"The situation is far more serious than we expected," Huo Li told the youth. "The parasitic beasts can do more than just infecting ability users!"

The black-haired youth asked, "What else can they do? After infection, they can turn into parasitic beasts with abilities. Having 11,003 enhanced parasites is terrifying enough!"

"Xiao Yi, it's not that simple," Huo Li sighed deeply. "Let me explain from the beginning: According to the memories of that enhanced parasitic beast, starting 17 years ago, the parasites began kidnapping ability users for research. They spent nearly eight years dissecting and replicating thousands of ability users, eventually identifying the back of the neck and part of the spine as the source of the special abilities in humans, naming it the 'Ability Core.'"

"I assume you couldn't find the specific location of this experimental planet from the memories of this stealth-based parasitic beast?" the youth asked.

"Yes, they must know about my ability. The enhanced parasitic beasts they sent out don't know the current coordinates of the experimental planet. I suspect they've changed their base planet more than once," Huo Li replied, then continued explaining his findings:

"Initially, the parasitic beasts couldn't replicate human's Ability Core. Even if they infected and replicated an entire ability user's body, including the Ability Core, the newly born parasitic beast wouldn't possess abilities. So, they resorted to forcibly extracting the Ability Core and surrounding it with flesh replicated by the parasitic beasts, creating what we now call enhanced parasitic beasts.

However, seven years ago, their technology made a qualitative breakthrough. As long as they spent enough time—say, six months—meticulously replicating an Ability Core with extreme precision, the duplicated Ability Core in another parasitic beast could also function!"

The black-haired youth asked, "So they can slowly mass-produce enhanced parasitic beasts... How many are there now?"

Huo Li's expression turned grave: "260,000."

The black-haired youth continued, "260,000 low-level ability users? How many abilities can each enhanced parasitic beast use?"

Huo Li replied in surprise, "One ability! How could they use more than one?"

The youth nodded, "Oh, never mind then."

"Xiao Yi... did you have something to say just now?" Huo Li asked hesitantly, feeling that the youth's reactions had been unusual these past few days.

The youth smiled, "I thought they might have attached 3 or 4 replicated Ability Cores to each parasitic beast, turning the enhanced parasitic beasts into multi-ability user! But since their research hasn't reached that point yet... just consider it nonsense."

Huo Li shuddered involuntarily as he imagined a parasitic beast with lumps of Ability Cores embedded in its shoulders and abdomen. He then chuckled, "How is that possible, Xiao Yi? The Ability Core includes a specific section of the spine. Three segments couldn't possibly form a functioning creature!"

Huo Li laughed and ruffled the youth's hair. Children really do have wild imaginations.

Xiao Yi also laughed, "Haha, yeah!" 'Those parasitic beasts are really just a bunch of weaklings...'

.

Upon learning this information in real-time from the conversation between the youth and Huo Li, the main system immediately notified all saviors. After some discussion, they had to admit that Xiao Yi's seemingly far-fetched plan was indeed feasible.

These were 260,000 parasitic beasts with abilities. If they were allowed to wreak havoc in the last hours of their lives, it would undoubtedly cause catastrophic damage to the entire human galaxy! Therefore, the main system had strictly sealed off all access even though all parasitic beasts would die within 40 days.

At the same time, the main system, in collaboration with the Interstellar Federation, spread the rumor that the Alien had long betrayed the Salvation Alliance. It had begun building a Black Thread Army on a certain planet. Once the Alien had assimilated all organic matter on that planet into itself, no race in the universe would be able to stop its march toward domination!

The first to be affected would be the parasitic species, which were closely related to the alien. Due to the alien's peculiar habit of killing its kin, the parasitic beasts scattered across thousands of planets would be its first target.

The main system and the ability users sought to disguise themselves on a deserted planet called Planet G, setting up traps to eliminate the enhanced parasitic beasts. At the same time, Huo Li stood at Xiao Yi’s door, holding a cup of coffee, and knocked.

A moment later, the door opened, and the black-haired youth looked at Huo Li in surprise.

Huo Li: "Ahem, it's just that we haven't had a proper conversation lately. I remember you like coffee..."

The black-haired youth stepped aside to let Huo Li in and took the steaming cup of coffee. "Didn’t we talk a lot this morning? Also... you remember I like coffee? Or did you read it from my memories that when I was an experimental subject, I envied humans and longed to drink coffee?"

Exposed, Huo Li let out an awkward cough before softening his voice. "Xiao Yi, I mean a private conversation. I just feel like lately..."—you've been lying about a lot of things.

But despite opening his mouth several times, Huo Li couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

The black-haired youth took a sip of coffee that was sweetened with sugar and milk. "Lately, what do you mean?"

Huo Li carefully chose his words. "Xiao Yi, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard? The plan you proposed… well, let’s put it this way—uh, there are a lot of flaws in it. The enhanced parasitic beasts might not all charge in at once. Besides, given your terrifying reputation among them, if the parasites know Planet F is your stronghold, wouldn’t they be too afraid to go there?"

The black-haired youth, however, did not agree. "That’s how the regular parasites see me, but the enhanced parasitic beasts won’t be so cowardly."

