"Whew... It’s finally done." Qi Suian exhaled, watching with a blank expression as the AI used the Tai Sui God to suture his many wounds.

"You think I should get a medical module?" Qi Suian suddenly asked. "Otherwise, this whole ’surgery without anesthesia’ thing is just torture."

[Installation is not recommended at this time. You possess Death Reforging, making a medical module a waste of resources. You can install one later when you have more module slots available.]

The corner of Qi Suian’s eye twitched. The AI was certainly rational. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

As for swapping between different modules? It wasn’t that he was unwilling, but that it just wasn’t worth the cost.

Uninstalling, installing, and evolving all consumed the Tai Sui God’s energy. It would increase the load on the Supernova Strong Nuclear Reactor and throw the Tai Sui God’s combat effectiveness off-balance.

That’s why Qi Suian generally left modules installed. Besides, it wasn’t strictly necessary to swap them.

"Alright, you have a point. It’d be a waste on me anyway." With that, Qi Suian turned his attention to the talent he had just acquired.

[C-Rank Talent: Virus Immunity · Profound]

It had been upgraded from D-rank to C-rank, and the original "Hosting" had become "Immunity."

This meant he no longer had to worry about losing his sense of self upon reaching full infection.

Of course, he’d still turn into a zombie if he had to. That was unavoidable.

Full infection meant his entire body had been thoroughly transformed by the Profound Virus.

Qi Suian would still walk the line, stopping just short of becoming a zombie.

It wasn’t that he was attached to his human identity, but because if he became fully infected, the roles would be reversed.

That would spell complete failure for his plan to make the Profound Virus serve him.

Once he was fully infected, it would mean the Profound Virus had taken complete control of his entire being.

With the Profound Virus in total command, he wouldn’t have the strength to fight back.

Still, this indirectly resolved a potential threat. Unless he had no other choice, Qi Suian wouldn’t opt for full infection.

If he were to become fully infected, he would transform into a boss-level Zombie Dominator and gain immense power, but his path for future growth would likely become limited.

So, while it was called "immunity," it wasn’t absolute, which was why the talent was only C-rank.

If it were true, absolute immunity, Qi Suian figured the talent would be B-rank at minimum.

Of course, he didn’t need absolute immunity. That would mean the Profound Virus couldn’t survive in his body and would be completely purged.

In that case, his X-rank and SSS-rank talents would become completely useless.

’Now that I’ve reached this stage, I can start planning how to control the Profound Virus.’

Without sufficient safeguards before, Qi Suian had acted conservatively, focusing mainly on limiting and weakening the Profound Virus.

But now that he had a fallback even if he turned into a zombie, he could afford to be bolder.

’It’s a shame the Immortal Surgery is worthless to me now.’

The path of his talent’s advancement and the Immortal Surgery were polar opposites.

There was no one-size-fits-all solution. In fact, Watchman Dawn’s research on the Profound Virus had given him quite a bit of inspiration.

"Can the Tai Sui God evolve tomorrow?" Qi Suian changed the subject.

[It is projected to take another three days.]

’Fine. For the next three modules, I’ll choose ones that will help the Tai Sui God.’

Qi Suian knew he had to make up for this as soon as possible. He couldn’t afford to slow his accelerated growth now, otherwise the Tai Sui God would just drag down his efficiency again.

’Between me and the Tai Sui God, one is a drain on my plot armor, and the other is a drain on module slots...’

You could say there was a reason he and the Tai Sui God were a pair.

He was carried by his plot armor, while the Tai Sui God was carried by its module slots.

If they lost those two things, he and the Tai Sui God would truly be partners in misery.

[You shouldn’t be so self-deprecating. At least you have the courage to die; the Tai Sui God does not.]

Qi Suian rolled his eyes. You couldn’t say the AI’s attempt at consolation was completely off, just that it missed the mark.

"By the way, if I’m supposed to be immune now, why are my symptoms getting worse? What’s the reason for that?" Qi Suian changed the subject again.

His current body temperature was a scorching 50 degrees Celsius. A normal person would be long dead, yet he was still up and about.

He also had a splitting headache, but the more it hurt, the sharper his thoughts became.

He also felt things like fatigue and weakness, but with this whole cocktail of negative statuses, his Physique attribute hadn’t dropped. In fact, it had risen to 1 point.

[The preliminary assessment suggests this is the result of Super Adaptability adapting to the symptoms, in combination with your Virus Immunity talent, Mutant Adrenaline, Destructive Dopamine, and Ruination Blood.]

"I get it. The sicker I am, the stronger I get."

Qi Suian wasn’t surprised. None of the talents he’d acquired from those three survivors with high-grade talents were normal in the slightest.

Any one of them would have killed a normal person.

In fact, they would have killed Qi Suian too. He just had the ability to resurrect, and his ravaged body had already adapted, allowing him to survive longer.

All these ailments, thanks to the Super Adaptability effect derived from Celestial Fate: Profound, were actually quite potent.

He owed his current strength to Death Reforging and Super Adaptability. Without them, many of his destructive modifications and experiments would have been impossible.

"So if I keep adding more symptoms, will I get even stronger?"

After all, the buff was based on a simple principle: the worse his condition, the stronger the enhancement.

Then, by stimulating his Spirit through pain, it would create a positive feedback loop.

[Theoretically, it is feasible. You could use the Profound Virus to further stimulate the complications in your body.]

[However, your current C-rank Virus Immunity would be unable to withstand it. Upon completion, you would likely survive for only three to five minutes.]

’That’s true.’ Qi Suian ran the numbers, and his conclusion was roughly the same as the AI’s.

As for why he bothered to calculate it himself—it wasn’t that he doubted the AI’s results. He just needed to exercise his own mind and think more in order to grow.

’I’ll put the next phase of talent advancement on hold for now. I need to study, and the Tai Sui God needs to evolve.’

"Let’s go hunt some survivors."

Both he and the Tai Sui God needed time to consolidate their gains, so it was time to find another way to improve himself.

The survivors’ talents were an excellent path forward.

Especially the high-grade ones. At this stage, their owners couldn’t fully utilize them, so their underlying mechanics were still quite basic.

This made them perfect for Qi Suian to use as a shortcut to power.

If he waited until the survivors had strengthened their dual attributes and developed their talents further, studying them would become much more difficult.

Besides, once they became powerful, just capturing them would be a hassle in itself.