It was a rather dark room with only a central hologram. It showed hundreds of readings, which fluctuated every second.
At the center was a large cubic container full of blue liquid.
Varian's keen sight allowed him to notice the minute increase in the liquid's volume.
"This blue liquid is the crucial ingredient, but what is it made of?"
He strained his eyes and focused on the connections to the cubic container.
The room seemed to be built especially for anti-surveillance purposes. So, even the special camera couldn't pierce through this darkness.
Thankfully, there was another way.
The hologram's light flickered on and off, shedding light on a few of what seemed to be hundreds of special metallic wires connected to the container.
Varian focused his gaze and follow these wires.
These wires, intricate and sturdy, each seemed to go to a different section. And from time to time, they pulsed ever so slightly, and then, the blue liquid rose.
"What is it?" Varian held his breath and followed the wires to their end.
What he saw was complete darkness.
Fa!
Then, the light hit.
Glass tubes…human-sized glass tubes filled the room. Each of these cylinders were filled with blue liquid and the creatures in it were unmistakably humans.
"Gah." Varian suppressed his gagging and focused his vision once again.
It was a terrible, no, gut-wrenching sight.
This time, he was able to see clearly.
Hundreds of teenagers were kept in glass tubes. Each of them floated in it while their body was covered by wires.
And these same wires… were connected to the container.
"Fuck." Varian slumped on the ground and said vacantly.
A sense of revulsion churned inside his stomach and Varian had to forcibly control himself.
{The main component—Sia's blood infused with her auras is missing in this potion.
It is replaced by something…I'm not sure. This new ingredient is also the most important one. But from my observation, this ingredient, combined with others can have a devastating long-term impact.}
"Sia's blood is substituted…like this?" As he recalled Enigma's report, Varian gritted his teeth.
The light in the dark lab flickered on and off. No human worked there. Thus, no one could see the pale faces and skinny bodies of the entrapped humans.
Most of them were teenagers, aging from 18-20.
It reminded him of Sia.
"Motherfuckers!" Varian's blood boiled with rage.
He slammed the floor of the ghost ship and forcibly stood up.
The desire to utterly and brutally destroy Xanders coursed through every fiber of his being.
'Use me…'
'Let your rage guide you to me…'
'Bring Chaos! Destroy Order!'
Varia's eyes began to turn pitch black as his aura began to fluctuate.
It was as if something deeply primeval awakened and spoke to him.
Varian was sure he didn't hear any voices, but he was also sure that such a message was conveyed to him.
He just needed to use the immense rage he was feeling right now and the power would unleash itself.
It wasn't his power, he would merely be an agent. And in its wake, it'd destroy the world as he knew it.
"No."
The moment he uttered that simple but decided word, the world seemed to have paused.
Varian's eyes turned back to normal and the blackness in his eyes quickly faded away.
"Haa~" Taking a deep breath, Varian controlled his emotions and said in a voice filled with pain and rage.
"Boo, check the identities of those…humans," Varian said, feeling irony at the term he was using.
Humans.
Calling those who suffered the same name as those who were responsible for suffering was an insult.
'Xanders, from today, your downfall begins.' Varian had an unshakable certainty.
He didn't know exactly when, but he decided to erase the name of Xanders out of existence.
"Master!" Boo appeared in front of him and cried out as it showed a hologram.
It was a list of many teen boys and girls. Varian couldn't associate these bright stars on the list with the near-skeletons in that room.
"…they are all geniuses but couldn't match their peers because of the lack of resources.
They are all 'officially' dead. Since they were spread across different planets, space stations, space cities, and even cluster cities, no one had found anything strange with their 'accidental deaths'." Boo shook its face and explained.
Boom!
As Varian clenched his fists, the sheer force caused the air in his palm to explode and a shockwave swept across the ghost ship.
With that, the rage in his heart finally came under control.
"What's the most sensational news now?" Varian asked in a low voice.
"It's you beating up the Shadow Guardian's relative, calling him a traitor, and that every relative of shadow guardian should be severely tortured," Boo answered in a cautious voice.
To be sure, that video only became famous because Varian asked it to 'push' it.
"What about the Dreamer incident?" Varian raised a brow.
"…They blocked it. Any related news is taken down." Boo shrugged. "In fact, the government also started pushing your news to keep the public distracted."
"Heh." Varian sneered in contempt. Indeed, if the legendary gamma expo failed due to Sovereign Julius destroying the stadium, then the entire event would become a laughing stock.
"Master, do you want me to expose the event?" Boo asked with sparkling eyes.
"No. Let people hate Shadow Guardians even more. Spread my post and any other government posts regarding how evil the Shadow Guardians are." Varian instructed.
"Alright…" Boo nodded in confusion.
"Oh right," Varian slapped his forehead and his lips curled up into a vicious smile.
"Didn't the Xanders go above and beyond in calling Shadow Guardians the traitors?" He asked with a cold expression.
"…Well, not all. But most did." Boo said, trying not to look at Varian's scary face that was only turning scarier with each passing second.
"Select one from the established leaders. Pick another from the rising leaders. Then, raise their reputation the meta net with their comments on Shadow Guardians." Varian narrowed his eyes and instructed.
"B-But master!" Boo stuttered in shock. "If Boo does that, then everyone will hate Shadow Guardians even more."
"Aren't they already doing it?" Varian sneered. "Let their hate reach its peak. Go completely anti-Shadow Guardian. Oh and give big credits to the Xanders. Remember Boo, Xanders' reputation must reach its peak."
"…Fine." Boo obeyed the order regardless of the sense it made.
Boo did want to ask him why, but looking at the cold smile on the corner of his lips, it lost all courage.
Most of the time, Varian was very approachable. But during times like these, he was the scariest person Boo knew.
'Fortunately, Boo is not master's enemy.' Wiping the virtual sweat off its forehead, Boo made its way to the control room of the ghost ship.
It checked Blue Flash's condition and after noticing, the high electrical readings, Boo ordered the bots to administer a special herbal potion to remove the lightning mana in her body.
Then, it started Varian's task. Even for Boo, manipulating social media on such a huge scale while remaining hidden from the technocrats wasn't easy.
'I need motivation.'
So, Boo recalled Varian's cold smile and nodded. 'Yes! When Master is like that, he's full of energy.'
So, Boo tried to imitate it.
"Mhuahahaha."
