Bountiful Harvest

Yang Bo's guess had been right. On the game forum, the pictures of Yang Bo carrying several mecha melee weapons were incredibly eye-catching.

"Ha ha, does this guy have a collecting fetish?"

"What do you know? Those weapons are perfectly fine for cutting down birds. But no one else has luck like his—he runs into Mutants every time he goes out."

"Exactly. He wasted all that time and got nothing?"

"What an Unlucky Egg. Pick up more mecha melee weapons, and you'll have no problem cutting birds and killing rats."

"Ha ha."

To the other players, Yang Bo had gained nothing at all. They did not know about the A-rank Mutated Beast he had obtained last time.

In the eyes of the other players, there was no harvest unless one caught a Mutant or a Mutated Animal.

Yang Bo still chose to put those melee mecha weapons into storage, because he wanted to check his current skills and had no time to go out and dump trash.

Swimming: Grandmaster (Speed in liquids +300%, permanent underwater breathing ability, underwater attack power +120%)

Flight: Master (1402/10000) Camouflage: Grandmaster (12317/100000) Sonic Wave Control: Grandmaster (16350/100000)

Dynamic Vision: Grandmaster (10023/100000)

Charge: Master (1620/10000)

Thermal Imaging Vision: Advanced (301/1000)

Electrical Energy Control: Advanced (112/1000) Light Energy Control: Beginner (4/10)

Mecha Piloting: Intermediate (56/100)

Stealth: Advanced (105/1000)

Slap: Advanced (134/1000) Battleship Repair: Advanced (251/1000) Battleship Piloting: Intermediate (25/100)

Mecha Repair: Advanced (142/1000)

Tracking: Advanced (103/1000)

Yang Bo examined them carefully. He had gained two new abilities, Mecha Repair and Tracking, both of which had reached Advanced. The Tracking ability had probably come from the Mutants shouting at the entrance to the cave. They had been injured by the hydrogen bomb, then killed when the Air-to-Ground Fighter's missiles destroyed the Underground Passage.

Camouflage and Dynamic Vision had also reached the Grandmaster level. It was probably because the hydrogen bomb's shock wave had been constrained within the sinkhole, allowing its immense force to surge into the Underground Passage.

Charge had reached the Master level.

Yang Bo picked up a metal ornament used for training Sonic Wave Control. With a gentle squeeze, the metal became as soft as dough.

Then he picked up a jade ornament. It shattered with one squeeze, and after rubbing it between his hands, it turned into powder.

"Tut, tut." Yang Bo looked at his hands. His entire body brimmed with strength, and he felt as if he could send even a mecha flying with one punch.

I'm getting carried away. Yang Bo knew this feeling came from his strength increasing so suddenly.

What Yang Bo was even more curious about was how much electricity his body could absorb now that his physique had become so powerful.

However, there was no way to test it at the moment. There was nowhere to discharge electricity. He could not possibly boil water again, and even while washing up, Yang Bo had been extremely careful, afraid that his strength might slip out of control.

Fortunately, nothing bad happened. As Yang Bo paced around his room, he thought about what had happened in the game this time.

Especially the fact that neither of the two Mutants he had killed had given him any special superpowers.

"Is it because I already have the Electrical Energy Control superpower, which conflicts with the other Mutants' superpowers?"

"Or are individual differences between me and the Mutants preventing me from acquiring their superpowers?"

Yang Bo had no answer. This time, he had gained quite a lot. Last time, he had been thinking about luring those Mutants out, but he had not expected them to actually come out this time.

"Is there something wrong with these Mutants' brains?" Yang Bo thought of the Mutant that had leaped into the air after being provoked by him. It had been far too easy to anger and utterly irrational.

After moving around for a while, Yang Bo went back to watch the battle recording. He discovered that one of the Mutants leading the group had reached five times the speed of sound. That was not something a mecha could do.

"No wonder the mechas got blown apart by these Mutants in the Underground World. These Mutants are much smaller than mechas, so they're more agile underground." Yang Bo analyzed the situation carefully. These Mutants were very strong—stronger than him.

Yang Bo did not know whether he could fly or whether his body could break through several times the speed of sound. Really, if your speed was fast enough, what did gravity even matter?

While Yang Bo was pondering his new abilities, two people stood in an office at an Alliance Gene Serum Company, while members of the Board of Directors questioned them remotely.

"When did the company become connected to the Red Earl Extremist Organization?" No one knew where the director was, but a thread of anger rang out through the room's speakers.

One of those being questioned was Bald Head, while the other was a middle-aged man in a suit. The man had golden hair and looked exceptionally charismatic.

"Director, the Security Department failed in its oversight of this matter. The New Drug Oversight Group bears the primary responsibility," the middle-aged man in the suit said.

"New Drug Oversight Group, what do you have to say?" someone immediately asked.

Bald Head replied in a completely emotionless voice, "Please take a careful look, directors. It was only because our company's Security Department failed its mission that the task was handed down to our Oversight Group. The Security Department receives so much funding every year and still failed. What could we have done? I believe the Security Department's assessment of the target was insufficiently accurate, and it provided incorrect information. As for Red Earl, we merely released the task according to procedure. We never expected Red Earl's Faction to accept it."

The golden-haired middle-aged man shouted coldly, "You're lying. We have records of your calls."

Bald Head chuckled. "Where's the evidence? Are you going to convict someone based on a conversation alone? If that's the case, I could also say that you belong to the Red Earl Extremist Organization. Does the Security Department not require evidence?"

"I think your Oversight Group should be disbanded. You can't even track and observe a single resident."

"We didn't create the early-warning system. The company did, based on different parameter values for different serums."

"Enough. The company has paid a heavy price over this matter. We need to know as soon as possible whether the new drug works. If you do not resolve this within a month, then we will resolve the two of you."

"Agreed!"

"Agreed." The other directors voiced their agreement one after another.

Only then did the meeting room doors slowly open. Bald Head and the golden-haired middle-aged man glanced at each other, and then Bald Head said, "I never thought I'd have to work with scum like you."

"Heh, you're no better. Those people testing the new drug—you watched them die with your own eyes, recording every moment, then reviewing it frame by frame."

"Scum, what good plan do you have?"

"Our Security Department doesn't like working with incompetent people..."

"Heh, then let's see who catches the target first. Oh, I forgot to tell you—our special operations personnel are still on the target's planet. I wonder whether your Security Department has any way to get onto the planet. Ha ha, ha ha."

"You son of a bitch! Why didn't you say that earlier?"

"Because I wasn't sure either. You're an Advanced Supervisor, while I'm only an Intermediate Supervisor. If you don't put in more effort, the two of us might both end up as ordinary employees. Whose loss would be greater? Ha ha, ha ha."

Yang Bo was grinning from ear to ear. He had just tested Sonic Detection and found that it was ten times more effective than before. It was practically a god's-eye view—the range had expanded fivefold, and the clarity had increased by more than ten times. Even the Gene Evolver in the neighboring building had not noticed him probing them.