New Gods of North America.

Chapter 387 "Black Box"

The site has been initially cleaned up.
Twelve of the thirteen attackers died, but only six extraordinary materials were collected, four of which were "contaminated".

The attacker that Inissa had dealt with seemed to have lost some of his blood during the crushing process, but his extraordinary material was still able to "precipitate" normally in the pile of meat paste.
Facing Wayne's curiosity, Teacher Lina, who seemed to have experience in this area, said briefly, "There are many ways for spiritual power to 'gather' in the body of a Beyonder. It is not necessarily concentrated entirely in the blood."

Of the six missing extraordinary materials, three should have belonged to the unfortunate ones who were eliminated by the "wise sage".
However, there were no witnesses at the scene. After hearing Lina's warning and feeling the huge pressure, the nearby agents were afraid that they would be too late to run, and no one dared to stay and watch secretly.
So when they returned to the scene again and found that those guys had turned into mixed meatballs like molluscs, they could only assume that they had completely lost their extraordinary powers, which should be the so-called "normal phenomenon."

There were two pieces of remains without extraordinary materials, one was the "spider silk balls" that Wayne had "blown up", and the other was the "bamboo whips" left by the "bamboo shoots".
Both of these items have completely lost their "function" in the extraordinary sense, but they have not become "ordinary" like other corpses. They still look different from regular items of the same kind.
According to the Hunter Association's theory, this may be related to the degree of "alienation" of the Extraordinary Person. It is believed that certain alienation processes themselves will consume part of the Extraordinary Power.

In this era, even viruses had not yet been discovered, bloodletting and simple drilling of the skull were still considered beneficial and had various therapeutic effects.

This is the case even for medicine. Extraordinary knowledge that is not allowed to be disseminated publicly is like "groping in a dark box" for detective agencies.
The Hunter Association's theory is at least roughly logically self-consistent and systematic, so let's just believe it for now.

There was also a missing Extraordinary Material, which was swallowed by the monster that everyone killed in the final joint attack - to be precise, when it swallowed it alive, the Extraordinary Material could still be considered its "companion".
Then the monster became even more mutated, and it is said that the "seaweed" on its body only sprouted rapidly after that.

There is such a living example in front of us.

As for the four contaminated extraordinary materials, no one competed with Wayne, who was regarded as a "death expert" by everyone.

Seeing that Peter seemed to like the ball of "spider silk" very much, Lina chose that thing.

What was left was the "bamboo whip" that no one wanted, and the two extraordinary materials that many agents wanted. How to divide these things became another problem.
Wayne chose to copy the church's contribution system and simply separated the extraordinary materials from the detective agency's existing bounty sharing system.

Salaries are distributed according to a proportion, and members who meet the requirements can basically have a "bottom line", but if they still want extraordinary materials, they have to record "personal performance".

Several partners have made their moves tonight, and their power is still strong.
Wayne proposed a plan, which Lina thought was reasonable, and the agents had no collective objection, so it was basically formally approved.

The ideal is beautiful, but there are still problems in practice.

Extraordinary materials are not easy to keep fresh. If some extraordinary materials are left for too long, the extraordinary power contained in them will slowly evaporate.

According to the confession of the surviving prisoner, the attackers who came tonight were all extraordinary people in the "Life" field who had been screened by Cohen Pharmaceuticals.
Even if some agents are qualified to apply, their fields may not fall exactly within the "one to three" range of the life field.

Finally, Sanders took one copy as a "half-payment and half-advance payment", and Seth wrapped one copy with "film" as Wayne said.
The "bamboo whip" that looks smoother and more flexible than ordinary horse whips is still not wanted even after it was discounted, so it is temporarily put in the safe.

Wayne followed the old method and absorbed all the contaminated extraordinary materials.

These extraordinary materials are "interesting". Individually, they are not as good as the three "obstacles" I encountered that night, but they seem to be much higher in quality than the previous wave.
Especially a certain "big guy" that swallowed up its companions, and it felt like the portion was larger than the average "one plus one".

With a full stomach, he went to look for the slate fragment with ease. Unexpectedly, Lina reminded Wayne of the risk again.
Wayne had almost forgotten how powerful the "wise sages" were. After "reviewing" them again tonight, he gained a direct understanding of the dangers of these so-called "superior beings".
But spiritual intuition did not give any warning... The last time,
Next time I won’t use that thing to “aid digestion”. At worst I’ll just drink holy water to slowly grind it.

After Lina reminded him, she did not stop him. She carried Peter, who was holding a large ball of "spider silk", and hid in the yard where she could see the entrance to the cellar.

Then he watched Wayne go down to do the work.

In the cellar, Liam was still chatting with the only surviving prisoner tonight, holding a small notebook and asking for more information.
Wayne was very pleased to see that he could manage himself so well, so he did not disturb them and silently ran to turn over the stone fragments.

If some strange evil god really came,

Wayne felt that he might still have a chance to outrun these two captives...or maybe they could all have some company on the road together.

Finally, the "blue bar" rose directly to the upper limit, but Wayne strangely did not show any sign of "promotion". Instead, he felt that there seemed to be more room in the "blue bar".
My spiritual intuition is dead and doesn't tell me what to do next.

After quickly closing the slate fragments, he quickly returned to the ground to look for Lina.
Lina helped Wayne count the number of times he had "upgraded":

"For many extraordinary people, the transition from level 4 to level 5, or what the Wisdom Sect calls the 'low level' to the 'middle level', is a stage they cannot cross until they die or lose control. Some senior scholars in the School of Life are the same. In order to avoid risks, they would rather not upgrade until they find a solution.

"Everyone's situation is different at this stage. Some people need to be repeatedly 'transformed' and 'purified', some people need to strengthen the 'development' of their extraordinary abilities, and some people need some strange stimulation at the end. Only if they survive and don't lose control can they be promoted.

"I don't know your specific situation. But since you don't show any signs of improving your rank, it means you still need more accumulation. Generally speaking, your spiritual intuition will remind you when the time comes."

So the so-called "big stairs" are so tricky...

Lina said, moving a little closer, "If you ever feel that you are about to be promoted, remember to tell us in advance."

"why?"

"Considering the current condition of your cabin, I think you might explode again next time... Rather than blowing up your own people, I think it would be better for you to find a safe place to deal with it yourself in advance. Or let Sanders throw you away in time."

"..."

Wayne silently lowered his head and glanced at Peter at Lina's feet. The little guy was "sucking" a large ball of "spider silk" on his head, and his abdomen was swollen.
Noticing Wayne's gaze, Peter used one of his long legs to pull out another "thread", as if asking Wayne, "Do you want one too?"

(End of this chapter)