Chapter 167 - 130: Longevity Cells

Chapter 167: Chapter 130: Longevity Cells

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The moment the game’s upheaval began, Wen Jiuming knew he was finished when he couldn’t contact his Chairman.

He had already experienced the "Rebound" for the fourth time. If he hadn’t been severely injured, he naturally would have been able to endure it.

But now... before the game calmed down, Wen Jiuming had already turned into a continuously squirming mass of flesh and blood.

As for the Cards on his person, they had flown away the very instant he died.

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After completing the "master devouring," the turncoats seemed to have gone on a killing frenzy, beginning to slaughter one another.

The battles between them were more skillful; since they were evenly matched, it was often difficult to determine a victor.

If a turncoat was unfortunately killed in battle, its essence was so unique and its life force so potent that even at the moment of cellular death, certain genetic materials released from the cell nucleus remained active.

Driven by instinct, the other turncoats forcefully devoured this genetic material, beginning a new transformation.

In the blink of an eye, the mass of flesh and blood that was Wen Jiuming transformed into a flesh blanket.

Fur, tentacles, talons, eyeballs...

All sorts of bizarre biological tissues were evolved.

As more and more turncoats died, an increasing amount of genetic material was released, and the things evolving from the flesh blanket grew ever more bizarre.

The turncoats’ battle lasted for a full day, until finally, only a single cell survived.

By this time, the flesh blanket had become flesh-and-blood vines, extending outward to absorb nutrients from the environment to sustain the energy consumed by the turncoats’ battle.

After the final victor was decided, the flesh-and-blood vines began to contract, ultimately forming a ball of flesh.

It may seem incredible, but this was a single cell—just a rather large and special one.

It was the legendary Longevity Cell.

This was also why Wen Jiuming believed Everick had conspired with outsiders to betray him.

Because after the birth of the King’s Game, naturally occurring Longevity Cells had long since vanished.

The only way Longevity Cells could be created was through a player suffering a Rebound.

However, because Longevity Cells were so sinister, they had once caused great chaos.

This severely violated the principles of the King’s Game, which led to the creation of that "unwritten rule."

But this was only to limit the number of "Longevity Cells" and prevent too many veteran players from running into problems at once, which would throw the Lanyu Kingdom into turmoil.

If players wanted to create a Longevity Cell themselves, there were other ways—as exemplified by the unlucky Wen Jiuming.

Wen Jiuming was definitely not the first unlucky soul, nor would he be the last.

It couldn’t be helped. Where there is profit, there is a market, and the Lanyu Kingdom’s only sustainable "specialty product" was Longevity Cells.

It was a tragic state of affairs. As long as a player wasn’t an idiot, they would inevitably realize something was wrong with their body after a single "Rebound."

But aside from a few "exceptions," the vast majority of players were completely helpless, with no way to deal with it.

Cultivation of a new method was the simplest solution.

But "Spirit Awakening" was never a simple matter; otherwise, so many apprentices in the Inner World wouldn’t be stuck.

For players, the chances were even slimmer.

Because once they reached LV3, the Card became so closely bound to them that a Spirit Awakening was no longer possible.

This was why so many veteran players would risk their lives to construct an Apostle Armament; besides that, they had no other way to survive.

After becoming an Apostle, the "Rebound" was no longer an issue at all.

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THUMP THUMP THUMP!

The Longevity Cell completed its internal digestion and once again fell into a state of "hunger."

The next instant, the ball of flesh squirmed and transformed, actually sprouting human arms and legs.

With the help of its new limbs, the Longevity Cell left Wen Jiuming’s lair and began to hunt for food.

Along the way, it evolved various predatory organs, Devouring weak Life Forms.

And these life forms not only provided it with Energy but also occasionally supplied it with superior genetic material.

At a certain moment, the Longevity Cell grew a pair of wings and flew off the ground.

In essence, the Longevity Cell was now a single-celled Life Form driven only by a devouring instinct. Heaven knew where it would fly.

One could only imagine the horrific psychic contamination an ordinary person would suffer if they were to accidentally see it.

Not long after the Longevity Cell left, Wen Jiuming’s lair was finally discovered.

Unfortunately, Everick and his people arrived a step too late, and could only sigh in resignation.

But based on the scene, Wen Jiuming had undoubtedly become a Longevity Cell, so their mission could be considered complete.

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"What?"

"The Demon Slaying Association is finished?"

"Both the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman are dead?"

Inside the metallic fortress, Chen Qi, who was busy examining the Red Falcon King’s body, suddenly received a notification from Lin Biyun.

At first, Chen Qi thought she was coming to him for help. After all, 1,000 death row inmates had just been unleashed, which was surely enough to give her a headache.

Although only a day had passed, the news on all the Kingdom’s major television stations was almost entirely about robbery and murder.

These death row inmates had nothing but the prison clothes on their backs; they were utterly penniless.

Other than returning to a life of crime, they had no other path to take.

Of course, the ones who brazenly vented their desires and committed serious crimes again were undoubtedly the idiots among the death row inmates.

The smart ones had already found various ways to go into hiding.

It was safe to say that the last 24 hours had been the day with the highest crime rate in the Lanyu Kingdom in recent years.