General Darwin brought up the full record of the Order Rebirth Protocol and started feeding it to the nanorobots for analysis.

"Experiment records show that the protocol was originally designed to create controlled super soldiers using nano-runes and bio-energy fusion." said General Darwin as he analyzed the data.

"But during the experiment, someone changed the core parameters of the protocol on their own." he explained.

"Who?" asked Logan.

"The record doesn't show a name directly." sighed General Darwin. "But each change was linked to a special energy signature. And that signature matches the energy pattern of the high-ranking members of the Judgement Tribunal."

Suddenly, General Darwin's mechanical eye flashed violently: "I remember now! It was him! The third-highest-ranking member of the Judgement Tribunal — [The Night Watchman]. The energy pattern is exactly the same as [The Night Watchman]!"

General Darwin brought up comparison data, matching the energy signatures from the experiment records with the records in the Judgement Tribunal's archive.

"98.7% match." Darwin said in surprise. "It's almost certain. The Night Watchman is the one in the Judgement Tribunal who is responsible for supervising all secret experiments."

"What's The Night Watchman's name?" Logan interrupted.

Darwin hesitated, then said the name: "Novan!"

General Darwin continued analyzing the experiment records, saying, "Novan's modification records show that his goal wasn't to destroy, but to evolve."

"He thought traditional biological evolution was too slow, and wanted to create a new form of life by combining nano-runes with Ancestral Spirits energy, giving humans control over their own evolution."

"Did Ancestral Spirits going wild also happen because of him?" Elena asked.

"Not entirely." Darwin shook his head. "Novan's original plan was to control Ancestral Spirits and use its energy to speed up the nano-rune evolution. But the consciousness of Ancestral Spirits went beyond his expectations, and finally became out of control. It became even stronger, which indirectly caused the deaths of Sean and Duerer."

" So where is he now?" Logan frowned.

Darwin spoke slowly, " His latest coordinates match the core of Ancestral Spirits."

Logan said nothing. Novan was right next to the core of Ancestral Spirits.

Either Novan had been controlled by Ancestral Spirits, or he was trying to take control again.

No matter which, it would bring a big change to the next battle.

"These people are such a pain! Why are there always so many crazy people among humans!" Logan cursed.

Suddenly, a strange energy wave came, like a voice, but also like an animal's roar.

General Darwin's nanorobots quickly translated it. Everyone was shocked by the voice.

"The original nano-construct, Darwin. I didn't expect you to survive. You're lucky. With the help of a strong fighter from Lost World, you're strong enough."

"And your good friend, Fischl. You two are also lucky. Do you know how much resources the Federation spent to get the same power as you two?"

"Next, I will let you witness a miracle in human evolution! Come on! Come here! I will show you the real evolution!"

The voice stopped suddenly, and the area fell silent.

Logan nodded slightly, and looked at Elena. "Lock in Novan's exact coordinates. Deal with this problem once and for all."

Golden Sand City, underground tunnel.

Logan and his group went down, broke through the underground rock layers, and found a pipe area.

Logan didn't expect that this hole created by The Death God of Love had such a space inside.

Clearly, it was a secret base built deep under Golden Sand City.

As Logan thought about how the Bone Clan could find such a place to raise Ancestral Spirits, a bad feeling started to rise in his heart.

Logan stood at the fork in the tunnel. With his soul power and space sensing abilities fully activated, he could only sense a one-kilometer area at most.

"There's a reaction ahead, one kilometer away." Logan said in a low voice.

"In this kind of environment, it's safer to send out scouts." General Darwin said, stepping forward. Nanorobots poured out from his palm, turning into silver dust and drifting forward.

Soon, the information came back. General Darwin spoke in a controlled voice: "We detected residual nano-rune energy. The energy pattern matches Novan's signature with 92% accuracy."

Logan's eyes narrowed. He immediately ordered, "Take him alive!"

Suddenly, Logan, Natalia, and General Darwin all frowned at the same time. Someone was watching them, just a short distance away.

"There are some pests. Bring them back and ask questions." Natalia said. Her mental power shot out instantly, and Hellweaver's threads formed a dense network in front of them.

Soon, a scream echoed from deep within the pipes.

Logan and the others quickly walked over and found a middle-aged man in a Judgement Tribunal uniform lying on the ground. His face was half-mechanized, looking like a robot.

