Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded

Lin Feng fired several more armor-piercing rounds to ensure this Tier 3 Aberrant was completely dead.

Facing a powerful enemy two tiers above him, he had to be extremely vigilant.

Finally, after Bai Ye waved her hand to the rear, signaling her consent, Lin Feng ended this bone-crushing attack.

When the smoke from the artillery fire dissipated, the surrounding horde of Aberrant monsters that had gathered nearby had also vanished without a trace.

With the death of the Tier 3 Aberrant King, they reverted to their past timidity and caution, no longer as frenzied as before.

In fact, this was the normal state of Aberrants.

Just like the first time Lin Feng and the others entered, they were not attacked by Aberrants all the way up to the third level. Even when they finally entered the fourth level below ground, they only occasionally encountered ambushes by Tier 2 Aberrants after venturing deep into it.

With the protection of the Holy Spring's power, or the flames released by the flamethrower to disperse them, Tier 1 Aberrants didn't dare to get too close. The instinctive fear from the Aberrant cells within their bodies kept them away from danger.

This was the instinct of life.

It was only under the summons and drive of the Tier 3 Aberrant King that the Aberrant cells within these creatures were no longer afraid of the danger of death, and uncontrollably attacked humans.

Now that everything had settled…

Without the leadership of the Tier 3 Aberrant King and the Tier 2 Corruptor, the Aberrant monster horde naturally collapsed.

The group also slowly contracted their formation to rest temporarily.

Protected by the others, Lin Feng came to the back of the Savior Army leader, Bai Ye. Not far ahead was the ruin where the Tier 3 Aberrant had died.

After approaching it, the murmurs that hadn't been heard for a long time sounded again in his ears and mind.

Even with the sunlight shining down, as a Tier 3 Aberrant, it still emitted strong mental pollution.

For safety's sake, Lin Feng didn't go forward, only looking at the silver-haired woman in front of him.

For Tier 2 Evolvers, a few hundred years was equivalent to the early adulthood stage of their entire life.

Coupled with the characteristics of flesh that doesn't decay, this "old woman" who was several hundred years old still had the appearance of a fair-skinned and beautiful twenty-year-old.

But Lin Feng didn't pay much attention to her appearance.

Lin Feng was concerned about her battle with the Tier 3 Aberrant King just now. She was able to release the power of space, float up, and her eyes glowed blue, like a god.

In that state, the aura emanating from Bai Ye was already comparable to the Tier 3 Aberrant King.

This also meant that the true level of her strength was likely only one step away from the third stage.

Her Evolution level had reached the upper limit of level 29.

At the same time, her ability could directly interfere with reality, even distorting space, completely detached from normal cognition, and could not be measured by common sense.

Similarly, Bai Ye was also surprised and curious about the strength displayed by Lin Feng.

Normally, an ordinary Tier 1 Late-Stage Evolved Gun Ability User would only have less than half the strength that Lin Feng showed.

Moreover, it was obvious that he hadn't yet unleashed his true strength.

Because Lin Feng hadn't encountered a life-or-death crisis during the Tier 3 clearing battle, he must still be holding at least one trump card to deal with unexpected needs.

But just the powerful firepower that Lin Feng had shown was something that even Bai Ye, a Tier 2 Late-Stage Evolver, wasn't fully confident in dodging.

Space Shock could at most pull open a distance of ten meters, but each of the shells fired in succession had a kill range that could cover a radius of more than ten meters.

Bai Ye could dodge the first few shells, but the subsequent continuous firing and saturation strikes were something that no flesh and blood body could withstand.

Unless she advanced to the third stage, possessing strength and cell strength beyond cognition, human heavy firepower weapons would still pose a threat.

Lin Feng's strength at Tier 1 Late-Stage level 19 could threaten herself, a Tier 2 Late-Stage Evolver. If he were allowed to advance to Tier 2 and his ability underwent a second awakening and enhancement…

Bai Ye estimated that he could pose a substantial threat to any existence below Tier 3.

Of course, there was only the possibility of seriously injuring or killing.

A Tier 2 Late-Stage Evolver like Bai Ye could withstand more than 80% of the artillery damage by wearing power armor or bio-armor.

In this case, Lin Feng's advantage as a Gun Ability Evolver would be greatly reduced.

The spear and shield have always been the idea behind human weapons research.

