Following a clean, straight passage for over two hundred meters, Gu Xiyuan ascended via an elevator for a dozen meters, arriving in the hidden room tucked away in a corner of the study on the second floor of the Roman Consulate.

Just as he was about to push open the secret door before him and step into the study, a small red warning light beside him suddenly flickered, causing him to freeze instantly.

Footsteps sounded from within the study; Siren and Arediya entered, escorting a Roman figure who floated forward.

Peering through the spy-hole in the hidden room, Gu Xiyuan recognized the Roman’s face—an old acquaintance, Porphyris!

However, Porphyris’s status within the clan seemed to have risen significantly. The embroidery on his purple robes was far more intricate than the last time Gu Xiyuan had seen him, and a pattern resembling a blazing nebula was now emblazoned over his left breast.

Siren and Arediya shut the study door, and Porphyris immediately spun in place, calling out sharply, “Is this place safe? Secure? Will this leak any information?”

Siren flopped onto a sofa languidly, sneering, “If you’re worried about safety, you can jump out the window right now. Good riddance, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

Arediya retrieved a bottle of strong liquor from the study’s cabinet and poured a glass for Siren, showing absolutely no intention of offering anything to Porphyris.

Furious, Porphyris roared a few times. After a moment’s thought, he pulled a compact player from his sleeve and placed it in the very center of the study. A powerful blue beam shot out from the device, projecting a three-dimensional light screen that enveloped the entire room. Porphyris said angrily, “Fine, I’ll assume this place is secure then. Hmph!”

Gu Xiyuan pursed his lips and smiled, focusing his attention on the player Porphyris had brought.

The screen flickered, displaying two colorless Crysto-beings and a host of black, purple, and blue Crysto-beings. They were confronting thirty Hunting Vessels. The colorless Crysto-being had clearly activated the Pluto-Force, unleashing intense beams of light toward the starships in space.

This was footage from nearly a year ago, when Gu Xiyuan had cooperated with Bolbot to hunt Crysto-beings. After Gu Xiyuan benefited greatly, the Eagle Saint had jettisoned a group of high-tier Crysto-beings near Bolbot’s entourage, dealing a fatal blow to Bolbot’s hunting team. Although the specifics of what happened afterward were unknown, Gu Xiyuan knew that only a handful of Bolbot’s Hunting Vessels had managed to flee back to Mars in tatters, and the accompanying Roman army had been almost completely annihilated.

In the footage, the Crysto-beings unleashed their full offensive power. The thirty Hunting Vessels, their hulls warping and twisting under the intense heat, fired powerful tractor beams. The simultaneous launch of the thirty tractor beams generated a distortion field capable of destroying a small planet five hundred kilometers in diameter. The space around the high-tier Crysto-beings writhed, and even light itself bent like water ripples.

A burst of blinding light erupted from the screen, making it impossible to discern what was happening inside for a solid ten minutes. But when the intense light subsided, a single colorless crystal sphere and several high-tier spheres—black, purple, and blue—were seen floating in space. A swath of celestial body on Pluto, two hundred kilometers in diameter, had been reduced to ash and dust, while the Roman hunting fleet was left with only a few battered wrecks drifting in the void.

The scene shifted next, showing the few damaged Hunting Vessels plunging at high speed into Mars’s atmosphere, arriving before a magnificent and luxurious Roman-style fortress.

Bolbot swaggered down from the Hunting Vessel, holding the colorless Crysto-sphere aloft and remotely controlling the dozens of high-tier crystal spheres hovering around him, resembling a proud little rooster.

Tens of thousands of Roman priests and nobles cheered Bolbot’s arrival, and for a fleeting moment in the image, Gu Xiyuan caught sight of Porphyris’s face—a mask of forced joy barely concealing his envy.

Gu Xiyuan seemed to grasp something.

Siren laughed gleefully, “Bolbot is a great hero again? Huh? Because of those spoils?”

Porphyris gave a cold laugh, his voice a low growl, “Do you know why it took me so long to seek you out?”

Siren scratched his ear and chuckled dryly, “I’m all ears…”

Porphyris stared at Siren and spoke word by word, “That base-born bastard from the House of Thorsalm, and that lowly Spirit Race woman by his side—they’ve achieved the second fusion!”

“G-g-gaaak!” Siren jumped up, emitting a sound like a startled duck. He cried out in horror, “Crysto fusion? The second fusion? Him, him, that fellow named Ducat? He fused with a second Crysto-sphere?”

Porphyris grinned wickedly, “Yes, the second Crysto-sphere, and it was a black one! His Spirit Race woman also fused with a black sphere, but they both miraculously survived!”

Siren exchanged a look of astonishment with Arediya.

Silence descended upon the study, broken only by the faint, rhythmic flickering of the image on the screen.

Ducat and Lily, flanked by the imposing guards of the House of Thorsalm, were violently escorted into the temple.

Hand in hand, they stood in the vast, empty temple, two black crystal spheres suspended before them.

The two placed their hands on the spheres, and a flash of intense light erupted, obscuring everything on the screen.

After a long, long time, Porphyris sneered, “It took them nearly a year to successfully fuse the second sphere! That’s why I’m only coming to you now.”

The intense light on the screen faded. Ducat Thorsalm’s skin had turned pure silver, even his pupils shimmering like silver, and Lily, emitting thick clouds of green smoke, appeared on the screen. They stood quietly in the center of the empty temple, their faces etched with fatigue and bearing a strange, ineffable smile.

Even though it was only an image on the screen, Gu Xiyuan still felt a profound sense of threat emanating from Ducat and Lily. His heart hammered powerfully, slowly sending waves of icy energy throughout his body.

“Speak then, what do you want?” Siren asked coldly after a moment of deep contemplation.

“The influence of the House of Thorsalm is growing too strong; they must be curbed a bit,” Porphyris sneered. “You are the Director of the Earth Federation Special Operations Bureau. I am gifting you a meritorious service, much like Lord Gu Xiyuan gifted me one last time... I have here a top-secret plan of the House of Thorsalm, a plan personally entrusted to them by the Grand High Priest of the Roman Pantheon.”

A storage chip flashed with a cold light as it landed in Siren’s hand. Porphyris turned and walked toward the door, saying coldly, “I’ve delivered the intelligence. Whether you dare to claim this credit is up to you!”

After pondering for a moment, Siren gripped the chip tightly and sneered, “You want me to be the blade, so what’s in it for me?”

Porphyris smiled, turned back, bowed respectfully, and said smoothly, “Last time, I helped you eradicate a secret base of the Special Operations Bureau—did I ask for any benefit from you then?”

Waving his hand with a smile toward Siren, Porphyris chuckled, “Goodbye. I hope you successfully disrupt the plans of the House of Thorsalm. This achievement should be enough to promote you several ranks!”

A dazzling burst of light shimmered around Porphyris, and he gradually vanished within the brilliance.

Gu Xiyuan pushed open the hidden door and stepped into the study with a smile.

Tossing two Two-Pronged Heaven-Seizing Pills into Siren and Arediya’s hands, Gu Xiyuan said casually, “I will guard you; take the medicine quickly. I am quite interested in Porphyris’s proposal!”

After lying low for a year, Gu Xiyuan felt it was time to make a move.

...

I rather like the Romans; if they weren't so fond of internal strife, Earthlings wouldn't stand a chance against them...