New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 98: Shadow retreat, rapid progress!
Just as Yuan Zhu was still pondering the information about [Three Phases] and [Instigator], Xiao La Tiao suddenly spoke in his mind: "Boss, do you think I look like [Instigator]?"

He was originally terrified by the sudden split of his soul in his head, the emergence of a 'thought and voice' that he couldn't control, but now he shuddered and angrily scolded Latiao: "What are you yelling about! Are you asking for a title? You scared me!"

However, after her provocation, his original fear of the "instigator" vanished. Once he equated the spicy snack with the "instigator," the "instigator's" prestige plummeted. He felt that it was just that, nothing special.
Although he has no [instigator], he has been suffering from the mental harassment of "Latiaozi" since his arrival, which is nothing.

After reading his thoughts, Xiao La Tiao nodded in agreement and vowed, "That's right, that's right! If you, Boss, commit suicide and create an Instigator, don't be afraid. Your most loyal Yu Jingzi will fight on your behalf. I will fight it to the ends of the universe and will not allow any voice to interfere with your independent thinking!"

Facing Latiao's flattery, Yuan Zhu gradually became immune: "I'm sorry, you've already done it (interfered with my thinking)."

"Haha, really? You're so polite. This is what I should do." Xiao Latiao's virtual white-haired girl image scratched her head foolishly, looking like a proud and shy fool.

Yuan Zhu: “┐(～)┌…”

At this time, the captain looked at him and said, "Any other questions? If not, I'm leaving."

Yuan Zhu quickly said, "Wait, one last question. When do we start the next mission?"

"Next mission?"

He was somewhat surprised by Yuan Zhu's enthusiasm for work, and he thought to himself, "What a motivated employee!" With such a strong sense of professionalism and ambition, it's no wonder he's interested in [Anti-Law]. (Yuan Zhu: "I really want to improve!")
"It's only been a short time since we returned from the Little West Red Realm. The other team members aren't like you, who can accumulate sufficient strength in such a short time. I originally had no plans in this regard, wanting to give you more time to adapt to your newfound transcendental system. However... if you're interested, I just happened to purchase intelligence from another 'space team' about a bubble world that seems to meet the needs of the Mao Mao King."

The captain paused for a moment before speaking, "How about this? Wait three days. I'll consult with the other team members and gather anyone else interested in the mission. I'll assign you a 'temporary exploration mission.' The mission details aren't mandatory. Simply gather as much information as possible about the Bubble World, survey the natural environment, find indigenous people interested in breeding caterpillars, and reach a preliminary agreement with them."

Yuan Zhu understood his subtext and asked, "Captain, aren't you going to participate?"

"I'm very busy. Temporary missions aren't part of my work schedule, so I don't have time to protect you. Fortunately, this world has been explored, so the danger level isn't high, just the environment is a bit harsh. I'll give you permission to teleport back to Happy Home in times of crisis. Your safety will be guaranteed, but the benefits will depend on your performance."

Hearing this, Yuan Zhu was thrilled. He simply needed a chance to travel through the Nightmare Layer. Without forced assignments, being able to move freely would be even more refreshing. He wondered if the hidden opportunities in this bubble world could surpass those of the Little Red Realm.
"Then I'll wait for your notice."

The captain urged, "Make the most of these last few days, go back and recuperate, and make good preparations. Oh, and this is for you."

After saying that, he took out a beautifully wrapped gift box and handed it to Yuan Zhu.

He reached out to take it, feeling the weight. The wooden box within the wrapping paper suggested it might be something valuable. Before he could ask, the captain had vanished from Happy Home.

At this point, the only people left in the hall were Yuan Zhu and Number 3, who was pretending to clean but actually eavesdropping on the gossip. After the captain left, Number 3 immediately approached him, "Master Yuan, did you bring me any new alchemical elements this time?"

"I came in a hurry this time and didn't buy anything. I'll bring you a big can next time."

Number 3 was overjoyed: "Okay, okay, it's a deal! You must not lie to me. Hurry and open your presents."

After tearing open the wrapping paper, he revealed an exquisite sandalwood box with a complex metal inscription pattern on the front and a line of text he didn't recognize below it.

"This is……?"

No. 3 explained, "This is the brand name, called [Moon String]."

"What does [Moon String] do?"

As he asked, he opened the sandalwood box and found a dead mouse with soft fur lying quietly inside. It was very similar to the one he had abandoned in the Vajra Temple.

This one, however, had been slightly upgraded. A narrow, external metal spine was embedded in the spine's back, connected to eight exoskeleton limbs. A stretchable wire was inserted into the head, and half of the skull had been transformed into a mechanical structure. One of its eyes had been gouged out and replaced with a flashing red mechanical eye, which stared back at him silently.

Is this "Moon String" a brand that sells modified mice? Such a gorgeous box, and they're using it to store garbage mice?

Number 3: "[Moon String] is a long-established communications equipment company that produces wireless communication equipment for the spiritual side. They support personalized modification and customization, and are well-known in the extraordinary circles within the [Spiritual Layer]."

