Chi Yao was smiling, but Jing Xi could sense that he wasn’t happy.

This reaction—did he already know who Zhang Sheng was?

Jing Xi pulled his hand away: “He—”

“Haven’t seen Yaoyao for many days.”

Chi Yao interrupted him, “Hei-ge, turn on the home surveillance.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a virtual window popped up in mid-air, directly facing the cat palace in Jing Xi’s backyard.

It happened to be afternoon on Capital Star, and Yaoyao was lying in her nest nursing the kittens.

Chi Yao: “Xixi look, their eyes are open.”

Jing Xi glanced at him and turned to the screen.

“By the time we go back, they might already be running and jumping.”

Chi Yao smiled: “Before going back, we have to help Doggy trick the little wolf pup back.”

Thinking of a pile of fluffiness, Jing Xi immediately became interested.

“Will they have reproductive isolation?”

Chi Yao: “They are all mutants, definitely can breed.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Are you serious?

---

During wartime, they couldn’t have fixed rest times like usual.

When Chi Yao woke up, it was almost noon, but calculating the time, he had only slept for four or five hours.

On the scorched earth outside the warship, the Flying Dragon team was still busy.

Chi Yao looked out the window, casually grabbed a shirt to put on. Hearing movement behind him, he said in a low voice: “You stay here, I’ll take some people to C86.”

Jing Xi paused in lifting the quilt.

“You want to act alone again?”

Chi Yao buttoned his cuff and turned his head to look over.

Seeing Jing Xi frowning, looking unhappy, he laughed: “Want to go with me?”

Jing Xi nodded.

“Leaving the expert team here is enough.”

There were too many mysteries surrounding it. Only by fully collecting intelligence and researching thoroughly could they avoid falling into a passive situation.

Chi Yao: “It’s very dangerous.”

Jing Xi: “Isn’t there you?”

Chi Yao: “…”

---

Arriving at the command cabin, Lin Chengde just finished a video conference.

“Old Pei said they found two suspected cases.”

Jing Xi opened the program backend and found those two abnormal detection data.

“The frequency bands are indeed very close.”

When giving the program to Pei Zhenyue, Jing Xi kept a backdoor.

As long as data was detected through this program, he could see it in the backend.

Chi Yao glanced at the coordinates; they weren’t within the Cetus Constellation range.

“Let them recheck several times at different time slots.”

Jing Xi found the heads of the supervision teams in these two places and sent them suggestions for rechecking.

Lin Chengde clicked his tongue watching from the side.

Fortunately, Jing Xi was upright and pulled Chi Yao back to the right path early. Otherwise, if these two brats joined hands to do bad things, who could stop them?

Just as this thought flashed by, he heard Jing Xi say: “I’ll let them leak some news, and hook out the ‘ghosts’ in the local garrisons while at it.”

Chi Yao: “Then I’ll find two star pirate groups to go over. Consider picking up credit for free as distributing welfare.”

In a few words, this matter was settled.

Lin Chengde: “…”

Anyway, his opinion wasn’t important, right?

The hatch opened, and Lu Meng hurried in.

“Boss, the sound wave shielding device has been tested, the effect is very good.”

Jing Xi flipped through the sent data.

“Rush a batch out first.”

Lu Meng: “Already doing it.”

They didn’t help much here at C85. If they went to C86 without any preparation again, they would be dragging everyone down too much.

Thinking of waiting anxiously on the warship back then, Lu Meng gritted his teeth unwillingly: “Our vanguard troops have good physical fitness and can act together with Extreme Shadow.”

Jing Xi said lightly: “It has nothing to do with physical fitness, this is a genetic issue.”

Lu Meng stiffened his neck: “How can there be a reason for letting star pirates charge ahead while we hide behind?”

This tone was a bit aggressive, heard by Li Yuan, who retorted from a distance: “What’s wrong with star pirates? Do you fucking look down on star pirates?!”

Lu Meng retorted even louder: “Where the fuck did you see I look down on star pirates?!”

Chi Yao was thinking about something and his ears were buzzing from the noise.

“Go outside to argue.”

A casual sentence successfully made Lu Meng and Li Yuan shut up.

Jing Xi replied to a message, seeing him lost in thought, asked: “Thought of something?”

