The Villain Is Too Popular

In the Deep Blue Metropolis, within the port parking lot.

"This... should be the last one, right?"

Caroline walked over to the corpse of one of the crab beasts. Her special cat tail, resembling a data cable, suddenly extended from behind her and hovered directly above the crab beast's body.

Click—

Accompanied by a series of crisp, precise instrument rotations, a small machine resembling a miniature scanner suddenly extended from the tip of Caroline's cat tail, emitting a light blue beam that accurately scanned the crab beast's corpse before her.

During this process, Caroline's hair had completely turned silver-white, and even her hair tips shimmered with an inexplicable silver glow. It was as if these silver strands of hair weren't hair at all, but rather intricate electronic circuits.

Rapidly collecting battlefield information using her unique 'Mechanized Organs' was Caroline's greatest advantage as a Mech-type.

[Star Core: Heavenly Cat-Demon]

[Type: Mech-type]

[Effect 1 · Data Propagation: Can act as a signal receiver and transmitter, linking to a maximum of five Star Energy units, and with their permission, share data with each other.]

[Effect 2 · Mech-Conversion: Can convert parts of one's own organs into 'semi-permanent' Mechanized Organs. Currently converted Mechanized Organs: 'Electronic Cat Eyes,' 'Signal Cat Ears,' 'Multi-functional Electronic Cat Tail'...]

As a Mech-type Star Emissary, Caroline knew very well that direct combat was never her strong suit. Pre-battle data collection and post-battle data organization were where she could maximize her effectiveness. Therefore, even though she actually possessed considerable combat power, Caroline rarely chose to engage in direct combat herself, unless absolutely necessary. After all, with Tendo, that dazzling 'Blazing Sun,' present, she, as a 'shadow,' only needed to quietly stand behind Tendo. Because Tendo... would solve everything for her.

So, even though Caroline was very anxious about Tendo and the others' whereabouts, given her tactical positioning, Caroline instinctively felt that rather than recklessly entering the mist in a dangerous and haphazard way to search for Tendo, she might as well choose to trust Tendo and then gather as much useful information as possible, aiming to quickly figure out everything that had happened.

Under the combined effect of Caroline's 'Electronic Cat Eyes' and 'Multi-functional Electronic Cat Tail,' the general condition of the two crab beasts before her was quickly analyzed.

'Star Core has largely atrophied, and major organs are barely maintaining minimal function.'

'Strange, logically, such a beast should have completely died three days ago, not appeared before me, unless...'

At this thought, Caroline immediately put on specialized anti-star energy gloves and took out a small data knife from her pocket, using it as a scalpel. Her scalpel precisely cut into the gap in the crab beast's shell, carefully removing the 'purple coral' embedded in its head. As soon as this 'coral cluster' left the crab beast, its host, it began to wither at a visible rate.

Looking at the coral specimen in her hand, Caroline's green electronic cat eyes reflected a waterfall of data.

[Detected neural parasitic strain]

[Maximum activity maintenance time: 72 hours]

[Operator Star Source characteristic speculation: Marine-type/Toxin-type/Special-type]

Caroline dropped the coral cluster in her hand and formed a rough hypothesis in her mind.

'The enemy should be a marine-type Star Emissary, whose Star Source has characteristics such as 'parasitism,' 'toxin,' and 'coralization.'

'In addition, the enemy's numbers should be two or more.'

'Because this sudden dense fog doesn't seem like a derivative ability that a marine-type Star Emissary would possess, unless they completed a secondary awakening, thereby possessing both toxin and fog Star Source characteristics simultaneously.'

'But if they truly had such strength, a visible Third-Tier Star Emissary wouldn't need to use 'sneak attacks' to deal with us.'

'Combining this with the equally missing Instructor Yunmeng, the enemy's numbers and strength are conservatively estimated to be one Second-Tier Star Emissary, plus multiple First-Tier Star Emissaries...'

With this assessment, Caroline's mood instantly grew heavy. She hadn't expected that they would encounter such a formidable enemy right after disembarking. The situation... was far more troublesome than imagined.

"Sister Caroline..."

Just as Caroline was contemplating a countermeasure, she suddenly heard a voice from behind her. Out of instinct, Caroline sharply turned her head while her electronic cat tail swiftly struck out. Fortunately, Caroline reacted in time; after seeing the person's face, she immediately stopped her attack.

In an instant, the data-cable-like cat tail's tip halted 0.5 centimeters from Chenkong's neck, its fully closed, sharp blade emitting a continuous sizzling electrical sound, demonstrating the terrifying lethality of the electronic cat tail.

Meanwhile, Chenkong, who was almost throat-slit by Caroline, slumped to the ground in a very disheveled state, his face extremely pale. He clearly hadn't recovered from the frightening scene just moments ago.

But facing Chenkong, who was slumped on the ground and sweating profusely, Caroline was in no mood to apologize.

"Chenkong, why are you alone? Where's Tendo?"

Chenkong wiped the sweat from his forehead, stood up, and replied, "Sister Caroline, I, I don't know where Brother Tendo is either. You're the first person I've met."

Hearing Chenkong's words, a clear flicker of disappointment crossed Caroline's eyes. Fortunately, reason quickly brought her back to her senses, and she asked Chenkong why he was able to appear here.

As Caroline had guessed, Chenkong was also covered by the mysterious mist the moment he arrived at the parking lot, subsequently losing complete contact with everyone around him.

And after Chenkong discovered that everyone else was gone, his first thought was to find them immediately, especially Tendo and Yunmeng. After all, even though he had now mastered his 'First Star Core: Mark of Emptiness' and successfully acquired 'Star Source: Idealist,' his frontal combat strength had not improved much.

The effect of 'Mark of Emptiness' was to reduce his presence and nullify others' star energy. The effect of 'Idealist' was to temporarily replicate others' Star Sources. If Chenkong could use both 'Mark of Emptiness' and 'Idealist' simultaneously, his strength would actually be quite good; he could be seen as a perfect, versatile assassin.

But unfortunately, just as the 'Second Star Core: Black Star' implanted into his body via Star Core surgery was suppressed by his 'First Star Core: Mark of Emptiness,' making it completely unusable, the 'Star Source: Idealist' he acquired after his final assessment faced a similar problem.

Whenever Chenkong chose to use 'Mark of Emptiness,' his 'Idealist' became completely unusable. Other Stars Children were called 'Dual Stars,' capable of using the power of both 'Star Core' and 'Star Source' simultaneously. But only Chenkong could only choose one, which was very abstract.

But no matter what, relying on the 'low presence' and 'star energy nullification' brought by 'Mark of Emptiness,' Chenkong not only successfully avoided the crab beasts' pursuit but also caused the strange mist around him to briefly disperse. This allowed him to avoid the mist's influence and fortunately encounter Caroline.

However, as Chenkong currently dispelled his 'Mark of Emptiness,' the crab beasts, which had previously lost their target, quickly re-perceived his presence and immediately came rushing over. Therefore, just as Chenkong was halfway through speaking, Caroline suddenly turned her head to a certain direction in the mist and raised her hand, interrupting him.

"Chenkong, step back to the side first."

"Oh, okay, okay..."