155: Chapter 155 Flesh and Blood Furnace

"Stop just throwing jargon at me. Just tell me straight: if my level keeps rising and my development progress breaks through forty or fifty percent, what changes will happen later?"

Stone Man Hong stared at the screen, lost in thought, before offering a bold scientific conjecture:

"It is unclear, as there is no precedent, but according to the laws of physics..."

Stone Man Hong's expression became very grave. "Your current body, while maintaining a height and mass of one point eight meters, has already reached the absolute limit of what a carbon-based organism can contain in terms of various indicators!"

"If you wish to continue leveling up and growing in strength, in order to bear even greater energy, your body's evolution will inevitably develop in the direction of physical mutation!"

"The most intuitive manifestation is that your size will grow crazily. Because only when your physique becomes as massive as a Space Marine can your bones grow thicker and support more muscle tissue to maintain balance!"

Hearing this deduction, Lin Li inwardly cried out, "Oh no!"

"You mean I'm going to be forced to turn into one of those hulking brutes covered in muscle knots?!"

Lin Li couldn't help but start imagining it wildly,

"And I'm only level 30 now! If I level up to 100 in the future, won't I have to grow into a hundred-meter-tall Attack on Titan?! This doesn't fit my handsome aura at all!!"

Seeing Lin Li's face, which looked as ugly as if he had eaten a fly, Stone Man Hong quickly spoke to comfort him:

"Creator, please don't worry. This is only the most direct and violent evolutionary possibility on a macroscopic scale."

"However, your genes are very special. There is also a high probability that they will undergo deep evolution on a microscopic scale!"

A scholar's fanaticism flashed in Stone Man Hong's eyes,

"For example, completely rewriting the underlying division rules of your cells. Your ordinary cells might gain the ability to divide infinitely, ignoring aging, similar to cancer cells, and your cell telomeres could acquire the property of infinite self-repair!"

"Or perhaps, it could be the selective optimization of certain organs in your body. For instance, your alveoli might evolve into a vesicular respiratory system. These are all possibilities!"

Afterward, this mad scientist sighed deeply:

"What a fascinating gene sequence. I really want to have a face-to-face conversation with Dr. Z, who designed this underlying code."

Listening to Stone Man Hong's bewildering academic conjectures, several large question marks of an illiterate appeared on Lin Li's forehead.

What is infinite cell telomere repair? What is a vesicular respiratory organ? Lin Li picked his ear. In short, he didn't understand a single word of this pile of jargon.

But he understood one thing: his body would definitely become very strong in the future! Very damn abnormal! As long as he didn't grow into a hundred-meter-tall monster, that would be fine!

After inspecting the underground incubation chamber, Lin Li didn't linger here. He took his people and boarded the ship directly, preparing to return to the Fire Seed Shelter.

It wasn't that he disliked the sand and dust here; it was mainly because this place was eerie, and who knew if some strange-shaped bugs would suddenly crawl out of those tunnels?

If a few more Lictors came and attacked his not-yet-fully-developed micro-evolved body, that wouldn't be a pleasant feeling.

As for this Prison Planet known as Outpost 544, Lin Li waved his hand and tossed it directly to the Scourge Legion, letting them manage it as a garrison.

On the return ship, Lin Li sat in the lounge of the sea breeze no. 9 and came up with a new idea.

"Old Seven," Lin Li said, crossing his legs and speaking to the terminal,

"just giving them a garrison quota will definitely lead to trouble once the The Fourth Calamity gets over their novelty. Might as well issue a top-level territory construction mission to the Scourge Legion."

Lin Li rubbed his chin, a capitalist's smile appearing at the corner of his mouth,

"Let them freely use their imagination to create a settlement that fits their aesthetics and social logic. Then give them a few fancy Lord Medals and limited-edition Pioneer titles. These guys will absolutely sell their lives to me."

The more Lin Li thought about it, the more reliable it seemed, so he immediately took out his pv terminal and began drafting the mission text.

...

When all members of the [Scourge Legion] received that golden, exclusive Legion territory construction mission, the players who were checking for Genestealers in the prison ruins and counting the prisoner population went completely crazy.

"Holy crap! Territory construction?! This isn't a guild garrison, it's a fiefdom!"

"Territory land is unrestricted? Free building planning? I'm going to build a hundred-story pyramid here!"

"What does this prosperity value mean? Can anyone explain?"

At this time, Ming Shen, who was counting ammunition and supplies in the prison high-rise, also received the mission alert. He didn't scream excitedly like ordinary players, but calmly stared at the mission details.

"Territories and garrisons have completely different functions," Ming Shen analyzed in a low voice to the few players beside him,

"A garrison is just a stronghold with limited functions. But a territory means we have taken over a complete social system. As long as we abide by the Alliance's supreme constitution and the Player Ordinance, we can formulate laws, taxes, and even internal political power ourselves!"

Ming Shen realized that this was actually Immortal Lin, the planner, testing the players' large-scale management capabilities. He immediately got on a hovercar and drove around the prison city in the sandstorm for more than half a lap, conducting an on-site terrain survey.

After returning to reality, Ming Shen immediately posted an in-depth tactical post on the forum:

[Overall conception after the opening of the territory system: Brothers of the Scourge Legion, come in and take a look!]

Brothers! Everyone has received the exclusive Legion territory construction mission, right? Many people are asking in the group chat what the difference is between this and the previous system, so I will explain it to everyone here.

First, what is the essential difference between a territory and a garrison?

