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Chapter 210 - Chapter 210: The Mysterious Assassin

Faced with the mental assault from the blue-skinned assassin, Feng Qi wasted no time in activating his "Rage" ability.

Although his physical defenses were formidable, they were useless against mental attacks.

However, the Rage ability granted by the Demon Dragon Rune Crystal made him immune to mental control, pushing him into a state of pure fury and loss of control.

In a blur, Feng Qi appeared behind the blue-skinned assassin, delivering a vicious whip kick that sent the enemy crashing to the ground. Without hesitation, he leaned down and sank his teeth into the assassin's shoulder.

Blue blood spurted as a chunk of flesh was torn away, eliciting a piercing scream from the assassin. Its white eye in the middle of its forehead blinked again, unleashing invisible waves of force that distorted the surrounding air, battering Feng Qi repeatedly like relentless tidal waves.

Yet, in his berserk state, Feng Qi ignored the invisible blows. His clawed right hand extended, aiming for the assassin's throat.

Sensing the mortal danger, the assassin's third eye unleashed a surge of terrifying power.

This time, even Feng Qi in his berserk state couldn't withstand the overwhelming force. He was flung backward, his body dented and battered mid-air.

When he landed, he rose again almost instantly. His crimson eyes burned with rage as the injuries on his body rapidly healed, the process visible to the naked eye.

Before the wounds were fully repaired, Feng Qi once again lunged at the assassin.

Meanwhile, in the Crimson Base's surveillance room, a monitor operator scanning the facility's real-time footage noticed something unusual.

On the screen, Feng Qi appeared to be locked in intense combat—against thin air.

However, what stood out was the clear evidence of an external force repeatedly sending Feng Qi flying, something that couldn't be self-inflicted.

Feng Qi was a high-priority individual under the base's protection.

Realizing something was amiss, the operator immediately contacted the base's garrison department.

Within moments, a squad of Crimson Guard soldiers was mobilized and headed toward the conditioning room.

Among them was Lü Yue, who had recently joined the base's defense force. He rushed to the scene as soon as the alert was raised.

As the guards mobilized, the fight in the conditioning room raged on.

No matter how many times the blue-skinned assassin struck Feng Qi, his berserk state allowed him to heal and return to the offensive.

After repeated clashes, exhaustion began to show in the assassin's eyes.

Yet it dared not pause.

It focused intently on Feng Qi, its third eye radiating energy as it unleashed another mental shockwave.

Just then, Feng Qi opened his mouth.

"Roar!"

A torrent of black energy erupted, crashing into the invisible mental force and shredding it apart.

Before the assassin could react, Feng Qi's clawed hand pierced through its chest.

As Feng Qi prepared to deliver the final blow, the conditioning room door was thrown open.

A squad of base guards stormed in, their weapons drawn, and their faces tense.

They froze at the sight of the blue-skinned assassin and Feng Qi.

Lü Yue, leading the group, instantly recognized the imminent danger. With a flicker of focus, sword energy burst from his body, forming a protective barrier that deflected Feng Qi, sending him flying backward.

In the next moment, Lü Yue's figure blurred as he appeared beside the assassin. His sword, Jianlan, flashed into the air, splitting into six glowing blades that formed a sword formation, trapping the assassin in its center.

Under the pressure of the sword array, the assassin collapsed to the ground, completely immobilized.

Turning his attention to Feng Qi, Lü Yue saw him charging forward again.

With a tinge of helplessness in his eyes, Lü Yue raised his hand and formed a sword gesture. In a split second, he tapped Feng Qi's forehead with lightning speed.

The surge of sword energy wrapped Feng Qi in a cocoon-like barrier, halting his rampage.

No matter how hard Feng Qi struggled, he couldn't break through the sword energy's restraint.

A few moments later, the crimson hue faded from Feng Qi's eyes as clarity returned to his expression.

As fragments of the recent battle replayed in his mind, Feng Qi spoke, his voice tinged with gratitude.

"Lü Yue, thanks!"

"What should we do with this?" Lü Yue asked, gesturing toward the blue-skinned assassin trapped within the sword formation.

"Good thing you intervened. This thing is incredibly valuable for research. It must not die."

Feng Qi breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the exhausted and subdued assassin within the formation.

If not for Lü Yue's timely intervention, the blue-skinned assassin would have been killed by Feng Qi.

