Chapter 339: 345.Chapter 345 Experiment and Mutation

345. Chapter 345 Experiment and Mutation

Hu Songqi's efficiency is very high.

The next day, Hu Songqi sent over five heinous human immortal martial artists to Lin Ke.

If Lin Ke is not mistaken, these five people are exactly the outer enforcers of the Witch Charm organization.

"This woman is really a ruthless person!"

After sighing, Lin Ke began the preparations before the experiment officially started.

First, set up the laboratory.

When they initially chose this manor, which was remote in location but still somewhat convenient for transport, as their base, Lin Ke had not yet planned to use it as an experimental base.

So he had to set up the laboratory from scratch.

Fortunately, Lin Ke lacked no funds, and the mechanical development of this world also made it easy to equip the experimental facilities and equipment.

Although merely equipped, it couldn't be said to be excellent, but it was sufficient.

Next, collect human body data.

This part of the content can be called bloody, even cruel.

Therefore, the people that Lin Ke wants Hu Songqi to capture and send over must have committed evil deeds.

This way, it can somewhat offset the sense of guilt.

After completing a live examination, while cleaning the blood off his hands, Lin Ke somehow suddenly recalled that he should have a method to avoid the guilt arising in his heart.

That method is extremely useful.

However, no matter how Lin Ke racked his brains, he couldn't remember what that method specifically was.

"Really annoying!"

With a grunt, Lin Ke temporarily stopped trying in this regard.

With the recovery of memory, the unlocking of knowledge, and the outbreak of ability, he will surely remember that method sooner or later, right?

Finally, design the Construct schematics.

Since the idea of perfecting the Construct system in this world arose, Lin Ke has never stopped thinking about it.

The results obtained are very important.

Lin Ke distilled the "Three Factors" principle of the Construct system evolving into the Construct Witch school.

That is, adapt to local conditions, adapt to the times, adapt to the person.

"Land" refers to different worlds, "time" refers to different stages of civilization development, and "person" refers to different races and supernatural systems.

Therefore, it is necessary to design Construct pieces and sets tailored to this world's human immortal martial artists, rather than simply applying previous ideas and finished products.

More and more forces are gathering outside Dead Person Valley.

The materials Lin Ke needs for the Construct implantation experiments are also becoming increasingly abundant.

When all preparatory work was ready, more than thirty test subjects had already been detained in the underground isolation chamber.

Most are at the Qi Power Realm, a few at the Condensed Truth Realm, and there is one at the early stage of the Returning to One Realm.

After instructing Hu Songqi to temporarily halt capture operations to avoid attracting attention, Lin Ke plunged into the underground laboratory.

For some reason, after conducting the experiments, Lin Ke felt that the laboratory was his true home.

It seemed that opening a research topic, conducting experiments, and writing papers should be his lifelong career.

Fighting and killing, scheming and intrigue, power struggles and layouts—all are heresy.

How could these compare to staying in the laboratory to pursue the truth, which is far more interesting!

Holding strange ideas, after seven days, Lin Ke finally emerged from the underground laboratory, came to the surface, and basked in the sunlight.

During those seven days, he forgot sleep and food, inspiration burst forth, one experiment followed another, and he simply could not stop.

Fortunately, the effort eventually bore fruit.

After wasting more than twenty test subjects, he finally succeeded in implanting the first Construct piece into a Qi Power Realm subject.

Although the function of this piece is extremely simple—merely a certain amount of strength—and it can only store energy for three days.

But this also marked the first step.

It proved that human immortal martial artists can indeed enhance their combat power through Construct implantation.

However, enhancing combat power is only one aspect of what Lin Ke seeks.

For the Construct system to evolve into the Construct Witch school rather than merely being a Construct Specialist side job, one point must be achieved.

That is, possessing a set of cultivation principles and corresponding methods unique to Construct Witches.

In short, they need an autonomous advancement system for Construct Witches.

It cannot be that the purpose of Construct Witches' existence is merely to design and implant Constructs for others.

That would make them no different from tattoo artists who are Construct Specialists.

Therefore, Lin Ke must practice on human immortal martial artists to devise a method that, with the aid of the Constructs implanted in himself, accelerates the efficiency and quality of cultivation.

After venting a little anger, he even became too lazy to inquire about the external situation and the reclamation progress of Dead Person Valley.

Lin Ke informed Hu Songqi to continue capturing thirty test subjects, and then he plunged once more into the underground laboratory.

There are still seven test subjects available for experiments; they must not be wasted.

Use them and cherish them.

