Chapter 576 554: Arrival from 'Peak', Witnessing Demonization Evolution

That afternoon, an elderly figure suddenly appeared outside the border garrison's temporary research institute.

The newcomer was Chen Huashi, the Eight-star Level editor for the journal *Peak*.

Upon receiving the news, he had wasted not a single moment, using the ability of his High Tier Space Element Pet Beast to race here from over a thousand miles away.

The old man was dressed in an antique-style silk Daoist robe. His hair was graying and his face was dotted with age spots, but he was full of vigor, his eyes glinting with an unconcealable excitement and urgency.

"Where is it? Where is the hamster that successfully underwent dragon transformation?"

Chen Huashi spoke before he'd even steadied himself.

Beside him, a bamboo brush Pet Beast shaped like clouds and smoke quivered slightly, sending out a circle of Space Ripples.

The instant his words fell, Editor Chen's figure flashed and appeared directly in front of a lab bench.

On the bench, a small beast a whole size larger than a normal hamster was lying quietly.

Its appearance was already completely different from that of an ordinary Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster.

Beneath its once-soft, brownish-gray fur, fine, blue-gray dragon scales had emerged from the roots of its hair, covering its back and the tips of its limbs.

Its claws were thick, sturdy, and sharp, faintly taking on the shape of a young Sub-Dragon's talons.

On its forehead, two small bumps had formed, as if bony horns were about to break through the skin.

Chen Huashi's breath caught for a moment.

Without a word, he slowly leaned down, his expression cautious.

A condensed, thread-like wisp of Divine Sense silently reached out, carefully entering the dragon hamster's body.

The moment his Divine Sense entered, it was as if Chen Huashi's spiritual world had been pulled into another dimension.

He saw its meridians, once as fine as hairs, now growing thick and resilient. Their inner walls were coated with a faint, blue-black luster—the new traces left behind by the transformation of its Dragon Race cells.

Its Inner Core, originally the size of a grain of rice, was now the size of a grape, its surface covered with emerging dark-gold patterns.

Furthermore, new blood cells carrying the genetic information of the Dragon Race flowed actively through its blood. With every circulation, they absorbed and expelled a thin but pure stream of Dragon Qi.

'It has Dragon Qi! But it is indeed a bit faint.'

Chen Huashi silently made his assessment.

His gaze flickered as his Divine Sense delved deeper, probing the density of its bones, the Dao Charm within its marrow, and the degree to which each muscle fiber had been transformed.

A moment later, he retracted his Divine Sense, an indescribably complex look in his eyes.

"A Dragon Race hamster... No, I should say a hamster of the Sub-dragon Race. Its bloodline is ten percent Dragon Race."

He muttered, his voice trembling slightly, "And its bloodline purity... it's even a little higher than that of a typical member of the Sub-dragon Race."

He straightened up, his gaze fixed on the dragon hamster, not looking away for a long time.

Countless thoughts raced through his mind.

"Incredible!"

Chen Huashi's voice was a little hoarse.

The standard bloodline composition for the Sub-dragon Race is ten percent Dragon Race. It's far more common to have less; as long as the Dragon Race bloodline awakens at all, the creature will exhibit at least some draconic features.

If the percentage exceeds twenty percent, it meets the standard for a mixed-blood Dragon Race, making it a true Dragon Race Pet Beast.

Of course, this Pet Beast's percentage was only a tiny bit higher than that of an ordinary Sub-dragon Pet Beast.

Considering it was just an ordinary hamster before, this was nothing short of shocking.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the three researchers present.

Gu Ming stood by the lab bench, his expression calm. He held his hands slightly open, as if to say, 'That's just how it is.'

Tang Tianyi stood by the window with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression as placid as an ancient, undisturbed well.

As a Seven-star Beastmaster and a star researcher at the Cultivation Method Company, he had a host of major achievements to his name.

Tang Tianyi was long past the stage of letting his excitement show. His expression remained placid.

However, the corners of his mouth were turned up slightly.

Clearly, Gu Ming's achievement carried immense weight in Teacher Tang's mind.

As for Lu You... she stood closest to the lab bench, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes. Her gaze was fixed on her own Mouse Treasure.

'In a moment, he'll have to get ready for the Demonization Evolution.'

Chen Huashi took a deep breath and couldn't help but glance at the dragon hamster again, his voice rising a few notches involuntarily.

"If all future evolutions are of this quality, the world's Pet Beast market is going to be turned on its head!"

He shook his head, not daring to imagine how many companies would come scrambling for this breakthrough.

'Oh, wait.'

'Gu Ming works for the Ruan Family's Cultivation Method Company.'

'This breakthrough will probably be credited to the company.'

'Never mind then.'

'Gu Ming has financial backing and someone in a high government position. Even if the results of this paper are commercialized, there won't be much resistance.'

Before long, the research entered its main phase.

"Teacher Chen, please have a seat."

Gu Ming pointed to the observation seat beside the lab bench. "The real Demonization Evolution is about to begin."

Editor Chen nodded and sat down, taking out a notebook made of Great Dao Gold Paper from his Beast Taming Space.

He opened it to a blank page. A floating brush flew over, its tip glowing with a wisp of faint golden spiritual light, ready to record experimental data at a moment's notice.

"There is one thing I need to clarify beforehand."

