Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Returning to an Old Place, the Tai Sui God Has Indigestion

[Estimated damage to Watchman Dawn...]

The AI reported the estimated combat losses for Watchman Dawn to Qi Suian.

Qi Suian gave it a quick once-over. There was an impact, but it wasn’t enough to cause any serious damage to the Watchman Morning Company.

For example, the high-concentration Profound Virus couldn’t turn those who had undergone the Immortal Surgery and had combat programs implanted into zombies. At most, the virus’s increased activity might cause them some internal problems.

As for deleting the database of their AI, Dawn, they had backups, so recovery would be simple.

The greatest damage probably came from the Floating Cannon’s Ghost Energy Storm.

However, compared to the entirety of Ring Island, the storm’s area of effect was negligible.

Even if he had aimed it at the central district, it would have only killed a few more people at most.

Of course, after this triple-pronged attack, the Watchman Morning Company would probably lie low for a while and stop causing trouble.

’The Watchman Morning Company really is something else. They’ve even managed to figure out a few things about the survivors.’ Qi Suian thought as he looked over the survivor data in the database.

It might just look like data, but acquiring it must have been absolute torture for the survivors.

After that, the Watchman Morning Company gave up on the survivors. There was no other reason than the fact that they weren’t very valuable.

Even though the survivors possessed a power called "talents," it was a power the company couldn’t use or acquire, and it was far too weak anyway.

The vast majority of talents scaled with the Physique and Spirit attributes, and at this stage, any survivor who could even reach 1 point in those stats was already considered above average.

So, there was no hope of unleashing the true power of their talents.

Of course, another reason was that Watchman Dawn was constantly pursuing the Divine Prayer Association, so they didn’t have much energy to spare for the survivors.

In truth, there were also just too many survivors, and Watchman Dawn couldn’t devote enough resources to study them all.

After all, their main project was the Profound Virus; everything else was built on that foundation.

Qi Suian had now returned to the ruins of the Ancient Dian Kingdom’s capital—the place where he used to work.

It was said that the Profound God had descended here.

His plan was simple: in between his studies and research, he would continue excavating the Ancient Dian Kingdom to see if there was anything else to be found.

As for the other sites of the Ancient Dian Kingdom, they had already been almost completely excavated.

Before this, the Watchman Morning Company had spent a considerable amount of time and hired numerous professionals just to pinpoint the capital’s location.

And in the end, Qi Suian was the one who reaped the rewards.

"There shouldn’t be any survivors around here, right?" Qi Suian was now practically a God of Slaughter; survivors fled at the mere sight of him.

"Sigh. My protagonist plot armor seems to be on the fritz lately. No high-quality survivors are delivering themselves to my doorstep."

"And I still want their talents."

Qi Suian couldn’t help but lament. Then again, ’how could there be so many high-quality talents?’

In the reincarnator’s past life, survivors who reached S, SS, or SSS-rank talents were exceedingly rare.

Besides, he had already plowed through most of this area.

[If you need to hunt survivors, I can help you run a search.]

"No need. Let’s just let the Tai Sui God evolve properly. It’ll save us some trouble," Qi Suian said.

He had previously grabbed a huge pile of evolution materials for the Tai Sui God from a national strategic warehouse in some country he’d passed through, and he had fed it all to the Tai Sui God.

However, without the corresponding modules, the digestion process was taking a rather long time.

The normal process involved three stages: ingestion, conversion, and digestion. For previous evolutions, the amount of material required was small, and it was consumed slowly, so the three stages went by quickly.

But it was different now. Qi Suian had stuffed the Tai Sui God with a massive amount of evolution materials all at once. Ingestion was fine, but the next two stages were not so simple.

There was a way to speed it up, of course: just install the corresponding modules.

With enough modules, the Tai Sui God could become unbelievably powerful even with just 1 point of armor.

Unfortunately, the number of evolutions was tied to its armor, and module slots were unlocked through evolution.

It was for this very reason that the AI had previously advised Qi Suian to prioritize installing the modules related to evolution and growth.

But Qi Suian was actually quite relaxed about it. For him, there was no need to take time away from his own affairs just to make the Tai Sui God grow faster at this stage.

’As for letting the AI take control of the Tai Sui God and go out while I stay in the safe house? That’s impossible. I need the AI to assist with my own studies and research.’

’Besides, I also need the Tai Sui God’s protection. With its current strength, it can get me out of there even if we run into an enemy we can’t beat.’

’The Tai Sui God grows stronger to ensure my own growth and strength, not so I can put myself in danger just for the sake of its evolution. Wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?’ 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

So, the only option was to stuff the Tai Sui God with a large batch of evolution materials each time and let it evolve slowly on its own.

The efficiency might be low, but this was the most beneficial approach for Qi Suian.

’I can’t just let the Tai Sui God be the main focus, can I?’

’The Tai Sui God is certainly good, but at the end of the day, it’s only SSS-rank.’

’In terms of potential, it can’t compare to me. I’m the one with an X-rank talent.’

’Naturally, developing my own potential comes first.’

As his learning progressed, Qi Suian quickly developed his own ideas based on the Immortal Surgery and combat program technologies.

’If all goes well, my Virus Host talent can be further enhanced.’

’Even subsequent talent upgrades should become much simpler.’

’Unfortunately, the Immortal Surgery aims to awaken special abilities and grant immense power, a completely different path from mine.’

Qi Suian wanted to make the Profound Virus serve him, perhaps by making it a part of his body. If that wasn’t possible, he wouldn’t even mind becoming an aggregate of the Profound Virus himself.

The Immortal Surgery, however, was different. It merely used the Profound Virus as an energy source—an uncontrollable one at that.

It was true that they gained great power, but if the Profound Virus in their bodies mutated or encountered Qi Suian’s Divine Purification Force Field, they would be instantly neutralized.

It was strong and effective, yes, but it came with numerous flaws and hidden dangers.

’After undergoing the Immortal Surgery, one thing is certain: their species has changed. They’re something like half-human, half-zombie. They retain their human sense of self while possessing the special abilities and long life of a zombie. But they lack the zombies’ ability to grow stronger through the mutation of the Profound Virus within their own bodies. Therefore, to keep getting stronger, they would need to further refine the Immortal Surgery.’

Qi Suian quickly deduced the principles behind it, but he wouldn’t use it himself. Given his condition, undergoing the Immortal Surgery would absolutely turn him into a zombie.

’Still, I can use it as a reference for my future path... for things like special abilities, for instance.’