Bolstered by Trailblaze, Wei Qing's party executed several more ultra-long-range jumps.
At last, a breathtaking planet—wrapped in emerald green and ocean blue—hung quietly in the center of their view.
"We're here," Elio's voice broke the silence of travel. "This is Vonwacq—the future 'World of Life.' Right now, it's Primeval Doctor's territory."
"Future World of Life?" Baiheng plastered herself against the viewport, staring at the lush, vibrant globe. Her fox ears flicked in confusion. "Sounds awesome. So how'd it become that 'Primeval Doctor' guy's laboratory?"
"No idea," Elio replied coolly. "Maybe he took a liking to the planet's vitality. The ecological cycle here is… unusual."
"Hmph. Doesn't matter!" Baiheng nearly bounced in place. "Since we're already here, we're not letting him keep doing whatever he wants!"
At first, when she'd heard their destination, she hadn't understood.
Elio had explained that this so-called Primeval Doctor was also trying to stop Finality.
If you framed it that way, he was practically a colleague—someone working toward the same end. So why were they coming to smash his place?
Back on the Luofu, she'd dealt with geniuses like Ruan Mei and Herta; she'd even come away with a pretty decent impression of the Genius Society.
Now the Stellaron Hunters were showing up to wreck someone's lab?
It sounded like interstellar bullying—straight-up thuggery.
At least, that's what Baiheng had thought at the beginning.
Then Elio told her what Primeval Doctor would go on to do.
And the key detail—the one that mattered most to Baiheng—was his feud with the Galaxy Rangers.
Even though Baiheng had left the Xianzhou, she still cared about her homeland.
More importantly, her best friend Jingliu had joined the Galaxy Rangers.
The thought that Jingliu might, at some point in the future, get turned back into a kid in the course of fighting Primeval Doctor…
Baiheng wanted to see it.
A lot.
But wanting to see it didn't mean she had no principles.
"According to the script I've seen," Elio said, perched on the console, "Primeval Doctor's main lab is underground in this rainforest. He uses Vonwacq's unique life-energy to conduct taboo experiments—among them an attempt to analyze and 'optimize' Harmony through atavistic reversion."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Baiheng cracked her knuckles, eyes gleaming. "We charge in, smash his lab, and scatter all his freaky experiments to the wind!"
She abruptly clapped her hands, gave Wei Qing a sly blink, and shoved him forward with enthusiasm.
"Then our strongest, most overpowered Navigator—Wei Qing—can lead the charge!"
Wei Qing stumbled a step, then looked back at her with weary disbelief. "Hey—did you just… push me like that was practice?"
"Competence equals workload," Baiheng declared, hands on hips, righteous as a judge. "You're a walking superweapon with a dozen Paths stuffed inside you. A mere Genius Society member is basically a side dish."
Wei Qing steadied himself and sighed. "I'll go alone."
"Huh?!" Baiheng froze. "Why? We traveled all this way to wreck his place! Let me come!"
Firefly stepped forward, worry plain in her voice. "Senior… Primeval Doctor is a Genius Society member. And an Emanator of Nous. Going alone is too dangerous."
Before Wei Qing could answer, Elio cut in first.
"Wei Qing is right. He should go alone."
"Why?!" Baiheng protested. "We can jump him together!"
"And if he gets hit and turns into a little brat," she added, narrowing her eyes at Wei Qing, "I'm not babysitting."
Wei Qing coughed pointedly. "Alright, enough. I'm not that weak. I just need you two to lock down the perimeter and make sure he can't escape."
Because to be blunt, Wei Qing didn't actually know how strong Primeval Doctor was right now.
But one thing was guaranteed:
As an Emanator of Nous, the man would have plenty of ways to survive.
Baiheng opened her mouth, prepared to argue—then swallowed the words.
"Fine. Fine. You have a point… but!" She jabbed a finger at him. "If you come out as a tiny bean—don't worry, I won't laugh for too long! Only a hundred years!"
"…Wow. I'm moved," Wei Qing deadpanned.
Deep underground, inside Vonwacq's primary facility, Primeval Doctor leaned over a cultivation tank containing twisted, pulsing organic tissue.
Countless tubes fed into the chamber, channeling Vonwacq's unique life-energy into the mass in a steady stream.