Chi Yao: “Zhang Sheng said its awakening is related to cosmic radiation. I’m wondering if we can use this as a detection indicator too.”

Jing Xi immediately thought of something and tapped lightly on the virtual keyboard.

“The Imperial Meteorological Database can query the historical radiation values of each planet. I’ll have someone pull out the data of C85 and C86 for the past hundred years to do a statistical analysis.”

Chi Yao: “Mm.”

---

Before setting off, Chi Yao went to Qiu Tianlin’s office once.

Chi Yao sat opposite him: “After using the restorative agent, I’ve had occasional muscle soreness these few days.”

Qiu Tianlin checked the DNA analysis report.

“Slight side effects are normal. However, the effect of these two injections is very minimal; regular multiple injections are needed.”

Did this mean there was still hope?

Chi Yao unconsciously sat up straight: “How confident are you?”

Qiu Tianlin looked at him and said seriously: “Actually, from my experience researching modified bodies for so many years, your modification plan is perfect. Apart from beast transformation possibly not being very aesthetic, it can prolong life and increase strength. It only has benefits and no harm for you. Why do you insist on reverting to an ordinary person?”

This was very straightforward, but Chi Yao knew he wasn’t the only one with this question.

Many modified bodies thought so, even positioning themselves as “superhumans”, becoming Ghosts. While claiming to be forced, they inwardly enjoyed this sense of superiority being stronger than everyone else.

“Even without modification, I’m confident I’m stronger than others. As for prolonging life, it’s even less necessary.” Chi Yao turned to look at Jing Xi. “Only living for a long time oneself isn’t a good thing.”

After leaving a blood sample and taking two restorative agents, they came out of the office.

Chi Yao’s sentence kept repeating in Jing Xi’s ears.

“What are you thinking about so entranced?” Chi Yao asked amusedly.

Jing Xi came back to his senses: “Actually, I don’t quite agree with one of Doctor Qiu’s sentences.”

Chi Yao: “Which one?”

Jing Xi’s eyes were sparkling: “Beast form is very beautiful.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Still thinking about his fur?

---

C86 was right next to C85. At the warship’s fastest speed, it took ten minutes to cross the atmosphere.

Chi Yao looked at the pitch-black surveillance screen, let the main force stay outside, and flew in with a small team and Jing Xi.

Xiao Hei: [Global scan initiated—]

Xiao Hong: [Sound wave detection program started—]

Chi Yao found the video playback with Zhang Sheng, imported it into the scanning system for comparison.

Almost without waiting, Xiao Hei immediately gave the comparison result and specific coordinates.

This work efficiency deserved praise.

Chi Yao just had this thought when he heard Xiao Hei’s voice in his head.

[This is Lord’s normal work efficiency, what’s there to be surprised about?]

Chi Yao: “So you were slacking off before?”

Xiao Hei: […]

The location of the coordinates was unsurprisingly also a forest.

Without direct visual surveillance footage, they could only rely on scanning data to judge the situation there.

With the sound wave shielding device, Chi Yao had Xiao Hei lower the warship to two thousand meters above ground, looking down through the porthole with Jing Xi.

The situation on the ground surprised both of them.

The trees in the forest were moving.

Looking closely, these trees were growing on the backs of certain animals.

“Looks like giant lizards.” Chi Yao narrowed his eyes observing.

Jing Xi: “Its eyes are blood red, and it has wings.”

Compared to C85, the monsters here were more concrete in form, seemingly awakening faster.

Zhang Sheng’s torn and bloodstained shirt flashed before his eyes, and Chi Yao felt panic for no reason.

He tried hard to suppress this feeling, but couldn’t.

“This isn’t a solution. I’ll go down and probe the situation first.”

Saying that, Chi Yao turned to leave.

Jing Xi grabbed him.

Just as Chi Yao was about to speak to persuade him, he heard him say: “Take the Flying Dragon.”

Chi Yao chuckled: “Mm.”

---

Capital Star, Bai Yi sat in the courtyard with a chessboard in front of him, playing chess against himself.

The butler hurried over from the other end of the veranda, stopped three steps away, bowed respectfully and said: “Master, they found two more places.”

Bai Yi’s hand holding the white piece paused.

