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The two walked outside the courtyard. Yu Hong placed the Blue Whale suit on the ground, took a step back, and watched as Xu Fan stepped forward to try it on.
Before long, the test was complete. Xu Fan was satisfied, patting the alloy gloves and touching the reinforced helt visor.
“Not bad at all! The helt is reinforced, and all the damaged parts have been fixed. Mr. Yu, your skills are incredible! Not inferior to those research institutes at all.”
“That’s good. As agreed, this concludes our contract.” Yu Hong wrote.
“If you ever need anything, rember to find , Old Xu. Prices are always negotiable.” Xu Fan smiled.
He stretched his arms and subtly stepped forward.
Noticing the decreasing distance between them, Yu Hong took a step back.
He knew very well that his strength was vastly inferior to the man before him. Even with the suit’s protection, he doubted he could handle the Butcher—soone who had previously slaughtered a twenty-man joint military squad single-handedly.
From Old Li, he had learned that Bai Mang only died at his hands because he had attempted to capture him alive.
If it had been a true life-or-death battle, Bai Mang could have simply kept his distance and shot him. Two consecutive rounds would have pierced through his reinforced Grey Lizard suit.
Yu Hong had estimated that if he were to fight Bai Mang now, he might be able to hold his own, but the outco was uncertain.
But the Butcher and Bai Mang weren’t even in the sa league. If this guy decided to make a move now…
Yu Hong’s heart tensed, ready to draw his enhanced handgun at any mont.
He had witnessed the Butcher’s killings—trendous strength, incredible speed. His only advantage was his thick skin, relying on the reinforced White Bear suit to endure the damage, exhausting his opponent’s stamina with inner energy, and then ambushing with his enhanced handgun. Based on previous tests, the enhanced handgun should have no problem piercing the Blue Whale suit.
“If I need anything in the future, I’ll definitely consider you first.” Yu Hong nodded, pretending not to notice Xu Fan’s movents and continued writing. “By the way, did you hear anything about the Whisperer?”
“The Whisperer? No, we haven’t encountered him. But I heard he’s a very dangerous Evil shadow.” Xu Fan’s tone grew serious. He took another step forward.
“I have detailed information on the Whisperer. Do you want it?” Yu Hong wrote, simultaneously retreating to the edge of the courtyard.
“I was just about to ask—Mr. Yu, why do you keep writing instead of speaking? Do you have a throat problem?” Xu Fan frowned. “Speaking of which, lately, new dangers have been appearing more frequently. Mr. Yu, staying here alone might not be safe. You really need a few reliable helpers.”
“We can discuss that later. I can’t leave the lab—many machines can’t be moved. As for the writing, it’s related to the Whisperer. You might want to reconsider whether you need this information. Old Li and I had a run-in with him and barely made it out alive.”
Hearing that the machines couldn’t be moved, Xu Fan fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.
He had initially planned to abduct Yu Hong, forcing him to provide logistics and equipnt upgrades for his team. But upon hearing about the immovable machines, he hesitated. Though slightly skeptical, he dismissed the idea. ȐＡƝО𐌱ΕṢ
Indeed, no matter how skilled an expert was, without high-precision machines, they would be powerless. And machines required power, water, and material supplies—all fixed necessities that couldn’t simply be relocated.
This confird that Yu Hong was backed by a mysterious lab or organization supporting his research.
After a dozen seconds, Xu Fan completely abandoned his kidnapping plan and spoke again.
“What do you need?”
“Three small things,” Yu Hong wrote quickly. “First, dig up enough Luminous Stones for . Second, get a discarded nuclear generator. Third—”
“Wait a minute! A nuclear generator is not a small thing!” Xu Fan interrupted imdiately. “Even if it’s broken, the reactor core would’ve been removed, making it useless. Those things are prized possessions of every major faction. Where the hell am I supposed to get one for you?”
“A detailed report on the Whisperer could save your life.” Yu Hong pulled out a piece of paper and wrote.
“The problem is that your request is too high.” Xu Fan sighed. “However, if your intel is really valuable, you could directly trade it with those organizations, or even the United Army’s Hope City, to get a nuclear generator.”
Yu Hong remained silent.
He wasn’t sure if that would work, but it was worth a try. He could reach out to Li Runshan and use the Post Office to make contact.
“I can’t do anything about the other requests, but digging up so Luminous Stones is easy. I’ll get it done for you soon!” Xu Fan promised heartily, patting his chest.
“Alright, I’ll give you a copy of the Whisperer’s intel.” Yu Hong quickly wrote a summarized version and handed it over. It was information Old Li already knew—nothing valuable.
He planned to trade the more detailed intel with the Post Office.
Xu Fan took the paper, skimd through it, and his expression imdiately changed under his helt.
Now he understood why Yu Hong insisted on writing instead of speaking.
The two soon parted ways, and Xu Fan hurried off to inform his teammates, who were waiting in a nearby vehicle.
Yu Hong watched them leave before turning toward Baiqiu Village. In the distance, he noticed unfamiliar people moving about the houses.
They wore ragged clothes, looked filthy and dispirited. They seed to be cooking sothing in the middle of the village, with smoke rising visibly into the sky.
Yu Hong thought for a mont. The Post Office’s stone house had plenty of basent rooms—enough for over ten people.