It's just that now spears are becoming increasingly scarce, while shields that can be reused are becoming more and more numerous.

So, just like his killing of the Tier 3 Aberrant King, for dealing with unarmored flesh and blood, fierce and powerful ranged firepower was the ultimate nemesis of these Aberrant monsters.

"Is it dead?"

While Bai Ye was still thinking about whether to give the Rockhorn Horse Tier 2 Evolution Source Matter to Lin Feng after putting on the power armor…

The man behind her slowly opened his mouth and asked.

Bai Ye came back to her senses and nodded:

"That's right, only a pile of flesh and blood remains containing Tier 3 Aberrant cells, buried in the ruins."

Lin Feng frowned slightly and asked the question in his mind:

"If we absorb Tier 3 Evolution Flesh, can the filtered Source Matter advance to become a Tier 3 King like the previous Tier 1 and Tier 2?"

Bai Ye was stunned, obviously not expecting the other party to ask such a question.

Shouldn't a normal person take a deep breath after killing the monster BOSS, sigh with emotion, and then continue to move forward to find the military factory treasure?

Lin Feng neither asked about the Tier 2 Evolution Source Matter reward, nor did he talk about continuing to move forward to search for the Wasteland Wolf's Source Matter Crystal…

Instead, he blurted out a question about advancing to become a Tier 3 King.

You must know that he hasn't achieved a second level-skipping evolution yet, and he's already thinking about the next evolution stage.

If someone else asked about this matter, Bai Ye would definitely laugh in her heart at their overestimation of their abilities and their lofty ambitions…

But the person who asked the question now was Lin Feng, an Evolver with the strongest Gun Ability, a man who could kill a Tier 3 Aberrant King at Tier 1 Late-Stage.

It was a pity that if he hadn't embarked on the Rockhorn Horse's evolutionary path, his future would have been limitless, and even in the Tier 2 Evolver's strength ranking, he would be ahead of her.

But it was precisely because of this that Bai Ye could cooperate with him with confidence, and even intend to promote and invest in him a little.

She could see that Lin Feng was very ambitious.

But ambition must be maintained with strength.

Without entering Tier 3 to become a King, even the erosion of time and years cannot be resisted.

No matter how strong you are, you will eventually turn to dust.

Thinking of this, the corners of Bai Ye's mouth rose slightly:

"It is possible, but you also have to endure endless murmurs and pollution until you fall into madness."

"Countless Tier 2 Late-Stage Evolvers who are stuck at the threshold of Tier 3 have also tried to absorb the Tier 3 cells in other Tier 3 Kings' bodies to forcibly advance."

"It's just that without exception, none of them lasted even a thousand years, either becoming a crazy Mad King, or their flesh and blood tissues directly collapsing."

"Their strength is also much weaker than a normal Tier 3 King, only a little stronger than an Aberrant."

"In short, forcibly merging, the body and spirit will definitely be damaged, and it is possible that both will be contaminated by radiation, and they will directly explode and die within a hundred years."

Lin Feng frowned slightly. He knew all this, but the prerequisite for falling to this point was the absorption of Tier 3 Source Matter containing impure genes, which led to pollution.

If he could absorb pure Tier 3 Life Source Matter…

Wouldn't he be able to achieve a flawless Tier 3 evolution?

Seeing Lin Feng's thoughtful look, Bai Ye revealed a knowing smile and continued:

"Are you trying to say that if we could filter out the gene impurity fragments contained in the Tier 3 Evolution Flesh and obtain pure Tier 3 Life Source Matter, we could achieve a safe and stable Tier 3 evolution?"

Lin Feng nodded:

"With Leader Bai's ability, you should be able to do it, right?"

Bai Ye shook her head and generously admitted:

"If I could do it, do you think I would still have a chance to live? In the eyes of those top forces, what difference is there between me and a pure Source Matter production and filtering machine?"

"At least before advancing to become a Tier 3 King, I have no solution to the genes and Source Matter that are intertwined in Tier 3 flesh and blood."

"Alright, now that the threat has been eliminated, everyone should go up and rest for a while. Staying near the source of pollution for a long time is not good for your health."

Lin Feng nodded and asked before leaving:

"What about the remaining Aberrants on Tier 3 below ground?"

