Peak Brain

"Number 97, what can I redeem?"

Gaoxin immediately saw a huge list with various categories and search functions.

Enhancements, modifications, weapons, materials, medicine, knowledge... countless items.

He gave a cursory look at modifications and immediately ruled them out.

Modifications meant undergoing prosthetic body augmentation to become a cyborg. While powerful, their lower limit was much higher than a Radiator's.

But what could his three thousand points do? If he underwent modifications, the Wa people would likely spot it immediately, which would be disastrous.

If they knew he had so many redemption vouchers to modify himself, they would surely kill him.

The same applied to weapons; they were too easy to detect.

So, the only things he could consider were medicine, enhancements, and knowledge.

However, knowledge was too expensive because it was directly implanted into the brain, etched into memory. Furthermore, it was only for the human technological system, not AI. Humans couldn't comprehend AI, and even if it were implanted, they would go mad.

Thus, Gaoxin unhesitatingly selected the enhancement category. The first things that caught his eye were hundreds of gene modules.

"[Organ Overclocking] 1000 points. Internally burns one's own fat and muscle, squeezing organs to achieve a comprehensive burst of physical abilities. Minimum requirement: Class N."

"[Chimeric Gene] 3000 points. Captures and grafts the genome of a creature of the same type as oneself. Minimum requirement: Class N."

"[Seismic Sense] 4500 points. Can sense a target's position, momentum, and other related data solely through ambient vibration waves. Minimum requirement: Class N."

"[Vitality Fat] 23,000 points. Grants rapid regeneration ability, using one's own fat to provide self-healing for others. Minimum requirement: Class R."

"[Complete Metamorphosis] 25,000 points. Can enter a chrysalis to restructure one's body, possessing any analyzed insect organ. Minimum requirement: Class R."

"[Inciting Hormone] 58,000 points. Emits highly inciting hormones, influencing others to blindly obey. Minimum requirement: Class R."

"[Near-Death Compensation] 130,000 points. Each time one recovers from a near-death experience, the body becomes significantly stronger. Minimum requirement: SR Class."

"[Critical Adaptation] 270,000 points. The closer to the limit, the greater the adaptation ability improvement, up to direct gene recombination. Minimum requirement: SR Class."

"[Bio-electricity] 400,000 points. Can rapidly convert biomass into electrical energy, which can be modulated arbitrarily. Minimum requirement: SR Class."

"[Super Regeneration] 1,000,000 points. Possesses super-high-speed self-repair capabilities; will not die as long as the brain remains intact. Minimum requirement: SSR Class."

"[Core Fusion] 5,500,000 points. Generates a cold fusion organ set within the body, supplying all its energy needs. Minimum requirement: SSR Class."

"[Anti-Gravity Field] 6,000,000 points. Negates the gravity acting on an object, or reverses the direction of gravity acting on oneself. Minimum requirement: SSR Class."

Gaoxin was dazzled by all these.

He also saw items like [Bloodthirsty Regeneration] and [Flesh Assimilation] that Big Beard had mentioned; these were among the more expensive ones for Class N.

No wonder Silver Hand was so eager for redemption vouchers; he needed these gene modules to become stronger.

It was astonishing, things like core fusion and anti-gravity fields being applied as enhancements to the human body?

However, Gaoxin felt extremely uncomfortable because all these enhancements had minimum requirements, and without exception, they all required being a Radiator!

"Tsk, what happens if I'm not a Radiator and I redeem one?" Gaoxin asked.

Number 97 replied, "Death."

Well, that was direct enough.

Gaoxin shook his head and asked, "Then how many redemption vouchers for a gene protector?"

He was too lazy to scroll through them one by one and asked directly.

Number 97 immediately presented the relevant product: "Ten thousand points."

"This..." Gaoxin's face turned grim.

It wasn't just him; Sule and the others were also checking redemptions. The gene protector was the only option to combat gene collapse.

Ten thousand points? That was too expensive.

Gaoxin's face fell. Even with the 30 points he got from looting bodies, he only had 3316 points. Even if he was this lucky in every game, he would need to save up redemption vouchers from three games.