He pushed up his heavy glasses. Behind the lenses, his eyes burned with near-religious fervor.
"Soon… so close…"
"Just one more parameter adjustment… and I'll break through Harmony's genetic lock…"
Suddenly, alarms screamed. Red hazard lights washed the entire laboratory in blood.
Primeval Doctor frowned.
Someone was here?
How?
He'd used specialized concealment to hide Vonwacq itself. Why had his location still been exposed?
And his concealment wasn't some ordinary trick.
To crack it, you'd need an Emanator—or something uncomfortably close.
He snapped up the surface surveillance feed.
On the screen, a gray-haired young man hovered calmly atop the vast canopy—balanced on the branches of the colossal Cistern Tree.
Primeval Doctor's brows pulled tight.
He didn't recognize him.
As a member of the Genius Society, Primeval Doctor had made a habit of memorizing profiles on every known Emanator and major Path-walker.
But this man was completely outside his catalog.
Still, that alone didn't mean much. The universe was full of people who preferred masks and anonymity.
Primeval Doctor tamped down his irritation at being interrupted, and his posture shifted into wary courtesy.
"If we have a guest, we shouldn't be rude."
He straightened his lab coat and spoke into the channel, voice edged with caution.
"Let me see what sort of 'visitor' has arrived without invitation."
On the surface, Wei Qing looked down over Vonwacq's endless rainforest.
In the far future, this place would be praised as the Forest of Ten Thousand Trees, a treasure beyond price.
Even now, he could sense the energy fluctuations below—deep underground—marking the lab's location.
Harmony stirred faintly within him, a quiet resonance that reminded him why he'd come.
"So the atavism experiments really are because of Harmony," Wei Qing murmured, narrowing his eyes.
The air in front of him rippled.
A holographic projection appeared.
Even though it was their first meeting, there was no need to guess who it was.
"Unidentified visitor," Primeval Doctor's voice came through, guarded. "You've come unannounced. State your purpose."
Wei Qing smiled pleasantly. "I heard you were doing something interesting. Thought I'd drop by and observe."
Primeval Doctor's frown deepened. "I don't recall sending any invitations. How did you find this place?"
"That isn't important," Wei Qing said, landing lightly on the massive bough. "What's important is… your research direction is wrong."
"Wrong?" Primeval Doctor's voice turned colder. "You're questioning my work?"
"Not questioning," Wei Qing replied calmly. "Confirming. Trying to analyze Harmony through atavistic reversion—this road leads nowhere."
The hologram stared at him for a long moment, then Primeval Doctor laughed softly.
"I see. You're a Harmony Path-walker. No wonder you can sense my work."
His gaze sharpened into something dangerous.
"But don't you think it's rather presumptuous to trespass into another person's laboratory… and then lecture them?"
"Compared to the taboo experiments you're running," Wei Qing said with a mild smile, "I'd say I'm being pretty polite."
Tension snapped tight between them.
Primeval Doctor went silent.
Then he adjusted his glasses again, and his mouth twisted into a peculiar smile.
"An interesting conclusion," he said slowly. "To decide my work has gone astray based on 'feeling' alone… you must have immense confidence."
He shifted, and with a courteous gesture that felt like a trap, he invited Wei Qing in.
The ground behind Wei Qing slid open, revealing a downward passage glowing a cold, eerie blue.
"Since you've traveled so far, I doubt you'll be satisfied with a few words. Why not come down and speak properly? I'd love to hear these 'superior insights' of yours."
His voice carried a subtle provocation.
"Of course… assuming you have the courage to set foot in my laboratory."
Wei Qing watched the dark corridor, smile unchanged.
He could hear the challenge, the threat tucked behind it.
This underground facility was Primeval Doctor's home field—surely packed with defenses.
Wei Qing would go in.
But he wasn't going in that way.
"Nice invitation," he said warmly. "But I prefer taking my own routes."
A burst of gold flared.
Trailblaze locked onto the coordinates embedded in the projection's signal—then forcibly carved a direct path through space.
Primeval Doctor's smile froze.
In the next instant, Wei Qing was standing inside the laboratory—right in front of him.
Machines hummed. Blue cultivation tanks threw eerie light across Wei Qing's calm face.
Primeval Doctor's pupils tightened. He reflexively retreated, alarm flashing through him.