Gu Ming said frankly, his gaze on the One-star hamster still scurrying about on the lab bench.

"This little hamster is actually the product of a failed Evolution."

The tip of Editor Chen's brush paused.

Gu Ming continued to explain, "But the risk of this kind of half-finished Evolution is surprisingly low.

"Its cells are too weak, and its potential is too low. The energy it absorbed from the Evolution Liquid was insufficient to support the full development of the demonized cells, so the Evolution process halted midway."

"Because the demonized cells weren't fully activated, the Pet Beast's chance of dying is extremely low."

Editor Chen nodded thoughtfully. His gaze moved past the One-star hamster and landed on Mouse Treasure, who was curled up quietly in Lu You's arms.

That hamster, however, was different.

Everyone present knew it.

Mouse Treasure had long since reached the Three-star limit. Its Cultivation was firmly stuck at an invisible bottleneck, unable to advance even half a step further.

This wasn't an issue of Talent, but of its species' natural limits.

The bloodline limits of a Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster destined it to a Two-star fate, making it impossible to reach Three-star, let alone Four-star, through conventional means.

The only way out was Form Evolution.

And the core of Demonization Evolution was to rewrite the body's most fundamental stem cells, giving it the foundation of the Dragon Race at the most basic, biological-code level.

As Editor Chen carefully observed Mouse Treasure's state of readiness, he grew restless in his seat.

The hamster's aura was full yet restrained, its spiritual light pulsed subtly, and its Mana was abundant—all clear signs of a foundation polished to perfection.

A foundation of this level needed no further warm-ups or preparations.

He couldn't help but ask for the manuscript. "Where's your paper?

He couldn't wait to read it.

Gu Ming didn't answer directly, instead looking at Teacher Tang beside him.

Tang Tianyi nodded slightly and took a thick stack of manuscript paper from within his robes.

As the paper appeared, Dao Qi manifested around it. It felt heavy and overflowed with a spiritual light.

"It's still missing a key case study," Teacher Tang said.

In other words, the paper wasn't finished, yet the manuscript was already emanating Dao Qi. This guaranteed it would be, at a minimum, a Five-Colored paper, destined for collection by the Hall of the Great Dao.

Teacher Tang's gaze fell upon Mouse Treasure.

Everyone's gaze naturally converged on Mouse Treasure, still in Lu You's arms.

Editor Chen said nothing, simply nodding slowly.

The One-star hamster had demonstrated the effect of a semi-finished version of Evolution Factor 019. Mouse Treasure, however, was here to prove the complete Demonization Evolution created from it.

Gu Ming took a deep breath and said no more.

He and Tang Tianyi walked to the lab bench together and began preparing the highest-purity solution of Evolution Factor 019.

Ah Kun and Teacher Tang's Water Element Pet flitted like shadows before the workstation, performing the extraction with dazzling skill.

After a while, a strange luster appeared in the special container holding the Evolution Liquid. Its purity was so high that the container itself began to grow warm.

Mouse Treasure had already run through the procedure several times off to the side.

With a flash, it leaped into the evolution chamber at the center of the lab bench. It met the eyes of its master, Lu You, who offered it words of encouragement.

"You can do it, Mouse Treasure!"

Mouse Treasure nodded.

It closed its eyes, and the aura around its body slowly began to swell.

Gu Ming picked up the syringe filled with the strange liquid. With a flick of his wrist, the crystalline Evolution Liquid flowed through the needle and slowly entered Mouse Treasure's body.

Mouse Treasure's Earth Dragon Breathing Technique was already active.

At the very instant the Evolution Liquid entered its body, it pushed the Cultivation Technique to its absolute peak.

Its body seemed to melt into the earth. Its flesh, bones, meridians, and even its Dantian all transformed into a soft, pliable, primordial source of the Earth Attribute.

The entire hamster became like a mass of flowing soil, like a silent stretch of land.

Enveloped by this unique Mana, the Evolution Liquid wasn't just forcefully injected into its vessels. Instead, as if seeping into soil, it flowed naturally along the very texture of the primordial Earth Attribute, instantly permeating every corner of its body.

At the same time, its Earth Shifting Technique activated in sync, operating at a Quasi-Path Skill Level.

The two top-tier Cultivation Techniques worked like a twin-engine drive—one to contain, the other to transport. Its absorption efficiency and cellular transformation speed far surpassed that of an ordinary One-star Pet Beast.

In just three seconds.

On the evolution chamber's monitoring screen, the curve representing the Evolution Liquid's concentration plummeted from its peak, hitting nearly zero in an instant.

The raw Evolution Liquid in the chamber, with one hundred times the normal nutrient concentration, was completely absorbed in the span of just three breaths.

But Mouse Treasure's body was like a bottomless pit, still radiating a desperate need for more energy.

Teacher Tang reacted in a flash. With a wave of his hand, he released tons of supplementary Evolution Liquid from his Beast Taming Space. The fluid level instantly submerged Mouse Treasure's body, immersing it completely.

However, the Spiritual Qi stored in the room's Array was being drained at a frantic pace. The needle on the Spiritual Qi monitor plunged into the yellow warning zone.

The Spiritual Qi converged into streams visible to the naked eye, pouring endlessly into the depths of Mouse Treasure's Dantian.

At this moment, a conflict of terrifying and vast energies was raging inside Mouse Treasure's body.