But could he afford to save them? He had to use the redemption vouchers here. Otherwise, after leaving, no matter how well he explained, if the Wa people forced him to reveal his balance and searched him, he would have nothing.

"Number 97, can I participate in another game?" Gaoxin asked.

Everyone was startled. Jumping straight into the next game without a break? Was he that desperate?

Number 97 said, "You are not an NPC. To match again, you must return to the player lobby."

"Tsk..." Gaoxin's face darkened. "Then can we continue to stay here?"

Number 97 replied, "After the game settlement, players have a three-hour grace period. After that, the venue will undergo mandatory cleanup."

Gaoxin nodded, then raised the Mechanical Battle Axe and a small trinket he had found on a corpse.

"Can I recycle items then?"

Number 97 calmly stated, "We do not recycle trash."

"Damn it..." Gaoxin was speechless.

He stroked the Mechanical Battle Axe. "This thing is also trash? It's worth 1000 points!"

Gaoxin immediately searched for the item and found it in the weapons section. It was indeed worth 1000 points, made of nanomaterials, and was sturdy and sharp. It could also be charged with electrical energy, solar energy, or even bio-energy.

Since the Wa people would take it anyway if he brought it out, he might as well sell it.

However, Number 97 refused to buy it back, clearly indicating that this place only exchanged items, not bought them.

If you no longer needed an exchanged item, you had to sell it to someone else. People traded with each other at a discount.

It made sense. What production capacity did the authorities have? Almost nothing couldn't be mass-produced, so recycling these items was meaningless to them.

"If you don't recycle trash, what do you recycle?" Gaoxin asked.

Number 97 replied, "Gene Modules."

Hearing this, Gaoxin suddenly understood. So, those enhancements were developed by the people of Sin Prison Island themselves?

After the AI obtained them, it could then mass-produce them and reinforce other Radiators?

"So, there are things even AI can't create? That makes sense, it doesn't have a human body."

Gaoxin thought to himself, could Sin Prison Island's lawlessness be a way to allow the Radiators within to evolve? To provide material for Ran Di?

At this moment, Meimei said, "Gene protectors sell for a million currency outside, so is the redemption voucher 1:100 with official currency?"

Liu Xu replied, "Something like that. One point of redemption voucher is enough for a normal person's daily food, and they can eat very full."

"As for gene protectors, they are naturally expensive if you exchange them with the authorities. However, there's a black medicine circulating on the island, a pirated version made by a certain faction imitating gene protectors. It only sells for a thousand points and can also allow people to recombine after Gene Collapse, thus becoming Radiators."

Gaoxin's eyes lit up. "Only a thousand points?"

Sule stammered, "Then... then who would buy the official ones? Wouldn't they be suckers?"

Meimei exclaimed, "Gene protectors were invented by AI, and the manufacturing process is said to be extremely complex. Some parts are completely incomprehensible to humans, yet someone managed to replicate it?"

Liu Xu nodded affirmatively. "Yes, but the mortality rate is very high. It's said to have only a ten percent success rate..."

"It can be fatal?" Sule shrieked. "The official protectors have a hundred percent success rate!"

"This success rate is only ten percent? The price is also ten percent... Hey, did they just dilute it?"

Meimei mused, "Even if it's just diluted from the genuine product, its effects are still very strong."

Everyone nodded. It wasn't something you could just dilute if you wanted to. If it wasn't a complete dose, then those who injected it after Gene Collapse would still die, essentially wasting it.

The imitator must have been a powerful Cyber Wizard. He studied the parts that humans could understand, produced them himself, and then divided the incomprehensible parts into several portions, thus achieving dilution.

The fact that it still had an effect after dilution required a high level of technical skill. The island was truly full of talent.

Gaoxin frowned. "What's the point? Buying ten doses of black medicine for ten thousand points, and in the end, only one person becomes a Radiator."

"The cost is the same, the result is the same, and nine people die for nothing..."

Liu Xu said, "But there are still many people who crave such an opportunity and are willing to gamble with their lives."

"The Yakuza regularly select people from the slaves and send them to the Radiation Chamber, then distribute this black medicine to them to gamble their lives."

"You know, the probability is ten percent, but it doesn't necessarily mean only one out of ten people will survive. It's possible that several survive by luck."

