Chapter 75 - 70: Harvest Time

Chapter 75: Chapter 70: Harvest Time

Bai Qiang wasn’t actually that afraid of snakes — they just gave her the creeps. Mostly it was the shock of one dropping into her lap out of nowhere; anyone would have freaked out.

But seeing Li Hua trot back looking like an absolute mess yet holding her head high with that unmistakable "hey human, I went hunting, aren’t you proud of me?" energy, Bai Qiang couldn’t bring herself to hurt the little one’s feelings. She forced a smile and did her best to deliver the emotional validation that was clearly expected of her.

She climbed off the couch and gave Li Hua a pat on the head.

"Good girl!"

Bai Qiang grabbed the back scratcher nearby and used it to lift the snake, confirmed it was dead, and let out a quiet breath of relief.

"I’ll go put this somewhere safe."

Bai Qiang carried the snake out to the garden on the back scratcher, and Yin Zhen used the opportunity to quickly scan the papers Bai Qiang had been writing on.

Her Identity hadn’t been exposed — in fact, she’d managed to steer Bai Qiang away from suspecting that Blossoming Prosperity might be Lucia. Yin Zhen was satisfied.

Bai Qiang wasn’t Ian. The most critical piece of intelligence — Blood Source Resonance — was missing from her files. As long as Bai Qiang didn’t know about that Extraordinary Ability, she wouldn’t have an easy time figuring out Yin Zhen’s Identity.

And Blood Source Resonance was classified as a top secret of the Saint Group. Bai Qiang didn’t have clearance for it yet — she wasn’t even a full council member, just a reserve candidate.

Bai Qiang came back from the garden after burying the snake. "Little one, are you hungry? Let me open a can for— huh?"

The living room was empty. Li Hua had abandoned her again.

...

Just past nine in the evening, Yin Zhen arrived home and let out a long, slow breath.

Outside was a mess — special ops personnel conducting searches everywhere.

When she removed her Character Card, Yin Zhen deliberately checked her Assimilation Degree, then pulled out her phone to check the time. After a careful mental calculation, she fell into thought.

The Assimilation Degree was growing more slowly than before.

Why?

She tried asking the system, but ever since she’d bombarded it with questions that one time, it had gone completely silent — as dead as a doornail, not a single peep.

"Go make me some instant noodles."

Yin Zhen issued the order and paid no attention to the Shadow Servant throwing a flurry of phantom punches at her head from down by her feet, continuing to turn the problem over in her mind.

"When a human takes over the body of a Red Corpse Blood Clan member, they become part of the Blood Clan. So why is it that when a Blood Clan member enters a human body, they’re still Blood Clan? Shouldn’t the logic work both ways and make them human? The biggest difference between now and my earlier rounds is that I gained twenty attribute points all at once this time, which boosted my overall Strength significantly."

Yin Zhen’s eyes lit up. She had the answer.

The stronger suppresses the weaker.

The Blood Clan was stronger than humans, so when a human entered a Blood Clan body, the Blood Clan nature dominated.

And when a Blood Clan member entered the comparatively weak vessel of a human, their power was too great to be contained — the invader would revert to being Blood Clan regardless.

As her base stats drew closer and closer to the stats on her Character Card, the Assimilation Degree would slow its growth, and eventually the Assimilation Degree limit might stop being a constraint altogether.

"Looks like I was right to focus on boosting my base stats. With the Assimilation Degree growing slower, I get more time to use Extraordinary Abilities than anyone else."

The only question was what would happen once her base stats surpassed those of the Character Card.

The Shadow Servant was in the kitchen turning the instant noodle packet over and over, studying it with great puzzlement. Yin Zhen got up and walked over — not to help, but to supervise.

Teach the Shadow Servant to cook, and she’d have that much more time for everything else.

Once she finished eating, Yin Zhen sent the Shadow Servant off to do the dishes.

The Shadow Servant threw another furious barrage of phantom punches at the back of her head, then huffed off into the kitchen with the pot and bowl in tow.

Her Assimilation Degree had dropped by a fair amount. Yin Zhen settled onto the edge of the couch and retrieved five syringes from her waist pouch, setting them out on the coffee table. These were her biggest haul of the night.

