5: Chapter 5 Evolution

Captain Ye Han watched Wang Lin walk away and turned to Chen Jing, saying, "Is your classmate always this petty?"

"That's right, he has always been this petty."

Wang Lin soon disappeared from their sight.

Nonsense, how could Wang Lin be petty? He was only the tiniest, tiniest, tiniest, tiniest, tiniest bit petty.

His philosophy was to get revenge immediately; he never let it wait overnight.

In truth, when he met the Night Watchers today, he could have completely revealed that his whole family were calamities,

but would it have been useful?

Perhaps it would have been, but he would also have fallen into trouble.

Why would the son born to a calamity not be a calamity?

Why is your whole family made of calamities, but you are not?

Why don't they eat you? And so on...

So, some things still had to be solved by himself.

Wang Lin walked through one street after another, then suddenly stopped.

He didn't turn around, but said coldly, "Come out. I know you're behind me."

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

There was no response.

Wang Lin slowly turned around and looked at the shadows behind him: "Still not coming out?"

Still no response.

"Looks like no one is following me this time," Wang Lin muttered to himself.

He breathed a sigh of relief and took the red crystal core from his pocket.

This was Lin Weiwei's core.

The life essence of a calamity.

Wang Lin stared at the crystal core in his hand, hesitating for a long time.

Earlier in the ruins, he had intended to consume it on the spot, but was interrupted by the appearance of Captain Ye Han and Chen Jing.

Now that the crisis was averted, the thought surfaced again.

What would consuming it bring?

Greater power?

Or... unpredictable danger?

Wang Lin didn't know.

But he knew he needed to become stronger.

The three calamities at home, the unknown threats at school—each one required strength to face.

Without power, even surviving would be a problem.

Wang Lin gritted his teeth and brought the crystal core to his mouth.

The moment the crystal core touched his lips, it began to soften.

A warm liquid flowed down his throat, entered his stomach, and then—

Boom!

Violent energy exploded inside his body!

Wang Lin's body arched violently, like a shrimp being stepped on.

Excruciating pain surged from the depths of every cell, as if countless ants were crawling through his blood vessels, boring holes in his muscles, and gnawing on his bones.

He wanted to scream but couldn't make a sound.

He wanted to struggle, but his body wouldn't obey him at all.

He could only watch helplessly as that power, which did not belong to humans, reshaped his body.

First, his arms.

The skin began to squirm, as if something was burrowing back and forth beneath it.

Then—

"Shhh!"

Dozens of tiny Tentacles drilled out from his pores, dancing wildly.

Then, his entire arm began to deform, stretch, and twist, turning into the same terrifying Tentacles that Lin Weiwei had before she died.

Wang Lin widened his eyes, watching his hand turn into a monster.

But even more terrifying was that he could feel the presence of those Tentacles, could perceive their every subtle movement, just as if they were his own fingers.

They had become a part of his body.

Before he could react, the transformation continued to spread.

Shoulders, chest, abdomen, legs...

Every inch of skin on his body was squirming, deforming.

Sometimes scales would grow, sometimes bone spurs, sometimes countless tiny mouthparts would split open.

He was like a lump of clay being kneaded at will, experiencing hundreds of different morphological changes in just a few minutes.

The pain was beyond what language could describe.

But Wang Lin gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay conscious.

Because he could feel that at the center of this storm of pain, a silver light was growing brighter.

That was the mark he obtained when he Awakened—Infinite Evolution.

It was absorbing the energy in Lin Weiwei's crystal core, and then...

Reshaping his body.

He didn't know how long it had been, but the transformation finally stopped.

Wang Lin slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.

His clothes were tattered, and his skin was covered in stains of sweat mixed with black blood.

But when he looked down at his hands—

They were normal human hands.

Ten fingers, clean nails, skin intact.

"Could it have been a hallucination just now?" Wang Lin muttered to himself.

[Ding—]

A cold system prompt sounded in his mind, shattering his wishful thinking.

[Congratulations to the host for completing a life-level evolution]

[Unlocked new trait: Calamity Mimicry]

[Description: Can simulate the form and abilities of consumed calamities]

[Body strengthening complete]

[Detected mutation in host body structure]

[Current life form: Hybrid (Human/Calamity)]

Wang Lin froze.

Hybrid?

Human/Calamity?

He raised his hand and looked at his palm.

When he focused his mind and tried to summon the Calamity form,

his arm instantly deformed, turning into a dozen writhing Tentacles.

Then it returned to its original state.

Change again.

Recover again.

Tentacles, sharp claws, scales, bone spurs...

He could perfectly replicate every feature Lin Weiwei once possessed.

How could he still be human?

Wang Lin looked at his "hand" and fell into deep self-doubt.

What was he now?

An Awakened? A calamity? Or... neither?

[Current life form: Hybrid]

[Note: Your body has fused with calamity genes and can switch between human form and calamity form]

[Advantage: Possesses both human intelligence and the physical strength of a calamity; can consume calamities or other energy bodies to evolve rapidly]

Is that even possible?

Wang Lin slowly digested the information from the system prompt.

Simply put, he was now a half-human, half-calamity existence.

He could maintain human form and sanity, but also transform into a calamity form to fight.

It seemed this wasn't just simple energy absorption, but... fusion.

Fusing the other party's genes to obtain their abilities.

Just like earlier, by fusing with Lin Weiwei, he had gained the abilities of a calamity.

This...

Wang Lin frowned.

If he continued to consume like this, what would he become?

A monster with the abilities of all calamities?

Or... completely lose his human identity and become a new calamity?

It was fortunate that he hadn't told the Night Watchers about his family situation earlier.

"Now my whole family are calamities," Wang Lin said with a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

As expected, a family should be complete and together.

Wang Lin shook his head, stood up, and stretched his body.

When he clenched his fist, he could feel explosive power surging in his muscles; a light jump could carry him several meters, and his vision and hearing had also become much sharper.

Moreover, the most amazing thing was that the clothes that had been tattered during the transformation had now actually recovered?

No, not recovered.

It was that he had used his Calamity Mimicry ability to form a layer of keratin-like material on his skin that resembled clothing.

Black, smooth, like some kind of biological material; it looked similar to normal clothing, but felt slightly cool to the touch.

[Keratin layer generated]

[Note: A derived ability of Calamity Mimicry; can use bodily secretions to form a camouflage layer]

This was convenient; at least he wouldn't have to go home naked.