Suddenly, the corpse lying on the ground sat up. Straightening his collar, Huo Li looked at his loyal subordinates, who had yet to dry their tears, with a trace of relief.

"Boss, are you alright?"

"Boss, you're not dead! This is great, ahhhh!"

Several ability users immediately swarmed over, attempting to help their leader up. But Huo Li gestured for them to stop, got up on his own, and said to them:

“Congratulations on passing this difficult test. I admit, the format of this trial was harsh, and as your leader, I sincerely apologize.” Huo Li bowed slightly and then continued, “But at the same time, I am deeply touched and proud of the care, trust, and loyalty you’ve just demonstrated toward me. Over the past 600 years, my judgment of you has never been wrong. Although some of your actions were clumsy—almost to the point of jeopardizing the situation—individual capability isn’t the sole standard by which I measure value. What truly matters is that I am proud to have subordinates as close as family.”

"Boss, we…"

The group, previously overwhelmed with mixed emotions, was moved to tears by these words! The Boss, who had seemed somewhat unfamiliar since their earlier meeting, had finally returned to his usual self at this moment. The unease in their hearts was replaced by familiarity and pride!

Huo Li looked seriously at his subordinates whom he had spent hundreds of years nurturing and continued, "Now, among the billions of humans in the world, you and Xiao Yi have become the seven people I trust the most. In these harsh circumstances, all of you are the only companions I can rely on.”

He paused and glanced at his subordinates, who were almost choking with emotion. Just as he was about to continue…

The black-haired youth raised his eyebrow, "Xu Yun Cheng doesn't count? What about Xiao Mao?"

Huo Li turned to the youth and explained, "This matter is highly classified, so even Xu Yun Cheng doesn't know about it. As for Xiao Mao… although she gained the trust of the main system and was the one who discovered this issue, I don't trust her. After all, her prophecy almost got you killed. Xiao Mao is too emotional. She clearly knew that revealing scenes of the future would lead to dire consequences, yet she couldn't help but tell the main system! Because of this, I almost… killed you by mistake.”

Huo Li slowed down for a second or two to shake off the overwhelming fear of that thought, then turned to his subordinates, who were now wide-eyed from hearing such a high-level, earth-shattering secret, and continued:

"In the entire universe, only three people know this secret concerning humanity's survival: me, Xiao Yi, and Xiao Mao. However, now that you have passed the test and earned the trust of the main system, all of you can now access this core secret. And that secret is: as of this moment, about 50% of the officials in the Interstellar Federation are puppets of an extremely dangerous parasitic beast. These parasites have already infected thousands of planets and are spreading to human planets without anyone noticing. A few months ago, Xiao Yi and I destroyed Happy Planet, one of the planets entirely taken over by these parasites!"

Before they could bask in the happiness and pride of being one of the few humans in the world to receive this honor, they were jolted back to reality by what came next.

"Half of the Interstellar Federation are parasites!"

"Boss, you really destroyed Happy Planet?"

"Are there any planets left that haven’t been invaded by the parasites?"

"They mimic humans so perfectly?"

Black-haired boy, "Yes, even when I went to Planet Happy for three days, I couldn't find anything unusual until I dissected a 'brown-haired girl'."

“Wait… you’re…”

“Sister-in-law, you're that ......”

“Yes,” the black-haired youth said calmly. “I am the so-called psychopathic murderer #0193 you’ve all heard of.”

The group: (!!! Boss and sister-in-law are truly a match made in heaven! Out of the three top interstellar fugitives, they take up two places!)

Huo Li said solemnly, "So, in the days ahead, we will not only have to confront the entire Interstellar Federation but also the entire galaxy, which remains unaware of the truth! If this secret is leaked and just one of you becomes another Lewis, it could trigger the extinction of humanity! Therefore, I must exercise extreme caution."

The black-haired youth chuckled as he interjected, "Wasn't your Boss's trial particularly inhumane just now? Don’t be surprised. When the main system tested my credibility, the entire mission planet was a trap—a slaughterhouse prepared just for me. Then there was another test in the Salvation Alliance Town, and again in the zombie world… Even my points were deliberately docked. It wasn’t until three months ago that I was officially trusted."

Liu Mo's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg, "Sister-in-law, how could you endure all that? And without complaint?"

The black-haired youth laughed, "Without complaint? How could that be? At the time, I was so angry I almost destroyed the world!"

"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter, the tense atmosphere finally loosening up. They all found their sister-in-law quite humorous, except for Huo Li and Xiao Yi, who knew that the phrase ‘almost destroyed the world’ was no joke.

Huo Li continued, "The main system conducts strict evaluations, either explicitly or implicitly, on the saviors it values or doubts. Although I don’t know the specific methods it uses for each individual, out of the hundreds of thousands of saviors in the Salvation Alliance, only nine have passed the evaluation."

Aliena asked, "Boss, does that include us? But it was you who tested us just now, right?"

The black-haired youth took over the explanation, "If I’m not mistaken, the main system has been monitoring your every move. If it thinks that you are unqualified, it would have intervened through my system when Huo Li attempted to reveal the secret of the parasitic beast earlier."

The group seemed sceptical about the youth’s words. After all, over the past 600 years, the main system had never contacted them directly. Perhaps it was just a signal-processing device that relayed messages between subsystems?

