In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

The reason is simple: Lu Baiyan's ability is rare, but its upper limit may not be as high as imagined. Only S-level can achieve half an hour of rewind, and SS-level is unlikely to undergo a qualitative change, jumping from minutes to years.

What? SSS?

Find me an SSS-level character; I'd love to see just how ridiculously powerful a level that only exists in theoretical data can be.

Moreover, this raises another issue: Lu Baiyan's abilities are limited not only in depth but also in breadth.

With his skill level, he could at most recreate an area the size of the previous mansion at a time. Ordinary people might just say "Wow, awesome!" but compared to the "rust fog" that covers the whole world, it still seems too insignificant.

In this situation, even if Lu Baiyan were to stumble upon the SSS-level God Realm by sheer luck, would he really have to clear away the "rust mist" piece by piece?

If that were the case, the fact that he didn't die from exhaustion would be the last act of kindness the world could bestow upon him.

Similarly, the same principle applies to Cheng Gujian as well.

Xu Shi had actually considered whether to make Cheng Gujian the experimenter—time reversal can rewind "rust mist", so why can't the destructive ability destroy "rust mist" itself?

However, doing so carries even greater risks. If one is not careful, it could affect and implicate many things, making it unfeasible in the long run. It is even difficult to say whether the destructive power would be effective against the "Rust Fog".

Everyone saw how cowardly Lu Baiyan became in such a short time; given the sheer number of people, clumsy methods were definitely not feasible.

Volume sales are completely ineffective in this kind of situation.

"I do have an idea."

Xu Shi pondered for a moment and said, "Only an idiot would actually use a human wave tactic. You don't know how much you'd have to sacrifice to guarantee success... or rather, it's simply impossible."

"but."

He then changed the subject, saying, "Wouldn't it be more feasible to directly destroy and remove the 'rust mist' using the ability itself?"

"What do you mean?"

The girls were a little confused when they heard this, and for a moment they didn't quite understand what Xu Shi was talking about.

However, after Xu Shi explained his idea in general terms, they were all immediately impressed.

Xu Shi's meaning was simple; he was inspired by his conversation with Pan Ling earlier.

It's impossible for an individual to clear away the "rust fog," but they do possess the technology to "extract supernatural abilities."

So, could we use the extracted supernatural ability samples in this project?

At first, no one thought of this. Subconsciously, everyone felt that superpowers could only be effective when controlled by an "ascended person," and the extracted superpower samples were just superpower samples.

However, after talking with Pan Ling just now, Xu Shi also realized that this long-held belief seems to be incorrect.

Because it's impossible for "Tianli" to find an "Ascensionist" who can use their abilities to simultaneously influence "protagonists" in different regions around the world and provide them with a "protagonist halo." If that were the case, there would be no need to go to great lengths to set up experimental fields. If there were such an overpowered existence, why not just take care of it directly?

They must have used some kind of technology to spread this superpower over a large area through "rust fog" to achieve this.

Of course, it's also possible that this is just some random analysis between him and his foolish apprentice, but how will we know if we don't try? It might not be impossible, right?

"Rust Fog" itself is the source of the superpowers of all "Ascended Ones" in the world; in other words, it is indeed the most natural medium for its spread.

“I really hadn’t thought of doing this... I’m not sure if it will work, but it’s worth a try.”

Jiang Chengcheng said seriously, "However, I'm not good at this, so I'll just assist Qingyan."

Xie Qingyan did not deny that the technology related to superpower transplantation was of course her forte. Extraction, storage, and implantation—she and her team worked day and night to perfect each step.

only.

"Even if this method works, it only solves the problem of dissemination; the effect will not change."

She understood this perfectly, so she continued her analysis, "It's still a half-hour rewind time, unless..."

"Unless the extracted mutant samples are directly catalyzed or enhanced."

Xu Shi expressed his thoughts, "Leaving aside the factor of human adaptation, shouldn't you be able to move your hands and feet more freely?"

"Or perhaps we could use the method of implanting superpowers to directly fuse different samples? I remember that Xu Ying's ability is to enhance the abilities of others. Combining the two might be effective."

"This layman has quite a few ideas."

Xie Xiaogou smiled broadly, his eyes crinkling, clearly in agreement with Xu Shi.

Without hesitation, she decided to try this approach, since all sorts of samples were readily available, so she could experiment with them as she pleased.

Yes.

Since mastering the technology of superpower transplantation, she has always tried to make a backup of the superpowers of any "upgraded" she captures or encounters. This is a necessary procedure for people like Xu Ying, Lu Baiyan, Cheng Gujian, and others, when they are unconscious.

On the one hand, it's to expand the sample database; on the other hand, doing this... even if we don't get the person, at least his abilities will be preserved, right? It's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.

Lu Baiyan, who was standing to the side, shuddered. He felt as if he had been choked in his sleep, and a wave of fear washed over him.

Xu Shi didn't say anything more, but suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Jiang Chengcheng.

"By the way, Chengcheng."

He casually asked, "Speaking of monitoring 'rust fog' and 'snake rings,' you should have all the records from these years, or rather, the last decade, right?"

"of course."

Despite going to sea, the fact that the Second Madam is the head of the "Snake Ring" engineering department will not change. Since communications were restored, she has never neglected the related work and has been remotely controlling it.

Data such as monitoring and recording are part of the engineering department's daily work, so of course they have this kind of information.

"But what do you need this for?"

"I need to make a comparison."