To Feng Qi, the assassin held significant research value, possibly tied to the cause of his "untimely deaths" across multiple timelines.

Thinking of this, he immediately instructed, "Send it to Wei-jie for interrogation. If nothing useful comes out, dissect it for research. Leave everything to her discretion!"

"Understood!" Lü Yue nodded without hesitation.

With a wave of his hand, Jianlan returned to its sheath. He stepped forward to the blue-skinned assassin, extending his hand to tap the air several times.

In an instant, sword energy seeped into the assassin's body, sealing its spiritual energy pathways.

Lü Yue then grabbed the assassin by the back of its neck and hoisted it up, heading straight for the Gene Division laboratory.

Even after his berserk state had ended, Feng Qi felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. However, he forced himself to follow Lü Yue toward the Gene Division. He was desperate to uncover the assassin's origins and why it had targeted him.

This seemingly random attack reminded him of "Little Black."

Logically, in this timeline, he hadn't interacted with any domain forces. Moreover, in the eyes of these forces, he was also one of them.

As the Shadow had once said, unless he actively provoked them, they would ignore his interference with their plans for the future.

Such an unprovoked attack didn't seem to stem from his reputation as a genius but pointed to a deeper reason.

Moments later, the assassin was brought to the Crimson Gene Division.

Wei Wei's eyes widened in astonishment at the sight of the unusual creature.

"A domain creature?"

"Yes, it just tried to assassinate me," Feng Qi replied with a nod.

Hearing this, Wei Wei fell silent for a few seconds before speaking, "An untimely death crisis?"

"You think the same as I do. This sudden assassination could be linked to my premature deaths. I'm handing it over to you—hopefully, you can uncover something useful."

Wei Wei nodded and immediately had the blue-skinned assassin strapped to an examination table. She injected it with three syringes, and the previously struggling creature soon fell unconscious.

After completing the initial preparations, Wei Wei turned to Feng Qi.

"Explain the situation briefly. What were its abilities during your fight?"

Feng Qi nodded and recounted, "It displayed two primary abilities during our encounter. The first was a mental attack that bound my consciousness while rapidly consuming my mental energy. If not for my Rage ability, I would have died silently."

"The second was a mental shockwave. It's somewhat similar to telekinesis, but less flexible and with far greater explosive force…"

Listening carefully, Wei Wei nodded thoughtfully. "Got it. I'll start the research now. You two should step out."

With that, Feng Qi and Lü Yue, along with the guards who had followed, exited the Gene Division.

Standing outside the lab, Feng Qi turned to Lü Yue.

"Thanks. Without you, capturing it alive wouldn't have been possible."

"This domain creature is unusual. When the surveillance team contacted us, they mentioned you were fighting against thin air. That means it couldn't be captured on camera."

Hearing this, Feng Qi froze in surprise.

He had assumed Lü Yue and the others arrived after seeing him fighting the assassin on the surveillance footage. But Lü Yue's explanation reminded him of an incident in a previous timeline.

In that timeline, he had been silently killed within the Crimson Base. However, no surveillance footage or evidence revealed the cause of his death.

(Note: Details of Feng Qi's mysterious death at the Crimson Base can be found in Chapter 127.)

At the time, he had suspected the Institute of Technological Research.

However, upon reflection, the silent manner of death didn't match their usual methods.

Based on current intelligence, the Institute of Technological Research typically used two main assassination techniques.

The first was public execution, where they manipulated public opinion, fabricating charges against him and turning them into "truths." This ultimately led to his public sentencing and execution, often livestreamed.

This was the most common method of his demise.

The second method involved remote obliteration.

This required the implantation of a death mark within his body. Once triggered, as with Le Ping'an's death, the body would be rapidly consumed by spiritual energy from within, leaving no trace.

This method could also be voluntarily activated by the marked individual.

The two assassination methods used by the Institute of Technological Research—public execution and remote obliteration—clearly didn't align with the bizarre death Feng Qi experienced in the Crimson Research Institute.

In that timeline, his body remained intact after his death, indicating it wasn't caused by spiritual energy devouring him from within. At the time, Feng Qi had speculated that an assassination squad under the Institute of Technological Research had infiltrated the Crimson Research Institute and killed him in secret.

However, reflecting on it now, it was evident that the Institute of Technological Research lacked the capability to silently penetrate the defenses of the Crimson Research Institute. If they had such abilities, the confrontation with the Crimson Research Institute wouldn't have required such overt aggression and direct conflict.

