Chapter 395: Amoeba Worm Virus

Fingertip caressing the DNA reagent.

That rough, sandpaper-like texture in Colonel Chu's hand felt like the smoothest skin in the world.

While looking, he said:

"Lin An, a simple deduction."

"The punishment dungeon is just a name; its essence is a high-difficulty dungeon, right?"

"But is it really the system punishing you?"

"If it really is punishment, why not just strip all your power or simply kill you? Why go through all this trouble?"

Lin An couldn't help but feel somewhat astonished at Chu An's increasingly perverted gaze.

"What the hell, is this reagent special?"

Regarding Colonel Chu's words, Lin An instinctively retorted:

"Haven't we speculated about this?"

"The system is rigid; it must leave players a way out."

"This is a rule that must be followed in any difficulty of task, dungeon, etc."

"It's not that it doesn't want to kill us; it's that it can't."

"Moreover, the punishment dungeon is like a death sentence with reprieve."

"If the speculation is wrong, it's certain death; and even if it's right, it's no different from being imprisoned."

"Without a third-rank key, I'd have to stay in there for decades!"

Chu An paid no heed to his rebuttal, merely raising the reagent high in the air, his gaze entranced by the silver gleam rising in the test tube under the light:

"What you said is just one of them."

"But you overlooked one point."

"Lin An.."

"Would imprisonment allow you to bring companions?"

"What did Gao Tian and the others do wrong? What loophole did they exploit?"

"You think you can bring them in just because you want to?"

"It's like being sentenced; what right do those around you have to follow you into prison?"

"Is it to make your escape easier?"

"Don't dwell on this; put yourself in their shoes."

Colonel Chu lowered the reagent, then earnestly looked at Lin An's face:

"It's a simple principle."

"Every punished player is actually an elite among many players."

"After all, loopholes and mistakes aren't that easy to find."

"These players are like the smartest monkeys in a zoo; would the zoo bother to kill them?"

"The answer is no."

"Upon discovering them, the administrator would surely try to see if those clever monkeys could be trained."

"Train the monkeys to perform shows, to amuse visitors."

"Of course, the premise is not letting these monkeys recklessly 'scale walls,' 'escape,' or steal other monkeys' food every day."

"This is the basic rule."

"Thus, the system essentially tests whether these clever monkeys are truly smart or just pretending by throwing them into the punishment dungeon."

"If truly clever, able to solve the task without exploiting loopholes or system power, that means great potential."

"If merely accidentally clever, monkeys that happen to touch a loophole are naturally eliminated."

"A half-smile."

Chu An pushed the reagent toward his face, his eyes revealing a hint of self-mockery:

"Truly clever monkeys naturally receive the best rewards."

"Of course, I'm telling you this not to encourage you to actively trigger the punishment dungeon for rewards."

"The danger is too great."

"Just like animals that die during training in a circus, high-intensity training brings more food, but they also die especially fast..."

Lin An froze.

He indeed hadn't considered the punishment dungeon from that angle.

"Am I a monkey in the zoo?"

"Although the metaphor is harsh, it's easy to understand."

"Just."

Lin An frowned; the main reason he initially disagreed with Chu An's view was that the rewards really aren't special.

"To be honest, he truly couldn't see any use for this reagent."

"【Amoeba Worm Reagent - Modified】, special gene drug."

"Drug effect: After taking this reagent, you will gain the amoeba worm's integrated trait."

"Integrated trait: Information is shared among all amoeba worms; you will synchronously obtain whatever information any amoeba worm acquires, regardless of distance."

"Drug note: We are one."

The silver-white reagent in hand feels heavy; its internal structure resembles a DNA helix splitting into fine strands at the top.

As for this reagent, Lin An's evaluation is only 'worthless'.

Integrated, information sharing.

If there were another amoeba worm in reality, then whatever it knows, I would know as well.

Simply put, isn't this thing just a phone?

As for ignoring distance, it might be a bit stronger than a phone, but the Doomsday Game has a chat channel...

Although using the channel consumes energy, for him now, or for most Awakened Ones, it's just that.

The ones limited are ordinary players; even in the mid-to-late game, ordinary players who level up can also withstand the energy cost of using the chat channel.

A thing that can only 'call' each other with the amoeba worm is literally the most trash prop Lin An has ever seen.

The reason is simple.

There are no amoeba worms in the real world, and this potion disappears once used.

What is gained is merely an integrated trait; this trait neither can synchronize strength enhancement like the original amoeba worm, nor can it infect others.

So, in Lin An's view, this potion is just a phone that can't make calls.

I don't know why Colonel Chu is so concerned.

On the other side of the table, Chu An stuffed the empty bag into his pocket after finishing it, and noticed Lin An's indifference.

He couldn't help but let out a light laugh, then spoke slowly:

"Lin An, do you remember what you told me?"

"In the amoeba worm dungeon, your power to absorb emotions was blocked."

"In your judgment, the emotional power of over ten million people is enough to make your strength surge."

"Afterward, you even speculated that the amoeba worm could also absorb emotions to strengthen power, and Gao Tian consequently drew a wrong conclusion..."

Lin An's pupils contracted sharply upon hearing that.

Indeed!

He almost forgot about this!

Inside the Black Tower, there was no amoeba worm boss as speculated, nor any such thing as absorbing emotions to increase power.

Then why would my talent and props fail?

Within a short second, he instantly realized.

"The amoeba worm blocks information, that is, the spread of emotions!!"

"So, the amoeba worm doesn't need to absorb emotions at all; it just needs to not accept emotional information!!"

"No wonder my talent failed."

He suddenly understood.

The essence of emotional power enhancement:

It's like everyone transfers a dollar to Lin An, but the amoeba worm blocks the transfer, preventing the transfer information from being sent.

So, naturally there is no enhancement to speak of.

His heart raced, but he quickly calmed down.

He understood the implied meaning behind Colonel Chu's words.

"Chu An, you mean I should spread the amoeba worm out, or simply infect most people."

"That way, we could completely break through the distance limit when absorbing emotions!!"

"We don't need the people around us; I could absorb emotions and strengthen my power even from the other side of the Earth..."

"Even if one person can only strengthen himself..."

"Ten thousand people would be 100%, a hundred thousand would be 1000%!"

"As long as enough people are infected, even if he is tens of thousands of kilometers away, as long as Chu An gives a speech at the base and stirs emotions,"

"In an instant, the emotions of tens of thousands, even millions of people, will ignore distance and be directly absorbed by him."

"This is equivalent to turning every person into his own 'battery'."

"Chu An's face burned with fervor, and he nodded heavily:"

"Imagine, if we forcibly stimulate the emotions of ten million people to surge, what kind of power you would gain!"

"Even if the duration of the emotional power boost is short, within those few seconds you will erupt with power beyond limits!"

"That said,"

Lin An couldn't help but imagine the scene Colonel Chu described, and reluctantly rejected his idea:

"But we don't have any amoeba worm original liquid."

"This vial of reagent is gone once used, and system props cannot be decomposed for research."

He felt some regret.

Lin An suddenly regretted not having collected amoeba worm original liquid back, or rather, not having collected the amoeba worm virus back.

He felt resistant to that thing, and never even thought of keeping a portion.

That's normal—who would extract zombie virus and keep it on themselves for no reason?

Unexpectedly.

Chu An suddenly stood up, stared fixedly into his eyes with a half-smile:

"No."

"You brought it back."

"What?"

Lin An couldn't help but raise his head in surprise, only to see Colonel Chu lightly utter two words from his mouth:

"Arm."

"You brought back Zhang Tie's arm."

"It is heavily infected with amoeba worm virus."