Huo Li brought the topic back on track, "Now, back to the point. Our next urgent task is to find a way to quickly distinguish between parasites and humans without alerting the parasites. Due to certain reasons, Xiao Yi and I can no longer directly communicate with our previous experimental base through the main system. So, what we need to do now is:

Establish a new base of operations within human-inhabited star systems. This nuclear-polluted planet seems like a suitable starting point. Our initial plan is to select a region, thoroughly cleanse it, and use the dense fog as cover to establish a large-scale experimental base.

Accumulate as many star coins as possible through various channels. Our goal is to gather sufficient funds within a few years to purchase a fleet of starships capable of carrying millions of 'people' to resist the Interstellar Federation. Is this clear to everyone?"

The group responded in unison, "Understood!"

Black-haired boy, "I object!"

"Huh?" Everyone turned to the youth in confusion.

The youth turned to Huo Li, "Has the live experiment yielded results yet?"

Huo Li, " Well… Not yet."

The black-haired youth continued, "Then what’s the point of establishing another experimental base here? It would face the same issue as the previous one—lack of samples. The ones I replicated are all from a single planet and lack representativeness."

Huo Li, "Xiao Yi, are you suggesting we go to a human-inhabited planet to capture samples? That’s far too risky, especially since we still can’t distinguish the parasites from humans…"

The black-haired youth shook his head. "Of course not! The best approach would be for us to open a hospital on a planet with the highest population mobility. That way, we can acquire both funds and samples."

"Sister-in-law! None of us know how to treat patients!" Liu Mo exclaimed.

“Not to mention,” Britney added worriedly, “you and the boss are both Level One fugitives across the galaxy!”

"My abilities are unique and can heal all illnesses. Liu Mo, don’t doubt me," the black-haired youth said, glancing at Liu Mo, who was holding back laughter. "I mean it literally. Moreover, the Interstellar Federation still uses outdated facial recognition to identify people…"

"No," Da Li corrected, "the Interstellar Federation has long implemented skeletal analysis technology. As long as they have a blurry image, they can model a person’s skeleton. Now, if you or the Boss appear on any planet’s surveillance system, the Interstellar Federation will immediately lock onto you. Disguises and makeup won’t work."

Aliena added, "There’s also a skin texture database. Even if you go so far as to remove all ten fingerprints, it’s useless. You can’t possibly replace all the skin on your body, can you?"

The black-haired youth said, "Isn’t it all the same? Whether it’s bones or skin, they’re still looking at shapes to catch people. Changing the entire body will solve the issue!"

Huo Li thought for a moment before agreeing. "This plan is indeed feasible."

"Boss!" Aliena exclaimed in shock. "But we haven’t even completed the mission on this nuclear-contaminated planet! Are we going to smuggle ourselves away? I have a starship in my spatial storage, but it doesn’t have a navigation permit… And inspections across the galaxy are so strict right now!”

Huo Li, "This world was just a decoy created by the main system. For a planet with no value for salvation, we can let the main system send someone else to deal with it."

" But… What about the journey?” " Aliena voiced out her concerns.

The black-haired youth interjected with one of his characteristically wild ideas. "Although the Salvation Alliance is restricted across the galaxy and can only establish teleportation arrays in apocalyptic worlds, under the current circumstances of parasitic invasion across the galaxy, isn’t every planet essentially an apocalypse? If we don’t save them, they’ll all be destroyed within a century. By this logic, the main system can randomly place teleportation arrays between any planets."

Britney protested, "But that reasoning can’t be made public!"

The black-haired youth shrugged, "This is a secret operation. That reasoning is just for the record, in case after we successfully eradicate all the parasites, the Interstellar Federation —once back under human control—starts picking faults with us again."

For some reason, the youth’s words reassured the group. His tone made the terrifyingly dominant parasites seem insignificant.

The black-haired youth continued, "After everything is over, say, a hundred years from now, if humans dig up the past to trouble the main system, it can declare this period a galaxy-wide apocalypse. All actions would then be considered standard protocol. How about that, main system?"

The group stared in disbelief. (Sister-in-law, are you chatting with the main system? Isn’t it impossible for a savior to summon it casually? Even private messages to the main system are not allowed!) Yet, after a few seconds of delay…

The group was stunned. (Mom! After 600 years, we’ve finally heard the main system’s voice! Wait… does this mean the main system really monitors our every move? And we’ve been badmouthing it…)

Xiao Yi nodded in satisfaction and waved at Huo Li, "Come here. I need to make some adjustments."

Upon hearing this, Huo Li immediately grew wary. "Xiao Yi, what are you trying to do? Don’t—"

"Your brain capacity won’t change," the youth smiled reassuringly. "Hurry up!"

Only then did Huo Li reluctantly move closer, and he was promptly enveloped in black strands that covered his face and entire body. While enthusiastically modifying Huo Li, the black-haired youth turned to the rest of the group and explained:

"Since you’ve all passed the test, there’s no need to keep this a secret any longer. These black strands are part of my special ability. They can decompose and synthesize all kinds of organic matter, including the human body. You’ll need to get used to scenes like this soon enough," he added, pointing at the now giant black sphere that encapsulated Huo Li.

The group stared at the black-haired youth with a newfound sense of awe.

Five minutes later, the newly transformed Huo Li was unveiled! The black strands swiftly retracted into the system’s storage space, revealing Huo Li’s new appearance. Before them stood a 12 or 13-year-old blonde boy with big blue eyes and long eyelashes—a sweet and adorable little angel.

The moment Huo Li saw his subordinates' expressions, he knew something was wrong. Hurriedly, he pulled a square mirror out of his spatial storage and held it up to his face…

"Transform me back right now!" the golden-haired boy exclaimed in a cute, milky, childlike voice.