Maggots

Shedding the mindset and identity of a player is not a shameful thing; on the contrary, it opened up Li Aoz's thinking.

Li Aoz knew very well that the Azure Planet simply did not have soil or environment suitable for the birth of beings with Gamma-rank or larger, just as dinosaurs could not grow too large in a low-oxygen environment and could only become the size of poultry.

Living things aren't stupid; if they grow too tall and heavy, they'll just be crushed by the planet's gravity.

The birth of extraordinary individuals is itself due to environmental limitations.

In ordinary civilizations, without a suitable environment or in the face of severe disasters, if there are no such extraordinary individuals in the biological population, genetic inheritance will be interrupted.

However, the upper limit of an extraordinary person is locked by the environment from the very beginning.

A civilization that cannot evolve a natural understanding of magic cannot give birth to a "magician," and elemental creatures without a genetic mutation basis cannot produce "Mutant."

Similarly, the Azure Planet, in terms of oxygen content, knowledge level, and energy reserves, is neither sufficient nor necessary to produce a powerhouse surpassing the Gamma-rank.

However, the long, dark night does not mean that a fleeting flash of light at an energy level will never occur.

Bio-Kongou is undoubtedly that flash of light.

The professor relied on the accumulation of Aoneng, paying a huge price, even abandoning his future path, to obtain the imposing body of the Bio-Kongou.

Conversely, if all this Aoneng is extracted, its social class will inevitably decline.

This is the only way to defeat it.

"You've misjudged the situation."

The Bio-Kongou was arrogant and disdainful like a god. It spread its arms wide, its whole body shimmering with golden light. At the same time, countless viral fumes spread and dissipated from its body.

"I've known for a long time that you have the ability to absorb Aoneng. But your body is just a mortal body, and it simply can't hold much Aoneng —7, 3+4, a total of only 7 Aoneng. That's your limit."

"Nordly died from weakness, Anna died from greed, and you possess both; you are doomed to die."

The golden light, shining like that of a Vajra Buddha, combined with the blockade of the virus smoke, completely trapped Li Aoz inside the body of the Bio-Kongou.

The nerve tendrils rapidly traversed the flesh and blood of the Bio-Kongou, while the iris mouthpiece continuously extracted life energy and Aoneng.

[Aoneng has been extracted from the target]: [Bewitching Sachet] crushed.

[Aoneng extracted from target]: [Blood Manipulation] crush.

[Aoneng has been extracted from the target]: [Reason Interference] Crush.

[Aoneng extracted from the target]: [Hormone Control] Crush, crush, crush!

Your Ability Pod is now full of Aoneng.

You can promote the evolution of an Aoneng by repeatedly containing it. Alternatively, you can choose to crush the Gene Sequence of this Aoneng and feed it to other Aoneng.

Crush—absorb! "Ugh—ughhhhh—"

Li Aoz convulsed all over, his body instantly crushed by the genetic impact, the base pairings in his body shattered by the massive impact of the Gene Sequence.

His pupils dilated rapidly, his eyes flashing with the gazes and colors of other people.

The Ability Pod is just a low-level mutation, and when extracting Aoneng, it inevitably carries the characteristics of countless people... Compared to the burden of Aoneng, this will cause him to be completely devoured by the rejection reactions of others.

Although the Aoneng in the Ability Pod did not impose Gene Load on him, the resulting traits and genetic fragments caused him immense suffering.

The Gene Sequence overwhelmed his genetic defenses like a flood, and his immune system immediately sounded the alarm. Li Aoz's body temperature rose rapidly, as his immune system perceived that viruses and foreign cells had invaded his body, instinctively raising his body temperature in preparation to kill everything.

[Mutant] can withstand a maximum body temperature of 110°C, which is something that other superhumans rarely achieve in the early stages.

These are alright—they are tolerable.

What was truly fatal was that a series of rejection reactions caused his white blood cells to rapidly stop functioning and die. Soon after, he felt blood gushing from his mouth and nose, and he heard whispers and terrified cries from different people all around him.

Aoneng is the manifestation of soul characteristics in genes. Their hosts' personalities, memories, and soul fragments are all on it. In particular, they are fused with the Bio-Kongou, and everyone is in severe physical torment.

Each Aoneng carries some pain with them, more or less. 948 people, little by little, add up to a lot. Li Aoz convulsing all over.

[You have acquired Negative Effect: Internal bleeding, causing you to lose 1% of your current maximum health per second, accompanied by extreme pain.]

"Haa... hiss, haha, huff... even if we wanted to retreat now, we couldn't. Since that's the case—"

Li Aoz his sharp teeth and bit into the flesh inside the Bio-Kongou. In his Overlord Form, his teeth were as sharp as daggers and bayonets. With one bite, juices splattered everywhere, and in a few bites, he devoured the flesh.

"Ugh—that's disgusting, it's even drier than dried beef jerky!"

He had previously chosen the Iron Stomach mutation, and it immediately took effect.

[Sever Life] Continuously consumes Aura Value, drawing blood from the Bio-Kongou. Iron Stomach, on the other hand, constantly devours flesh to replenish its Aura Value! "Foolish, laughable, naive."

Even through flesh and blood, the voice of the Bio-Kongou was still deafening. "The Bio-Kongou contains endless energy; you have no idea what it is. This is the authority of the gods!"

[Aoneng has been extracted from the target]: [Water vapor distillation] Crush.

