Chapter 79: 2.31%
"The first batch of experimental subjects that can communicate?" Mavis grabbed hold of an important point in Yeye's words.
"Human experimental subjects that fused with genes from other lifeforms. A portion of them did not lose their rationality completely at the Brutal Phase, and after entering the LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage they gave the researchers very important information - confirmation of the existence of the soul." Yeye said calmly and coldly.
The group of them who were initially excited over the prospect of hearing a secret felt like they had been splashed with cold water.
This information was gathered from countless experimental subjects. Only heaven knew just how much darkness was hidden behind all this. Everyone suddenly felt like they understood the meaning behind the Progenitor's serial number, No. 31000137.
……
"Let's continue then." Yeye saw the atmosphere going cold and she decided to move things along. At this time, none of them had that excitement and curiosity anymore, but carried a level of heaviness and other feelings as they listened to Yeye explain.
"In the LV1-2 Brutal Stage, the incongruence between the body and soul will cause the lifeform to act brutally. Every time it erupts, the symptoms were just like you guys before, losing your rationality, and only knowing how to kill on instinct. The first few times are easier to wake up from, but if you guys cannot suppress it, it is very easy to lose your mind completely and become a true wild beast. Among all the experimental subjects, the human experimental subjects that can enter LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage and still retain their rationality, is not more than 1 out of 10. As for the rest…" Yeye said and gave a statistic.
Everyone's faces became very solemn. If they entered that mindless state multiple times, it would result in them becoming completely mindless monsters huh?
"Isn't there any solution?" Heloise asked nervously.
"Didn't I say it just now? Three solutions. You guys are already not suitable for the first, the second and third solution can suppress the symptoms of brutality to a certain extent. However, you guys must know, these two solutions were also only discovered recently, so it has no decisive effect." Yeye purposely looked Woolf, Warner, Sharpei and Momo seriously.
The four of them stared at Yeye dumbly, not completely understanding the seriousness of the issue.
Woolf had a simple brain, while Warner and Momo were both little kids. As for Sharpei, do you really expect him to be as intelligent as humans? Seeing that the few of them didn't even have the slightest look of fear on their faces, Yeye gave a 'hmph' in displeasure. Damn I didn't get to scare the bunch of you. Heloise saw how Yeye was acting like a little girl and couldn't help but chuckle. She was clearly an artificial intelligence, but this personality was even cuter than a real person's.
"Continuing on!" Yeye, on the contrary, felt shy at Heloise's laughter.
"The reason behind the brutality is the incongruence between the body and soul. The body changed too fast while the soul didn't have many changes. Life is a complete whole, however, so after the body changes, the soul will gradually change as well to become compatible with the new body. This process similarly happens at the Brutal Phase. However, the soul is a completely new concept to all of us, unable to be touched or felt. Hence, even within the research facility, there was only one solution found to help the soul adjust to the new body." Yeye continued explaining.
"What's the solution?" Everyone couldn't help but ask.
"Sleep!"
"Sleep?"
"That's right, sleep. Sleep for a living thing is actually a very magical state. While sleeping, everyone's body will automatically repair and adjust itself. While sleeping, the growth of the soul will also be faster and more stable than usual. Correspondingly, the LV1-2 Brutal Stage will also shorten. The better the quality of sleep, the better the growth of the soul, and this is also a rule found from the Hypersomnia Stage." Yeye explained.
LV1-3: Hypersomnia Stage - Number of gene fusions has already reached its limit, the physical body starts to stabilize, and the soul also grows to become compatible with the body. At this stage, the evolved lifeform will want to sleep a lot, entering the Hypersomnia Stage.
"I had already said it before, but the confirmation of the existence of the soul was done in LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage. In reality, at this stage, evolved lifeforms will sense the existence of the soul by nature, and at the same know what they should do next - let the body and soul harmonize again. To harmonize the body and soul again requires continuous balancing, and the effectiveness of balancing is best while sleeping, especially a deep level of sleep, being in a womb-like condition, or a deep level of meditation."
"This wasn't discovered by anybody, but what people instinctively knew to do when they reached that stage."
"It's like how we sleep when we feel tired!"
"Yes, it's as simple as sleeping when you feel tired; this is the basic instinct of living things. In the Hypersomnia Phase, the lifeform will instinctually sense the soul, want to sleep, and balance the body and soul." Yeye nodded.
"Hypersomnia Stage lifeforms, other than eating, basically spend all their time in deep sleep, and there isn't much risk in this stage, but…!" Yeye suddenly raised her voice.
"Although they want to sleep a lot, the condition of the sleep isn't too good, and it's difficult for them to enter a deep level of sleep as well. They are easily woken or have nightmares. Overall, it's the consequence of the imbalance between body and soul. So, Hypersomnia Stage lifeforms will feel… intense anger towards those who wake them up from their sleep." Yeye explained.
"What would happen if you wake a Hypersomnia Stage lifeform up?" Momo asked tenderly.
"Momo you can go and try!" Yeye paused for a moment and smiled at Momo.
Warner looked at the exquisite virtual image of Yeye, and suddenly for a moment he thought that small devil horns grew from her head. Momo blanked for a moment and ran behind Bai Yi, holding onto his sleeve and cautiously stretching out her little head to look at Yeye. The rest of them immediately burst out into laughter, but they could roughly guess the consequences. It was already hard to fall asleep, so if somebody woke them up… It would probably end up with something like 'wake me up from my sleep, and I'll murder your entire family!"
Yeye also blanked for a moment. She was just teasing Momo, and didn't expect that her intuition to be so sharp.
Hmph, too bad I can't come out, or else I would definitely grab those chubby cheeks of yours and rub them so hard. Yeye raised her little fist behind the scenes.
"Then let me continue on the next stage - Metamorphosis."
"Wait wait, Hypersomnia Stage, isn't there things to do like calming drugs or Soul Nourishing Physical Arts like in the Brutal Stage?" Mavis asked.
"There might be, but we haven't discovered any with the current research. On the 7th of July 2014, the Progenitor was born, and in reality, the first batch of experimental subjects only entered Hypersomnia Stage in 2017. It's only 29th April 2020 today. This research facility only came into contact with activated cells a few years earlier than you guys. How could they research everything so thoroughly?" Yeye explained shortly and to the point like a real computer would.
Everyone immediately understood, and Mavis sat down again. What the researchers had seemingly discovered with their research was still very preliminary. Even if they obtained all the information from Yeye, they still wouldn't know how they would change in the future. This required every person to go and find out for themselves.
"This is the process of change of evolved lifeforms. The researchers split it into a few stages, LV1-1 Binging Stage, LV1-2 Brutal Stage, LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage, but in reality, the changes of a lifeform are a continuous process, so the three stages do not have clear boundaries. You guys understand?" Yeye looked at everyone.
"Since you guys understand, let me tell you the next stage - Metamorphosis!" Yeye continued after seeing them nod.
◆【Metamorphosis】
Metamorphosis - This is after the body and soul had harmonized to a certain point, and reached a new state of balance.
