Mind Force

On the third floor of the Lawyer Building, the classically patterned floor and artistically styled wall paintings were now stained with shocking blood, severed limbs, and crushed organs. Every tragic trace sent chills into the depths of one's soul. There were no normal people left in the third-floor corridor now—only more than a dozen crimson monsters crouched on the ground, devouring flesh and blood.

Suddenly, some of the mangled corpses on the ground rose like reanimated dead. Some of the crimson-fleshed monsters transformed into black-fleshed creatures. They no longer ate the corpses that had suddenly stood up and instead scattered away.

Only a few crimson monsters grew darker red, their muscles becoming denser. Soon, the exposed bloody flesh grew skin like that of ordinary humans. Their burly bodies shrank, returning to forms no different from normal people, except their eyes were entirely blood-red and filled with a thirst for blood.

These were the Mutant Humans Mu Xiao had mentioned.

Those monsters that had transformed into black flesh were the lowest-grade Zombies.

Mutant Humans were half-failed products of evolving into New Humans, composite lifeforms whose Consciousness Seas were filled with loneliness, resentment, selfishness... and all kinds of negative emotions. Yet Mutant Humans possessed intelligence. Having lost their humanity, they craved fresh flesh and blood. Their entire bodies were weapons, and they evolved by devouring superior genes, which gave them all sorts of abilities. To put it bluntly, their abilities were too mixed. If they devoured increasingly advanced flesh without exploding to death, they would become exceptionally terrifying beings.

However, Mutant Humans could not be pack creatures in the early stages. They would even attack their own kind and devour each other's flesh, evolving to a certain degree and becoming "kings," capable of commanding other low-level Mutant Humans and Zombies.

Zombies were failed products—carriers of worsened PB Virus whose genes had completely collapsed. Their genes were constantly starving, yet they would not die. Thus, they instinctively craved to devour any flesh and blood. No matter how badly damaged their bodies were, as long as their brains and hearts had not completely failed, they could repair their broken bodies by consuming flesh.

Therefore, any living being was their target. They generally did not actively attack fellow Zombies unless one of their kind was completely dead, in which case they would devour the corpse.

Once Zombies devoured enough flesh, they had a chance of repairing their genes and evolving into Mutant Humans.

Zombies carried the PB Virus. Ordinary people could easily be infected if injured by them, while New Humans had a certain degree of antibodies. However, the PB Virus in Mutant Humans had already changed. If someone was unfortunate enough to be injured by a Mutant Human, there was basically no danger of infection if the wound was handled properly and promptly. But if it was mishandled and the wound worsened, the PB Virus would lose its balance and deteriorate, turning the victim into a biochemical monster.

Yet injuries inflicted by Mutant Humans were not so easy to heal.

The human body could resist the PB Virus invading its bloodline genes, but the strength of that resistance depended on one's power. Once the virus's damage exceeded one's own strength, one would still become a walking corpse.

In the bathroom, Mu Xiao lay in a bathtub continuously filling with cold water. The full tub nearly submerged his head, yet he slept without noticing. Gradually, his brainwaves replaced his heartbeat, and their frequency began accelerating dramatically.

They rose without pause... transforming into rapidly accelerating brainwaves. Soon, their frequency broke through the ultimate limits of an ordinary person. His Consciousness Sea seemed to become a golden ocean, radiating a vast, pure, sacred aura like that of a supreme deity. It was as though his Consciousness Sea had surpassed mortal limits and ascended into that of a god.

Faint golden threads of blood appeared across his shattered and reconstructed body. As his brainwaves accelerated, they rapidly repaired his body, optimized his bloodline genes, strengthened his cellular antibodies, and gave his bloodline an endless devouring trait.

On the first day, the first generation of Zombies completed their evolution, and Mutant Humans began genetic fusion. Their brains gradually regained clarity, though they had already lost all humanity. They possessed only evil thoughts, darkness, and instinctive cravings for fresh flesh and blood... Humanity's survivors on Earth welcomed their first terrifying night.

The world beneath the night became a nightmare humanity would never forget. Terror and fear filled everyone's hearts. The entire night was packed with heart-rending cries and shrill screams.

They rose and fell without pause like a black tsunami. There was no respite, only tragedy and despair... Night was the monsters' playground. Their strength greatly increased in darkness, and like soul-reaping demons, they devoured countless living lives in an instant.

Only a small number of people obtained weapons and fought desperately. During battle, they awakened their New Human genes and gained the Innate Abilities hidden within their genetic potential—the so-called Innate Abilities. The type of Innate Ability determined the scale and direction of a New Human's future potential in cultivating Source Force Martial Arts and Soul Secret Arts.