"Of course, it's also possible that none survive."

"Anyway, they are Glass People who die. To the Yakuza, if one lives, it's not a loss; if two live, it's a huge profit. Even with such a chance, many people are fighting tooth and nail for it!"

Everyone sighed. Glass People were too miserable on the island.

This was perhaps their only chance to turn their lives around, so even with only a ten percent survival rate, they had to take the gamble. If they didn't gamble, they might as well die.

Gaoxin asked again, "What will happen to us newcomers after we go out?"

Liu Xu sighed. "Of course, you'll be sent to various teams. Except for women and handsome men, most newcomers will first be screened in the Redemption Game."

"Those who survive will then have their specialties and physical fitness checked and be assigned to various slave groups."

"For example, the Prey Group, the Laborer Group, the Servant Group, and the Redemption Squad and the Enforcer group."

"The Enforcer group is the best. On this island, you can consider the 'enforcers' of various factions as civilians."

Gaoxin raised an eyebrow. "Civilians? Enforcers are civilians?"

Liu Xu nodded. "Don't even think about it for Glass People. They are selected from newcomers who are Radiators to join the Enforcer group. They are of lower status than powerful Black Hands, but much better off than slaves."

"They are responsible for supervising slaves, standing guard, and similar tasks, or they might have no work and just train."

"During their shifts off, Enforcers can also move freely and can even participate in the Redemption Game themselves. The redemption vouchers they obtain can be kept for themselves."

"However, they have to hand over 100 points fixedly every month."

Everyone nodded slightly. Having rest time, freedom of movement, and private property.

Becoming an Enforcer was indeed equivalent to becoming a civilian in this village.

Earlier, Sasaki had made all the Radiators step forward and then took them away. They didn't come to play the Redemption Game with them. Clearly, he had selected those people to train them for the Enforcer group. If they could be trained to be strong enough, they could join the Black Hand Gang.

Undoubtedly, the Black Hand Gang was the core force of various factions. Sasaki, Tianshe, and others were all Black Hands of the Yakuza.

Gaoxin stared at Liu Xu. "What about the Redemption Squad? You weren't in the Redemption Squad at first, were you?"

Liu Xu shook her head. "Of course not. I only came here a month before you. I was selected for the Entertainment Troupe right from the start and had gender reassignment surgery."

"Unfortunately, my surgery wasn't very successful. Things down there ended up looking pretty bad, so the Entertainment Troupe sent me back and reassigned me to the Redemption Squad..."

Meimei's expression was strange. "Unlucky? I think you're actually very lucky. But why is being transferred to the Redemption Squad considered being 'reassigned'?"

Liu Xu said bitterly, "How is that lucky? In the Entertainment Troupe, you have food, drink, and your own room. You only undergo some training every day, and at worst, you'll end up working in the corridors or the bathhouse. Isn't that much more comfortable than being a laborer?"

"I was resistant at first, but I gradually got used to it. I felt like being a woman was pretty good."

"As for the Redemption Squad, heh. For a Glass Person, it's actually worse than being a laborer."

"After all, in the Redemption Game, Glass People die too easily. So in the Redemption Squad, people die almost every day. Every month, a batch of talented newcomers are chosen to be sent in."

Sule curiously pressed, "What kind of place is the Redemption Squad?"

Liu Xu sighed. "It's the unit specifically responsible for participating in games and obtaining redemption vouchers."

"There are strong and weak people inside. About three thousand Glass People are divided into thirty small teams."

"Each team has a performance target. They must submit at least ten thousand redemption vouchers per month."

Everyone gasped, "Holy crap, ten thousand?"

"Even if a small team has a hundred people, that averages out to a hundred points per person per month. Although a low-level game theoretically yields a hundred points for a Glass Person, that's just theoretical. In reality, it's almost impossible. Surviving is difficult enough. Even if you survive, you'll likely have to spend money to buy your life."

"Glass People participating in games are like toys. Radiators are the real players."

"What happens if you don't submit enough?" Gaoxin asked.

Liu Xu's face turned pale. "First, the captain has to die. Then, some of the worst performers will be chosen to make up the deficit. Each person counts as a hundred points. You'll lose as many people as the points you're short."

