20: Chapter 20 Variable Control Experiment

Lin Ye maintained his "sneaky" zig-zagging maneuvering, finally arriving at the stream.

He went directly upstream, walking briskly to the rocky crevice at the source he had discovered yesterday.

He took the small folding iron pot out of his backpack and filled it with water.

Immediately afterward, he walked downstream along the creek, beginning to hunt for today's food.

Squinting his left eye slightly, he activated his Eye of Destiny.

He quickly locked onto a "clean" Silver Shuttle Fish.

He raised his right arm and pressed the switch.

"Bang!"

The Wind-Chasing Claw shot out, seized the target, and dragged the forearm-length Silver Shuttle Fish onto the bank.

He repeated the process.

In less than five minutes, three Silver Shuttle Fish of similar size were all tossed onto the grass by the bank.

He drew his dagger and crouched down.

He scaled them, gutted them, removed their entrails, and rinsed them clean in the stream water.

The three processed food items were placed on a nearby rock.

After doing this, Lin Ye did not pack up his things and leave.

He returned to the stream, and the Eye of Destiny was activated once more.

His gaze scanned back and forth in the water.

A dozen seconds later, a Silver Shuttle Fish covered in dense gray spots entered his field of vision.

Lin Ye did not hesitate and raised his right arm.

After the hook claw caught it, he forcibly hauled it onto the bank.

This gray-spotted Silver Shuttle Fish slammed onto the grass, thrashing wildly, sending mud and water flying.

Lin Ye crouched down and extended his right hand to pin the fish down.

As soon as he made contact, he raised an eyebrow.

"You've got quite a bit of strength!"

This fish had at least 30% more strength than the three clean Silver Shuttle Fish from earlier.

Lin Ye grabbed a nearby rock and brought it down on the fish's head.

The gray-spotted Silver Shuttle Fish twitched twice and stopped moving.

Lin Ye didn't rush to use his knife; instead, he spread out his right palm.

He glanced at it with the Eye of Destiny.

On the surface of his palm, a few tiny gray specks had rubbed off.

He brought up the light screen in front of his right eye.

[pollution: 0.00%]

The value had not changed.

He calculated silently that this stuff was likely just clinging to the surface and had not yet seeped into his blood.

With that reassurance, he drew his dagger and, with a few quick strokes, cleaned the polluted fish as well.

He carried it to the rock and placed it side-by-side with one of the clean Silver Shuttle Fish.

Lin Ye extended both hands, pressing simultaneously on the bellies and spines of both fish.

He pressed firmly and kneaded them repeatedly.

The feedback from his fingers was completely different.

The flesh of the gray-spotted fish was exceptionally firm, elastic, and extremely tough.

Next, he used the tip of his dagger to extract a piece of fish bone from each.

He held one end in each hand and snapped them.

The clean fish bone snapped with a crisp "crack."

When he switched to the gray-spotted fish bone.

Lin Ye clearly had to exert more force with his wrist to barely snap it.

The flesh was firmer, the bones were harder, and it had more strength.

The experiment was concluded.

His hypothesis was confirmed.

These gray spots, which were high-dimensional energy, could genuinely strengthen the physical structure of living organisms.

No wonder his knee, which he had scraped last night, didn't even have a mark left after a night's sleep.

In the Great Xia Live Stream, millions of netizens were collectively baffled by his confusing series of actions.

[What kind of hobby is this for Brother Eye? Playing with dead fish now?] [Dead fish: I'm already like this, do you still have to take advantage of me?]

[Pressing this one then that one, is the texture really that good?]

[To be fair, with this kneading and pressing technique, he'd be a top-tier technician at a spa.]

[This is freaking metaphysical grocery shopping!]

At the commentary desk, a thin layer of sweat broke out on Xu Mingyuan's forehead.

"This... uh... competitor Lin Ye's current actions might be..."

He quickly picked up his thermos for a tactical sip of water, trying to organize his thoughts.

