The Restless RR Virus

Wu Ming took out a pen and paper from his desk and wrote down his results in a notebook.

Two hours later, he set down his pen and stretched lazily. "Finally finished—the first cultivation manual I created."

Several pages had been written in the notebook, totaling more than two thousand words. This was mainly because Wu Ming had described everything in excessive detail, using plain language throughout and making it extremely easy to read.

But there was no helping it. He planned to hand this cultivation method over to the country eventually, so the more detailed it was, the better.

However, that would have to wait. Sensing Cosmic Energy had a threshold; without the physical fitness of a Quasi-Martial Artist, forcing the attempt would only harm them.

Besides, this manual had yet to undergo practical testing. Although Wu Ming believed it was highly feasible, it still needed real examples to prove it.

As for the role of guinea pig, he naturally accepted it without hesitation.

He closed the notebook and placed it in one corner of the desk, then got up and loosened his slightly stiff shoulders.

The sunlight outside the window was at its brightest. Before he knew it, it was already noon.

He had worked for a full twenty hours on this manual. Now that he suddenly relaxed, mental exhaustion immediately washed over him, and all he wanted was a good rest.

But Wu Ming did not go to sleep.

The Five Hearts Facing the Sky Cultivation Method mentioned that when one's mind was exhausted to the limit, it was easier for the heart to become tranquil. Unlike when one was full of energy, distracting thoughts would not constantly arise.

Now was the best time to cultivate. How could Wu Ming possibly miss it?

However, he did not immediately assume the Five Hearts Toward Heaven posture. Instead, he turned and headed into the bathroom, where he took a long, satisfying hot shower.

This was also a method recorded in a certain manual. After a bath, the body would unconsciously relax, and tense nerves would gradually loosen. Resting at that time often led to better sleep quality.

After his shower, Wu Ming changed into loose pajamas. He first went to the storage room and touched the armor, switching out his equipped talent before returning to his room.

Yet he still did not begin cultivating. Instead, he performed another complete set of complicated movements.

Those movements came from a yoga manual and likewise helped relax the body and mind. Wu Ming stretched his limbs to his heart's content, smoothly shifting through various poses with perfect form.

There were twelve movements in total. He repeated them for nine rounds before finally stopping, his body completely relaxed.

At that point, all the preliminary preparations were complete.

Wu Ming drew the bedroom curtains halfway shut, dimming the room to a soft, muted glow. Only then did he climb onto the bed, sit cross-legged, turn his palms and soles upward, and assume the most standard Five Hearts Toward Heaven posture.

As time passed, his breathing naturally slowed. Without any deliberate control, it settled into the most comfortable rhythm.

With each inhale and exhale, his chest rose and fell slightly. Air flowed naturally into his body, then slowly drifted back out.

His eyes were half-closed, and his body relaxed completely.

In that state, his mind gradually grew quiet. It was as though, with every breath, the stray thoughts in his head were blown away as well.

Time trickled by, and in the blink of an eye, an hour had passed.

Wu Ming had made his preparations as perfect as possible, but unfortunately, he still could not sense even a trace of Cosmic Energy.

But he was not anxious.

According to the patterns he had compiled from the manuals, the optimal sensing period lasted at most three hours. Only after that limit would the efficiency gradually decline.

Only one-third of the time had passed. There was still plenty of time.

Wu Ming gently let go of that faint worry as well. He stopped thinking about the consequences of failure, and his mind settled into complete tranquility. He no longer even had the thought of sensing Cosmic Energy.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly entered a state between sleep and wakefulness. His brain could still sense everything in his body, but it no longer thought, nor did it convey any intentions to his body. He was quiet to the extreme.

This was the realm of Void Silence recorded in an ancient text, and it was also the state in which Cosmic Energy could be sensed most clearly.

Strands of Cosmic Energy entered his body through his palms, soles, and the crown of his head. Yet this was merely his body's instinctive absorption, and the efficiency was painfully slow.

Without the active guidance of consciousness, this did not truly count as absorbing energy. Yet Wu Ming, immersed in Void Silence, had already forgotten that purpose.

Then, something inside his body suddenly stirred.

The RR Virus!

Those viruses had not come from Ruan Qingzhu's body. That batch of RR had been too violent and had burned itself out on the very day he treated her, allowing his strength to cross the threshold of a Quasi-Martial Artist.

The viruses remaining in Wu Ming's body had been collected from the shores of Magic City. By all reason, they should have been completely under his control. Yet now, they all began to stir, surging madly toward every cell in his body.

He had forgotten that although these viruses came from Magic City, they had served as energy transporters during Ruan Qingzhu's treatment!

In other words, they had already mutated and been affected by Ruan Qingzhu's genes, becoming exceptionally active.

Furthermore, before sensing Cosmic Energy, Wu Ming had used Steel Armor to replace the pen's equipped effect in order to increase his sensing efficiency. The Virus Controller talent had naturally vanished as well.

First deprived of the talent's suppression, then left without the oversight of his consciousness, the dormant viruses seemed to catch some sort of signal. They awoke from their slumber and began their frenzied transformation!

This outbreak was fiercer than any before. It was as if someone had pressed fast-forward, reshaping his genetic structure at a speed far beyond anything previously seen.

Wu Ming's skin quickly flushed red. The energy stored in his body plummeted at an astonishing rate, dropping below 90 in an instant, then 80, 70...

In less than an hour, his original 100 points of energy had been completely burned away.

Fortunately, Wu Ming's physical fitness had already reached a new level—exactly one thousand kilograms. Other than lacking Genetic Energy, he was no different from a First-Level Apprentice.

This seemed to have reached the limit of the RR Virus. Even though much of it remained inside his body, the viruses discovered that Wu Ming's genes had become incomparably stable. No matter how hard they tried, they could not shake them in the slightest.

So the viruses followed their instincts upstream and entered the most mysterious region of his body—the brain!

Compared with his body, the genes in Wu Ming's brain region were not nearly as powerful. After all, the brain domain corresponded to the talent of a Spirit Reader, a path entirely different from that of a Martial Artist.

But now, these viruses influenced by Ruan Qingzhu had gained the power to transform the brain domain!

Like a mad feast, the viruses penetrated the blood-brain barrier and flooded into the depths of the cerebral cortex, beginning to transform that final mysterious region.

Yet transforming the brain also required energy—far more energy, in fact.

The remaining reserves in Wu Ming's body had long since been exhausted during the transformation of his body. Now, under the brain's relentless drain, his cells began supplying the energy meant to sustain life.

Even so, before the brain's abyssal maw, the energy in his body was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

Very soon, the energy in every cell throughout Wu Ming's body was drained dry, and they all sent the same signal to his body.

Hungry!

An intense hunger swept through his entire body, driving it to search for energy. Yet Wu Ming's consciousness remained immersed in Void Silence, unable to feel his body's call at all.

Thus, driven by instinct, that Quasi-Martial Artist body began plundering the Cosmic Energy around it on its own.