After evolved lifeforms enter the Hypersomnia Stage, they will sense the existence of the soul for the first time, and at the same time automatically go about balancing themselves. After the Hypersomnia Stage has gone on for a period of time, the lifeform will passively undergo Metamorphosis.
"And then?" Everyone saw that Yeye only gave a vague explanation and couldn't help but ask.
"What 'and then'? It's just Metamorphosis."
"Do you really expect me to tell you how to undergo Metamorphosis? I already said that the researchers haven't finished researching this yet either. Sigh…Let me think, Doctor Wang did say that it's probably similar to the Foundation Building Stage in cultivation novels. We still don't understand the process now. Anyway, if the process is successful, then the body and soul will reach a new balance and enter a whole new realm." Yeye said.
Everyone didn't know whether to laugh or cry hearing Yeye's explanation.
"After Metamorphosis, the lifeform will enter the LV2 Metamorphose Stage. With the understanding of the Metamorphose Stage now, there's only two important points. 1. The lifeform will generate an absolute lifefield inside its body, and become able to actively manipulate the special energy inside its body. 2. At this stage, the body, soul, and special energy are continuously changing." Yeye said very seriously, but after attracting all their attention she had nothing more to say.
Everyone waited for a long while, and finally realized that that was the end, The data from the research probably only reached up till this point.
However, even if they only had this information, it was enough for them to digest for a long while. Moreover, Yeye only simply summarized the information they had. The true detailed information couldn't be just this little.
"Yeye, prepare a set of detailed information to let them read and remember it." Bai Yi said to Yeye.
"Hi~. No problem." Yeye nodded.
……
"Last question, under normal conditions, what is the portion of evolved lifeforms that can enter LV2 Metamorphose Stage?" Bai Yi suddenly seemed to recall something and asked another question. Everyone involuntarily paid attention again after hearing this question.
"Tongariro National Park Research Facility had a total of 143211 experimental subjects over six years of research. A total of 36547 experimental subjects died fighting each other, and there is a total of 104232 experimental subjects remaining in the research facility now. The remaining 234 died from gene fusion mutation…" Yeye reported a long chain of numbers, making them dizzy and finally concluded.
"The probability of entering LV2 is only 2.31%. The death rate is 14.17%, 80.28% of them have incomplete Metamorphosis and became defective products, and the rest… died through various accidents."
At this moment, there was only one number in their heads… 2.31%!
Chapter 80: Complex Lifeform Change
At this moment, there was only one number in everyone's heads… 2.31%
Wasn't this number pitifully low? Although the death rate was only 14.17% and the remaining seemingly survived, the 'defective products' didn't seem like something good either.
"2.31%?"
"That's right, that's the probability of entering LV2 Metamorphose Stage now." Yeye nodded.
"Isn't this probability too low?" Heloise creased her eyebrows.
"No, it isn't low at all. When trying anything for the first time, it will usually end up in failure. We should say that the fact these lifeforms are able to enter LV2 Metamorphose Stage at the start without any form of safeguard, actually proved that they were evolving in the correct way. If the probability is 0%, then that would be really worrying. We would need to search for a new way to evolve if that were the case. However, now you guys just need to study the information of all the stages in detail, and figure out the method to raise your chances of success to the maximum." Yeye explained.
"Then what do you mean by defective products?"
"It means that they couldn't even be consider to be wild beasts. No rationality, no emotions, and not even that bit of intelligence that animals have. They only instinctively know how to kill and survive." Yeye said, and displayed an image again. The wild and savage appearances of the gene-fused monsters that appeared made everyone look away in discomfort.
"Of course, even though they have no rationality, they are beings that entered LV2 after all. If we really had to classify them, we could refer to them as LV2.1, and so their strength is still absolutely astounding~."
Astounding~. Yeye's adorable tone on the contrary didn't cause any of them to smile.
"How many of such guys are there?"
"Not many. The truth is, only six years have passed since the Progenitor was born, so only the very first batch of experimental subjects reached the Metamorphose Stage. In Tongariro National Park Research Facility, there's only a total of 1000 experimental subjects in the first batch. Among those, 29 of them died in accidents, 654 died in various experiments, and the remaining ones that had the chance to attempt Metamorphosis were only 317. Only 7 out of these entered the LV2 Metamorphose Stage perfectly, and there were 243 LV2.1 defective products. Due to these lifeforms being too dangerous, only 30 of them were kept for research and the rest were all killed."
"Of course, this is also what you guys need to take note of. Once you switch off my main computer, other than the 7 perfect LV2 Metamorphose Stage experimental subjects, these 30 defective products are the ones that you need to be most wary of."
Yeye said all this while displaying the images of these 30 LV2.1 defective gene-fused monsters. There was seemingly no effect on these monsters even after more than a month of starvation, and they still looked very energetic. However, these guys all seemed to be able to sense the position of Yeye's cameras. After they heard the soft sound of movement, they instantly twisted their heads and viciously bit towards the direction of the cameras.
'BANG!', the few of them instantly jumped in fright, just as if these monsters were going to pounce out from the screen and devour the bunch of them. Bai Yi couldn't see, but the rest of them couldn't help but to look away seeing these 30 'defective products'. Any one of these among the 30 monsters could wipe out all the experimental monsters in the first floor alone.
"What about the true perfect LV2 Metamorphose Stage?"
Yeye displayed the other 7 experimental subjects. Similarly, these perfect Metamorphose Stage lifeforms immediately sensed the movements of the hidden cameras. However, 6 of them just yawned lazily, not paying much attention to the movements. Only one of them immediately jogged over and revealed a friendly smile after discovering the movement of the hidden cameras.
"Heyyy~ researchers, are you guys still there? It's been so long; can you give me something to eat?" This guy grinned cheekily and said.
"This is?" Bai Yi couldn't see but he still could hear him speak.
"Serial number NO. 0721-2, one of the two humans that entered LV2 among the first batch of experimental subjects. Of course, he still has his intelligence, and is usually very cooperative with the experiments as well, never resisting." Yeye explained.
Everyone instantly stared at this guy seriously. Human?
He completely doesn't look like one!
However, monsters weren't actually scary, what was scary was the inability to communicate and how they attacked for food on sight. Although this guy looked very sinister, he didn't look too different from the so-called 'demon'. It wasn't a big deal anymore after a few more looks and they got used to it. Everyone looked at this guy and immediately thought of the same thing. These guys that still have their intelligence, could we cooperate temporarily with them?
"Yeye, in this research facility, how many of them still retained their sanity and are able to have normal interactions?" Heloise suddenly asked.
"678!"
"Bai Yi!" Heloise looked at Bai Yi.
"Give it up." Bai Yi seemingly guessed what Heloise wanted to say, and shook his head. He then came to in front of the computer screen. Bai Yi eyes were bandaged, but somehow, he could seemingly see through the bandage, the computer screen and stared at that NO. 0721-2. Bai Yi slowly turned his head towards his left, looking down at the floor at an angle.
