Lin Qi reached out and shifted the zombie's skull. It gave him the uncanny feeling that he was stirring around his own brain.
A crimson crystal emerged from the brain matter.
"Sure enough, it's an Extraordinary Item." Touching it with his own hands only confirmed it for Lin Qi.
Holding the crystal in his palm, Lin Qi entered Psychic Vision once more and examined the surroundings beyond the room.
The Lin Qi from this parallel world had turned into a zombie. He probably wasn't the only one.
The range of Psychic Vision depended on the strength of Lin Qi's Mental Power. For now, it could cover only an area within 80 meters of him.
Lin Qi worked in intelligence gathering and architectural drafting for the Mercenary Group.
Even though he never met any of the Mercenary Group's members, Lin Qi could always gather most of the intelligence about their mission sites.
No equipment could escape Lin Qi's Psychic Vision.
"Sure enough, this is a Doomsday World, and the apocalypse has only just begun." Psychic Vision could cover the entire building Lin Qi was in.
It was a residential building. The room Lin Qi occupied had probably been converted from a regular apartment, with one room divided into five single-occupancy rentals.
The building was twenty-two stories tall, and Lin Qi was on the top floor.
Nearly eighty percent of the people in the twenty-two-story building had died.
Spiritual Energy Particles gathered around the corpses' heads, turning the people into zombies and similar creatures.
With so many zombies being born, how many Extraordinary Items would this world produce?
Even if an Extraordinary Item could only be analyzed once, the sheer scale of an entire world meant there would be no shortage of different kinds.
"A moment of silence for this world's apocalypse."
Lin Qi stood ramrod straight as he used Psychic Vision.
He felt no pity, even though Psychic Vision showed him several people in this very building cowering in fear as they faced zombies.
"Returning to the time before will give me enough time to finish analyzing this Extraordinary Item."
Having grown up in the Cyber World, Lin Qi knew all too well that one had to stay cautious at all times.
There was no point in acquiring more of the same kind of Extraordinary Item. It could even expose his presence, and the remnants of the government's forces in the early days of the apocalypse were no match for any one person.
He activated the Laser Emitter installed in his arm's Exoskeleton and aimed it at the zombie's body on the floor.
Just two minutes later, all that remained on the floor was a charred mark.
Holding the crimson crystal, Lin Qi sat down in the chair at his computer desk. His Mental Power spread out and enveloped the crystal as he began analyzing the Extraordinary Item.
Analysis was an innate talent of the Wizard Profession, and legend had it that it was the origin of all Extraordinary Professions.
Lin Qi didn't know whether the legend was true. For now, all he could sense was the frenzied power contained in the crimson crystal.
Under the Wizard's innate talent, the power within the crystal was teased apart, revealing its essence.
Only after the sky had darkened and then grown bright again did Lin Qi finally open his eyes.
The crimson crystal in his hand had crumbled to dust, leaving him with a new ability.
Extraordinary Items were destroyed after a Wizard analyzed them. This was one reason why Extraordinary Items were so rare in the Cyber World.
"Blood Manipulation. It seems like a strange ability." A Wizard's abilities were hard to explain scientifically, and this one didn't fit Lin Qi's public identity as a researcher at all.
Blood wasn't made up of many components, but the composition of one creature's blood could differ from another's.
Why was this ability simply the manipulation of blood?
His thoughts wandered until he felt a pulse from the Gate in his mind, and only then did Lin Qi refocus.
He would be going back soon. He had been gone for twenty-four hours, so there might be some trouble when he returned.
The Red Fruit City Security Department wouldn't be easy to fool. He might have to rely on connections at the research institute to sort things out.
If it proved too troublesome, he could only ask Miss Liu for help.
In Red Fruit City, there was no trouble a member of Liu Group couldn't solve.
There were still two minutes before the Gate opened when Lin Qi suddenly heard footsteps outside the room.
They were very soft. If Lin Qi's senses hadn't been sharp, he might not have heard them.
Psychic Vision spread out, and Lin Qi saw what was happening outside.
A woman with delicate features, around twenty years old. Her face looked somewhat familiar; she was probably the parallel-world version of someone Lin Qi had known in his previous life, but he couldn't remember her name just then.
The woman held a hammer streaked with blood, and quite a bit of crimson had stained her clothes as well.
She crept closer to Lin Qi's room, keeping her steps quiet. In her other hand, she clutched a key.
A key?
Lin Qi focused his Psychic Vision on it.
The key matched the lock on his room's door perfectly.
Was she going to enter this room?
Lin Qi didn't move. He simply watched the woman in silence.
If nothing unexpected happened, Lin Qi and the woman would never get the chance to meet.
The woman moved slowly, keeping her footsteps as quiet as possible.
It took her a long time to reach Lin Qi's door. Moving as carefully as she could, she inserted the key.
She turned it slowly, placing her other hand on the doorknob.
The Gate opened, and Lin Qi returned to the Cyber World, back in his own bed.
It seemed nothing had changed.
Only the slight increase in his Mental Power and the new ability he had acquired told Lin Qi that everything he had experienced inside the Gate was real.
[ Xiao Ai: Network connection restored ]
Text appeared on his retinal display.
Lin Qi used his Brain to call up the network clock.
[ February 32, 2089, 12:55 a.m. ]
The time seemed... unchanged?
He had spent a full twenty-four hours in the Doomsday World, yet not a moment had passed in the Cyber World?
"That saves me some trouble."
Not having to call in favors to deal with the Red Fruit City Security Department was a good thing.
More importantly, he wouldn't have to owe Miss Liu a favor.
Lin Qi got out of bed. After his actions in the Doomsday World, he wasn't in the mood to meditate just yet.
The concentration of Spiritual Energy Particles in the Doomsday World was ten times that of the Cyber World. A day of meditation there was nearly as effective as half a month in the Cyber World.
He went to the workbench and used his Brain to operate the screen.
Lin Qi opened the news feed.
[Liu Heavy Industries unveils new military-grade cybernetic implants]
[Mercenaries' murder spree in the city continues; four consecutive murders in Greenland City under the Si Clan's control; Si Clan announces a manhunt]
[The "Highest Level" Mercenary Group? An absurd name, or the real deal? A 100% mission completion rate]
[Reports say all the victims of the murders were members of mysterious professions; Si Clan says it will not disclose details]
[Urgent! A mercenary murder has occurred in Hongguo City]
Lin Qi scanned the headlines quickly without focusing on any single article.
Paying too much attention could get him flagged by the smart algorithm and might draw someone's notice.
Lin Qi thought he had done an excellent job of keeping up his disguise. He couldn't afford to slip up now.
"The Witch Hunt has reached Hongguo City. I wonder which unlucky Wizard it is."
"The lure of a million Credit Points is terrifying. If not for the Witch Hunt, I wouldn't have known there were other Wizards in Hongguo City."
Before you continue