Special Effects

Though pressure weighed heavily on his mind, Su Shijie still forced himself to rest after hearing his father's words. Relying on his now stronger recovery ability, he quickly replenished his mental energy and stamina.

Early the next morning, before Bai Congcong had even gotten up to make breakfast, Su Ren pushed open the door, came in, and hauled Su Shijie to his feet.

He also pulled out a transparent test tube with a built-in syringe. The glass had a faint metallic sheen, and it contained a pale yellow liquid.

It was the bottle of Awakened Rank potion Su Shijie had obtained earlier.

Come to think of it, after dealing with his game account, he still had the qualifications for four more bottles. It looked like they would probably be used this way too.

"All right, get ready. It'll hurt a little."

Su Ren's words made Su Shijie think of the agony of his previous breakthroughs, and his body unconsciously went weak and sore.

But then he recalled how powerless he had been against the evil spirit, the sensation of standing on the brink of death, and the oppressive presence of that black giant wolf last night.

He still nodded firmly.

Then he watched Su Ren take several pieces of multicolored dried mushrooms from his pocket, open the cap, and toss them directly inside.

After that, he even gave it a shake.

The color of the potion immediately became rather strange.

Clearly, these were another kind of mushroom with even stronger toxicity.

Su Ren had prepared them long ago.

So this was what "improvement" meant—mixing poison into the potion?

Was it really okay to just toss them in like that? Even if the mushrooms couldn't pass through the needle, what if they clogged it? Couldn't he be a little more professional?

And why had he prepared them in advance?

Had he originally planned to do this all along?

If I hadn't changed my mind, would you have given me this treatment too?

I'm your biological son! Your actual son!

"Don't worry about such trivial details."

Seeing the look in Su Shijie's eyes, Su Ren gave a snicker.

Then he took an adult diaper from his pocket and tossed it over.

"I picked it up when I went into town last time. Put it on."

"I'm not wearing that!"

The sight of the diaper made Su Shijie explode. This was the kind of disgrace that would never wash away for the rest of his life. He had already broken through three more times since then, and he had never embarrassed himself again!

"Seriously, put it on. What you're about to experience will be far worse than your previous breakthroughs."

If he wanted no side effects and rapid improvement, how could there possibly be no price to pay?

Su Ren smiled, showing a row of gleaming white teeth.

"Under intense pain, loss of sphincter control is perfectly normal, especially when you're improving so much all at once."

"But don't worry. Other than the painkilling effect being gone, the nutritional and protective ingredients are still there. You don't have any drug resistance either, and your foundation is solid after three Bloodline Transformations. As long as I don't make you kill yourself, keeping you alive won't be a problem."

"Come on."

After sighing, Su Shijie still gritted his teeth and held out his arm.

As long as it wouldn't kill him, no matter how unbearable it was, he would endure it!

"Wait."

When he saw his father approaching with the syringe, Su Shijie finally raised a hand.

"I'll get the injection in the bathroom."

"No. I'm afraid you'll eat shit, so you should wear it."

Hearing the even more horrifying possibility from Su Ren's mouth, Su Shijie finally compromised.

During his previous breakthroughs, Su Shijie had at least been able to scream like a slaughtered pig.

But this time, the moment the needle went in, he felt his tongue and vocal cords go numb together.

The pain erupting from his marrow, the stimulation hammering at his brain nerves—

It made him feel as though the rational layer of his subconscious was about to collapse again.

The sudden 10% increase in Spiritual Energy Infusion caused every cell in his body to undergo transformation.

Countless cells died and were reborn, cycling endlessly.

The nutrients in the potion continuously supplied energy for the process.

It felt like several hours had passed, but in reality, it had only been fifteen minutes.

Su Shijie collapsed onto the floor like he had been pulled from water, gasping without stop.

The invigorating soreness of Spiritual Energy filling him afterward made him let out a groan.

A one-time 10% increase in Spiritual Energy Infusion!

It was equivalent to leaping directly from the early stage of Awakened Rank Level 1 to the early stage of Awakened Rank Level 2!

With the additional bonus from his bloodline rank, his on-paper stats were already comparable to the early stage of Level 3!

