The Farmer and the Burly Man

After Mr. Liang finished eating that "last Hamburger" and left Australia with Xiang Kun, returning to East Asia, he instinctively had a different kind of expectation for the "last stop" that Xiang Kun had mentioned.

During the "hunting trip" with Xiang Kun, there were actually many "Blood-feeding Creature" with very strong combat power. If he were to deal with them alone, not counting the most difficult step of finding and determining the location of the "Blood-feeding Creature", if he carried suitable "Biological Component", it should not be too much of a problem. But no matter what, it would still take some effort - for example, the giant beast in the water could not be dealt with as easily and directly as Xiang Kun.

Based on his normal reasoning, given his current stage of transformation, any "Blood-feeding Creature" that meets his "blood source" requirements wouldn't be much less transformed than him and must be an extremely powerful being. This time, he felt that Xiang Kun might not be as easy to deal with as before, and he might have a chance to have a good, satisfying fight.

The "last stop" may also be the "last battle".

After arriving in the mountainous area on the border between China and Xiang Kun in a vehicle arranged by "Shenxing Technology," Mr. Liang got out and walked for more than ten kilometers before stopping. Thinking they had already located the "Blood-feeding Creature," Mr. Liang proactively asked, "What are the characteristics of this target? Do you need my help? Should I prepare 'Biological Component' in advance?"

Xiang Kun looked at Mr. Liang, who was invisible beside him, and said, "It's alright, this time it was easy."

Mr. Liang was somewhat surprised. Even after reaching this stage, facing a "Blood-feeding Creature" of this level, it was still so easy?

If it's a "Blood-feeding Creature" that hasn't undergone a stage transformation yet, or has only undergone one or two stage transformations, some might be lucky, while others might have undergone targeted mutations and transformations. They might be completely countered by Xiang Kun's characteristics, and their combat power wouldn't be that strong. But if they reach a similar stage transformation level to him, then they must have hunted down a large number of "Blood-feeding Creature" with high transformation levels.

Based on his past rating system for "Blood-feeding Creature," this target, his final "blood source," must be a "high-level predator" or even a "top predator."

How could Xiang Kun remain "relaxed" in the face of such an existence?

Or, for Xiang Kun, stirring up the winds and clouds, controlling the weather, and summoning lightning storms to sweep across the land was also a "very easy" act?

Mr. Liang couldn't help but sigh. At first, he had thought of testing Xiang Kun properly and then seeing if he should help him walk his own path of mutation and evolution. Now it seemed like a joke... The path Xiang Kun took was far broader than the one he had taken. In fact, many of his abilities were completely beyond his comprehension.

Finding that Xiang Kun directly found a stone and sat down, and then looked at something with the standard tablet from the secret department of "Shenxing Technology" he gave him, Mr. Liang asked doubtfully, "Have you not determined the location of the 'blood-eating creature'?"

"No, let's wait here for a bit," Xiang Kun said, without offering much explanation.

Mr. Liang didn't ask any more questions. He found a seat nearby and sat down. After a few minutes, seeing that Xiang Kun still showed no sign of moving, he asked, "I have a question."

What question do you have?

"Normally speaking, based on our research and my past experience, if a creature devours other 'Blood-feeding Creature' and completes a normal stage of transformation, there should be a short period of significant mutation and evolution. According to my 'Biological Component' evolutionary system, this will be more reflected in my many 'Biological Component'."

"The intervals between our phased transformations this time were too short. I couldn't have my R&D team guide the evolution by adjusting the 'Biological Component.' But normally, I should also produce some spontaneous and uncontrollable minor mutations, possessing some of the main characteristics of the 'Blood-feeding Creature' I previously devoured."

"But even now, after devouring so many 'Blood-feeding Creature,' I haven't experienced any obvious changes. This seems a bit abnormal?" Mr. Liang asked, voicing his doubts.

