Faced with Chen Xiao's unwavering stance, she could only leave in disappointment.
Previously, they judged that Chen Xiao was in financial straits recently, which was the golden opportunity to recruit him into the association, and for this purpose, they specially allocated one billion US dollars in special funds.
Before he could finish speaking, he was flatly and decisively rejected.
The White Queen's visit did not cause any ripples in Chen Xiao's life. He continued with his work as usual, and his pace was not disrupted in the slightest.
Although the experiment's progress slowed slightly, this had almost no impact on his improvement in strength.
Because the foundation of his power has always been his Superman physique.
Having been exposed to sunlight continuously recently, his abilities are quietly undergoing a comprehensive leap forward, at a speed and magnitude that is imperceptible and unimaginable to outsiders.
Chen Xiao estimated that within a year, he would reach the peak level of the Bronze Age Superman: grip strength exceeding one million pounds and single punch impact exceeding ten million tons.
Several days later, on the fourth floor of the underground research institute.
Inside the glass chamber of the large particle pulse centrifuge, hundreds of lights flickered, radiating an indescribable allure.
Clarice's cells seemed to awaken, instinctively stirring and yearning to approach, absorb, and engulf those glimmers of light.
The dark-haired girl blinked gently and asked in a low voice, " Vitas, is this the X-Factor you mentioned?"
Chen Xiao nodded, his expression resolute. "That's right. This is a second ability carrier prepared specifically for you."
Indeed, this batch of extracted and cultivated X-Factor was clearly targeted at Clarice.
The higher-order X-Gene, which involve spatial manipulation and temporal interference, are more difficult to overcome than expected.
To be precise, the stable separation of the X-Factor, which possesses complete spatial permissions including Spatial Teleportation and spatial cutting, is still in the critical stage.
Therefore, Chen Xiao took some time to use another set of equipment to first prepare a composite X-Factor integrates Mental Perception and Telekinesis, and let Clarice try to integrate it first.
Firstly, it expands the scope of her abilities, and secondly, it allows us to verify the differences in the fusion mechanism between ordinary Mutants and ourselves.
Out of her usual trust, Clarice didn't ask for details. When Chen Xiao opened the container door, she did as he asked and slowly reached her right hand inside.
In an instant, those points of light seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, drifting lightly to her fingertips and silently seeping into her body.
How are you feeling?
Clarice paused briefly, then replied softly, "Very special."
As soon as she finished speaking, a faint yet exceptionally solid wisp of spiritual energy spread out from her, covering an area of tens of meters like a scanning radar.
Everything moving, static, structural, and temperature-related within the area transformed into a blurry yet three-dimensional flow of information, flooding into her consciousness.
Even more surprisingly, within this sensory circle, she could easily tear open a spatial door without needing to locate it or think about it.
Just as she was beginning to adapt to her new abilities, Chen Xiao was also intently observing the energy fluctuations within her body, his gaze calm and thoughtful.
The physiological data of Clarice after fusion provided a crucial reference for Chen Xiao's research.
For example, he discovered that after she integrated mental energy factors, all her mental energy was released instantly, transforming entirely into a perceptible and controllable sensory field and Telekinesis.
When he initially fused with similar factors, he only activated one-thousandth of his spiritual potential.
The reason is obvious: her mental foundation is weak, and even if she releases her full power, her effective perception radius is only a few tens of meters;
The limit of Telekinesis is only around 100 kilograms, far less powerful than the explosive force of Chen Xiao when he first acquired his ability, which could instantly detonate thousands of tons and collapse load-bearing walls.
Furthermore, the activity of her X-Gene cells showed almost no increase, in stark contrast to the slow and continuous evolution of Chen Xiao's X-cells.
This evolution is precisely the core indicator of the advancement of Mutants abilities. For example, Chen Xiao's energy burst intensity is now dozens of times greater than when he was in school.
Although the system shows that the increase is always "base strength x5", you should know that his base combat strength at this moment is already more than 10,000 times or even 100,000 times that of back then.
To give an example: ten points of combat power multiplied by five equals fifty points, while one hundred thousand points of combat power multiplied by five equals five equals five hundred thousand points. The two are fundamentally different.
There's also the issue of gene carrying capacity thresholds.
This is almost non-existent in Chen Xiao: given enough time and a clear need, he can theoretically be compatible with dozens or even hundreds of superpowers.
But Clarice is different. Her genetic load has reached a critical point. Chen Xiao judged that she could only integrate one more ability before reaching her peak.
Unless her genetic resilience undergoes a fundamental improvement.
Even Yidileisi, whom he recalled for further investigation, had a similar result: his gene carrying capacity was at its limit, and he could only accommodate a maximum of two abilities.
This reality forced Chen Xiao to temporarily shelve his original plan to "create two all-around assistants".
In the underground laboratory, Yidileisi had just completed the fusion of Colossus's tempering abilities. Chen Xiao's gaze swept over her and Clarice: "Right now, the most important thing is to break through the threshold of your genetic capacity."
To put it bluntly, it's the ceiling of one's life potential.
Clarice blinked and lowered her voice, asking, " Vitas, how do we break through this ceiling?"
