The explosion's shockwave dispersed the dust, allowing Lin Yuan to clearly see the center of the battlefield.
The Holy Mother had completely abandoned her human form, retaining only a human skull-like structure for her head. The part connecting to the ground was a mass of tissue resembling ancient tree roots.
Surprisingly, amidst these "roots" was an old computer monitor, identical to the one seen at the HSAC headquarters.
At that time, the monitor had stored Edgar's consciousness data. How had it appeared here now?
Perhaps Edgar hadn't told the Holy Mother anything, and this was all a drama she orchestrated herself.
Edgar at HSAC was merely her puppet. However, Lin Yuan and Carol Annana had destroyed the entire HSAC base, thwarting some of her objectives.
Considering the history between the Eternal Life Cult and HSAC, one could guess that her objective was to gain control of the entire council by controlling HSAC.
So, why was her son being captured?
Perhaps Lin Junhui possessed secrets that even his father didn't know.
Regardless, the priority was to stop the Holy Mother.
Dark mist was already appearing around her. Without a doubt, this mist consisted of countless insect eggs. Once they ascended into the air, they could spread to any part of the world through atmospheric circulation.
At that point, even if Lin Yuan and the others eliminated the leader of the Eternal Life Cult, these scattered eggs would turn into countless Hathaways.
This might be her definition of eternal life and her ultimate means of controlling the world.
Kong Cheng clearly understood this and directly ordered the surviving personnel to throw incendiary bombs.
The three team members who had been pierced by her tentacles were already reduced to dried husks, all their nutrients completely absorbed.
She was still toying with them, using them as snacks.
If it weren't for Andrea desperately holding Hathaway back, they would have been wiped out by the wildly thrashing tentacles.
"Mengyue, you should go up. This thing has mutated again, and it will be very dangerous down here. I'll cover you."
She had expected Wu Tian to obey and go up. After all, the situation was beyond what reinforcements could solve. One of them had to survive to take care of their child.
To her surprise, Wu Tian shook her head and said, "I can feel that the serum Andrea gave me is crucial, perhaps key to dealing with the Holy Mother. Xiao Yuan, it's your turn to rest for a while."
Hearing Wu Tian call her so intimately, Lin Yuan knew she was very serious.
"But Andrea is occupied. How will you do it?"
Wu Tian didn't answer him, merely looking at the unconscious Wang Xiaoxin.
"It all depends on whether Xiaoxin can wake up now."
As soon as she finished speaking, Wang Xiaoxin's serene expression suddenly contorted, as if she were having a nightmare.
Her expression shifted constantly, and after two minutes, it gradually returned to peace.
Meanwhile, Andrea was showing signs of fatigue. If not for the rescue team providing suppressive fire, she would have already been at a disadvantage.
Watching her daughter attack her madly, Hathaway simply retaliated with a blank expression, spending more time resisting the metal storm from the cliff. The machine-gun fire caused her significant trouble.
"Damn bugs!"
Feeling that she had become one with something, Hathaway cursed fiercely.
"Buzz—"
The computer beneath her suddenly emitted a dazzling blue light.
A pale blue shockwave spread outwards from her center.
Those who came into contact with this ripple collapsed to the ground, their life or death unknown.
Electromagnetic pulse?
What was happening? This art style shouldn't be flesh and blood plus biological evolution!
Lin Yuan only realized the truth when he thought about it. No, why was he fine?
He turned his head to see Wang Xiaoxin floating in the air, her blood-red wings gently flapping, shielding both Lin Yuan and Wu Tian.
"Old Wang? You're awake?!! How do you feel?"
Wang Xiaoxin rolled her eyes and said, "Not great. It was like having a hundred nightmares; I was terrified."
After her complaint, Wang Xiaoxin looked at Wu Tian. Ignoring Lin Yuan's presence, she extended a tentacle and cut Wu Tian's wrist.
Blood gushed out.
However, it didn't all drip to the ground. Wang Xiaoxin absorbed some of it. Wu Tian didn't resist, knowing this was the serum Andrea had injected, and the final battle was about to commence.
Lin Yuan watched, stunned.
He still couldn't imagine what Wu Tian had gone through after getting on the plane.
The entire absorption process took over ten seconds.
Wu Tian, due to significant blood loss, needed Lin Yuan's support.
The serum absorbed by Wang Xiaoxin had now integrated into her wings, and red marks from the serum's erosion appeared on her face.
"You take Sister Wu Tian and go up first. Andrea and I will join you after we finish here."
Lin Yuan didn't hesitate. He nodded and carried Wu Tian upwards.
He didn't even spare a glance for Kong Cheng.
However, Wu Tian was still a "hostage," so no one could fault Lin Yuan on principle.
Wang Xiaoxin, left behind, closed her eyes and carefully felt the power from Andrea's final trump card.
But she knew this feeling was an illusion. Over time, she would be overwhelmed by the serum's power and die in agony.
"Don't panic, sister, I'm coming to save you! Elsa, your death day has arrived!"
With a flap of her wings, Wang Xiaoxin charged into the battlefield.
Her back wings transformed into sharp spikes, stabbing fiercely at Hathaway, or rather, Elsa now.
Wang Xiaoxin and Andrea had seen through her soul; it was all the doing of Hathaway's sister, Elsa!
However, without suppressive fire, Elsa easily blocked Wang Xiaoxin's attack.
"Oh, my dear daughter, what's going on? Why do you want to fight Mom?"
Even now, Elsa was still mockingly laughing at Andrea and Wang Xiaoxin.
"Enough, old hag! You're just a pathetic, insecure wretch! You couldn't defeat the council, so you're dragging your own sister's family down with you. You still haven't even seen a shadow of the council, and this is it? I think your damned plans are a joke!"
"Shut up! You filthy invader! You are not Amy at all! And you don't understand how great my plan is! Everything my sister did was just a necessary sacrifice! I am for world peace! For everyone to be equal!!!"
This statement struck a raw nerve. Elsa stopped concealing her intentions and loudly explained her plight.
However, these words made Andrea lose her composure and attack frantically.
Elsa was unable to fend her off for a moment.
"Rat-tat-tat!"
The roar of machine guns echoed from the cliff again. This made Elsa's defense even more chaotic.
Her defense against Wang Xiaoxin became perfunctory, and the hardness of her tentacle exoskeleton plummeted.
Wang Xiaoxin, of course, seized such a golden opportunity. Her tentacles pierced through Elsa's defenses, injecting the serum into her body.
"What did you do?!"
Feeling an alien power rampaging within her, Elsa panicked. She hadn't fully merged all the monsters yet and couldn't handle this power.