Chapter 399 The Tables Turn

At the same time, somewhere in the secondary dimension world, Hai Li’an was cruising around, choosing a new target.

Soon, she arrived at a bright blue liquid world, released the serpenticide toxin, watched it dissolve into the liquid, and let her thoughts drift while she worked.

"I wonder if the toxin I planted before has worked…"

Hai Li’an muttered to herself.

She could only poison places everywhere but dared not go back to check because once the Hub Serpent was poisoned, Black Star would definitely be lying in wait near the scene. If she went there, who knew what risks she might face.

The only way to determine if the plan was successful was to judge the state of the Hub Serpent based on the Mother Tree’s perception. If the Mother Tree’s perception of the Hub Serpent weakened or even disappeared, it would mean that the Hub Serpent was dead. In that case, she would not need to check which trap the Hub Serpent had fallen into.

So, Hai Li’an felt that her situation was still safe. She only needed to focus on setting traps. As long as the Mother Tree provided feedback, she could leave directly.

After adding the serpenticide to the azure secondary dimension in front of her, Hai Li’an was about to turn around and leave, but at that moment, the voice of the Ancestor Tree King suddenly came through the mind network, bringing good news.

"The Mother Tree’s perception of the Hub Serpent is rapidly decreasing. Your method should have succeeded."

"It really succeeded? So fast?! The probability was so low. I thought it would take at least a few years for the Hub Serpent to choose a secondary dimension where I had tampered…"

Hai Li’an’s eyes lit up, pleasantly surprised.

In her imagination, she might need to spend two or three years adding serpenticide to enough secondary dimensions for the Hub Serpent to have a higher chance of being poisoned. But now, the plan had only started for more than half a year, and not many secondary dimensions had been poisoned, but the Hub Serpent had been chosen so quickly. What kind of probability, what kind of luck was this?!

In less than a year, she had successfully resolved the World Tree’s biggest threat. It was a complete surprise!

The Ancestor Tree King was also in a good mood. He had asked Hai Li’an to carry out this mission with a long-term plan in mind, and he did not expect it to be so effective so quickly.

Don’t ask, just know that destiny is on our side!

This wave was definitely the Goddess of Luck blessing the World Tree!

"Come back. Once the Mother Tree confirms the death of the Hub Serpent, the position of Tree King will be yours."

"Okay, I’ll go back now!"

Hai Li’an suppressed her slightly excited emotions and was about to activate the teleportation gate to embark on her return journey.

However, just as she was full of excitement and preparing to return, the Ancestor Tree King suddenly exclaimed and interrupted her movement.

"Wait, the Mother Tree’s perception has changed…"

Hai Li’an was stunned. "What’s wrong?"

"The Mother Tree’s perception of the Hub Serpent has stopped weakening and has started to strengthen instead… Strange, this is too abnormal. What happened?" The Ancestor Tree King’s tone became serious.

The stronger the World Tree’s perception of the Hub Serpent, the more mature the Hub Serpent was. Now, it was just a general range of perception. Only in adulthood could they precisely locate each other.

But just now, after the Hub Serpent’s signal weakened for a while, it suddenly rose against the trend, quickly exceeding the previous limit and continuing to rise.

Hai Li’an stopped moving, also shocked.

"Why is this happening?!"

"You didn’t do anything extra, did you?"

The perception intensity was still rising, and the Ancestor Tree King felt something was wrong. His tone was filled with strong suspicion.

"Absolutely not! I have been focusing on setting traps. I didn’t even attack the three major civilization fleets when I happened to encounter them!"

Hai Li’an was anxious and almost swore an oath. She directly shared the relevant memories in the mind network.

The Ancestor Tree King quickly browsed through her experiences over the past half a year and found nothing abnormal. His expression was grave. "Then there is only one explanation. Black Star used some means to save the Hub Serpent and greatly accelerated its growth…"

Before he could finish speaking, the Mother Tree’s consciousness suddenly became manic, as if it felt a strong panic.

And the perception intensity of the Hub Serpent seemed to break through some kind of restriction. The large area of perception suddenly disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a precise coordinate!

The Ancestor Tree King’s eyes widened suddenly. His mood fluctuated greatly, and he instantly felt like he was in a weightless zone. His brain almost went blank in an instant.

