Two days later, the first "Yashan-brand shell rune" was successfully carved.
Su Hao began guiding blood qi into it.
The instant the drawing was completed, the rune burst with a flash of intense light, nearly blinding Yashan on the spot.
"Boss Wei, what is this thing?" Yashan's eyes were still dazed, but he still worked hard to look completely stunned.
Su Hao smiled.
"This is power."
Then he continued, "Yashan, I'll first teach you how to control blood qi."
Yashan scratched his head.
"Blood qi? What's that?"
Su Hao said, "It's the energy accumulated inside your body. Your body contains a large amount of energy, but you only know how to instinctively use it to transform into a [Rampager]. However, blood qi has far more uses than that.
"So, if you want to gain the power to defeat the bone man, you must first learn to control your own body, including the energy inside it."
Yashan looked at him eagerly.
"Boss Wei…"
Su Hao smiled and nodded.
Teaching Yashan to control blood qi had three benefits for Su Hao.
First, Su Hao could confirm whether the physical energy consumed during evolution was blood qi. If it really was blood qi, then he could choose the timing of his own evolution attempts at any time without worrying about suddenly dying.
Second, after Yashan mastered blood qi, he would be able to accumulate it at the fastest possible speed. This would speed up the process of fulfilling the conditions needed to evolve into a [Counterthorn Beast], making Su Hao's research more convenient and saving him time.
Third, Su Hao needed to conduct some rune experiments on Yashan.
That was because he was extremely interested in mutants of the [Armored Man] sequence. Especially after seeing that bone man the other day.
He was simply far too cool.
Most importantly, if handled properly, large numbers of runes could be engraved onto bone armor. At that point, whether in the sky or underground, there would be nowhere he could not go.
…
One year later, Su Hao was eight years old.
During this year, Su Hao wandered through Temple Forest City every night, collecting blood samples from all kinds of Level One and Level Two mutants. He had also gained some harvests from Level Three mutants.
By now, the database inside the pinball space had become extremely abundant.
Su Hao had also already marked out all extraordinary genes from every sequence except the [Prophet Man] sequence.
In addition, he had decoded the expression functions of many ordinary genes.
For this, quite a few pitiful little round mice had been sacrificed.
Overall, Su Hao's progress had been very smooth.
The only thing that had not gone smoothly was that, during this year, a powerful lunatic had appeared in Temple Forest City at night.
Su Hao recognized his identity.
He was the cocoon man who had sliced [Speed Demon] into pieces that day—
[Thread Demon].
Every night, that [Thread Demon] wandered all over the city, constantly shouting that he was looking for some [Night Demon]. He demanded that [Night Demon] hand over the item, that [Night Demon] come out and accept death.
He stirred up all of Temple Forest City until even chickens and dogs could find no peace. When night came, ordinary people hid in their homes, terrified and trembling.
The key was that this [Thread Demon] did not care about right or wrong.
Whenever he saw someone, he assumed they were the [Night Demon] he was looking for. He would catch them and brutally interrogate them. If he was in a bad mood, he would simply cut the person apart.
He was practically the great villain boss of Temple Forest City!
If Su Hao had not yet finished his preparations, he would have personally gone to study this [Thread Demon]'s body structure and gene sequence already…
No.
It should be called eliminating evil and defending the Dao.
The most troublesome thing about this [Thread Demon] was that many mutants had reduced their nighttime activity because they feared him. They obediently stayed home and slept, which increased the difficulty of Su Hao's gene-collecting work.
Fortunately, he had finally decoded the extraordinary gene sequences of Level One and Level Two mutants.
Su Hao thought that once he was fully prepared, he could go meet that [Thread Demon].
The other party was far too violent, like a great demon king roaming Temple Forest City. It would be best to simply kill him and be done with it. Otherwise, it would be terrible if one day Su Hao was walking down the street and got inexplicably sliced into minced meat.
As for the [Night Demon] that guy was searching for, he had been looking for an entire year and still found nothing. Yet he still refused to calm down.
On the other side, Yashan had successfully mastered the conversion of blood qi. He had obtained elite blood qi and could control it flexibly.
The progress of the Yashan-brand runes had also been fairly smooth. Su Hao successfully carved runes onto Yashan's shell armor.
The difficulty in carving runes onto Yashan's shell armor was that every time Yashan transformed, the carved runes would be automatically repaired by his body and disappear.
If they wanted to use the runes again, they would need to carve them again.
Regarding this problem, Su Hao quickly thought of a solution.
Tattoos!