At long last, humanity welcomed the morning of the second day, and the Mutant Monsters fell quiet. Zombies wandered the streets aimlessly, lifeless and dull. Only when they saw fresh flesh and blood would they become invigorated, chasing and killing with renewed frenzy.

But by the afternoon of the second day, most people's firearms had ceased functioning, and all machines could no longer operate normally. Only cold weapons remained usable. Yet with firearms gone, more people fought monsters in close combat and awakened New Human genes, gaining Innate Abilities to protect themselves.

On the afternoon of the third day, a low "pop" sounded from Mu Xiao's bathroom.

Centered on Mu Xiao, invisible currents rippled through the surroundings. The water curled into floating whirlpools, and the entire bathroom underwent a strange transformation. All smaller objects slowly rose into the air. His cracked body rapidly healed, and the rippling currents grew slightly stronger, causing objects in the air to collide chaotically. Water droplets filled the room, crashing together, splitting apart, then merging again.

Second by second, the skin over Mu Xiao's body healed completely. His internal organs, eyes, and eardrums were all reconstructing and returning to life, becoming even stronger than before.

Mu Xiao's heart finished reconstructing and began beating slowly. Each time it beat, the invisible currents rippled once.

The magnetic field in the room grew increasingly powerful. Nearly every object floated up, except for the bathing robot, which merely swayed without rising. At that moment, Mu Xiao's entire body had finished reconstructing. Every muscle on him was sharply defined, like steel blocks yet still resilient. His strong, powerful heart thudded loudly, as though war drums were beating inside his body.

Mu Xiao's breathing was long and heavy, his blood and vitality abundant, like a sleeping ferocious beast.

"Clatter, clatter..."

A series of objects crashed to the floor. Mu Xiao suddenly opened his eyes, and a brilliant golden gleam shot forth. The faint gold in his eyes dimmed, returning to deep black. Sharp glints flickered within them from time to time, bright and dazzling like stars, captivating at a glance.

Mu Xiao closed his eyes and accepted the information about his body fed back by his brain.

When he opened his eyes again, their sharp and dazzling light had become completely ordinary.

"Is this the power brought by the Miracle Serum? Or is it the Innate Ability I awakened?" Mu Xiao looked around at the objects scattered across the floor and gently raised his hand. Under the control of his thoughts, every object on the ground floated up.

Mu Xiao frowned, as if he had discovered something wrong. With a thought, he said, "Destroy!"

The floating objects seemed to be torn apart, crushed, and compressed by an invisible giant hand... Within his Mental Power perception, every floating object was shattered into ruined fragments.

At that moment, a wave of hunger swept through his body.

"So this is my Innate Ability. It contains the traits of Mind Source Force and Mental Power... The formula really was genuine! The Miracle Serum changed my bloodline genes, giving me tremendous potential to cultivate both Soul Secret Arts and Source Force Martial Arts!"

Mind Source Force possessed powerful cohesion, allowing it to control certain objects and serve as an offensive method. Mental Power, on the other hand, was equivalent to a person's consciousness, thoughts, and intelligence. Its range of spread was greater than Telekinesis, its ability to receive external information was stronger, and it possessed great flexibility. It could also develop into many abilities, such as hypnosis, illusions, perception, and detection. Mental Power interacted with and sensed the surroundings, mostly serving an auxiliary role.

Mind Source Force drew upon one's combined bodily energy—essence, qi, spirit, blood, and physical strength. The greater one's physical power, the stronger one's Telekinesis. It had immense combat potential, but lacked the detection and perception traits of Mental Power.

Mu Xiao could fully cultivate a martial arts secret art from the future Age of Evolution called Mind Force, one capable of close-range strikes as well as soul attacks. But when he had just used Mind Source Force and Mental Power, merging the two forces into Mind Force, the hunger surging through his body gave him an ominous feeling. He could only stop his sudden impulse to cultivate.

Mu Xiao had once killed several New Human cultivators, so he naturally remembered this codex. More importantly, his abilities were Mind Source Force and Pure Mental Force. In the future, many abilities contained Mental Power, but people with Pure Mental Force were rare, because Pure Mental Force was the source of all mental abilities.

Mind Force was a codex developed by a powerhouse during the future Age of Evolution. In that era, many cultivation codices could be purchased, and many people had cultivated them to maturity. However, not everyone possessed abilities with the two traits of Source Force and Mental Power.