The World Tree and the Hub Serpent’s perception was two-way. When the World Tree could precisely locate the Hub Serpent, it meant that the Hub Serpent had entered adulthood and could also locate the World Tree’s precise coordinates in reverse.

In that case… the location of the Mother Tree’s main body had been exposed!

If he wasn’t sure that the Mother Tree wouldn’t lie, he would even suspect that the toxin mixed by the Mother Tree was actually a catalyst for the Hub Serpent’s maturity.

For a moment, the Ancestor Tree King was a little confused.

I sent someone to assassinate the Hub Serpent. Even if it failed, it would only be the loss of a high-level combat force. But how could it instead have matured the Hub Serpent?

Not only did we not solve this threat, but we also greatly shortened the time for this hidden danger to erupt… We originally had decades to prepare, but now this buffer time is gone all of a sudden. We were ambushed without any psychological preparation.

What should we do?!

"How could this be…"

Hai Li’an was also stunned, standing there in a daze, questioning her life.

Just as the two of them had not recovered from their shock, a spatial rift suddenly opened in this secondary dimension, and Han Xiao stepped into the void and slowly walked out.

Han Xiao scanned his eyes around and quickly locked onto a direction that seemed to have nothing in it. In reality, it was where Hai Li’an was hiding. He smiled.

"Are you going to come out yourself, or should I ask you out?"

Hai Li’an’s heart trembled, and her expression changed drastically.

The continuous changes had already thrown her heart into chaos. She didn’t expect Black Star to find her so quickly, and with just a glance, he saw through the stealth effect of the Cloak of Invisibility and directly locked onto her location.

"Don’t hide. In front of my perception, you can’t escape."

Han Xiao did not wait. Mechanical particles flowed along his arm, turning into a circular device, releasing waves of invisible force fields toward Hai Li’an’s direction.

In the empty space, Hai Li’an’s figure suddenly appeared, rippling like water.

Seeing that her whereabouts had been exposed, Hai Li’an was shocked and hurriedly tried to open a teleportation gate to retreat.

But at this moment, Han Xiao raised his hand and grabbed. A mechanical disc rose from behind his head, like a halo, fixing the space and directly shattering her teleportation spell.

Then, thunder flashed, and a pile of Mechanical Deities surged out along with the mechanical force, surrounding Hai Li’an, but they did not attack immediately.

"Crap…"

Hai Li’an was desperate. The difference in strength was too great. She could not fight a Super-God alone. She clenched her teeth and resolved to fight to the death.

However, at this moment, the Ancestor Tree King’s shocked voice suddenly rang in the mind network.

"Wait a minute, why is the Mother Tree’s positioning of the Hub Serpent on Black Star?"

Hai Li’an was stunned and took a look. She was immediately shocked.

The Hub Serpent’s coordinates locked by the Mother Tree was actually the Black Star in front of her… What was going on?!

At this time, Han Xiao did not immediately attack. Instead, he looked at Hai Li’an with interest and said, "Your idea of plotting against the Hub Serpent is quite good, but it’s useless. I know you have a mind network that can connect with each other regardless of distance. Help me pass a message to the Ancestor Tree King. I already know the location of your World Tree’s main body. You have already lost this battle."

"What have you done…" Hai Li’an couldn’t help but ask.

"Are you referring to how I solved the genetic toxin you released?"

Han Xiao smiled and raised his palm. A semi-transparent snake-shaped figure appeared in his palm, writhing and coiling. It was the Hub Serpent that had been transformed into a virtual life.

After the Hub Serpent was transformed into a virtual life form, Han Xiao poured a large amount of data stream into it, nurturing and maturing it as an intelligent life.

The results made him very happy. His previous hypothesis was correct. The virtual life form of the Hub Serpent was free from the limitations of normal biological growth and could be rapidly matured in this way. Furthermore, the information state connection between the Hub Serpent and the World Tree did not disappear due to the change in the Hub Serpent’s life form. The two sides still had a two-way perception.

Han Xiao saw the World Tree’s assassination plan in 【The Bold Explorer】. He originally thought that he was just unlucky, but when he saw that Hai Li’an had a brief interaction with Harrison, he was a little unsure and had a bold guess.

