The Chip's Abilities

Because of the explosion, the security officers personally came to supervise. People living around the explosion area were questioned daily, causing widespread panic. Many shops in town were closed, so Xilin's absence from the tavern wouldn't be noticed. Moreover, the area where Xilin lived was the poorest district. The patrols only questioned a few people symbolically before leaving, and didn't question Xilin.

Returning to the town streets again, Xilin didn't intend to open his shop for business. Instead, he contacted Old Daiwen, as he had to inform the boss about the shop.

Old Daiwen was currently in love, his face flushed with joy. Just like Old Daiwen's past dream, he had found a woman of suitable age and E-class genotype, and was planning their married life. Hearing Xilin say he was going out to forge his own path, Old Daiwen assumed Xilin just wanted to try his luck in a more prosperous area. He gave Xilin some advice as an elder and said no more. Young people had drive and ambition, which was a good thing. He couldn't possibly stay in that poor, garbage-like place forever, especially since Xilin was only seventeen.

Old Daiwen had no intention of returning. He gave the small tavern to Xilin, as its location was poor and wouldn't fetch much money even if sold. Old Daiwen didn't know many people in the city, so he couldn't help Xilin with connections. He prepared to give Xilin some more money, but Xilin refused.

After refusing Old Daiwen, Xilin bid him farewell and ended the conversation. His savings were far more than Old Daiwen imagined. Xilin didn't plan to sell the tavern immediately. Instead, he sublet it to someone living in the same poor district, asking them to deposit the annual rent into his account.

After tidying up his belongings in his small, poor room, Xilin secretly went to Yuanye's residence that night. Unlike the previous time when he went openly, Xilin was very discreet this time because the matter was crucial. Furthermore, the security and defensive shielding at Yuanye's residence were very effective at blocking internal and external signals, adding an extra layer of safety.

In the room, Xilin relaxed his body and began to guide the changes within him. The chips integrated into his main body's genes had already permeated every cell in Xilin's body through replication and spread in his blood. Xilin's current goal was to make these chips express selectively. Of course, since the chips did not reach one hundred percent during their initial activation, any selective expression was limited.

Instructions were sent from his brain, and each central nerve impulse transmitted to the chips within every cell. The chips began to express selectively, interfering with and altering the expression of the original genome. The most obvious change was in Xilin's phenotype.

His facial bones began to change, and the color of his hair, eyes, and skin all started to alter. Even his skeletal structure changed. This wasn't temporary dyeing or plastic surgery; it was a genetic alteration. Even advanced instruments couldn't detect it because it was a fundamental control change from the source. This was Xilin's trump card.

Based on the data and information left by Hou Lei, theoretically, the main body could control the chips to cause recombination, breakage, deletion, or mutation of the original DNA in the cells.

For example, if someone wanted to test Xilin's DNA information, Xilin could control his body fluids, hair, or cells from other parts of his body to change just before being removed, making it impossible for anyone to detect Xilin's true DNA information.

However, because the chips were not fully activated, after each major change, a period of stabilization and recovery was required before he could control changes from the source again.

The cracking sounds of his bones ceased. After Xilin felt the changes in other parts of his body conclude, he was somewhat astonished by his reflection in the mirror.

He had transformed from a healthy, sun-kissed youth with black hair, black eyes, and tanned skin into someone with light gray hair, deep blue eyes, pale skin, and a slightly thinner frame than before. He looked like one of those rich kids from the city. While his face wasn't extraordinarily handsome, it was refined and stylish. Overall, he looked less imposing than before.

Xilin frowned, dissatisfied with his appearance. However, due to the imperfect activation of the chips, there were some phenotypic changes he couldn't control. "Forget it, I'll make do with this for now."

Yuanye once said that only two types of people change the world: gods and madmen. Xilin felt that the old man Hou Lei belonged to the latter. Whether he could reach the level of Glory and Code remained to be seen. But he had to admit, Hou Lei was a genius. With such equipment, much of it done manually, he managed to create something so monstrous...

Xilin bought a blank ID card from the black market at a high price. The identity serial number and magnetic imprint on it were verifiable by the authorities. Xilin input his name and forged information, including a picture of his current face, and swiped it through a card slot on a nearby device. The screen displayed Xilin's current identity information. As long as the authorities didn't expend significant effort to investigate, this ID card wouldn't arouse suspicion from inspectors.

In addition to the ID card, Xilin also bought a galaxy-wide savings card from the underground black market. After a series of complex and cautious operations, Xilin deposited his remaining money into this card.

He spent millions of star coins on these two cards, and his savings were now less than a tenth of what they were. Moreover, it was important to note that having money alone was useless without channels to obtain certain items. This was one of the benefits of Xilin's three years as a hunter.

The next day, Xilin, who had drastically changed, boarded the X-C362 to X-C100 flight in light attire. He encountered no obstacles at airport security checks or with his identity verification.

Sitting in the passenger starship's seat, Xilin touched the coiled leaf pattern on his left thumb. The security check hadn't detected anything. If it were ordinary subspace items, it wouldn't have been so smooth, let alone dangerous items like firearms.

He pressed a button on the chair, and a screen appeared, displaying the scene outside the starship.

Although Xilin lived in that poor town, due to his profession as a Shadow Hunter, he had visited many places on this planet. Now, looking at it, he felt a mixed sense of emotions.

The towering skyscrapers and bustling cities gradually shrank and blurred, and the planet's full panorama unfolded before his eyes. For the first time, Xilin saw the true face of "Sky Eye"—the satellite array. They monitored the entire ground surface and could take immediate action, just like that night when they deployed a protective shield to contain the blast radius.

Xilin took out the pendant hanging around his neck, letting it take a good look at the planet.

"Hena, Master, we are about to depart. I don't know when we will be able to return."