Animal Style · Protagonist Halo

Inside a secret, dark room, there were no windows.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered in heavy, soundproof, and anti-detection materials, giving the space a gloomy, black appearance.

The air was stagnant, and the only illumination in the room came from a large electronic screen that occupied an entire wall.

Standing before the screen was a somber-looking man.

He had a crew cut, a strong build, and wore unremarkable, dark-colored work clothes.

The screen suddenly lit up.

There was no image, only the silhouette of a humanoid figure formed by a pitch-black shadow, its edges blurred and unstable.

The shadow spoke with a complaint, "Diviner, the accuracy of your recent divinations has been getting lower and lower."

"Last time, you said the southeast was safe, but I almost ran right into a headquarters search team."

"The supply point you predicted the day before yesterday was already empty by the time I got there. The error was so large it can't even be called a margin of error anymore."

The muscular Diviner reached out to rub his temples, the veins on his forehead throbbing slightly.

He explained, "Abilities like prophecy, fortune-telling, or divination are all observations of the future."

"But the future isn't a fixed line; it has countless possibilities. My ability only predicts which possibility has the highest probability of flowing into reality."

"When I am the only one observing the future, the accuracy is very high."

"But if others are also observing the future, it introduces too many variables, which inevitably causes interference."

"Especially when two prophets predict the same event, the mutual interference amplifies exponentially."

The Diviner paused, his tone grave. "Someone else must be frequently observing the future as well, and their observations overlap with the target events I'm looking at. That's why the accuracy of my divinations has plummeted."

The shadow on the screen remained silent for several seconds, seemingly accepting this explanation.

Then, he changed the subject, his voice dropping low. "Double-Face is completely ruined."

Double-Face had once been their companion, with a ghost face growing on the back of his head.

During the peak of the transcendent families, the few of them had relied on those families, high-spirited and self-proclaimed helmsmen of the future.

That was until Yue Shi raised his butcher's knife and uprooted several transcendent families, even digging up their ancestral graves.

The Diviner, relying on his ability, had glimpsed the bloody disaster in advance and escaped quietly with a few others, barely surviving by luck.

Revenge against Yue Shi?

They had long since lost that ambition.

In the face of overwhelming terror, being able to draw breath was already a luxury.

Only by staying alive could they have an infinite future.

At the mention of Double-Face, the muscles on the Diviner's face tightened.

He walked to a nearby chair and sat down, saying wistfully, "If I had known, we shouldn't have sought refuge with the headquarters."

After the families were destroyed, to seek protection and, more importantly, to stage a comeback, these remnants had quickly defected to the Bureau headquarters at the cost of handing over some family secrets and resources.

Double-Face had even participated in the headquarters' captain selection and successfully secured a captain's slot.

But after that, Double-Face changed.

His gaze, his tone, his way of doing things, and even some small habits became foreign. He always stared at everyone with a cold, compassionate gaze.

The Diviner and the shadow had observed him in secret, a chill growing in their hearts.

Double-Face was still Double-Face, but the master inside that shell might have changed.

They didn't dare to speak up or have too much contact, only watching as this fake Double-Face emptied the family's legacy.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Diviner had relied on his intuition for danger and his divination ability to keep one most central trump card.

Then, like frightened rats, they ran again, cutting off all contact with the fake Double-Face and the headquarters.

It had to be said that when it came to saving his own life and running away, the Diviner was highly authoritative.

The shadow's voice held a hint of self-mockery. "I used to look at those bottom-tier transcendents fighting to the death for a few scraps and think they were stupid, narrow-minded, and would never climb up."

"Now it's our turn. Trying to climb up even one step feels like rolling on a mountain of knives, and we have to constantly watch out so we aren't stepped on by those above us or dragged down to be a footstool by those even lower."

The Diviner nodded. When they had the family's power behind them, everything had felt effortless.

Now that they had fallen from the heights, they finally personally experienced how difficult it was to move from the bottom up.

An oppressive silence filled the room again.

Just then...

"I finally found you."

A voice rang out.

The source of the voice was right in the center of this secret room.

The flat voice was like ice cubes dropped into a deep fryer, instantly shattering all sense of security.

The Diviner launched himself from his chair, his movements startlingly fast, his back soaked in cold sweat.

The silhouette of the shadow on the screen shook violently, nearly dissipating.

In the center of the room, where there had been nothing, a figure slowly emerged.

The long-haired man, Yue Shi, radiating a ghostly aura and a heavy sense of oppression, struck directly at the fragile hearts of the Diviner and the shadow.