Perhaps it was the effect of Harrison’s halo that allowed Hai Li’an to choose the Hub Serpent’s food, indirectly causing the Hub Serpent to be transformed into a virtual life by himself, mature in advance, and sense the coordinates of the World Tree… Although it sounded unlikely, Han Xiao felt that anything was possible for a protagonist-type character.

Because virtual life was the life form that Han Xiao controlled, he simply put the Hub Serpent into the God’s Main Fortress, turning it into a tool. In this way, even if the World Tree could reverse lock onto the Hub Serpent, the coordinates obtained would only be his location. Any tricks they wanted to play would be completely unavoidable.

Seeing this scene through the mind network, the Ancestor Tree King’s face instantly turned ashen, and he immediately understood the current situation.

… I’m afraid there will be no chance to eliminate the threat of the Hub Serpent…

At this moment, Han Xiao’s eyes narrowed, and he said to Hai Li’an:

"Although you came to assassinate the Hub Serpent, you helped me a lot. You can even be said to be a meritorious official of our three major civilizations. I’ll make an exception and give you a chance to live."

“… What are you going to do?”

"I will seal you up. Maybe you will have a chance to survive when we solve the World Tree. You have no way to escape now. Just obediently accept the seal and don’t make me work hard." Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.

"I…"

Hai Li’an’s tone was hesitant, as if she was struggling.

However, the next moment, she suddenly exploded and retreated sharply, throwing out a series of instant spells, blasting a path through the mechanical troops, trying to break through and escape.

But before she could make any further moves, the surrounding Mechanical Deities attacked together, instantly suppressing Hai Li’an. Han Xiao flashed close to Hai Li’an and grabbed her neck with one hand.

"It seems you won’t give up until you see the coffin."

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, suddenly exerted force, crushed her body protection spell, and threw her into the Mechanical Deity troop.

A fierce battle immediately broke out, but there was no suspense in the battle process. The one-sided crushing did not last long, and the desperate Hai Li’an was ravaged by a group of Mechanical Deities, almost paralyzed.

Seeing this, Han Xiao floated in front of her and pressed her head to activate his ability.

Before long, the Spacetime Amber was formed, freezing Hai Li’an’s tragic and humiliated expression.

"Congratulations, Master, for catching the culprit. As expected, nothing can be hidden from your eyes." Seeing this, You Zu said in a deep voice to congratulate him.

"Alright, you are not suitable for flattering. Go back."

Han Xiao waved his hand, feeling relieved.

If it wasn’t for the World Tree’s plot, he wouldn’t have been so quick to make up his mind to experiment on the Hub Serpent. The World Tree was lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet.

"Now that the coordinates have been obtained, let’s call Harrison back… Speaking of which, this wave seems to have benefited from his halo."

Han Xiao thought for a while and called the King of the Limitless to act as a relay station to contact Harrison.

Before long, Harrison’s remote projection appeared.

"Your Excellency Black Star, what can I do for you?"

"Don’t participate in the expedition anymore. Come back."

Harrison was a little surprised and said helplessly, "Ah? Didn’t we talk about this issue before? I remember you promised not to persuade me anymore. I have decided to dedicate myself to the intergalactic society…"

But before he could finish speaking, Han Xiao interrupted him and said with a smile:

"The situation is different now. The situation has changed. I have grasped the exact coordinates of the World Tree’s main body and no longer need an expeditionary force. You don’t need to go to the trouble of taking risks anymore."

Harrison was stunned, a little disbelieving, and said hesitantly, "Your Excellency Black Star, you are not deliberately lying to me to get me back, are you? How long has it been since you found the World Tree’s main body?"

Han Xiao smiled and said, "This time, thanks to your luck, if it wasn’t for you, I might not have been able to determine the location of the World Tree so quickly. So, strictly speaking, this credit is partly yours. You have already made a huge contribution to ending this war and can retire successfully… That’s the decision. I’ll teleport over later and bring you back."

After saying that, he hung up the communication.

On the other side, Harrison scratched his head, confused and bewildered.

Wait, what did I do? How did I make a huge contribution? Why don’t I know?!

…

(There’s more later)