Coupled with the battle he just had with the blue-skinned assassin, it became apparent that the mental corrosion ability it used could easily kill him in silence, simulating the appearance of sudden death.

It now seemed highly likely that his untimely death in that timeline was closely tied to the blue-skinned assassin.

Feng Qi decided to keep only Lü Yue by his side, instructing the other Crimson Base guards to return to their posts.

Moments later, the metallic door to the lab slid open, and Wei Wei stepped out.

Leaning against the wall, Feng Qi and Lü Yue straightened as Wei Wei approached them with a smile.

"Come inside. We've made a new discovery," she announced.

Feng Qi exchanged a glance with Lü Yue before following Wei Wei into the Gene Division lab.

Inside, the blue-skinned assassin remained unconscious on the examination table, its breathing steady but shallow. Screens displayed streams of complex data that Feng Qi couldn't begin to understand.

"Body scans are complete, and we've found something quite interesting," Wei Wei began, moving to one of the machines.

"Stop teasing us, Wei-jie, and just explain," Feng Qi urged.

Wei Wei chuckled, grabbing a small metallic container from the tray. Inside was a viscous white liquid.

"This is a peculiar substance we extracted from its body. It's not listed in any known database and can't be detected by conventional scanning equipment. This might explain why the assassin didn't show up on surveillance footage."

Wei Wei paused to let this sink in before continuing. "We've only just begun studying it, so I can't draw any firm conclusions yet. I'll need more time to analyze its properties."

Setting the container aside, Wei Wei picked up another item from the tray and brought it over to Feng Qi. She opened her hand to reveal a small black sphere, glistening faintly with blue blood. The sphere pulsed softly, like a beating heart.

"What… is this?" Feng Qi asked, stunned.

"At first, I thought it was one of the assassin's organs. But upon closer inspection, it's more like a tracking device," Wei Wei explained.

She moved back to the examination table and drew some of the assassin's blue blood into a syringe. After injecting a few drops onto the black sphere, the sphere began to pulse more vigorously.

Feng Qi watched in disbelief. "Wei-jie, does this mean something's wrong?"

Before Wei Wei could respond, Lü Yue stepped closer, his expression serious.

"I can sense faint energy waves radiating from the sphere. The waves are spreading outward in all directions, almost like a signal," he said.

"And what does that mean?" Feng Qi pressed.

"I can only feel the energy because I'm attuned to it. Someone without heightened sensitivity wouldn't notice it at all. As for what it signifies… I'm not entirely sure." Lü Yue shook his head.

Feng Qi gave him a deadpan look. "Thanks for that enlightening explanation."

Ignoring Lü Yue, Feng Qi turned his attention back to Wei Wei.

Wei Wei gestured toward a nearby monitor. Feng Qi followed her gaze and saw a golden mist-like thread connecting the black sphere to his own body on the screen.

"If I had to guess, this is some kind of locator. The assassin probably used it to track you down," Wei Wei suggested.

Feng Qi's eyes widened in alarm. "But how? I've barely had contact with the outside world in this timeline. When could such a tracking device have been planted in me?"

Wei Wei nodded thoughtfully. "That's what puzzles me too. I conduct regular scans of your body every week, and apart from the Devil Dragon rune crystal, there's never been anything unusual. Yet this black sphere clearly has a subtle link to you. It defies all logic."

After a moment of contemplation, Wei Wei added, "One thing we can confirm now is that your inexplicable deaths in past timelines were tied to this assassin and the forces behind it. But their motive for targeting you and how they used this device to locate you remain mysteries."

Feng Qi's expression darkened as he processed her words.

Her explanation brought to mind the entity known as Little Black. In the future dreamscape, Little Black was always able to find him with uncanny precision, hunting him relentlessly.

Back then, he'd even gone so far as to dissect his own body, searching for a tracking mechanism. But no matter how thoroughly he examined himself, he could never find anything.

Now, looking at the black sphere in Wei Wei's hand, Feng Qi felt as though he was closer than ever to uncovering the truth behind Little Black's relentless pursuit.

He turned to the unconscious assassin on the examination table and said to Wei Wei, "What's next? Should we interrogate it?"

Wei Wei smirked. "That's the plan. And I'll take some tissue samples while we're at it."

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