% Compatibility

A few days later.

Yang City's underground plaza.

The place had now been converted into a temporary martial arts training ground.

Jiang Gui wore a white training outfit and soft-soled cloth shoes.

His movements were agile and powerful. Every punch flashed forth like lightning, too fast for the eye to follow.

His body was supple and coordinated; whether lunging forward or leaning back, he completed every movement with effortless ease.

Though his fists and kicks followed no set form, the force of his punches was formidable.

No ordinary person would ever want to take a punch from him just to test its power.

Compared to the sickly, gaunt middle-aged man from a few days ago, Jiang Gui no longer looked like a refugee who had spent months fleeing disaster and surviving on tree bark and weeds.

Whoosh, whoosh—

The wind from his fists came in waves, its howl echoing through the air.

Feeling his body grow stronger by the day, Jiang Gui was overwhelmed by a powerful joy that struck straight into his soul.

"How is it?"

At the side, Zhang Ming had watched the entire process, recording Jiang Gui's current physical data with paper and pen in hand.

"Good, good, good! It's wonderful, Young Master! I've never felt this good before!"

Zhang Ming smiled faintly.

"Of course. I told you, this is a stroke of fortune."

Thinking of how, out of the twelve people, only two had died, three had been injured, and the remaining seven had all received this "stroke of fortune," Jiang Gui nodded repeatedly.

"Thank you, Young Master! Thank you for bestowing this fortune upon us! We will surely follow Young Master's lead wherever you point!"

"For this chaotic world, we shall carve out a bright and clear heaven and earth!"

Jiang Gui had once been nothing more than an ordinary farmer. He knew better than anyone how valuable the formidable power of martial arts was.

Not to mention that he was now penniless and a refugee,

even if he added up the entire refugee group of several dozen people, they still would not have enough money to obtain a single share of martial power.

"Uh..."

Seeing Jiang Gui speak such strange words for some reason, yet brimming with high spirits, Zhang Ming felt too awkward to douse his fire.

"Mm. Work hard. I, Zhang Ming, have never treated any subordinate unfairly."

Zhang Ming nodded and changed the subject.

"Come on. Enter the Laboratory and let me check whether there are any problems with your body."

"Yes, Young Master!"

Inside the Laboratory.

After anesthetizing Jiang Gui again, Zhang Ming put on gloves made from sheep intestines and began his examination.

A moment later.

A trace of delight crept onto his face.

"As expected of the test subject with the highest compatibility after so many experiments—reaching 90%."

Lowering his head, he carefully observed the changes in Jiang Gui's internal circuits through the sensations transmitted by Vital Energy covering his body.

"This kind of fusion..."

"Tsk, tsk."

Zhang Ming felt that he had benefited immensely.

"Some things truly cannot be answered through [Ignite Comprehension] alone without experiencing them and conducting the experiments with one's own hands."

[Ignite Comprehension] was powerful.

Constructing a virtual test subject in his mind for experimentation was not difficult.

But in the real world, the differences between every test subject were enormous.

Each test subject differed to some degree in physical constitution, emotions, bloodline, muscles and bones, and Acupoints.

Trying to reproduce all of that in the world of [Ignite Comprehension] required far too much data!

Even [Ignite Comprehension] fell short.

Thus, Zhang Ming could only conduct the experiments himself.

Coming back to his senses.

Zhang Ming observed for a while longer, recorded what he had gained from this experiment, and confirmed that the circuits inside Jiang Gui's body were functioning normally and progressing as expected.

"As expected of 95%."

In Zhang Ming's estimation, if the compatibility between the Cycle Devouring Art and the human body reached 50%, it was already usable.

With 50% compatibility, he could create a powerhouse with a physique no weaker than a Postnatal Martial Artist within one to two years.

That was already astonishingly fast.

Yet this was the first time Zhang Ming had ever seen 95% compatibility.

He still did not know what the actual results would be.

But in theory, creating someone with a physique no weaker than a Postnatal Martial Artist within several months would absolutely not be a problem.

"Several months to push an ordinary person's physique up to that of a Postnatal Martial Artist... tsk, tsk."

Zhang Ming could not help sighing in amazement.

But after carefully pondering the data, he thought of something.

"The Cycle Devouring Art was imitated, studied, and improved from within Zombies."

"But Old Steward Zombie evolved from an ordinary person's physique to that of a Postnatal Martial Artist in only a few days."

"Looking at it this way, does the remaining 5% hold the key if 95% still requires several months?"

Nodding, Zhang Ming tidied up his records, delight written across his face.

"Jiang Gui truly is my lucky star. With the inspiration provided by this 95%..."

"Within a month, I am absolutely confident that I can lower the experiment's mortality rate to under 1% and double the success rate."

"By then..."

"Perhaps I can try condensing the Cultivation Method circuits of the Cycle Devouring Art within myself."

One month later.

The refugees from Shu Land had gradually arrived in Yang City over the course of the month.

The refugee camp outside Yang City continued to expand.

From only several dozen mud-and-stone houses at first, it had grown to more than a hundred.

The number of refugees had also risen from several hundred a month ago to several thousand now.

The increase in refugees naturally brought a period of chaos.

Fortunately, Zhang Ming's experiments had succeeded, allowing him to create a batch of refugee test subjects who were no weaker than ordinary Warriors in an extremely short time.

Under the leadership of Jiang Gui, who had once been a refugee himself,

these test subjects managed the entire refugee camp in perfect order.

Once the refugees stabilized, the number of Drug Trial Participants naturally surged as well.

Moreover, with Jiang Gui's successful example before them, an enormous number of refugees wanted to become Drug Trial Participants.

Zhang Ming had no choice but to make some selections.

He excluded refugees with malicious intentions, as well as those who were too young or too old.

The ample supply of Drug Trial Participants, coupled with the inspiration provided by Jiang Gui's 95% compatibility,

rapidly lowered the experiments' mortality rate while the success rate continued to climb.

Within a single month, he had created several dozen successful subjects.

Though not one of them reached 95% compatibility, several with compatibility above 80% emerged in succession.

They stood out from the crowd.

Zhang Ming handed these people over to Jiang Gui to manage the refugee camp together.