For safety, he'd intended to meet this intruder with a proxy.
Yet the concealment barrier he relied on had been treated as if it didn't exist.
That was Trailblaze.
And not just a Path-walker—an Emanator.
"An Astral Express Nameless?" Primeval Doctor demanded, eyes fixed on him.
"If you're an Emanator too… this gets complicated."
"Wei Qing," Wei Qing said evenly. "Current Navigator of the Astral Express. Name's Yi Qing."
Then, as casually as if he were reading a warrant:
"Primeval Doctor. I'm here to arrest you."
"Arrest?" Primeval Doctor's expression twitched, then smoothed into careful composure. "Navigator Yi Qing, you're joking. Everything I do serves the greater good."
He ignored the provocation and shifted into flattery instead.
"I've heard of IX's stagnation. I visited personally not long ago. The Trailblaze residue there was astonishing—surely your work?"
Wei Qing shook his head.
"No. The Trailblaze you felt belonged to my predecessor—previous Astral Express Navigator Grahnholm."
Primeval Doctor froze.
Of course he'd heard of Grahnholm.
What stunned him was the implication:
The Astral Express now had two Emanators?
He recovered quickly, returning his attention to Wei Qing with a probing tone.
"Then tell me, Navigator Yi Qing… you claim you're arresting me. On what authority? The Astral Express holds no interstellar law enforcement mandate."
"Authority?" Wei Qing glanced around at the tubes, the tanks, the sickly glow.
"Illegal mass atavism experimentation. Artificial ecological catastrophe. Interfering with the natural development of civilizations…"
"Are those charges sufficient?"
Primeval Doctor's face hardened. "You don't understand. The universe is moving toward Finality. The present order can't withstand what's coming."
"Only by tracing back to the origin—by finding life's earliest, purest form—can we, under Harmony's guidance, find a path to survival."
"Everything I do is for a higher purpose."
"So that's your excuse," Wei Qing said, eyebrow lifting. "You think I'm easy to fool?"
"Excuse? No. It's necessary evil!" Primeval Doctor's voice rose.
"Since the Astral Express is already attempting to act against IX, surely you know about the Four Ends!"
"Those shackled by petty morality don't understand what we face. Finality is an unstoppable tide. We must pay any price to find the ark."
Wei Qing didn't respond.
Primeval Doctor mistook the silence for wavering and pressed on.
"And surely the Astral Express is preparing for the Four Ends as well."
"Why, one of your former Navigators—Wo Jian—answered quite a few of my questions."
"…Wo Jian?" Wei Qing's brow pinched.
That name.
He knew it.
Among the Astral Express's Navigators, Wo Jian—the so-called Stargazer—was the most mysterious.
Records about him had been repeatedly altered by Fabricators of History. Even the Express itself had almost nothing he'd left behind.
The common belief was that Wo Jian boarded the Express at the tail end of the Second Prosperity, and his journey spanned Akivili's fall and Nanook's birth.
And there was another detail, suspiciously neat:
After Wo Jian stepped down, the universe soon saw the emergence of the Omen Vanguard.
Wei Qing looked Primeval Doctor in the eye.
"So what did Navigator Wo Jian tell you?"
Primeval Doctor chuckled. "A mutual exchange. Wo Jian revealed the truth of Finality. I sought a method to oppose it."
"We were working toward the same goal, weren't we?"
"The same goal?" Wei Qing shook his head slowly. "No. We're walking entirely different roads."
He knew how Primeval Doctor's experiments ended in the future.
A catastrophic failure.
Yes, the man may have hurt the Galaxy Rangers badly, but in Laoguosi's accounts, Primeval Doctor's final fate was to be forced into life among beasts.
Primeval Doctor's strained smile vanished.
"Different roads?" His voice carried offended anger—and a superior sort of pity.
"So even the Astral Express Navigator is this shortsighted."
"You've been blinded by 'morality' and 'order.' You can't see the tsunami of Finality bearing down on us."
He spread his arms at the tanks and writhing specimens.
"Look at them. This isn't cruelty—it's sacrifice. A necessary cost."
"To preserve civilization's seed under Harmony's ending, individual form, planetary ecology, even racial purity—everything can be reshaped, optimized."
"That is true, greater harmony."
