111: Chapter 111 The Evolution of the Knight

"As for surgery, Yan Zheng likes to do it while it's hot."

It had been hot for four hours and seven minutes.

November 17th, 12:24 AM, in the Underground Room of the Antique Shop.

The progress bar on the system panel reached 100%, and a notification popped up in the corner of the field of vision with a golden border.

[Extraction of X-23 Super Healing Factor complete.]

[Extraction purity: 96.4%. 4.4 percentage points higher than the estimated value.]

[Residual adamantium components have been automatically separated and sealed.]

[Current status of Healing Factor module: Activity stable, ready for immediate suture implantation.]

Yan Zheng stood up from his chair, his lumbar spine crackled twice, and he paced back and forth in the Underground Room with crisp, decisive movements.

He walked to the front of the refrigerator and pulled open the second shelf.

A mass of dark red, translucent gelatinous substance lay quietly in the petri dish, its surface contracting and expanding rhythmically at a frequency close to a human heartbeat.

The independent living form of the Healing Factor.

Yan Zheng picked up the petri dish and brought it under the light. The lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses refracted the white light from the tube into the bottom of the glass dish, where extremely fine fiber networks could be seen slowly squirming within the dark red gelatinous substance.

"Healthier than I thought."

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ✧ ⌓ ✧ ˵ )

He placed the petri dish back on the table, turned, and walked to the southeast corner of the Underground Room.

The Undead Knight was squatting there, golden phosphorus fire flickering deep within his chest cavity, the luster of the inscribed runes one shade dimmer than four hours ago.

The standby time had been too long, and energy was slowly being consumed.

"Mr. Knight."

The golden pulse flickered once.

"Stand up."

The sound of the skeleton unfolding echoed dully beneath the low dome, the clinking of his alloy joints possessing a certain mechanical rhythm.

Once the Undead Knight stood straight, his height was just enough for the golden phosphorus fire on his skull to lick the bottom of the drainage pipe on the ceiling, the condensation on the pipe wall evaporated into a wisp of white steam by the heat of the phosphorus fire.

Yan Zheng took the suture instrument kit from the tool rack and spread it out on the workbench.

Twelve scalpels were arranged in order according to their blade angles from 15 degrees to 90 degrees.

Three sets of rune engraving knives, with tips made of ordinary steel, reinforced alloy, and the piece of experimental-grade titanium alloy recovered from the E.S.S outpost, respectively.

A tube of purified Undead Energy solvent, the liquid surface shimmering with a grayish-green glow inside the glass tube.

And that petri dish containing the Healing Factor.

"Mr. System, pull up the current complete attribute panel for Mr. Knight."

The system panel expanded in the center of his vision.

[Undead Knight Dawn (Elite Rank · Enhanced Type). Combat Power Assessment: B-Rank. Core Attributes: High-strength alloy skeleton, Photon Ray release module, weakened version of Adaptive Regeneration. Control slot occupancy: 4.]

Yan Zheng's gaze stopped on the last attribute.

Weakened version of Adaptive Regeneration.

"This regeneration module was pieced together from the residual cells of that E.S.S soldier's remains in the Red Hook District. The quality is barely passable, the repair speed is slow, and it's basically useless when encountering large-scale damage."

He picked up the 15-degree scalpel and lightly traced a line with the tip on the starting point of the rune on the third rib on the left side of the Undead Knight's chest cavity.

The golden phosphorus fire flickered.

"Doesn't hurt."

Yan Zheng's lips curved upward.

"It might be a little uncomfortable next. But you are a dead person, so the concept of discomfort should be very abstract to you."

He took the Healing Factor out of the petri dish. The dark red gelatinous substance squirmed on his white-gloved fingertips, feeling warm to the touch, like a piece of living jelly.

"Mr. System, start the suture procedure."

"Implantation path: core rune node of the chest cavity, spreading through the main spinal channel to the entire skeleton."

"Target for replacement: weakened version of Adaptive Regeneration module."

"Execute."

[Suture procedure started.]

[Healing Factor implantation in progress...]

Yan Zheng pressed the dark red gelatinous substance into the gap in the Undead Knight's chest rune.

The moment it made contact, the gelatinous substance seemed to be summoned, its fiber network extending wildly, penetrating deep into the skeleton along the grooves of the rune engravings.

The Undead Knight's golden phosphorus fire jumped violently three times, its frequency soaring from a stable once per second to four times per second.

The feedback signal from the Mental Link carried sharp static noise.

Yan Zheng frowned, pressed his left hand onto the Undead Knight's shoulder armor, and poured Mental Power from his fingertips into the rune array, forcibly suppressing the noise.

"Quiet."

The Undead Knight's phosphorus fire flickering amplitude narrowed, falling back from four times per second to twice per second, but a subtle creaking sound came from deep within the skeleton—the friction of alloy and biological tissue mutually repelling each other.