Moreover, because he had endured the pain of the transformation, and because that pain had amplified his fine sensory perception, his control over his own strength had not fallen behind or become disconnected.

He would not suffer the delayed reactions and poor control of strength caused by using the Pain-Free potion. His foundation had not been shaken.

His Level 4 Tough Skin and Level 6 telekinesis had also improved in tandem with the increased infusion.

The range of his telekinesis had already exceeded thirty meters, and its force had reached around thirty-five or thirty-six kilograms. Though he couldn't manipulate large objects—

As long as his processing power could keep up, he could absolutely try operating several ordinary Electromagnetic Handguns at once.

Combined with the Soul Tendrils that had managed to produce some effect even when an ordinary Level 9 fought an Awakened Level 9, although he still lacked actual combat experience, at least his theoretical combat strength on paper was not weak.

Of course, using the Soul Tendrils to lash out earlier had caused an even worse backlash. Without teammates, using the tendrils against an opponent so many levels above him was simply courting death.

Even so, perhaps he was already stronger than his second brother and older sister.

But when he thought of the clash between his father and that black giant wolf earlier, and how his father had stubbornly withstood it despite such a huge gap in their on-paper stats, only suffering because he could not change magazines—

Su Shijie immediately reined in his slightly inflated confidence.

Someone like him, who had always been so well protected, truly could not compare with experienced combatants like his second brother and older sister.

They were Awakened Rank Level 5. Their on-paper stats far exceeded his, and together with the gap in experience, if they truly fought, he would be finished in a single exchange.

He had improved too much too quickly before, creating the illusion that he could do anything. He had gotten far too full of himself...

Su Shijie calmed himself slightly and suppressed that feeling.

Still, he had another advantage. At the very least, those who knew his circumstances would not be on guard against him. It counted as a hidden card.

If he really got the chance to launch a sneak attack, he should be quite formidable—the little expert at killing on first encounter.

Fighting above one's level and being defeated by someone below one's level were both commonplace before technological weapons.

When people were killed, they died!

"Dad, can you get me a few..."

Before Su Shijie could finish, he saw Su Ren pull out five Electromagnetic Handguns and hand them over.

Looking at the guns in his hands, their grips worn smooth with use, these should be the ones the shelter had temporarily issued to the Advanced Class students.

But as the shelter's chief instructor, his father indeed had the authority to requisition them at will.

Did this count as abusing his authority for personal gain?

All he could say was, just as expected of his father.

Most of the suicide note Aunt Lin had written back then had been hearsay, but there really had been some truth to it. Sigh...

Still, Su Shijie did not stand on ceremony. He dug out the combat protective suit his father had given him before and clumsily put it on, inserting all five guns into the slots on the suit. There were dedicated holsters on both thighs, at the back of the waist, and beneath the arms.

The Combat Suit that had once always felt awkward now seemed to fit him quite well.

This high-strength material itself offered decent resistance against small-caliber Firearms.

Combined with his Tough Skin, in theory, he should be able to withstand the armor-piercing mode of ordinary Electromagnetic Handguns to some extent.

He wanted to confidently assume that he could withstand shots from an M-7, but recalling how even the black giant wolf's defenses, like ceramic armor bolted onto its body, had been blasted bloody all over, he immediately abandoned that arrogant thought.

Sure enough, defense was harder than destruction. Firearms really were a little unfair...

"Dad, has last night's matter been dealt with?"

"Anyway, it has nothing to do with us now. I just led the way. The Ghost Mushrooms won't disappear that quickly, and the Floating City people are investigating."

Su Ren looked unconcerned.

"But they came really fast..."

"After all, it involved a Contamination Source at such close range. It directly concerned them, so naturally they were anxious. They came straight over by aircraft."

Usually, Shelter P-314 seemed rather down-to-earth, and travel to and from the Floating City was very inconvenient. But when necessary, there were naturally ways to arrive at the fastest speed.

It was just that Spiritual Creatures could not be locked onto, so aircraft in the air would be in serious trouble if flying Spirit Beasts blocked their path.

They could only be driven off through manual fire. News of aircraft being shot down appeared often enough, so unless it was truly urgent, they probably would not deploy them...