Yashan said, “I want revenge. I want to kill that bone person! But I can’t do it… Chief Wei, please help me…”
Su Hao immediately replied, “I can’t help you, and I’m not necessarily a match for that bone person. Don’t think about throwing your life away. Live well and take care of your daughter. Without your protection, it will be difficult for your daughter to grow up safely.”
Yashan suppressed his emotions and said, “I know, Chief Wei, I know, but my heart is filled with hatred now. I want him to taste the bitterness of losing everything! I want to kill him, or else I can’t face Taini, and I can’t face myself… After I kill him…”
Seeing that Su Hao didn’t respond, Yashan choked up, “Chief Wei, anything is fine, as long as I can kill the bone person. I’ll do anything for you. Please help me, I can’t do it on my own, really can’t…”
Su Hao thought for a long time. Yashan was one of the few people he was somewhat familiar with in this world, but that familiarity was only superficial. How could he risk his life to help him?
However, as he looked at Yashan covered in armor, his thoughts began to churn, and he came up with many ideas.
After a while, Su Hao said slowly, “Killing the bone person is not impossible.”
Yashan, in despair, suddenly looked up eagerly at Su Hao.
Su Hao continued, “I can help you gain the power to kill the bone person, but…”
Yashan urged, “But what?”
Su Hao extended two fingers and said, “But you have to wait for two years, at least two years. You can go and kill him after two years.”
Yashan was surrounded by surprise. He could wait no matter how long it took. As long as the bone person died, he could wait.
This result was a thousand times better than having no hope of revenge.
Su Hao added, “It’s not without conditions! Don’t think that I’ll help you unconditionally.”
“First, be my assistant for five years, at my beck and call.”
“Second, the things you obtain from me cannot be disclosed to a third party without my permission, including your daughter, Taini.”
“Third, I won’t help you for no reason. You have to show your worth and do something for me five years later. What that is, we’ll discuss in five years.”
Yashan immediately agreed, “Alright!”
…
When 【Line Demon】 Sike burst into An’s office, the flames had slowly spread along the thin line onto the envelope. Just a few more seconds, and the envelope would be consumed by flames.
Sike lifted his hand, and an invisible filament shot out, wrapping around the envelope and pulling it back into his hand. He quickly extinguished the flames and opened the envelope.
“Respected Leader Sike, congratulations on catching up. The blood and flesh of the Level Five 【Controller King】 you wanted have been placed in your home. You don’t need to thank me; it’s what I should do. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. Only half of the 【Controller King】’s blood and flesh in your home is not enough for your promotion. The other half was taken by the sudden appearance of 【Night Demon】 in the city half a year ago. I’m helpless in this matter. If you truly want to advance, you’ll need to find 【Night Demon】. Thanks again for your help!”
“Fool!” Line Demon violently crushed the envelope into pieces.
He vented his anger wildly. The three-story building collapsed into pieces, and he wished he could shred An’s body into a thousand pieces. By now, he had arrived outside the city’s southern boundary and reunited with his six-star team members.
Fred from the 【Controller King】 sequence had successfully advanced and became a Level Three mutant known as the 【Thorn Reverser】, gaining the new abilities ‘Damage Rebound’ and ‘Flying Needle’.
Charlie from the 【Controller King】 sequence also successfully advanced to a Level Three mutant known as the 【Silk Spitter】, gaining the abilities ‘Sharp Thread’ and ‘Penetrating Thread’.
An didn’t rush to consume the blood and flesh he had obtained. Instead, he gathered everyone and asked, “I’m going to leave this city. What are your choices?”
【Thorn Reverser】 Fred immediately said, “Leader, I’ll go with you.”
Charlie said, “I’ll go find you after I kill that bastard Charlotte.”
The others expressed their willingness to go with An, except for Charlie.
An nodded and turned to head into the darkness. “Then let’s go.”
Except for Charlie, everyone followed An.
…
Yashan’s home had been destroyed. Su Hao had him stay by his side, essentially serving as a domestic helper. However, Su Hao’s yard had become too small.
So they moved to a larger house. As for the funds, Yashan had some savings from his years of work for the Netter’s family, which Su Hao borrowed without any pressure.
After examining Taini’s condition, Su Hao turned to Yashan, who was eagerly waiting by his side, and said, “Don’t worry, she’ll be bouncing around in no time.”
