Lin Xian walked through the carriage, arriving at Carriage 3. Upon entering, he did not see Ding Junyi. Instead, he found her in Carriage 4, busy beside a few tomato seedlings. Just as he was about to ask her something, he noticed the small flower above Ding Junyi’s head gently swaying and emitting a faint glow of some superpower.

Unable to resist, Lin Xian moved closer. The next moment, his gaze focused sharply. He saw many tender green vine tendrils of certain melons rapidly climbing and winding around the tomato seedlings in front of Ding Junyi. Under her control, the tips of the vines sprouted some incredibly sharp blood thorns. The vines, like human hands, quickly transformed and grew, covering the cultivation chamber’s walls and blocking out all light!

"Your plant-type superpower has developed so quickly?" Lin Xian spoke up.

"Actually, what you see is just a small part of it." Ding Junyi had already noticed Lin Xian’s arrival, but she seemed grateful that he hadn’t interrupted her. After the vines circled around, they suddenly began to contract and wither, releasing a large amount of faint green energy. Ding Junyi raised her hand, and from her palm, a dark green sprout grew out of thin air, quickly absorbing the faint green energy.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xian was quite astonished. But the next moment, Ding Junyi made an unexpected move; after absorbing the green energy, she turned and blew a breath at Lin Xian. It felt like a minty breeze brushing against him, causing his vision to blur, ears to ring, and the beautiful face of Ding Junyi before him to double.

He shook his head, and after a few seconds, his mind returned to normal. Bewildered, Lin Xian looked at Ding Junyi.

"This..."

"Solanaceae plants can produce a compound called scopolamine, which induces hallucinogenic excitement, mental confusion, and distortion of time-space perception. Previously, it was used as an anesthetic, but overdosing can lead to coma or even death."

Ding Junyi calmly looked at Lin Xian: "Recently, I’ve been studying the evolution of Abnormal Bodies. This kind of biological force field doesn’t seem like a superpower; it’s more like an evolutionary program embedded in their DNA. It’s as if they innately possess it, but as we know, those ordinary Abnormal Bodies aren’t considered true life forms but rather living tools created."

Lin Xian frowned slightly at this: "Is there any connection between the two?"

Ding Junyi continued, "Aren’t you curious why, when we were in Xilan City, only that one S-Class had such a biological force field, but now, even the most ordinary Abnormal Bodies have it? What caused them to gain such abilities?"

"I thought the monsters were evolving," Lin Xian said.

Ding Junyi shook her head: "We have indeed discovered that Dark Creatures can evolve and adapt, but there’s been a misconception. For example, only the Snow Demon and the Snow Magic can live beneath the snow layer, and the Split-tailed People and the Red Bones can roam Sea Rock Island by day. However, you don’t find Fog Spiders braving daylight, nor Earthworms in the snow. Do you understand what I mean?"

Lin Xian frowned, entering deep thought upon hearing Ding Junyi’s words, momentarily forgetting the reason he sought her out.

Seeing him silent, Ding Junyi spoke directly, "My thesis is this evolution occurs upstream, not downstream. Meaning, those intelligent beings responsible for crafting Abnormal Bodies, or higher beings of the Dark Civilization, are continuously learning, evolving, repairing, and, via certain DNA compilations, endowing new Abnormal Bodies with evolutionary powers. The ordinary Abnormal Bodies do not inherently possess such mechanisms."

Lin Xian was stunned: "I get it now. So this connects with what you’ve mentioned..."

"Scopolamine."

"Right."

"What I’m saying is, the Dark Civilization might be entirely different from what we imagined. These Abnormal Bodies we see might be equipment fashioned using carbon-based organisms of humanity and Blue Star, akin to our mecha and drones—flesh-based weapons of war and colonization. If viewed this way, A-level, or even S-Class, entities are possibly such, because I believe any entity wielding such advanced civilization power should have the form of an intelligent entity, not a Cthulhu-like beast."

