Messing With Her? Are You Crazy! novel Chapter 1177

The Old Man lifted his gourd and took a swig, his voice heavy. "Now that this thing has seen the light of day, your peaceful days are officially over."

Serena glanced down at the box, then looked back up at him. "Old Man, do you know what's inside?"

He didn't answer.

Walking over to the stone stool, he sat down and took another gulp of alcohol. "Tell me. What exactly did you run into on that private island?"

Serena hid nothing. She gave him a full account of her recent encounters with the Obsidian Sun and everything that had transpired on the island.

The Old Man listened, tossing back drink after drink.

When she finished, a heavy silence lingered. "Old Man," she finally asked. "Did Grandma Aria have a history with the Obsidian Sun?"

The Old Man remained silent.

Serena pressed further. "Was her death connected to them?"

The Old Man's expression darkened.

He stayed quiet for a long time.

The mountain breeze swept through the Ancient Oak, its leaves rustling softly.

After an eternity, he set his gourd aside and looked at her. "Us old fossils... none of us ever wanted you to have anything to do with the Obsidian Sun."

His gaze grew sorrowful. "Aria never wanted you to open that box either."

"But she also knew this day was inevitable."

"She dreaded the day you would open it, yet she hoped you would do it sooner rather than later."

"Because what's inside... holds the entire future of Elyndor."

"But Aria... your grandmother's genius in cellular restructuring and neural engineering was unparalleled. You wouldn't find a second mind like hers in Elyndor, let alone the rest of the world."

"Which is exactly why the Obsidian Sun targeted her."

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes in pain. "Thirty years ago, there was a mole in the Elyndor National Lab. A spy planted by the Obsidian Sun, right by Aria's side."

"They found out your grandmother had achieved a major breakthrough. If that research fell into their hands, they could hyper-advance their modification technology. They'd be able to churn out even more of those... Obsidian Augments."

Remembering the carnage, his voice turned rough. "To steal her work, the Obsidian Sun unleashed a massive swarm of Augments and ambushed the National Lab."

"Back then, their Augments were just flawed prototypes, but they were still lightyears beyond regular humans."

"Those prototypes were like mutated zombies. They didn't feel pain. You could blast them across the room, and they'd just crawl back up. Blow off an arm, and they'd try to tear your throat out with their teeth. They just kept coming, wave after wave..."

"The casualties were catastrophic. Over half of our elite forces at the lab were wiped out."