Small Mech

Flexibility Enhancement Source.

If physical flexibility was enhanced multiple times, it could promote blood circulation, strengthen muscular explosiveness, increase bodily agility, improve the fluidity of footwork and movement techniques, accelerate attack speed, and more. The Mutant Cat temporarily controlling its muscles to stop the bleeding had been one of the basic effects.

After killing the Mutant Cat, Mu Xiao had absorbed the Evolutionary Power Source and directly gained two Gene Resonances. At the same time, he had received an additional burst of pure source energy, along with a Flexibility Enhancement Source. Combined with the Primordial Source extracted from the Mutant Cat, it could very well push his physique to the brink of breakthrough—or even directly break through the limits of an Old Human's physique.

"As expected, the stronger the monster, the greater the rewards. But the Telekinesis I used in that fight just now completely drained my body's food energy." Mu Xiao felt hunger fill his flesh and cells, and an uncontrollable urge to devour any flesh and blood arose within him.

Even the blood-soaked Mutant Cat corpse made him want to directly devour its raw meat.

However, Mu Xiao still retained several degrees of rationality and did not do anything that would frighten even himself. Rather than immediately absorbing the Flexibility Enhancement Source, he dug several thick stacks of jerky and a few nutrient solutions out of his backpack and began wolfing them down.

"After every battle, I have to replenish food. Doesn't that make me a glutton?" Mu Xiao chewed the decent-tasting jerky while thinking about how his physical strength was only barely sufficient to use one of Mind Force's traits. If he had directly used Mind Force instead of Telekinesis just now, his hunger might have increased severalfold.

He ate half the food in his backpack, and his body recovered from its hunger. Yet he did not feel even the slightest fullness; he simply felt as he normally did, neither hungry nor full.

While eating, he had absorbed the Flexibility Enhancement Source and used all the sources to strengthen his physique.

Mu Xiao's muscles received the flexibility enhancement, gaining a resilient force that alternated between relaxation and tension. Compared to before, his muscles possessed greater agility and explosiveness, even allowing him to imitate the Mutant Cat by bulging several muscles packed with explosive force and concentrating all that power into a heavy strike.

However, enhanced bodily flexibility was also part of the physique system, effectively adding experience to his physique. Even with the doubled reinforcement from the sources, his physique had only strengthened by another degree. He was still just a hair's breadth away from shattering the limits of his old physique and welcoming the power and strength of a new one.

In truth, the Mutant Cat's combat strength had been more than this. It had merely encountered Mu Xiao, who possessed invisible Telekinesis. Its agility and dexterity had been unable to show themselves, restrained and countered by the invisible force until it died beneath Mu Xiao's Telekinesis.

However, if he encountered people with powerful combat awareness or exceptionally sharp Mental Power, Telekinesis would not necessarily remain invisible. They could sense its fluctuations in the air, evade it, and counterattack.

Mu Xiao had once seen powerful people like that fight. They had directly exhausted those who used Telekinesis to death, while some had even been instantly killed after being approached. Mental Power was the nemesis of invisible abilities like Telekinesis, but only if one's Mental Power was stronger than the other party's could one sense changes in the air and determine where danger came from. Of course, it would be a different matter once Mu Xiao cultivated Mind Force.

Some of a Mutant Beast's flesh and blood was non-toxic and highly nourishing. Long-term consumption could strengthen the body's blood and vitality, improve the strength of bones and muscles, and thereby comprehensively enhance one's physique.

Mu Xiao had carved premium meat from prey countless times before. In just a few swift motions, he dismembered the Mutant Cat, extracting more than twenty high-quality Blood Beads and cutting off over thirty pieces of premium meat in varying sizes.

"Dinner has some good ingredients now." Mu Xiao found an iron box with satisfaction and packed the premium meat inside. The meat contained abundant nutrients, so it would not turn rancid or spoil after being stored for a while. Then, Mu Xiao put away the more than twenty high-quality Blood Beads, slung his luggage over his back, and continued exploring downward.

Not long afterward, Mu Xiao discovered a weapons room and an intelligence room among the secret chambers on the first and second floors.

Most of the weapons room contained C-Grade Stun Batons, C-Grade Scorching Sabers, and C-Class High-Explosive Grenades, along with a small number of B-Grade Laser Rifles, B-Grade High-Vibration Electromagnetic Military Sabers, B-Grade Cluster Bombs, and A-Grade Thunderbolt Cannons.

The rest consisted of neatly arranged sets of Black Armor defensive suits. Besides the weapons, there were also crates of energy blocks below B-Grade. But with all Earth's machinery paralyzed and impossible to repair for the time being, the energy blocks were useless.

Mu Xiao did not take many weapons. He only filled an entire backpack with grenades before leaving the weapons room. As for the intelligence room, he did not bother checking it. It was full of documents. Even if there were some earth-shattering secret inside, could it possibly be more significant than the Moon treating Earth as an experimental site?

Moreover, such a shocking and inhumane piece of intelligence would never be kept in this intelligence room. If it truly existed, someone with selfish motives would certainly have leaked it, sparking fierce resistance from humanity across the globe. Even the Lawyer Building's staff would not have died in such numbers.

Of course, the intelligence room still had some use. It might reveal other secret Federation institutions and allow him to obtain the inheritances they had left behind, just like this Lawyer Building. But now was not the time for excavation. Mu Xiao would deal with it later, after successfully taking over this Lawyer Building and properly examining the intelligence within.

