128: Chapter 128 Reverse Correction

“You're awake??”

With a hissing sound of pressure releasing, the nutrient fluid slowly receded, and the glass cover of the medical pod popped upward.

Tang Wuying took a sharp breath of air and sat up, bracing himself against the wall of the pod.

His vision was still somewhat blurry, and the sound of a woman sobbing came from beside his ear. He shook his heavy head and clearly saw the figures by the bed.

It was his father, Tang Shan, and his mother, Tang Ying.

“How long have I been out?” Tang Wuying asked in a raspy voice.

Tang Ying quickly poured a cup of warm water and handed it over. “A whole week, son. You're finally awake.”

A week?

Tang Wuying's hand holding the water cup froze in mid-air. Scenes from the professional league arena suddenly flashed through his mind—the overwhelming sword qi, and a familiar face.

*Clatter!*

The water cup was flung to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Tang Wuying shuddered violently. His chest felt as if it were pressed under a giant boulder, making even breathing difficult, and a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

Tang Shan grabbed his trembling wrist. “Don't be afraid, Mom and Dad are here.”

Tang Wuying gasped heavily for air, tightly gripping Tang Shan's sleeve in return, his knuckles turning white.

Seeing that his son was still visibly shaken, Tang Shan lowered his voice and leaned in. “Take a moment to calm down. Dad has already secured that kid's divine kingdom coordinates for you. We can retrieve the divine source at any time.”

Hearing the words 'divine kingdom coordinates', Tang Wuying's hollow eyes finally regained focus.

Tang Shan fished a card out of his suit's inner pocket and stuffed it into Tang Wuying's hand.

“There's also a covenant deed inside. As long as you use it, you can completely trample that kid underfoot, making sure he never rises again.”

Trampled underfoot.

These words acted like a shot of adrenaline, and Tang Wuying's racing heart gradually calmed down. He stared fixedly at the card in his palm, a trace of malice appearing on his originally pale face.

“Then when can I retrieve the divine source?”

“Soon.” Tang Shan patted his shoulder. “Rest and recover first. This time, Dad has also prepared a Tier 7 transcendent to accompany you. This time, I'll make that kid Gu Han spit everything back out with interest!”

...

Meanwhile, Gu Han sneezed, almost getting kicked out of his divine kingdom.

On the outskirts of the Volcanic Zone, several stout Dragon-Lizard Ant-men were helping the Dragon-Lizard Dwarves move forging equipment.

Dwarf Patriarch Chieftain Balin showed no rejection toward these strange kinsmen. In fact, the Dragon-Lizard Ant-men were even a head taller, leaving the male dwarves envious and the female dwarves' hearts fluttering.

Over the past two days, Gu Han had barely closed his eyes, constantly exploring the overlapping patterns of 'Dissatisfied with Status Quo' and 'Forced Breeding'.

The results were surprisingly good. Compared to his previous random trial and error, he had now cut the time needed to breed new unit types by more than half, and the direction was much more precise.

To his pleasant surprise, he discovered that the transcendent characteristic 'Dissatisfied with Status Quo' didn't necessarily require combat to trigger.

Casualties were not the only condition to trigger mutation, though they were more intense. The true core triggering mechanism was a collective 'yearning' or 'desire' generated by the Ant-man Race.

As long as they were intensely aware of their own shortcomings and developed an extreme desire for a certain stronger ability, the new generation would self-adjust during hatching to change their status quo.

To verify this hypothesis, Gu Han conducted a test.

He arranged a large batch of Black-Armored Ant-men to follow and fly behind the Ghost-Shuttle Dragonflies every day.

The Ghost-Shuttle Dragonflies were the ace pilots of the Insectoid Race, and their speed and agility were absolutely top-tier among those of the same rank.

Although the Black-Armored Ant-men had previously incorporated the genes of the Ghost-Shuttle Dragonfly and grown wings, their flight turns were slightly stiff, and their speed was miles behind that of the Ghost-Shuttle Dragonflies.

Ultimately, crossbreeding could give the Ant-men wings, but it could not fully pass down the exact physical form.

Watching the Ghost-Shuttle Dragonflies perform fancy maneuvers in the sky, this group of Black-Armored Ant-men bumped around in mid-air in frustration, desperately flapping their wings to keep up, only to be left behind time and again.

This intense sense of frustration and yearning for speed quickly spread throughout the tribe.

As a result, the wings of the new generation bred by this batch of Black-Armored Ant-men underwent fine-tuning. The originally thick wing membranes became thinner and tougher, and the muscle groups at the base of the wings became more developed.

Their flight speed and control saw a visible improvement.

First crossbreeding to acquire genetic traits, and then through post-natal imitation and learning, completely assimilating the physical characteristics of the target.

This was practically a form of reverse correction.

Even if the offspring produced by Forced Breeding were imperfect before, as long as they were allowed to continuously copy and learn the strengths of the target species, over time, their existing genes would autonomously correct themselves in a superior direction.

Gu Han immediately bought the previously crossbred creatures like the Shield-Armored Armadillo, Stealth Ant, and Peacock Mantis Shrimp from the platform and kept them in captivity in his divine kingdom.

As long as he ordered the Ant-men to learn from and copy the corresponding species for a long time, the issue of incomplete crossbreeding from before could be corrected.

Just like how the Shield-Armored Ant-Men previously couldn't curl into a perfect sphere like the Shield-Armored Armadillo and had to piece themselves together to form a giant ball of armor, after several generations of fine-tuning, the new generation of Shield-Armored Ant-Men could now roll into a ball individually.

The shield armor on their backs became more curved, connecting seamlessly from end to end.

Having mastered the overlapping patterns of skills and transcendent characteristics, Gu Han ultimately decided to use the Shield-Armored Ant-Men as a base to breed the Dragon-Lizard Ant-man branch.

After several rounds of selection and gene coverage, the traits finally stabilized.

The newly hatched Dragon-Lizard Ant-men before him were a size larger than the Shield-Armored Ant-Men, but the shield armor on their bodies was thick and narrow. The surface of the shield armor was no longer a smooth carapace, but was covered with a layer of fine, hard, crimson scales.

Their four arms had also undergone a mutation, with claws that were hard and sharp, which could be said to make up for the Shield-Armored Ant-Men's lack of offensive power.

An all-in-one offensive and defensive, sword-and-shield mastering, perfect heavy armored soldier.

Most importantly, they all inherited the heat-resistant attribute of the Candle-Demon Dragon Lizard.

Gu Han settled this entire batch of Dragon-Lizard Ant-men in the Volcanic Zone, having them excavate karst caves to build nests and establish cultivation rooms for the birth of fire crystals.

As long as he multiplied the population of these Dragon-Lizard Ant-men, he would be able to fully mine the nuclear fire crystal vein deep within the Wild Sand Realm and transport them back to his divine kingdom.

Just as he was planning his next expansion phase, his handheld console suddenly vibrated twice briefly.

Gu Han pulled out his handheld console; it was an encrypted notification from the black market software.

His bounty mission to purchase 'transcendent crystals' at double the market price had been accepted.

After waiting for so long, there was finally a lead.

Gu Han was certain that he was definitely not the only one who knew the secret of the transcendent crystals. They didn't circulate on the market at all, and even if they did, they were instantly snatched up.

Even on the black market, he had only managed to buy one so far, bringing his total to ten.