He took a deep breath, barely suppressing his anger: "In general, with these two abilities, theoretically speaking, Chen Xiao can already be considered the strongest superhuman in the world, or rather, the strongest potential superhuman! Because he can use these two abilities to evolve and become stronger indefinitely. However, there is also a weakness. After all, there is no 'perfect' superhuman in this world. Every superhuman has a weakness."
Shi Gaofei carefully took out a test tube containing a small amount of blood: "The Blood Devouring Evolution ability, although it can absorb other people's internal energy—I mean, I mean, their energy value!!—has its limitations! These limitations are quantitative and qualitative changes!"
He glanced at Lao Tian and the others, whose faces were somewhat blank, and sneered: "Let me put it simply, let's make two assumptions."
The first assumption is that Chen Xiao himself is a B-level, and the blood he absorbs is below B-level. In this case, no matter how much he absorbs or devours, his level will not increase and will remain fixed at B-level. In this case, the energy value he absorbs can only replenish the energy that his body originally lost and consumed, but it will not increase his level. In other words, only quantitative change will occur, but no qualitative change will occur. This is the first limitation.
The second hypothesis is that Chen Xiao himself is a B-rank, but the blood he absorbs belongs to an A-rank powerhouse. In this case, according to the characteristics of the Blood Devouring Evolution ability, it will transcend quantitative change and produce a qualitative change! The absorbed energy will not only replenish his original losses but also fuse with his own genes, causing mutations and increasing his own level. However, there is a maximum limit! That is to say, if he is a B-rank, even if he absorbs a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand A-rank individuals, he will only evolve to A-rank at most. This maximum value depends on the highest level of the people he absorbs. In other words, if the people he absorbs are A-rank, then no matter how many people he absorbs, the qualitative change will only stop at A-rank, and will not go higher!
When Shi Gaofei spoke of these things, his expression was solemn and professional: "Based on my own classification and definition of superpowers, my definition of the Bloodthirsty Evolution superpower is: when the absorber's level is higher than the absorbed's, only quantitative changes occur, and the maximum limit of the quantitative change depends on the absorber's own level; while when the absorber's level is lower than the absorbed's, a qualitative change occurs, but the upper limit of the qualitative change depends on the absorbed's level!!"
These rather technical definitions left everyone somewhat bewildered, and even Lao Tian was a little dazed. Only Suo Suo's eyes showed a strange light after hearing it, but it quickly turned cold, and she remained sitting in the corner, indifferent.
Looking at the silent crowd, Shi Gaofei felt a little annoyed. He sighed and muttered under his breath: "A bunch of idiots."
He raised his voice: "In other words, according to this definition, even if Chen Xiao absorbed the blood of four S-level powerhouses, his abilities would only reach S-level at most."
That statement finally made things clear, but...
"That's impossible!"
A weak and feeble voice rang out.
It was in the corner, in that transparent container, that Prince, who had somehow pulled the tube out of his mouth, with his hands on the edge of the container, his body still immersed in the green slime, exhaled and said in a weak voice, "I bet the hundred-plus bones I've broken in my body that guy is definitely more than just S-class now."
Shi Gaofei snorted: "I can't be wrong!"
Chapter 236 of the main text: [Plan "Binding the Tiger"]
Skofei was very stubborn. Although everyone had seen how Prince was seriously injured and barely alive that day, Skofei said he was right. Well then, let's say he was right.
He's an academic expert, a research fanatic.
But Prince wasn't just cannon fodder either.
Both Lao Tian and Lin San frowned slightly. They secretly calculated that if they had the strength, it wouldn't be impossible to cripple Prince to this extent, but the price would definitely be mutual destruction. Moreover, as Prince said, Chen Xiao had won with a single blow! With just one strike, he almost killed an S-class expert on the spot. Lao Tian and Lin San, who were also S-class, knew that they could never do such a thing.
However, Shi Gaofei's meaning
“My theory is not wrong.” Shi Gaofei’s tone remained firm: “The definition of blood-eating evolution was reached after countless blood sample studies, DNA mapping analyses, and at least a thousand physical studies. Therefore, I insist that this definition is not wrong.”
"Then Chen Xiao..." Old Tian sighed.
But our mad scientist turned unreasonable. He rolled his eyes irresponsibly and said, "You're asking me this question? Who am I supposed to ask? I'm not God! His case is beyond the scope of my scientific knowledge. You should ask God instead of me!"
Old Tian, Prince, and the others said, "Fine, you play both God and Demon! You say the good things and the bad things!" Old Tian sighed, then smiled bitterly and helplessly, "Let's not dwell on that for now, but let's talk about Chen Xiao's current state..."
“Chen Xiao’s case is rather special.” Shi Gaofei picked up the test tube in front of him. The test tube contained Chen Xiao’s blood sample. This blood sample was left here when Chen Xiao was treated and tested at Lao Tian’s place before.
"We already know that Chen Xiao is actually a born superhuman. However, because his parents used a special method to suppress his abilities, his powers were suppressed for a long time, making him appear no different from a normal person. The method used to suppress Chen Xiao's innate superhuman abilities was a suppression agent, which is the precursor to the 'purification' agent, or rather, a semi-finished product before the purification agent was completed. I have to say, I still admire Chen Xiao's parents very much. It's a real pity that I never got to meet these two geniuses! What's even more regrettable is..."
