127: Heaven and hell, an evolution rate of one percent!

Lin Yuan, and the four other people who were called, stood up from the ground.

Their faces still held fanaticism and piety.

The guard's face was expressionless; he simply waved his hand coldly.

"Follow me."

The iron gate closed behind them.

The five people, following the guard, walked down a long, narrow corridor.

The corridor was dark, with only a dim yellow light every ten meters or so on the walls.

"Where...where are we going?" a young man beside him asked in a low, excited voice.

"Are we going to undergo 'purification'?"

Lin Yuan kept his head down, not saying a word.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor.

Soon, they were led to the end of the corridor.

Here, it was a much wider space, like an observation hall.

One side of the hall was a full glass wall.

Through the glass, a white room could be seen inside.

There were already a dozen people in the room.

Their expressions were identical to those of the people around Lin Yuan.

Fanaticism, anticipation, and an undisguised nervousness.

"Ah—!!!"

A shrill scream suddenly came from inside the glass room!

The few people around Lin Yuan all shivered.

Inside the glass room, a man was clutching his head, rolling on the ground in agony.

Pus-filled blisters began to swell on his skin!

The blisters burst, spewing green liquid.

His arms grew long and thick, and bone spurs sprouted from his back!

He had mutated.

He had turned into a... monster.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out.

A person in a white coat standing in the corner of the room held a specialized energy gun, his face devoid of emotion.

The freshly mutated monster's head exploded, and it collapsed limply.

"Failed specimen, clean it up."

The person in the white coat said coldly into their earpiece.

Soon, two robots walked in, dragged away the corpse, and thoroughly cleaned up the bloodstains on the ground.

The fanaticism on the faces of the 'believers' around Lin Yuan froze.

"Ho-how could this be?"

"Wasn't he... chosen?"

"Evolution... why did it turn him into a monster?"

"No!"

Inside the glass room, another woman shrieked.

But her shriek was filled with ecstasy!

Flames blazed from her hands!

The flames enveloped her entire body, yet did not harm her in the slightest!

"Fire! I can control fire!"

"I succeeded! I evolved!"

The woman laughed wildly, waving her arms, and streams of fire snaked through the room.

"Successful specimen, Flame Control, take her away."

The voice of the person in the white coat sounded again.

Two guards walked in and fastened a device onto the woman.

The flames on her instantly extinguished.

Then, she was led out of the room.

Next, a series of tragedies and comedies played out in alternation.

Some people's bodies directly melted into a pool of blood.

Some awakened the ability to manipulate metal, but because they couldn't control it, they were impaled by their own twisted rebar.

Some merely had their physical attributes greatly enhanced.

Success and failure, Heaven and Hell, were vividly displayed here.

This was the so-called "Purification Ritual."

Forced modification using abyssal spores!

If you succeeded, you were a "Chosen One."

If you failed, you were a pile of organic waste that needed to be cleaned up.

Lin Yuan's heart was cold.

He finally understood what the purpose of this "Array Core" was.

It not only absorbed energy but was also an "arsenal"!

Continuously manufacturing these cannon fodder for the Apocalypse Society!

"Next batch."

The guard's voice sounded behind Lin Yuan and the others.

The door to the glass room opened.

"Go in."

The four people around Lin Yuan were all trembling.

They looked at that door, feeling it was the entrance to Hell.

But the fanatical belief implanted in their minds was still driving them.

One of them gritted his teeth and rushed in first.

"For the New World!"

He shouted a slogan.

Then.

With a "bang," his head exploded, scattering red and white matter everywhere.

His body simply couldn't withstand the energy of the abyssal spores.

The remaining three people's legs went soft.

"Useless." The guard cursed impatiently, directly kicking all three of them in, one by one.

Finally, it was Lin Yuan's turn.

Lin Yuan took a breath and walked in voluntarily.

"Bang!"

The door closed behind him.

In the room, besides Lin Yuan, there were only the three 'companions' who were so scared they had collapsed on the ground.

"Buzz—"

The device overhead was activated.

A wave enveloped the entire room.

"[abyssal spores...]"