First, he tattooed the rune patterns onto Yashan's body. Then, when Yashan transformed into a [Rampager], the clear patterns would appear on his shell armor.
Su Hao's idea soon succeeded.
After transforming, Yashan's shell armor still carried the rune patterns.
The second problem was that the rune lines needed to form a difference in blood qi compatibility.
This was also easy to solve.
They only needed to choose suitable tattoo materials. Like carving a seal, they filled the blank areas outside the tattoo lines with tattoo material, leaving behind the shell armor patterns. This formed a good blood qi compatibility gap.
When Yashan transformed into a [Rampager], he only needed to input blood qi into the patterns on his shell armor at a certain speed.
In less than a second, he could activate the rune effects on his shell armor.
After the engraving was completed, Yashan played with them endlessly, as if he had obtained a new toy.
But Su Hao knew very well that although Yashan had more smiles on his face now, the hatred in his heart had not decreased in the slightest.
Su Hao tattooed more than a dozen commonly used runes onto Yashan's body.
They were:
"Hardness," "Barrier," "Deflection," "Penetration," "Sharpness," "Corrosion," "Double Burst," "Strong Light," "Ring of Fire," "Strong Current," "Ground Spike," "Coordination," and "Light Absorption."
As Yashan practiced day and night without stopping, he gradually mastered the use of these runes and could apply them flexibly in combat.
To Su Hao, engraving runes onto Yashan was not a big deal.
Yashan had only mastered how to use them. He did not understand the underlying principles. In the end, that was equivalent to knowing nothing.
Furthermore, Su Hao had left a backdoor in every rune.
If Yashan ever acted abnormally, Su Hao could take back the runes on his body at any time.
Most importantly, the [Armored Man] sequence was truly very suitable for him!
He just did not know whether this characteristic would remain after later evolving into [Counterthorn Beast] and [Bone Demon].
On this day, Yashan came to find Su Hao and calmly said, "Boss Wei, I found a [Counterthorn Beast]. I plan to hunt its flesh tonight."
Su Hao nodded.
"Do you need help?"
Yashan immediately shook his head.
"No. I want to use my current power to personally obtain my evolution. But Boss Wei, please watch over me from the side. If I make a mistake, please save me!"
Su Hao nodded.
"Fine."
Su Hao was not willing to let Yashan throw his life away for nothing.
At this moment, a porcelain-doll-like five-year-old girl poked her little head out from the room and asked in a clear voice, "Daddy, Uncle Wei, where are you going? Take Taini with you!"
Su Hao said, "Call me big brother…"
Taini timidly called out, "Big brother…"
But Su Hao knew it was useless.
The next day, this silly little girl would change back to calling him "uncle" again.
The moment Yashan saw Taini come out, he immediately revealed an ugly smile and closed his mouth, no longer speaking.
Su Hao immediately stepped forward and rubbed Taini's little head.
"We're staying home. We're not going anywhere. Come on, today Big Brother will allow Taini to choose her favorite little round mouse as your companion."
Taini's large, round eyes immediately lit up.
She asked in surprise, "Really? I want that white little round mouse!"
The little round mice Su Hao raised for experiments were round and plump, looking extremely cute.
Taini had coveted them for a long time. She had long wanted one to play with, but Su Hao had always refused her by saying that the little round mice would bite.
Today, he was in a good mood, so he directly fulfilled Taini's small wish.
Su Hao replied, "Really. I'll give it to you right now."
Taini excitedly came forward, grabbed Su Hao's hand, and pulled him toward the breeding room.
"Hurry, hurry!"
Then she pointed at the fattest and biggest little round mouse.
"Uncle Wei, I want that one! That one!"
Su Hao was speechless.
"Call me big brother!"
Taini giggled.
"Big brother, I want that big one!"
Su Hao found a rope, tied it tightly around the little round mouse's tail, then handed it to Taini.
"Here. Take it and play. Watch it carefully. Don't lose it."
"I know!"
Taini immediately hugged the little round mouse and ran off.
Only then did Yashan finally put away his stiff smile and let out a breath. He looked at Su Hao with admiration.
"Boss Wei, you really are amazing. You're seriously good at coaxing children!"
The corner of Su Hao's mouth twitched.
"Of course!"
He did not even know how many times he had reincarnated as a child.
When it came to children, he was already sick of them!
Inwardly, he sighed.
"Ah… I don't dare mess around anymore. Please, just let me grow up quickly!"
Night soon descended.
The predators of the night quietly left their nests, searching for tonight's prey.
Su Hao and Yashan also finished their preparations and were ready to move out.
Then, who exactly was the prey?