Chapter 180: Chapter 180: The Times Have Changed, The Old Antiques from Ancient Times
None of the five Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters escaped. They were all dragged down and killed within ten minutes.
Then, seeing the situation was dire, the other Cold Energy Monsters scattered in all directions.
But once chaos erupted, their entire formation completely collapsed. From that point on, the Cold Energy Monsters could no longer stop the advance of the Cold Energy Mutated Zombies.
Seizing the opportunity, Qi Suian also captured a number of Beast King-grade Cold Energy Monsters to use as fuel.
Their combustion value was certainly lower than the Venerable-grade ones, but there was no denying their sheer numbers.
Thankfully, the Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters had commanded all the others, gathering a large number of Beast Kings among them.
This allowed the Tai Sui God to smoothly reach 38 armor points and complete an evolution before arriving at the designated location.
After gaining an extra module slot, he logically should have left it empty.
After all, they were about to reach their destination. The item that the Dragon Roar Daoist’s group was after was probably a great opportunity.
It was also what the Celestial Dragon Venerable and the other Cold Energy Monsters were counting on to turn the tables, which could then be used as a module.
But Qi Suian didn’t choose that path. ’Module slots are always in short supply. It’s better to focus on the present.’
’What if the Tai Sui God isn’t strong enough and I lose by a single misstep?’
So, he directly took the "Behemoth," Qin Sheng’s modified war chariot from before, and installed it as a module.
[SSS: Diversified High-Efficiency Reorganization Structure]
"What the hell is this???" Qi Suian was completely baffled. ’I’m pretty sure I stuffed a modified vehicle in there, so how did it turn into this?’
’Diversified’ and ’High-Efficiency’—that he could understand. But what did ’Reorganization Structure’ mean?
Fortunately, the AI immediately provided an explanation. It was a function similar to the Transformers, allowing the Tai Sui God to reorganize itself.
It could now shrink or enlarge the Tai Sui God’s body to a certain extent, or even change its form into an airplane or a vehicle.
However, because there were few compatible modules, the limitations were significant.
"I understand the module’s ability, but what I don’t get is... I put in a vehicle. I thought it would be a module similar to the Wind Master’s aviation system."
"This Reorganization Structure module has absolutely nothing to do with the Behemoth modified vehicle, right?" For a moment, Qi Suian was at a loss for words.
’There should be at least *some* connection, right? These two things are completely unrelated.’
[Compared to the Behemoth modified vehicle itself, the most valuable component was the high-efficiency solar liquefaction device inside. Ninety percent of the Diversified High-Efficiency Reorganization Structure’s foundation originates from it.]
[Its origin is unclear, but one thing can be confirmed: there is a high probability that it was a reward Qin Sheng obtained from the apocalypse game.]
The AI quickly traced the source and gave Qi Suian an explanation.
Hearing this, Qi Suian fell silent. He had no idea the Behemoth modified vehicle contained such a device.
He hadn’t inspected it since acquiring it, simply thinking that, as something belonging to a protagonist, it must be good.
He never expected he’d actually be right.
"With this module, couldn’t I just find a spatial module for support, combine it with camouflage and mimicry modules, and turn the Tai Sui God into something that looks human?"
The thought suddenly occurred to Qi Suian.
The Reorganization Structure module wasn’t for camouflage or mimicry; it was a transformation-type module.
[Correct. However, modules of this type are incredibly rare finds. You will need a stroke of luck.]
"I’m not exactly short on luck." Qi Suian couldn’t help but smile. Telling someone with a protagonist’s halo that they needed luck wasn’t just underestimating Qi Suian, it was underestimating the halo itself.
"Let’s put that aside for now. Haven’t we forced out the Celestial Dragon Venerable and the others yet?" Qi Suian turned his gaze to the distance.
It seemed the item the Dragon Roar Daoist’s group wanted and the trump card the Celestial Dragon Venerable and the other five remaining Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters planned to use against Qi Suian were one and the same.
They had mobilized a massive number of Cold Energy Monsters to form a defense, temporarily halting the advance of the Cold Energy Mutated Zombies.
The Cold Energy Mutated Zombies had suffered considerable losses fighting their way here.
Their overall numbers had increased, but the degree of damage was high. Basically, every Cold Energy Mutated Zombie was missing arms and legs.
This drastically affected their combat effectiveness. After all, injuries were unavoidable in battle. It was only due to the nature of zombies that they could still press forward even in such a state.
But combined with the ability to deal true damage on every hit—an ability called Glutton’s Feast, from the Greed-Eater, acquired via the clone link—Qi Suian wasn’t about to complain.
[Given the current casualties, they won’t be able to hold out for more than another ten minutes.]
[Even if they are willing to sacrifice these Cold Energy Monsters, we can still break through within half an hour.]
The AI was quite confident, especially now with the Reorganization Structure module. To the AI, the Tai Sui God had become far more flexible.
There were more slick maneuvers it could use, such as changing the structure of its arms into blades, ropes, and so on. Although the strength of these forms depended on the Tai Sui God’s own materials and armor value.
It was incredibly useful for catching enemies off guard.
This myriad of transformations, in Qi Suian’s hands, could at best be used as a simple shape-shifting module. But in the AI’s hands, it was a different story.
