King of Assassins - Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Genetic Mutation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhou Lang’s head had been blasted open. He couldn’t see Gao Xuan, but he could somewhat hear what he was saying.
All he wanted to do was curse each and every one of Gao Xuan’s ancestors before he died, but he wasn’t able to say anything.
Zhou Lang’s body started to convulse from his intense agitation.
“Hey, hey, don’t be in such a hurry to die. Say something.”
Gao Xuan then saw the Lightning Eagle Ring on Zhou Lang’s finger. He forcefully pulled it off his finger. “Since you’re about to die, you should give the Lightning Eagle Ring to someone who needs it.”
Zhou Lang felt his Lightning Eagle Ring get snatched off his finger. In his fury, he expelled his last breath and died.
“You’re so miserly, even in death. Just look at you.”
Gao Xuan whipped out the God Slaying Sword and waved it in the air. The ferocious corpse of Zhou Lang turned into a ball of blood-colored light and was absorbed into the God Slaying Sword.
Zhou Lang was equivalent to one and a half Xu Huis. The wavering currents of blood in the God Slaying Sword became much more intense after it absorbed Zhou Lang.
To the side, Yun Qingshang asked, a little hesitant, “It’s over? Just like that?”
The powerful Zhou Lang had died just like that. It didn’t feel real to her.
“It’s done.”
Gao Xuan put the Lightning Eagle Ring on his left ring finger, then observed it with interest. He then waved it at Yun Qingshang and said, “The Lightning Eagle Ring, an Iron Grade Miracle Item. It can activate bolts of lightning and give the user a burst of speed. Its downside is that it randomly gives off electric currents. It’s mine now.”
“All right.”
Yun Qingshang didn’t care about that. Gao Xuan could have it if he wanted it.
Gao Xuan continued explaining, “It’s not that I don’t want to give it to you, but your Crimson Heart would interfere with the Lightning Eagle Ring.”
Yun Qingshang didn’t speak, nor did she feel the need to say anything.
“I’ll keep this gun for self-defense. I don’t have any long-range attack items. You can understand, right…”
Gao Xuan picked up the gun and observed it for a moment. “The Gungnir is a high-end sniper rifle from Xuanwu. That lad was spouting nonsense. This is the Arbalest range of guns. It has immense penetrative power, but it cannot penetrate your Crimson Heart.”
Yun Qingshang nodded. She believed Gao Xuan. But even if the Crimson Heart couldn’t stop a bullet, it was fine. She was willing to offer everything she had to Gao Xuan, including her life.
Seeing how understanding Yun Qingshang was, Gao Xuan felt a little guilty. He stood up and said, “Zhou Lang must have many good items. We can split those equally.”
Gao Xuan walked to the front of Zhou Lang’s desk and expertly entered a passcode into the screen. The password was a complicated line pattern and a passage of strange characters.
The optical computers in the Beikun Base weren’t set up with artificial intelligence. Zhou Lang had always used primitive patterns and letters as passcodes because he’d believed that biological markers were easy to circumvent.
Gao Xuan had worked for Zhou Lang for several years in his past life and had become his trusted aide. The Beikun Base was no longer an active unit in the future, and thus was managed by him. Thus, he was extremely knowledgeable about all there was to know about the Beikun Base.
That included the complicated passcode verification that Zhou Lang had set up. He knew it like the back of his hand.
After a beep, the optical computer let out a mechanical sound. The passcode had been verified. The vault was about to open.
The alloyed wall behind Zhou Lang’s chair slowly started to open to reveal a giant security vault.
The alloyed wall was 1.5 meters thick and had a complicated array of mechanical locks. Without suitable tools, there was no way someone could open it by force.
Gao Xuan waved toward Yun Qingshang. “Come quickly. Let’s split the loot.”
Yun Qingshang froze a moment, then followed Gao Xuan into the vault.
The vault was over a hundred square meters wide. The neatly arranged gold bars inside it were exceptionally eye-catching.
Just the pile of gold bricks alone was worth two billion or so Credit Points.
Gao Xuan secretly thought that it was a pity that they didn’t have a way to take away such a large pile of gold bricks, nor did they have a suitable way of dealing with them.
The Blood Deity Association was simply too powerful. He, as well as Yun Qingshang, would definitely be found out if they left with such a large number of gold bricks.
It wasn’t worth exposing their identities for such a small sum of money.
Gao Xuan told himself that the gold bars were dung and not to care about them. However, he still felt a little pain in his heart. Those were gold, the greatest currency in the galaxy.
Even transactions with different races could be settled with gold.
“We are people who are going to do big things. There’ll be more than enough opportunities for us to make it big…” Gao Xuan consoled himself. His eyes landed on a glass incubator to the side.
There were over a hundred glass test tubes inside it. Those were the Spirit Beings’ Genetic Medications used in experiments.
The Beikun Base had been built to experiment with genetic medication.
Because of how unique the genes of Spirit Beings were, experiments involving them required large-scale and long-term data collection.
