Just a few minutes, start to finish. Jing Xi couldn’t figure out where things had gone wrong, why Chi Yao would suddenly transform into a beast completely.

Slicing through the entwining parasitic vines with his long blade, he kept an eye on the white wolf’s movements while his peripheral vision swept over the fluctuating data on the virtual screen.

The sound waves continued without any attenuation, and the scent they had smelled earlier became even stronger.

Was it deliberately provoking Chi Yao?

As this thought flashed through his mind, Jing Xi felt it was a bit absurd.

Why would it deliberately provoke Chi Yao? Because of hunting instinct?

Too many questions and no time to think. Jing Xi had only one thought now—cover Chi Yao.

All living creatures in this forest were like shellfish parasitic on a turtle shell, surviving by absorbing its nutrients, but at the same time, it relied on the parasitic vines to feed back nutrients.

On the surveillance screen, the white wolf seized another opportunity to attack that eye.

The place scratched by the wolf claws was constantly oozing a blood-like liquid. From high above, it looked like tears of blood, extremely eerie.

A communication came in, and Jing Xi connected it casually.

Lin Chengde’s voice came from the screen, accompanied by static noise.

“I’ve already sent two expert teams over. Don’t act rashly!”

Jing Xi looked at Chi Yao on the screen, his heart anxious.

Since it detached from the ground, they had no choice.

“Watch the situation on C86.”

He only meant it as a reminder, but unexpectedly, Lin Chengde fell silent for two seconds.

“C86 has also lost signal. Preliminary deduction suggests a situation similar to C85.”

Jing Xi frowned: “When did this happen?”

Lin Chengde: “Shortly after you set off.”

Jing Xi said urgently: “Monitor the airspace strictly. Absolutely do not let it get out!”

He wasn’t sure what it was, whether it was unique, or if it could cross the atmosphere to reach space.

With everything unknown, he could only prepare for the worst.

Lin Chengde: “I’ve already had them study the images you sent back. Remember, safety first! Answer me!”

Jing Xi’s gaze followed the white wolf’s movements, and he answered grimly: “Yes.”

The signal cut off here again.

He had no time to pay attention to the situation on C86. After breaking through the barrier of parasitic vines, he flew rapidly in the direction of the white wolf.

Chi Yao’s consciousness was very clear.

He knew the process of his bestial transformation very well, and knew what state he was in now, but the feeling was very weird.

Like when he and Jing Xi swapped bodies before, he now felt like he had transmigrated into a wolf’s body.

However, unlike that time, this body didn’t need adjustment; it was very handy to use.

Countless parasitic vines kept surging around him, always obstructing his vision. Fortunately, once these vines were cut, they wouldn’t regenerate in a short time.

A roar came from the sky. Chi Yao looked up during a break in the fighting.

A beautiful white mecha flew above him holding a blade. A swipe of the blade, over ten meters long, could deal with quite a few parasitic vines.

At the same time he looked over, Jing Xi’s voice came through the mecha.

“I’ll coordinate with you.”

Chi Yao wanted to respond, but the words that came out turned into: “Awoo.”

Jing Xi cut the parasitic vines again, his voice cool: “No petting when we get back, won’t forgive you.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Although the environment was the main reason for this transformation, inwardly he didn’t completely resist.

Intuition told him that in human form, he couldn’t deal with it.

With Jing Xi assisting against the parasitic vines, Chi Yao focused on dealing with that eye.

Sharp claws pierced into the vitreous body, claws retracted, and pulled out violently, leaving a deep pit on the eyeball.

A strange noise came from all around.

Like the weird sound made by strong wind blowing through a door crack, making one’s hair stand on end.

The ground shook violently again. Chi Yao could feel it suddenly drop a distance.

Was it scratched in pain?

After confirming the attack was effective, Chi Yao and Jing Xi coordinated even more tacitly. Before long, that eye was scratched full of pits and holes.

Jing Xi tried stabbing it with the blade, but found that the seemingly fragile vitreous body was incredibly solid and couldn’t be pierced at all.

Flying Dragon AI: 【Warning, system load too high. Entering self-protection procedure in five minutes.】

Jing Xi frowned.

Self-protection procedure was similar to dormancy; it would shut down most functions, retaining only the power system.

In this state, the mecha was merely a transportation tool.

He quickly looked at the virtual screen, showing its distance to the ground shortened to 1500 meters.

Just as he planned to turn on the voice comms to tell Chi Yao about this, suddenly the white wolf on the monitoring screen looked towards him.

Clearly a furry face, but in Jing Xi’s eyes, it was unspeakably handsome, especially that coat of fur.

His Adam’s apple rolled. He manually piloted the mecha to dive down, sweeping past that eye in a graceful arc at low altitude.