Xu Shi pondered for a moment, "Or rather... it confirms a conjecture I've always had."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 316 There's no land that's been overcultivated, only land that's been worked to death.

2023-11-12

Xu Shi's conjecture is not complicated, and it has existed for a long time.

That is, is the strength of "Heavenly Principle" also related to "Rusty Mist"?

The first time I realized this was probably at the moment I killed Shen He.

The reason is simple: ten years ago, in order to advance the so-called plot of Night City, "Heavenly Principle" could even use deus ex machina to cause the two major powers in the city at that time, "Refraction" and "Heavenly River," to perish overnight.

To be able to do this, one can imagine how terrifying his strength is—to be honest, even Xu Shi himself now might not be able to do this so cleanly, or even without leaving a trace.

In addition, the extent to which "Tianli" controls the experimental areas across the world is something to be wary of.

but.

It seems strange that "Heavenly Principle" did not intervene when the plot was broken or completely changed.

From that moment on, Xu Shi had some doubts. Was it that his actions hadn't crossed their bottom line? Or...?

Are they no longer capable of such forceful intervention?

He didn't rush to draw conclusions at the time, and his initial purpose for going to sea also had a exploratory flavor—to try to find the elusive bottom line of "natural law" by further expansion and exploration of the world.

however.

As things have developed to this point, the attitude of "Tianli" remains somewhat ambiguous—the most obvious point is probably the compromise-like decision they made when they had a brief contact with Miss Saintess in the "Threshold Space".

To be honest, it's quite strange that someone who, as an "outsider," turned another experimental area upside down, or even conquered it, ended up being simply "abandoned."

Anyway, that's what Xu Shi felt. If he were in Xu Shi's shoes, and someone did such a thing right under his nose, he would definitely eliminate such a threat at all costs and get the Hualan Empire back on track.

Ultimately, although the protagonist of this generation was wiped out without any real power, the Hualan Empire as a whole did not suffer any major problems and continued to operate, rather than being turned into scorched wasteland.

In this situation, wouldn't it be better to resolve the unrest caused by outsiders and simply restart the process?

Even if he took a step back and wasn't so radical, he would never just abandon the experimental area he had worked so hard to build.

This doesn't make sense, does it? They can use Deus Ex to advance the plot of Area A, but they don't care about Area B at all, which is completely disrupted. Is Area B an unwanted stepchild?

However, if we take the premise that the "natural law" is insufficient, it seems to make sense.

The "principles of heaven" of ten years ago are certainly not the same as the "principles of heaven" of today. Perhaps they have encountered some changes during this period?

Xu Shi was well aware that, not only in the City of Night Sin and the Hua Lan Empire, there were definitely many other experimental areas in the world like theirs.

Since everyone is under the supervision of "natural law," if a major change really occurs somewhere, it is indeed possible to weaken, or even significantly weaken, their strength, thereby triggering a series of butterfly effects.

Given insufficient strength, their approach will inevitably change, and their standards and bottom lines will be lowered time and again.

Eat only what you can handle; it's a very simple principle.

So the question is, what exactly is this change?

This is one of the few things in Mr. Xu's life that is difficult to confirm, and it can even be said that there is no clue at all - there are few clues about "natural law" to begin with, and it is not easy to analyze.

But now he has it; the inspiration comes from a previous conversation with Pan Ling.

Because the conditions in each experimental area are different, in addition to the layer of protection of "observers", "Tianli" must also have a universal means of supervision, and it must be a means that can deal with all kinds of different situations.

This is what is known as the universal key.

To achieve this, it is necessary to use the medium of "rust fog"—the best example of implanting a protagonist's halo into a chosen one is that deus ex machina can also be achieved in this way.

Or perhaps, it seems that this is the only way to achieve it.

The advantage of doing this is that "Heavenly Principle" can operate in this way anytime and anywhere, and the technology they have is certainly sufficient for them to adjust the degree of mechanical deus ex machina.

However, the drawbacks are also obvious. "Tianli" does not have the ability to completely control "Rust Fog" - if they had this ability, then no one would need to play anymore, and they would not bother to try to remove "Rust Fog". This does not make sense, right?

So, this problem will arise if the "rust fog" mutates, or if their technology is insufficient to control the "rust fog".

Asking Jiang Chengcheng to retrieve nearly ten years of "rust fog" monitoring data was also to corroborate this point, and the results obtained were similar to his conjecture.

The most direct data is that over the past decade, the concentration of "rust fog" in the air, or rather, the "rust fog" layer hanging over people's heads, has been increasing, with an increase of about 7% so far.

It may not seem like much at first glance, but "rust fog" is extremely dangerous. Even 0.7% is terrifying, let alone 7%.

Especially for techies like Jiang Chengcheng and Xie Qingyan, who have to deal with "rust mist" all the time, this feeling is even deeper. It might be okay with ore, but if gaseous "rust mist" is needed as a basic raw material, even the slightest change requires a lot of adjustments, which is incredibly tiring.

However, Xu Shi and his apprentice, as well as Lu Baiyan, were still quite shocked—the latter two were shocked because their own city-states did not have such high-tech monitoring methods, while the former... this guy had never cared about these things before.

In addition, this kind of growth happens little by little over time, and it really doesn't attract much attention from people who don't care.

Even if it's something very straightforward, something you can easily find by searching.

But it was precisely this seemingly obvious factor that effectively seized the lifeline of "natural law"—clearly, they were also unable to cope with the increasingly rampant "rust fog," which led to the loss of their original advantage.