"This guy is concealing his true nature very deeply. He seems very normal, but I can feel a mad and brutal aura from him. Yeye, is that guy in this direction?" Bai Yi pointed towards the direction of his gaze.
"DingDong~ Congratulations you are right!" Yeye jumped inside the computer screen, and threw flower petals everywhere from her flower basket. She then displayed the translucent grid map of the research facility on the screen, and used a red line to join two points. These two points were their location and the prison cell of NO. 0721-2.
"I know what you guys are thinking, whether we can cooperate with these experimental subjects that still retained their intelligence and escape together. From the first look, this seems to be quite an attractive idea, but in reality, this won't work. Of course, with so many experimental subjects, there are bound to be some guys that we can actually with. However, there could also be guys who appear normal, but are actually very brutal inside. Once we make the wrong choice, the price would be our lives." Bai Yi explained.
"Bai Yi, aren't you able to see their aura?" Woolf suddenly asked. The way Bai Yi found the direction of that guy was incredibly mystifying.
"It's only a general sense, and it's very weak." Bai Yi shook his head.
"It's probably because this guy is a LV2." Bai Yi explained. "Moreover, this is just my personal feeling after all, we can't ascertain if it's accurate."
Bai Yi said and everyone else looked at NO. 0721-2 again. Seemingly, they really couldn't see any brutality in this guy, he just kept on chattering away non-stop at the camera. After a long while, he finally gave a yawn and walked back to his bed, seemingly falling asleep.
"He seems to know what had happened in this research facility."
"Of course! Any intelligent experimental subject would be able to guess what had happened, after all the commotion caused by the Progenitor more than a month ago was too huge. Moreover, in the month following that none of the researchers appeared in front of them again. As long as they still retained their intelligence, they could definitely guess that something had happened. As for what exactly happened, they are definitely in the dark." Yeye nodded.
"To speak of it, Yeye you said Bai Yi's change is somewhat different from a normal experimental subject, but what exactly is the difference?" Mavis suddenly thought of a question from Bai Yi's performance just now.
"Oh this, you guys should now about mutants, right?"
"Bai Yi is a mutant?!" Woolf instantly asked in shock.
"No…I mean, I'm not sure. In truth, I do not have many examining capabilities. The most I can do now is to use the experimental data in the database and compare it with you guys. Bai Yi's transformation shouldn't be considered to be a mutation. Based on Doctor Wang's naming, it should be known as deep-level fusion." Yeye explained.
"Deep-level fusion?"
"When a normal experimental subject fuses with genes from another lifeform, it isn't just a simple fusion process, but like adding on genes to their original DNA. A very small percentage would display mutations, and an even smaller percentage would display deep-level fusion." Yeye said steadily.
"Gene addition, to put it simply, means that the main DNA of the lifeform did not have any obvious changes, and the genes fused did not truly merge into the original DNA chain. The genes only got attached on the surface level, just like an additional supplementary. As for deep-level fusion, it means that the gene fused had truly merged itself with the human DNA chain, and thoroughly mixed itself together. Mutation means that the original DNA chain got affected by the fused genes and becomes fundamentally different from the initial lifeform."
"Mutations can be good or bad, but they generally result in increases in strength. As for deep-level fusion, no special characteristics have been found so far. Or rather, Bai Yi, you are the most special one so far. Of course, this is conditional on that your situation is really deep-level fusion." Yeye explained.
Simple fusion, gene addition, mutation, deep-level fusion…!
"Ahhh, no more, my brain is starting to malfunction. Yeye, I think you can wait for us to finish digesting all this information first before gradually filling us in again." Heloise thought for a while and rubbed her head.
If even Heloise was in this state, then there was no need to mention Woolf, Warner, or Momo. These people had simple brains. Everyone had close to zero understanding of the entire research before. Although they only intended to ask some things, they ended up going off on a tangent. However, the information was all about something that everyone didn't know but wanted to know.
Bai Yi's brain at this time was similarly in a mess. There was too much information in this short period of time, and he of course couldn't digest everything.
"Are the researchers just making things up? How can there be so many things?!" Woolf thought for a while, but his brain seemed to tie itself into a knot and he banged the table in frustration. 'Kuang!', the small table instantly broke into pieces.
"Woolf, don't get angry, calm down." Bai Yi immediately reminded.
"Orh……!" Woolf's furious face stiffened for a moment and slowly sat down after hearing Bai Yi's words. They could see that Woolf was the most influenced by the Brutal Stage and lost control of his emotions easily.
"However, there really is so much information, research on life is truly complex. If only it was simple like levelling up in a game…" Heloise said as well.
Bai Yi only chuckled at Heloise's words like it was a joke. This was a true transformation of life; it should be complex. Leveling up like in games… How was that possible?
Chapter 81: One Month Later
While Bai Yi's group rested at the small laboratory, Yu Han and Ning Xue searched for useful things in the upper section of the research facility. As for Khina, she dragged her severely injured body and left the research facility with great difficulty. When Khina left, she was unimaginably heartbroken, and self-blame took up a great portion of her sorrow.
What had happened here? Yeye seemed to just happen to lose her surveillance of the upper section at that period of time, so she wasn't clear either. Even if she managed to regain control, the connection didn't seem to be too stable, and she wasn't even able to activate the defence system. After all, Yeye's real duties was to manage the lower section. She only vaguely knew that Yu Han and Ning Xue were looking for useful things in the upper section.
However, what she could be sure of was Yu Han's transformation, his transformation into a ruthless and ambitious character.
Bai Yi's eyes couldn't see right now, so he just quietly listened to the others describe Yu Han's situation. Everyone worried that Bai Yi would erupt in anger over Yu Han's matters, but unexpectedly after hearing about Yu Han, Bai Yi's only reaction was just silence, incredibly calm and still silence. This silence, on the contrary, made everyone afraid, and even Momo carefully avoided Bai Yi.
……
In the following days, everyone asked Yeye in detail about various information again. If a few days ago they just roughly tried to understand the summary of things, during these few days all of them seriously read through the information that Yeye gave, carefully and meticulously remembering and understanding everything in their hearts.
Other than gaining a more fine understanding of things from Yeye, everyone had been seriously recuperating from their injuries, fighting to have a bit more power when they had to escape for their lives later.
7 days later, Bai Yi finally took off his bandage, but his vision had still not recovered. His vision now was just like a normal person in a dark night, only able to see rough a rough outline of things. However, this was already much better than the complete darkness beforehand. Most importantly, it brought everyone hope… Just like Mavis had said, Bai Yi's blindness was due to over-usage of his eyes. As long as he rested and recovered, his vision would slowly recover as well.
This place was just a temporarily laboratory, so there weren't many supplies inside here. Even for food, they had to rely on those gene-fused monsters that died in the circular walkway outside.
After a week, the corpses outside had been devoured completely by the 37 remaining monsters. Of course, Bai Yi's group had no food left as well. In truth, even if there were food left it would have become inedible, as it would've rotted long ago. However, there were still 37 monsters remaining, and they completely treated them as backup rations.