The closer he got, the stronger the feeling of losing control, as if it would fall apart at any time.

Chi Yao seized the opportunity, jumped up violently, landed on the mecha’s instep, and looked down.

That bloodshot eye was still looking at him, changing from previous provocation to anger.

Countless parasitic vines shot up from the dense gaps between branches.

Chi Yao aimed in that direction and roared.

The intense sound wave shattered all the parasitic vines, and even that eye burst open in several places.

Seeing this scene, Chi Yao himself found it hard to believe.

Was this the power of a mutated beast?

“Chi Yao, come up!”

Jing Xi’s unconcealably anxious voice came from above, and the mecha hatch opened slowly.

Chi Yao leapt up, aiming for that spot to rush in.

Result: stuck.

“…”

When the stupid dog came up before, it was spacious enough. Why was it so crowded for him?

His current size was bigger than the stupid dog?

Jing Xi flew upward until the mecha error reports began to decrease.

But after waiting left and right without seeing Chi Yao come up, he set the autopilot with one key and ran quickly to the hatch.

Looking up and seeing the scene at the door, Jing Xi paused: “…”

The majestic and handsome white wolf just now was scratching the ground hard, squeezing in clumsily.

Seeing him look over, it looked back pitifully.

“Stuck?” Jing Xi walked over unconsciously slowing his steps, patting the wolf head.

The touch was delicate, no strange smell, only a faint scent of wine, a very warm smell.

Chi Yao watched Jing Xi petting his fur as if bewitched. Keeping a straight face, trying to pretend to be very serious, he gave a warning bark.

Jing Xi snapped back to reality, rolled up his sleeves, and walked to the door.

“Come, exert force with me.”

Chi Yao: “…”

After scratching and kicking for a long time, Chi Yao finally got in smoothly.

This was definitely dark history.

Only Jing Xi saw it. Unknown if it counted as lucky or unlucky.

Feeling a sudden weight on him, Chi Yao turned his head and saw Jing Xi close the hatch and pounce on him, hugging his neck and rubbing. After a good while, he spoke: “Can you change back?”

The always cool voice was husky, making Chi Yao feel bad hearing it.

Before he could respond, he heard Jing Xi add: “It doesn’t matter if you can’t change back, I won’t leave you behind.”

Chi Yao: “…”

He huffed lightly and turned his head away.

With Jing Xi being a fur-con, how could he be sad? Clearly crazy happy.

Jing Xi sat down leaning against him, summoned Little Red from the cockpit, and synchronized the monitoring screen.

Its distance to the ground had dropped to 800 meters, and the wildly dancing parasitic vines were much more well-behaved.

“No food in the air, and us pressing from above, it can only return to the ground to attract other prey,” Jing Xi said indifferently.

Chi Yao nodded.

If it went to great lengths just to hunt, that wasn’t the scariest part. It meant its intelligence might not be as high as he expected.

The higher the altitude, the faster the mecha’s speed.

Away from the sound wave source, the mecha repaired itself through self-check, and the system gradually stabilized.

Chi Yao’s current form was too huge to enter the cockpit.

Jing Xi leaned against him to organize data.

Suddenly his back felt light. Jing Xi wasn’t paying attention for a moment and almost fell backward.

The soft and warm touch disappeared, followed by a hand wrapping around his waist from behind.

Jing Xi turned his head, his eyes flickering.

“Yao Yao—”

Seeing his expression, Chi Yao was both annoyed and amused.

“What, very disappointed?”

Jing Xi shook his head: “Your hair—”

Being close, Chi Yao saw his white hair and unrecovered beast pupils in Jing Xi’s eyes. It looked weird, not fitting his aesthetics at all.

Chi Yao ruffled his hair, shook it, and was satisfied only when the hair color gradually turned black.

Jing Xi suddenly held his face.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t change back, I like—”

Chi Yao raised an eyebrow, teasing: “Is there anything you don’t like?”

Jing Xi looked at his naked body, took off his military jacket, and handed it to him.

“As long as it’s you, I like everything.”

Chi Yao pulled him over, kissed him fiercely, and dragged him to the cockpit.

“Don’t always flirt with me when doing business. This bad habit needs to change.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Didn’t you ask yourself?

Returning to the Dark Division warship, they saw a group of people waiting as soon as they got off the mecha.

“Boss, how are you?!”

Liu Wu rushed over with the others.

Chi Yao had changed into Jing Xi’s clothes, looking completely natural.

“Retreat to a safe distance, notify other warships, meeting!”

Liu Wu: “Yes!”

In the command cabin meeting room, Jing Xi was organizing the materials at hand.

Only he and Chi Yao understood the situation on C85 best; it couldn’t be handed over to others to organize.