Xiang Kun placed the tablet on his lap, thought for a moment, and replied, "Because I restricted the mutation process after your phased transformation. How should I put it... let's take a construction team as an example. The 'High-Dimensional Factor' you obtain by devouring other 'Blood-feeding Creature' are like the 'workers' that replenish your own construction team."

"Normally, after they complete the onboarding process, they will be assigned to the construction site and start working. Some join the construction team according to the established project plan. Others, if they are not immediately assigned work, will find their own jobs... For example, some 'workers' are particularly good at building bridges, so when they see a perfectly empty space on your 'construction site,' they go and build a bridge. The outward manifestation of this is the significant ability to devour targets."

"What I did during your phased transformation was to have those 'workers' absorbed by you, complete their onboarding procedures, and confirm their identities, but not immediately send them to the construction site, and also prohibit them from running around or moving around on their own, temporarily keeping them in a state of standby. This state won't last long, but it's enough for us. This can avoid many variables and also make your own mental and physical state more stable."

Mr. Liang was greatly surprised. "You can directly influence the 'High-Dimensional Factor' in my body? You can perform operations at this level?"

Xiang Kun decided to reveal more about the underlying implementation of the "Super-Sensing Item System": "It doesn't directly manipulate the 'High-Dimensional Factor,' but rather influences your 'super-sensory information.' This influence can only be achieved when you are in the process of a phase of transformation."

"As for what 'extrasensory information' is, you can understand it as the source code and data of various substances in the real world. Under certain conditions, I can directly access this code and data and exert limited influence on it."

After saying this, Mr. Liang remained silent for a long time. Although Xiang Kun couldn't see his expression, he could sense his general thoughts and smiled, "Don't worry, you'll come into contact with these things sooner or later. You should have already noticed it in Australia; you've developed a connection with many things around you. For you, it's like you've already touched the control panel. Next, it's about how you build a suitable operating system and then use that system to access the vast world I've created. At that time, you'll naturally understand what I mean by 'extrasensory information'."

"Will I be able to live to see that day?" Mr. Liang asked.

Xiang Kun understood his meaning and affirmed, "Don't worry, as I said, the worst-case scenario is that your current physical body disintegrates and disappears, but your consciousness, your memories, and your cognition will be preserved. Then I will construct a temporary body for you and slowly reconstruct and repair it. Of course, I can't guarantee that I can construct a body exactly the same as yours now. But I think... you should be able to agree that the boundary between life and death lies in the continuation of consciousness, not the original body, right?"

Mr. Liang remained silent for a few seconds before speaking, "I will fully cooperate with you."

Xiang Kun nodded. He knew that Mr. Liang trusted him, or more precisely, it was the abilities he had continuously demonstrated and the new cognitive framework he had built during this period of "hunting" that made Mr. Liang trust him—and had no choice but to trust him.

Of course, this is also largely related to the fact that Xiang Kun, Alice, and Lao Xia spent a lot of time guiding Mr. Liang to discover Xiang Kun step by step.

Even though Mr. Liang now knows that his "discovery journey" was intentionally orchestrated by Xiang Kun, this does not prevent the subjective perception of Xiang Kun established along the way from having a subtle influence on him.

Otherwise, Xiang Kun were to immediately demonstrate a series of powerful and subversive abilities to Mr. Liang, showcasing the power to know and control everything, and even to render him immobile and paralyze all his "Biological Component," while it might lead Mr. Liang to rationally choose to cooperate, then further demonstrating Xiang Kun's path of mutation, his moral understanding, and his style of doing things would have a very, very small impact.

In that situation, given Mr. Liang's personality, even if he felt that Xiang Kun was powerful enough to deal with the "Ultimate Predator," and even if he rationally believed that cooperating with Xiang Kun was the best and only option, he would still have doubts about various operations and would have countless secret plans. He would never have entrusted his life to Xiang Kun like he does now, and would still be willing to fully cooperate even when many questions remain unanswered.

Even with exactly the same operations, different sequences can lead to completely different effects.

