's a pity I'm not a Path of the Hunt or Destruction.' Ryan sighed again. He wanted to understand the abilities of those two Honkai Beasts, which would require them to properly demonstrate their abilities, for example, spitting dozens of mouthfuls of acid at him.
'Too troublesome, no need for that.'
Ryan lowered his chainsaw halberd. Only a few hundred Honkai Beasts remained; he no longer needed to act.
Without hesitation, Hua immediately led her subordinates forward, charging in threes, preventing these miscellaneous enemies from disturbing Ryan, who was looking into the distance.
"Is that it?"
On the delta formed by the Amazon River, he saw an egg-shaped, semi-buried building. Vines covered its surface, and its outer walls had completely collapsed.
The Southern Branch Institute, the target of this reconnaissance, was theoretically abandoned.
Ryan didn't think much of it. Reconnaissance surely had objectives. After that rush of combat, most of the mission was resolved. The remaining small part was to go in and take a look.
"Senior Brother, it's all resolved."
Ryan turned his head. Indeed, aside from a few finishing shots, the battle was over. The jungle returned to silence, and Hua was slightly out of breath, apparently not having expended too much energy.
"Mm, there won't be any disturbances later. Doesn't it feel relaxing to be able to visit properly?"
"Yes, without you, I would only be able to choose to retreat from a battle of this scale. Honkai Beasts are most annoying because they don't know death and will wear down energy with sheer numbers, and I myself would have to take risks to cover the retreat." Hua looked up, her eyes filled with admiration. Among those around Ryan, Hua was definitely the one who trusted him most blindly.
"It's precisely because they don't know death that they can be continuously lured out and eliminated. If they actually had emotions, it would be even more troublesome."
"Like a Herrscher?"
"No, more like those traitors. Go gather the team." Ryan replied casually, then stood silently to the side. As an inspector, he couldn't help Hua cheat every time.
After a skirmish, the Tenth Team only had two severely wounded and five lightly wounded, with over half of their Honkai energy and ammunition expended. In terms of results, such losses were negligible, considering that it had only been an hour and a half since the start of the battle.
The rotary-wing aircraft immediately picked up the wounded, while the rest took a short break and then reformed their combat formation.
Hua also had to act as if Ryan wasn't there. She first sent a three-person team to scout the delta, with the others fully spread out, ready to support at any time. And indeed, traces were found in the camera's view.
The people here had evacuated in a hurry, apparently startled by the battle. Ryan had no regrets; he hadn't intended to capture anyone alive anyway.
He had dealt with those products before; they were almost impossible to communicate with, only capable of self-detonation. And key targets would definitely flee immediately, and then the alarmed Honkai Beasts would utterly destroy the place, leaving nothing behind.
So he also entered the institute. There was still electricity, so he took the elevator to the basement. Some instruments were still running, and some documents were scattered on the floor. Several scouts were taking photos for preservation.
Judging by the preserved signatures, this place belonged to the renegade Dr. Damian. However, the last research record was three days ago, meaning Ryan direct raid here wouldn't have caught anyone either.
The institute wasn't large, and the instruments were quite ordinary, but they were sufficient for a small team.
When another blast door was breached and opened, it made Ryan, who was standing at the entrance, frown.
The overhead lights turned on one by one, illuminating the hall, which was densely packed with glass containers. They held green liquid that occasionally bubbled, and upon closer inspection, they contained bizarre human tissues.
"The South American Institute did not have a self-destruct device. This place was originally used to study plant mutations in a Honkai environment, so the risk was very low."
Ryan stepped inside, walking past one glass vessel after another. These things were repurposed waste; what those traitors lacked most was high-tech equipment.
"Set the bombs. Destroy everything later."
"Yes." Freya nodded, calling a few demolition experts to get to work.
Hua followed behind Ryan, her face filled with disgust: "Senior Brother, are all these from that Dr. Damian?"
"Yes, an old acquaintance, you could say. Without the restrictions of Fire Moth, some people let themselves go." Ryan leaned closer to a glass jar. Inside was a crystallized heart, clearly not naturally formed.
"This person is very persistent; he always wanted to compete with Mei, but the difference in their aptitudes is too great. To catch up with Mei pace, he had to take an unorthodox path."
"He wants to surpass Dr. Mei that badly?"
"Pure jealousy, a waste of effort. But don't you feel this mission went very smoothly?"
"Uh, isn't it because you're here? If it were just me, I would have retreated long ago."
What she said made sense, and Ryan didn't refute. He shifted to a scientist's perspective to observe these 'performance art' pieces.
Some were crystallized organs, some were chimera-like fusion monsters, and some simply looked repulsive.
Ryan stopped in front of a giant glass jar three meters in diameter. He saw the specimen inside: it was only half a body, somewhat like a Honkai Emperor's body with a girl's head attached. That fairly delicate face had only half its skin.
Because the other half was entirely a Honkai energy mutation, like a large bunch of enoki mushrooms, slowly floating with the bubbles. As for the severed lower half, it was even more striking: countless flesh buds, as if growing out.
"Can I blow this one up first?" Hua scalp tingled, and she simply turned her head away.
Ryan, however, was exceptionally calm, examining it with an appreciative gaze, and praised: "Combining human bodies with Honkai energy, Damian has already gone further. This grafting technique-based surgery is truly remarkable. Even Mobius would praise it a few times if she were here."
Remarkable? This monster would only inspire terror.
Hua suddenly felt that Ryan in his scientist state was the most difficult to deal with. She braced herself and took a glance: "Even Dr. Mobius can't compare?"
"She's also researching artificial life, but she's recently hit a bottleneck. Clearly, Damian has caught up."
"Is it that powerful without moral restrictions?"
"Morality is just one aspect. Fundamentally, their goals are different. After seeing this journey, I pretty much have an idea." Ryan shook his head. What Hua couldn't understand, he saw very clearly.
All experiments were extensions of the MANTIS project, but fundamentally different, because his and Mobius core research was to utilize Honkai energy as much as possible while maintaining 'humanity', essentially using the enemy's strength against them, which was a confrontational act, making progress difficult.
But Damian was different. His core research was on 'fusion.' Whether human emotions and rationality were preserved didn't matter to him at all. What he wanted was a new species, a new species that was completely compatible with Honkai, both in soul and body.
If he succeeded, human civilization would still exist. The new species would be completely unafraid of Honkai energy and could even coexist harmoniously with Honkai Beasts, thus eliminating the crisis of world destruction.
This aligned with the ideas of the faith faction and even offered philosophical debate, but Ryan never considered arguing with him. The reason was simple.
Human civilization might continue in another way, but he would definitely die.
"His research is about embracing Honkai. It looks like the Herrscher of Death also provided a lot of help, with traces of authority remaining."
"Truly a traitor, deserving of death!" Hua immediately cursed, making Ryan smile. Even if all humanity betrayed him, Hua would surely still believe in him.
Just then, Freya ran over from the front.
"Director-General, we found something in the data center. The network is still connected."
"I noticed it when I came in." Ryan possessed the Authority of Thunder, so these signs couldn't escape him.
He quickened his pace and walked into a cluttered data center.
Several screens displayed surveillance footage of various parts of the institute, and the black one in the middle suddenly flickered when he entered.
It was a familiar face, golden hair and the handsome face of a middle-aged man.
He elegantly raised his hand and greeted them.
"Good afternoon, fellow colleagues of Fire Moth."