Bai Ye smiled:

"Without the summons of the Tier 3 Aberrant King, the remaining low-level Aberrants are just a rabble."

Saying that, she added:

"Don't worry, I won't short you on the Chieftain-level Rockhorn Horse Life Source Matter that I promised you. I'll personally deliver it to you when I'm done cleaning up this Tier 3 below ground."

"This is only Tier 3 below ground. There are still three levels to go. Who knows if there will be other Tier 3 Aberrants? At that time, we will still need Captain Lin to escort us all the way."

"I hope that after skipping levels to evolve to Tier 2, Captain Lin's strength will be able to easily suppress Tier 3 Aberrants."

Lin Feng shook the armor-piercing cannon in his hand:

"Maybe, if it weren't for Leader Bai's restraint and guidance, I wouldn't have been able to find such a good opportunity to strike earlier."

"Then we'll see you on the surface."

Saying that, Lin Feng took one last look at the body of the Tier 3 Aberrant King buried under the ruins, and turned to leave with Chen Shanshan and Shen Yue.

After the three of them left Tier 3 below ground, Bai Ye put away the smile on her face and turned to walk towards the bombed ruins.

Looking at the flesh and blood tissues and organs that were slowly wriggling out of the cracks.

The Tier 3 cells inside were struggling to escape the burial, trying to find a chance to survive.

Seemingly sensing that there was life approaching nearby, these clumps of Tier 3 cells crawled towards Bai Ye like slugs and worms accelerating a hundred times.

The woman pulled out the remaining thermos cup from her waist.

She slowly unscrewed the stainless steel thermos cup, and a thick white aura was immediately released from it.

Wherever the mouth of the cup was pointed, the surrounding temperature plummeted to dozens of degrees below zero.

This was the liquefied gas in the expanded space, which absorbed a large amount of heat after vaporization, causing the temperature to drop.

Liquid nitrogen is a famous cryogenic liquid.

It can instantly drop the temperature to hundreds of degrees below zero, and even metal can be frozen into brittle paper.

So this low temperature was naturally not something that Tier 3 Aberrant flesh and blood could withstand.

Bai Ye then used the thermos cup to collect the Aberrant flesh and blood that was frozen at her feet.

These pieces of meat that could struggle to crawl out were polymers of Aberrant cells that had evolved to Tier 3 on this Aberrant King's body, and they were also the only things of value.

After collecting them, she screwed on the lid.

After doing all this, Bai Ye waved her hand, letting the flamethrower army under her command step forward to concentrate on burning the ruins where the Tier 3 Aberrant was buried:

"Burn for about half an hour or more, burn the concrete inside into coke, burn it into quicklime…"

"It can only end when there is no more murmuring sound."

After the leader finished giving instructions, the squad leaders at the late Stage 1 nodded.

Immediately afterward, the incineration operation began.

Half an hour later, after personally watching the Stage 3 source of pollution being completely eliminated, Bai Ye ordered everyone to continue clearing out the remaining mutated monsters on the third sublevel.

Then, she turned and walked towards the exit, returning to the surface.

In this great battle against the Stage 3 mutated entity, her condition had deteriorated the most, especially the consumption of her abilities, which was almost reaching a critical level.

Fortunately, Lin Feng didn't disappoint her in the end.

… … … …

Back on the surface, Lin Feng and the others first took a walk outside, basking in the sun to kill off any mutated flesh and blood on their bodies, avoiding genetic contamination.

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Afterward, they took off their combat armor and returned to the cave.

Waiting for the return of Bai Ye, the leader of the Salvation Army.

Lisa, who was studying the Rockhorn Horse, entertained Lin Feng and the others.

Chen Shanshan, seeing her recording the habits of the Rockhorn Horse and researching food combinations, then said:

"Ding Yi also has relevant research on this topic. You two can discuss it when you have time."

Lisa's eyes lit up:

"Really? Then I'll go later."

At that moment, Shen Yue walked in from outside, handing Lin Feng a cloth bag.

Taking the heavy bag, Lin Feng opened it and saw nine high-energy batteries inside.

These were specially for powering the power armor, relics from the prehistoric Old Earth era.

As for the nine in front of him, they were the only valuable equipment salvaged from the Stage 2 late-stage Corrupted One that Chen Shanshan had blown the head off with Exorcising Holy Flame.

