He could already withstand temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees Celsius, as if he were in a mild climate, and even temperatures as high as plus 60 degrees Celsius.
He didn't dehydrate, suffer from heatstroke or get burned, but Lin Wei always pushed his limits.
His current evolution is still very weak. Things like adapting the entire body to low temperatures are a long and complicated process, but simple things like adapting vision, smell, and hearing are much simpler.
Well, Lin Wei Xian discovered that there are two requirements for evolution: external stimulation and his subconscious.
For example, when they tried to drown him, he didn't grow gills or learn cutaneous respiration, but he adapted his lungs to withstand the water and extract oxygen from it. It hurt a lot, but he survived. Before the experiment, Lin Wei Xian asked him which one he would prefer, so it wasn't surprising when that's exactly what his body did.
To acquire this "divine ability" of underwater breathing, he spent three days being submerged in water for minutes before being pulled up for a few seconds. The process was repeated. He fainted several times during those days, and his hatred grew even stronger.
Lin Wei Xian then always asked him what he preferred, and every time the answer was accurate, he always evolved in a direction that he preferred.
His sense of smell evolved through negative reinforcement.
Lin Wei Xian blindfolded him and placed a specific scent in the room. If he guessed correctly, nothing would happen; if he guessed incorrectly, he was severely electrocuted.
Thus, his subconscious began to associate successes and failures with the source of the injury, and his sense of smell continually improved. Lin Wei Xian then diminished the scent more and more, making it increasingly difficult. Currently, his sense of smell is as good as a dog's.
His vision was stimulated in various ways: light, depth, color, reaction, distance...
His hearing... he went deaf several times, but now he could even construct a mental image of an area just by the reverberation of sound, like a bat.
The mad man grew increasingly fascinated and frustrated and seemed to treat him as a way to relieve his stress, seeing his power at work amid his suffering.
Ringo wasn't happy with this progress, every moment of his day was a hell. Was his pain lessening? The bastard increased the voltage. When he lost all sense of pain, Lin Wei Xian made his brain realize that the absence of pain caused him more damage. His body was constantly beaten to demonstrate this, until his subconscious agreed with him and he regained the pain. Only then was his "near death" avoided.
Hila still showed up for the spiritual damage sessions, her face always cold, always icy, but for Ringo, it was the only time of day he didn't feel like an experiment, because he knew she didn't want to do this.
Their eyes met several times. Unlike when he looked at Lin Wei Xian, there was no hatred, just a weariness and a slight... desire.
He couldn't understand it, but Hila seemed to draw him in deeply. It wasn't purely emotional, it was more basic and primal, as if he received a testosterone injection every time he saw her.
Hila never said anything, she came and went, but he seemed to feel her eyes burn with hatred whenever she looked at his condition.
He wondered if she saw him as a possibility for her sister, maybe as her end. Who knows?
Empathy? Compassion?
He didn't know, he didn't care, he hadn't gone crazy yet, but he went beyond that, because at some point, his subconscious realized that being "sober" seemed more harmful than being crazy, and so his mind began to feel... strange.
He found himself amused as he counted 1,000 minus 7, the number of tiles, the time between each experiment, the gray hairs on a scientist's head... he began to find amusement in ridiculous things like a messy uniform, a piece of lettuce in a tooth, a coffee stain on a lab coat, or anything slightly unusual.
It entertained him, it kept his brain active and occupied, and the mental suffering lessened, a little.
He accepted this more firmly.
What is evolution? He believes it's adaptation in broad terms, such as to the climate, vegetation, terrain, and even the other animals around him.
He was currently "surrounded by animals," so he needed to adapt to them, adapt to his life, to the point of thriving in it. This is evolution, change to facilitate the continuation of life.
So, he evolved.
Slowly, but steadily.
But in the third month, something changed. He seemed to be "shelved," not ignored, but perhaps the current research couldn't handle his "difference". They couldn't produce anything from him, so they set him aside for a while.
Lin Wei Xian came less often, the experiments reduced to just following the standard: two hours in the cold room, two hours in the hot room, two hours submerged in increasingly deeper water levels, decreasing the oxygen, injecting compounds, electric shocks...
It was routine, still monitored, measured, but Lin Wei Xian started to show up less.
He kind of missed him. Every time he saw him, he imagined different ways to kill him. He almost wanted to kill Han Xiao, thinking he'd take that death away from him. It amused him again.
He was crazy, unlike before. He'd truly gone mad, he knew it, but madness is also an evolution, an adaptation to his environment.
Einstein said that madness is repeating the same action thousands of times, expecting different results. Well, he's imagining scenarios where he kills every living thing in this base, but here he is, strapped to a table with a sadistic smile, still thinking about it, kill every one.
But he didn't care, not anymore. It was better to live mad. When he was sober, he felt pain all the time, sad, lonely? Now? Now he's free, not physically, but mentally, spiritually... free!
Was that how the Joker felt?
When he wasn't being experimented on, he slept. His body had learned that sleep was a great way to "pass the time", so he slept as much as he wanted, but he always woke to the approach of others or a certain annoying nightmare.
He always knew, even before the door to his cold cell was opened, he didn't even feel groggy, one moment asleep, the next, ready for anything.
