Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Purebloods Are Approaching Black Heart Town
"Life finds a way. Mutants have already undergone a complete transformation."
"Furthermore, due to the divergence of life, the cells of every mutant are unique."
"If I had to make an analogy, ’human’ isn’t so much the mutants’ race as it is their starting class."
"Each mutant then undergoes a random secondary class change from this ’human’ starting class, and the class they receive is entirely unique."
"One thing is certain, however: the mutation and evolution that radiation brings to mutants does not result in Extraordinary abilities, like psychic powers."
"It only grants them powerful regenerative and self-healing abilities, along with extremely high base attributes from the start."
Dissecting Boss Jack and his subordinates, Qi Suian gained considerable insight into how mutants are affected by radiation.
For Qi Suian, this was actually good news.
He wasn’t a fan of flashy skills or complex mechanics, preferring simple, raw, powerful attributes instead.
’So, as long as my cells continuously absorb the right kind of radiation, I can permanently enhance my regenerative and self-healing abilities to a certain degree.’
’As for base attributes... well, that’s more dependent on natural talent. Everyone starts at the same point, but if you have greater potential when you mutate, your attributes will be higher.’
Take Boss Jack, for example. He became the ruler of Black Heart Town because his dual attributes were as high as 5.5.
Other mutants are of a common template; it’s considered good if their dual attributes even reach 3. But Boss Jack was naturally gifted, which gave him a much higher ceiling.
It was now clear that this Wasteland World had no Cultivation Techniques. Mutants could only absorb radiation passively, much like sunbathing.
As for creating a Cultivation Technique to absorb it actively? That would require a foundation to build upon, which simply didn’t exist.
If you could create something from nothing just by thinking about it, mutants would have become invincible long ago. They wouldn’t still be living such miserable lives.
Research? Even more unrealistic. Survival itself was a struggle, with the constant threat of purebloods and irradiated creatures. On top of that, most mutants were illiterate. Trying to invent something from scratch? Any mutant who tried would have likely starved to death long ago.
Even if someone succeeded, it would be stolen by the likes of Boss Jack, not shared with everyone.
"A pity. There’s too much uncertainty. But I can use this to enhance the Umbral Virus," Qi Suian muttered.
The mutations were unpredictable and the radiation couldn’t be effectively controlled, but Qi Suian could control the Umbral Virus. He could manage the entire viral strain.
He could manage the entire viral strain until he had screened and selected for the exact properties he needed.
’No need to rush. It won’t be too late to start the modifications after I get the relevant knowledge from the Sanctuary.’
From Boss Jack, Qi Suian had learned that there were twelve large Sanctuaries on the planet, established by the former Victor Clan.
As for small and medium-sized ones, the number was unknown, but there were surely a great many.
Nearly three hundred years had passed since the world became a radioactive wasteland. Naturally, several generations had been born, leading to outward expansion and the founding of new settlements.
Those who could live in the Sanctuaries were all pureblood descendants of the Victory Clan.
Therefore, if Qi Suian wanted to get his hands on the core data, he would have to go to one of the twelve major Sanctuaries.
The smaller ones might have some, but it would be limited.
The problem was, Qi Suian had no idea where these twelve major Sanctuaries were located.
Boss Jack had only heard rumors. After all, the Victor Clan had a big reputation; virtually every mutant had heard of them.
The closest small Sanctuary to Black Heart Town was called the Riveting Knight Sanctuary, home to only one thousand purebloods.
This was by no means a small number; Black Heart Town itself only had a population of around four hundred.
Not all mutants join factions; some live in the wild. These people are called Scavengers.
"The rest of them... kill them all." Wiping his hands, Qi Suian shoved the mutant corpses he was more or less done researching into the Melting Furnace.
Their value as fuel wasn’t low, but it wasn’t particularly high either.
Only Boss Jack was of decent quality; the other mutants were merely filler material.
’Since they’re all here, I might as well use them as fuel.’ Qi Suian decided he would make the mutants of Black Heart Town contribute to the Tai Sui God’s evolution.
Whether the mutants were willing was irrelevant. All that mattered was that Qi Suian benefited.
[Lifeforms approaching Black Heart Town. Quantity: two. Suspected purebloods.]
The smart-brain’s alert gave Qi Suian pause in his slaughter, though he quickly accelerated his pace.
’Purebloods... don’t tell me they’re from the Riveting Knight Sanctuary.’
’Talk about perfect timing.’ A look of delight crossed Qi Suian’s face.
Boss Jack had indeed told him the general location of the Riveting Knight Sanctuary, but it was just an approximation; he didn’t know the exact position.
After all, purebloods were far more powerful than mutants.