Yuan Zhu: "Shouldn't this kind of [Mouse Transformation] be the business of the [Rat King] among the Twelve Destinies?"

"But you can buy the rat and then send it to [Moon String] for modification and upgrade."

Yuan Zhu dripped blood again, binding and activating the rat. Its red mechanical eyes flashed wildly, and it suddenly leaped from the wooden box. Its eight slender spider legs wrapped around his arm, nimbly climbing up to his shoulder.

Xiao La Tiao: "An external Bluetooth device has been detected and connected, taking full control of the operation."

Then, she put part of her own data into the rat, and the rat began to run around on Yuan Zhu's body, even climbing to the top of his head, looking down at the curious No. 3.

No. 3: "Mr. Yuan, why are you controlling Shushu to climb up to my head? Are you trying to play a game with me? Jump over here, I can catch you!"

"Operation error."

He took the drone (Rat) down from his head with a blank expression, then waved goodbye to No. 3: "It's getting late, I have to go home. I'll bring you a gift next time we meet. Bye."

"goodbye!"

It was already past 9 PM when he returned to Running. He was surrounded by darkness, and could even hear the howling and responding sounds of wild animals not far away. After a quick orientation, Yuan Zhu headed towards home.

Along the way, apart from seeing a few unknown polluting creatures with a wingspan of more than 5 meters, which quickly passed through the dark night sky, no other unusual phenomena were encountered.

He used to be just an ordinary person, unable to see or sense the "unknown polluting creatures" in the sky, and he didn't like traveling at night, so he thought Running was very peaceful at night. Now it seems that Running's nightlife is far richer than he had imagined.

Unknown creatures flew openly at low altitudes. Within the 'pollution source vision' of the mechanically modified rat, traces of pollution, some strong and some weak, lingered nearby, wandering between sewers and corners. Furthermore, there were foreign beasts transported via space shuttles. Local gangs were hunting at night...

Wrapped in a shadow uniform, Yuan Zhu seemed to hear Running's 'night' extending an invitation to him: welcoming him into the night world, reveling and venting himself.

Unfortunately, he'd worked hard all day and was about to face a new challenge, so he didn't have the energy to join Running's nightlife. He decisively suppressed the idea of a night out and chose to go home and sleep. ...

After waking up the next day, Yuan Zhu was resurrected with full health.

Another long sleep in. His brother had already left for school, and the breakfast on the table was already cold. After a quick wash, he headed straight to the [Haunted House].

With less than three days until the new mission, we must hurry up and clear a few more waves of 'Contaminated Ashes' to increase the strength of the [Seal] as much as possible to prepare for the new adventure.

After his previous experience of overdrawing the Tiger Demon, he reduced his training intensity by 30%. After entering the bubble world, the [Boss Template] was his true trump card, and he had to ensure that the Tiger Demon had full health and mana in advance.

After arriving at the [Haunted House], he first observed his [Shadow Group. White Mouse] and the rations delivered yesterday (wolverine and lame deer).

Of the three goblins in the Shadow Group, only the one constantly fed Shadow Eggplant remained healthy. Its body and soul were limited in strength, unable to withstand further transformation from Shadow Eggplant. The pollution had already saturated it, and the erosion had reached its limit, preventing it from transforming.

There was a strong reaction of shadow power within the skull, but there was no sign of any 'mental' strengthening or 'magic' tendencies. The shadow vitality contained in the body was relatively abundant, but there was no sign of any enhancement in agility, strength, or physique.

At the same time, their IQ drops to zero, they have no spirituality at all, and instead degenerate into beasts. All their behavior patterns are dominated by instinct, making them irritable and aggressive.

Yuan Zhu shook his head helplessly: "Alas, this one is useless. I'll feed it to the snake demon later and see if I can refine it into ghost waste for recycling."

He then observed the two Shadow Eggplant Pots in Group 3. Although the minions had suppressed the growth of the Shadow Eggplants according to the instructions of the soul program, the two goblin pots had become even weaker.

This was after being branded with the [Holy Cough] and fed a healthy dose of 'Disease Plants,' significantly overdrawing their own vitality and stimulating their pathological vitality. If they had been ordinary goblins before, they would have been drained to death by the two [Shadow Eggplants].

Now, the two goblins are terminally ill and on the verge of death, no longer worth cultivating. Their only use is to test the limits of the 'disease plant''s ability to sustain and exploit life. And whether the [Shadow Eggplant] will undergo unknown mutations after absorbing a small amount of disease contamination?
After observing the two wastes from Group 3, Yuan Zhu sighed, "They're not even worthy of being recycled by [Belly Qiankun]! I hope these two [Shadow Eggplants] won't disappoint."

Finally, Yuan Zhu observed the wolverine and lame deer that were delivered yesterday. They were all half-dead now, neither alive nor dead.

