Brood Mother

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Tang Shizhe, having replenished his lost nutrients through a long period of intravenous drips, woke up languidly in bed.

"Water... water," Tang Shizhe croaked, his throat parched. Tang Si, standing nearby, hurriedly brought a glass of freshly cooled warm water to his lips.

After taking a few sips, Tang Shizhe let out a long sigh of relief. In truth, he had remained conscious during the days he was comatose; he had simply been trapped within his own mind.

He hadn't expected his body to face such danger while evolving. If Tang Yi and the others hadn't acted quickly, he might have been sucked dry into a husk. Thinking about it now still sent shivers down his spine.

Future research must shift toward nutrient solutions. If the next evolution required such a massive amount of energy, the current supply would never keep up with his consumption rate.

Fortunately, he had survived this evolution. The special Splitter that required such vast energy had now entered a dormant state, only to awaken once it possessed sufficient energy again.

That was right; the thing that had nearly sucked him dry was a byproduct of his upgrade—a Splitter known as the Brood Mother.

Once this Brood Mother absorbed enough energy, it could extract an organism's genes and alienate its own appearance to match that creature.

When Tang Shizhe required it, the Brood Mother could also take root in the soil and transform into a massive incubation organ, replacing Tang Shizhe in the task of splitting new individuals.

In this way, Tang Shizhe would be liberated, no longer needing to lie in the splitting chamber to produce new Splitters.

Regrettably, while the Brood Mother could mimic the appearance of any creature, its physical functions would remain consistent with the subject from which it extracted the genes. In other words, it could only maintain the physical strength of the creature it mimicked.

The Brood Mother itself possessed no emotions—no joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure, and it lacked the senses of pain, touch, or taste.

Its IQ, equivalent to that of a normal eighteen-year-old, allowed it to maintain basic survival, but it was impossible for it to become proficient in any specific field.

For now, it would have to obediently stay by Tang Shizhe's side and help him split new individuals.

During this upgrade, Tang Shizhe also discovered that he could unilaterally decide which of his memories these Splitters could share and which they could not.

This meant he could maintain personal privacy from these Splitters. Even though these Splitters were essentially another version of himself, it still felt inappropriate for them to know certain private matters.

It didn't matter now since he didn't have a girlfriend, but if he were to find one in the future, would he really share his intimate moments with these Splitters?

Of course not! Tang Shizhe didn't have such peculiar tastes.

Beyond controlling shared memories, Tang Shizhe found he could now determine the areas of expertise for new Splitters.

For instance, by increasing the energy allocated to a Splitter's physical functions, he could obtain a reinforced version that far exceeded a normal Splitter in physical capability and strength.

However, their IQ would not be as high as a normal Splitter; their memory and comprehension would be on par with an average person.

Similarly, Tang Shizhe could have a Splitter focus on brain development. While their physical abilities wouldn't improve significantly, they would possess superior memory and creativity.

Beyond these two types, Tang Shizhe discovered the existence of a brand-new type: the Defective Splitter.

These Defective Splitters were created by cutting off the energy supply during the late stages of formation, causing them to suffer from incomplete brain development.

Although their physical functions were no different from other Splitters, their IQ was only equivalent to that of a six-year-old child, capable of understanding only simple commands.

The advantage of this type was that they occupied very little capacity in Tang Shizhe's mental network; five Defective Splitters only equaled the capacity of one normal Splitter!

Now that Tang Shizhe's body had finished evolving, his mental network capacity had reached one hundred units.

This meant he could now possess one hundred Splitters simultaneously.

If he used all ninety of his new slots to create Defective Splitters, he could have four hundred and sixty Splitters at once, though four hundred and fifty of them would be simple-minded.

These Defective Splitters seemed useless for now, but Tang Shizhe felt that sooner or later, he would find a use for these mindless entities.

After rising from the bed and stretching his stiff body, Tang Shizhe walked over to the glass tank nearby. Inside, the Brood Mother lay flat, undulating rhythmically.

Although the Brood Mother's appearance was somewhat terrifying, with its fleshy tentacles writhing inside the cocoon like insects, Tang Shizhe felt no fear at all.

"Add nutrient solution to the Brood Mother!" Tang Shizhe commanded Tang Si.

He had just shared the information about the Brood Mother with the other Splitters via the mental network. Now, they all knew that the cocoon shell Tang Shizhe had shed might one day be one of them.

As a steady stream of nutrient solution was poured into the tank, the Brood Mother reacted like a parched fish finding water, its movements accelerating as it instantly absorbed more than half of the liquid.

"By the way, Boss, Yin Qi invited you out for a meal this noon," Tang Yi suddenly remembered and said from behind Tang Shizhe.

"What? Yin Qi invited me to eat? Why don't I know about this?" Tang Shizhe was stunned. He had no recollection of ever discussing a meal with Yin Qi.

"It's like this: while you were comatose during your evolution, Yin Qi came looking for you. Since your evolution wasn't finished, I had to accept on your behalf," Tang Yi said, rubbing his hands together. Feeling guilty, he even used the honorific "you" (nin), which he had long since stopped using.

"Why would I go out to eat with her?" Tang Shizhe frowned, unable to fathom what connection he had with Yin Qi.

"Boss, she said you snatched her first-place ranking, rendering her years of forbearance useless or something like that," Tang Yi hurriedly explained.

"It's just a meal, no problem!" Tang Shizhe waved his hand dismissively. He was worth tens of millions now; couldn't he afford a single meal? He would treat her! That was just how willful he could be.

"Thank you, Boss. I've already booked a hotel for you: Room 11 at Thousand-Face Cuisine," Tang Yi said obsequiously.

"Um, Boss..." Tang Si, standing to the side, suddenly shrank his neck and raised his hand weakly, wanting to speak.

"Yeah, what is it?" Tang Shizhe glared at Tang Si, wondering why he was hesitating.

"Well, Boss, I also helped you make an appointment with Yan Yanran for this noon!" Tang Si looked like he was about to cry. He never imagined that Tang Yi had already made plans with Yin Qi.

"Wait, when did you do that?" Tang Shizhe keenly caught the keyword in his sentence.