He hadn't gone to deal with the fun over at Begonia Alley, prioritizing his own affairs instead.

"How did you find this place?"

The Diviner's voice cracked, filled with unbelievable terror.

The shadow on the screen immediately tried to transfer away, but the surrounding space was locked down; there was nowhere to run.

He was on the verge of a breakdown. "You've already killed so many people! The Su family is finished! Is your revenge still not over? Do you have to drive us all to extinction!"

Yue Shi's gaze swept over them, his eyes devoid of sorrow or joy, as if he were looking at two talking stones.

"I didn't originally remember small fry like you."

"But I suddenly recalled that in the records of Lab 0, the Su family had a supernatural object called the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine."

"Is that thing in your hands?"

The Diviner's face turned pale instantly, then gray like ash, before finally settling into a look of defeat.

The Decomposition and Synthesis Machine. The trump card they had struggled to keep from the fake Double-Face was also their last hope to turn the tables.

Now, that hope had become a death warrant.

Faced with Yue Shi, did they dare to say "no"?

The Diviner had no combat power.

The shadow had tried to escape just now but couldn't move at all.

Any resistance was futile and would only bring about faster destruction.

The Diviner's Adam's apple bobbed. Finally, as if drained of all strength and means, he said nothing and walked toward a hidden door in the corner of the room.

After passing biometric authentication, the hidden door opened silently.

Only one thing was placed inside: the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine.

It was an irregularly shaped machine with a smooth, seamless surface, featuring only one entrance for items and an exit at the bottom.

The Insight vision on Yue Shi's forehead opened, and his gaze fell upon the machine.

Text information emerged, but it didn't label it as the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine. Instead, it was...

【Digestive Cavity of the God of Food】: An organ originating from a certain unspeakable existence, possessing the properties to decompose, digest, extract, and synthesize the essence of all things.

The God of Food?

Yue Shi raised an eyebrow.

Interesting.

He thought of "The Stomach of the God of Food," the place used for waste disposal at the bottom of Lab 0.

Had this poor God of Food been completely dismembered?

Yue Shi reached out and made a grasping motion toward the machine from across the room.

The machine vanished into thin air, stored into his extra-dimensional space.

The Diviner and the shadow watched this scene with hearts like dead ash.

But the instinct to survive overrode everything else.

The Diviner looked up, a pleading expression squeezed onto his face. "Mr. Yue Shi, I am willing to serve you and work for you!"

"I can perform divinations, and I know many of the headquarters' secrets."

The shadow glared fiercely at the Diviner. You thick-browed and big-eyed fellow, you actually dare to defect!

He hurried to say loudly, "I am also very valuable! I can be your eyes and ears."

Yue Shi glanced at them. There was no disdain or mockery, only a nod.

Immediately, before the Diviner and the shadow could react, the space around them began to warp.

The Diviner and the electronic screen disappeared from the secret room together.

Returning to his extra-dimensional space, Yue Shi immediately began testing the effects of the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine.

The first sample he used for testing was Zhang Songyun.

The flow of time here was different from the outside world, and Zhang Songyun had been imprisoned for a long time. It was enough to wear down his bravado, leaving only the most primitive torment of fear.

Zhang Songyun was curled in a corner, his face ashen and his eyes unfocused.

When Yue Shi appeared before him again, his whole body shuddered and his lips trembled, as if he wanted to use the art of words to maneuver again.

But before the words could leave his mouth, his heart felt as if it were being squeezed tightly by a hand.

He sensed the most intense feeling of crisis he had ever felt in his entire life!

He was going to die.

"No, wait! Listen to me first!"

Zhang Songyun hurriedly begged for mercy.

Yue Shi gave him no chance, reaching out to hoist him up from the ground.

Zhang Songyun struggled frantically, let out a roar from his throat, and kicked his arms and legs wildly.

But all his resistance was in vain.

He could only watch helplessly as Yue Shi carried him toward that strange machine.

There was an entrance on the top of the machine, and the interior was a pitch-black void, making it impossible to see the structure inside.

"No!!!"

Zhang Songyun let out a scream of despair.

At this moment, he regretted everything deeply.

He didn't regret deceiving Bai Wanyang, nor did he regret taking everything from the other man.

Rather, he regretted why he hadn't been more ruthless back then, cutting the grass and pulling up the roots to eliminate all future troubles!

A moment of softheartedness had actually led him to such an end.

For a villain to die because of an accidental act of kindness was truly the height of irony.

Knowing that begging was meaningless, he simply gave up and began to shriek curses at Yue Shi, cursing that Yue Shi would end up in the same way.