Yidileisi also looked completely bewildered.
She is proficient in close combat and tactical raids, but when it comes to terms like gene regulation and cellular homeostasis, it sounds like she's hearing an alien language.
Seeing their bewildered expressions, Chen Xiao sighed helplessly, "Fine, I'll take care of this."
"We need to find a practical way to improve gene tolerance."
He waved them off to their own tasks, then turned and walked to the core of the base, to the supercomputing array he had personally built, and immediately began working.
Although his brain's computational and creative abilities far surpass those of machines, tools ultimately save a great deal of effort: retrieving massive amounts of literature, comparing across databases, extrapolating biological models, and cultivating the activity of X-Gene in the spatiotemporal dimensions...
In addition, the finalization of the Stellar Suit and the miniaturization of the nuclear fusion reactor are also progressing simultaneously.
Working 12 hours a day without a break, barely touching the ground.
Even so, his strength continued to increase rapidly. Bathed in sunlight every day, his muscle fibers and neural pathways were being reconstructed and strengthened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Another month has passed in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, something went wrong.
Lucia, her expression grave, rushed into the basement, bringing bad news.
Chen Xiao raised an eyebrow slightly. "You mean, all three hundred-plus people have gone missing? Including Yidileisi?"
Lucia nodded with a wry smile, "Yes, we've been out of contact for a full twenty-four hours."
Chen Xiao asked calmly, "Why are you only reporting it now?"
" The Kumodo City has been in complete chaos these past two days. At first, we thought it was Yidileisi's her team invading and causing trouble, but later we realized it was just a smokescreen deliberately set up by them."
" Arela Group, one of the six major flour milling companies." Chen Xiao said thoughtfully.
He wasn't surprised that Yidileisi's team was in danger; in fact, he had been waiting for this moment.
With the Bloody Hand Society' territory continuing to expand, Mexico's leading food giant will certainly not stand idly by; conflict is only a matter of time.
Not to mention that the world is never short of ambitious people who pounce on bloodshed.
His demonstrated abilities and soaring performance have already become the bullseye.
The fact that they've only made their move now suggests that their opponent has just accumulated enough leverage or has finally figured out a certain strategy.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Chen Xiao's lips, "I wonder if they're using data from a month and a half ago, or even earlier, as a benchmark to measure me."
Is he afraid of being set up? No.
Because their calculations can never keep up with the pace of his evolution.
As for Yidileisi's safety? There's no point in thinking about it.
She is not a flower in a greenhouse, but Blade that actively rushes into the storm.
As she led her troops to attack cities time and time again, beheading key enemy soldiers and tempering herself through real combat, death was the contract she had signed.
Those who commit murder will eventually face the possibility of being murdered themselves.
If something really happens, Chen Xiao will only do one thing: wipe out all those involved, leaving no survivors and no room for compromise.
However, having just integrated with the steel-bound physique, her chances of survival are indeed quite high.
The moment the thought crossed his mind, he suddenly unleashed his spiritual power.
On the second basement level, Clarice clearly heard Chen Xiao's voice in her mind:
" Clarice, immediately seal off the entire underground laboratory. No one is to enter without my personal presence."
"If necessary, activate the self-destruct protocol. You then evacuate on your own and wait for me to come back for you."
The black-haired girl's face darkened, and without hesitation, she pressed all the gate buttons on the main control panel.
Boom!
One after another, massive metal doors, half a meter thick and with strength comparable to aerospace-grade alloys, crashed down, sealing off the passages layer by layer and isolating the entire underground facility into an isolated island.
This place holds too many world-changing technologies: miniature nuclear fusion reactors, molecular-level gene editing platforms... On the contrary, the X-Gene samples being cultured are not so crucial.
After all, the vast majority of experimental operations rely on Chen Xiao's mental power to precisely control atoms and molecules; stealing cells is just like taking away a few tubes of waste.
boom!!
The sonic boom tore through the air, Chen Xiao's figure shot straight into the sky like an arrow, instantly shrinking into a black dot on the horizon and disappearing from sight.
The incident occurred in Qigela City more than 1,300 kilometers from Pochutla in a straight line, right next to the Gulf of Mexico.
As dusk fell, the smoke of battle still lingered in the coastal city, and the air was thick with the smell of burnt metal and rust from the ruins, clearly indicating that a fierce battle had just taken place.
Occasionally, gang members would drag a body out of the rubble and toss it onto the trailer of a truck.
In the distance, several armored vehicles escorted a main battle Tank as it rumbled past, followed by a group of masked armed men, their steps swift and cold.
Unlike mid-tier gangs like the Bloody Hand Society, the Arela Group, as one of the six major flour-based forces, boasts a core fighting force of over ten thousand, with tens of thousands of peripheral troops, and its firepower is overwhelmingly superior, complete with Tank and armed helicopters.
At the top of a cliff by the sea, on the balcony of a luxurious villa, several people stood silently gazing into the distance, their indifferent eyes sweeping over the still-uncleared battlefield.
At that moment, a burly man with a thick beard and fierce eyes strode in and bowed to the middle-aged man in the center of the crowd, reporting, "Boss, the entire Blood Wolf Group has been killed; not a single one escaped."