130: Chapter 130 The Twelve Zodiac Animals

The elevator door closed.

Lin Fan leaned against the elevator wall, let out a long breath, and turned to look at President Ye Wenyuan, his eyes shining like two stars.

"Master, that kick of yours just now was simply earth-shattering and ghost-weeping! Do you know that? The moment you kicked Vice President Zhou Liangzhu, I felt as if I saw a light... It was the light of justice! You are the pillar of the association, the guardian deity of Dongyun City, and the moral model of the Beast Armor Master world!"

President Ye Wenyuan remained expressionless. "Speak like a human."

Lin Fan chuckled. "Master, you are just too cool."

Ye Qing rolled her eyes from the side.

Ye Wushuang remained expressionless as well, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

He felt that ever since he met Lin Fan, his lower limits were constantly being refreshed.

The elevator door opened, and the four of them walked into President Ye Wenyuan's office.

President Ye Wenyuan walked behind his desk and sat down. Before he could even light his cigarette, Lin Fan had already scurried over, serving tea and water in one smooth motion.

He held the teacup in both hands and presented it to President Ye Wenyuan, bowing ninety degrees.

"Master, please have some tea. This is this year's new harvest; I specifically 'borrowed' it from Old Mo. You should try it."

President Ye Wenyuan took the teacup and took a sip. "Does your dad know?"

Lin Fan said righteously, "He doesn't. If he knew, it wouldn't be 'borrowing,' it would be stealing."

President Ye Wenyuan nearly choked. He put down the teacup and glared at Lin Fan. "Less of your glib talk."

Lin Fan pulled up a chair and sat opposite President Ye Wenyuan, resting his chin on his hands with a well-behaved look. "Master, you just said you already submitted the evidence against Vice President Zhou Liangzhu? What evidence?"

President Ye Wenyuan leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. "Evidence of his abuse of power, bribery, and suppression of dissent within the association over these years. And evidence of him colluding with the Zhao Tianyu, Lin Xueer, Sun Hao, and Chen Yu families to set an ambush in the Secret Realm to kill you all."

He paused. "His son died, and he just happened to use it as an excuse. But he forgot that he cannot absolve himself of the things his son did. The evidence I've collected all these years has finally not gone to waste."

Ye Qing sat on the sofa, hugging a cushion. "Dad, has the matter regarding the Xutai Society in the Secret Realm been cleared up? Why did they want to capture so many people?"

President Ye Wenyuan's smile faded, and he took a file out of the drawer and spread it on the table.

The photo of the little girl was taken by a military drone; it was blurry, but that pair of scarlet vertical pupils and silver-white Rabbit ears were clearly visible. "The Xutai Society's purpose for entering the Cangwu Secret Realm this time..."

President Ye Wenyuan pointed at the little girl in the photo. "To capture people. To capture live Beast Armor Masters and take them back for human experimentation."

He paused. "Ancestor Xu's research requires a massive amount of human data. They have been searching for suitable research subjects; the higher the Rank and the better the Aptitude, the more valuable they are. This time, they captured thirty-four people, all young Beast Armor Masters, most of whom are above the Armor Spirit Rank."

Lin Fan's brow furrowed. "The human body is too weak to carry true power. Only by fusing the flesh and blood of an Armor Spirit can one break through the limits. He doesn't need one or two successful cases, but a complete, replicable method."

He paused. "Therefore, a large amount of experimental data is needed. The successful ones are kept; the failed ones are discarded."

Ye Qing's face turned pale. "Those who were captured... can they still come back?"

President Ye Wenyuan was silent for a long time. "It's difficult."

Lin Fan did not continue to press on this topic. He changed his perspective. "Master, who exactly are the Twelve Zodiacs? That little girl, she looks only twelve or thirteen, but she has the strength of an Armor Sovereign Rank, and the alienated organs on her body are all from Rabbit-type Armor Beasts. What is the principle behind this?"

President Ye Wenyuan turned the file to the last page. It had the words "Twelve Zodiacs" written on it, followed by dense, small text. "The Twelve Zodiacs are the twelve most capable confidants of Ancestor Xu, and also one of Ancestor Xu's most accomplished research achievements."

He pointed at the little girl in the photo. "Her name is Rabbit, and she is one of the Twelve Zodiacs. Each Zodiac corresponds to an animal. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. She transplanted parts entirely from Rabbit-type Armor Beasts, hence the codename Rabbit."

Lin Fan was thoughtful. "So the others are the same?"

President Ye Wenyuan nodded. "Yes. Each Zodiac only transplants parts from the same species. Ancestor Xu's research discovered that transplanting parts from Armor Beasts of the same species significantly reduces the degree of alienation and backlash. Therefore, they are always searching for the Armor Beasts with the best Aptitude within the same species to replace the parts on their own bodies."

He paused, "Those two Rabbits of yours have extraordinary Bloodlines; if cultivated, they would be much stronger than the Armor Beasts on her."

Lin Fan subconsciously smacked his lips. "If she snatched Little Rabbit... wouldn't it end up in a miserable state?"

President Ye Wenyuan looked straight at him. "She would transplant Little Rabbit's legs... eyes... ears... claws, one by one onto herself. Then she would replace her original, low-level Rabbit-type Armor Beast parts."

He paused. "Every replacement is a life-or-death test. The more alienated parts there are, the stronger the strength. If it fails, the alienation collapses, and they will turn into mindless Lost Souls."

President Ye Wenyuan leaned back in his chair. "None of the Twelve Zodiacs are normal people. They are all lunatics who survived countless transplant surgeries. Their physical strength and self-healing abilities are already comparable to Armor Beasts. Even without those alienated organs, they are monsters themselves."

"Therefore... their strength is much stronger than Beast Armor Masters of the same Rank."

Lin Fan recalled Rabbit's bizarre attack style and asked, "Then Rabbit looked like a normal person at first, but when she started fighting, she turned into a half-human, half-Rabbit monster..."

Upon hearing this, President Ye Wenyuan took a grayish-white stone from the drawer and tossed it to Lin Fan.

The stone was not large, only the size of a thumb, with a smooth surface emitting a faint silver glow.

Lin Fan caught it, his left eye warming slightly, and information surfaced—Illusion Stone, can be used to craft camouflage-type Armor Tools.

"This is an Illusion Stone, extremely rare..." President Ye Wenyuan said. "Every member of the Twelve Zodiacs has an Armor Tool made from an Illusion Stone, which can disguise their alienated parts to look like a normal person's. So when they walk among the crowd, you cannot see any abnormality."

He paused. "The most dangerous thing is not that they look like monsters. It is that they are clearly monsters, yet they look like humans."

Lin Fan returned the stone to President Ye Wenyuan. "They risk their lives every time they replace a part, so why do they still do it? To become stronger, they don't even want their lives?"

President Ye Wenyuan looked at him. "Because they can no longer turn back. Their bodies have long since ceased to be normal human bodies. If they do not continue to replace parts and continue to grow stronger, their bodies will collapse on their own. It is like a cobbled-together car; if the parts do not match, it will fall apart sooner or later."

He paused. "So they can only keep replacing, keep replacing, until one day they completely collapse, or become the perfect form Ancestor Xu desires."

The office fell silent.

Lin Fan truly could not understand what kind of mentality it took to turn oneself into a monster.

President Ye Wenyuan put the file away and placed it in the drawer. "Remember, the next time you encounter the Twelve Zodiacs, do not hesitate, do not try to be brave—run. Run as far as you can."

The three of them nodded one after another.

They understood that with their current strength, being able to escape was already a stroke of great fortune.