"And 'making up the deficit' means being sent to the Prey Group. That's the most miserable place."

Everyone was confused. "Prey Group? What do they do? Is it worse than the Redemption Squad?"

Liu Xu said mournfully, "As the name suggests, you go there to be prey... food for the radiation beasts."

"Food!"

Everyone's expressions froze. While they were horrified, they weren't entirely surprised. Having witnessed the brutality of the Wa people today, sending them to be food could be considered 'waste utilization.'

Liu Xu sighed. "So, when you guys get out, being assigned to the Laborer Group is actually the best option..."

After hearing this, everyone fell silent.

So, the Entertainment Troupe was the best choice. If not, at least being a laborer. Both of those at least guaranteed survival.

Meimei let out a bitter smile.

She had gone through so much trouble to stay, only to end up with a worse option?

"I'd rather be in the Redemption Squad than the Entertainment Troupe," Meimei quickly said, her eyes firm.

Liu Xu pouted. "You can't just join the Redemption Squad. You either have talent or your physique is strong among Glass People."

Gaoxin continued to ask Liu Xu, "When you mentioned selecting people from slaves to gamble their lives with Black Medicine, which group do you usually pick from?"

"The Redemption Squad," Liu Xu confirmed. "It's a reward for those who have submitted over a thousand redemption vouchers."

Everyone was speechless. "So it's not free after all. You have to perform well in the Redemption Squad, exceeding a thousand, to gamble your life with Black Medicine, and then use it on yourselves?"

They all cursed, and at the same time, felt despair about their own futures.

Only Gaoxin pondered. He currently had over three thousand, but it wasn't enough to exchange for a gene protector.

And he wasn't even a Radiator, so any other enhancements were out of the question.

But now, there was an opportunity to gamble his life with Black Medicine if he submitted over a thousand. What should he do?

But that was only a ten percent survival rate.

Gaoxin said in a low voice, "Anything else? If the performance is even higher, are there other benefits?"

Liu Xu shook her head. "I don't know much more than that. I was studying in the Entertainment Troupe before. I only joined the Redemption Squad a few days ago. I was assigned to Brother Qiao's team."

"Don't listen to what that bald guy said before. Brother Qiao is actually a very good person. He takes care of newcomers and became a team leader step by step after becoming the top salesperson. He saw that I had become a woman and was afraid I'd be bullied in the dorm, so he let me sleep in his room. As the captain, he has his own private quarters."

Gaoxin pondered. So, no matter how much he submitted, at best he could become a small team leader in the Redemption Squad.

He supposed that was only natural. He was just a Glass Person, what more could he expect?

Either he'd be assigned Black Medicine to gamble his life, or even if he was talented, he'd have to become a Radiator first.

"No, I can't submit. I worked my life to the bone to get these redemption vouchers, only for the Wa people to benefit, and for a chance with a ninety percent mortality rate. Wouldn't dying like that be ridiculous?"

"Number 97, just list out everything that can strengthen ordinary people for me."

Gaoxin carefully and earnestly looked at all the listed exchanges.

He would strengthen himself bit by bit first. It was impossible that Ran Di's many peculiar inventions would have nothing useful for Glass People.

As expected, a large number of ordinary enhancements were displayed.

They could indeed enhance a Glass Person, some temporarily, some permanently.

Reaction speed, muscle strength, immunity, organ function, cell activity, brain intelligence... everything could be enhanced.

Three thousand points were barely enough to bring one of these aspects to its peak.

However, judging by the effects, even if he spent more, he couldn't exceed the human limit.

For example, reaction time, the fastest was 0.1 seconds.

For example, strength, at most three times his body weight.

This was the Glass Person.

Every species had its limit. Becoming a Radiator was essentially changing races, greatly expanding the limits and possessing more potential to be developed.

"With my over three thousand points, even if I used them all to enhance strength or physique, Sasaki could still kill me with one slash... there's no need to enhance combat power at all."

"So... it's all going into intelligence?"

After carefully reviewing the detailed descriptions of various brain enhancements, Gaoxin made up his mind and directly selected one.

