Chapter 235: Limited-Time Event: Black Crystal Tide

"It combines the advantages of pure-blooded humans and mutants, while also eliminating instability."

"Out of countless unstable paths, it found the one road to stability."

"Telling me you’re not a protagonist? Not even ghosts would believe that crap."

Qi Suian finished his experiments and dissection of Bruce, muttering and cursing the whole time.

Bruce could be considered a perfect example of evolution through radiation in the Wasteland World.

Even the slightest deviation would have meant missing out on this evolution.

That was how he managed to successfully usurp Yu Shijin’s authority as a lord and the rights to his territory. Unfortunately, both he and the Wasteland World that backed him seemed to have underestimated the Era of Lords.

Even though Yu Shijin had little of that remnant power left, it was ultimately what led to their failure.

"You... you attribute all my success to being some kind of puppet in a play, and you describe the results of my struggle as mere luck."

"Why should I admit to being a protagonist, instead of an ordinary person who succeeded through hard work?" Bruce roared, refuting Qi Suian’s words.

After enduring a series of tortures—dissection, experiments, interrogation, and more—Bruce hadn’t broken. On the contrary, his will remained firm.

He really did have the bearing of a protagonist, never once yielding to Qi Suian.

"This isn’t something you can achieve through hard work at all. It’s all just luck..." Qi Suian retorted.

He wasn’t wrong. Finding the one correct evolutionary path among so many mutations—how could that possibly be achieved through effort?

If he had said he succeeded through self-modification, then Qi Suian would have had nothing to say. That would be true effort and strength.

However, Bruce had simply mutated on his own after being exposed to radiation, without any artificial intervention. If that wasn’t luck, what was it?

Bruce was furious. He felt Qi Suian was humiliating him.

"Alright, I get it. Your mutation is perfect," Qi Suian said consolingly. "But it’s of no use to me. A complete waste, really."

The moment he said this, Bruce was stunned. ’You ran so many insane experiments, only to say it’s useless in the end?’

’Then what were you messing around for all this time?’

"I... you..." Bruce was so angry he couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

He possessed the power of immortality, immunity to radiation, and powerful regenerative healing.

As long as he wasn’t killed by someone or died of illness, he was an immortal king in this wasteland era.

And now, someone was calling his perfect self useless.

"Three hundred years of solitude have caused quite a few problems with your Spirit. How pitiful."

Qi Suian naturally knew how terrifying solitude could be. Bruce had probably gone insane long ago; it was only the existence of his protagonist halo that allowed him to desperately cling to his sanity.

Otherwise, he’d be the next Yu Shijin, eager to destroy the entire world to satisfy his own madness.

He seemed normal on the surface, but if you touched one of his frayed nerves, he would erupt.

Bruce took a deep breath, then exhaled heavily. "It’s the fifteenth day today, isn’t it?"

"Yu Shijin’s revenge will fall today. You’re a dead man."

Qi Suian nodded. "I know. That’s why I’m planning to hide out in space for a bit."

Bruce’s eyes went wide. He never imagined Qi Suian had a trick like that up his sleeve.

Over these fifteen days, he had come to understand that Qi Suian was no simple man. But for someone from the wasteland era to want to go to space... it was too absurd.

"With just that armor on your body?!" Bruce’s voice was shrill.

"Yeah, what else?" Qi Suian asked, feigning confusion, then quickly caught on. "You don’t think the armor I’m wearing is a Fire Seed Armor, do you?"

"It’s not just for fighting and killing."

In the Wasteland World, Fire Seed Armor was precisely for fighting and killing.

To say it was useless outside of combat would be doing it a disservice, but to claim it had much use beyond that would be overhyping it.

Qi Suian saw the Tai Sui God as a piece of equipment, but he never intended to develop it into a killing machine. Instead, he saw it as an assistant—from life assistant to combat assistant to lab assistant, and a whole series of other assistant roles.

So, naturally, it needed to be upgraded in all aspects.

After all, the Tai Sui God was capable of infinite evolution and possessed limitless modules; there was no need to specialize solely in combat.

"This is impossible. The technology from before the wasteland couldn’t have created such powerful armor. You didn’t even use a fire seed."

"How did you create it?" Bruce couldn’t understand.

"Well, that’s a long story, so I won’t be telling you," Qi Suian said, having no intention of explaining any of this to Bruce.

"Right now, the most important thing for you is to think if there’s anything else you haven’t confessed."

Qi Suian had already squeezed every last drop of research value from Bruce. If he couldn’t offer anything else of value, Qi Suian was prepared to kill him.

’It’s not every day you capture a protagonist alive. You have to squeeze them dry.’

It was a pity Qi Suian had arrived too late. If he had come three hundred years earlier, he might have been able to fleece another treasure off Bruce.

"You’re going to kill me?!" Bruce had endured all this humiliation just to survive, and now Qi Suian was actually going to do it.

"That’s right. I gave your protagonist halo fifteen days to save you."