There had been a lot of blood at the factory. The Shadow Servant had collected samples from five different areas. Yin Zhen couldn’t tell yet which belonged to whom, but she was especially eager to get her hands on the Blood Clan man’s blood.

The syringes held varying amounts, all mixed with plenty of impurities. Whether she injected it or swallowed it, the thought made Yin Zhen’s skin crawl.

Especially on a full stomach. She felt like she might actually gag.

"Is there another way to resonate with blood?"

Yin Zhen thought for a moment, then opened her right hand. Fine, supple strands of blood silk gathered at her fingertips. She picked up one of the syringes and guided the blood silk in through the tip.

The blood silk made contact with the blood, and Yin Zhen focused on recalling the feeling of resonance.

In an instant, two blurry orbs of light surfaced in her consciousness. One flickered with a rapid-fire slideshow of a young woman’s face; the other was a pure, undiluted sphere of light.

Yin Zhen understood. This was the S-level Blood Source Resonance ability at work — the choice between resonating with more memories or more Extraordinary Ability. It could raise the odds of successfully resonating with the chosen option, and when she wanted the Extraordinary Ability, it could block the mental interference that memories would otherwise cause.

The victim in the warehouse earlier hadn’t possessed any Extraordinary Abilities, so there had been no choice to make — she’d received the memories directly.

If blood silk could trigger resonance through contact, could she use it mid-combat to draw blood directly from a living target and resonate on the spot?

So far, resonance had only worked on ownerless blood — but it was absolutely worth testing.

Since this sample clearly didn’t belong to the Blood Clan man, Yin Zhen went straight for the Extraordinary Ability.

[Resonance successful. You have obtained B-level Structural Repair.]

[Resonance successful. You have obtained B-level Spiritual Beacon.]

[Resonance successful. You have obtained C-level Blood Mimicry.]

Two syringes remained. The moment Yin Zhen touched them with her blood silk, she knew — both were the Blood Clan man’s.

Yin Zhen glanced back at the Shadow Servant, who was banging around in the kitchen doing the dishes with very obvious resentment. "Thorough little thing, aren’t you."

She thought back to the Blood Clan man’s Extraordinary Ability — he’d torn the entire factory ceiling down with a single gesture. Had to be A-level Metal Manipulation or Magnetic Control. She wanted it badly.

If she’d only had one sample, she would have gone for his memories to track him down.

But now? She was taking both.

Yin Zhen chose memories first. With such a small amount of blood, the memories she received were still considerably richer than last time.

After a head-splitting burst of pain, she scrunched her brow and swore out loud.

"Of all the names you could have had, it had to be Wang Wei!"

Her original plan had been to learn this Blood Clan man’s Identity in the real world, then use the Item — "A Sheet of Paper" — to write down his name and let fate deliver him straight to her doorstep.

But Wang Wei... she could find half a dozen guys named Wang Wei in her own apartment complex.

When names overlapped, "A Sheet of Paper" would just pick one at random and send them her way.

Quentin Archer.

That was the Blood Clan man’s name in the Red Corpse World.

"System, if I wrote down Quentin, would it bring him to me?"

"Say something. You used to have plenty to say. Did you go mute, or did someone finally put you on mute?"

The system remained silent.

Beyond the name, Yin Zhen had also pieced together two other things: Quentin’s objective, and who he was working with.

Quentin had taken the female Player’s body because the mission required it — seven Player corpses as a sacrifice to open the gate to the Ancient Abyss.

The victim in the warehouse had been a practice run. Warm-up material.

And tonight’s trap had been set by Quentin with the Black Domain Walker’s assistance.

Yin Zhen quickly opened the forum, ready to post a warning to other Players telling them to stay away from the Black Domain Walker.

The moment the forum loaded, her stomach dropped.

[Announcement: Player "Want to Eat Mao Xuewang" has died.]

[Announcement: Player "Empty Head" has died.]

[Announcement: Player "Weathered Through It All, No Regrets" has died.]

[Announcement: Player "Anonymous Player" has died.]

[Announcement: Player "Lord of All" has died.]