"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Alright. I understand."
"We'll handle the rest. Stay on the Mu Continent for now. We need eyes there."
"Hua might need your support at any time too."
"Sorry for the trouble, Su."
North Africa. Deep underground in the Sahara Desert, inside the Newborn World Serpent Headquarters.
MEI had just finished a remote call with Memory Body Su.
He had already reported everything that happened at The Moths Who Chase the Flames' First Research Division.
Not only was Mobius's original body dead.
No one there survived.
According to Su, after Memory Body Mobius killed her own main body, those xenos created by the Third Herrscher had probably gone there afterward. Even without Memory Body Mobius causing trouble, the First Research Division might have fallen anyway.
But that wasn't the real problem.
This incident had exposed a much bigger issue on their side.
"We were still too naive."
MEI turned off the communication device and stood up from her chair. She looked at the other person in the room.
"Kevin, you—"
"I'll go to the Mu Continent."
Kevin's voice was low. As the Returnee, he continued, "From now on, my Memory Body will stay here and protect you. You focus on pushing the research projects forward. Leave everything else to me."
He didn't wait for MEI's reply. He simply turned and walked out of the communication room.
His heart wasn't calm.
He knew he had missed too many chances in the past half year. He shouldn't have handed over full control of the Newborn World Serpent to MEI so easily. Looking back, the moment he returned to this era, the first thing he should have done was work with Gray Serpent to purge and take over The Moths Who Chase the Flames completely.
But he didn't.
He was too afraid of losing people. He spent too much time trying to protect everyone he didn't want to sacrifice, along with their friends and families. He thought that by doing so, he could finally fight without any worries.
Now it seemed…
Trying to save everyone meant he could save no one.
After finally realizing this…
"Self-pity won't fix anything. Mistakes need to be corrected. Fast."
Kevin's heart had gone cold again. Especially after learning that some people who should have survived had died earlier than they were supposed to.
"I shouldn't have been dreaming."
He had felt at peace whenever he was by MEI's side these past few months. The heart that had stayed frozen for tens of thousands of years had slowly started to warm up.
A gentle place really was a hero's grave.
He had become less decisive. He no longer made choices as cleanly as he did when he carried out Project Stigma.
"Time to wake up."
Kevin stopped in the corridor. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, there was only a cold, grim light left in his gaze.
Roughly half an hour later.
BOOM!
Mu Continent. The Moths Who Chase the Flames First Research Division.
Kevin had arrived.
After getting in contact with Su's Memory Body and confirming that the entire facility had been taken over by those alien monsters wearing human faces, he didn't hesitate. He activated Shamash in its Shuhadaku of Uriel form and completely destroyed the First Research Division.
He knew there were still many important research materials and experimental data inside. But it didn't matter. The most critical projects already had backups at the North Africa Headquarters. And according to Su, these monsters didn't just steal appearances. They could also take the real person's knowledge and memories in a short amount of time.
Su had seen the fake "Mobius" conducting highly difficult experiments with his own eyes. When he scanned her mind, he confirmed it completely.
Even worse…
"The enemy has a vast mental network."
"Just like the Herrscher of Domination. They can ignore distance and obstacles to communicate over long distances."
"And they're almost everywhere."
"Before they disguise themselves as humans, they can be as small as a sesame seed. Maybe right now, their 'eyes' are already all around us."
"Before you came, I tried to find as many of them as I could. But… I'm sorry. Finding every single one is beyond what I can do right now."
Su's Memory Body had already met up with Kevin before he made his move. He didn't speak these words out loud. He used a mental link so they could communicate directly through thought.
That was why Kevin chose to burn everything in the First Research Division to the ground without hesitation.
He couldn't be sure if bringing anything back to headquarters would be like inviting wolves into their own home. Aponia wasn't at the headquarters right now, and Su's abilities weren't enough to perfectly identify every hidden monster.
To put it simply…
If this was Warhammer, Kevin was facing something like those Orkoid plant-fungi.
Inside the Pure White Great Hall of the Theater of Domination.
Ling Ke sat alone on the throne, watching the white-haired young man who had finally "behaved a little better." The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Indeed. The best way to deal with them is to burn them all to ashes."
"Of course, once Aponia finishes brainwashing the current human leadership and guards the headquarters, things will be much better."
"For now… Fu Hua and Xiao Shi are still in North Africa. They can hold the line for a while."
He quickly went over the current situation in his mind.
Then he looked at one of the Omniscience screens.
The average temperatures across the major continents were still slowly dropping.
And…
"Otto will have to make his move soon too."
Ling Ke muttered to himself as he looked back at the screen showing Kevin.
"What a mess. Internal strife and external threats."