54: Chapter 54 Perfect Creation

The real world, Earth.

The official forum was bustling with activity at this moment.

The players who had sacrificed themselves heroically in the mine battle last night and were currently waiting out their revival timers were bored and flooding the various forum sections with chatter.

[Praise Ming Shen] was posting in the Hardcore Technology section, seriously discussing the feasibility of implementing the game's solid-state hydrogen batteries in the real world with several STEM experts.

Meanwhile, [Widow Maker] was posting in the General Discussion section, strongly demanding that the development team increase the attractiveness and clothing variety of female NPCs.

Suddenly.

A post marked with an extremely eye-catching red highlight parachuted onto the forum's front page!

[Major News! A Max-Level Hidden BOSS Has Appeared Under the Ruins of the Food Factory! Pi She Was Easily Captured and SM'd!]

The poster was none other than [Use Fire Punch], who had just logged off.

The post was detailed, vividly describing their entire exploration process and the terrifying three-meter giant at the end.

[Flame Fist] emphasized the sense of oppression from that monster in the post:

"Brothers, that was definitely not some mutated rat! It was nearly three meters tall! A shirtless, muscular hunk! But its body was covered in disgusting purple-red pustules, and one of its eyes was blind! It looked just like a deformed Frankenstein!"

"The most terrifying thing was its speed! It covered ten meters in an instant! The steel Logging Gun in [Pi She]'s hand was crushed directly by its bare hands like it was made of noodles! He didn't even have a chance to fire!"

Once this post appeared, the entire forum exploded instantly.

The reply count soared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

2nd Floor [Liver Emperor]: "What the f*ck? Crushed a steel pipe with bare hands? This physical resistance and strength stat are definitely overpowered!"

15th Floor [Praise Ming Shen]: "Judging from the size and speed... this perfectly matches the Space Marine lore in the Warhammer background!"

[Ming Shen]'s analysis was very professional:

"But even for a Space Marine, it's impossible to have this kind of biological deformity covered in pustules. Unless... he has fallen to Chaos, or is some kind of failed genetic experiment! [Flame Fist], are there any other features?"

22nd Floor [Use Fire Punch]: "I didn't see clearly! I was too busy running away with the machine! That guy looked uncanny, his facial features were extremely uncoordinated, definitely severely deformed!"

35th Floor [Widow Maker]: "Ahem... well, [Pi She] was captured by such a three-meter-tall hunk... could he be taken to... hehe, you guys know what I mean. Tastes in the wasteland are usually pretty heavy."

36th Floor [Nicotine Truth]: "Get lost! You old pervert! Don't be disgusting!"

Just as the players were frantically posting, worried about [Pi She]'s chastity.

An abrupt reply suddenly appeared on the 100th floor.

100th Floor [Player Pi She]: "Holy sh*t! Brothers! I'm not dead yet!!"

The entire forum went silent for a second, then erupted into an even fiercer wave of replies.

"A zombie?!"

"Weren't you captured by the Boss? How can you still log off and post?!"

[Player Pi She] replied quickly:

"I was indeed captured alive! That deformed brute didn't kill me; he carried me like a chick to the very bottom of the elevator shaft!"

"There is a huge, laboratory-like hidden space here! I am currently tied tightly to an operating table! That guy is using a terrifying syringe to draw my blood!"

The players were stunned: "Then how the f*ck can you still log off?!"

[Player Pi She]: "Of course, to report the news! I won't say more, brothers, that guy seems to be about to use a knife! I'm switching my consciousness back to the game to see what this old bastard is up to! Wait for my first-person text live stream!"

Afterward, [Pi She]'s forum avatar turned completely gray.

...

Fire Seed Shelter, second basement level, main control room.

[Lin Li] was leaning comfortably in his swivel chair, drinking purified water while peeking at the players' frantic interactions on the forum through administrator permissions.

When he saw that [Pi She] was not dead but instead tied to an operating table having his blood drawn, his brows furrowed slightly.

"It seems that the shadow hiding under the Food Factory is the same guy that flashed by when [Niuma Squad] and I went to scout the area a while ago."

[Lin Li] calculated inwardly.

"Powerful strength, speed so fast that even players can't keep up. But he didn't wipe out [Flame Fist] and his team, and he only took [Pi She] to draw blood..."

"This shows that his hostility towards players is not pure bloodthirsty slaughter. He is likely someone hiding in the ruins doing genetic research."

[Lin Li] turned his head to look at the three dark silver metal canisters that the players had carried back.

"73, are the scan results out? What exactly is in these canisters?"

In mid-air, STC-73's optical lens emitted an extremely faint red ray, scanning over the canisters.

"Creator. This is a precision stasis field generator."

73's mechanical voice contained a rare note of rigor,

"What is preserved in the canisters are [Complete Genetic Embryos] in a state of absolute stasis."

"Embryos?" [Lin Li] paused.

