I guarantee I'll make you the toughest man in this wasteland!

The atmosphere at the dinner table was a little peculiar.

To accommodate everyone's tastes, Su Qingqian had prepared half spicy dishes and half mild ones. The pot of blood curd stew bubbling in red chili oil gave off an irresistible aroma, leaving Bai Ling, who hadn't eaten hot food in days, staring transfixed.

"Delicious! This one's delicious!"

Bai Ling might have been a science fanatic, but she was just as dedicated when it came to eating, her cheeks bulging like a hamster's.

Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Lin Hui tapped the table and called a "staff meeting."

"Now that you're on board, we need to clear a few things up." Lin Hui looked at Bai Ling, his expression serious. "You said your Specialization was tier two. What exactly can you do? We need to reassess the team's combat strength."

Hearing him turn to business, Liu Xi and Su Qingqian set down their chopsticks.

They were equally curious about just what made "tier two" stronger than "tier one."

Bai Ling licked the grease from the corner of her mouth and grew a little more serious.

"You've probably noticed it yourselves." She looked at Liu Xi and Su Qingqian and held up a finger.

"At tier one, aside from Spirit Art and Summoning, the other Specializations only begin to touch the extraordinary. Most still fall within the bounds of what's 'human.'"

Su Qingqian nodded. That was indeed the case.

As a tier-one [Machinery] player, she understood practically every mechanical structure. With enough materials, she could even build any device humans were capable of making by hand, but that was still just the ultimate application of physics and engineering.

Liu Xi didn't disagree either. Tier-one [Shooting] had not only made her proficient with all kinds of firearms, but also turned her into a sharpshooter who never missed. Yet that was still the pinnacle of what humans could achieve.

An unusual gleam flashed in Bai Ling's eyes as she said:

"My Specialization is [Medicine]. At tier one, I mastered all medical knowledge, and my medical skills were second to none."

"But at tier two, I fully entered the 'realm of the extraordinary.'"

"Now I can use Mutant blood and extracts from certain plants to formulate potions that never existed before. And those potions have 'supernatural' properties."

She counted them off on her fingers. "For example, potions that repel low-tier Mutants, and... potions that cure cancer and diabetes..."

"Of course, I have plenty of other ideas in my head, like a 'Regeneration Potion' that lets people regrow severed limbs, or an evolution potion similar to the 'Basic Gene Potion.' Unfortunately, I don't have enough materials or time, and my lab facilities aren't up to the task. For now, they're only theories."

At that, she looked pleadingly at Lin Hui. "Boss, just build me a lab and get me the materials, and I guarantee I'll make you the toughest man in this wasteland!"

Lin Hui automatically filtered out the last half of that sentence.

Touching the extraordinary.

That information was far too important.

It meant tier-two awakened players were already beginning to leave conventional combat capabilities behind and develop in a more fantastical direction.

In other words, future enemies would be even stranger!

But Lin Hui wasn't afraid in the slightest!

He might not have awakened a Specialization, but as long as his RV reached level 30... level 50... level 100!

Forget extraordinary players!

Even if it's a god!

Just give me the coordinates, and I'll blast that god out of the sky!

Lin Hui glanced at Bai Ling's pitiful expression and calmly dangled a promise before her. "We'll talk about the lab once the RV reaches Lv. 5."

"Ah... all right..." Bai Ling slumped over the table, looking disappointed.

Every day she went without research was another day she felt restless all over.

Just then.

Su Qingqian glanced out the window.

Through the bulletproof glass, she could see the enormous tier-four Zombie Tyrant crouching beside the RV like a loyal guard dog, intimidating every would-be troublemaker nearby.

Even through the window, she could feel its oppressive presence.

Su Qingqian swallowed and finally asked the question everyone wanted answered:

"Um... Bai Ling, how do you control a monster like that? You said you use parasites, but... how do you command the parasites?"

At that question, Bai Ling stopped moving.

She slowly raised her head, a faintly eerie smile appearing on her delicate, fair face.

She lifted a finger and gently pointed to her temple.

"Because the worms in its brain obey me."

"Or rather... they obey the 'Mother Worm' in my brain."

"You... you have worms inside you?"

Goosebumps rose all over Su Qingqian, and she instinctively edged closer to Lin Hui.

The thought that some indescribable soft-bodied creature might be lurking inside the delicate silver-haired girl before her made her skin crawl.

"Don't make such a fuss."

Bai Ling rested her chin in one hand, her tone as casual as if she were discussing the weather:

"It's my 'Symbiote.' These parasites come from a high-tier Mutant called a 'White Worm.' While dissecting one, I discovered a special kind of 'parasite' in its blood that could invade a creature's brain and take over its nervous system."

She gestured in the air with her chopsticks.

"I extracted several thousand 'parasites,' cultivated a 'Mother Worm,' and implanted her in my own body. Whenever I release the Mother Worm's pheromones, the Zombies I've implanted with lower-tier parasites regard me as their supreme empress and obey my every command."

"Are there any limits?" Lin Hui raised an eyebrow, immediately catching the crucial point.

If she could control them without limit, Bai Ling alone would be an army, potentially capable of sweeping through the entire wasteland.

"Of course there are."

Bai Ling pursed her lips and sighed regretfully.

"First, these parasites only work on brain-dead creatures like Zombies. They don't work on Mutants with minds of their own or on living humans.

"Second, the higher a Zombie's tier, the higher the tier of 'parasite' it needs. Cultivating high-tier parasites takes a lot of my energy and materials."

"Right now, the most I can precisely control at once is that tier-four Tyrant, plus the forty-odd ordinary Zombies in that bus."

"And they can't be too far away. Beyond three kilometers, I'll lose control of them."

Lin Hui nodded.

There might have been limits, but it was still terrifying enough.

It meant his team had suddenly gained a "Zombie suicide squad" that felt no pain and feared no death, along with a super tank boasting tier-four combat strength!

Lin Hui glanced at the enormous Tyrant outside the window, the corners of his mouth curving upward.

"Very good."

He tapped his fingers lightly against the tabletop, his eyes gleaming.

"With these 'helpers' of yours, that ambush plan originally had only a ninety percent chance of success. Now... it's risen to 99.9%."

"Tomorrow, we're going to prepare a grand gift for that hall master of the Feral Wolf Guild!"