Contribution

"You're too slow."

Mu Xiao heard An Rongru's hurried footsteps behind him. Without waiting for her to speak or looking at the fear on her face, he calmly said, "Leave those living dead outside to you. They're actually very weak. As long as you attack with grenades and the laser pistol, you'll have more than enough to protect yourself. As for that big thing on the ground, its energy buffer is nearly complete. You can use it as soon as you pick it up. I'll deal with the most troublesome Mutant Human."

As he spoke, Mu Xiao turned into a shadow. With a flick of his hand and a sweep of his blade, he severed the heads of several lunging zombies in succession, giving An Rongru a brief moment to process his words.

"Th-this..." An Rongru's mature, beautiful face was filled with shock. But when she saw those hideous faces, grotesque as ghosts, she was startled into closing her eyes. She raised her hand and fired wildly, sending beam after beam of light flying out.

"Idiot! Open your eyes! Use the bombs if you have to!" Part of Mu Xiao's attention remained on her. Seeing how terrified she was, and with the zombies nearly upon her, he had no choice but to use Telekinesis to lock down several zombies' movements. The consequence was that the Guard Mutant Human's heavy fist struck him squarely, sending him flying like a sandbag.

This was a fully charged punch from the Guard Mutant Human. Combined with its all-around combat boost at night, its physique had come extremely close to the strength of the second realm of Apex Physique.

When the Guard Mutant Human hit Mu Xiao, a faint gleam flashed across his chest, too subtle to notice. The Steel Mechanical Inner Armor he wore activated its defensive effect and canceled part of the heavy blow's force. Yet most of the remaining force still left his chest tight with pain, while a trace of blood rose in his throat.

Without the Mechanical Inner Armor, that single punch from the Guard Mutant Human might have made Mu Xiao cough up blood.

"I understand!"

Hearing Mu Xiao's words, An Rongru knew he was watching over her safety, and she relaxed slightly. But when she saw that the zombies had already knocked aside the motorcycles and sports cars blocking the entrance, there was no time to open her backpack and take out grenades. She immediately picked up the Thunderbolt Cannon from the ground, retreated quickly, aimed at the motorcycles and sports cars, and fiercely pulled the trigger.

A beam of energy, dense with thunder and fire, blasted directly into the motorcycles and sports cars. The Thunderbolt Cannon's violent energy collided with the energy inside the vehicles like sparks striking the earth, creating a massive impact. A thunderous explosion shook the night!!

Scorching heat swept outward like a storm. The energy stored in the motorcycles and sports cars ignited like gasoline, forming a huge pillar of flame that shot into the night sky. In an instant, it swallowed more than half the zombies. The remaining zombies were battered by the scorching energy aftershock, their bodies set ablaze. They looked unlikely to last long before turning to ash.

The deafening explosion sent violent tremors through both Mu Xiao and the Guard Mutant Human. At such close range, each endured a fiercely expanding shockwave of flame and was blasted away, tumbling across the ground.

An Rongru did not fare well either. She had never expected the explosion to be so enormous. The blast rattled her mind, and the scorching energy in the air made every breath unbearably hot. Her head swelled with pain, and she nearly blacked out and fainted.

Fortunately, she knew the danger was not over. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to endure, slowly crawled back to the grenade backpack, and took out grenade after grenade. Whenever she saw a zombie, she hurled one at it, while raising the laser pistol toward the doorway.

But at that moment, a rich Evolutionary Power Source poured into her body. Her bloodline genes began to boil with a pleasant joy, and her body felt as though it had been immersed in a hot spring, nourishing every damaged cell. Very soon, her entire body was restored to full vigor. All negative conditions vanished, her senses refreshed, and her vision became clear again.

She stood there in a daze, not knowing what had happened to her.

If it had been Mu Xiao, he would have immediately understood that her bloodline genes had resonated. It could be said that she had leveled up several times in a row.

"Women are truly not to be provoked when they get ruthless..."

Mu Xiao climbed to his feet with mud and sand all over his face. Looking at the Guard Mutant Human, which had yet to rise, he instantly realized this was an excellent chance to attack. But if he rushed over, he might not make it in time.

In that split-second battle instinct, Mu Xiao compressed all his Telekinesis into an invisible force and poured it into the High-Vibration Electromagnetic Military Saber. It gave a faint whine before shooting through the air. The saber blade merged into the night, piercing forward with an unbelievably swift and razor-sharp speed, drilling straight through the Guard Mutant Human's head.

The Mutant Human twitched slightly, then stopped moving entirely.

When a mass of pure, warm Evolutionary Power Source merged into Mu Xiao's body and raised him to twenty-one Gene Resonances, he came back to his senses and realized that he had killed a Mutant Human with twenty-eight Gene Resonances at night so easily.

Thinking it over, Mu Xiao glanced around at the surrounding situation and immediately understood why the Guard Mutant Human had awakened a beat too slowly.

After the Mutant Human's heavy punch sent Mu Xiao flying, it had not pressed its advantage. Instead, it sprinted toward the security hall entrance, intending to kill the weaker An Rongru first, devour her flesh and blood to increase its strength, and then deal with Mu Xiao, the troublesome opponent, more easily.

Unfortunately, the Guard Mutant Human did not get its wish.

Just then, An Rongru had fired the Thunderbolt Cannon at the motorcycles and sports cars, causing a massive explosion. The Guard Mutant Human was struck head-on by the force of the energy rampage and enormous blast. Its body was instantly thrown backward like a kite with its string cut, while its head suffered a violent impact that knocked it unconscious.

Mu Xiao, on the other hand, had been knocked away by the Mutant Human and had been pushed outside the area of the explosion's greatest force. Naturally, his injuries were nowhere near as severe as the Guard Mutant Human's.