The System's notification sound had just begun when it stopped.

The abyssal spores that had entered Lin Yuan's body didn't even manage to form a bubble.

They were completely purified by the power of thunder within his body.

Lin Yuan: "..."

That's it?

That's it???

It didn't even give him a chance to pretend to be in pain?

How was he supposed to perform now?

"Ah—!!"

Two people beside him had already started screaming.

One of them's body began to grow scales.

The other's skin turned rock-like.

Lin Yuan saw this and grew anxious.

If he didn't act now, he'd lose his chance!

He immediately clutched his head and started rolling on the ground.

"Ugh ah ah ah! So painful!"

"My head! It's going to split open!"

While screaming, he stole glances at the person in the white coat outside with the corner of his eye.

Good, the other party's attention had been drawn.

Lin Yuan screamed even harder.

"Now!"

He suddenly slammed his fist into the concrete wall beside him!

"Bang!"

A dull thud.

The sturdy concrete wall had a shallow fist print from his strike.

Lin Yuan propped himself on the ground, breathing heavily.

He raised his hand, looked at his fist, and showed an expression of "disbelief" on his face.

"This...this is..."

"My strength..."

He succeeded.

He had tailor-made the most inconspicuous and least likely to be exposed ability for himself.

[Strength Enhancement].

Outside the glass room, the person in the white coat watched this scene and nodded.

"Successful specimen, Strength Enhancement, take him away."

As for the other two.

One had already turned into a monstrous creature, neither human nor ghost, and was shot dead on the spot.

The other, amidst agonizing roars, had his skin completely petrified, turning into a statue and losing all signs of life.

Of this batch of people, only Lin Yuan survived.

The door opened.

Two guards walked in and escorted Lin Yuan out.

He was still "weakly" panting, but his face showed the ecstasy of gaining power.

The guards were clearly accustomed to such scenes.

They were expressionless, dragging Lin Yuan through several corridors, and arrived before a new iron gate.

"Go in."

The guard pushed him inside and then turned to leave.

"Bang."

The iron gate closed again.

Lin Yuan "stumbled," almost falling, and managed to steady himself with difficulty.

He raised his head, surveying this new room.

It was much larger and cleaner than the previous cell.

There were already more than twenty people in the room.

These people were all successful participants of the "Purification Ritual."

Lin Yuan's arrival attracted the attention of some people.

A bald man walked over.

He sized Lin Yuan up and down, a hint of disdain on his face.

"New here?"

"What did you awaken?"

Lin Yuan could feel a violent energy fluctuation emanating from the bald man.

It was some kind of fire or explosion-type ability.

He was considered one of the stronger individuals in this group.

Lin Yuan immediately switched to "cowardly subordinate" mode.

He flinched and said in a low voice, "My...my strength, it got a bit bigger."

"Strength Enhancement?"

The bald man scoffed, his eyes filled with even more contempt.

"The most useless ability."

"What's the use of great strength in a place like this? Can it block bullets? Can it block energy cannons?"

He patted Lin Yuan's shoulder.

"Kid, be smart."

"From now on, follow me."

"I'm Explosive Fist, an explosion ability user."

The bald man's face was full of arrogance.

"Yes." Lin Yuan lowered his head, looking "overwhelmed with gratitude."

But in his heart, he was furiously complaining.

Explosive Fist?

A D-rank beginner, daring to act like a big shot in front of me.

If I wasn't acting, I could slap him onto the wall, and you wouldn't be able to peel him off.

Lin Yuan's submissive demeanor pleased Explosive Fist.

He patrolled the room once more, seemingly looking for the next subordinate he could recruit.

Lin Yuan took the opportunity to find a corner and sit down, continuing to observe.

These twenty-plus people had a wide variety of awakened abilities.

There were elemental types, body mutations, and even psychic types.

But their strength was generally not strong.

Most hovered around E-rank.

D-rank individuals like Explosive Fist were already as rare as Phoenix feathers.

It seemed that the Apocalypse Society's "arsenal" had a rather low yield of quality products.

Just then.

"Creak—"

The other door in the room opened.