Bai Yi wasn't in a rush to get out. So far, there didn't seem to be a place safer than here. Moreover, once they switched off Yeye's main computer, what they had to face were numerous experimental monsters. Before this, they had to prepare everything properly, not just weapons, but also their physical conditions. Similarly, the longer they stayed here, the experimental monsters would grow weaker due to starvation, increasing their chances of escaping from this place.
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The 1st of June 2020, it had been more than two months since the activated cells proliferated from the Progenitor. It had also been more than 1 month since they'd entered this research facility. There were only 4 left out of the original 37 monsters, as the rest were all killed and used as food by Bai Yi's group.
Bai Yi's eyes had more or less healed to the level of a normal person. Although it still seemed a bit dim to him, there weren't any major issues anymore.
During this period of time, their transformation simply couldn't be described with words. Everyone became a complete gene-fused monster. One must know that during that bloody battle, all of them came into contact with at least 9 monsters, and also fused with all their genes.
Woolf - 1. Dog, 2. Cow, 3. Alligator, 4. Bald Eagle, 5. Ant, 6……They weren't even able to tell what genes Woolf had fused with afterwards. The Woolf now was 4 meters tall, his body incomparably thick and sturdy, and grew a huge tail behind him. A pair of wings actually grew from his back, but this pair of wings was only half a meter wide. Compared to Woolf's body size now, it looked just like a toy. Woolf's overall body shape now seemed quite similar to a western 'fat dragon', but it was definitely the kind that couldn't fly.
However, Woolf would rather die than admit to this point.
Heloise - 1. Mosquito, 2. Ant, 3. Cat, 4. Praying Mantis……
Heloise was also more than 2 meters tall now, with two pairs of eyes, and appeared to be extremely terrifying. Her tongue could shoot out in an instant, forming a sharp sucker just like that of a mosquito's proboscis (TN: The mosquito mouthpart that pokes you, I couldn't find a better term for it), and it was incomparably tough and hard. Other than that, Heloise also grew a pair of transparent wings on her back, and she could fly now. However, she still wasn't too proficient with this, and the place that they were in right now wasn't too useful for practicing flying anyway.
Heloise and Woolf had already confirmed their couple status. Although they were both monsters now, they didn't disdain each other but stuck to each other like glue.
However, what made Bai Yi worried was if Woolf could survive her.
Putting aside the mosquito's proboscis-like tongue, once while they were playing around Heloise's praying mantis sickle almost sliced Woolf into half. If not for the armoured skin all over Woolf's body being incredibly hard now, he would have probably died on top of Heloise's stomach. Moreover, after the incident was over Heloise still gave off a feeling like she wasn't done with Woolf yet.
"A female praying mantis had a habit of killing the male praying mantis during intercourse!"
After Yeye explained, everyone could finally understand the reason. As it turns out, fusing with genes from other lifeforms not only brought about changes in their body but also in their habits. However, Woolf didn't seem to mind it at all, and even seemed to enjoy it. As for their S&M tendencies, Bai Yi and Mavis couldn't be bothered to say anything.
Mavis - 1. Bee, 2. Ant, 3. Hummingbird, 4……
Mavis fused with genes from quite a few flying animals, but unexpectedly she didn't grow any wings in the end. She instead had two extra arms now, and both grew on her right side. Other than this, Mavis' changes didn't seem to be big, but of course this was relative to Woolf and Heloise's changes.
During this period of time, Mavis already had already perfected her use of the surgery scalpels, and she used them now as her main weapons.
Warner - 1. Pig, 2. Cow, 3. Ant, 4. Hummingbird, 5. Cat, 6……
Warner did not change much from before. He stopped growing ever since reaching 2 meters tall two weeks ago. Instead, he started growing horizontally and became extremely fat. However, although he was fat, his agility and strength were actually not bad.
Sharpei - 1. Slug, 2. Ant, 4. Hummingbird, 4. Poison Spiked Lizard, 5……
Sharpei underwent huge changes as well. Its body was already nearing 3 meters long, and appeared incomparably large and sinister. Colored scales covered its limbs, spreading all the way to its claws. its upper body still retained the appearance of bursting muscles, while his left shoulder, which had a giant hole ripped out from it earlier, actually had bone growing on the outside. Half of his body was now covered in a white bone armour. As for Sharpei's tail, it transformed into a scorpion's tail, and the tip of it was extraordinarily brightly colored.
Pupu - 1. Cow, 2. Ant, 3……
Nobody could tell what genes this guy had fused with. They only knew that it still looked like a pig, just that its entire body was abnormally fat, but the toughness of it was just extraordinary. When Woolf swung his greatsword horizontally at it, he actually couldn't cut apart its skin, and it would just fly out like a meatball from the immense strength.
Pupu didn't seem to mind its own changes at all, and only very happily lazed around with Bai Yi and the rest. It seemingly did not know that with its characteristics, it had already been deemed as the 'super meat shield' by the rest.
Bai Yi - 1. Butterfly
Momo - 1. Butterfly
Bai Yi and Momo both only fused with the genes of a butterfly, and the two of them just seemed like two big and small, brightly colored caterpillars. However, the colors on Momo's body comparatively seemed a lot dimmer.
Bai Yi's eyes now had returned to normal, but once Bai Yi wanted to use his eyes' abilities, a circle of colored patterns would appear around his pupils. Everyone could see that this circle of colored patterns was the same as the patterns that disappeared from his limbs. Seemingly, Bai Yi's eyes absorbed the Warning Coloration Mimicry from his body, and amplified the effect of it.
Momo's transformation also happened in her eyes, similar to what everyone else had guessed. After all, both of them fused with the genes of a butterfly.
However, the change in Momo's eyes was completely different than that of Bai Yi's. Quietly, Momo's irises started to disappear. Anybody who saw her eyes that lost their irises would definitely jump in fright, but once they got used to it, it actually seemed quite adorable. However sadly, other than the change in appearance, Momo didn't seem to gain any special abilities.
These were all the changes that everyone had in this month.
"Bai Yi, you guys have to move already." Yeye's voice suddenly came.
"What happened?"
"The Progenitor said that she can't hold on for much longer, so you guys better move fast." Yeye explained. During this period, they also got to know that the Progenitor was still alive, and seemingly she wanted to meet with them. Similarly, they were also very curious about the Progenitor. After all, what kind of existence was the Progenitor that triggered everything?
"I got it." Bai Yi nodded.
The detailed route was planned out long ago during this period, so now all they had to do was to execute their plan. Hearing Bai Yi's voice, all of them focused their minds. Were they finally going out after staying here for more than a month?
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Author's Note: These few chapters may be rather dry since it's all about information and the system, but I have to write about all of this, and write about this in detail. Because what I'm writing is a 'realistic' evolution novel, and not the kind of common system based or levelling based novels where things happen for no reason at all. So, my setting must be logical.
Other than that, I'm open to any bug reports, I mean any loopholes in the settings and system here.
