Chapter 34: Chapter 34: So If I Modify My Heart... Oh, That’s Certain Death

In the permanent event "Rulebreaker," the rulebreaker’s kill count suddenly skyrocketed by over a thousand.

This development left all the Survivors in utter shock. Many of the top Survivors had originally planned on claiming the reward for themselves.

But after seeing what happened, they all immediately abandoned the idea.

Even the number one Survivor would be powerless against a thousand other Survivors.

Yet the Rulebreaker had so casually accomplished this incredible feat in such a short amount of time.

This meant the gap between them and the Rulebreaker wasn’t just failing to shrink—it was growing wider.

Now, even fewer Survivors dared to go looking for trouble with the Rulebreaker.

’Well now, looks like I’ve crossed the Apocalypse Game’s bottom line again.’

’It immediately slapped me with a twenty-four-hour "high-powered obliteration service."’

The obliteration failed, of course. Otherwise, Qi Suian would be dead.

As a Rulebreaker, if he could be obliterated by the Apocalypse Game, he never would have survived long enough to run rampant in the first place.

After taking over the strategic reserve warehouse, the Tai Sui God began its journey of fusion and evolution.

The quality of the resources inside that could be used as evolutionary materials was rather average, and a good portion had already been used. But that didn’t matter; the sheer quantity was what counted.

Qi Suian estimated there were enough to support at least two evolutions without a problem.

Meanwhile, Qi Suian began his research on Jiangyang and Zhong Xuan.

The two of them actually had pretty decent talents.

The reincarnator’s memories contained a rough description of the effects of both talents.

Life Apostle could maximize one’s Physique. The talent granted Jiangyang a +1 to his Physique growth, and upon active use, it could temporarily double his Physique stat.

Furthermore, it provided extra boosts to his recovery and immune capabilities.

The Brutal Bloodstrike talent, however, was considerably inferior. It allowed the user to consume their own blood to temporarily boost their Physique stat.

The duration and magnitude of the boost depended on the amount of blood consumed.

If too little blood was used, the effect was minimal. But if too much was used, the user would be left severely weakened once the duration ended.

Therefore, one had to carefully manage the amount of blood used.

Of course, as one’s Physique stat increased, this side effect would eventually disappear.

There was still a noticeable gap between an SS-rank talent and an S-rank one.

The +1 to Physique growth, in particular, was an effect that could create a massive difference over time.

If Jiangyang received attribute points as a reward from the Apocalypse Game, he would get double the effect by allocating them to Physique; one attribute point would increase his Physique by two.

Unfortunately, he’d failed to capitalize on this advantage. Otherwise, with his talent, his Physique growth would have been anything but low.

The drawback was equally obvious: obtaining rewards from the Apocalypse Game was genuinely difficult.

As for building it up through training, the +1 to Physique growth still applied, but the results weren’t as immediate. It required long-term exercise, proper nutrition, and so on.

Besides, Jiangyang wasn’t even conscious of it. He had to handle so many matters every day; where would he find the free time to train?

The guy’s strategy hadn’t been wrong, either. He developed his faction in the early stages, and as it grew, it empowered him in return. That was why, in the reincarnator’s past life, Jiangyang not only made his Survivor Camp the number one faction, but his own personal strength also became immense thanks to the vast resources at his disposal.

But then they met Qi Suian, which meant that Jiangyang and Zhong Xuan, two future faction leaders, ended up just like Xiao Ling, Jin Linyun, and the others—cut down before they could ever fully develop.

’You know, these two are actually a good match. The foundations of both their talents are centered in the heart.’

’Life Apostle, however, involves various parts of the body, not just the heart.’

’It’s not like Brutal Bloodstrike, where the enhancements to other body parts are only temporary.’

’Every active use of Life Apostle provides a slight, permanent boost to Physique. The effect isn’t obvious, and progress only shows up on the stat panel after long-term use.’

’That must be the so-called +1 to Physique growth.’

Qi Suian figured these two talents were genuinely useful. Combined with his own "variant adrenaline" and "destructive dopamine," he might be able to get his Physique to 1.0.

"So, if I modify my own heart, will I... Oh, that’s a guaranteed death. Not a single chance of survival." Qi Suian realized the problem: he couldn’t seem to complete it on his own.

He couldn’t fully replicate the effects of Life Apostle and Brutal Bloodstrike, but acquiring their basic effects was still possible.

This meant he could directly consume a large amount of blood for a temporary boost to his Physique, which would be further amplified by his variant adrenaline’s effect of "the lower the state, the higher the Physique."

To put it simply, his Physique stat could temporarily double at its peak for a full half-hour.

As for the side effect? Well, that would be sudden death after thirty minutes, of course.

Honestly, half an hour was already pretty good. Qi Suian was long accustomed to such self-destructive methods.

And this doubling was just the initial effect. There was a combo effect, too: the stimulation to his Physique, combined with his destructive dopamine, would also cause Qi Suian’s Spirit attribute to increase.

If he drank a tenfold-concentrated death potion, his learning and research efficiency would absolutely skyrocket.

However, his original fifty-minute revival timer would shorten to thirty minutes, followed by the usual thirty-second ad.

The reason he didn’t need to die beforehand was that the sudden death would come before the Abyssal Virus infection could kill him.

’I’ll just have to let the AI control the Tai Sui God to do it for me.’

Faced with such a temptation, Qi Suian was naturally going to install it in himself.

So what if he died a few more times? He could resurrect anyway.

[Your body cannot withstand anesthesia. The modification process will inevitably be painful.]

"Oh, a minor problem. I can endure this body full of ailments, so getting cut open is no big deal." Qi Suian didn’t care in the slightest.

[According to data model projections, with your current Physique, the modification cannot be completed in one go and will require multiple procedures.]

"We’ll worry about that later. I haven’t even figured out how to perform the modification yet."

’Besides, I’m thinking it’s not necessary to operate on the entire heart. Just slightly modifying a part of it should be enough.’

’There’s no need to use the Life Apostle talent as the primary basis. It’s too complex, and a complete modification wouldn’t be suitable for me anyway.’

’The structure formed by Brutal Bloodstrike, on the other hand, is perfectly suited to be the main component.’

After all, he didn’t have a weakened period, just sudden death.

Zhong Xuan’s weakened state lasted at least an hour, while Qi Suian’s revival only took thirty seconds. No matter how you looked at it, sudden death was far more cost-effective.

More importantly, once he had this ability, Qi Suian—even with his body riddled with ailments—could unleash a level of Physique far surpassing that of any current Survivor.

A 100% boost to 0.8 would result in 1.6 Physique.

The strongest Survivor’s stats probably couldn’t even match Qi Suian’s.

As for how strong 1.6 Physique was, it meant there was a slight chance he could take a direct hit from Chunyu Bao and not die. This was despite his own Physique being inferior and lacking the numerous effects from the Immortal Surgery that Chunyu Bao had.