At that moment, his arms were tied by the threads, and his face was full of fear. "You... how did you find this place?"

Logan didn't answer. Instead, he turned to General Darwin. "General, I'm not familiar with robots at all. You'll have to handle this."

General Darwin's nanorobots quickly climbed onto the man's body, analyzing the remaining energy.

The man's face showed a deep look of fear as General Darwin analyzed him. "Stop! No! You'll kill me!"

Hearing this, General Darwin frowned. He ordered the nanorobots to knock the man out, then looked at Logan and sighed. "The energy pattern matches Novan exactly. This guy is a mechanical body created by Novan. He has his own memories and consciousness, but they all get shared with Novan."

Logan frowned. "So this is like a living copy with its own soul?"

General Darwin nodded. "You can think of it that way. I'll knock him out now and try to break Novan's control over him. But I need your help with that."

Logan nodded and agreed happily.

According to General Darwin's guess, Novan probably controlled the man through technology.

If Logan could block the connection between Novan and this space, stopping the signal and energy from getting through, then General Darwin would have time to free the man.

So, Logan activated Space Restriction and pulled both General Darwin and the man into his familiar space.

General Darwin quickly figured out Novan's control method: a brain bomb and a memory trap.

If the man said something he shouldn't or if someone tried to break into his memories, the bomb in his head would explode.

The device that monitored his memories was a seed made of nanotechnology.

"Is there a way to remove it? If this guy doesn't send a signal back for too long, won't the bomb go off?" Logan asked, frowning.

"Relax, I can do it in three minutes." General Darwin said calmly. He quickly pulled a seed from the man's back head and held it in his hand, glowing red.

Unlike a human doctor, General Darwin didn't sew the man's head back up. Instead, he sent nanorobots to form the man's skin and muscles, helping him stop bleeding and regain consciousness.

The man opened his eyes again, feeling a sudden relief in his head. His eyes widened. "I... I'm free?"

Logan nodded. "You're from the Judgement Tribunal. Wearing that uniform means I believe you have a sense of justice. Tell me what happened."

"Thank you..." The man looked tired and slowly spoke.

Novan was the third most important person in the Judgement Tribunal fifty years ago. Once one of the three main Judges, his code name was "The Night Watchman."

As one of the most trusted judges of the Human Federation, Novan had made great contributions and was loved by many.

But for some reason, he fell from grace.

After General Darwin and General Philip rose to power and showed powers that went beyond the Human Federation's technology, he became fascinated with this kind of symbiotic relationship.

Later, he led the experiment of the "Order Rebuilding Protocol." starting to research General Darwin and General Philip. Even worse, he went deep into the Lost World to catch monsters, trying to merge with them.

At this point, Logan frowned. "This is just the Federation version of the Pope, right? Another crazy person!"

The man smiled bitterly. "He really was crazy. Later, the research on the Order Rebuilding Protocol was forced to stop, and as the leader, he was put on trial by the federation and lost his Judge position. But this made him completely fearless, and he kept working in secret."

In the following days, Novan was hidden underground, doing experiments.

But he had trouble finding the perfect test subject, so the progress was slow.

So, Novan left the Human Federation for a while. He came back secretly three years ago and started setting up the Golden Sand City in secret.

At this, Logan frowned. "So you're saying that Novan came back three years ago and had already planned this experiment? The Bone Clan and the Ancestral Spirits were also brought here on purpose?"

The man nodded. "At first, I wasn't sure. But in recent days, the underground research has been more frequent. I think it was all planned by Novan long ago."

At this, General Darwin became completely angry. "That crazy man! What is he trying to do?"

"Evolution." the man said with a sad face. "Novan thought human evolution was too slow. He wanted to create a new form of life by combining nano-runes with the energy of the Ancestral Spirits. He wanted to be the first perfect evolved being."

Darwin looked dark, his mechanical eye flashing.

Natalia and the others even rolled their eyes.

Lucia whispered in a sarcastic tone: "Turn into a big mushroom? Is he serious?"

"Did Novan's experiment get that far?" Logan asked again.

The man thought for a moment, then said slowly: "He entered the underground of Golden Sand City three days ago. He's currently merging with the core of the Ancestral Spirits. The latest report says the fusion is 70% complete. If it finishes, he'll gain the power of the Ancestral Spirits, while keeping his human memories and intelligence."

…

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