Mu Xiao ignored the intelligence room on the first floor and found the door leading to the first basement level.

When he opened the metal door, a staircase leading underground appeared. Mu Xiao went down and soon entered a crystal corridor that looked like metal. Without electric lighting, it carried a chilling, icy gloom.

Mu Xiao's body had already surpassed that of ordinary people by far, but his eyes still lacked the ability to see in darkness as though it were daylight. He could only barely make out objects in the dimness, enough not to be completely blind. However, he had Mental Power for detection. Like his eyes, it allowed him to clearly sense what existed around him.

After walking roughly seventy or eighty meters, he discovered rooms on both sides. A scan with his Mental Power revealed no danger and no particularly valuable items.

"So they're both rest rooms." From some of the furnishings and daily necessities in the rooms, Mu Xiao could tell that the people who had lived there were likely secret personnel who had worked underground for a long time without appearing in the Lawyer Building.

Mu Xiao quickly gathered every bit of food from the rooms, leaving nothing behind. Aside from five or six ordinary weapons, there was nothing of value.

Not long afterward, he found another room in the corridor. This room was several times larger than the previous two.

With a sweep of his Mental Power, Mu Xiao immediately realized that the room contained a great deal of machinery. Upon entering, he found that they were all large intelligent computers, though they had already fallen into paralysis.

"This should be the Lawyer Building's surveillance room or control room, right?" Mu Xiao inspected the machinery and came to a conclusion. "If these devices could be repaired, the Lawyer Building would probably have a pretty good defense system."

Mu Xiao felt that his next step should be searching for the Mechanical Mastery ability. Only then could he establish a safe residence.

Mu Xiao found quite a few weapons in this control room, but he had no use for them now and could only leave them where they were.

The first basement level had been fully explored. However, at the end of the corridor, there was another door, clearly the entrance to the next level below.

Without hesitation, Mu Xiao continued exploring downward.

Just as he opened the door, shadows moved through the stairwell. Mu Xiao released his Mental Power to investigate and discovered three or four zombies wandering inside. These zombies wore clothes different from those of the guards: dark blue work uniforms, like those worn by mechanical maintenance workers.

Mu Xiao could not be bothered with close combat. He directly used Telekinesis to drive his military saber. It flashed like an arrow, leaving a black streak as it pierced the heads of the zombies one after another. Mu Xiao quickly dealt with the low-level zombies, recalled his saber, and used Telekinesis to extract several Blood Beads from the corpses. However, the experience points he gained were negligible.

"I wonder if there are any more zombies below." Mu Xiao had thought that all the zombies in the Lawyer Building had been drawn up to the fourth floor. He had not expected a few stragglers to remain.

Upon reaching the second basement level, Mu Xiao likewise found three rest rooms and collected everything edible.

A moment later, he arrived at a large room spanning more than three hundred square meters. To his surprise, it contained all kinds of large mechanical equipment, and at the center stood a small mech connected to countless wires.

A small mech was armor worn on the human body, more agile and swift than a large mech. Wearing one practically turned a person into a man of steel. If the mech was equipped with weapons, it could fully rival a New Human with an Innate Ability.

Back in the Age of Evolution where Mu Xiao had once lived, many New Humans loved fighting in small mechs or large mechs. Some mechs possessed abilities not much weaker than Innate Abilities, capable of self-concealment, scanning, sensing, detection, and more, much like Mental Power.

It was just that the energy consumption of mechs was not something ordinary people could afford.

"There's actually a small mech! And it looks like S-Grade quality, a fifth-generation mech..." Mu Xiao could not hide the delight on his face.

Sharp weapons like mechs were generally S-Grade or above. Differences between mech models lay in their serial numbers; the higher the number, the more times the model had undergone comprehensive optimization.

The designation of this mech was UC-S005.

UC represented the model type, while the latter part represented an S-Grade fifth-generation mech.

But as Mu Xiao approached and took a closer look, his joy quickly faded.

This small mech turned out to be only a semi-finished product. Put simply, it was still undergoing optimization and could not be used at all. Unless Mu Xiao obtained a great deal of mechanical wisdom and evolved the corresponding ability, he could not take over the final optimization work on this unfinished mech.

"Weapons and mechs that I can look at but not use—what a psychological imbalance!" Mu Xiao turned away in frustration, unwilling to look at it again as he continued searching the room for valuables. There were many metal parts and machine components in the room, as well as quite a few high-grade energy blocks. Apart from those, there was also a cabinet of weapons intended to equip that unfinished mech.

Among a pile of raw materials, Mu Xiao found a type of Combustion Chemical Agent. As soon as it came into contact with liquid, it generated intense heat and could even melt metal, making it a dangerous substance.

"Mm, this is perfect for cleaning up corpses." Mu Xiao took two or three bottles, intending to return to the fourth-floor stairwell and incinerate the pile of mangled corpses there.

Mu Xiao left the large room on the second basement level and walked to the end of the passage, where he found another metal door.

However, this metal door differed somewhat from the previous two. Its metal was exceptionally hard and heavy, making it difficult even for Mental Power to penetrate. It was also equipped with a precise Optical Brain system. Unfortunately, all Optical Brains were useless now. No matter how sophisticated this metal door had once been, it was now merely a relatively hard and sturdy door.