Chapter 206: Blood Profit

Returning to the real world, Li Cheng immediately rushed into the 3D warehouse to study his newly acquired 【Yin-Yang Blade】.

It could only be said that, as a legendary item with no market price, the insect-lord divine corruption that had nearly been incurable in Sun Zhenyao receded rapidly the moment Li Cheng gripped the hilt.

His mind became crystal clear, his breathing effortlessly smooth, his entire body feeling as if heavy burdens had been shed—like dousing himself with a bucket of ice water on a sweltering summer day.

"Holy shit, ice!"

He muttered, lifting his arm and gently clenching his fist to summon the mantis-arm bone-blades.

Shhh—

The bone-blades sliced through the air with perfect smoothness, utterly free of the previous pain, stiffness, and noise.

Not only that, the bone-blades themselves had changed.

The blade body was denser, the edge sharper, the length and curvature more harmonious—like a refined, elegant work of art.

"The Yin-Yang Blade has weakened the corrosive power of the insect-lord divine corruption, retained its mutation capability, and enhanced its self-adaptation. This must be the forced balance mentioned in Effect One."

Now, it was time to test Effect Two.

Li Cheng reversed his grip on the Yin-Yang Blade and lightly slashed his own shoulder.

His skin split open, gushing blood that did not fall under gravity but instead floated upward, reversing its direction to coat his entire body.

Click-click-click-click—

From within his body came a steady crackling sound, like beans popping, as his bones reshaped.

His bones grew longer, tendons thickened, muscles swelled, and his endurance-enhancing red muscle fibers perfectly balanced with his explosive white muscle fibers, adapting to Li Cheng's steadily increasing height.

Moreover, the mantis-arm bone-blades on both arms extended further, while countless black chitinous plates erupted from beneath his skin.

These chitinous plates interlocked, forming a thick, clumsy and heavy full-body armor.

Spiked thorns grew on his elbows, shins, and shoulders.

Swoosh!

From the top of his rhinoceros beetle horns, a chitinous plate extended downward, then automatically spread outward to form a pitch-black mask that perfectly conformed to Li Cheng's facial contours.

Inside the mask, tiny channels resembling insect veins were embedded.

These channels connected to the full-body armor; each breath Li Cheng took caused the armor plates to subtly shift.

On inhalation, it greedily pumped oxygen into his lungs. On exhalation, it simultaneously expelled excess heat generated by his organs' intense activity.

When the growth finally ceased, Li Cheng slowly turned his head to gaze at his reflection in the mirror.

His height reached about two point four meters, his entire body sheathed in monstrous armor, his physique perfectly aligned with the golden ratio—broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, yet not so massively built as to appear clumsy and heavy.

The only drawback was probably that this form would instantly burst his clothes, pants, and shoes.

"Next season, I'll guard LeBron."

Li Cheng shook his head, pulled out his Information Synthesis Glasses, and looked at his reflection.

The Information Synthesis Glasses activated their see-through effect, scanning and displaying vast amounts of data—including, but not limited to, his height, weight, body temperature, muscle dimensions, and physical degradation level in insect-form.

"In insect-form, my personal panel's Strength, Agility, and Constitution attributes all rose from 10 to 12 points. Additionally, overall defensive capability improved, and the mantis-arm bone-blades were further enhanced."

He watched the data flash across the glasses' surface and thought to himself: "As a cost, the insect-form's new metabolism has surged dramatically—his basal metabolic rate and energy metabolism rate have both increased substantially, nearly five to six times that of normal state.

A single activation lasts at most five minutes."

He paused, then picked up the Yin-Yang Blade again and slashed from his left shoulder to his right waist.

Hss—

Blood gushed out, coating his entire body, and Li Cheng gradually reverted to his normal form. The residual blood on his skin flowed back entirely, and the wound healed swiftly.

He grabbed a new set of clothes from a shelf, slipped them on, and muttered, "Even just an auxiliary legendary item is this unreasonable—what would an offensive legendary item even look like?"

A super battleship whose main cannon can erase an entire mountain peak?

A heavily armored mech with a cruising radius of thousands of kilometers?

A divine staff capable of summoning meteorites and unleashing Dragon Break?

Li Cheng quietly tucked away the Yin-Yang Blade and turned to his final task rewards.

First were the rewards he received from other players.

