Chapter 68: Surprised? This is the true final goal of mine, Jojo!

As soon as the aerial base returned to normal, Qiao Zhe’s video call came through. “Is the aerial base alright?”

“It just recovered,” Stone Chamber replied, stepping to the main screen and relaying the situation. “Geo Base is under invasion. Atsuko is purging the virus through the link.”

“But Crysis is relentless—it seems determined to breach Geo Base.”

Fortunately, thanks to Qiao Zhe’s prior arrangements, they could defend so quickly.

“Evacuate the personnel from Geo Base!” Qiao Zhe and Meng walked out of the research institute, heading swiftly toward Unit EX. “Let Crysis invade Geo Base!”

“Why?” Staff Officer Chiba was startled by this command.

Currently, Geo Base held fragments of the metal lifeform. Qiao Zhe clearly understood Crysis’s intent.

“It wants a physical body to act!”

His reason for letting Agul thrash Crysis was precisely for this moment.

“If the enemy remains in the international network, we can’t fully root it out. It’s better to let it invade Geo Base.”

“From my observations, only the metal lifeform fragments are suitable to host Crysis.”

“I see.” Stone Chamber grasped Qiao Zhe’s explanation, enlightenment dawning in his heart. “A clever move—luring the snake from its hole.”

“Atsuko, gradually let Crysis gain the upper hand—don’t let it suspect anything.”

“Joji, contact Director Higuchi at once and have Geo Base personnel evacuate!”

With Stone Chamber’s orders issued, Atsuko slowed her efforts, and Joji relayed the command to Geo Base.

Sincerity Tsutsumi followed Qiao Zhe’s earlier arrangement, preparing Lightning Team for action.

But as he left the command room, the Dragon Team caught up. “Please let us deploy. Our combat ability is very strong!”

Ye Hui, Daocheng, and Shuli—three young women, ready for battle.

Ye Hui’s appearance was reminiscent of Mayumi from Tiga.

As the team leader, Daocheng led her two teammates alongside Sincerity Tsutsumi.

Now, Lightning Team and Falcon Team had both executed missions. Only Dragon Team was still training.

Especially Lightning Team—they were always dispatched against invading enemies.

The three members of Dragon Team wished to protect Earth; though eager to deploy, Daocheng and her teammates didn’t hinder Tsutsumi, merely following beside him.

“No.” Tsutsumi strode toward Peace Unit, rejecting Daocheng’s request without hesitation. “Lightning Team will deploy this time.”

He recalled Qiao Zhe’s advice, halting to face Daocheng and her team.

“Next time. The enemy appears more frequently; next time it’ll be your turn. For now, that’s all.”

“Yes!” Daocheng and her teammates snapped to attention and saluted, dropping the topic.

After he left, Ye Hui couldn’t help but exclaim excitedly, “Wonderful, Captain! We’ll get to deploy too!”

“I never thought we’d actually get approved this time,” Shuli echoed, delighted.

With Tsutsumi gone, Daocheng put her hands on her hips. “That chauvinist Director Tsutsumi—come, let’s keep studying the fighter jets. Next time, we’ll surprise him!”

After every drill, Daocheng always applied for Dragon Team to confront monsters.

Tsutsumi always praised their training results, yet never let Dragon Team deploy.

Daocheng approached him this time because Atsuko had told her someone suggested their team, so she decided to try her luck.

That person was named Qiao Zhe—like the newly joined Meng at XIG, a genius scientist.

That’s what everyone thought; Daocheng instinctively believed it too.

Qiao Zhe’s scientist identity grew ever more convincing.

Who could have guessed it was a lie fabricated by Meng in the beginning?

Actually, Tsutsumi’s reluctance to deploy Dragon Team stemmed not just from a touch of chauvinism, but deeper considerations.

Dragon Team performed well in training, and their teamwork was solid, but they had one flaw—their approach was somewhat reckless.

Piloting fighters demanded constant composure to handle emergencies.

Tsutsumi hesitated to send Dragon Team because he wasn’t confident they wouldn’t cause casualties; he wanted them to train longer before considering deployment.

Now that he couldn’t suppress their eagerness, he decided to give them a chance and observe their performance.

Peace Unit and Lightning Team launched.

Three fighters shot from the aerial base, with Peace Unit following, racing toward Geo Base.

At this point, the personnel of Geo Base had completely evacuated the area.

With Atsuko gradually easing her defense, Crysis seized control of the F4 laboratory.

Crysis noticed nothing amiss, heading directly for the fragment storage of the metal lifeform.

Blue currents surged and spread, sealed storage compartments exploding into sparks.

Compared to the original TV, only fragments of Apatite were here, but Crysis acquired much more data.

There was mostly Gaia’s data, analyzed by Meng himself.

Jojo’s data was saved as well, though only in smaller portions—because Jojo always resolved battles swiftly, leaving too little time for observation.

Yet even a small amount, combined with Gaia’s data, was exponentially more potent.

Most crucial were Jojo’s forty Mach speed and exceptional physical defense, both analyzed by Meng.

A mass of metal lifeform fragments, possessed by Crysis, emitted a white glow.

Soon, the fragments liquefied, flowing from the storage to merge, forming a huge sphere.

Geo Base had also collected copious monster corpse fragments from two other beasts, which the expanding sphere of metal liquid now devoured.

These were the remains of Gob and Gil.

When Gaia destroyed them, he used the “dumb-hair photon blade,” blowing the monsters into a pile of fragments that were naturally reclaimed.

But now, Crysis consumed them all.

Lightning Team and Peace Unit arrived at Geo Base just as a pillar of white light soared into the sky!

It seemed to Crysis that Jojo’s power was more formidable, so it took Jojo’s form as primary, Gaia’s as secondary.

EX Unit arrived at the scene too. In the gaze of Qiao Zhe and Meng, a silver-white radiance suddenly bloomed!

A tall silver giant’s body took shape, a Y-shaped red energy core on its chest, black stripes at the joints, suspended in midair.

The figure was unmistakably Jojo.

Now, Crysis should be called the Metal Lifeform Mimos!

Qiao Zhe stared at his own form reappearing, his fists tightening instantly.

“How does Geo Base have my data?”

The network world made sense—Crysis could easily plug in data, but this was reality.

With every battle so quick, how could Geo Base possibly record the data?

“Um,” Meng spoke up timidly, guilt on his face. “Actually, I analyzed your data myself.”

Qiao Zhe turned to Meng, his expression growing dangerous. “All that time repairing the Destruction Summoner, and I forgot to fix you!”