He laughed. If he were in the wild, it would be a useful skill.
If he could get out of this place, he would be a Super hard to kill.
In truth, what he feared most was being taken away from this place, away from Zero, to the central continent, better known as Andrea, Germinal's headquarters, right under the leader's nose, preventing his escape.
If he went to Aurora, he would have to wait much longer to escape, but perhaps because Lin Wei Xian was the lead researcher of the Valkyrie project and a guinea pig himself, he would stay with him. He thanked the man for that, he could use one less cut when he went to kill him.
Hila still visited him, using his energy. She didn't even harm him physically now. Mentally? She just gave him a mild headache. She didn't try to go any further, she did it and left.
He was chained to his bed, gagged, only his eyes could follow her. With his newfound madness, his eyes toward her had changed, from initially indifferent and slightly yearning, to now crazy and obsessive. Perhaps she noticed, which was why she avoided spending any more time with him.
But he didn't see disgust in her eyes, only anger and understanding. Who would have thought that being tied to a table for months could produce a good eyes reader? Well, maybe it was just his own delusions, and she was just thinking about what to eat for dinner.
He wasn't to blame for his desire for her, she was his sunshine, the most important moment of his day. He yearned to see her every moment. At first, it was just emotional support, but again, his subconscious deemed her a great way to keep himself "sane." So his hormone levels around Hila soared. He was drowning in a cocktail of hormones, when he saw her, from happiness to extreme physical attraction. Her traitorous body continued to drive him mad.
Maybe it was because he thought his life was more important than his sanity. Who knows. Hila was ignoring him now. But hey, there was a piece of lettuce in Jared's mouth today. It made him laugh for several minutes. Of course, it came out very ugly and awkward because he was still gagged.
Finally, in the fourth month, something happened.
Ah, that sweet emergency sound, it was beautiful, it was divine. The scientists panicked as they tried to contact the monitoring station, empty, silent.
He laughed through his gag. He knew what that meant. While trapped in an oxygen deprivation chamber, he laughed happily, uncaring of how little oxygen he had. He had adapted to it.
The scientists looked at the madman and didn't care. It had been two months since he'd lost a screw, so the group simply ignored him.
Ringo didn't care about them. All the energy that seemed to explode his cells, completely saturated, was released in that moment.
His body emitted a milky-white energy as his hierarchy of life rapidly increased. Ringo was still laughing excitedly, struggling in his increasingly weakened restraint.
The scientists were shocked, and the one at the computer screamed. - His energy levels! They're rising rapidly. He's surpassed E Grande and is rising like a rocket! My God! He's surpassed D Grade!
The man screamed, too shocked to understand what was happening. This was unprecedented, at least on this planet. A D Grade was already the cream of the crop in this world. A super D Grade could wipe out entire elite platoons single-handedly!
Ringo's energy finally stopped pulsing. He felt it. He gained two new abilities. He rose directly from F Grade to D Grade. As soon as he reached E Grade, he felt an energy surge within him, just as it had after reaching D Grade.
He raised his hand, and burning milky-white energy erupted from it. His hand quickly transformed, transforming into an eagle's claw.
Ringo laughed, clenching his sharp nails. This was the ability he gained by reaching D Grade. The E Grade ability allowed him to greatly accelerate his evolution, but it was temporary. Even so, it still required external stimulation. For example, he could use this energy to cover himself when jumping into lava, and his skin would transform to survive in the lava almost instantly, like Darwin from X-men.
But when the energy ran out, he would return to normal.
On the other hand, the D Grade ability became active. Now he could specify the branch of evolution as long as he had the corresponding "information." Just like now, he had been injected with genetic serums from various mutant animals to stimulate him. The eagle claw was just a random thought, but he could technically change his DNA to any genetic information he had stored.
It wasn't simply injecting mutant blood into his veins, it needed to be a serum developed to make the gene assimilated by his own cells. If it were the former, he would simply evolve to have a better immune system to ward off foreign cells.
You learn a lot when you have nothing to do in the minimalist lab of a brain-loving mad scientist.
Unwind the DNA strand, choose the trait, and finally make it an active gene.
All of this at high speed.
Smiling, he turned to the shocked scientists, staring at his hand with fear and... curiosity.
This made Ringo laugh even harder. Even now, these guys were still curious, but he didn't care enough to make fun of them.
His hand returned to normal. He didn't need power to kill them, it was better to save it for later if he needed it.
Ringo, due to his power, didn't look like a guinea pig. His shaved hair and healthy white skin, as well as his body full of strong muscles, an evolution he acquired through continuous beatings. His body evolved to withstand more damage with large, but still proportionate, muscles.
They were very effective shock absorbers.
Even so, he wasn't slow. Unlike that buckets of flesh, his muscles were perfectly balanced between explosiveness and endurance, almost as if his body were waiting for a chance, this chance.
He had no combat experience, but he didn't need it. A guard nearby raised his gun and aimed it at him. The shot rang out, and a bullet struck his chest. Everyone looked down as the bullet skidded to the ground, leaving no damage, just a faint red mark.
Ringo's smile slowly grew across his face.