'The reborn one's memories are really something. Where did he get this intel?'
Qi Suian dissected Xiao Ling while once again searching through the reborn one's memories. He had discovered an interesting point.
The reborn one actually knew the talents of many powerful individuals. As for how he knew, it was all hearsay.
But clearly, what he'd heard was correct.
Xiao Ling's talent was the SS-rank Talent for Blood-red Willpower. The worse her condition, the stronger her combat power became.
However, this boost was based on the two attributes of Spirit and Physique, so it couldn't grant infinite strength.
Before the dissection, Qi Suian had naturally interrogated Xiao Ling, getting her confirmation and obtaining some intelligence.
As for whether it was true or false, he didn't know for now. The next steps were dissection and experiments with the Abyssal Virus.
What? She was a woman? Was Qi Suian's behavior too monstrously cruel? In his eyes, men and women were equal. It would have been the same for anyone who came his way.
Besides, his protagonist's halo seemed to have inherited the reborn one's trait of attracting women. Every single survivor he had met so far was female.
'What does that have to do with me? It's not like I specifically go looking for women. If a man had shown up, he would've met the same fate.'
"Found it." Qi Suian immediately extracted the source of her talent—a physical reaction caused by a certain hormone in the body—and successfully isolated it.
'It seems the fortunate encounter wasn't just the Secondary Solid Clearing Serum in Xiao Ling's hands. She herself is part of the opportunity.'
'My methods might be a bit unorthodox, but that doesn't matter. As long as it works.'
According to normal logic, he should have subjugated her, whether as a subordinate or a member of his harem. Having another great beauty around would certainly be more pleasing to the eye.
However, Qi Suian chose to wring out every last drop of her value.
"An adrenaline variant..." Qi Suian looked at the hormone and, after some comparison, found the source of the Talent for Blood-red Willpower.
But compared to regular adrenaline, this variant had been optimized by the apocalypse game and wouldn't cause problems or even toxicity from an overdose.
Of course, it had its downsides. It couldn't be activated voluntarily; it could only be triggered passively when the body and Spirit weakened.
'It doesn't seem to be of much use to me.'
Qi Suian's physique was too low, and because of the Abyssal Virus, it was difficult to increase it even if he wanted to.
'Still, it's better than my own adrenaline. I can try using it as a raw material to modify the Death Potion.'
'It would allow my body to go into a more ferocious state of overload when I take the Death Potion.'
'The downside is that this stuff seems hard to produce. If I want it, I'll have to extract my own adrenaline and then modify it.'
"AI Brain, estimate the cost."
Qi Suian naturally wanted it, but he also had to consider the cost.
'If I want this talent, getting an identical copy is impossible. But it might be possible to make my body secrete this adrenaline variant through destructive modification.'
How to do it was simple: just make his body adapt. The process would just be a bit painful, involving cutting into his own body and dying a few dozen more times.
A complete replication was unrealistic. He could tell that the SS-rank Talent for Blood-red Willpower was based on the adrenaline variant and improved through Physique and Spirit.
He had only obtained the foundation, not the whole thing.
It was an SS-rank talent, after all. It couldn't be that simple.
As for obtaining the whole thing, that was probably impossible. Xiao Ling definitely wouldn't live long enough to develop it.
[Cost-benefit analysis complete. It is recommended that you undergo destructive modification to gain the ability to secrete this adrenaline variant. The overall returns are higher.]
Qi Suian's expression darkened as he looked at the series of comparative data and costs.
'Of course I know the returns are higher if I gain the ability myself. The problem is the pain!'
'Right now, except for when I take the Death Potion, I'm constantly on painkillers...' Qi Suian's body was truly wracked with pain and illness.
Fortunately, after so much torment, his super-adaptability was allowing him to get used to it. He estimated that after another three to five months of suffering, he would be completely accustomed to it.
That was, assuming the painkillers still worked by then.
[The report you compiled indicates that this mutated hormone has significant sedative and analgesic effects. It can also drastically increase focus and enhance logical thinking abilities.]
[During the destructive modification process, the degree of pain will be effectively reduced as a result.]
The logic was sound, but Qi Suian was the one who had to personally experience it.
Finally, he gritted his teeth. "Fine. Inject me with a triple dose of the Death Potion. I'll do some more research."
There was no helping the pain. To grow stronger, he had to endure whatever torment was necessary.
He had died so many times that his Spirit attribute had even begun to increase slowly. This was a permanent increase, unlike the temporary, destructive boost gained by overdrawing on it when taking the Death Potion.
The increase was just too small to even show up on his attribute panel; he only knew about it from the data fed back by the AI Brain's monitoring.
It wasn't that death itself caused the increase. Rather, the process he went through effectively trained Qi Suian's Spirit, and this worked in conjunction with his death-and-rebirth ability.
If he couldn't be resurrected, then death would be the end, let alone using such an extreme method to raise his Spirit attribute.
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"You idiot!" Chunyu Hu was furious. For such a trivial matter, his son had actually sent in the Cheetah Task Force.
And as a result, the entire Cheetah Task Force was wiped out.
"Did you think that just because your old man is a major shareholder, I can do whatever I want in Watchman Dawn?!"
"Losing Number Seven and the Cheetah Task Force was one thing, but you actually dared to hide it from me until now."
"If the intelligence department hadn't sent me a report, I wouldn't have even known such a huge incident had occurred in the central region—that several branches and labs had been taken out."
"How dare you hide this from me?"
Chunyu Hu screamed, pointing right at Chunyu Bao's nose.
Facing his father, Chunyu Bao cowered, completely lacking the imposing presence of a supervisor.
When he was tired of yelling, Chunyu Hu finally said, "Fortunately, it's not too late. Go and capture that person alive. You can still atone for your failure."
An ordinary, unmodified person who could accomplish something like this would be a perfect test subject for the Abyssal Virus.
"Me?" Chunyu Bao pointed at his own nose, asking in utter bewilderment, "But I... I'm just an ordinary person..."
"I know. That's why it's time for you to undergo modification with the Abyssal Virus," Chunyu Hu said nonchalantly, his tone detached.
The moment he said that, Chunyu Bao's heart sank to the pit of his stomach.
How could he not understand what his father meant? He wanted him to become a biological weapon.
"Dad, I'm your son! How could you..." Chunyu Bao couldn't help but demand.
"Relax. It's not the biological weapon modification. It's the latest breakthrough," Chunyu Hu said, cutting him off.