The exoskeleton power armor had originally suffered wear and tear from the Corrupted One, and its durability had already dropped to around five points.

After Chen Shanshan blew its head off with two more shots of Exorcising Holy Flame, it was considered completely scrapped.

Fundamental damage cannot be restored to its original state by consuming life points through the upgrade system.

Fortunately, the high-energy batteries on the back of the power armor were only slightly depleted and could still be used.

Moreover, the power armor worn by this former One-Star Hunter, a Stage 2 early-stage evolver, was also a universal type, and the batteries were the same model as those in Lin Feng's team's possession.

Therefore, Lin Feng had Shen Yue remove the armor batteries from the back of the headless corpse in advance as spoils of war.

Under Lin Feng's coercion and enticement with two catties of mid-stage evolved meat, Shen Yue endured the disgusting feeling of sticky liquid all over her hands and collected the nine high-energy batteries, taking them outside to expose them to the sun to remove the mucus and mutated contamination.

After all, among the people present, only she possessed the power of the Holy Spring, having completed her evolution by absorbing a large amount of Holy Spring water, with rich Holy Spring blood flowing in her veins.

As long as it wasn't serious contamination, ordinary skin contact wouldn't be a big problem, especially with the protection of a layer of gloves.

Now that the nine high-energy batteries were in hand, Lin Feng took them out one by one to check their quality and condition.

The good news was that none of the nine batteries were scrapped. The bad news was that their durability had all dropped below six points, requiring the consumption of nine life points to repair them.

After restoring their durability one by one, Lin Feng put away the batteries, waiting for Bai Ye to return.

Before long, a slender woman walked out of the underground shelter entrance not far away.

Bai Ye finally appeared, and under the sunlight, a trace of fatigue also appeared on her face.

Fighting the Stage 3 mutated entity was not an easy task for her, especially since the space control ability she awakened was not a combat type, and her actual combat ability was inherently weaker.

Returning to the camp, Bai Ye told Lin Feng and the others to be patient and wait, as she would go clean up and return.

Walking into a large RV, a dozen minutes later, a refreshed Bai Ye changed into a loose short-sleeved shirt and long pants, wearing a pair of slippers, looking relaxed and casual.

However, the belt filled with thermos cups was always on her body, carried with her at all times.

Bai Ye walked to the tent where everyone was, took out a thermos cup from her waist, and handed it to Lin Feng.

Looking at their slightly horrified and puzzled expressions, Bai Ye smiled and slowly said:

"Don't worry, there's no liquid hydrogen inside. It's just a normal thermos cup, but it contains the Stage 2 life essence of the chieftain-level Rockhorn Horse that I promised Team Leader Lin."

Lin Feng raised an eyebrow, picked up the thermos cup on the table, and confirmed that there were no problems after scanning it. Then, he opened it and took a look.

An extremely rich aura of essence rushed towards him, as if directly punching Lin Feng in the face.

The abundance of Stage 2 life essence far exceeded the concentration during the Stage 1 evolution.

There was a difference in the level of life between the two.

The moment he closed the lid, Lin Feng even vaguely heard the powerful roar of the chieftain-level Rockhorn Horse emanating from the essence in the cup, containing the power of the Rockhorn Horse's tenacious life.

Confirming that there were no problems with the item, Lin Feng then asked the beautiful and lazy woman in front of him about the doubts buried in his heart:

"If Leader Bai can evolve to Stage 3 and become a Stage 3 King, will she be able to filter out the essence from Stage 3 evolved meat using her space ability at that time?"

Bai Ye knew that the other party would continue to be concerned about the issue of Stage 3 evolution, so she was prepared.

Although Lin Feng's choice to embark on the Rockhorn Horse evolution path meant that his evolution limit in this life would be late Stage 2.

But this was only the current limit of the Rockhorn Horse race.

Because the Rockhorn Horse had not yet given birth to a Stage 3 King.

Although Lin Feng could not absorb the original essence of other Stage 3 wild beasts to achieve Stage 3 evolution, he still had another path, an outlet with almost zero hope.

To evolve to Stage 3 on his own and become the first Stage 3 King of the Rockhorn Horse.

Although it was difficult, it was not impossible.

And the key lay in how to obtain pure Stage 3 life essence, a substance that could elevate and transform any Stage 2 cell into Stage 3.