With this flexibility alone, the AI could make the various modules coordinate with greater precision and speed.
As the Tai Sui God evolved more and more, gaining more modules, the AI, as the Chaotic Quantum Intelligent System, would naturally grow stronger as well.
Otherwise, how could the Tai Sui God, with a quality so low it couldn’t even match the armor value of scrap from ordinary armor, possibly achieve an SSS-rank quality?
"Violator, you’re courting death!!!" An enraged roar echoed from the distance.
The Tai Sui God immediately smashed its way toward the source of the sound, and the vast zombie tide moved with it.
The newcomer was none other than the Celestial Dragon Venerable, that great armored dragon. The four remaining Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters followed close behind, joining the siege against the Tai Sui God.
"Strange, why hasn’t their strength changed?" Qi Suian had a puzzled look on his face as he watched the Tai Sui God ignore the siege and directly pierce through the Celestial Dragon Venerable’s carapace.
’Was all that preparation for nothing?’
[Actually, there has been a change. According to the feedback data from the Tai Sui God’s attack, the Celestial Dragon Venerable’s overall strength has increased by at least three percent.]
Qi Suian scratched his head. "What good is that?"
No wonder he hadn’t noticed. If it were thirty percent, that would be understandable, but three percent...
To put it bluntly, that was a decimal point so small even the apocalypse game’s interface might not display it.
[It’s because your speed was too great. They didn’t have enough time to grow stronger quickly.]
The AI speculated that whatever trump card the enemy was using to get stronger required a significant amount of time. However, Qi Suian had moved too quickly, attacking them directly.
This forced them to fight before they were ready.
In the time it took to have this exchange, the Tai Sui God ripped off the Celestial Patrol Venerable’s eagle wings, though it paid a price for doing so.
But it didn’t matter. The zombie tide had already surged forward. Now, as long as he disabled their ability to fly, the advantage would be Qi Suian’s.
The five Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters also clearly sensed the AI’s intent.
But what could they do even if they sensed it? With the help of the zombie tide, they were already caught in a quagmire. It was too late to escape even if they wanted to.
Qi Suian didn’t care if this was their desperate last stand or the intelligence-debuffing effect of a protagonist’s halo. All he knew was that he was about to get another massive haul.
Unfortunately, he probably wouldn’t be able to get enough fuel to evolve the Tai Sui God this time.
These five Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters were still not enough.
Then, under the AI’s control, the zombie tide skillfully divided the battlefield and picked the enemies off one by one.
The Celestial Dragon Venerable’s carapace was shattered. The Celestial Patrol Venerable’s eagle head was blown apart. The Celestial Might Venerable’s entire tiger-bone spine was ripped out whole by the Tai Sui God.
The remaining two Venerable-grade Cold Energy Monsters also met their own unique ends.
And with that, every single one of the Twelve Venerables, who had once reigned supreme over the Cold Energy Monsters for ages, had been killed by Qi Suian and tossed into the Melting Furnace as fuel.
"Kill as many of the remaining Cold Energy Monsters as you can. If you can’t kill them all, just hold them back. Especially the Beast King-grade ones." Qi Suian issued his command to the AI.
He then headed in the direction the Celestial Dragon Venerable and the other Cold Energy Monsters had come from. He was going to claim his opportunity, but he didn’t want to miss out on so much high-quality fuel.
So he could only have the Cold Energy Mutated Zombies intercept them.
"You... How could you..." The Taiyin Celestial Monarch stared in disbelief at the large hand that had pierced his chest, pulling out a heart-like core.
"Although I don’t know why you chose me, Teacher, you forced my hand." Tang Qing looked at the beating heart, naturally recognizing it as the unique core of a Cold Energy Monster.
"Heh, as expected of the one chosen by fate. And with the help of an anomaly like the apocalypse game, you truly managed to escape the destiny of your predecessors."
The Taiyin Celestial Monarch’s shocked expression faded, and his tone became calm. "I won’t bother asking where you found the flaw in my plan."
"But do you really think you can kill me?"
Tang Qing had a bad feeling, but he said nothing. Instead, he simply crushed the Taiyin Celestial Monarch’s core.
At the same time, one of his mandatory quests was completed.
"We will meet again, Tang Qing." After saying this, the Taiyin Celestial Monarch’s body dissolved into pure cold energy and vanished.
Tang Qing’s brow furrowed. He instinctively felt that the Taiyin Celestial Monarch hadn’t been lying—that he hadn’t truly been killed.
But the problem was, the mandatory quest was complete, and he had even received the SSS-rank talent.
[SSS-Rank Talent: Celestial Mandate: Taiyin]
Looking at this talent, Tang Qing felt little joy. Instead, his heart was filled with gloom.
It wasn’t just because of the Taiyin Celestial Monarch, but also because the talent came with a restriction.
If he left the Cold Winter World, the talent would drop to A-rank. He would need to find a certain "???" item to maintain its rank.
Furthermore, there was the "Taiyin" suffix in the talent’s name. He wouldn’t even believe it himself if someone told him it had nothing to do with the Taiyin Celestial Monarch.
Especially since it was a reward he received after killing the Taiyin Celestial Monarch.
"A protagonist’s halo? Heh. Since it’s mine now, don’t even think about taking it back."