Wei Qing gave a small, humorless laugh.
"Primeval Doctor. Your experiments end here."
The air in the lab seemed to congeal.
A pressure rolled outward—heavy, layered, far beyond what Primeval Doctor had expected.
Primeval Doctor's pupils shrank again.
Not only Trailblaze.
More. Much more.
But he was a Genius Society member—an Emanator of Nous.
His shock lasted only an instant, replaced by interest… and the arrogance he wore like skin.
"Remarkable," he breathed.
"Navigator Yi Qing… your existence itself is a miracle. An exquisite specimen."
"I retract what I said. Your arrival may not be trouble."
"It may be… a gift."
Primeval Doctor leapt backward. A massive violet array flared beneath Wei Qing, swallowing him in its glow.
"Since words can't persuade you, then you'll experience my Harmony for yourself."
"It's only a prototype, but it's enough to prove my path isn't delusion!"
The laboratory shook violently.
Tubes snapped. The cultivation tanks' contents swelled and mutated under the flood of blue light.
They tore free—shambling, grotesque monsters—yet tinged unmistakably with Harmony's aura.
They surged toward Wei Qing.
Wei Qing didn't move.
He didn't even look impressed.
"To be honest," he said, almost conversationally, "I only talked to you this long to feel out your bottom line."
"But the moment you realized I was a Trailblaze Emanator, you started calling me 'sir' and 'your excellence' like your spine evaporated."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Guess you're not as strong as I thought."
He raised one hand.
Destruction erupted—clean, absolute—and every monster was torn apart as if reality itself had rejected their existence.
Primeval Doctor's face twisted.
"Destruction? You've stepped onto Nanook's Path too?!"
Wei Qing didn't answer.
He vanished.
In the next blink, he was in front of Primeval Doctor—separated only by a sudden blue energy barrier.
"It's useless," Primeval Doctor blurted, startled.
"Useless my ass."
The barrier shattered.
Primeval Doctor's expression went white.
He retreated, hands moving in a blur. Arrays lit up beneath Wei Qing's feet, overhead, all around—layer upon layer.
The light faded.
Wei Qing was still standing there.
He even had time to offer a critique.
"Lots of tricks. All flash, no weight."
The comment stabbed straight into Primeval Doctor's pride.
His proudest creation—an integrated technique combining Nous's computation and Harmony's embryonic structure—had been dismissed like a cheap parlor act.
"Impossible!" Primeval Doctor snarled.
His calculations couldn't be wrong. Those arrays should have trapped—or at least heavily wounded—a normal Emanator.
Why had they done nothing?
Wei Qing didn't give him time to think.
Primeval Doctor felt an intent lock onto him—razor-sharp.
The Hunt.
He stopped holding back.
His body burst apart into countless afterimages, scattering into every corner of the lab.
Each carried a fraction of his consciousness and processing power.
As long as one escaped, he could rebuild elsewhere.
"Another boring trick," Wei Qing sighed, almost tired.
He didn't even bother identifying which was real.
He didn't need to.
"The World."
Time stopped.
Nihility spread like a quiet, absolute domain.
Primeval Doctor was yanked back to the center as if reality itself had grabbed his collar.
Wei Qing stared at him for a beat—silence on his face.
He'd already used Harmony to scan all of Vonwacq from the moment they started talking.
From what he could tell…
Primeval Doctor had only just arrived here.
He hadn't even had time to prepare much.
Wei Qing clicked his tongue internally.
So he'd overestimated.
In the "future," rumors claimed this man had made the Galaxy Rangers vanish from the public eye for a time.
Even Laoguosi's descriptions implied he could "sit at the same table" as Polka.
Wei Qing had assumed Primeval Doctor was the same breed—someone wearing Nous on the outside and throwing punches on the inside.
Instead…
He was this weak?
"N-no—!" Primeval Doctor's body forcibly reformed. His face was bloodless, his eyes shaking with horror.
Cognitive division—his ultimate survival method—had been dismantled like a child's toy.
He stared at Wei Qing as if he were staring at something that shouldn't exist.
"W-what are you?!" Primeval Doctor's voice trembled. "What kind of monster are you?!"
"Trailblaze. Destruction. The Hunt. Harmony…"
"And now even Nihility!"
He looked like he was about to crack.
"What are you?!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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