"Secondly, with this understanding, I am leveraging my biological knowledge to explore the gene power in Blue Star’s ecosystems, greatly expanding my potential in developing plant-type superpowers. Of course... the first point is the main focus. The latter I’m merely mentioning to convey I’ve grown a lot stronger. If a crisis arises, I can now contribute to controlling the battlefield, likely aiding you."

Lin Xian was deeply shaken after hearing all this. He had considered such a theory before, and the Phoenix Society had long conjectured similarly, but Ding Junyi’s parallel drawn between Abnormal Bodies and mecha equipment struck a deep chord in him.

Ding Junyi’s second point also caught him off guard. Can plant-type superpowers be used this way?

"Releasing plant traits to control enemies through induced comas?"

"That and more. If you want to delve deeper, I can start from taxonomy classification," Ding Junyi offered.

"No need," Lin Xian replied, sweating at the thought of how lengthy such a lecture would be. Nonetheless, he understood Ding Junyi had discovered multiple properties while developing her plant superpower.

Hands in her pockets, Ding Junyi calmly observed Lin Xian: "I essentially seek your acknowledgment of my recent work."

"I very much acknowledge it!"

"Thank you." Ding Junyi smiled faintly.

Lin Xian felt embarrassed: "Teacher Chen told me you mentioned a change in the Blood Vine, is that correct?"

Ding Junyi nodded: "Through superpower contact, I discovered distinct differences in this Disaster Plant compared to others. It might be related to its traits, as this Blood Vine exhibits an almost unlimited proliferation capacity."

Lin Xian was puzzled: "Unlimited proliferation, what’s the use of that?"

"Strictly speaking," Ding Junyi said, her face still calm, "it’s of no practical use."

Lin Xian: ...

Ding Junyi then led Lin Xian to Carriage 3, opening the cultivation chamber containing the Blood Vine. This chamber was larger than those for the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes and the Hell Black Chrysanthemum, individually set by Ding Junyi.

The Blood Vine within the chamber, bristling with stark red spiked tips, emitted a light distinct from plants, appearing more like the metallic sheen of the Cold Blade. Strangely, once Ding Junyi uncovered the shading, the Blood Vine began to twitch slightly, as if it was a living thing.

This scene starkly contrasted with when Lin Xian first brought it back from White City, and he immediately understood what Chen Sixuan meant by saying this thing was alive, quite literally. It had a disconcerting effect.

Seeing Lin Xian’s expression, Ding Junyi approached and touched the cultivation chamber, saying

"Unlimited proliferation refers to this plant’s ability to surpass the limits of plant cells, continuing to expand and grow indefinitely. I’ve conducted multiple rounds of division experiments and found this plant is truly limitless."

Before she even finished speaking, when her finger touched the chamber, the Blood Vine swiftly derived along the wall towards her finger, then aggressively expanded under Ding Junyi’s control. It grew from a finger-thick width to as wide as the mouth of a bowl, with ever-deepening thorns. Even as the Blood Vine swelled, Lin Xian noticed faint arcs of force field energy beginning to appear on it!

This left Lin Xian unable to fathom: "Are you saying this thing could grow larger than a skyscraper?"

Ding Junyi nodded: "Yes."

"And it’s still useless?" Lin Xian immediately questioned, "If this thing is edible, couldn’t we have unlimited starch?"

Ding Junyi was taken aback, then responded, "Well, the characteristic I regard as useful is the ability to impact the battlefield like Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes."

"That’s easy," Lin Xian directly suggested, looking at Ding Junyi: "Just use the Blood Vine as your weapon, keep researching it, and help me change the tide!"

At this, Ding Junyi’s gaze lifted slightly towards Lin Xian. After contemplating for a moment, she withdrew her hand and, pondering, looked seriously at Lin Xian: "That’s a good idea. I’ll seriously consider it."

Lin Xian exhaled, feeling this was good news. He was about to discuss his plans with Ding Junyi when she suddenly said

"Actually, the unlimited proliferation of the Blood Vine led me to a new discovery. It’s that the limitless growth of this Disaster Plant isn’t based on plants or genetics but from another perspective, making me hypothesize a whole new question regarding the core power source of all Disaster Plants and Taboo Items..."

Lin Xian felt his head spinning.