385: Chapter 382 Prometheus's Successor

"How could that be?" Ye Ouyang looked at him, his eyes filled with confusion. "Wasn't it supposed to be wonderful before? That carefree feeling, playing games, spending time with friends—"

Lin Yuan smiled faintly.

"Yeah, for other people, it probably was wonderful," he said. "But I'm different. I really don't feel anything about those things anymore. They're too bland."

He paused, his gaze drifting into the distance as if looking at something that wasn't there.

"To the point where, whether it was middle school or elementary school, I don't remember anything that happened back then at all. I can't even remember my classmates." He withdrew his gaze and looked at Ye Ouyang. "Maybe it just wasn't important to me."

Ye Ouyang opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what.

Lin Yuan glanced down at his phone and suddenly let out an "Oh no!"

"We've been talking this long." He put his phone away. "I need to hurry back, or it won't be good if the boss catches me slacking off."

He waved at Ye Ouyang.

"I'm off then."

"Alright, goodbye." Ye Ouyang waved back, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, should we add each other on WeChat? Maybe we'll meet again in the future."

Lin Yuan was taken aback, looking at him with a somewhat surprised expression.

"What are we to each other?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone. "There's such a big age gap between us. Can we really become friends?"

Ye Ouyang nodded as if it were obvious: "Of course we can."

Lin Yuan looked at him, was silent for two seconds, then smiled. This smile was a bit more genuine than before.

"Alright then, let's add WeChat."

The two took out their phones and scanned the codes. Lin Yuan put his phone away and waved at him again.

"I'm off. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Lin Yuan turned and quickly walked towards the street corner, soon disappearing into the crowd.

Ye Ouyang stood in place, looked in the direction where that figure had vanished, then lowered his head to look at the newly added friend's avatar on his phone, a slight curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

Ye Ouyang put his phone away properly and hummed a tune as he walked back.

The melody wasn't really a proper tune, just random humming, but you could tell he was in a good mood. He walked stepping on the cracks between the bricks by the roadside, one step per block, occasionally hopping, like a kid who had just received some good news.

As he reached the outskirts of the base, he ran into three people head-on.

Lu Jianchuan, Shen Mingyuan, Wei Ziqing.

They had just returned from Long Qingyun's side and were heading into the base. Ye Ouyang saw them, his eyes lighting up, and raised his hand to wave.

"Senior Lu! Senior Shen! Senior Wei!"

The three stopped and watched him approach.

Lu Jianchuan, seeing his beaming face, remembered the "Yay!" he had heard in the hallway earlier.

"Hey, by the way," he said, "I saw you were super happy earlier. What was that about?"

Ye Ouyang stood before them, the smile on his face utterly unstoppable.

"I've joined your ranks!" he said, his tone brimming with unconcealed pride.

Lu Jianchuan was stunned for a moment, then realized—The Forger's side must have already told him.

"Oh, so that's it." He nodded. "Well, congratulations then."

Wei Ziqing, listening nearby, didn't understand at first, but upon hearing the phrase "joined the ranks," he also caught on.

"Oh—I see." He looked at Ye Ouyang. "You'll be able to transform soon too?"

Ye Ouyang nodded vigorously.

"Yeah!" he said, then remembered something. "I need to hurry back and take a look. Goodbye!"

He waved at the three of them and turned to run.

"Goodbye." The three responded from behind.

Ye Ouyang ran a distance, then turned back, waved at them again, and disappeared around the corner.

He ran all the way back to the dormitory building. Just as he turned into the hallway, he saw White Tiger standing at the door.

Its forked mechanical tail swayed gently, its optical lenses aimed in the direction he was running from.

"Been waiting for you for a while," White Tiger said. "How do you feel? Been out wandering for some time."

Ye Ouyang ran up to it, stopped, caught his breath, then smiled.

"I feel fantastic!" he said. "I made a new friend!"

White Tiger's mechanical tail swayed again.

"That's truly wonderful." Its voice was steady, but you could hear a sort of pleased undertone.

Ye Ouyang waved at it and pushed the door open.

"I'm going in then."

"Alright."

The door closed.

Ye Ouyang walked into his room, his first glance going to that workbench.

It was still operating. A faint blue light flowed across its surface, a subtle humming sound continuous. Those intricate structures were operating internally, no telling which step it had reached.

He walked closer and looked, but couldn't make sense of it.

Still being made, huh.

He scratched his head.

Well, seems like it'll take a few days.

He turned and walked to the bed, flopping backwards onto it, lying there staring at the ceiling.

In that case—

Might as well lie down for a while.

The next morning, in the hallway outside the base's archive room.

Lu Jianchuan leaned against the wall, holding a file in his hand, looking down as he flipped through it. Sunlight shone in from the window beside him, falling on the pages, making the lines of printed text appear pale.

Footsteps came from the other end of the hallway. Ye Ouyang walked over, saw him, and slowed his pace a bit.

"Senior Lu." He moved closer. "What are you looking at?"

Lu Jianchuan looked up, glanced at him, then returned his gaze to the file.

"Looking at some files about the Prometheus remnants," he said.

Ye Ouyang was stunned for a moment: "Prometheus? That... the one that was suppressed before?"

"Mhm." Lu Jianchuan nodded. "You know, during the suppression before, we accidentally killed their leader. That led to some people escaping in time due to missing intelligence."

He turned a page.

"Right now, I'm looking at a person revealed by their right-hand man. We captured that right-hand man, and now they've given up a name."

Ye Ouyang leaned in closer: "Oh? Can I take a look?"

Lu Jianchuan tilted the file towards him.

Ye Ouyang lowered his head to look.

The first page of the file was a photo—a youth around eighteen years old, with an ordinary face, his eyes somewhat vacant. Basic information was noted beside it:

Name: Li Jianguo

Age: 18 years old

evo factor Concentration: 1.999%

Status: Orphan adopted by Prometheus leader Zhao Qifeng, raised with emphasis since childhood

Note: Currently still at large, whereabouts unknown

Ye Ouyang stared at the photo for a few seconds, looked at the text below, then raised his head.

"1.999%..." he said. "Just a tiny bit away from 2%."

"Mhm." Lu Jianchuan took the file back. "The leader thought highly of him, was grooming him as a successor all along."

"So, is there intel on him now?" Ye Ouyang looked at the file in Lu Jianchuan's hand. "That's why you're looking here?"

Lu Jianchuan nodded.

"There is indeed. According to the right-hand man's account, he's still active in this city." He paused. "Probably because when we led the team to capture Zhao Qifeng before, he harbors an extremely strong hatred towards us. So he's unwilling to leave this city to go abroad or flee elsewhere, but has stayed here all along, operating secretly."

Ye Ouyang's eyes lit up: "So can we catch him?"

"It's good news, meaning we can catch him." Lu Jianchuan said. "It's just we don't know exactly where he is right now. But according to that right-hand man's account, he's the most promising candidate to inherit Prometheus and rebuild the organization."

He flipped a page of the file.

"Of course, if he really intends to rebuild, we should be able to notice the commotion. Regardless, my current goal is to catch him, or at least find his trail. As long as he's still in this city, it should be relatively easy to find him."

Ye Ouyang listened and nodded firmly.

"Good!" he said. "Once my Transformation Device is finished, I'll definitely go with you. Make sure to call me when the time comes!"

Lu Jianchuan looked at him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"If you've finished it by then..." He closed the file. "Alright, I need to go find my other two friends now. Goodbye."

He waved at Ye Ouyang and turned to walk towards the other end of the hallway.

Ye Ouyang stood in place and also raised his hand to wave.

"Goodbye!"