Blood was seeping from Li Aoz's retina, and the panel looked scarlet.

He has already destroyed 48 low- to mid-level Aoneng, and there are still 900 Aoneng waiting for him to draw.

Indeed... the professor is right.

Even if all that Aoneng were crushed, the rejection reaction caused by the chaotic genetic fragments alone would kill him. In fact, the one who would kill him wouldn't be the professor, but his own fragile immune system.

Biochemists have always been the natural enemy of Mutant.

Even without deliberate targeting, the former has countless methods available in the early stages to inflict severe damage on the [Mutant].

The so-called natural enemy is someone you can only be on par with, even if you try your best.

That's why people especially enjoy watching these underdog stories of triumph over adversity. It's like throwing an egg against a rock; although it's a futile endeavor, it's far more interesting than a clash between equally strong opponents.

In fact, Li Aoz has already done well to reach this level. Even professional players would choose the option with a higher margin of error when facing a team with obvious counters.

If word got out that Mutant could fight a biochemist two levels higher than a mutant to this extent, people would question it.

Moreover— Nethermark Professor is the top-tier biochemist on the entire Azure Planet.

Her level of knowledge had reached the limit of the entire planet; objectively speaking, it was indeed the environment that limited her potential.

but.

"—It's not over yet!"

Li Aoz gritted his teeth, tore off a piece of flesh from Bio-Kongou, and turned around to inject all 48 gene fragments into Nomi's [Strong Proliferation Aberration].

Omega-class Aoneng can only be upgraded using Omega-class gene fragments.

The same Aoneng can not only promote the evolution of quality, but also improve the development level of Aoneng.

These are benefits that can only be enjoyed as a result of the final patch of version 14.0, and they are the source of Li Aoz's confidence to continue absorbing Aoneng.

Nomi's Aoneng is of the lowest quality here, and it is also the only one that enhances the Aoneng Physical Enhancement.

She is least picky about the quality of gene fragments, can upgrade quickly, and because she is stored in a gene pod, she will not be contaminated by Li Aoz's own Gene Pollution. No matter how she evolves, it will not affect the purity of Nomi's soul.

Moreover, strengthening his physical body and recovery ability means he can last a little longer.

[Your subordinate Aoneng [Strong Proliferation Aberration] has evolved]: [Cell Activation] [Rating]: Ita (η, the seventh Greek letter) [Active Activation]: Ignores all control/imprisonment/recovery effects, activates the cell activity of the whole body, quickly repairs, immediately restores 80% of your health, and completes the regeneration of your severed limbs and internal organ damage.

After use, the cells will die due to overwork and require 30 minutes to regenerate before they can be used again.

[Passive Status]: All the cells in your body are considered to be pluripotent stem cells; restoring health will repair all damage.

"She wants to live on with you, to walk together with you."

Nomi, now you're going to save me again.

Smack

Li Aoz's body swayed. Thanks to Nomi's Aoneng, his internal organs, which had been damaged by excessive use of hormones, were rapidly restored to a healthy state by drawing enough life force from [Sever Life]. It even improved his aging body considerably.

Continue extracting.

"Still not ready to stop? Your actions are nothing but a drop in the ocean against the Bio-Kongou. I've already seen through the Malefic Calamity and can use it with ease, but you—"

"Shut up, you Aoneng dwarf! Haven't you noticed? Your eyes have long since turned red and black—you who claim to be Malefic Calamity researcher have long since become Esha Infected!"

Li Aoz's sarcasm startled Bio-Kongou. He didn't have time to consider how many layers of the professor's psychological defenses this remark had breached; he turned his head and murmured:

"Hey, Nomi, have you ever seen the universe?"

The tentacles on both hands continuously drained the Aoneng and life force, causing Li Aoz's body to bleed profusely due to the rejection reaction, like a broken faucet that just wouldn't stop bleeding.

Fearing he might faint, Li Aoz kept saying, "Let me tell you a secret: there has never been any Esha Virus in the world. People are just trapped on the ground by that red and black cloud."

He smiled, though it was unclear to whom he was speaking. Perhaps to the Professor, or to Nomi, or Xue Nuo, or perhaps to all the Esha Infected.

"Actually, as long as you break through this layer of sky, you will be able to see the boundless Star Abyss."

"Are you kidding me? I've spent my whole life studying the Malefic Calamity— "

"You've been researching a ghost! You're just blindly pursuing the opposite of what you want to know, all for the sake of satisfying your own thirst for knowledge. If you just looked up, you'd know what Malefic Calamity is!"

Li Aoz cursed, "You've been trapped on this frozen land for too long, and you've long forgotten that the sun is a warm fireball, that there are spring, summer, autumn and winter, grasslands and valleys, and green hills."

"Professor or any of the Four Nations, you are all a bunch of cowards, good-for-nothings, frogs in a well! People would rather fight amongst themselves, endure exploitation, and kill each other, but they never dare to raise their heads and look up at the sky. Let alone dare to explore, they can't even imagine that dark blue Unknown Airspace."

"What nonsense are you spouting, you brat—"

"Nomi, if you want to live together, to keep up with me—then let's evolve together to the very end!"

Li Aoz raised his head.

His left eyeball rotted due to rejection, but then quickly sprouted granulation tissue and rod-like growths. The newly formed gray eye was covered with a layer of red and black, and then quickly blossomed with a beautiful golden halo.

"Because I come from the abyss of the stars."