"Yes. And the person who created them possesses astonishing genetic expertise."

73 pulled up a complex double-helix structure diagram,

"These embryos are a perfect fusion of some kind of strong bovine gene and a mutated algae gene capable of rapid photosynthesis in high-radiation environments."

"Since this organism is completely beyond the scope of natural evolution, there is no scientific name for it in my current database."

[Lin Li] listened, dumbfounded:

"A fusion of a cow and seaweed? What is this thing for? Can it produce milk or grow kelp?"

"Unknown," 73 replied coldly,

"But judging from the genetic sequence, they have no aggression or danger. They are more like... self-circulating emergency rations that were extremely modified."

[Lin Li] rubbed his chin.

"Are they still alive?"

"The stasis field has cut off their time flow. They are in a superposition state of neither being alive nor dead."

73 warned,

"Once you forcibly cut off the power to the stasis field and open the canisters, without professional petri dishes and catalytic fluid, they have a 99% probability of dying instantly."

"Then just throw them in the warehouse and leave them alone."

[Lin Li] waved his hand.

He didn't have the spare time to hatch some seaweed cow.

He refocused his attention on the current situation.

"Trading a 24-hour revival cooldown of a dumb player for a precious Type 2 Water Purifier. This deal is a huge profit no matter how you calculate it."

[Lin Li] exercised his capitalist nature, shrewdly calculating the ledger in his mind.

But he soon got a headache again.

"But the trouble is, since that guy, who is suspected of being a Space Marine mutant, set up his laboratory at the bottom of the elevator shaft, the [Nano-Repair Fluid] I am looking for is likely in that room too."

[Lin Li] scratched his hair in extreme annoyance, "Against an opponent of this level, sending more players is just giving him experimental material. A human-wave tactic won't be able to kill him at all."

"If I can't get the repair fluid, the primary [Matter Constructor] can't be fixed. The clone cultivation center on the third basement level cannot be unlocked! The Shelter's army-building progress is stuck hard right here!"

[Lin Li] sighed extremely unhappily.

However, there is always a way out.

"Fortunately, I completed the high-risk challenge mission of clearing the mine pollution yesterday, and I happen to have one thousand core points on hand."

[Lin Li] rubbed his hands, his eyes staring fanatically at the lottery wheel in the management backend.

"I can only go all-in again. What if I turn a bicycle into a motorcycle and pull out the repair fluid directly?"

...

Meanwhile.

Deep underground in the [Gaobo Food Factory], in that huge and cold secret genetic laboratory.

[Player Pi She]'s consciousness had just switched back to his game body when he felt the cold metallic touch on his wrists and ankles.

He was tightly fixed to a huge operating table covered in dried blood by several thick alloy restraint straps.

Above his head, a glaring shadowless lamp made it impossible for him to open his eyes.

[Pi She] tried to struggle, but those restraint straps could contain even the immense strength of a [Space Marine], let alone a player like him whose strength stat was not outstanding.

"Awake?"

An extremely hoarse voice, like two pieces of rough sandpaper rubbing against each other, sounded beside the operating table.

[Pi She] struggled to turn his head.

That terrifying giant, three meters tall, was standing in front of a complex, ancient medical terminal.

He was holding a syringe as thick as an adult's arm in his hand.

Inside the syringe's glass tube was the bright red clone blood drawn from [Pi She]'s body.

The giant injected the blood into the terminal's analysis slot.

"Beep——"

On the ancient terminal screen, lines of green genetic data began to jump frantically.

The giant's single, cloudy eye stared fixedly at the screen.

At first, his gaze was calm, even carrying a kind of indifference, as if looking at a failed experimental subject.

But only a few seconds passed.

The giant's massive body suddenly trembled uncontrollably!

He roughly wiped the fog off the screen, his single eye bulging so much it was almost popping out of its socket due to extreme disbelief!

"This... how is this possible?!"

The giant let out a distorted roar filled with endless shock.

He turned his head abruptly, staring intensely at [Pi She] who was tied to the operating table.

That gaze was no longer looking at a mutated prey, but as if looking at a miracle that had descended into the world!

"No traces of radiation decay... the genetic chain is a perfect fit... the telomerase is extremely stable..."

The giant stumbled to the operating table, his huge hands covered in pustules hovering tremblingly over [Pi She], not even daring to touch him.

"No genetic drift... no hidden mutation risks..."

From the giant's dry throat came a fanatical and incredulous murmur:

"A perfect, flawless genetic modification... how is this possible... you... you are actually perfect clones?!"

The giant leaned down abruptly, his ugly, distorted face almost touching [Pi She]'s nose.

In his single eye, a thirst for knowledge and madness burned, making [Pi She] feel a chill down his spine.

"Tell me!"

The giant roared in extreme loss of composure:

"Who is it! Which great existence forged your such perfect flesh?!"