Thinking of this, Bai Ye said in a slightly low voice:

"Rather than saying whether I can filter out pure Stage 3 essence, it's better to rephrase the question: Does pure Stage 3 life essence exist in this world?"

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes, obviously these things had already touched on very deep evolutionary theories.

Even now, humans had not analyzed the internal principles of different Stage 3 evolutions, and had not derived a set of formally effective Stage 3 evolutionary theories.

Lin Feng then stated his own reasoning:

"In the current mainstream of the three major evolutionary methods, heterogeneous evolution and fusion evolution are actually absorbing the life essence overflowing from the bodies of advanced evolved lifeforms."

"Therefore, these two evolutions are actually consistent with the mutated entities in the ruins and forbidden areas in terms of evolutionary underlying logic. They are all using the evolutionary paths that others have already verified to achieve their own life level improvement…"

"It's just that one is an active, controllable, slight fusion, and the other is a passively endured genetic radiation, a mutated monster formed by pollution and distortion."

"To evolve to Stage 3, they only need to follow the path that predecessors have verified and absorb the existing Stage 3 essence."

"And the only one truly creating Stage 3 essence is the immaculate evolution path. It represents infinite possibilities, forging a new and feasible evolutionary path, and the Stage 3 life essence it condenses is also unique."

"So, doesn't the immaculate evolution's Stage 3 path rely on pure Stage 3 life essence?"

Bai Ye nodded and sighed softly.

Lin Feng had analyzed it very thoroughly, but he didn't seem to understand the background of the evolutionary frenzy of that year.

So, she began to explain:

"You're right, but to understand the answer to this question, we have to go back to the Old Earth era, before all evolution and mutation began."

"The source of evolution, I estimate everyone knows more or less. There was a meteor shower that fell into the Pacific Ocean that year."

"The meteorites in that meteor shower carried the initial life essence, and they also triggered the cataclysmic frenzy."

"Please allow me to call it a cataclysm rather than evolution."

"Because in the beginning, the mutation swept across the globe, causing heavy losses to human civilization, until firepower was used to suppress the mutated behemoths that appeared everywhere, and humans barely stabilized their position at the top of the food chain."

"Later, through analysis and research, this great era of national evolution was opened."

"I was also a member of the evolutionary research at that time."

"Relying on the advanced technology of that time, after killing Stage 3 wild beasts, technicians risked being contaminated by radiation and pollution to collect, decompose, and filter the evolved meat in the bodies of Stage 3s…"

"In the end, they did indeed research pure Stage 3 life essence."

"However, this pure Stage 3 life essence can never be used."

Lin Feng frowned slightly:

"Why? Is there a problem with the life essence?"

Bai Ye shook her head:

"There is no problem with the essence. Otherwise, how could it trigger a cataclysmic frenzy and accelerate global life evolution?"

"So, the problem is not the essence, but us, we humans and the Earth itself."

Seeing Lin Feng was somewhat puzzled, Bai Ye then asked in return:

"What do you think is the greatest characteristic of a Stage 3 King?"

Lin Feng thought for a few seconds:

"Integrating oneself into the gene sequence, truly achieving immortality. They no longer need to adapt to the environment, because the surrounding environment will become adapted to them."

"So, the greatest characteristic of a Stage 3 King is the influence of its own genetic radiation on the surrounding environment, including distorting the gene sequences within all lower lifeforms, turning them into extensions of its own bloodline, or even clones!"

As Lin Feng analyzed and reasoned, the azure pupils in Bai Ye's eyes became brighter and brighter:

"That's right, the significant characteristic of a Stage 3 lifeform is that it is powerful enough to influence the environment, rather than being restricted and influenced by the environment."

"So, pure Stage 3 life essence…"

"It is the purest substance in the world."

"But as soon as it is contaminated with even a trace of an information element, even just a small fragment of a chromosome base pair, it will completely pollute it, rapidly proliferating and replicating a source of contamination."

"How are you going to absorb and utilize such a substance?"

"From the moment it is born, unless it is in a barren land where no life has ever been born, or in outer space, it cannot be preserved in any other environment."

"Even when you get close to it, before it is absorbed by your cells, it has already been severely contaminated."

"It is an accelerator for the evolution of all life, but not an aid to individual evolution."

"Pure Stage 3 essence cannot exist on Earth!"