"But it’s obvious that my protagonist halo is much stronger than yours."

"Of course, it’s also possible your protagonist halo is just too old."

After saying his piece, Qi Suian crushed him to death and tossed Bruce’s body into the Melting Furnace.

"God, what a talker. If we kept chatting, he might have actually found a way to survive," Qi Suian cursed under his breath.

He had just keenly sensed that he himself had been much more talkative than usual, clearly influenced by the other man’s protagonist halo.

It hadn’t taken effect before, most likely because there was no opportunity. But today was the fifteenth day. Once Yu Shijin made his move, Qi Suian would undoubtedly be the primary target of his hatred.

That meant Bruce would have had a chance to escape.

And that chance was fast approaching, which is why Bruce’s protagonist halo needed to delay his death, making Qi Suian so chatty.

But Qi Suian also had a protagonist halo. When his own Celestial Fate: Profound lowered his intelligence, it was to create an opportunity. But when other people’s halos tried to do the same, the effects were almost always negative.

How could a protagonist halo like Celestial Fate: Profound just sit back and wait for disaster? It naturally alerted Qi Suian at the first possible moment.

And so, Bruce died, his body ending up inside the Melting Furnace.

’Let’s see what effect Protagonist Halo Fortification +7 has.’ Qi Suian felt his own protagonist halo devour the one from Bruce.

The texture was different from the halos he had devoured before. This one was like an old, decrepit thing—tasteless, like chewing wax.

[Fortification +7: Unyielding]

Qi Suian didn’t quite understand the effect of "Unyielding." It was probably similar to the "Extreme Will" from Fortification +5.

As for its effect, he didn’t feel any obvious change. It was clearly something that would only activate under specific circumstances.

However, considering Bruce’s situation, it probably raised one’s upper limits. Its effect seemed to be more comprehensive, unlike Extreme Will, which only affected one’s willpower.

’Who knows when it’ll come in handy.’

Qi Suian wasn’t actually that concerned about the fortification effects. For a protagonist halo, they were just icing on the cake.

What he truly needed was the enhancement of his own protagonist halo after devouring those of other protagonists. That was what mattered most.

The extent to which a fortification effect could be utilized depended on the fundamental power level of the protagonist halo itself.

’Next up, let’s see what Yu Shijin does.’

’If I can fight him, I’ll use him as fuel.’

’If I can’t, I’ll run,’ Qi Suian muttered.

If Bruce hadn’t been a protagonist, and if Qi Suian hadn’t devoured his halo, Qi Suian definitely wouldn’t have fought.

Things were different now. Taking Bruce’s halo had made his Celestial Fate: Profound even stronger. In the Wasteland World, Qi Suian could be considered half a protagonist himself, and with home-field advantage...

...his chances of winning weren’t zero.

Winning through raw strength was impossible. A boss of that caliber was simply not someone Qi Suian could handle.

Not to mention Yu Shijin had once been a lord from the Era of Lords.

’If I could just talk to him about his experiences with escaping, I might even learn something valuable.’

’Too bad he’d never talk to me about that.’

His gaze fell upon a forbidden zone not far away, where black crystals had begun to emerge from the ground.

The safe zone he was in had been chosen at the edge of a forbidden zone, precisely so he could monitor changes in the zone’s node in real-time.

"He’s making his move. If I hadn’t killed Bruce when I did, he really might have escaped," Qi Suian sneered.

At the same time, the Doomsday Game’s world passport timed mission began.

[Timed Event: Black Crystal Tide]

[Objective: Survive for seventy-two hours]

[Reward: New World Passport]

"Only three days?" Qi Suian glanced at the objective, a hint of surprise in his expression.

He had thought it would be a month, as that was usually the case.

Three days now meant that Yu Shijin was capable of wiping out all the survivors within that time.

’Not good enough. This isn’t enough. Yu Shijin, you need to try harder. I’m counting on you to wipe out every last survivor.’

’Protagonist halo, I want you to find the most efficient way to get all the survivors wiped out within seventy hours.’

The Doomsday Game’s survival time was indeed seventy-two hours, but Qi Suian was worried it was cutting it too close. What if one or two stubborn, lucky ones survived?

So he demanded his protagonist halo get it done within seventy hours.

As for whether it would work, Qi Suian wasn’t very confident.

After all, Celestial Fate: Profound was just a protagonist halo, not a wishing machine.

It didn’t have the function of granting wishes, nor did it give Qi Suian the ability to make his words reality.

The words had barely left his mouth when the black crystals in the nearby forbidden zone swelled in an instant, their growth speed accelerating nearly a hundredfold.

"Jack, I’ve found you!!!" Yu Shijin’s hate-filled voice roared out.

"Holy shit, you’re using me as bait?!" Qi Suian instantly understood how to wipe out the survivors in seventy hours.

It was to make Yu Shijin work harder.

And the way to make him work harder was simple. With an excellent target for his hatred like Qi Suian right here, he’d get riled up, and his speed would naturally increase.