If Old Li could recruit useful talents from these refugees, it might help alleviate their manpower shortage.
But that was Old Li’s concern.
His current priority was still training, striving to reach the ninth level of inner energy as soon as possible.
The threat of the Butcher had only reinforced his need for greater strength.
Be it humans, Evil shadows, or the Blood Tide—he needed more power and more ways to counter them.
He had planned to use the Black Mark to develop techniques against Ghostly Shadows and Evil Shadows, but for now, the Black Mark wasn’t free to use. Moreover, he hadn’t forgotten that when enhancing things with the Black Mark, his inner energy allowed him to rapidly recover and replenish his stamina.
Like during the extre symbol formation test—without inner energy, a single enhancent would have left him lying unconscious for seven or eight hours.
Or when synthesizing Luminous Stone Grass, which had completely drained his inner energy in one go. Looking back, he suspected that without his inner energy as a backup, he might not have been able to synthesize the Luminous Stone Grass at all.
Many tis, the Black Mark seed to calculate his inner energy limit before providing feedback on whether an enhancent was possible. He had noticed this pattern multiple tis.
Back in his cave, after handling bodily necessities, Yu Hong resud training.
Before long, noon passed, and by mid-afternoon, around three or four o’clock, he was about to finish his session and head out to chop firewood.
Suddenly, a muffled thud echoed from within his body.
His heart clenched, and standing inside the cave, sweat imdiately poured from his body, soaking his clothes within minutes. The heat radiating from his body turned the reinforced White Bear suit hot and unbearable, the humidity making it suffocating.
Thick steam billowed out from the suit’s ventilation holes at the shoulders, resembling white smoke.
This state lasted a full five minutes before it slowly subsided.
Finally.
Yu Hong stood in place, his body trembling slightly. Then, he reached up, removed his helt, and revealed a beaming smile.
“I finally did it! The ninth strand of inner energy!”
Reaching the ninth strand ant he could begin a full-body enhancent, which would allow him to enter the second—
Boom!!
Just as Yu Hong was carefully sensing the ninth strand of inner energy in his abdon, the nine strands suddenly compressed into a single mass before violently exploding.
From contraction to detonation, the entire process took less than a second.
The violent explosion instantly sent shockwaves through every drop of blood in Yu Hong’s body. It even seed to generate a strange force field that spread throughout his entire being.
His focus had been centered on his abdon, and when the explosion struck, he was montarily stunned.
His mind went completely blank—he couldn’t feel anything, couldn’t hear anything.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Soon, inside the cave, Yu Hong’s body began to tremble and distort slightly. He remained standing, but his muscles expanded in waves, swelling as if being inflated. Then, they rapidly contracted, tightening against his bones, only to swell again.
This repeated nine tis.
At last, Yu Hong’s physique stabilized.
Originally, he had been just over 170 centiters tall, but after the transformation, he now stood at 180 centiters.
Shhh.
Yu Hong snapped back to awareness, quickly removed his suit and clothing, and looked down at himself.
On the skin of his abdon, there was now a black vortex-like mark, about the size of an egg.
‘So this is full-body enhancent?’
He carefully examined the changes in his body.
Shhh.
He threw a quick jab forward. A sensation of lightness and fluidity surged through him, reaching deep into his core.
After training with Li Runshan for so long, he had picked up the basics of boxing techniques.
Previously, when throwing a jab, he always felt sowhat sluggish and awkward. But now, his speed was significantly faster, and his movents were much smoother.
Raising his fist, Yu Hong noticed that the previously thin transparent keratin layer on his skin had thickened and beco noticeably tougher.
He reached out and touched it—it felt like a layer of thick leather.
Bang!
Suddenly, he crouched and punched the cave floor.
No pain.
Only a slight sensation of impact and compression transmitted back through his fist.
Lifting his hand, Yu Hong froze in shock.
Beneath his fist, the stone floor had ford a deep, fractured imprint.
It wasn’t just a fist mark—it was an indentation filled with shattered stone and fine dust.
‘Breaking stone bare-handed? That’s insane!’
Yu Hong had speculated about what the first layer breakthrough would bring, but now that the transformation had happened, he was still in disbelief.
‘Too bad there’s nothing around to properly test my strength.’
Standing up straight, he put on the reinforced White Bear suit again, grabbed his massive wooden shield and spiked club, and moved around freely.
Sothing strange happened.
An hour ago, these heavy weapons had felt burdenso. But now, they felt as light as a feather—no longer a strain at all.
Boom. Boom.
Yu Hong walked a few steps inside the cave, swinging his club experintally. It wasn’t an illusion—his speed had indeed increased dramatically.
‘I need a benchmark.’
He opened the door, stepped outside, and scanned his surroundings. Before long, he found a large boulder, half-buried in the ground.
The rock’s surface was rough, covered in layers of brownish patterns.
Approaching it, Yu Hong took a deep breath, then suddenly threw a full-force punch.
Boom!
His gloved fist struck the rock, causing it to violently tremble in the soil.
His fist sank halfway into the stone, and from the point of impact, black cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.
Crash!
The massive millstone-sized rock instantly shattered into pieces, crumbling to the ground.
‘What the—?! This is insane!!’
Yu Hong stared at the scene before him, utterly dumbfounded.
Just how much had his strength increased?! To cause this level of destruction with a single punch?!
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