"Brought it on yourself." Mu Xiao sighed with feeling. As expected, an Ability Source appeared above the Guard Mutant Human's corpse. He had also gained additional Primordial Source. Added to the Primordial Source from the many zombies he had killed earlier, the total was extremely abundant.

He now had two options for improvement. One was to comprehensively enhance his talent potential, which would help with future cultivation. The other was to specifically improve his comprehension of machinery. His understanding of machinery was already close to a breakthrough, and there would be many uses for the machinery ability ahead. Thus, he did not hesitate for long before converting all the Primordial Source into comprehension of mechanical knowledge.

A refreshing, cool breeze swirled through his brain, clearing away stray thoughts. Within his empty and pure Consciousness Sea, only streams of program data flowed and spun like water, giving rise to countless tiny intelligent thoughts. These thoughts resembled both components and machines, actively merging together...

Mu Xiao's realization took only an instant in reality, but within the consciousness of his brain, it felt as though he had gone through a long period of learning.

"Advancement is getting slower and slower..." Mu Xiao clenched his fist. He could clearly feel that his body had strengthened by another degree after leveling up, though the effect was nowhere near as great as strengthening through an Ability Source. Whenever bloodline genes were optimized and enhanced, the physique would receive a certain increase. Sometimes, special enhancements would even emerge, producing effects as powerful as those from an Ability Source.

As his Gene Resonances increased, the most important Mind Force also improved slightly. However, there was still a vast gap before he could make a major breakthrough through cultivation. After all, he was only at the beginning of realm cultivation. If he wanted to use Mind Force, his trump card, ahead of time, physical strengthening was essential. If his physique was strong enough, he could withstand a small portion of Mind Force's power.

The blazing energy fire from the motorcycles and sports cars still burned fiercely, illuminating part of the luxurious villa district. The zombies hidden in the darkness had all been destroyed, leaving only chilling, ghostlike howls drifting from far away.

Such a huge disturbance here had likely drawn other monsters closer.

"Clean up quickly. If another Mutant Human comes, I'm not afraid of it, but this night will definitely get busy." Mu Xiao rapidly spread out his Mental Power, sweeping up the Blood Beads from the zombies' bodies. At the same time, he came to the Guard Mutant Human's corpse and looked at the gray-white ball of light resembling a tangled yarn ball. This was the Ability Source dropped by the Guard Mutant Human.

"No wonder this Guard Mutant Human could lock onto us. So it had this ability." Mu Xiao recognized it at a glance as the Mental System ability, Life Detection.

This ability was somewhat superior to Mu Xiao's Mental Detection. It clearly identified the strength and weakness of all living organisms, could detect lifeforms over a wide area, and could even counter hidden auras. In other words, it could conceal one's life force and make one appear like an inanimate object without an aura.

Mu Xiao possessed pure Mental Power, which could evolve into any Mental System ability. Since he already had Mind Force, it did not matter much whether he improved it or not. Innate Ability did not need to be raised to the ninth realm before it could be directly comprehended and cultivated into Source Force or secret arts. As his realm rose, the power of his Innate Ability would also increase.

Abilities gained through external means, however, such as the machinery ability obtained by killing Mutant Humans or the Life Detection ability before him, had to be gradually raised to the ninth realm and made compatible with one's bloodline and soul before their mysteries could be comprehended and cultivated.

Therefore, as long as Mu Xiao cultivated and comprehended Mind Force, his Mental Power would naturally develop many effects, including Telekinesis.

Of course, if Mu Xiao absorbed this Life Detection Ability Source now, his Mental Power would certainly evolve this ability faster and might even gain an amplifying effect.

But he did not intend to use it himself. The Mental Power from Mind Force was already sufficient, and cultivation was only a matter of time. When that time came, he would be able to evolve many abilities. Besides, there was more than one Life Detection ability. He could absorb one when he encountered it next time.

Moreover, this ability was more suitable for An Rongru, who was weak and lacked the ability to protect herself.

Besides, An Rongru had played a major role in this battle. By sheer accident, she had blown up the motorcycles and sports cars containing thermal energy, causing the Guard Mutant Human to suffer the massive explosion's impact and lose consciousness temporarily. Indirectly, she had helped Mu Xiao tremendously, allowing him to kill the Guard Mutant Human so smoothly.

So she deserved considerable credit. By reason and by sentiment, Mu Xiao would not steal her contribution. He had already absorbed the Evolutionary Power Source and Primordial Source, while the Guard Mutant Human's heart was also one of his Blood Energy Sources, along with the Blood Beads hidden inside it. He had already taken nearly all the benefits.

If he took An Rongru's credit as well, it would be rather shameless.

When his Telekinesis returned after harvesting all the Blood Beads from the zombies, Mu Xiao could already sense something rapidly approaching from afar. He immediately grabbed the Guard Mutant Human's corpse with one hand and rushed toward the security hall.

As long as the Ability Source remained on the corpse, it could move along with the corpse without fear of being lost during transport. But if it was not absorbed after a certain amount of time, it would dissipate into the air and become energy particles.

"It's me. Don't panic and shoot." Mu Xiao sensed An Rongru aiming toward the entrance. He also knew the ground around her was covered with grenades and bombs. Mu Xiao was not afraid of the beams she fired, but he was afraid that this woman would get ruthless again and throw several bombs at him. That was something he truly could not endure.

"Is everything outside all right?" The moment An Rongru saw Mu Xiao, her beautiful eyes filled with tenderness, as though her heart had softened.

When a woman had been saved several times by a man, especially when she was in despair, and especially in this dangerous world filled with the unknown and a severe lack of security, having someone who brought her hope and safety naturally made her feel affection and gratitude toward him. It was only natural for feelings to arise in her heart.