32: Chapter 32 A Crimson Gift

April 8th, 3:00 AM.

In the Antique Shop Underground Room, the lightbulb had been replaced with a new one, and the pale light illuminated every inch of the walls clearly.

Yan Zheng sat on a folding chair with two iron containers neatly placed on the table in front of him, next to the list of all materials collected tonight.

He first handled the losses of the Skeleton Soldiers.

"Two out of three Skeleton Soldiers were destroyed, and one can be repaired. First, I need to replenish the troops."

Yan Zheng opened the system panel and slid his finger across it.

"blood of the black sky Ritual reinforced bone material; counting the four collected tonight and the three in stock, that's seven in total."

"Use three reinforced bones to reassemble three Skeleton Soldiers."

"System, execute assembly. Skeleton Soldier × 3, use Black Sky Ritual reinforced bone material."

[Assembly command confirmed. Consumption: Black Sky Ritual reinforced bone material × 3. Estimated time: 15 minutes each.]

Yan Zheng: (˘ ꒳ ˘)

Dark green black mist churned on the ground for three rounds, and 45 minutes later, three brand-new Skeleton Soldiers stood before him.

Compared to the previous Skeleton Soldiers assembled from ordinary human bones, the difference was visible to the naked eye.

The color of the bones was deeper, shifting from pale white to a texture with a dark gray luster; the bony prominences at the joints were thicker, and the bone density was significantly higher.

Yan Zheng reached out and flicked the rib of a new Skeleton Soldier, which emitted a crisp sound, much like flicking a stone.

"The previous Skeleton Soldiers had their arms cut off by ninjas in a single strike; let's test this batch."

He picked up a short blade seized from a ninja tonight, weighed it in his hand, and then slashed at the new Skeleton Soldier's forearm.

Clang.

With a dull sound like metal Impact, the short blade bounced off the bone surface, leaving only a shallow white mark.

Yan Zheng: (✧ ω ✧)

"Ordinary short blades can no longer cut them."

"Even a ninja blade reinforced by the Black Sky Ritual should take at least three or four strikes to break through."

"The positioning of the Skeleton Soldier as a consumable hasn't changed, but the durability of the consumable has more than doubled."

He put the short blade back on the table and turned his gaze to the two iron containers.

"Next, the main course."

Yan Zheng picked up a container and unscrewed the lid, and the rusty caramel smell of the dark red liquid filled the air once again.

He walked over to the Stitched Brute and looked up at the 2.2-meter petrified giant.

"Mr. Brute, time for a snack."

He held the container to the Brute's chest and gave an instruction on the system panel.

"System, inject the blood of the black sky into the Stitched Brute and execute the reinforcement procedure."

[Command confirmed. Injecting blood of the black sky (low purity) × 2, target: Stitched Soldier · Brute. Estimated time: 30 minutes. Mental Power consumption: 2 points. Continue?]

"Continue."

The dark red liquid floated up from the container like two dark ribbons, slowly drilling into the regenerating granulation tissue between the gaps of the Brute's chest scales.

The Brute's body began to tremble slightly.

Yan Zheng: (ꉺ ꒳ ꉺ)

The first change appeared at the fifth minute.

Dark red patterns began to emerge on the surface of the Brute's petrified scales, as if someone had drawn a tattoo on each scale with an extremely fine pen, with winding, tortuous lines carrying a certain ancient geometric order.

The second change appeared at the fifteenth minute.

The Brute's body size did not increase significantly, but the scales on its shoulders and fists became thicker, and the dark red patterns were densest in these locations, as if energy were concentrating toward the core areas of attack and defense.

The third change appeared at the twenty-fifth minute.

The color of the phosphor fire in the Brute's eye sockets changed from ink-green to a dual-color flame of ink-green mixed with dark red, flickering alternately like a burning dual-colored Planet.

Thirty minutes later, the system panel popped up the updated evaluation report.

[Stitched Soldier · Brute (Elite +)]

[Combat Assessment: Approximately equal to thirty trained armed humans. (Original data: twenty. 50% increase.)]

[Defense Increase: Approx 20%. Petrified skin base hardness increased, dark red pattern areas can partially offset occult attacks.]