Mr. Xiang Kun and Mr. Liang waited on the bare mountaintop for an hour and a half before setting off again.

After trekking through the mountains for more than an hour, the two finally reached their destination.

As the vegetation tumbled and rolled, as if on command, working together to pry the ground open to both sides, layer by layer of soil was peeled away and tumbled up, finally revealing the round object left underground. Mr. Liang finally understood why Xiang Kun told him earlier that "this time it will be easy."

Xiang Kun stepped into the large pit that "Little Radish" had helped dig, patted the egg-shaped thing about the size of an adult, and laughed, "When we came over just now, this guy was undergoing a blood-drinking transformation. To avoid scaring it, we rested on that hilltop for an hour. Before it was fully transformed, it wasn't a suitable 'blood source' for you, but it will be after the transformation. Hehe, now is the perfect time; it's just finished transforming, but hasn't woken up yet."

Mr. Liang had originally intended to have a "final battle" and "a good fight," was somewhat amused and exasperated. However, he did not allow Xiang Kun and the other "Blood-feeding Creature" to fully complete their transformation and awaken before taking action, as that would add unnecessary variables.

But he had a question, "You said that it only met my 'blood source' requirements after completing this transformation? If so, how did you determine it beforehand? Wasn't its transformation already quite advanced? For such a 'Blood-feeding Creature,' finding a suitable target for its 'phased transformation' must be very difficult. How did you know that it would find a suitable target at this exact moment to transform?"

Xiang Kun laughed, "Of course it's because I arranged its 'bloodline' too." As he spoke, he smashed the giant egg's "shell" hard, making a hole, then grabbed the "edge of the hole" and forcefully broke it apart, tearing off piece by piece of the eggshell, revealing an incredibly ferocious, huddled, terrifying arthropod.

Xiang Kun said, "If this thing hadn't attacked humans a few months ago and had instead been hiding in the mountains, I might not have even known it existed. It must have mutated from a centipede, although it doesn't look much like a centipede anymore."

"You... sent someone to bring other suitable 'Blood-feeding Creature' to it?" Mr. Liang was still somewhat puzzled.

"No, I'm bringing a 'suitable' 'Blood-feeding Creature' to this area, and then bringing this guy to this area as well. They'll naturally spot each other. Of course, the 'Ultimate Predator' is also involved to some extent; it's also playing a part in this."

Why would the 'Ultimate Predator' do this?

"Because it knows I'm providing you with the right 'blood source' to help you quickly improve your stage of transformation, which is the result it wanted to see," Xiang Kun said. "Although it doesn't know how we're going to deal with it, the right 'blood source' is something it can't refuse. So it will only test us, but it won't stop us. In fact, it will secretly help us, because what we're doing is what it has been doing for a huge amount of time and effort, and we're doing it much faster and more efficiently."

"Imagine you're a farmer, painstakingly tending to a field, only to find that the crops have grown to less than a tenth of their original size. Suddenly, a burly man rushes into the field, performs a series of operations, and in a very short time, the crops have grown to nine-tenths of their original size. What do you think he would do?"

"Be prepared to have that burly man harvest the crops?" Mr. Liang said, but couldn't help laughing out loud, his laughter like steel plates scraping together. "I am that crop."

"Yes, all its preparations right now are probably to prevent me from devouring you when you complete your final transformation, or to influence it to devour you. But on the issue of whether you want to transform or not, it has no conflict with us," Xiang Kun laughed. "However, it can't understand my purpose because it can't figure out that I haven't reached the transformation stage where I can devour you. It doesn't understand what my purpose is, let alone how I will deal with it."

Mr. Liang nodded and smiled, "Then let's begin."

Xiang Kun had explained the specific steps and details of the plan to him. Although there were still many questions and things he couldn't understand, since they had already come this far, he was willing to trust Xiang Kun follow his plan.

While Mr. Liang began to deal with the "Blood-feeding Creature" inside the eggshell, Xiang Kun picked up his tablet and contacted Lao Xia.