Chapter 240 - 173: Evolutionary System, United Front
The hand with which Jing Shu held his cup trembled slightly. To be honest, he was truly tempted by the odds. As an Evolver himself, he knew how much Energy a mature Evolver possessed, and even more importantly, how great an Evolver’s potential was!
He put down the cup and said, "The success rate is still too low. I can’t gamble with the lives of my men!"
The man smiled and shook his head. "You don’t have to be the one to decide. You can let them decide for themselves."
Jing Shu’s eyes narrowed. "How dare you," he snapped. "Are you trying to cull my base’s population?"
The man remained perfectly composed. "Think it over. We at Xi’an Base will be waiting to hear from you. Our ID is simply ’Xi’an Base’."
With that, he stood up and walked out.
Jing Shu didn’t try to stop them, simply watching as they left.
"Captain, should we detain them?" his aide whispered from the side.
Jing Shu shook his head. "There’s no point. Besides, their Evolution Potion really is more advanced."
"Captain, you’re not actually thinking of letting our people become test subjects, are you?" the aide asked carefully.
Jing Shu glanced at him and replied, "Didn’t the man just say so himself? I don’t need to make the decision for them."
The aide’s expression grew taut, but he nodded.
"Our base consumes a tremendous amount of food," Jing Shu sighed heavily. "If we can’t secure a food source, the base is in jeopardy."
"We can catch fish from the sea!" the aide said, his brow slightly furrowed. "It can’t be so bad that we’ll run out of food!"
"You should go look at the base’s recent catch logs," Jing Shu said, shaking his head.
As time passed, the sea creatures evolved, becoming increasingly difficult to catch. Lately, Dawn Base’s daily fish harvest had been dwindling.
After leaving Dawn Base, the speedboat entered a Second-level Wind Sea Region, where they unexpectedly discovered a small survivor settlement.
Remembering that their evolution experiments required a large number of test subjects, the speedboat moved decisively to approach the settlement.
It was nearly midnight, and the settlement was cloaked in darkness. The speedboat flicked on its searchlight, bathing the area in a blinding white glare.
Soldiers from Xi’an Base stood on deck, rifles at the ready, and shouted toward the survivor settlement, "You’re being conscripted! Everyone out of your cabins, now!"
The voice startled the survivors awake, leaving them confused and unsure of what to do.
"Cooperate with them fully!" a low voice commanded, before being swallowed by the sound of the rain.
The men from Xi’an Base failed to notice a figure slipping off one of the boats and into the water without so much as a ripple.
But after hearing that low voice, the survivors seemed to find their resolve. They all began to file out of their cabins as the Xi’an Base soldiers had demanded.
Seeing the survivors emerge, a soldier on the speedboat shouted again, "Put all your phones in the net!"
A net, like one a child might use to catch butterflies, was extended from the speedboat. The survivors obediently placed their phones inside it.
The captain of the speedboat frowned. Something felt off. ’Why aren’t these survivors resisting at all?’
As he was lost in thought, the soldier on deck suddenly collapsed!
The captain instinctively drew his pistol, but an instant later, a sharp pain shot through his neck, and blood erupted from the wound.
He desperately clamped a hand to his neck, but he couldn’t stop the blood from gushing out.
In his final moments, he finally saw him—a strange, scaled figure appearing before him.
This was none other than the mutant, Yu Ren, who had once tried to track Qin Haonan to Peach Blossom Base.
He had since taken all the survivors in the area under his wing. Using his mutated abilities, he had managed to salvage a large cache of supplies during the last undercurrent.
Combined with his ability to hunt for fish underwater, the survivors in his settlement weren’t doing too badly.
Because of this, Yu Ren had gradually built up his authority among them.
He had discovered that he quite liked the feeling of being their cornerstone, so he had stayed, leading the survivors.
He never expected a team from Xi’an Base to find them, much less try to conscript them.
Naturally, Yu Ren wasn’t about to sit back and be slaughtered. He had come up from under the water on the other side of the speedboat, silently slipped up behind them, and slit their throats.
The thud of bodies collapsing on the deck alerted those inside the speedboat’s cabin.
Someone inside immediately called out, "What’s going on out there?"
As the man hurried out, Yu Ren, who was waiting by the door, dispatched him with a single slash of his knife.
Just as he was about to charge into the cabin to eliminate the rest, a metal arrow shot toward him.
Yu Ren immediately threw himself to the side, but the range was too short and the arrow was too fast. He couldn’t dodge it completely.
TING!
The metal arrow struck Yu Ren’s scales, sending up a spark before glancing aside!
Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Ren pressed his attack!
Dagger in hand, he aimed straight for his opponent’s throat!
The man was stunned for a moment when he saw his arrow had failed to injure Yu Ren, and that brief pause was all the opening Yu Ren needed to close the distance.
But the man’s reflexes were quick; he instantly materialized a metal ring around his neck.
CLANG!
Yu Ren’s dagger struck the metal ring. The other man sneered, "Trying to play with blades in front of me? You seriously underestimate a Gold-Type Evolver!"
The words had barely faded when the dagger in Yu Ren’s hand vanished, only to reform and fly back toward the Fish Person!