Chapter 79: 2.31%
"The first batch of experimental subjects that can communicate?" Mavis grabbed hold of an important point in Yeye's words.
"Human experimental subjects that fused with genes from other lifeforms. A portion of them did not lose their rationality completely at the Brutal Phase, and after entering the LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage they gave the researchers very important information - confirmation of the existence of the soul." Yeye said calmly and coldly.
The group of them who were initially excited over the prospect of hearing a secret felt like they had been splashed with cold water.
This information was gathered from countless experimental subjects. Only heaven knew just how much darkness was hidden behind all this. Everyone suddenly felt like they understood the meaning behind the Progenitor's serial number, No. 31000137.
……
"Let's continue then." Yeye saw the atmosphere going cold and she decided to move things along. At this time, none of them had that excitement and curiosity anymore, but carried a level of heaviness and other feelings as they listened to Yeye explain.
"In the LV1-2 Brutal Stage, the incongruence between the body and soul will cause the lifeform to act brutally. Every time it erupts, the symptoms were just like you guys before, losing your rationality, and only knowing how to kill on instinct. The first few times are easier to wake up from, but if you guys cannot suppress it, it is very easy to lose your mind completely and become a true wild beast. Among all the experimental subjects, the human experimental subjects that can enter LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage and still retain their rationality, is not more than 1 out of 10. As for the rest…" Yeye said and gave a statistic.
Everyone's faces became very solemn. If they entered that mindless state multiple times, it would result in them becoming completely mindless monsters huh?
"Isn't there any solution?" Heloise asked nervously.
"Didn't I say it just now? Three solutions. You guys are already not suitable for the first, the second and third solution can suppress the symptoms of brutality to a certain extent. However, you guys must know, these two solutions were also only discovered recently, so it has no decisive effect." Yeye purposely looked Woolf, Warner, Sharpei and Momo seriously.
The four of them stared at Yeye dumbly, not completely understanding the seriousness of the issue.
Woolf had a simple brain, while Warner and Momo were both little kids. As for Sharpei, do you really expect him to be as intelligent as humans? Seeing that the few of them didn't even have the slightest look of fear on their faces, Yeye gave a 'hmph' in displeasure. Damn I didn't get to scare the bunch of you. Heloise saw how Yeye was acting like a little girl and couldn't help but chuckle. She was clearly an artificial intelligence, but this personality was even cuter than a real person's.
"Continuing on!" Yeye, on the contrary, felt shy at Heloise's laughter.
"The reason behind the brutality is the incongruence between the body and soul. The body changed too fast while the soul didn't have many changes. Life is a complete whole, however, so after the body changes, the soul will gradually change as well to become compatible with the new body. This process similarly happens at the Brutal Phase. However, the soul is a completely new concept to all of us, unable to be touched or felt. Hence, even within the research facility, there was only one solution found to help the soul adjust to the new body." Yeye continued explaining.
"What's the solution?" Everyone couldn't help but ask.
"Sleep!"
"Sleep?"
"That's right, sleep. Sleep for a living thing is actually a very magical state. While sleeping, everyone's body will automatically repair and adjust itself. While sleeping, the growth of the soul will also be faster and more stable than usual. Correspondingly, the LV1-2 Brutal Stage will also shorten. The better the quality of sleep, the better the growth of the soul, and this is also a rule found from the Hypersomnia Stage." Yeye explained.
LV1-3: Hypersomnia Stage - Number of gene fusions has already reached its limit, the physical body starts to stabilize, and the soul also grows to become compatible with the body. At this stage, the evolved lifeform will want to sleep a lot, entering the Hypersomnia Stage.
"I had already said it before, but the confirmation of the existence of the soul was done in LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage. In reality, at this stage, evolved lifeforms will sense the existence of the soul by nature, and at the same know what they should do next - let the body and soul harmonize again. To harmonize the body and soul again requires continuous balancing, and the effectiveness of balancing is best while sleeping, especially a deep level of sleep, being in a womb-like condition, or a deep level of meditation."
"This wasn't discovered by anybody, but what people instinctively knew to do when they reached that stage."
"It's like how we sleep when we feel tired!"
"Yes, it's as simple as sleeping when you feel tired; this is the basic instinct of living things. In the Hypersomnia Phase, the lifeform will instinctually sense the soul, want to sleep, and balance the body and soul." Yeye nodded.
"Hypersomnia Stage lifeforms, other than eating, basically spend all their time in deep sleep, and there isn't much risk in this stage, but…!" Yeye suddenly raised her voice.
"Although they want to sleep a lot, the condition of the sleep isn't too good, and it's difficult for them to enter a deep level of sleep as well. They are easily woken or have nightmares. Overall, it's the consequence of the imbalance between body and soul. So, Hypersomnia Stage lifeforms will feel… intense anger towards those who wake them up from their sleep." Yeye explained.
"What would happen if you wake a Hypersomnia Stage lifeform up?" Momo asked tenderly.
"Momo you can go and try!" Yeye paused for a moment and smiled at Momo.
Warner looked at the exquisite virtual image of Yeye, and suddenly for a moment he thought that small devil horns grew from her head. Momo blanked for a moment and ran behind Bai Yi, holding onto his sleeve and cautiously stretching out her little head to look at Yeye. The rest of them immediately burst out into laughter, but they could roughly guess the consequences. It was already hard to fall asleep, so if somebody woke them up… It would probably end up with something like 'wake me up from my sleep, and I'll murder your entire family!"
Yeye also blanked for a moment. She was just teasing Momo, and didn't expect that her intuition to be so sharp.
Hmph, too bad I can't come out, or else I would definitely grab those chubby cheeks of yours and rub them so hard. Yeye raised her little fist behind the scenes.
"Then let me continue on the next stage - Metamorphosis."
"Wait wait, Hypersomnia Stage, isn't there things to do like calming drugs or Soul Nourishing Physical Arts like in the Brutal Stage?" Mavis asked.
"There might be, but we haven't discovered any with the current research. On the 7th of July 2014, the Progenitor was born, and in reality, the first batch of experimental subjects only entered Hypersomnia Stage in 2017. It's only 29th April 2020 today. This research facility only came into contact with activated cells a few years earlier than you guys. How could they research everything so thoroughly?" Yeye explained shortly and to the point like a real computer would.
Everyone immediately understood, and Mavis sat down again. What the researchers had seemingly discovered with their research was still very preliminary. Even if they obtained all the information from Yeye, they still wouldn't know how they would change in the future. This required every person to go and find out for themselves.
"This is the process of change of evolved lifeforms. The researchers split it into a few stages, LV1-1 Binging Stage, LV1-2 Brutal Stage, LV1-3 Hypersomnia Stage, but in reality, the changes of a lifeform are a continuous process, so the three stages do not have clear boundaries. You guys understand?" Yeye looked at everyone.
"Since you guys understand, let me tell you the next stage - Metamorphosis!" Yeye continued after seeing them nod.
◆【Metamorphosis】
Metamorphosis - This is after the body and soul had harmonized to a certain point, and reached a new state of balance.