However, the host of the project, Xu Yan, had met with some problems halfway through the project, and the project hadn’t been able to continue.
Thus, there was still a large number of Spirit Beings’ Genetic Medication left in the vault.
Even though humans could traverse galaxies and set up massive human civilizations and organizations, their understanding of Source Power and genes was still rudimentary.
“Manpower is the greatest asset” — Mister Zhou.
This adage proved especially true to the leaders of the human civilization after they entered the age of galaxies.
Artificial intelligence could fully replace most high-level intellectual tasks, while robots could complete most of the complicated technical jobs.
Under these circumstances, an average human lost nearly all value. However, even in the age of galaxies, every person’s genes were unique.
Human civilization was made up of billions of complicated humans. These humans were insignificant on their own.
However, the different genes of countless individuals made up a robust foundation that allowed humans to continuously evolve.
Genetic medication was a necessity on a human’s path to evolution.
However, it was also because of the uniqueness and complexity of human genes that the effects of the genetic medication were unstable, so the path of evolution each individual took was a little different.
Even though they’d been injected with the same genetic medication, Gao Xuan had become more and more handsome while Yun Qingshang had taken a different path. That was the difference between their genes.
In actuality, their genes were only 1% different from each other.
Gao Xuan knew why he kept becoming more and more handsome. It was from the influence of the Six-Winged Heavenly Cicada. Both his body and mind were evolving toward perfection.
This direction of evolution was extremely unique. It caused his strength to level up very slowly. That was also the reason why he always ranked last among the other students.
Yun Qingshang’s evolution was much simpler. It was obviously trending toward heightened physical strength. This path of evolution was mature and well understood by the human alliance.
Gao Xuan observed the incubator for some time, then picked out three vials of green genetic medication.
He waved to Yun Qingshang and said, “Qingshang, come over quickly. I’ll give these to you.”
Yun Qingshang was observing the rack of weapons, extremely interested in the heavy-duty sniper rifle on top.
Yun Qingshang only headed over when she heard Gao Xuan call for her. “This is the genetic medication?”
Yun Qingshang was rather familiar with this item. She’d been injected with it four times since she was young. A batch of students would die whenever they were injected with the medication.
The genetic medication was extremely complicated. Once it came into conflict with human genes, the genes would collapse and die before having the chance to evolve.
The base’s merciless tactic of nurturing students also made use of the threat of death to squeeze every bit of potential out of every student.
After all, human life wasn’t worth very much in this era. Humans were expendable.
Gao Xuan said, “The genetic medication in these vials is the medication needed for the fifth evolution. However, the host of the project met with some problems, so they never proceeded with the fifth injection.”
Over a third of the students who’d survived had died after being administered the fifth genetic medication. This was a loss that Zhou Lang hadn’t been able to accept.
The reason for that was extremely complicated, and Gao Xuan didn’t bother explaining it to Yun Qingshang.
He told Yun Qingshang, “These three vials of genetic medication would allow you to reach Level Five extremely quickly.”
Gao Xuan then continued, “Of course, there are risks involved.”
With Yun Qingshang’s talent, she would be able to reach Level Five through training alone, even without the injection of the genetic medication.
However, there was no way that Yun Qingshang could step into Level Six without activating the higher-level genetic sequence with the genetic medication.
There were, of course, powerful fighters who defied nature in this era of galaxies. They became powerful Gold Grade fighters just by Source Power Cultivation, without the use of genetic medication.
However, Yun Qingshang wouldn’t have such ungodly potential.
“We should level up like average humans. Let’s obediently take the medication…”
Gao Xuan was overcome with emotion. His potential for cultivation was already considered above average, but there was still an unbridgeable gap between him and the best of the best.
Yun Qingshang thought for a moment, then said, “Now is not the right time. There are still several problems that we haven’t solved yet at the base.”
“I’ll deal with them.”
Gao Xuan half-forced the genetic medication into Yun Qingshang. Yun Qingshang didn’t resist and allowed Gao Xuan to do whatever he wanted.
Yun Qingshang’s body immediately turned red after she received the three vials of genetic medication, and she started to lose consciousness.
“Zhou Lang’s collection is vast indeed. He sure is a hoarder!”
Gao Xuan helped Yun Qingshang to slowly lie down on the ground. He then walked to the front of the weapon rack and picked up a long sniper rifle. “Look. This here is the real Gungnir Model Three. Really, not every boss drops such good loot.”
Yun Qingshang’s body got hotter and hotter. It was as if she’d been thrown into a furnace. She felt as if her body had been thoroughly roasted!
However, with Gao Xuan rambling away next to her, she felt especially secure and safe.
Gao Xuan touched Yun Qingshang’s hot forehead. Her temperature must’ve reached 70 degrees celsius. An ordinary person’s brain would’ve long since evaporated.
“Bear with it. Genetic mutations are like this…”
Yun Qingshang’s mind faded to black, and Gao Xuan’s voice became more and more distant, more and more fleeting.
She only had one thought in her heart: “I cannot die. I have to hold on. I want to be with 088. I want to protect him…”