Chi Yao was standing in front of the monitoring console not far away, checking the situation on C86.

Consistent with what Lin Chengde said, C86 had completely lost contact. Unless one personally entered the atmosphere, no one knew what the situation inside was now.

Zhang Sheng’s face suddenly flashed before his eyes.

If the other party knew something about C85, what about C86?

Need to contact Zhang Sheng again.

“Yao Yao, meeting time.”

Jing Xi’s voice sounded from behind. Chi Yao turned and walked into the meeting room.

Holographic images of Pei Zhenyue, Lin Chengde, Zhuo Lin, and other main members of Flying Dragon and Extreme Shadow appeared on time.

Pei Zhenyue looked at Chi Yao and Jing Xi. Seeing they were fine, he spoke.

“What’s the situation now?”

Jing Xi projected the organized materials into the air above the conference table, his face serious.

“We suspect it is a mutated creature with extremely strong aggression and the ability to shuttle between planets, capable of causing devastating damage to other mutated beasts and humans.”

Chi Yao: “The Ghosts who entered C85 earlier have been sucked dry by it.”

Sucked dry—

Li Yuan, Lu Meng, and others listening in gasped, completely unable to imagine that scene.

Even for a Level 5 mutated beast, dealing with thousands of people probably wouldn’t last long, let alone sucking everyone dry.

Jing Xi looked at Jiang Feng: “Are all jump points closed?”

Jiang Feng nodded: “Guaranteed no omissions.”

Chi Yao looked at Lin Chengde: “Have the Ghosts been intercepted? Can’t let them go deliver rations to it anymore. The more it eats, the more ruckus it makes.”

Lin Chengde looked heavy.

“Action was taken as soon as Little Jing reported.”

Zhuo Lin asked: “Why was there absolutely no movement from such a massive creature before?”

Chi Yao sneered: “That’s a question for you military high-ups.”

Zhuo Lin didn’t understand.

Chi Yao’s tone was unmasked mockery: “Dividing the Empire star map into zones, with major legions stationed in charge. Convenient, yes, but the hidden dangers under this operating model are also very obvious.”

Local legions were granted too much power, equivalent to half a ruler of a region. Although the military headquarters inspected work regularly, as long as there were connections, these were just going through the motions.

Pei Zhenyue and Lin Chengde heard his mockery but couldn’t refute.

This model had continued in the Empire for a hundred years. Perhaps it was no longer suitable for the current Empire.

Over so many years, this thought had flashed through their minds countless times, but they never made up their minds to reform. After all, they were also beneficiaries of this system.

Jing Xi’s gaze swept over the layers of windows in mid-air.

“Signal on C86 also interrupted. Reasonable to suspect situation consistent with C85.”

Chi Yao rested his chin on his hand: “I’m worried about one problem now.”

Jing Xi: “C86 and C85 are so close. Could ‘It’ on C85 have flown over from C86, or vice versa?”

Chi Yao nodded.

“If they can transfer at will, then the Empire will soon have no safe place.”

Pei Zhenyue: “Top priority is to fully analyze this creature’s habits, reproduction methods, and other data to find a targeted elimination method.”

Jing Xi: “I brought back some parasitic vine tissue.”

Chi Yao: “I dug out that thing’s eye. Can give it to Qiu Tianlin for research.”

Lin Chengde glanced at him.

Chi Yao looked carefree, but actually found it hard to trust others. Even he had to stick to a cold butt for many years before things improved.

That he could actively mention Qiu Tianlin meant he trusted him very much.

“You said it can emit sound waves and a strange scent?”

Lin Chengde said, “We have defense weapons specifically for jamming sound waves. Even if we can’t block all, at least we can alleviate some. As for the scent, what do you think?”

Chi Yao: “This scent is harder to deal with than sound waves.”

Li Yuan: “Covering the nose won’t work?”

Chi Yao: “Acts directly on nerves. Cutting off the nose is useless.”

Li Yuan: “…”

Pei Zhenyue: “Deploy ultra-long-range weapons in C85 & 86 airspace first. Once floating unidentified creatures are discovered, bomb them back immediately. Even if can’t kill them, must ensure they can’t come out.”

Jing Xi/Zhuo Lin: “Yes.”

“Dark Division will fully cooperate.” Saying that, Lin Chengde looked at Chi Yao. “Communicate specific matters with Little Jing.”

Chi Yao: “…”

He’s just a Star Pirate.

After the meeting, Pei Zhenyue and Lin Chengde held a private talk.

The two looked at each other’s holographic projection, falling into a deathly silence.

“Old Lin, if we could have trusted each other more back then, would there not be so many issues today?”

Pei Zhenyue looked heavy.