If mutants encountered purebloods in the wastes rather than in a town, the purebloods would kill them on sight.
There would be no reasoning with them.
To purebloods, mutants were unclean things, worse than filth.
However, inside a mutant town, they would show some restraint and not act so brazenly.
Conversely, due to the purebloods’ strength, mutants wouldn’t proactively pick a fight with them either.
When Qi Suian was first mistaken for a pureblood upon entering Black Heart Town, the local mutants had been hostile, wary, and resentful, yet none had dared to make a move.
Compared to the vast mutant population, purebloods were far fewer in number. It was for this very reason that any Sanctuary would retaliate if one of their own died at the hands of mutants.
That was why, as long as Qi Suian hadn’t done anything too outrageous, the mutants would have just ignored him rather than risk offending him with taunts or provocations.
After all, if a pureblood killed a mutant—especially one who had started the trouble—no one was going to stand up for the dead mutant.
With the killing concluded, a dead silence fell over Black Heart Town.
Mutants and the irradiated creatures they raised for food—all had been fed to the Melting Furnace.
The silence was absolute.
’Next, I need to figure out how to capture these purebloods from the Sanctuary alive.’
’First, I’ll try to trick them into giving me the exact location. Best-case scenario, I can get them to lead me there.’
Having a guide would be much better than searching on his own.
’I just wonder if torture would even work on them.’ Qi Suian had no intention of playing nice.
That wasn’t his style. Direct action was.
He knew this wasn’t the optimal solution; there were certainly more indirect ways to achieve his goal.
For him, however, this approach also provided an opportunity to study the purebloods.
According to Boss Jack, the purebloods were supposedly unchanged from the humans of the past.
But Qi Suian didn’t believe that for a second.
Living this long without any mutation whatsoever? That was completely unrealistic.
The most likely explanation was that they had used technology to adjust or modify themselves.
After all, besides combat armor and energy weapons, the Twelve Victory Clans were known to possess gene therapies.
In Qi Suian’s opinion, they most likely used these gene therapies to control the effects of radiation-induced mutation.
This would allow the so-called "purebloods" to maintain their human appearance while still gaining enhanced strength.
It was just a theory, of course, with no proof. But that didn’t matter. He would have his proof soon enough.
"We’ll find a place to hide and ambush them when they arrive." Qi Suian had no intention of a head-on confrontation.
Ambush if you can, poison if you can—his philosophy was to achieve the objective while maximizing his own safety.
The Tai Sui God was equipped with a Shadow Navigator unit. Their combat armor would never be able to detect it. As long as he was quiet enough, the ambush was guaranteed to succeed.
Once he captured them alive, what happened next—whether he killed them or flayed them—would be entirely up to him.
The smart-brain immediately devised an ambush plan, and the Tai Sui God began to execute it under its control.
Fortunately, he had turned Black Heart Town’s mutants into fuel by hand, which meant the town’s buildings were largely undamaged.
This provided excellent cover for the Tai Sui God’s ambush.
After all, the Shadow Navigator unit wasn’t a true stealth module, otherwise all this trouble would be unnecessary.
* * *
"What was the Grand Elder thinking, deciding to put these mutants to work for us?" Maeve said, her face a mask of disgust.
Black Heart Town wasn’t the first mutant settlement they had visited.
Even through the safety of her combat armor, the sight of those deformed mutants always made Maeve feel sick to her stomach.
If not for the Sanctuary’s plan, she would have killed these disgusting monsters the first chance she got.
"The Sanctuary’s resources are nearly depleted. We need new slaves to work for us," Valia said patiently. "And what could be better than mutants?"
"We just need to give them a few trivial, low-grade anti-radiation drugs and some food, and they’ll work for us."
Despite Valia’s explanation, Maeve was still clearly repulsed.
But she was helpless to do anything about the Sanctuary’s predicament.
"For the sake of your cosmetics, your afternoon tea, and your little garden, we need mutants as slaves," Valia added, appealing to her self-interest.
Maeve might not feel much for the Sanctuary’s sake alone, but if her own refined lifestyle was at risk of being downgraded, she would certainly weigh the pros and cons.
"I get it. It’s not like I only think about myself," Maeve retorted, annoyed.
The words had barely left her mouth when it happened.
A dark figure lunged at them.
Caught completely off guard, Maeve was struck and sent tumbling for dozens of meters. Fortunately, the blow didn’t seem to have penetrated her combat armor’s defenses.
But Maeve didn’t get back up. She lay motionless on the ground.
Valia reacted, but he was nowhere near as fast as their attacker. Before he could even mount a counterattack, a blow landed on him as well.
A strange force passed straight through his combat armor, and in that instant, he finally understood why Maeve was unresponsive.