Catherine from the UK and Mendoza from the Philippines had luckily returned to the real world and voluntarily contacted the Global Supernatural Alliance.

By convention, if a new player receives help from a seasoned transcendent during their first mission, their country (or future guild) must give a portion of the reward to the seasoned player.

This wasn't seasoned players leveraging favors for power—it was simple market logic: each player's potential sells for twenty to thirty million U. S. dollars on the black market.

Without stable benefits, why wouldn't seasoned players simply kidnap new players and sell them to wealthy conglomerates or warlords?

Precisely because of this, the Global Supernatural Alliance established and enforced a reward system, severely cracking down on potential-traffic trades, stabilizing the situation and preventing a descent into a dark forest where everyone feared everyone else.

Back to the point: Catherine and Mendoza each transferred 800 game coins to Li Cheng; on the other side, Cliff from the Mercury Alloy Guild also transferred him 2500 as a rescue reward.

Cliff apparently didn't intend to abandon the Mercury Alloy Guild's name—he requested on the communication interface that Li Cheng not disclose details of this mission to the outside world.

Although the guild's leader, Silver, had betrayed everyone, the guild still held cherished memories for Cliff and his companions.

He would inherit the leadership and keep the organization going.

Li Cheng wished him well and did not reveal any information about the Truth Side—knowing such things would benefit Cliff nothing.

Next was Zhao Zijing—this sister from the Global Supernatural Alliance kept her word and transferred Li Cheng 5000 game coins directly.

"So much?"

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow and typed on his friend's communication page: "I thought two or three thousand would be about right."

Zhao Zijing replied: "Two thousand of this is my personal compensation. The remaining three thousand is GOC's reward."

Before the Electrical Retrospection mission began, the GOC representative Bai Qi had mentioned that every newly discovered Killing Field Hidden Realm was humanity's collective wealth.

The pipes containing temporal chaos led to the legendary Retrospection Chamber; while they didn't guarantee immediate discovery, they at least left a hope.

It was valuable intelligence indeed.

"By the way."

Zhao Zijing paused, then typed: "Interested in joining our GOC? We offer excellent benefits—high salary, abundant perks, ample leave, and even company-funded trips worldwide, like Hawaii, Tahiti, or Antarctica."

"Plus, our medical department has the world's most advanced gene therapy."

Hm?

Li Cheng blinked, then immediately understood.

When he first became a player, with little money, he'd bought plenty of gene inhibitors through public channels.

Given GOC's capabilities, if they'd set their mind to it, they could trace those old transaction records via the name "Master Pi Fu" and deduce he'd encountered a gene mutation issue.

But Li Cheng now possessed the Epic-quality Two-Yin-Two-Yang Blade, which directly extracted the essence and purged the dross of the infection caused by the Worm Lord's Divine Corruption—he no longer needed gene therapy at all.

'What's this? A belated act of kindness in the snow?'

Li Cheng chuckled bitterly, accepted the 5,000 game coins, and typed: "Sorry, I haven't yet shaken off the emotional shadow left by my last guild. I don't want to hastily join another. I'd prefer to keep things as they are."

Puff.

On the other end of the communication interface, Zhao Zijing nearly spat out her energy drink. What the hell was this "last guild"?

The Global Occult Coalition is networked with every guild—big or small—none of them have any member records for Master Pi Fu. You're clearly a lone wolf.

This "last guild" you're referring to… can't possibly be the self-destructive Mercury Alloy, can it?

And how does this sound so much like turning down a romantic confession? How experienced are you at this?

Zhao Zijing's eyelid twitched again and again. She gave her superior standing opposite her, Bai Qi, a helpless glance, then wisely ended the call without further entanglement, politely and courteously.

"Ah, this damned charm of mine."

Li Cheng swept back his bangs and turned to examine his final two rewards.

One was a new temporary skill absorbed by the Holographic Bone Corridor from the Entropy-Devouring Cloud.

【Temporary Skill Name: Absorb Brain Entropy】

【Type: Spirit Energy】

【Effect: Brain Suck. Hold onto the target's head for a brief delay, then extract a recent memory—the most vivid one in their mind.】

【Cost: 50 Spirit Energy, 50 Sanity】

【Cooldown: 5 minutes】

【Note: There's a chance of causing irreversible brain damage to the target. Considered a severe hostile act. Use with caution.】

【Note: The zombie excitedly cracked open your skull, then walked away disappointed.】

The Entropy-Devouring Cloud, as a native species of the Killing Ground, was notoriously difficult—nearly immune to physical and energy attacks.