After evolved lifeforms enter the Hypersomnia Stage, they will sense the existence of the soul for the first time, and at the same time automatically go about balancing themselves. After the Hypersomnia Stage has gone on for a period of time, the lifeform will passively undergo Metamorphosis.
"And then?" Everyone saw that Yeye only gave a vague explanation and couldn't help but ask.
"What 'and then'? It's just Metamorphosis."
"Do you really expect me to tell you how to undergo Metamorphosis? I already said that the researchers haven't finished researching this yet either. Sigh…Let me think, Doctor Wang did say that it's probably similar to the Foundation Building Stage in cultivation novels. We still don't understand the process now. Anyway, if the process is successful, then the body and soul will reach a new balance and enter a whole new realm." Yeye said.
Everyone didn't know whether to laugh or cry hearing Yeye's explanation.
"After Metamorphosis, the lifeform will enter the LV2 Metamorphose Stage. With the understanding of the Metamorphose Stage now, there's only two important points. 1. The lifeform will generate an absolute lifefield inside its body, and become able to actively manipulate the special energy inside its body. 2. At this stage, the body, soul, and special energy are continuously changing." Yeye said very seriously, but after attracting all their attention she had nothing more to say.
Everyone waited for a long while, and finally realized that that was the end, The data from the research probably only reached up till this point.
However, even if they only had this information, it was enough for them to digest for a long while. Moreover, Yeye only simply summarized the information they had. The true detailed information couldn't be just this little.
"Yeye, prepare a set of detailed information to let them read and remember it." Bai Yi said to Yeye.
"Hi~. No problem." Yeye nodded.
……
"Last question, under normal conditions, what is the portion of evolved lifeforms that can enter LV2 Metamorphose Stage?" Bai Yi suddenly seemed to recall something and asked another question. Everyone involuntarily paid attention again after hearing this question.
"Tongariro National Park Research Facility had a total of 143211 experimental subjects over six years of research. A total of 36547 experimental subjects died fighting each other, and there is a total of 104232 experimental subjects remaining in the research facility now. The remaining 234 died from gene fusion mutation…" Yeye reported a long chain of numbers, making them dizzy and finally concluded.
"The probability of entering LV2 is only 2.31%. The death rate is 14.17%, 80.28% of them have incomplete Metamorphosis and became defective products, and the rest… died through various accidents."
At this moment, there was only one number in their heads… 2.31%!
Chapter 80: Complex Lifeform Change
At this moment, there was only one number in everyone's heads… 2.31%
Wasn't this number pitifully low? Although the death rate was only 14.17% and the remaining seemingly survived, the 'defective products' didn't seem like something good either.
"2.31%?"
"That's right, that's the probability of entering LV2 Metamorphose Stage now." Yeye nodded.
"Isn't this probability too low?" Heloise creased her eyebrows.
"No, it isn't low at all. When trying anything for the first time, it will usually end up in failure. We should say that the fact these lifeforms are able to enter LV2 Metamorphose Stage at the start without any form of safeguard, actually proved that they were evolving in the correct way. If the probability is 0%, then that would be really worrying. We would need to search for a new way to evolve if that were the case. However, now you guys just need to study the information of all the stages in detail, and figure out the method to raise your chances of success to the maximum." Yeye explained.
"Then what do you mean by defective products?"
"It means that they couldn't even be consider to be wild beasts. No rationality, no emotions, and not even that bit of intelligence that animals have. They only instinctively know how to kill and survive." Yeye said, and displayed an image again. The wild and savage appearances of the gene-fused monsters that appeared made everyone look away in discomfort.
"Of course, even though they have no rationality, they are beings that entered LV2 after all. If we really had to classify them, we could refer to them as LV2.1, and so their strength is still absolutely astounding~."
Astounding~. Yeye's adorable tone on the contrary didn't cause any of them to smile.
"How many of such guys are there?"
"Not many. The truth is, only six years have passed since the Progenitor was born, so only the very first batch of experimental subjects reached the Metamorphose Stage. In Tongariro National Park Research Facility, there's only a total of 1000 experimental subjects in the first batch. Among those, 29 of them died in accidents, 654 died in various experiments, and the remaining ones that had the chance to attempt Metamorphosis were only 317. Only 7 out of these entered the LV2 Metamorphose Stage perfectly, and there were 243 LV2.1 defective products. Due to these lifeforms being too dangerous, only 30 of them were kept for research and the rest were all killed."
"Of course, this is also what you guys need to take note of. Once you switch off my main computer, other than the 7 perfect LV2 Metamorphose Stage experimental subjects, these 30 defective products are the ones that you need to be most wary of."
Yeye said all this while displaying the images of these 30 LV2.1 defective gene-fused monsters. There was seemingly no effect on these monsters even after more than a month of starvation, and they still looked very energetic. However, these guys all seemed to be able to sense the position of Yeye's cameras. After they heard the soft sound of movement, they instantly twisted their heads and viciously bit towards the direction of the cameras.
'BANG!', the few of them instantly jumped in fright, just as if these monsters were going to pounce out from the screen and devour the bunch of them. Bai Yi couldn't see, but the rest of them couldn't help but to look away seeing these 30 'defective products'. Any one of these among the 30 monsters could wipe out all the experimental monsters in the first floor alone.
"What about the true perfect LV2 Metamorphose Stage?"
Yeye displayed the other 7 experimental subjects. Similarly, these perfect Metamorphose Stage lifeforms immediately sensed the movements of the hidden cameras. However, 6 of them just yawned lazily, not paying much attention to the movements. Only one of them immediately jogged over and revealed a friendly smile after discovering the movement of the hidden cameras.
"Heyyy~ researchers, are you guys still there? It's been so long; can you give me something to eat?" This guy grinned cheekily and said.
"This is?" Bai Yi couldn't see but he still could hear him speak.
"Serial number NO. 0721-2, one of the two humans that entered LV2 among the first batch of experimental subjects. Of course, he still has his intelligence, and is usually very cooperative with the experiments as well, never resisting." Yeye explained.
Everyone instantly stared at this guy seriously. Human?
He completely doesn't look like one!
However, monsters weren't actually scary, what was scary was the inability to communicate and how they attacked for food on sight. Although this guy looked very sinister, he didn't look too different from the so-called 'demon'. It wasn't a big deal anymore after a few more looks and they got used to it. Everyone looked at this guy and immediately thought of the same thing. These guys that still have their intelligence, could we cooperate temporarily with them?
"Yeye, in this research facility, how many of them still retained their sanity and are able to have normal interactions?" Heloise suddenly asked.
"678!"
"Bai Yi!" Heloise looked at Bai Yi.
"Give it up." Bai Yi seemingly guessed what Heloise wanted to say, and shook his head. He then came to in front of the computer screen. Bai Yi eyes were bandaged, but somehow, he could seemingly see through the bandage, the computer screen and stared at that NO. 0721-2. Bai Yi slowly turned his head towards his left, looking down at the floor at an angle.