"Number 97, initiate Comprehensive Nuclear Magnetic Brain Enhancement... all redemption vouchers, comprehensively deepen the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and spinal cord functions."

Instantly, a white mist descended, pushing everyone around away. They could only watch as the hazy white mist enveloped Gaoxin entirely.

No one knew what was happening inside. Only Gaoxin could see that he seemed to be in a completely white cylinder, with darkness above.

"Glass Person, enhance!"

In just an instant, Gaoxin's head felt like it had been hit hard, buzzing.

Immediately after, he felt a wave of dizziness and numbness, his brain, from the inside out, was being stimulated by something.

Every inch felt like it was being pricked by countless tiny needles, and soon he was drenched in sweat.

He felt uncomfortable, his head felt anchored in the air, unable to move, and he had a sense of dizzying, wild rocking.

Fortunately, it didn't last long before all the sensations faded.

Seeing the white mist dissipate, everyone gathered around: "Brother, how are you?"

Gaoxin opened his eyes, which shone like brilliant stars.

"I'm fine."

His voice was magnetic. Liu Xu and the others looked at him and felt a jolt, like electricity. Although his appearance hadn't changed, his entire demeanor was different.

Everyone wondered what he had enhanced. Had he enhanced his charm?

At this moment, Gaoxin felt better than ever.

His ears were clear, his mind was sharp, and even his breathing and heart rate had become exceptionally calm and coordinated.

He had undergone comprehensive brain enhancement. His thinking functions, mental functions, auditory functions, visual functions, and somatosensory functions had all reached the peak of a mortal.

Enhancing brain intelligence was essentially enhancing the functions of the brain.

Emotions, logic, calculation, memory, language, imagination, intuition, vision, perception, and even subconscious organ coordination, muscle harmony, hormone neurotransmitters, nerve strength, body balance, and thought inspiration had all been greatly improved.

Although his body wasn't stronger, he felt incredibly comfortable, peaceful, and clear in body and mind.

From the beating of his heart to the frequency of his breathing, from the flow of his blood to the vibration of his organs, every second was exceptionally comfortable.

He had never felt himself, experienced his own body, so clearly before.

Parietal lobe enhancement would improve 'somatosensory recognition' and 'operational understanding'.

Combined with the occipital lobe enhancement, which brought 'visual recognition' and 'observational understanding'.

Now, he could basically understand any craft operation at a glance and become familiar with it immediately.

At this moment, he felt like a legendary genius, his mind racing.

Many fragmented and dim memories gradually recovered and reorganized.

Things and phenomena he couldn't understand before were now being analyzed one by one, giving him a great sense of pleasure.

"Ah, these memories are my most primitive cognitions..."

In his own mind, he recalled a chaotic, long-buried, bizarre memory.

That was his childhood, and also the period of his life with the most direct emotions and the richest imagination.

As a child, he had many sudden ideas and thoughts that were inexplicable to others.

This was because his father, besides teaching him about human relationships and ethics, taught him no common sense, only to think for himself.

However, he was too stupid and too lonely.

After his father died, he was sent to a community school and couldn't understand the mindset and cognition of ordinary people at all. He tried very hard to barely make himself seem like a normal person.

But it was only "seeming" like a normal person. For him, this was a very important skill and knowledge.

His true subconscious cognition, from a human perspective, was non-human, unpolluted by human experience.

He had his own worldview and his own definitions and understanding of the various strange phenomena around him, which once almost formed a self-consistent dark logic.

But in the end, Gaoxin was just an ordinary person. The human brain has its limits; how could it possibly comprehend all the possibilities that are as elusive as an antelope's hoofprint or as wild as a Pegasus?

Only now, after enhancing his brain, could he finally begin to rapidly piece together and arrange the countless phenomena he couldn't understand or explain from his original self.

It was like a deck of shuffled puzzle pieces, being assembled with immense brainpower, continuing the 'Heart of Dark Logic' he failed to construct in his childhood.

This was his father's expectation and his childhood obsession. Back then, his mind was too slow, and many of the knowledge points he summarized were fragmented and scattered.

He hoped his enhanced self could explain the questions he had about the world as a child.