Some people could only cultivate two compatible abilities together. Although they possessed a certain level of power, they could not achieve the immense might envisioned by the powerhouse who had developed Mind Force. But if Mu Xiao fused Mind Source Force and Pure Mental Force in cultivation, he would be someone truly capable of unleashing Mind Force to its fullest power.

Other types of Mental Power possessed certain specialized traits, with highly targeted effects. Only Pure Mental Force lacked specialized traits, but it could develop into every Mental System trait and suppress all mental abilities. Of course, that required sufficient comprehension before it could develop every mental trait.

Source Force Martial Arts and Soul Secret Arts were cultivation methods of orthodox realms. The former originated from bloodline genes, while the latter originated from the soul and spirit. Mind Force contained both Mind Source Force and Mental Power traits, representing his potential to cultivate both Source Force Martial Arts and Soul Secret Arts. However, cultivation was not that simple. At the very least, one had to become a New Human, optimize one's bloodline genes, resonate with one's own soul and potential, and establish a solid cultivation foundation before formally cultivating evolutionary realms.

Mu Xiao recalled the classifications of the early Evolution Era.

Physique System, Mental System, Transformation System, Source Force System, Intelligence System, Spatial System, Mystical System. But Mu Xiao came from the future era after evolution had reached its later stages, so he knew very well that all these abilities would ultimately develop into the final cultivation paths of Source Force Martial Arts and Soul Secret Arts.

But he had not yet completed the Foundation Establishment realm of a New Human. In the early stages, Innate Abilities would still be his primary means. Once he successfully established his bloodline genes, he would possess a cultivation path far ahead of countless New Humans. Mind Source Force, or Telekinesis, could already be called king among the various types of Source Force. In terms of early evolutionary abilities, it was an exceptional ability.

As for Mu Xiao's current abilities, aside from Telekinesis, they also included some traits of the Mental System, such as detection and perception. As he developed his abilities further, those traits would become increasingly apparent and might even incorporate more things, forming the best foundation for Soul Secret Arts.

"Even in the future Age of Evolution, very few powerhouses possessed Innate Abilities capable of cultivating both soul arts and martial arts. That must be a benefit brought by the Miracle Serum." Mu Xiao switched to Mental Power and sensed his own body. He discovered that his physique had reached the peak of the highest SSS-Class Physique classification of the Earth Federation. He was only one step away from breaking through to the New Human Physique.

But Mu Xiao knew that after the SSS-Class Physique came merely the physical body of the first step toward becoming a New Human, only a prerequisite for entering the Apex Physique of New Humans. Moreover, he had not yet reached the Foundation Establishment realm. His genetic evolution level was only at its initial transformation stage because his bloodline genes had not yet resonated with his soul and innate potential.

"My Innate Abilities, Mind Source Force and Mental Power, can eventually be cultivated into the secret art and martial art of Mind Force. Perhaps my current realm cannot cultivate it, but I can merge Mind Source Force and Mental Power to produce the initial might of Mind Force. However, it will greatly harm my body, so I can only use it as a trump card. I'll call those two abilities Mind Force."

Mu Xiao had a feeling that his potential was not limited to this. There was a great chance he possessed more than just the talent to cultivate Mind Force as both a secret art and martial art. After all, the Miracle Serum could not possibly be a bloodline with such a ridiculous loophole. Could its effects really end here?

Furthermore, Mu Xiao recalled Water Bailan's true origins. Her blood was originally a divine treasure, containing the genes of countless races. Her original blood had also been combined with more than a dozen extinct precious herbs. If it still could not produce heaven-defying potential, Mu Xiao truly wanted to return to the future and curse out those freaks who had concocted such rubbish.

"Now that I'm a New Human, I should hurry and increase the number of Evolution Resonances. That is the true path. Otherwise, I won't be able to cultivate either Source Force Martial Arts or Soul Secret Arts."

With the aid of an extraordinary future item like the Miracle Serum, Mu Xiao becoming a New Human was only natural. But if he wanted to cultivate realms, he still had to go through this beginning stage of the era, like leveling up by killing monsters in a game.

He could also feel that his physique and abilities were much stronger than his former overall capabilities. Just having an Innate Ability with two systems completely surpassed the single ability he had possessed before. He was confident that he could easily raise his realm and complete the so-called process of a hundred resonances.

Mu Xiao had guessed correctly. The Miracle Serum possessed more effects than that; he simply had not yet discovered some of its unknown secrets. Even the freaks of the future who had developed the formula could not fully understand just how many traits it possessed. At that time, Water Bailan was the most terrifying killing weapon in the world. Who would dare set their sights on her, the Queen of Ending?