"Mei, what's the situation?"
"You can imagine the worst-case scenario, Su."
Led by Sakura, the trio of Mei, Vill-V, and Mobius hurried towards the conference room.
Along the way, they happened to run into Su, whose steps were also somewhat rushed.
Dr. Mei, who was wracking her brains for a countermeasure, didn't have time to answer Su's question. Instead, Mobius, who was beside her, answered Su's query on Mei's behalf.
Soon, the five of them arrived at the laboratory door. The other nine members were already waiting there, including a completely bewildered Pardofelis and Griseo, who was there to make up the numbers.
Click.
Vill-V casually caught the syringe-like device thrown to her by Kosma.
"This is a sample I brought back with me."
"It's hard to say if the other Fusion Warriors will be affected, and I don't feel any discomfort myself. However, the dispersed material from the explosion turned all the Honkai-infected individuals in the city into MANTISes, and they are generally much stronger than before."
"As for ordinary people..."
The firsthand intelligence was brought back by Kosma.
The Divine Machine · Avalon—no, the Herrscher of Erosion occupying Prometheus—had completely severed all long-range communication between the human cities. The communications still being maintained were all false intelligence created as a disguise.
If Kosma hadn't personally experienced a missile falling from overhead, the Flame-Chasers would likely still be in the dark.
"The ratio of Death, MANTIS transformation, and 'remaining in original human form' is—"
Vill-V glanced at the syringe in her hand, her eyes sweeping over the data displayed on her tablet:
"175 to 24 to 1."
"..."
Dr. Mei and Mobius exchanged an inadvertent glance.
"Is this data accurate?"
"I don't know."
Kosma shook his head, negating Mobius's question.
"After all, this is just data perceived in my 'human state,' so it's certainly not that precise. But after being processed through Griseo's 'image'..."
Kosma glanced at Griseo beside him, who had a face full of question marks.
"The error rate should not exceed three percent."
"Which means..."
Mobius, who had just pulled back a chair and sat down, turned to look at Dr. Mei, whose complexion was even worse than before.
"According to the original experimental data," she said, "Prometh... the Herrscher of Erosion, must have completed the 'Stigmata Project.' If I had heard this news a few hours earlier, I'm afraid even I wouldn't have been able to control my emotions... though it's the same now."
"Mobius."
Elysia, seated in the second chair, questioned Mobius. Dr. Mei was clearly not in a good state, so asking Mobius at a time like this was just as well.
Although Kevin sat at the head of the conference table, he just stared silently at Mei, who was directly opposite him, without saying a word.
"Please just give us the conclusion."
"The 'Stigmata Project'... most of us here won't understand the research data anyway. It would be better to tell us what we can still do now."
"If time is of the essence, we must compress the meeting time as much as possible to save—"
"No, Elysia."
The black ribbon fluttered behind Mobius's head.
"In this 'era' that demands efficiency above all else, the 'Stigmata Project' was executed using the highest priority indicators."
Swoosh~ Boom!
Mobius's slender, fair fingers drew an arc in the air, her mouth even simulating a rather cute explosion sound.
"A city of ten million people can be 'screened' in just five minutes."
"Kosma."
"I know your data like the back of my hand."
Everyone's gaze followed Mobius's as she turned to look at the clock on the wall.
"Even flying at full speed in your 'Collapse State'... getting back to the base from there, well, it would still take half an hour."
"If the missiles from the Herrscher of Erosion all landed at the same time," she continued, "the remaining number of humans now..."
"No, I should say the remaining number of 'suspected new humans' is probably only around 300,000."
Silence instantly enveloped the entire conference room.
300,000... When an intelligent species that once numbered nearly ten billion at its peak was reduced to only these few individuals, could they still be called a civilization?
The same question echoed in the minds of everyone present.
However, if Xiao Zi were here, she would definitely give humanity an affirmative answer.
One must know, even when the machine race was down to its last few hundred individuals, they were still considered a complete civilization.
And—
"No, that calculation is incorrect."
"In reality, you should probably add another 20 million 'compatriots'."
A male voice suddenly rang out in the conference room.
In an instant, several senses frantically swept through the small space—though in reality, there was no need for them to do so.
Right at the main entrance of the conference room, a dark golden ring rapidly expanded, and an undisguised Herrscher aura raged forth from within!
SHING!
A long blade was unsheathed.
Accompanied by a flash of lightning, the blade was drawn from its scabbard. Sakura, standing protectively in front of Dr. Mei, stared intently at the spatial gate that had appeared without a sound.
But the next second...
Tap.
Tap.
The crisp sound of solid wood hitting the floor rang out in the room.
As a figure came into view, Sakura's movements, along with her gaze, froze completely in place. The surrounding members of the Flame-Chasers swept their astonished gazes between the two figures. Many of them knew Rin; the two sisters were extremely similar in many ways. But none of them had ever seen... Rin with fox ears, just like Sakura's when she was a Fusion Warrior!
Even more so—
"Rin."
After the initial shock, Sakura's right hand, which had been gripping the hilt of her sword, loosened, but it did not move far from it.
They were so similar, yet completely different.
Rin's fox ears were wider and softer than Sakura's original pair. They weren't perched high on her head like Sakura's, but rather swept back along her cherry-pink hair.
More importantly...
The dense, never-before-seen Herrscher aura emanating from Rin's body. It wasn't that they wanted to be suspicious, but for a Herrscher aura to appear at a time like this... to say it had no connection to the Herrscher of Erosion controlling Prometheus... would be to treat them all as fools.
"Sister."
The familiar voice of her younger sister nearly made Sakura drop her guard. The Herrscher of Erosion was not the Herrscher of Domination, after all. If she still retained her self-awareness, that meant...
"Sakura!"
"Don't let your guard down!"
Kalpas, making a rare appearance at a meeting, immediately warned Sakura the moment her expression softened.
"And..."
"There's another guy here."