Five wolverines and a deer were entangled in the shadowy vines unleashed by the eggplant-headed minions, trapped in the wall, unable to move. Within their bodies, a vast amount of shadow pollution corroded their flesh, transforming them into bodies covered in black veins, their pupils pitch black, and black blood flowing from all their orifices.

Shadow vine hoses spread out from the walls and pierced into the bodies of these animals, injecting them with "shadow ketchup" to supplement their nutrients and pickling their fresh blood.

Yuan Zhu approached, sniffed lightly, and was satisfied: "The concentration of shadow pollution is very high, and it also exudes the fragrance of fruit (tomato). The combination of meat and vegetables is reasonable. It is a tomato sauce blood food that suits the tiger demon's taste. In the future, we can prepare more food for the tiger demon according to this standard."

After entering the garden, as expected, the wolverine and lame deer sent in yesterday had gone mad, their bodies severely twisted and deformed. Fortunately, after experiencing the uncontrolled rampage of the "disease goblin", he had tied the rations extra firmly yesterday.

Even after mutating for a whole night, it still couldn't break free from the chains and was completely preserved.

This time, the five wolverines and one deer underwent a completely new deformation. Each one had a different style and mutation direction, and was not as aggressive as the goblins.

Some of these disease beasts swelled and became enlarged, some became thin but had their cervical vertebrae greatly lengthened, some grew useless extra legs, and some had enhanced teeth and bite force... It can be seen that [Disease Pollution] has super strong mutation properties, but not all of them can become stronger in a reasonable and scientific way, and a large number of invalid evolutions will also occur.

If there were no chains to restrain them, those polluted beasts that failed to evolve would be eliminated (eaten) by those that succeeded in evolving. Eventually, through rounds of survival of the fittest, the perfect 'deformed individuals' would naturally emerge.

Yuan Zhu brought the ingredients back to the Haunted House and began refining them with his Holy Cough, eliminating the disease and contamination in their bodies while slowly preparing the ingredients. He then returned to the Garden to practice seal casting. When he tired, he returned to the Haunted House and switched to his Tiger Demon form to eat.

After practicing scientifically (Holy Light) for 3 hours, he stopped casting the seal at Latiao's reminder and began to focus on improving the tiger demon. He ate various kinds of "shadow blood food" to nourish the tiger demon's body.

Then combine work and rest and enter the [Shadow System] practice phase.

The Tiger Demon's practice method is simple and crude. He only needs to crawl on the floor of the haunted house, absorb the shadow aura that the minions have painstakingly gathered, and take a nap to digest the food. Then he can become stronger imperceptibly!

This is the power of bloodline (distorted spiritual roots)! This is the strength of the [BOSS Template]!

On the back of the tiger demon, four eggplant-headed minions were given a new massage program by Xiao La Tiao. They waved a dozen arms plundered from puppet dolls and began to "rub the fur + massage" the Mimi King, making it twist its snake tail with pleasure.

One massage, double the pleasure.

Xiao Latiao can always optimize the new massage program according to the tiger demon's pleasure points and feed it back to the four minions.

“Kya ka ka…” “Buddha Buddha Buddha…”

So the minions used their puppet arms more flexibly, massaging the tiger demon vigorously, making the snake tail feel waves of numbness and trembling from the soul. It felt so good!

After four hours of luxurious and decadent practice (sleeping), the Tiger Demon felt satisfied and opened his eyes again. His tail had already limp on the ground, and he had also fallen into a lazily sleep.

This was the first time he stayed in the [Tiger Demon Form] for a long time without any consumption. Instead, he continued to absorb shadow aura through sleep to become stronger.

This feeling was even more relaxing and pleasurable than [Holy Light Seal]. It was the transcendental experience of perfectly combining lazing around and striving for perfection. It was the soul-satisfying feeling of both mana and health bars filling up, even constantly breaking through the upper limit, and continuously expanding by +1, +1.

I've made rapid progress in the time I've wasted, and I don't feel guilty about it. Instead, I feel inexplicably satisfied and excited. I haven't wasted my time, and I'm constantly getting stronger!
Tail was startled awake, and drowsily returned to the scene. He exclaimed in surprise, "Boss, Boss, good news! We've maintained our Tiger Demon form for so long that the potential of our [Stomachic Secrets] and [Ghosts] has been activated, and they're functioning efficiently. We've already refined all seven goblins we swallowed yesterday, and even digested the Shadow Blood Food we just devoured."

The Tiger Demon sensed carefully and found that just as Latiao said, the task progress of the seven goblins had reached 7%, and all this was achieved with just an afternoon nap.

It also realized that the quality of [Shadow Pollution] might be inferior to [Holy Light, Disease], but the Tiger Demon had the greatest potential.

Passively absorbing shadow aura would be fine, but the feeling of having this talent passively running at full speed as long as it lies down to sleep, with its digestive capacity skyrocketing and its strength increasing rapidly, makes it not want to turn back into a human.

"It's decided. I'll stay at the Haunted House tonight. No, I won't be going home for the next three days. I'll be practicing hard here and continue to grow stronger!"

(End of this chapter)