The mining area we built east of the Shelter before is called a garrison.

The function of a garrison is, frankly, a large processing plant; we can only engage in infrastructure there, open a few assembly line jobs, and attract some NPCs to work.

But a territory is different! This system has handed an entire prison, and perhaps the entire planet in the future, to us!

The degree of freedom is ridiculously high!

As long as we don't violate the supreme constitution and the basic player ordinances set by the Administrator,

how the remaining land is divided, how local laws are set, and how independent armies are built—it's all up to us! This game is really letting us be an interstellar governor for once!

Second, the reform of the Legion's management system.

Since we have taken over such a big project, we can't just muddle through like we did fighting in groups before.

I propose to immediately establish a Scourge Legion territory decision-making group.

In the future, all major decrees and tax bills in this territory will be thrown into the group for a vote by all members!

Moreover, all the Legion's public points and captured assets will have a real-time ledger established in the group files, which will be absolutely open and transparent to all brothers.

If we make money, we share it; if we lose, we bear it together!

Third, the current survival predicament of the territory.

The big picture has been painted, now let's talk about reality.

The environment of this Prison Planet is extremely harsh!

Every day there are sandstorms that can shred spaceships, and worst of all, there is a lack of fixed water sources, with absolutely no agricultural capacity to produce food.

I don't know what the previous prisoners ate, but if we want to build a city here and develop prosperity, we can't let the newly recruited NPCs eat sand with us every day, right?

Fourth, the first major action for territory reconstruction!

To solve the above predicament, I am preparing to initiate a resolution to use the Legion's current points to find Stone Man Hong and customize a kind of exclusive genetically modified plant!

This plant must have deep roots like a giant tree, capable of preventing wind and sand, and improving the harsh air environment.

And the most core point—it must be able to bear fruit!

Whether it grows starch blocks or some kind of fruit, as long as it's edible, that's fine!

We are going to take this tree-filled place and forcibly turn it into an oasis orchard!"

As soon as the post was issued, it immediately caused a sensation on the forum.

Those life-skill players who liked to engage in management and construction had their eyes turn red.

Those newbies who missed the first wave of expeditions and could only chop green skins at home were all so envious that their eyes turned green.

[5A-level combo]: Big Boss! Is it too late to join the Scourge Legion now? I'm a White Bear Man, I can really take a hit!

[Gugu Eagle]: Teehee, it's a good thing I was clever a few days ago and already snuck into the group!

And among the many player interactions.

[Wanna Sleep with Slaanesh]: "Hehe, envious? Makabazi, you regret going solo, right! My strength attribute has doubled, and I also got the Swarm First Kill title! This wave was a huge profit!"

[Makabazi] saw this, his mouth tasting sour, and he experienced the feeling of watching his brothers drive a Land Rover. But suddenly, his mind turned, and he posted a reply:

"Since that Stone Man Hong NPC is so strong and can hand-craft genes, then tell me... can we use those Tyranids genes to clone a batch to fight?"

[Liver Emperor] immediately retorted: "No. Bugs don't have the psychic link of the Hive Mind; creating them would just result in a pile of rotting meat with absolutely no combat power."

[Makabazi]: "Eh! That's not right! We can treat these big bugs as vehicles! Just like in 'Avatar', we can establish a consciousness link! Or even simpler, design a kind of living Power Armor!"

"For the safety of players, the inside of this big bug can grow fleshy tissue to tightly wrap around the player. Control and senses would use the neural mapping system from mechs. Isn't this just biological mecha?!"

"Most importantly! This living armor can transform at while according to biological characteristics. Our Beastman brothers with all kinds of body shapes will finally have exclusive Power Armor to wear, right?!"

The moment this message was posted, the entire forum fell into a brief silence. Afterward, the number of replies grew explosively.

[Ming Shen]: Holy crap! You son of a bitch, you really are a genius! Biological mecha... This idea is absolutely insane!

[Liver Emperor]: Don't say that. In the future, when we kill our way into the depths of the star sea, collect the genes of powerful creatures from other planets, and stuff them into this biological armor... wouldn't that be infinite evolution?

[ikun]: You have directly opened up a biological line next to the technology tree! Quickly @ Planner Immortal Lin!

...

Meanwhile, in the underground control room of the Fire Seed Shelter.

Lin Li was sitting with his legs crossed, lurking on the forum. When he saw Makabazi's idea about biological mecha, the teacup in his hand suddenly shook.

"Holy crap." Lin Li rubbed his eyes, "What... is in his head? How could he come up with such a heavy-tasting yet genius idea?"

But he thought about it again.

This is totally doable!

Isn't the newly acquired underground incubation chamber used for exactly this?

He immediately called for Stone Man Hong.

Lin Li translated Makabazi's idea simply and crudely to Hong. Originally, Lin Li was worried that this serious Stone Man would think it was too outrageous. Unexpectedly, after hearing the concepts of consciousness linking and biological shell mounting, those cold eyes instantly lit up with unprecedented fanaticism.

"Biological mecha..." Hong murmured to herself.

She immediately called for Iron Man 73.

One Stone Man, one Iron Man.

These two top intelligent beings from the Golden Age began a technical exchange in front of Lin Li.

"Feasible." Three minutes later, Hong raised her head, her tone filled with the excitement of a mad scientist,

"This is a brand new, previously unverified evolutionary direction for interstellar biological weapons. Creator, please allow me to start the research and development of this project immediately!"

Lin Li slapped the table: "Approved! Let's call it the Flesh Forge project!"