The gaunt man gave a bitter smile, his face full of resentment.

"Kill her! Otherwise, we'll all die!"

The other two ancient clansmen, knowing they were doomed, roared madly, attempting a suicidal attack.

However, Zhou Huai had no intention of giving them a chance to show their courage.

Just as they were about to unleash their final potential, the alien parasites inside their bodies frantically sucked away their energy.

"Ugh—!"

The screams echoed through the sky.

The three people were strangely huddled at the bottom of the pit, and thin, worm-like shadows could even be seen rapidly moving across their skin.

Natsume Rinzo watched them quietly, his face expressionless.

She was once like that, struggling in pain and despair.

However, she encountered her master.

These people are the Lord's prey.

"Take care of them!"

The city guard leader finally reacted. Although he was intimidated by Natsume Rin's aura, he was eager to make a contribution and drew his short sword, intending to lead his men to rush up and finish her off.

In his view, these monsters were already useless, and killing them now would be a great achievement.

However, a hand covered in black magical energy blocked his path.

Natsume Rin turned her head and looked at him.

"My Lady Goddess?"

The leader's hand holding the sword froze, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

This is the current symbol of the Divine Dynasty, the sole representative of that divine ruler.

He, the city guard commander who had only been in office for less than two days, was imposing in front of ordinary people, but in front of Natsume Rinko, his status was even lower than that of a slightly higher-ranking ant.

"The master said to spare their lives."

Natsume Rin's words are concise and to the point.

"Understood, understood!"

He swallowed hard, waved to the soldiers behind him, his voice shrill with fear: "What are you all standing there for?! Arrest him! Quickly! Use the heaviest anti-magic chains, plus three layers of specially made alloy cages!"

"Sir, what if these monsters suddenly attack again?" The adjutant's voice trembled, and his hand holding the gun shook.

"Useless trash!" the general cursed. "With the Goddess and the Insect Emperor in charge, what can they possibly do? Hurry up! If anything goes wrong, none of us will survive!"

The soldiers, as if waking from a dream, rushed forward tremblingly and carefully dragged the three awakened individuals, whose auras were extremely weak, into a specially made prison cart.

Zhou Huai watched as the notification of experience points being credited to Caesar's account in the system blurred into an afterimage.

【Ding! Your alien parasite is absorbing energy, experience points +12000!】

【Ding! Your alien parasite is absorbing energy, experience points +15500!】

【Ding! Experience points +11000...】

"This feeling... it's been a long time since I've felt this way." Zhou Huai smiled. "Most of the clones were wiped out, but the quality of these power banks is astonishing."

He looked at Caesar's level and experience bar.

After the battle where he killed Kujo Naruya, he witnessed the power of an SSS-class professional, but also got a taste of its appetite.

Under normal circumstances, the experience points required for an SSS-level professional to level up are several times, or even ten times, that of an SS-level professional of the same level! If it were any other SS-level professional, after absorbing the massive amount of energy throughout the day, they would have already broken through the level 50 mark and entered the advanced ranks.

But what's the result? Caesar hasn't even reached level 30 yet.

“The more overpowered a profession is, the more bottomless the drain on resources it becomes,” Zhou Huai muttered to himself. “But now... I’ve finally found a way to level up Caesar quickly.”

He issued the highest order.

The information worms scattered in every corner of Tokyo and in every sewer have transformed into an invisible net and are beginning to tighten.

"Now that we've been exposed, let's clear the area completely."

Within an hour, the feedback from the information bug came one after another.

"Found it, the fourth one, hidden in a VIP ward of Tokyo National Hospital, possessing the body of a dying old man?"

"The fifth one, in an underground boxing ring in Shinjuku? Tsk, no wonder their fighting spirit is so strong."

Zhou Huai, controlling Caesar, transformed into a phantom shadow on the streets of Tokyo late at night, locking onto and bringing back the two escapees.

Thus, in Tokyo alone, he captured a total of five ancient clans.

This is far from over.

That evening, Zhou Huai mobilized all the information insects within the insect swarm, spreading them to major cities throughout the Cherry Blossom Kingdom.

Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka...

Zhou Huai could not escape the perception of any unusual energy fluctuations in the shadows.

In just one night, the number of ancient clansmen he had searched out from the crowd reached 21.

They were secretly transported to this underground base.

This place became Zhou Huai's exclusive breeding farm.

As the numbers increased, a massive amount of experience points transformed into a surging torrent, flowing into Caesar's body!

【Ding! Your clone, Insect Emperor Caesar, has leveled up! Current level: LV29!】

【Ding! Experience points overflowed, level up! Current level: LV30!】

"good!"

Zhou Huai stood up from the sofa; the speed of this upgrade was so fast it made his scalp tingle.

It's important to know that after reaching level 30, each level requires a massive amount of accumulation, but he completed the leap in just one day.

Feeling the renewed vitality and power within Caesar's body, Zhou Huai had an impulse—if it weren't for the need to keep these guys alive and use them as bait to lure out Mr. Duan, he really wanted to unleash the alien parasites at maximum suction power and drain all the energy from these 21 old monsters! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"In that case, Caesar's level will be at least 35, just shy of the level 40 threshold..."

But he quickly suppressed the thought.

"Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs is something only a fool would do. We can achieve sustainable development by taking things slowly and steadily."

Zhou Huai sat back down on the sofa, his fingers lightly tapping his knees, but his thoughts drifted to faraway places.

"After being ravaged by the Great Xia, the tiny land of Sakura Country has actually given rise to more than 20 ancient clans. So, within the now vast territory of the Great Xia, where the spiritual energy is even more abundant... the number of awakened beings will be terrifying."

Once those old monsters have fully adapted to their modern bodies, mastered their current professional skills, and combined with their cross-version combat experience...

This world is truly about to witness a massive version-wide free-for-all.

Just as he was pondering this question, he heard hurried footsteps outside the base.

"Knock knock knock!"

The door was gently pushed open, and a subordinate dressed in black from the Divine Dynasty, wearing a liaison badge of the Great Xia military on his chest, walked in.

His expression was respectful yet anxious. Upon seeing Caesar, he knelt on one knee and said in a deep voice, "Lord of the Ever-Changing Stars, Marshal Zhao has urgent business with you. Please make sure to establish a remote communication connection or come to the command post in person."

"Marshal Zhao?"

"Did the Marshal say what it was about?" Caesar asked.

The liaison officer pursed his lips and whispered, "The Marshal only said one sentence—'There's a huge mess inside the Great Xia.'"

Zhou Huai remained silent.

Although I had a premonition, it seems that what I was worried about still happened.