Yashan’s initial joy was followed by a look of sorrow. Taini hadn’t woken up yet, and he didn’t know how to tell her about the deaths of his wife and son once she did.
Su Hao walked out of the door and said to Yashan, who followed him, “Yashan, come with me. Before I help you gain power, we need to confirm a few things.”
Upon hearing this, Yashan suppressed his sorrowful emotions and followed Su Hao to the yard.
Since the deaths of his wife and son, his heart had grown much colder. The playful man he used to be, always pursuing the elusive 【God】, had transformed into a mature man. However, the cost of this transformation had been enormous.
Su Hao pulled out a small knife that gleamed with a cold light from somewhere, causing Yashan’s spine to shiver. A sense of impending danger filled his heart.
Su Hao smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’m just taking a small sample.”
Yashan nodded silently.
Su Hao continued, “Yashan, transform into a 【Rampager】 first.”
“Alright, Boss Wei!” Yashan nodded, stripped down to his underwear, and his body visibly bulked up. His skin turned black and hardened, and a glossy, beetle-like exoskeleton covered his body. He grew two sizes larger, and in just a few seconds, a thick layer of armor had enveloped him from head to toe.
Yashan’s appearance was no longer recognizable.
Every time Su Hao witnessed such a transformation, he was deeply impressed. It was almost unbelievable.
“During transformation, blood energy is consumed in large quantities.” Su Hao sensed Yashan’s current state through radar and made a guess.
Perhaps blood energy was the source of energy that activated genes and allowed transformation. In other words, blood energy was very likely the energy that Zhu Huiren had mentioned.
However, the people in this world didn’t know how to accumulate blood energy in large amounts or control it. They relied on their bodies’ instincts to accumulate it. They didn’t need to study blood energy because they could easily accumulate it by plundering genes to advance.
But this hypothesis needed to be confirmed through experimentation.
Before that, Su Hao needed to conduct a small experiment.
Su Hao lightly tapped Yashan’s exoskeleton with the back of the knife, making a “ding” sound, and asked, “Yashan, can you control the shape of this exoskeleton?”
Yashan shook his head. “No, it takes the form that it is.”
Su Hao nodded and asked, “If the exoskeleton separates from your body, will it disappear?”
Based on Su Hao’s observations during the fight with 【Bone Demon】, he noticed that the bone spurs created by 【Bone Demon】 would gradually disintegrate soon after. Yashan, being part of the same sequence as 【Bone Demon】, might have similar characteristics.
Yashan shook his head again. “I haven’t tried that, so I don’t know.”
Su Hao swung the knife in his hand and smiled, “Well, we’ll find out.”
Next, with Yashan’s extreme cooperation, Su Hao successfully removed a piece of exoskeleton from Yashan’s body and let it sit still for a while.
Once he confirmed that the exoskeleton didn’t disappear, Su Hao began to test its properties. According to Su Hao’s reasoning, the key to why the golden wireworm in his previous life could be used to solidify runes lay in the special properties of the worm’s life, which provided better blood energy conductivity than other materials.
So, as a result, the exoskeleton formed by Yashan’s transformation might also have biological characteristics and good blood energy conductivity, allowing it to serve as a substitute for the golden wireworm.
What pleased Su Hao was that Yashan’s exoskeleton indeed possessed excellent blood energy conductivity and could completely replace the role of the golden wireworm.
This newfound revelation sparked his intense interest. In his past life, he had tried to carve runes on creatures with exoskeletons, but every attempt had failed because these creatures’ exoskeletons had undergone a thorough transformation and no longer fell into the category of flesh and blood, which meant they no longer possessed excellent blood energy conductivity.
Yashan’s exoskeleton was different. It was a special substance that lay between flesh and blood and biological exoskeletons. It could easily transform from exoskeleton back into skin and flesh if Yashan was willing to expend blood energy.
Looking at Yashan, Su Hao’s expression changed, akin to how he’d look at a pile of endlessly extractable golden wireworms. Su Hao’s attitude toward Yashan became very warm as he took Yashan’s hand and said, “Yashan, let me teach you how to gain power right now!”
Yashan was overjoyed.
What did Yashan’s exoskeleton, which had good blood energy conductivity, mean to Su Hao?