"This guy is concealing his true nature very deeply. He seems very normal, but I can feel a mad and brutal aura from him. Yeye, is that guy in this direction?" Bai Yi pointed towards the direction of his gaze.
"DingDong~ Congratulations you are right!" Yeye jumped inside the computer screen, and threw flower petals everywhere from her flower basket. She then displayed the translucent grid map of the research facility on the screen, and used a red line to join two points. These two points were their location and the prison cell of NO. 0721-2.
"I know what you guys are thinking, whether we can cooperate with these experimental subjects that still retained their intelligence and escape together. From the first look, this seems to be quite an attractive idea, but in reality, this won't work. Of course, with so many experimental subjects, there are bound to be some guys that we can actually with. However, there could also be guys who appear normal, but are actually very brutal inside. Once we make the wrong choice, the price would be our lives." Bai Yi explained.
"Bai Yi, aren't you able to see their aura?" Woolf suddenly asked. The way Bai Yi found the direction of that guy was incredibly mystifying.
"It's only a general sense, and it's very weak." Bai Yi shook his head.
"It's probably because this guy is a LV2." Bai Yi explained. "Moreover, this is just my personal feeling after all, we can't ascertain if it's accurate."
Bai Yi said and everyone else looked at NO. 0721-2 again. Seemingly, they really couldn't see any brutality in this guy, he just kept on chattering away non-stop at the camera. After a long while, he finally gave a yawn and walked back to his bed, seemingly falling asleep.
"He seems to know what had happened in this research facility."
"Of course! Any intelligent experimental subject would be able to guess what had happened, after all the commotion caused by the Progenitor more than a month ago was too huge. Moreover, in the month following that none of the researchers appeared in front of them again. As long as they still retained their intelligence, they could definitely guess that something had happened. As for what exactly happened, they are definitely in the dark." Yeye nodded.
"To speak of it, Yeye you said Bai Yi's change is somewhat different from a normal experimental subject, but what exactly is the difference?" Mavis suddenly thought of a question from Bai Yi's performance just now.
"Oh this, you guys should now about mutants, right?"
"Bai Yi is a mutant?!" Woolf instantly asked in shock.
"No…I mean, I'm not sure. In truth, I do not have many examining capabilities. The most I can do now is to use the experimental data in the database and compare it with you guys. Bai Yi's transformation shouldn't be considered to be a mutation. Based on Doctor Wang's naming, it should be known as deep-level fusion." Yeye explained.
"Deep-level fusion?"
"When a normal experimental subject fuses with genes from another lifeform, it isn't just a simple fusion process, but like adding on genes to their original DNA. A very small percentage would display mutations, and an even smaller percentage would display deep-level fusion." Yeye said steadily.
"Gene addition, to put it simply, means that the main DNA of the lifeform did not have any obvious changes, and the genes fused did not truly merge into the original DNA chain. The genes only got attached on the surface level, just like an additional supplementary. As for deep-level fusion, it means that the gene fused had truly merged itself with the human DNA chain, and thoroughly mixed itself together. Mutation means that the original DNA chain got affected by the fused genes and becomes fundamentally different from the initial lifeform."
"Mutations can be good or bad, but they generally result in increases in strength. As for deep-level fusion, no special characteristics have been found so far. Or rather, Bai Yi, you are the most special one so far. Of course, this is conditional on that your situation is really deep-level fusion." Yeye explained.
Simple fusion, gene addition, mutation, deep-level fusion…!
"Ahhh, no more, my brain is starting to malfunction. Yeye, I think you can wait for us to finish digesting all this information first before gradually filling us in again." Heloise thought for a while and rubbed her head.
If even Heloise was in this state, then there was no need to mention Woolf, Warner, or Momo. These people had simple brains. Everyone had close to zero understanding of the entire research before. Although they only intended to ask some things, they ended up going off on a tangent. However, the information was all about something that everyone didn't know but wanted to know.
Bai Yi's brain at this time was similarly in a mess. There was too much information in this short period of time, and he of course couldn't digest everything.
"Are the researchers just making things up? How can there be so many things?!" Woolf thought for a while, but his brain seemed to tie itself into a knot and he banged the table in frustration. 'Kuang!', the small table instantly broke into pieces.
"Woolf, don't get angry, calm down." Bai Yi immediately reminded.
"Orh……!" Woolf's furious face stiffened for a moment and slowly sat down after hearing Bai Yi's words. They could see that Woolf was the most influenced by the Brutal Stage and lost control of his emotions easily.
"However, there really is so much information, research on life is truly complex. If only it was simple like levelling up in a game…" Heloise said as well.
Bai Yi only chuckled at Heloise's words like it was a joke. This was a true transformation of life; it should be complex. Leveling up like in games… How was that possible?
Chapter 81: One Month Later
While Bai Yi's group rested at the small laboratory, Yu Han and Ning Xue searched for useful things in the upper section of the research facility. As for Khina, she dragged her severely injured body and left the research facility with great difficulty. When Khina left, she was unimaginably heartbroken, and self-blame took up a great portion of her sorrow.
What had happened here? Yeye seemed to just happen to lose her surveillance of the upper section at that period of time, so she wasn't clear either. Even if she managed to regain control, the connection didn't seem to be too stable, and she wasn't even able to activate the defence system. After all, Yeye's real duties was to manage the lower section. She only vaguely knew that Yu Han and Ning Xue were looking for useful things in the upper section.
However, what she could be sure of was Yu Han's transformation, his transformation into a ruthless and ambitious character.
Bai Yi's eyes couldn't see right now, so he just quietly listened to the others describe Yu Han's situation. Everyone worried that Bai Yi would erupt in anger over Yu Han's matters, but unexpectedly after hearing about Yu Han, Bai Yi's only reaction was just silence, incredibly calm and still silence. This silence, on the contrary, made everyone afraid, and even Momo carefully avoided Bai Yi.
……
In the following days, everyone asked Yeye in detail about various information again. If a few days ago they just roughly tried to understand the summary of things, during these few days all of them seriously read through the information that Yeye gave, carefully and meticulously remembering and understanding everything in their hearts.
Other than gaining a more fine understanding of things from Yeye, everyone had been seriously recuperating from their injuries, fighting to have a bit more power when they had to escape for their lives later.
7 days later, Bai Yi finally took off his bandage, but his vision had still not recovered. His vision now was just like a normal person in a dark night, only able to see rough a rough outline of things. However, this was already much better than the complete darkness beforehand. Most importantly, it brought everyone hope… Just like Mavis had said, Bai Yi's blindness was due to over-usage of his eyes. As long as he rested and recovered, his vision would slowly recover as well.
This place was just a temporarily laboratory, so there weren't many supplies inside here. Even for food, they had to rely on those gene-fused monsters that died in the circular walkway outside.
After a week, the corpses outside had been devoured completely by the 37 remaining monsters. Of course, Bai Yi's group had no food left as well. In truth, even if there were food left it would have become inedible, as it would've rotted long ago. However, there were still 37 monsters remaining, and they completely treated them as backup rations.