When Hu Songqi delivered the new batch of test subjects, perhaps wishing to peek at Lin Ke's secret cultivation secrets, she entered the underground laboratory.

She entered full of thoughts and left full of fear.

She considered herself not a good person, her hands stained with blood, having killed many.

But she did not believe she could carry out Lin Ke's deeds without changing her expression.

Even cold-blooded is insufficient to describe it.

No wonder the ones she had to apprehend must be those whose evil is overflowing.

The reason lies here.

From this moment on, Hu Songqi's impression of Lin Ke was no longer mere reverence, but mostly deep fear.

She feared that if she ever provoked him, she too would end up lying on the table, being disemboweled while remaining fully conscious, as experimental material.

Compared to that, evil witchcraft was merely cruel, not so bloody and insane!

"Hah..."

Seeing Hu Songqi's expression, Lin Ke let out a cold laugh, then continued to immerse himself in the experiment.

In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed.

The materials from the first two batches were completely used up, defective products were destroyed, and only three qualified products remained.

After erasing all traces of the underground lab, Lin Ke alone quietly moved the three qualified products to another base, deciding to pause the experiment for a while.

It wasn't that Lin Ke lacked knowledge or had run out of inspiration.

Rather, there was new movement in Dead Person Valley.

The first adventurer to dare enter Dead Person Valley had already appeared, but after entering the mist shrouding the valley entrance for less than ten minutes, he let out a miserable cry and then fell silent.

After that, the atmosphere outside the valley remained low for a few days before a second adventurer appeared.

This person persisted longer, pressing forward for over ten minutes before encountering an accident.

Just as many were about to retreat, the Mechanical Martial Dao sect took action.

Over fifty Dual-core Mechanical Martial Dao practitioners joined forces, controlling more than 1,500 temporarily replaced exploration-type robots, and entered the valley.

These robots had a special design, employing the most advanced surveillance imaging technology available, capable of transmitting the scenes they explored.

Under the "demands" of all factions, the Mechanical Martial Dao sect that had acted could not withstand the pressure and decided to release the exploration footage.

The condition was that everyone present would share the construction costs of this batch of over 1,500 exploration-type robots.

Compared to the huge profits that could be gained from successfully developing Dead Person Valley, what is this bit of money?

Immediately, a consortium‑styled comprehensive force expressed willingness to bear one‑quarter of the cost.

With a template in place, the construction costs for the over 1,500 exploration‑type robots were quickly apportioned in full.

Thus, a remarkably novel exploration began.

Robots do not need to breathe air to survive.

Any possible toxins in the mist at the valley mouth are ineffective against them; consequently, the robot matrix entered the mist very smoothly and moved freely.

The bodies of the two earlier adventurers were discovered one after another.

The first adventurer died of asphyxiation, his hands tightly gripping his own neck.

The second adventurer was found hanging upside down from a banyan tree, turned into a human jerky.

Several dozen tree roots were embedded in the adventurer's corpse, still sucking blood and flesh.

Through the robots' broadcast, the over three thousand martial artists gathered outside the valley could hear the gurgling sounds very clearly.

The banyan tree seemed alive, as if it were swallowing!

"Burn it!"

At the command of the person in charge of the sect that had dispatched fifty Dual‑core Mechanical Martial Dao practitioners here,

The leading hundred exploration‑type robots immediately extended a black tube from their right arms, spewing flames with a roar.

At the same time, their left arms extended a yellow tube, spraying fuel.

The second adventurer's corpse was the first to ignite in a great fire.

After the banyan tree's surface moisture was baked dry, it too burst into a roaring blaze.

"Uh‑ah, uh‑ah..."

A hair‑raising event occurred: the banyan tree actually emitted a wail resembling a donkey's bray.

This banyan tree is truly alive!

A glimpse through the pipe reveals a spot.

The strange and bizarre descriptions of Dead Person Valley in historical texts and records are not exaggerated!

There may even have been taboos, so they were not described so bluntly.

The fire burned for over half an hour before the banyan tree finally turned to ashes on the ground.

The over three thousand martial artists outside the valley also waited for more than half an hour.

"Disperse the mist!"

After the flames died down, the person in charge did not order the robot matrix to advance; instead, he issued this command:

The over 1,500 robots acted in sequence, disassembling, deforming, and re‑assembling their rear mechanical parts to form one exhaust fan after another.

Considering the mist might be toxic, the exhaust fans' outlets were pointed toward the sky.

The roar of the machinery operating immediately followed.

The over 1,500 powerful exhaust fans began blowing the valley‑mouth air upward to dispel the mist that had shrouded the valley entrance ever since Dead Person Valley appeared.