Li Cheng only subdued it using the obscure method of Multi-Threaded Brain Domain Technique combined with Role-Playing Experience.

"With this 【Absorb Brain Entropy】, the Holographic Bone Corridor now has eight temporary skills total. Two more to engrave, and I can break through."

He rubbed his palms together and pulled out the Mechanic's Tome.

After completing this mission, his Mechanic rank had risen to Level 2, unlocking a new trait: Item Enchantment.

A Mechanic can infuse ordinary items with magic, turning them into permanent magical artifacts (until the Mechanic's death).

A Mechanic may enchant several items per day, but only one enchantment can exist on an item at a time, and no item can bear too many spells. The number of enchantments depends on the Mechanic's rank.

Current available enchantments: Enhanced Defense, Enhanced Weapon, Rapid-Fire Weapon (enables automatic fire on non-automatic firearms), Returning Weapon, etc.

Here we go!

Li Cheng shuddered with excitement. The Mechanic's greatest strength lies in treating magic as a form of science and exploiting it. With boundless imagination, he invents and creates.

He immediately sat cross-legged, carefully studying the book, sensing the flow of his Spirit Energy, attempting to infuse it into the 170 Straight Blade.

Clang-clang-clang-clang—

The rusty cleaver violently trembled. Within the view of the 【Information Synthesis Goggles】, a new description slowly appeared on the blade.

【Enchanted: Returning Weapon】

【After using it for a ranged attack, it immediately returns to the wielder's hand】

Li Cheng stood up, spun the hilt, and hurled the cleaver with force.

Thud!

The heavy blade plunged straight into the reinforced concrete wall serving as the target. The next second, it detached itself from the wall and shot back with a whoosh into Li Cheng's hand.

"Hehehe hahahaha."

Li Cheng, as if struck by a sudden illness, tossed and caught the rusty cleaver repeatedly, using bizarre stances to catch it (including but not limited to: handstand, splits, backflip, street dance, moonwalk, pole dance), thoroughly enjoying himself.

Hui Yu, who happened to be descending to the 3D warehouse for a drink, saw this and hesitantly asked: "Uh… if you can throw such a heavy blade, why not just toss a bomb?"

"You wouldn't understand. Coolness is a lifelong pursuit."

Li Cheng swung his arm backward, didn't even look, and precisely caught the returning blade by its hilt.

His current stats panel:

【Life-Risking Gambler · Master Pi Fu】

【Lv14, EXP: 140/1400】

【Strength: 10】

【Agility: 10】

【Intelligence: 10】

【Constitution: 10】 (New Human: +1) (Commoner's Fury: +1)

【Perception: 11】

【Charisma: 5】 (Barbecue Enthusiast: -1)

【Equipment Slot: Two-Yin-Two-Yang Blade, Patchwork Doll, Mechanic's Credential, Holographic Bone Corridor, Bat-Claw Gun, 170 Straight Blade, Nuclear Lighter, Thunder Horn ×1, Skill Transfer USB, Information Synthesis Goggles】

【Inventory: Death-Seeking Notebook, Automated 3D Warehouse, Worm Lord's Divine Corruption Crystal, Akili Toy Factory Key ×3, Wound-Stopping Gel ×5, Ten-Eye Communication Earpiece, Emergency Escape Card, Electronic Pet Egg, Mini Life Potion ×1, Medium Life Potion ×1, Shark-Type Solo Exoskeleton, Bat-Wing Weight Armored Motorcycle Drone, Avenger Cannon, Erotic Dao Robe】

【Skill Slot: Mist Concealment, Multi-Threaded Brain Domain, Role-Playing Experience, Instant Thunder, Familiar Swap, Qi Condensation Internal Explosion Fist, Death Curse Torrent (Temporary), Bloodlust Rage (Temporary), Cut-Wound Hemorrhage (Temporary), Wing Glide (Temporary), Misleading Slander (Temporary), Small Gravitational Energy Sphere (Temporary), Summoning Technique · Thousand Paper Cranes (Temporary), Absorb Brain Entropy (Temporary)】

【Game Currency: 13353】

【Spirit Power: 560】

【Sanity: 390】(BBQ Enthusiast: +120) (Helicopter Destroyer: +30)

(End of Chapter)