Bai Yi wasn't in a rush to get out. So far, there didn't seem to be a place safer than here. Moreover, once they switched off Yeye's main computer, what they had to face were numerous experimental monsters. Before this, they had to prepare everything properly, not just weapons, but also their physical conditions. Similarly, the longer they stayed here, the experimental monsters would grow weaker due to starvation, increasing their chances of escaping from this place.
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The 1st of June 2020, it had been more than two months since the activated cells proliferated from the Progenitor. It had also been more than 1 month since they'd entered this research facility. There were only 4 left out of the original 37 monsters, as the rest were all killed and used as food by Bai Yi's group.
Bai Yi's eyes had more or less healed to the level of a normal person. Although it still seemed a bit dim to him, there weren't any major issues anymore.
During this period of time, their transformation simply couldn't be described with words. Everyone became a complete gene-fused monster. One must know that during that bloody battle, all of them came into contact with at least 9 monsters, and also fused with all their genes.
Woolf - 1. Dog, 2. Cow, 3. Alligator, 4. Bald Eagle, 5. Ant, 6……They weren't even able to tell what genes Woolf had fused with afterwards. The Woolf now was 4 meters tall, his body incomparably thick and sturdy, and grew a huge tail behind him. A pair of wings actually grew from his back, but this pair of wings was only half a meter wide. Compared to Woolf's body size now, it looked just like a toy. Woolf's overall body shape now seemed quite similar to a western 'fat dragon', but it was definitely the kind that couldn't fly.
However, Woolf would rather die than admit to this point.
Heloise - 1. Mosquito, 2. Ant, 3. Cat, 4. Praying Mantis……
Heloise was also more than 2 meters tall now, with two pairs of eyes, and appeared to be extremely terrifying. Her tongue could shoot out in an instant, forming a sharp sucker just like that of a mosquito's proboscis (TN: The mosquito mouthpart that pokes you, I couldn't find a better term for it), and it was incomparably tough and hard. Other than that, Heloise also grew a pair of transparent wings on her back, and she could fly now. However, she still wasn't too proficient with this, and the place that they were in right now wasn't too useful for practicing flying anyway.
Heloise and Woolf had already confirmed their couple status. Although they were both monsters now, they didn't disdain each other but stuck to each other like glue.
However, what made Bai Yi worried was if Woolf could survive her.
Putting aside the mosquito's proboscis-like tongue, once while they were playing around Heloise's praying mantis sickle almost sliced Woolf into half. If not for the armoured skin all over Woolf's body being incredibly hard now, he would have probably died on top of Heloise's stomach. Moreover, after the incident was over Heloise still gave off a feeling like she wasn't done with Woolf yet.
"A female praying mantis had a habit of killing the male praying mantis during intercourse!"
After Yeye explained, everyone could finally understand the reason. As it turns out, fusing with genes from other lifeforms not only brought about changes in their body but also in their habits. However, Woolf didn't seem to mind it at all, and even seemed to enjoy it. As for their S&M tendencies, Bai Yi and Mavis couldn't be bothered to say anything.
Mavis - 1. Bee, 2. Ant, 3. Hummingbird, 4……
Mavis fused with genes from quite a few flying animals, but unexpectedly she didn't grow any wings in the end. She instead had two extra arms now, and both grew on her right side. Other than this, Mavis' changes didn't seem to be big, but of course this was relative to Woolf and Heloise's changes.
During this period of time, Mavis already had already perfected her use of the surgery scalpels, and she used them now as her main weapons.
Warner - 1. Pig, 2. Cow, 3. Ant, 4. Hummingbird, 5. Cat, 6……
Warner did not change much from before. He stopped growing ever since reaching 2 meters tall two weeks ago. Instead, he started growing horizontally and became extremely fat. However, although he was fat, his agility and strength were actually not bad.
Sharpei - 1. Slug, 2. Ant, 4. Hummingbird, 4. Poison Spiked Lizard, 5……
Sharpei underwent huge changes as well. Its body was already nearing 3 meters long, and appeared incomparably large and sinister. Colored scales covered its limbs, spreading all the way to its claws. its upper body still retained the appearance of bursting muscles, while his left shoulder, which had a giant hole ripped out from it earlier, actually had bone growing on the outside. Half of his body was now covered in a white bone armour. As for Sharpei's tail, it transformed into a scorpion's tail, and the tip of it was extraordinarily brightly colored.
Pupu - 1. Cow, 2. Ant, 3……
Nobody could tell what genes this guy had fused with. They only knew that it still looked like a pig, just that its entire body was abnormally fat, but the toughness of it was just extraordinary. When Woolf swung his greatsword horizontally at it, he actually couldn't cut apart its skin, and it would just fly out like a meatball from the immense strength.
Pupu didn't seem to mind its own changes at all, and only very happily lazed around with Bai Yi and the rest. It seemingly did not know that with its characteristics, it had already been deemed as the 'super meat shield' by the rest.
Bai Yi - 1. Butterfly
Momo - 1. Butterfly
Bai Yi and Momo both only fused with the genes of a butterfly, and the two of them just seemed like two big and small, brightly colored caterpillars. However, the colors on Momo's body comparatively seemed a lot dimmer.
Bai Yi's eyes now had returned to normal, but once Bai Yi wanted to use his eyes' abilities, a circle of colored patterns would appear around his pupils. Everyone could see that this circle of colored patterns was the same as the patterns that disappeared from his limbs. Seemingly, Bai Yi's eyes absorbed the Warning Coloration Mimicry from his body, and amplified the effect of it.
Momo's transformation also happened in her eyes, similar to what everyone else had guessed. After all, both of them fused with the genes of a butterfly.
However, the change in Momo's eyes was completely different than that of Bai Yi's. Quietly, Momo's irises started to disappear. Anybody who saw her eyes that lost their irises would definitely jump in fright, but once they got used to it, it actually seemed quite adorable. However sadly, other than the change in appearance, Momo didn't seem to gain any special abilities.
These were all the changes that everyone had in this month.
"Bai Yi, you guys have to move already." Yeye's voice suddenly came.
"What happened?"
"The Progenitor said that she can't hold on for much longer, so you guys better move fast." Yeye explained. During this period, they also got to know that the Progenitor was still alive, and seemingly she wanted to meet with them. Similarly, they were also very curious about the Progenitor. After all, what kind of existence was the Progenitor that triggered everything?
"I got it." Bai Yi nodded.
The detailed route was planned out long ago during this period, so now all they had to do was to execute their plan. Hearing Bai Yi's voice, all of them focused their minds. Were they finally going out after staying here for more than a month?
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Author's Note: These few chapters may be rather dry since it's all about information and the system, but I have to write about all of this, and write about this in detail. Because what I'm writing is a 'realistic' evolution novel, and not the kind of common system based or levelling based novels where things happen for no reason at all. So, my setting must be logical.
Other than that, I'm open to any bug reports, I mean any loopholes in the settings and system here.