Rejection reaction.

Yan Zheng squatted down, brought his ear close to the Undead Knight's chest cavity, and listened for five seconds.

"The sound of rejection is lighter than estimated."

He stood up and looked at the system panel.

[Suture progress: 12%.]

[Anomaly detected: Unintended interaction between the Healing Factor and the original weakened version of Adaptive Regeneration module.]

[Analyzing...]

Yan Zheng's scalpel stopped in mid-air.

"Unintended interaction?"

Yan Zheng: ( ꐦ ✧ ‸ ✧ )

The analysis result of the panel popped up after thirty seconds.

[Analysis result: The X-23 Super Healing Factor did not overwrite the original weakened version of the regeneration module but instead created a superposition effect with it. The two regeneration systems formed a complementary dual-cycle: the Healing Factor is responsible for high-speed repair of physical damage, while the original regeneration module is responsible for maintaining the stability of the skeleton structure. The comprehensive regeneration efficiency after superposition is 1.7 times that of the Healing Factor alone.]

Yan Zheng's fingers tightened on the scalpel handle for a moment, then slowly relaxed.

"Superposition effect."

He turned these four words over in his mind twice.

"Not replacement, but symbiosis."

"I originally intended to dismantle the old parts and replace them with new ones, but the new parts and old parts built a bridge themselves, turning into a dual-engine machine."

An enamel cup was sitting on the edge of the workbench; he walked over, picked it up, and took a sip. The water had already gone cold, but he didn't mind.

"Continue. Let them finish running on their own."

The suture process lasted for three hours.

During these three hours, Yan Zheng did not leave the Undead Knight's side by more than two steps, his Mental Power constantly monitoring the rune array in real-time, and a dull pain in his temple spread from the right side to the top of his head.

3:40 AM.

[Suture complete.]

[Superposition and integration of the Healing Factor and the original regeneration module successful. Rejection reaction has been controlled to the minimum range.]

[Estimated time for complete subsidence of rejection: 48 hours (24 hours shorter than estimated).]

Yan Zheng straightened his back, the series of crackling sounds from his spine exceptionally clear in the quiet Underground Room.

He took three steps back and looked at the Undead Knight's entire body.

Not much change.

The overall outline of the alloy skeleton had not changed, but fine dark red patterns had appeared between the bone joints, extending from the core of the chest cavity to the ends of the limbs like a vascular network.

In the gaps of the Petrified Scales, dark red muscle textures were faintly visible, shimmering with an extremely strong luster of vitality under the illumination of the golden phosphorus fire.

A Skeleton Soldier, having grown muscles.

Although it was only superficial fibrous tissue, the visual impact was very direct.

Yan Zheng pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, the light reflected from the lenses sliding across the Undead Knight's face mask.

"Mr. System, re-evaluate."

The system panel popped up with a golden border, the font size two sizes larger than a normal assessment.

[Undead Knight Dawn (Rare Rank · Evolution Type).]

[Combat Power Assessment: A-Rank.]

[Core Attributes: Super Healing Factor + Adaptive Regeneration dual-cycle system, high-strength alloy skeleton, Photon Ray release module.]

[Special Abilities: Repairs most physical damage within ten seconds. Severed limbs can regenerate within thirty seconds. On the premise that the core runes are not destroyed, it is theoretically impossible to be killed by conventional physical means.]

[Weaknesses: No regeneration effect against mental attacks and soul-level damage.]

[Control slot occupancy: 4 (unchanged).]

Yan Zheng: ( ˵ ꐦ ✧ ᗜ ✧ ˵ )

A-Rank.

He looked at this letter and symbol five times; by the fifth time, the arc of his lips finally exceeded the standard range of a polite smile.

"A-Rank, Mr. Knight."

Yan Zheng walked in front of the Undead Knight, the palm of his white glove pressing against the center of the Undead Knight's chest cavity, the dark red muscle textures pulsating slightly under his palm.

"You can now withstand the output of most superhero-level opponents head-on. It doesn't matter if you can't win, as long as you can't be killed."

The golden pulse jumped steadily twice, deeper and slower than the frequency before the surgery, like a well-rested heart.

Yan Zheng withdrew his palm and walked to the workbench to sit down.

On the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, the sealed container labeled with residual adamantium components lay quietly on the shock-absorbing bracket.

He looked at it for three seconds.

"You are already very strong, Mr. Knight."

The scalpel was taken out of his pocket, the blade reflecting the light from the LED strip on the inner wall of the refrigerator.

"But it's not enough yet. Wait until I find the right bridging material to truly fuse this adamantium into your skeleton."

The blade flipped over, the light jumping at an angle.

"You will be even stronger."