[D-Rank Talent: Viral Host · Abyssal]

Qi Suian felt the virus within him changing. By leveraging the hosting effect from the battle programs of Geng Fu and the others, he had successfully upgraded his Viral Suppression into Viral Host.

This meant he and the Abyssal Virus had established a preliminary partnership.

To put it bluntly, he had gone from being part of a Slave Capture Team to being a Slave Master. The only issue was that the Abyssal Virus, his newly captured slave, was still wild and untamed and could potentially turn on him.

However, as long as Qi Suian didn’t take the Death Serum or do anything to stimulate the Abyssal Virus’s activity, his infection level wouldn’t rise on its own.

At first glance, it seemed pretty lame. And in reality, it was.

After all, it was only a D-rank talent, and a specialized one at that. It was definitely a far cry from being powerful.

Besides, Qi Suian had only intended for it to be a means of survival. His true goal was simply to control the Abyssal Virus.

You have to eat your meal one bite at a time, and walk the path one step at a time.

Of course, Qi Suian dreamed of achieving success overnight, but that was all it could be—a dream.

If something that good really happened, he wouldn’t think of it as a blessing from the heavens, but as a trap set by a con artist.

’Now that I’ve reached the Viral Host stage, my physique has finally started to recover.’

This meant his immune system and antibodies had begun to accept the Abyssal Virus, forming a rudimentary symbiosis.

Therefore, the symptoms of his illness... hadn’t subsided. In fact, they had worsened, as the Abyssal Virus burrowed deeper into his system.

However, the upper limit of his constitution had increased from 0.5 to 0.8.

Sickness aside, it didn’t change the fact that his body was in better shape than before.

’This means I can handle a higher concentration of the Death Serum.’

’If 0.5 was already that strong, then at 0.8, I’m going to be unstoppable!’

It might have only seemed like a 0.3 increase to his constitution, but to Qi Suian, it meant a fifty percent boost in efficiency.

’I can put the ten-times-potency Death Serum on the agenda now.’

Previously, he couldn’t handle a ten-times-potency Death Serum. After taking it, he could only last about five minutes before having to watch an ad to revive.

So, unless it was for a critical experiment, Qi Suian wouldn’t use such a high-concentration serum.

But now, he could use it on a regular basis.

’In that case, a thousand-times-potency Death Serum down the line doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.’

The ten-times-potency Death Serum wasn’t the limit of what Qi Suian could develop, but the limit of what his body could withstand.

Increasing the concentration further wouldn’t be difficult for him.

With the help of his AI and the Tai Sui God, he estimated he could produce a ten-thousand-times-potency Death Serum if he were to purify it regardless of the cost.

But there was no point in making it. If he were to down a ten-thousand-times-potency dose in one go, his infection level would instantly skyrocket to one hundred percent, turning him directly into a Zombie Dominator.

What was suitable was best; it wasn’t a case of the higher the concentration, the better.

"It’s time to leave. AI, convert everything in this safe house that can be used as evolution material."

Qi Suian was, of course, planning to leave.

The threat of the Abyssal Virus was temporarily neutralized, so he could set that aside for now. He planned to spend the coming days focused on two things: increasing the Tai Sui God’s number of evolutions, and hunting the survivors with high-quality talents that he knew of from the regressor’s memories.

The Tai Sui God was the foundation of his combat strength, while high-quality talents would help improve his personal power.

He did rely on the Tai Sui God for now, but that didn’t mean he wanted to depend on it for the rest of his life. Even if the Tai Sui God could evolve infinitely, he still needed to have strength of his own.

Who knew if he might one day encounter a doomsday scenario or a survivor that could counter the Tai Sui God?

Of course, he wasn’t just hunting survivors with high-quality talents for his own sake; he was also doing it to eliminate potential threats ahead of time.

As long as those survivors lived and grew stronger, they would undoubtedly become assets to the post-apocalyptic game, which would certainly be a disadvantage for an ’irregular’ like himself.

If he could eliminate a threat in advance, he certainly wouldn’t wait until it blew up in his face to deal with it.

It was a case of killing two birds with one stone.

If Qi Suian could kill every single survivor, that would be the best-case scenario.

But that wasn’t realistic. The number of survivors under the purview of the post-apocalyptic game was simply too vast. Even if they all stood still and let him kill them, he’d never finish the job.

Unless, of course, he gained complete control over the Abyssal Virus. In that case, infecting all the survivors and turning them into zombies had a considerable chance of success.

Of course, that would require the right equipment, which would need to be installed on the Tai Sui God to evolve it to SSS-rank. Otherwise, he could never pull it off on his own.

Qi Suian didn’t mind using tools, nor did he consider himself a failure for relying on an external power like the Tai Sui God. As an intelligent human, using tools was one of his species’ greatest strengths.

Why would anyone abandon their strengths and insist on fighting an enemy head-on with their weaknesses?

Weaknesses are meant to be compensated for, not used in battle.

Every part of the safe house that could be used as evolution material was devoured by the Tai Sui God.

After squeezing out every last drop of value, Qi Suian left without a second thought.

[Warning, missile attack detected...]

Qi Suian had just gotten into the car, and the AI had begun driving toward the predetermined location when the warning suddenly flashed.

"What’s going on? Can you trace the missile’s origin?" Qi Suian already had a good idea. ’It has to be the Watchman Morning Company.’

[Distance too great. Unable to track.]

[Based on monitored data, this is a saturation strike.]

When Qi Suian heard that, his heart sank.

They were planning to level the entire city, most likely to force him out of hiding.

"Is there any way to evade it?" At this point, Qi Suian could only pin his hopes on the Tai Sui God.

If the Tai Sui God had a few more evolutions under its belt, or if he possessed power on par with Chunyu Bao, he wouldn’t fear missiles in the slightest. He could just turn around and smash them to pieces.

[Seventy percent probability of a successful breakout. Twenty percent probability of taking heavy damage but remaining operational. Ten percent probability of death.]

The AI, of course, couldn’t give Qi Suian a one-hundred-percent guarantee; it wasn’t omnipotent.

However, under the AI’s control, the accelerator of the vehicle he was in was floored, and its speed skyrocketed.

There was no need to worry about road safety; if they moved any slower, a missile would land right on their heads.

[Position exposed. Enemy AI is mobilizing satellite positioning. Counter-attack in progress...] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The AI prompted him again. With this much commotion, he had definitely been noticed.

They had superior equipment; detecting his movements and locking onto his position would be no problem for them.

[Counter-attack successful. Enemy AI lock temporarily blocked.]

[Pursuer estimated to intercept in thirty minutes. Subsequent reinforcements estimated to intercept in one hour.]

The pursuer the AI mentioned was, of course, Chunyu Bao, the mutant who had undergone the Immortal Surgery.

And the reinforcements were those special task forces.