Chapter 88: Chapter 83: Shen Jie’s Secret, Diminishing Fusion Returns, Aspiration for Flight

Shen Jie groggily awoke. Although his companions had completed their Awakening, their weak Physiques meant they had not yet fully regained consciousness.

Lin Feng’s eyes narrowed. The unconscious Zhang Liying beside him had awakened the same Superpower as Shen Jie: Devouring Assimilation.

It was already strange enough that they had both awakened the same rare Superpower. But what astonished Lin Feng even more was that, while observing, he caught an unexpected glimpse of red armored plates on Shen Jie’s torso, visible through the gap in his short-sleeved shirt.

He was all too familiar with that thing.

It was precisely the Shield Armor Form he had previously crafted from the Red Zerg Beetle.

But the question was, how did this thing appear on Shen Jie’s body, and why was it fused with his skin...?

Connecting this to the Superpower’s description on the data panel, a startling idea surfaced in Lin Feng’s mind.

After Shen Jie and Zhang Liying gradually woke up, went to the adjacent bathroom to wash up, and came out again, all eight of them stood in a line, waiting for Lin Feng to give orders.

Lin Feng’s brow furrowed slightly as he commanded:

"Congratulations on your successful Awakenings. Physical Enhancement may be weak in the early stages, but as long as you work hard killing Zergs to grow stronger, it can play a huge role in the Late Stage."

"Tomorrow, we need to continue our mission of capturing live Zergs, and the numbers and scale will only increase. It’s getting late, so have a late-night snack and get some rest."

After summarizing, Lin Feng added one final sentence: 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"The rest of you are dismissed. Shen Jie, you two stay behind."

Watching their teammates leave one by one, Shen Jie and Zhang Liying glanced at each other, their expressions heavy.

When only the three of them remained in the room, Lin Feng spoke calmly:

"Do you know why I had you stay?"

Shen Jie took a deep breath.

"Is it because of the Superpower we awakened?"

Lin Feng nodded and beckoned with his finger.

"Take off your shirts first."

Shen Jie hesitated for a moment. Earlier, while showering, he had seen the strange changes on his back in the mirror. He had later confirmed with Zhang Liying that these hard armored plates had appeared on both of their bodies.

But he hadn’t expected Lin Feng to know as well.

After a moment of internal struggle, facing the man’s calm, scrutinizing gaze, Shen Jie finally took off his t-shirt, revealing the patches of Red Armor on his back.

Spurred by his anxiety, more and more plates emerged on his back. The deep-red scales, like those of a ferocious insect, spread to cover his entire torso.

Confirming his suspicions, Lin Feng continued:

"That’s right. This is your Superpower."

"Devouring Assimilation. It allows you to gain enhancements by consuming the tissues of other organisms and assimilating their abilities."

"So... you’ve eaten a Red-Armored Beetle before?"

As the man questioned him, Shen Jie shuddered involuntarily. Finally, with a dry throat, he explained hoarsely:

"Before we escaped from Hai City, Zhang Liying and I were in the same class group. When the Zerg Race invasion broke out, we were cleaning the school auditorium."

"Afterward, to avoid the Red-Armored Beetles, we hid in a utility closet for a whole day, thirsty and hungry. After using some tools we had on hand to kill a Red-Armored Beetle, a few of us tried eating its flesh and blood that night to gain the strength to escape the school..."

"The next day, out of the six of us, only Li Ying and I survived. The other four turned red all over, their bodies congested with blood, and died from poisoning."

"Sometime after that, we managed to get on a school bus and, following the appearance of a helicopter, we met Mr. Lin."

Lin Feng looked at the two of them. He had wondered before if anyone, when starving, would try to eat Zerg meat.

But the files sent by Ding Chenghai clearly stated that the flesh and blood of the Zerg Race contained extremely high levels of sulfides and various other compounds that humans couldn’t digest or break down.

Unlike the crunchy arthropods of Blue Star, the Alien Zerg Race was like a complex biological machine, filled with various biological oils and hydraulic structures. Aside from their hard shells, they had no practical value.

That was why Lin Feng had eventually given up on the idea.

He never expected to meet two people here who had survived eating Zerg meat.

Moreover, through that nightmarish experience, Shen Jie and Zhang Liying had even awakened the rare Assimilation Superpower. It was equivalent to an Upgrade for their own bodies and held immense potential.

"What does Zerg meat taste like?"

To ease the awkward and tense atmosphere, Lin Feng changed the subject after Shen Jie’s explanation.

Shen Jie was taken aback. He hadn’t expected that Mr. Lin wouldn’t view them as freaks or monsters. Mustering his courage, he began to recall:

"It’s disgusting. Like a sponge soaked in motor oil. Even when cooked, it still had that strange, lingering taste from the Zerg blood."

"So Zhang Liying and I ate very little. Afterward, we got diarrhea and threw up all night. That might be the very reason we survived."

As Shen Jie spoke, he glanced back at the slightly nervous girl behind him, giving her a look to reassure her.

Of course, more had happened that night; otherwise, the two of them couldn’t have successfully escaped the auditorium the next morning and boarded a passing school bus.

But none of that mattered now. Lin Feng wouldn’t concern himself with things unrelated to Superpowers.

"Since you’ve awakened this ability, you should try eating some Red-Armored Beetle Meat. If you can evolve your entire body to be covered in Red Armor, your Defense Power will increase significantly. At the same time, you must learn to control this ability and do your best not to expose it to outsiders."

"Once you become immune to the toxins in Red-Armored Beetle Meat, you can try eating Black Spine Zergs... and maybe even Cyan-winged Zergs."

As he spoke, a thought flashed through Lin Feng’s mind.

