The bespectacled man remained silent for a while. "The higher-ups want you to make contact with Huo Lingling. Your identity is special—once you get close to Huo Lingling, it'll be easy to extract information from Li Xuan."

"Didn't they go see Li Xuan themselves?"

"They did. Li Xuan refused to join the base. He's just temporarily staying here and will leave after some time. The base personnel don't want to make an enemy of Li Xuan, so they haven't forcibly expelled him," the bespectacled man explained.

Huo Shuangshuang scoffed. "Don't want to make an enemy of Li Xuan? More like they can't defeat him. I've long heard that the Prehistoric Colossus has absorbed many supernatural characteristics, leading the evolutionary path with incredibly powerful strength that can withstand rocket attacks. Our entire base only has a few rocket launchers."

The bespectacled man defended, "No matter how strong his transformation ability is, his original body is just an ordinary person. A simple handgun could quietly eliminate him."

"Where do you think Huo Lingling is placed? She follows Li Xuan around all day—do you think she's some kind of plaster monkey?" Huo Shuangshuang retorted.

Given Huo Lingling's current demonstrated combat power protecting Li Xuan daily, ordinary people would find it difficult to assassinate Li Xuan even with guns.

If the assassination succeeded, how would the base face the enraged Huo Lingling?

Huo Lingling might not be able to slaughter through R City base in one breath, but she's fast and powerful. She could kill a batch of people, escape, rest, then return to kill another batch. Within a few days, R City would be slaughtered through by Huo Lingling, with none of the higher-ups escaping.

The atmosphere remained quiet for a long time.

Huo Shuangshuang wiped away her tears, her expression returning to normal as she suppressed her sorrow deep within.

"Speak. What information do the higher-ups want me to gather?"

"Whether he knows about the subsequent extreme weather changes, if darkness will descend again, when it might descend, what Li Xuan is pursuing, and what methods could make Li Xuan stay and join the base," the bespectacled man stated.

Huo Shuangshuang pushed the bespectacled man aside and walked outside. "Understood. I'm not sure how much I can find out."

"Try to gather as much as possible," the bespectacled man urged.

Huo Shuangshuang said irritably, "Do you really need to state the obvious?"

Ten minutes later

Huo Lingling was walking the crocodile when she suddenly heard a clear voice.

"Lingling."

Huo Lingling looked up and saw Huo Shuangshuang, whose appearance bore some resemblance to hers. She immediately recognized the other's identity.

"I thought you wouldn't appear."

"No matter what, you're my sister," Huo Shuangshuang said with complex emotions, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

Huo Lingling remained calm. She had no memories of her sister, so naturally she felt no resonance.

"You know I'm not your real sister anymore."

"You noticed?"

"It's too obvious. If I were the real Huo Lingling, you'd call me 'little sister' and hug me, not stand there talking to me."

Huo Shuangshuang forced a smile. "Your learning speed is really fast."

Huo Lingling pointed to her head. "My intelligence is basically the same as your sister's intelligence. You should know very well how smart your sister was."

She picked up the small crocodile and signaled for Huo Shuangshuang to follow her inside.

After entering the room, Huo Shuangshuang first observed the space. Seeing two beds, she inexplicably felt relieved.

What happened next nearly stunned Huo Shuangshuang—three miniature versions of Huo Lingling jumped out from the larger Huo Lingling's shadow.

"This... is your ability?"

"The effect of combining the Splitting Characteristic and Illusion Characteristic," Huo Lingling explained simply.

"With so many abilities, I feel relieved," Huo Shuangshuang said.

Huo Lingling didn't expose Huo Shuangshuang's true intentions. "Why did you come find me? Speak directly."

Huo Shuangshuang instinctively glanced at Li Xuan in the room. After a moment's hesitation, she chose honesty.

"The higher-ups sent me to gather intelligence, and I also wanted to see you in person."

Li Xuan's expression remained calm. "When I took Lingling away back then, making you search for a year, I didn't consider things thoroughly. Whatever information you want to know, if I'm aware of it, I can share it with you."

Huo Shuangshuang bit her lip. Before learning the truth, she had hated Li Xuan intensely, considering him a scoundrel who stole her sister and a lecherous villain.

After learning the truth, she instead felt grateful that Li Xuan had taken Huo Lingling.

If Li Xuan hadn't abducted Huo Lingling, and she discovered the truth afterward, could she calmly accept that her sister had become an imposter?

How would she treat Huo Lingling? Could Huo Lingling truly live well with her?

She didn't know.

But she knew Huo Lingling had followed Li Xuan and lived well—not lacking food, with fair skin, having absorbed many supernatural characteristics, becoming like a little superhuman who alone could intimidate the entire base.

"After the heavy snow and darkness pass, what kind of extreme weather will come?"

Li Xuan had long anticipated this question and directly stated, "There won't be any extreme weather."

"Will darkness descend again in the future? Can ordinary survivors obtain transformation abilities?"

"Not clear. I suspect they cannot."

Huo Shuangshuang said sarcastically, "The higher-ups who collected dinosaur bones must have quite interesting expressions upon hearing this news."

"I have one last question."

"What question?" Li Xuan asked.

Huo Shuangshuang took a deep breath and said seriously, "Is Huo Lingling happy?"

"I'm happy!" the four Huo Linglings answered in unison, speaking first.

Huo Shuangshuang smiled, this time not forced. "If she's with you, I feel relieved. If you have children and I'm not dead by then, please notify me. I'd like to see my sister's child."

The Huo Lingling before her wasn't her sister, but Huo Lingling and Li Xuan's child would be her sister's child.

"Children? It's the apocalypse now—the mortality rate for childbirth is very high!" Huo Lingling said.

Huo Shuangshuang took out a wooden box from her chest. "Consider this my advance New Year's money for the child."

The wooden box opened to reveal three pieces of rotting flesh wrapped around three supernatural characteristics.

After speaking, Huo Shuangshuang stood up, preparing to leave.

Li Xuan looked at the wooden box and suddenly spoke. "Prepare some Xia Country currency, as much as possible. It will be useful, but don't be too greedy. Remember to look back."

Huo Shuangshuang's body paused for a moment as she firmly memorized Li Xuan's words, then her figure disappeared from the room.

Li Xuan pushed the wooden box toward Huo Lingling. "She gave this gift to you. Absorb it."

"It was clearly a gift for our child. Let's split it half and half." Huo Lingling took out a small knife, cut open the rotting flesh, revealing the supernatural characteristics inside.

Huo Lingling and Li Xuan's pupils sharply contracted, while Yun Xiuzhi directly started swearing in national vernacular.

"Fusion Characteristic!"

Among the three supernatural characteristics, one was clearly an advanced characteristic! Fusion!

The most valuable characteristic Li Xuan had ever obtained!

Since accidentally obtaining the Fusion Characteristic last time, he had been intentionally searching for a second Fusion Characteristic but found no results.

Advanced characteristics were already rare to begin with, and the Fusion Characteristic was an extremely rare type even among advanced characteristics.

Though called fusion, describing it as plunder and devour would be more appropriate.