Lin Chengde wiped his face: “What’s the use of saying this now? As long as there’s still a heart for the Empire, it’s not too late.”

Pei Zhenyue: “I’ll talk to Old Bai.”

Lin Chengde’s expression changed: “Don’t act rashly! Although the situation is difficult, we still have the initiative.”

Pei Zhenyue: “What if he also still has a heart for the Empire?”

Lin Chengde mocked: “To be able to do these things, his conscience has long been obliterated. Would he still think of the Empire? At your age, how can you still be so naive?!”

The two’s argument didn’t affect Chi Yao outside the meeting room at all.

He was replaying the actions on C85 in his mind, recalling some details he noticed at the time.

“How’s your body? Want to go rest?”

Jing Xi finished assigning tasks and sat down beside him.

Chi Yao: “Where’s the time to sleep?”

Jing Xi reached behind to feel his forehead; sure enough, a low fever.

Successively stimulated by its scent, then undergoing a complete bestial transformation once, even an iron body couldn’t take it.

Thinking of this, Jing Xi asked: “You could recover, was it related to that repair serum?”

Chi Yao put down the pen and leaned back relaxedly against the chair.

“If a modified human’s bestial transformation exceeds 30%, the genes cannot be reversed.”

Speaking of this, he turned to look at Jing Xi: “But I’m not restricted by this rule.”

Jing Xi was stunned.

“You can freely switch between beast and human?”

Chi Yao shook his head: “Not absolutely impossible to turn back into human, but there’s a huge risk of going berserk.”

Jing Xi didn’t understand: “Why? Because your modification was more successful?”

Unknown what he thought of, Chi Yao smiled casually: “Remember I told you about Iron Bear?”

Jing Xi nodded: “You said he was different from other modified humans.”

Chi Yao: “He’s like Little Goldfish, born in beast form, so he can switch to beast state. The risk is much lower than general modified humans.”

This reminded Jing Xi of the file he saw on 810—Second Generation Modified Humans.

“Before, I didn’t understand why I was different from them either.” Chi Yao sneered. “Now it seems everything can be traced.”

Reasoning backward like this, Bo Jin being a modified human was almost a certainty.

Chi Yao checked the time and dialed Zhang Sheng’s communication number for the third time, but there was still not even a busy tone, completely unreachable.

Jing Xi narrowed his eyes slightly: “C86 signal cut off, Zhang Sheng also lost contact. Do you think there’s any connection between these?”

Chi Yao tapped his finger lightly on the armrest.

“Even if he’s there, he can’t do anything single-handedly.”

Even if reluctant, Chi Yao was dragged back to the rest cabin by Jing Xi for a mandatory nap.

Chi Yao: “I won’t sleep unless you accompany me.”

Jing Xi: “…”

He unbuttoned with one hand, crawled into the quilt, and opened his arms to Chi Yao.

“Body pillow in position.”

Chi Yao was amused: “Then I won’t be polite.”

Jing Xi patted his head, recalling that white wolf. His fingertips jumped, heart itching.

“Beast form is very beautiful.”

Chi Yao buried his face in his chest with eyes closed, long legs straddling him, really treating the person as a body pillow.

“Praising is useless, won’t change again.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Didn’t feel it originally, but with wife in arms, Chi Yao soon got sleepy.

Before falling asleep, he suddenly thought of something and said groggily: “Qiu Tianlin’s medicine is too strong. Let him modify it again. Many kids in the group—”

Jing Xi heard half and then silence.

He held Chi Yao, and after a while, sent a detailed medication report to Qiu Tianlin.

After a sleep, Chi Yao’s mind was much clearer, and the heavy feeling in his body also disappeared.

In the evening, the group was too busy to eat. Xu Ming had subordinates bring food to the command cabin, and everyone ate together.

Jing Xi sat next to Chi Yao, peeling a plate of big shrimp for him.

Chi Yao picked one up and stuffed it into Jing Xi’s mouth, smiling: “I was thinking, it emits scent to attract prey. If there are enough prey, this scent will be much weaker.”

Jing Xi: “You want to do something with the prey?”

Others looked over one after another, wanting to hear the rest.

Understanding his meaning in one sentence.

Chi Yao rewarded him with a piece of sweet and sour ribs: “It uses parasitic vines to feed back nutrients, but parasitic vines themselves are low-level mutated plants without the ability to distinguish prey.”

Jing Xi: “So?”

Chi Yao: “What if those prey have no nutrients but are poisonous instead?”

Jing Xi: “Where to find so many poisonous prey?”

Chi Yao turned to look at Lu Meng sitting diagonally opposite: “There are, plenty.”

Lu Meng almost choked on a mouthful of beef.

“…”

Don’t target his chickens!