The next second, he was tossed into the entrance of the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine.

A strange humming sound came from inside the machine, lasting for about a dozen seconds.

Then, the exit at the bottom of the machine opened, and several items were expelled, landing below.

First were some biological wastes, a mess of clothing fibers and flesh residues mixed together.

Next was a pale blue polyhedral crystal, about the size of a thumb, emitting a fluorescent glow from within.

Finally, there was a halo floating above the residue.

The halo was not a physical object but a cluster of light that constantly changed shape. Its color was a pale golden-red, and fine threads of light constantly dissipated from its edges.

Yue Shi directly bypassed the worthless biological residue.

He opened his Insight vision and first looked at the halo.

【Animal Style · Protagonist Halo (Incomplete)】.

This halo chooses individuals who are firm of will, self-centered, possess a blurred sense of morality, and have a strong desire for plunder.

Its operational mode is to benefit oneself at the expense of others, creating the illusion of being the child of destiny through continuous siphoning and transfer.

It contains five passive effects: 「Luck Deflection」, 「Dominator」, 「Destiny Plunder」, 「Undying Body」, and 「Breakthrough through Heavy Injury」.

Even as Yue Shi read the information, the cluster of light seemed to sense something and began to tremble slightly.

It broke away from its floating position and slowly drifted toward Yue Shi.

Yue Shi stood in place, calmly watching the halo.

The halo drifted to the front of him, paused slightly as if it had found its most favored master, and then suddenly expanded, turning into countless intertwined golden-red threads of light that merged into Yue Shi's body.

The entire process was incredibly smooth, as Yue Shi was an even better fit for the 【Animal Style · Protagonist Halo】.

Compared to Yue Shi, Zhang Songyun was as pure and harmless as a little white rabbit.

With the fusion complete, Yue Shi didn't feel much of a change; after all, the abilities provided by the halo were all passive.

Next, he turned his gaze toward the pale blue crystal.

A highly pure aggregation of supernatural power, it was the manifestation of Bai Wanyang's 【High-Energy Shell】 ability.

The first test of the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine's effects had yielded clear results.

"No wonder the Su family treated this as a bottom-of-the-chest treasure."

Yue Shi thought of the various collections in his space; it was time for a centralized processing session.

He entered another extra-dimensional space.

The light in this space was fragmented and chaotic, with countless mirror surfaces overlapping to form a maze that constantly self-replicated and collapsed.

Huang Fengjing was curled in the center of the maze. His skin had already lost the texture of flesh, exhibiting a smooth mirror-like quality. His features appeared weirdly broken under the refraction, and his eyes were hollow and unfocused.

Yue Shi hoisted Huang Fengjing up, walked to the Decomposition and Synthesis Machine, and tossed his left hand into the entrance.

After waiting for a moment, no sign of reflected damage appeared on Yue Shi's own left hand.

This machine, the Digestive Cavity of the God of Food, was even more useful than imagined; it could even block certain forced effects.

Yue Shi fed the entire Huang Fengjing to the machine. The humming sound rang out again, lasting longer than it had for Zhang Songyun.

A moment later, the exit opened.

A pile of powdery ash residue fell out. Floating above the residue was a mirror surface.

The mirror was not a physical object but a section of area without any thickness.

It was the Authority of "Mirror" itself, a pure core stripped of its vessel, symbolizing concepts such as reflection, projection, symmetry, and the virtual versus the real.

"Mirror" did not actively move toward Yue Shi like the protagonist halo had; it simply floated quietly in place.

Yue Shi had no choice but to walk over.

The moment he approached the mirror surface...

The mirror surface, which had existed only as a concept, suddenly lit up.

It clearly reflected Yue Shi's figure.

In the next instant, the mirror surface, which was the manifestation of the authority, began to ripple and deform.

It was restructuring itself into Yue Shi's image!

The mirror surface quickly vanished, replaced by another Yue Shi.

From the outline to the details, from the aura to the expression, it was exactly the same—an absolutely symmetrical duplicate.

This newly appeared Yue Shi stood face-to-face with the original.

After a few seconds of silence, the duplicate's expression turned fierce, and he actually spoke.

He asked sinisterly, "When did you switch places with me?"

Yue Shi was stunned for a moment before immediately reacting.

"Holy crap, you actually think you're the real one?"

"Of course." The duplicate didn't harbor the slightest self-doubt. This was exactly Yue Shi's personality—never justifying himself and blaming everyone else for any mistakes.

He raised his hand and launched an attack at Yue Shi.