Chapter 2669: The Upper Limit of Characteristics
[Team rating for this run is as follows:]
[Player Passerby A: SS]
[Player Magic Mirror, Magic Mirror, Who’s the Fairest: S]
[Player Born with a Young Master’s Fate: A]
Xu Huo glanced down at the names, then looked over at Xiao Mei and the unlucky guy. "You two aren’t in a rush, right?"
The two of them counted as having formed a party with him.
Before the team rewards were evenly distributed, party members couldn’t leave the instance directly unless they gave up their rewards, so if you wanted your share, you had to stay.
The unlucky guy still needed the Antitoxin and had hitched a ride to clear the instance. He was worried Xu Huo might turn on him, and immediately said he didn’t want any team reward.
Xiao Mei threw Xu Huo a flirty glance. "We can talk it over properly, right? If you need the team rewards you can take them all, just give me some other compensation. I’ve been busy for five days anyway."
"No problem." Xu Huo nodded.
Lian Qingkong had wiped out a batch of troublemakers, and those descendants of the two surnames who might be hiding in the Player Organization no longer had to worry about someone suddenly digging up their old background once the roster was gone. Naturally, they had no reason to oppose the government. As for the remaining Players, some had already been inclined to cooperate with the government, and even if anyone was still dissatisfied, they wouldn’t show it at such a critical juncture.
So after the National Treasure was reduced to ashes, this final arrangement of Lian Qingkong’s came to its end. The rest could be left to others to handle; he himself was going to be transferred to the hospital to prolong his life as much as possible.
Xu Huo and the Girl in the painting went along too. Watching the man who couldn’t even sit still, Xiao Mei sighed. "I for one will never dare look down on those degenerated Players again."
If Xu Huo hadn’t shown up in time, the Capital City would probably have lost a lot more Players today.
"You think he could really kill every Player who opposes the government?" The unlucky guy didn’t see it that way. "Yongta and Moon Corner definitely have people keeping an eye on Yu Country. Losing that many Players in one go, wouldn’t the Three Kingdoms tear each other’s dog heads off?"
In fact, Lian Qingkong had also made arrangements regarding the other two countries’ spying; he just hadn’t had time to put them into practice. As always, fate had its say.
He looked at Xu Huo. "Why did you stay?"
Xu Huo sat at the bedside peeling fruit. "I want to know whether trait evolution, once it reaches a certain level, can really ignore the game’s blockade the way Super Evolution Power does."
"Didn’t you just see it?" Lian Qingkong said. "Stop peeling, I can’t eat."
Xu Huo tossed the peel away and bit into it himself. "It wasn’t for you."
Lian Qingkong gave a weak smile. "What you really want to ask is how to push trait evolution to that level, isn’t it?"
Xu Huo nodded. "I once heard that not every Super Player has undergone Super Evolution, but without Super Evolution you simply can’t compete with the very top tier of top Players. If someone truly lacks that talent, then there must be something that can make up for that shortcoming."
"Trait evolution looks much richer than Super Evolution, but in reality it never leaves the scope of time, space, and physical enhancement. To unleash such a wide-range, ultra-strong characteristic—does that mean you have what it takes to step into the ranks of Super Players?"
"Whether I have what it takes is hard to say. After all, I never became a Super Player," Lian Qingkong said. "But if you think Super Players stop at this level, then you’re wrong."
"Since Characteristics are similar to Super Evolution Power, people who are smart and gifted can of course grasp one and infer the rest. If you meet a Super Player who only knows how to use Characteristics but can’t use Super Evolution Power, odds are he’s lying."
"If you treat every Super Player you encounter as a super-amped version of yourself, you can avoid a lot of problems."
Even among Super Players, Xu Huo’s Temporal Evolution was rare; that gave him the leverage to threaten Lian Qingkong. Temporal Evolution was indeed a very handy trump card. But limited by its degree of Evolution, it wasn’t invincible. If he thought he could wrestle with Super Players relying on Temporal Evolution alone, he’d definitely be planting seeds of disaster.
"It’s not only Space-Time Power that can affect space-time," Lian Qingkong added. "Interference is the most convenient method to crack Space-Time Power."
Xu Huo silently ate his fruit, and after a moment said, "There’s no targeted training method for Characteristics?"
"Everyone’s Characteristics are different," Lian Qingkong reminded him. "You don’t need to obsess over all-around development. Some people can understand Super Evolution through their Characteristics; your Super Evolution can of course block other people’s Characteristics."
Seeing that he wasn’t likely to say much more, Xu Huo asked again, "You picked him as your successor?"
"He’s pretty good, isn’t he?" Lian Qingkong’s smile deepened; he didn’t look at the man standing by the bedside like a tree stump, there yet barely noticeable. "He’s a bit like me when I was young—hardworking, down-to-earth."
Xiao Mei and the others were also in the ward. They hadn’t spoken, but had been listening to their conversation the whole time. Hearing this startled them more than when Lian Qingkong told Xu Huo to treat Super Players as super-strong versions of himself. Did he have some filter on his self-image? Why were the criteria for picking a successor "hardworking, down-to-earth"?
Shouldn’t it be "deep schemer, ruthless methods"?
He’d butchered over two hundred Players from his own country in one breath—who could have a darker hand than that?
"He is pretty good," Xu Huo said. "Just a bit too honest."
"Being honest is better. People who are too gifted and too jumpy often can’t focus on the collective." Lian Qingkong looked at Xu Huo again. "If you lived in Yu Country, I wouldn’t pick you."
Xu Huo smiled, tossed the fruit pit away at random, and picked up another piece of fruit to peel.
"I’m not eating." Lian Qingkong said again.
"Eat a little." Xu Huo said. "Just taste it."
He sliced off a small piece and fed it to him, then continued, "Next I’m going to pay a visit to your old friend. Anything you want me to pass on?"
"He’ll know when I die." Lian Qingkong pressed his lips together around the fruit and sighed. "After degeneration I can’t even taste the sweetness anymore."
"That is pretty miserable," Xu Huo said. "Clearing this instance owed a lot to your cooperation. If you have any reasonable last wishes, you can say them."
"You’ve got quite a list of demands." Lian Qingkong hadn’t given him the Gao Family Genealogy solely because it was useless; he’d naturally had some other intentions. But now that things were wrapped up nicely and both sides were satisfied, these minor details weren’t worth bringing up.
"Teach him Temporal Evolution." Lian Qingkong glanced at the person beside him.
"That would be reasonable," Xu Huo reminded him. "Don’t waste your breath on things that can’t be done."
Lian Qingkong let out a quick laugh. "No need. You’ve already helped a lot with the matter of the stranded Players."
Seeing that he was already on the verge of death, Xu Huo rose and led the Girl in the painting and the others out of the ward.
Ten minutes or so later, muffled sobbing came from the ward.
The unlucky guy couldn’t help peeking. From his expression it was clear he was very curious whether Lian Qingkong was really dead.
"If your curiosity weren’t so heavy, you might take fewer beatings." Xu Huo shot him a look.
The unlucky guy backed off awkwardly. After a while, the young Player who had undergone Spatial Evolution came out and said to him, "I’ve got something for you."