“Using that sound wave testing program? Can it detect them?”

Butler: “Previous ones couldn’t, but this program was improved by Jing Xi himself. Heard the precision is very high.”

Bai Yi played with the chess piece in his hand, his face showing no emotion.

“We searched for so many years without finding them, how could they discover them so easily?”

The butler looked confused: “Currently it only says sound waves are close, it might not be them at all.”

“Any news from Cetus?” Bai Yi placed the white piece and picked up a black one.

Butler: “Guard is too tight, our people can’t mix in. But currently there’s no news of major casualties for Flying Dragon, presumably still in a stalemate.”

Bai Yi placed the black piece and picked up the tea cup at hand.

“What about Chi Yao?”

Butler: “No news about him currently.”

Bai Yi took a sip of tea and said faintly: “When necessary, we can only sacrifice him.”

The butler’s heart skipped a beat, pursed his lips, daring not to reply.

Bai Yi: “Are the businesses closed?”

The butler nodded.

“Closed, losses are not small.”

Bai Yi: “Save what we can. As long as they can deal with it, no fear of not turning the tables later.”

---

C86, Chi Yao piloted the Flying Dragon hovering five hundred meters above the forest.

It was even more shocking looking from here.

This entire forest was composed of seven animals shaped like giant lizards. They were crawling slowly, parasitic vines on their bodies extending and dancing outwards like developed root systems, constantly searching for prey.

The regenerative enzyme content in their bodies was so high that they could recover instantly even if attacked; external attacks were almost ineffective.

Xiao Hei: [Little bro Flying Dragon is busy fixing bugs, can’t hold on too long.]

Chi Yao came back to his senses, searching for Zhang Sheng in the forest.

But from this distance, the target was too small. Flying Dragon flew a circle and still couldn’t find him.

Just as he was considering whether to land, his terminal suddenly vibrated.

He swiped it open without looking: “Xixi—”

“Calling so affectionately?”

This voice wasn’t Jing Xi.

Chi Yao looked at the communication window, unexpectedly displaying Zhang Sheng’s name.

Chi Yao frowned: “It’s you.”

Zhang Sheng: “Don’t wander around there, it’s dangerous. Come over.”

A line of information popped up on the window, a coordinate outside this forest.

Chi Yao turned direction with a cold face.

Flying Dragon landed halfway up a snow mountain. Just getting off the mecha, Chi Yao clearly felt the sound waves strengthening.

Although he didn’t feel pain anywhere, his mood was very irritable.

Walking unsteadily for a long time, winding through rocks and woods, he finally saw Zhang Sheng waving at him at a cave entrance.

Inside the cave was very quiet. Burning wood made crackling sounds, occasionally sparking.

Zhang Sheng looked at Chi Yao sitting opposite.

“Since you came here, seems you already know how to deal with it?”

Chi Yao raised his eyes to meet his gaze, voice very cold.

“I’m not used to talking to people wearing masks.”

Hearing this, Zhang Sheng’s expression didn’t change much.

“I’m not wearing a mask.”

Chi Yao sneered, stood up to leave: “Then I have nothing to say either.”

“Wait.”

When walking to the cave entrance, Zhang Sheng behind him called out.

“If you can’t stand this face, I can change to another one.”

From the first time meeting Zhang Sheng, he had always been smiling, spoke very politely, looking like an honest man.

However, the recent few times, it seemed he couldn’t be bothered to disguise anymore, and his way of speaking became very annoying.

Chi Yao tilted his head, looking down at him.

“No need. No matter how you change, I can’t stand it.”

Zhang Sheng raised his eyes: “Is that so?”

Chi Yao was about to speak when suddenly his eyes widened slightly.

Zhang Sheng’s face was actually twisting and deforming.

Looking closely, it wasn’t a huge modification, but when all facial features changed slightly, the whole face completely turned into another appearance.

Chi Yao looked at this familiar yet strange face, his expression turning completely cold.

Certain fragments in his memory were suddenly awakened, impossible to ignore.

That’s right, this person was his father, Bo Jin.

After a long silence, Chi Yao found his voice.

“What’s going on with your face?”

Bo Jin: “Since I can transform into a beast, naturally I can transform. To some extent, beast transformation is also a type of shapeshifting—”