"He is evaluating the changes in meat quality of different individuals through physical pressure, thereby reverse-engineering the safety level of the water quality..." "Yes! This is a rigorous field food safety inspection!"

Even he didn't have any confidence in those words.

Beside him, Commentator Chen Guofeng turned his head, his expression clearly saying: "Do you take me for a fool?"

Su Qinglan had no choice but to put on a proper professional smile, forcibly masking the awkwardness.

...

At the same time. The Disaster Prevention Administration, Third Research Group laboratory.

"Bang!" Lu Chen slammed a hand heavily onto the table and stood up immediately.

"Hmph! Mediocre fools! ╮(╯-╰)╭!"

"Idiots really can't understand Lin Ye!"

He was trembling with excitement, feeling his blood surging through his whole body.

"He discovered the anomaly of that world; this is a variable control experiment conducted under minimalist conditions!"

Lu Chen quickly grabbed the pen on the table and frantically recorded notes in his notebook.

"The fourth fish was used as a lab rat! He is comparing!"

Constantly reviewing the micro-expressions and movement details of Lin Ye snapping the fish bone in his mind, he quickly connected the logical chain.

"That fish carried 'pollution,' and he was comparing the physical differences between the polluted and clean samples!"

"Increased muscle density, improved bone hardness..."

"The pollution of the Void Sea can cause mutations in physiological structure and function, or even positive enhancements!"

This was the truth.

Lu Chen pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses filled with fanaticism and amazement.

This young man not only had the eyes to discover anomalies but also the rational mind to peel back the layers and explore the essence.

...

By the small stream.

Having figured out part of the situation regarding the pollution, Lin Ye's fear of the unknown was reduced significantly.

Since it could bring strength, it had value.

As for what the price of this enhancement was, that was work that needed to be explored in the next step.

He walked to a tree nearby, snapped off a sturdy branch, and scraped off the thorns.

He skewered the three clean, guaranteed food items one by one.

As for the gray-spotted Silver Shuttle Fish, he left it right where it was.

Now that he had food on hand, who the hell would be bored enough to eat that thing?

Lin Ye shouldered his catch and picked up the small iron pot with his left hand.

He identified the direction and made his way back along the original path toward his "treetop apartment."

As the morning mist gradually dissipated, the visibility in the jungle began to improve.

He wandered along the way.

Just when he was about 100 meters away from his temporary camp, his footsteps halted.

At the edge of his left eye's field of vision, a pale red halo appeared.

Something was up.

Lin Ye held his breath.

"Crunch... slurp..."

Listening closely, an extremely faint chewing sound drifted over.

Something was eating!

He quickly flashed to the side and hid behind a large tree nearby.

He crouched halfway, gently setting down the fish and the iron pot without making a single sound.

Afterward, with extreme proficiency, he prostrated himself, pressing his entire body close to the ground.

Using all four limbs, he crawled forward slowly like a gecko for two meters.

Hiding behind a dense bush,

he extended his left hand, pinched the edge of a leaf, and carefully pried open a gap.

In the Great Xia Live Stream, seeing this set of movements that were smooth to the bone, the comments flooded the screen.

[Holy crap! The DNA has activated; he's starting his ancestral craft again!]

[High-energy warning ahead! There's danger!]

[These movements are so practiced it makes one's heart ache; he's hitting the dirt in a second, bro!]

[Today's Ground-Hugging Demon (1/2)!]

[Holy crap, could it be that big leopard from last night?]

[Stay steady! As long as the enemy doesn't move, Brother Eye can camp until the end of time!]

Lin Ye held his breath and focused, his gaze piercing through the gap in the foliage.

In the clearing a dozen meters away, a large pool of dark red blood stained the soil.

In the center of the pool of blood was the carcass of a leopard-like beast, one size larger than a calf.

And beside the carcass, a creature similar in size to a dog was crouching.

It was huddled over the carcass's abdomen, enjoying its feast to the fullest.

Every time it raised its head, broken flesh hung from its fangs.