Lin Ke paused his experiment and rushed to the outside of Dead Person Valley because, after three days of continuous venting, the mist at the valley mouth showed signs of being completely dispelled.

Compared with the initial inability to see anything inside the valley mouth, now one can clearly see the 1,500+ robots standing at the entrance, continuously operating.

This is something that has not happened in a thousand years!

"Flesh withers, machinery ascends!"

The slogans of the radical faction within Mechanical Martial Dao rang out one after another, then echoed throughout the outside of Dead Person Valley.

When Lin Ke arrived, he happened to see this scene.

Over two thousand people shouted the slogan in unison, their faces flushed, utterly excited.

Especially those radicals who were not influential within the Mechanical Martial Dao sect.

The remaining over one thousand silent people were not human immortal martial arts practitioners; instead, they were those who relied on their status, being mature and steady superiors.

Ignoring the noisy crowd, Lin Ke's eyes became focused as he looked toward the Dead Person Valley.

After a moment, Lin Ke silently disappeared, returning to the base where three qualified products were stored.

The mist at the valley entrance was merely a gate-like arrangement; throughout the Dead Person Valley, traps that kill without blinking lie everywhere.

Conquering the Dead Person Valley is still far off.

Moreover, Lin Ke had long discovered that the entire Dead Person Valley is a formation.

Indeed, there is a peach tree located at the valley's center, which is also the eye of the overall formation.

All plants in the valley possess the trait of absorbing animal vitality.

The absorbed vitality is split into two parts: the smaller part is used by the plants themselves, while the larger part is supplied to the peach tree.

Thus, there are not even mosquitoes or flies in the valley.

Lin Ke also discovered the evil witchcraft manual that Hu Songqi had been seeking.

Under the peach tree lay several corpses that had not decayed.

One of the corpses was dressed as a shaman, holding in its left hand precisely that evil witchcraft fundamental manual transcribed from the assembled stone tablets.

Lin Ke assessed that, with his current strength, he is still insufficient to sweep away this formation.

So, rather than rashly charging into the formation, it's better to calmly conduct experiments.

Besides, he has no interest in the longevity peach, nor does he insist on reading this world's evil witchcraft fundamental manual.

After returning to the base, Lin Ke did not notify Hu Songqi to send another batch of experimental materials; instead, he began summarizing the previous gains and results.

In terms of enhancing immediate combat power for human immortal martial arts practitioners, Lin Ke has already made considerable progress.

The three qualified products have implanted structures that are different tiers of the same series of equipment sets.

Usually, martial artists infuse the true qi, true yuan, and true gang they have cultivated from their unused essence, energy, and spirit into the structures, accumulating little by little.

When facing an enemy, activating the equipment set grants a boost.

Like a deity possessing the body, a humanoid light and shadow appears, and each move possesses effects such as heavy strike, double strike, triple strike, and so on.

It can also replenish the user's own stored true qi, true yuan, and true gang.

It has many wonderful uses.

As for assisting cultivation, progress has been limited.

After all, the experiment simply hasn't had enough time or sufficient samples.

However, Lin Ke already has a vague research direction.

If Lin Ke's idea can be realized, human immortal martial arts practitioners can truly accelerate their cultivation by relying on the implanted structures.

Human immortal martial arts may thus enter a new chapter of development.

After spending two days summarizing the gains and results, clarifying the subsequent research ideas, and formulating a test plan, Lin Ke intends to continue the experiments.

However, an accident occurred.

When contacting Hu Songqi, Lin Ke discovered that the other party had mysteriously lost contact.

Even the mark he had placed on Hu Songqi could not be sensed.

"Interesting."

Lin Ke tried several times to locate Hu Songqi's position, but all attempts failed.

"Are you the one who fled, or did something happen?"

With a somewhat strange feeling, Lin Ke left the new base, blinked into the provincial capital, and went to Hu Songqi's bedroom in the Lotus Heart Pavilion.

The room showed no signs of packed luggage.

Even the evil witchcraft materials that Hu Songqi had recopied were left in a hidden compartment, untaken.

Lin Ke then went to the Witch Allure organization's gambling den base.

Not only did he fail to find any trace of Hu Songqi, but he also discovered that all official members of the Witch Allure organization involved in power struggles had disappeared.

"It seems something has happened in the past few days."

Having this thought, Lin Ke immediately went to find his senior brother to ask about it.

He found his senior brother fully armed, sharpening his blade.

Seeing his whole body exuding killing intent, with the surrounding air seemingly distorted.

This is the rhythm of risking his life to slash someone!

Could it be that Hu Suqi also met with an accident?