[Strength Increase: Approx 20%. Punching Impact increased, armor-piercing effect against occult-reinforced targets significantly improved.]

[New Passive: Dark Energy Backlash. When attacked by occult weapons, the dark red patterns around the wound will absorb part of the Dark Energy, accelerating Adaptive Regeneration in that area. (i.e., the more it is hit by occult weapons, the faster its resistance to occult attacks increases.)]

After reading the report, Yan Zheng took off his gold-rimmed glasses, wiped the mist off the lenses, and put them back on.

Yan Zheng: (ˊ ᗜ ˋ)

"Equivalent combat power of thirty armed humans."

"And special resistance to occult attacks."

"The dark red blade aura on The Hand's short blades is essentially occult energy. From now on, these blades cutting the Brute will have less and less effect."

"Excellent."

He patted the Brute's arm, and the dark red patterns glowed slightly where his fingertips touched, then returned to their dark base color.

"From Elite to Elite +, the return on investment of two bottles of blood of the black sky is satisfying."

Yan Zheng walked back to the folding chair, sat down, and opened the panel to continue organizing the remaining materials.

When his finger slid to the bottom of the list, he stopped.

A new system prompt was quietly lying at the very bottom of the material list, marked in a gold-purple font that had never appeared before.

[New material fusion direction discovered.]

Yan Zheng clicked on this prompt.

[System Analysis: The host currently holds both 'Occult Source Materials' (Black Sky Ritual bones / Dark Energy residue) and 'Mutant Genetic Materials' (Adaptive Regeneration / Epidermal Keratin Strengthening) categories.]

[If these two categories of materials are cross-fused during the stitching process, there is a possibility of a mutation reaction. Mutation direction: Generate Undead Creation with supernatural abilities.]

[Theoretical examples: Bone warriors capable of releasing Dark Energy Impact, or stealth-type Undead with short-range Shadow movement capabilities.]

[Suggestion: The host should continue to collect both categories of materials for combination experiments to explore more fusion directions. Current data is insufficient for precise simulation and requires more high-quality samples for support.]

Yan Zheng: (✦ ᗜ ✦)

His finger hovered above the panel and did not move for five full seconds.

"Undead Creation with supernatural abilities."

Yan Zheng stood up, walked two steps in the Underground Room, then sat back down, his fingers tapping a rapid rhythm on his knees.

"My Stitched Soldiers so far are all physical. Cut, smash, take hits. Strong fists, thick skin, that's it."

"But what if an Undead could release Dark Energy Impact?"

"What if an Undead could teleport in the Shadows?"

The corners of his mouth curled up, not into a gentle, polite smile, but into a deeper arc carrying a certain morbid excitement.

"Then it's not just a soldier."

"That's a mage."

"Necromancer."

Yan Zheng looked at the gold-purple prompt on the panel again, re-reading it word by word.

"Requires more high-quality samples."

"Occult samples, there are plenty left in The Hand's strongholds."

"Mutant genetic samples, Liu Kun's fight club has stock, and Hells Kitchen's dark alleys have no shortage of desperate Mutant wanderers."

He closed the panel, placed the two empty iron containers neatly on the corner of the table, and stood up to walk toward the stairs.

When he reached the third step, he stopped and looked back at the formation of creations in the Underground Room.

Three upgraded Skeleton Soldiers were lined up along the wall, their dark gray bones shining with metallic luster under the light.

One Elite+ Stitched Brute occupied the corner, dark red patterns looming on its petrified scales, and the dual-color phosphor fire burning quietly.

Yan Zheng pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, the lenses reflecting this small but elite army of death.

Yan Zheng: (˵ ¬ ᴗ ¬ ˵)

"First pruning, a great success."

"The Hand's stronghold strength dropped from thirty to twenty-six."

"Next pruning, three days later."

"The next, another three days."

"When I prune them down until only one main trunk is left."

Yan Zheng turned and walked up the stairs, his footsteps gradually fading away.

The last sentence drifted down from the staircase, mixing with the damp air of the Underground Room, echoing among those silent bone creations.

"It's time to pull it out by the roots."