However, this world is like a vast, chaotic enigma. Who can truly calculate everything? Perhaps even Ran cannot.

Even with his brain enhanced, Gaoxin quickly hit a wall this time.

He had many mysteries in his childhood, but the biggest ones were undoubtedly, "What am I?", "Where do I come from?", "Where am I going?"...

At this moment, Gaoxin vaguely felt he was about to figure it out, but it was just a little bit short, just that tiny bit!

A faint layer of fog and gloom hung there, an impenetrable barrier.

Forget it, he wouldn't think about it anymore. From a normal person's perspective, what good would the answer to this question do?

He'd rather be a normal person with his heart, he had finally managed to catch up to everyone and break through to the 'Ordinary Realm'.

"Brother Xin Ku, what did you enhance?" Sule asked curiously, interrupting Gaoxin's thoughts.

Gaoxin smiled, "I grew a bit of a brain. Finally, I'm not the dumbest anymore."

His tone carried a sense of relief from a long-held grievance finally settling, and the emotion of a youthful dream finally being realized.

The others were speechless. Why did he always think he was so stupid?

Meimei murmured, "He actually enhanced his brain? That makes sense. Even if he enhanced his combat power, he wouldn't be able to catch up to that group this time. It's better to strengthen his brain; it will be very beneficial for the next game."

Liu Xu asked, "Brother, how many points do you have left?"

Gaoxin blurted out, "Thirty."

As he spoke, he took out the thirty redemption vouchers he had found on the short guy. These were all that remained; he had spent the rest.

"Huh?" The others looked in surprise at the three pieces of nano-silk standing upright at Gaoxin's fingertips.

The thin redemption vouchers seemed to stick to his hand, swaying slightly but not falling.

Then, Gaoxin toyed with the three redemption vouchers, his five fingers easily manipulating them, flipping them over and over as if playing with three tough iron sheets.

Even with iron sheets, it would be extremely difficult to play with them so skillfully.

But Gaoxin did it with ease. He didn't even look, and Meimei couldn't help but think of four words: nimble fingers.

Only Sule scratched his head and grumbled, "No, Big Brother, you just enhanced your juggling skills?"

"All human abilities require the brain; it's the source of controlling all skills and abilities," Gaoxin said, without explaining much, and inserted the three redemption vouchers.

He continued to browse the redemption list, listing everything that could be exchanged with 30 redemption vouchers.

He intended to spend the last thirty points as well.

Thirty points couldn't buy anything that would enhance his strength. He wanted to buy some medicine, but even the cheapest healing product cost fifty points.

What was listed now were all poisons or bizarre biochemical agents with strange effects.

There were agents that lowered heart rate and metabolism, making a person sluggish like a koala, or hormone injections that induced weight gain.

Gaoxin even saw psychotropic drugs that caused pleasant dreams or nightmares.

"Hmm?"

He browsed rapidly, his current speed allowing him to read ten lines at a glance and memorize them instantly.

As he scrolled through the psychotropic drugs, he suddenly noticed a particular agent, staring at its peculiar description.

"Mind Shift No. 1? Is this an experimental drug?"

"Effect: Transfers consciousness to the right brain for three hours, greatly enhancing emotion, intuition, inspiration, and the subconscious? Side effects include reduced calculation, logic, and language abilities?"

Gaoxin was surprised to find such a powerful drug for inspiration and intuition among the items purchasable with 30 redemption vouchers.

He wasn't sure what it meant to transfer consciousness to the right brain, but it was still a brain-enhancement-type drug. Even if it only lasted three hours, an AI wouldn't easily use a description like 'greatly enhancing'.

"By reducing some calculation, logic, and language abilities to enhance inspiration and intuition, this effect is perfect for me."

"My entire brain, with all its functions enhanced to the peak of a normal person, a temporary decrease in some aspects is fine. I can use it when I particularly need intuition and inspiration. It's only thirty points, very worth it."

After thinking about it, Gaoxin decisively redeemed it.

Instantly, a toothpick-sized syringe fell into his palm from above.

This was a nano-syringe that would be absorbed automatically once inserted into the body.

Thus, all 3316 redemption vouchers were spent.