’If these two use Devouring Assimilation to become more and more like Zergs, could they deceive the Zerg Race’s detection and infiltrate their territory?’

’Then they could uncover more of the Zerg Race’s secrets, and even coordinate with me—an inside-out attack—to strike the Tier Two Guard Zerg Race and the Mother Empress...’

As these ideas took shape in Lin Feng’s mind, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile that he couldn’t suppress. His gaze toward the two of them grew increasingly serious.

"This Superpower is extremely rare and has a very high growth potential. It can play a crucial role in the future..."

"Don’t feel burdened. I’ll equip you with some Full Body Shield Armor to cover it up, and no one will notice."

"Besides, with the apocalypse upon us, appearances are meaningless. Strength is the only thing that matters. When you can fly through the sky and move through the earth, killing Black Spine Zergs as easily as chickens..."

"...everyone will look at you with nothing but admiration."

"For now, go back and get some rest. There will be an even more difficult mission tomorrow."

After reassuring the two, Lin Feng got up and left the inn.

Han Yuxin was busy with her first mission of selling live Zergs. She had left the service area with a vehicle that afternoon. Right now, the only people at the inn were Shen Jie’s group of eight and a few young people Han Yuxin had recently recruited.

Lin Feng guessed her business partners were people like Princess Betty, who had approached him at the banquet. They had people and money, and they knew many nobles who had fled the disaster, making for a perfect resource exchange with Han Yuxin.

Most importantly, doing this wouldn’t affect Hu Fei’s current business arrangements in the Federation.

As long as the price and returns were substantial, Lin Feng didn’t mind helping fallen nobles return to the stage.

Right now, he needed to accumulate power and hoard consumables like food, steel, and gasoline in advance, preparing for the future life-or-death battle with the Zerg Race.

But Hu Fei wouldn’t be too concerned with these matters. He was currently focused on reinvesting his newfound profits into building his network of connections.

Therefore, Lin Feng needed Han Yuxin to use her ambition to achieve all of his goals.

The woman’s power was completely dependent on Lin Feng. Even the people under her were under Lin Feng’s control, so he didn’t have to worry about her being disobedient.

After leaving the inn, Lin Feng returned to the auto repair shop.

Under the cover of a tarpaulin, he began a new round of Upgrades on the Armored Tank.

He couldn’t use all eighty-plus pairs of Black Spine Zerg Giant Mandibles on upgrading the Lv14 Armored Tank. The Arm Guard of his Lv11 Red Profound Armor also needed attention.

Chen Yanyan’s Lv9 Red Armor Shield also needed to be upgraded to Red Profound Armor. Although she rarely needed to get out of the vehicle to fight anymore, Lin Feng wouldn’t shortchange her in this regard.

’It’s just a few pairs of Giant Mandibles, after all.’

After a few flashes of red light, his own Lv11 Red Profound Armor upgraded to Lv13.

It now not only had 90 Defense Power, but the counter-Damage effect of its Blast Scale Armor was also as high as 80%, while his own Defense would only be reduced by 20%.

After consuming 7 pairs of Giant Mandibles, Lin Feng consumed another 5 pairs to upgrade it to Lv14.

Unfortunately, after the fusion Upgrade was complete, no new Extra Attributes appeared. The only change was that the Blast Scale Armor’s counter-Damage increased to 90%.

Feeling unsatisfied and a bit carried away, Lin Feng spent another 6 pairs of Giant Mandibles. But this time, aside from the Basic Defense increasing by 10 points, the other Extra Attributes...

...remained completely unchanged.

Lin Feng frowned as he looked at the Lv15 Red Profound Armor on his body.

[Red Profound Armor Lv15/19, Red Quality]

[Durability: 10/10, Defense Power: 110, Mutant Form: Arm Guard (unconditional), Full Body Armor (unconditional), Absolute Defense (Back Armor: 1/1) (Giant Mandible: 10/1), Blast Scale Armor (reflects 90% of Damage taken, Defense reduced by 10%)]

’Is it that the Black Spine Zergs’ Giant Mandibles can only bring about this much change? Do I need to fuse new materials to get new Extra Attributes?’

Remembering the Superpower Shen Jie and his partner had awakened, Lin Feng had a theory.

Coincidentally, he had also been thinking about a plan to capture Cyan-winged Zergs.

’I’ll just try it all next time.’

’Can the Red Profound Armor grow a pair of wings?’

It shouldn’t be a problem for Shen Jie and Zhang Liying, but he didn’t know if the Red Profound Armor would have the same effect.

Lin Feng wasn’t greedy. As long as it allowed him to glide over long distances, it would be a hundred times more flexible than rigid armor.

Pushing aside his disappointment, Lin Feng then used three more pairs of Giant Mandibles to help upgrade Chen Yanyan’s Red Armor Shield to a Lv11 Red Profound Armor.

She probably wouldn’t get to use the counter-Damage Attribute of the Blast Scale Armor anyway. It would be better to store more Back Armor or Giant Mandibles to fuel the Absolute Defense consumption. It could save her life at a critical moment.

In total, he had spent 21 pairs of Giant Mandibles. Aside from some increases in base stats, the additional returns were very low.

Looking at the sixty-odd pairs of Giant Mandibles left, Lin Feng fused twenty pairs of them into his Red Profound Armor as consumable reserves. He used the remaining forty pairs to upgrade the Lv14 Armored Tank.

The next morning, Lin Feng climbed out of Chen Yanyan’s soft embrace. He looked at the upgraded Lv15 Armored Tank, its stats barely changed, and sighed softly.

’It seems you can’t just mindlessly fuse the same material over and over. The further you go, the more limited the actual returns are, just like an inverse function.’

But this only served to fuel Lin Feng’s fighting spirit.

Today’s mission target: the Cyan-winged Zergs!