Chapter 157: Number One Arrives for an Inspection!

Soon, Irwin was only a kilometer away from the territory of Mi. At this moment, Hades's robots seemed to be preparing to retreat. Seeing this unusual movement, Dell seemed to have guessed that reinforcements led by Irwin had arrived.

Not wanting to let Hades escape so easily, Hades, realizing that a full retreat was impossible, left behind a small contingent to cover the main force's withdrawal. The robots left behind were essentially sent to their deaths. However, sacrificing them to secure the survival of the main force was deemed worthwhile. Under such critical circumstances, anyone would resort to cutting off a limb to save the body. After destroying these remaining robots, Dell realized he could no longer catch up to Hades. Just as he was preparing to lead his troops back, he ran into Irwin!

"Brother Irwin, you are a bit late. Hades has already been beaten away by me!"

"Ah, he got away again! How is the Commander-in-Chief? Is he alright?"

Irwin felt a tinge of regret upon learning that Hades had escaped. The reason he had rushed over to reinforce them was to completely annihilate Hades's forces and avenge the fallen soldiers of North Sand, though Hades's escape was within his expectations.

"The Commander-in-Chief is fine, just suffering from severe physical exhaustion. He is resting in the city now!"

Hearing that Chu Xiao was safe, Irwin felt relieved. The two men led their troops back to Mi to rendezvous with Chu Xiao. Upon arrival, they saw Chu Xiao sitting cross-legged against a wall, looking as though he lacked even the strength to stand up!

"Now that the battle is over, let's head back. I still need to report to Number One!"

Chu Xiao looked at the representatives of the three nations feebly. At this moment, even speaking required a tremendous amount of effort on his part. Yuan Rui and Lawrence were in no better shape than Chu Xiao, not to mention the soldiers who had just emerged from the fierce battle.

Dell and Irwin's men escorted Chu Xiao and the others toward Kyushu. As soon as they reached the city gates, they saw Wang Lulu waiting for Chu Xiao. Seeing that Chu Xiao was being carried back, her emotions instantly surged. Fearing that Chu Xiao had been injured once again, she panicked and rushed over, her steps quickening into a frantic run. By this time, however, Chu Xiao was already fast asleep from sheer exhaustion!

"Brother Xiao! Brother Xiao, what happened to you? Where are you hurt?"

"Miss Wang, please rest assured. The Commander-in-Chief is completely fine; he is just overly exhausted and has fallen asleep!"

Hearing Dell's explanation, Wang Lulu calmed down. She instructed the soldiers to carry Chu Xiao into the villa, lay him gently on the bed so he could sleep in peace, removed his shoes, tucked him in, and closed the door to let him rest properly.

***

Chu Xiao slept for a full twenty-four hours. Waking up the next morning and finding himself in his own room, he felt quite puzzled as to how he had gotten back, feeling much like someone who had drunkenly blacked out and forgotten everything that happened the previous day.

Chu Xiao got up, put on his shoes, and walked downstairs. Wang Lulu had already prepared breakfast and was waiting for him. Seeing Chu Xiao descend the stairs, she walked toward him with a joyful expression.

"Brother Xiao, you're finally awake! You scared me to death. When I saw them carrying you back, I thought you were injured again!"

"Don't worry, Lulu, I'm fine. I just feel extremely fatigued right now, without an ounce of strength in my body!"

Chu Xiao smiled and patted Wang Lulu's head, then joined her for breakfast. Afterward, he briefly said goodbye to Wang Lulu and headed out.

He arrived at Ren Boyuan's laboratory and found him busy conducting genetic transformations for the soldiers. Seeing Ren Boyuan's pale complexion, Chu Xiao could sense how utterly exhausted the scientist was.

Ren Boyuan had not closed his eyes in sleep for days and nights. Every day, he split his time between researching the skill selector and performing genetic transformations for the soldiers. Now, he was working with heavy dark circles under his eyes!

"Dr. Ren, you should go back and get a couple of days of good rest. The soldiers have basically completed their transformations now; you don't need to push yourself this hard!"

Chu Xiao urged Ren Boyuan to take a break, knowing that he was Kyushu's most authoritative weapons expert. If he collapsed from exhaustion, future weapons research would become exceedingly difficult!

"It's fine. It's only been a few days without sleep, I can still hold on. I want to leave the best weapons for you all. You are the ones doing the hardest work; all I need to do is assist you as much as possible!"

Ren Boyuan possessed a deeply patriotic heart. Although he could not fight alongside Chu Xiao on the battlefield, he could serve in the rear, developing weapons and equipment of immense destructive power for them!

Shortly after, Ren Boyuan brought out the upgraded skill selector and fitted it onto Chu Xiao. This version fully incorporated Chu Xiao's suggestions, capable of autonomously selecting skills during critical moments. Additionally, a voice function had been added; the upgraded skill descriptions would be read aloud, eliminating the need to spend time reading them carefully—this was undoubtedly wonderful news!

Looking at the skill selector, Chu Xiao anticipated what kind of skills would be selected during the next upgrade. He glanced again at the red grid on the level table; although he had leveled up during the previous battle, the progress bar had only inched up a tiny bit after the upgrade.

He had no idea when the next upgrade would occur. Chu Xiao sighed, though he was not discouraged. Instead, he prepared to train even harder in the days to come, so as to be able to endure even greater spiritual power in the future!

***

Afterward, Chu Xiao left the laboratory to train the soldiers alongside the representatives of the three nations. The next day, Ren Boyuan called Chu Xiao to inform him that all the soldiers in Pearl City had completed their transformations. He instructed Chu Xiao to arrange for the soldiers from Yanjing to come over in batches to undergo the transformation.

Chu Xiao immediately dialed Number One's phone number and reported the good news. Number One promptly arranged for the first batch of soldiers to rush to Yanjing City!

Soon, the first batch of soldiers arrived in Pearl City. Number One also came along to inspect the situation firsthand, deeply curious about what this magical fruit looked like. Even more fascinating to him were the changes that the mutated soldiers would undergo. In truth, Number One had wanted to come and see for himself long ago, but being constantly occupied with affairs of state, he simply had not found the time to visit Pearl City!

Seeing Number One arrive, Chu Xiao stepped forward to welcome him and provided a detailed report of everything that had transpired during this period. The two of them then walked into Ren Boyuan's laboratory.

Witnessing the intense pain the soldiers endured during the genetic transformation process, Number One felt a pang of sympathy. Yet, this was an inevitable path that every transforming soldier had to traverse—and that naturally included Chu Xiao!

When a person's genes are forcibly altered, severe pain is bound to occur. However, in the wake of this agony comes formidable strength, and this strength is precisely what is required to withstand the immense energy of spiritual power.

This was the only viable method currently available to counter Hades. Observing Ren Boyuan's slightly frail physique and the dark circles framing his eyes, Number One then looked at the successfully transformed soldiers, whose bodies appeared exceptionally robust and powerful.

Witnessing these soldiers harness infinite strength after enduring such torment, Number One noted that ever since the successful genetic transformations, not only had their bodies become immensely strong, but instances of illness among them had also become exceedingly rare.

"Chief Number One, why didn't you give me a heads-up so I could come out to receive you?"

Seeing Number One's arrival, Ren Boyuan paused his work, came over to brief him simply, and invited Number One to tour the soldiers who had already undergone genetic transformation.