Huo Li let out a barely noticeable sigh. He couldn’t shake the feeling that today’s conversation with Xiao Yi seemed like there was an invisible barrier between them.

For a moment, silence fell between the two.

Huo Li finally gave up on pressing the issue. He trusted Xiao Yi, whether or not he had his own secrets.

"Xiao Yi, I’m not interrogating you," Huo Li said softly, looking directly into the youth's eyes. "I just want you to know that no matter what troubles you’re facing, you don’t have to bear them alone. You can tell me."

"Even if you want to wipe out the Interstellar Federation, I could at least lend you a hand," Huo Li added with a grin, lightening the mood.

The youth was standing sideways to Huo Li. Upon hearing this joke, his hand holding the coffee cup trembled slightly, but he quickly concealed all his emotions and faced Huo Li.

"Didn't you read my memories? I should be completely transparent to you, right? You, on the other hand, may have countless evil secrets in your heart that you haven't told me!"

Huo Li's first reaction was: 'Xiao Yi still doesn't know I like him!' But then he remembered all the other things he had kept hidden... Huo Li felt a pang of guilt.

If Xiao Yi was like a crystal-clear, transparent person to him, then he himself was like a pitch-black piece of obsidian to Xiao Yi, with far too many secrets.

Huo Li could only awkwardly change the subject: "Xiao Yi, the main system said that tomorrow morning, we need to go to Planet G to deploy the Black Thread that will spread across the globe, along with the army of Black Thread mutants."

The youth didn't object to the abrupt change of topic and instead went along with it: "Do I have to go, too? I can't control the Black Thread mutants that aren't connected to me through the Black Thread. Even if they were all connected, they'd just be paralyzed as soon as I leave Planet G. You can handle it on your own!"

Huo Li explained seriously: "We not only need to arrange the Black Thread mutant army, but we also need to create the illusion that the Black Thread is rapidly absorbing organic matter and spreading across the planet. My abilities are limited to the mental realm—I can control humans, guardians, or even a sheep or horse mutated by the Black Thread. But I can't control the mutation process of the Black Thread itself. My psychic power can’t reach the cellular and genetic level."

The black-haired youth laughed: "Of course, you can't control that. That’s the core ability of the aliens! If you could manipulate the Black Thread’s splitting and fusion, that would make your control over it even stronger than mine, an actual alien! How could that be possible? If that were the case, wouldn’t you be able to command the Black Thread and Black Spores to take over the entire universe? Haha!"

"That's right! Then I would have already become the king of the universe! How could I still be working for the main system?" Huo Li teased, "Even controlling your guardian’s disintegration on Earth is caused by the set of disintegration genes you placed in all your limbs. As long as there’s a command from your guardian’s brain, its limbs will spontaneously disintegrate..."

The black-haired youth grew impatient with these technical details and continued his wild imagination. "If you could control the genetic activity of the Black Thread, you could create so many versions of me using the Black Thread’s mutation! And each one would be exactly like me, with independent consciousness. Each one would be a perfect alien."

The youth shivered, then continued jokingly, "Can’t you alter the memories of intelligent beings? You’ve even read my memories. You could totally create a version of me with my memories... That’s terrifying!"

Huo Li laughed and replied, "Not just you—I could use the Black Thread to duplicate everyone on Earth and implant human memories into them. Then, I’d establish the first empire in the universe! With billions of citizens... all cloned."

"My god! Just imagine that scene." The black-haired youth laughed and waved his hand, signaling Huo Li to stop. "I’ll definitely have nightmares tonight!"

And so, a serious conversation was sidetracked by their playful banter. Huo Li, holding his empty coffee cup, walked out of the youth’s room. It wasn’t until he reached the hallway that he suddenly realized he hadn’t gotten any answers. As he rubbed his head, thinking about Xiao Yi’s rebellious little secrets, he reached for the doorknob in his room.

Suddenly, Huo Li felt a slight dizziness, as if his psychic energy was blocked by something. The sensation of losing control over his psychic power for the first time in 3,000 years startled him. He hurriedly checked every area of his psychic domain.

One second later, he finally noticed the problem: Xu Yun Cheng had gone missing!

That evening, the entire Salvation Alliance was plunged into a sleepless night as they anxiously searched for the whereabouts of an incredibly powerful traitor with the ability to manipulate time and space. Unfortunately, their efforts were mostly in vain. Who could possibly capture someone with control over time and space unless that person willingly walked right into a trap?

Even the main system and Huo Li were perplexed by Xu Yun Cheng’s escape. According to feedback from 099, one moment, Xu Yun Cheng was obediently sleeping in his confinement room, and the next moment, 099 was kicked out of Xu Yun Cheng’s space, and Huo Li lost control over Xu Yun Cheng’s mental domain.

While the Alliance base was in chaos, on a remote, uninhabited planet in the universe...

Xu Yun Cheng had just used his spatial abilities to transport himself and his unexpected jailbreak helper across half the galaxy. He looked in surprise at the familiar figure before him. "It’s you! How could you have this ability... Why are you saving me?"

The black-haired youth ordered, "Help me spread a message: All parasitic beasts will die in 40 days, and the 12 corresponding antidotes for the 12 viruses are stored in the experimental base on Planet I established by the Alien."