Shi Gaofei suddenly slammed his fist on the table and cursed, "Unfortunately, those idiots in the service agency! When they were eliminating that secret research institute of the club, they actually destroyed the whole place! They didn't bring out a single piece of valuable data! Damn it, that's where the purification agent was developed! Even if they had brought out just a little bit of data, it might have been very useful to me! I originally spent a lot of effort trying to reverse-engineer the composition of the purification agent from Chen Xiao's blood sample, but this work was too difficult, and I haven't obtained any valuable results yet."
Old Tian chimed in, "Chen Xiao's blood is essentially the finished product of the purification potion, so working backwards shouldn't be too complicated, right?"
"It's not that simple." Shi Gaofei's expression was somewhat arrogant. Although he didn't say it explicitly, his face clearly said, "You don't know anything." He coldly said, "The normal research and development process is like navigating a maze! When you start from the beginning of the maze, your goal is the exit. What you need to do is find a way to get from the beginning to the exit. The reverse process is when you're already at the exit, but you have to go back and find a way to get back to the beginning. Do you know what these two things have in common?"
Shi Gaofei snorted in annoyance and gave the answer first: "Whether you go from the starting point to the exit or from the exit to the starting point, the same thing is true: you have to find a way to navigate this maze!"
He tossed a document from under the table with a swift motion, slamming it down on the table with a thud. He said coldly, “Chen Xiao’s body is rather special. When he was young, he was injected with a suppressive drug, which we’ll call a ‘half-finished purification drug.’ And as we all know, later, during a conflict caused by a misunderstanding, he was infected with the finished purification drug. The subtle point is that, theoretically, Chen Xiao has been infected by the purification drug twice!” Shi Gaofei’s eyes suddenly blazed with fervor, and he held up two fingers: “Twice infected!! We all know that if an ordinary ability user is infected with the purification drug once, they will lose all their abilities! Microscopic research shows that the purification drug destroys mutations in the DNA of ability users…” The purification process destroys or even decomposes the abnormal parts, restoring the DNA profile to that of an ordinary person—a process we call 'purification,' turning the superhuman back into an ordinary person! However, why did Chen Xiao gain the ability to copy others' abilities after being infected with the purification potion? Among those present, I think Miss Suo Suo is a perfect example! She was infected with the purification potion at the same time as Chen Xiao! As a result, Miss Suo Suo lost her abilities, and Chen Xiao's subsequent state... I think I don't need to explain further! Why are the results different when both were infected with the purification potion? After carefully analyzing Chen Xiao's case, it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps it's because Chen Xiao himself underwent 'two infections' with the purification potion!!
Prince looked worried and suddenly said, "Could it be 'two negatives make a positive'?"
"With your intelligence, you can probably only come up with such a simple and crude reason." Shi Gaofei mocked Prince without any politeness, his tone full of ridicule: "Two negatives make a positive? That's a joke. If things were that simple, what would be the point of having people like us living in laboratories! I noticed that 'two infections' might be an important reason for Chen Xiao's success, but it's definitely not as simple as two negatives making a positive! The synthesis, fusion, and chemical reactions of any substance, even if the composition is slightly off, will result in countless variations! So, I conducted a series of physical studies."
At this point, a hint of sinister sharpness flashed in Shi Gaofei's eyes!
Entity research?!
"You mean, using live animals?" Old Tian exclaimed.
"Not bad." Shi Gaofei's face was full of fanaticism, and he chuckled coldly twice. "Unfortunately, I couldn't get too many live subjects, so I could only conduct small-scale experiments. In the shortest possible time, I used my authority to order the service agency's field team to issue arrest warrants in the International Alliance and capture some superhumans who deserved to die anyway. Among them were notorious thieves, terrorists, mercenaries, and some defectors, a total of fourteen cases. I conducted research on each of them, testing them for 'double infection.' Unfortunately, I failed. In the fourteen live subjects, I used Chen Xiao's blood as a sample and injected them twice. To observe the differences in the fusion results under different conditions, I made detailed distinctions between the injected blood samples, the different components, the different intake amounts, and even the blood sample temperature at the time of injection. But in the end, none of the fourteen research subjects succeeded. All fourteen guys lost their superhuman abilities after the first injection, and then in the second..." After the first injection, three of them died immediately, and six others showed varying degrees of mutation. However, these mutations were definitely not manifestations of superpowers, but rather strange changes in their bodies. To alleviate their suffering, I simply had them humanely euthanized. My greatest hope lay with the last batch of five test subjects. After the second injection, they showed a faint tendency for their DNA mutations to revive. Unfortunately, two of them suffered a complete collapse of their immune systems within a short period, dying before their superpowers could fully manifest. The other three exhibited varying degrees of agitation, loss of self-awareness, and even suicidal tendencies, and then quickly died. Even at the time of their deaths, they showed no clear signs of their superpowers fully reviving. It can be said that my physical experiment was a complete failure. If I hadn't been asked to stay on the island to continue overseeing it, I would definitely have conducted a second phase of live experiments.”
This guy made no attempt to hide the fact that he used living people for experiments and caused the test subjects to die. He spoke of it as calmly and indifferently as if he were discussing the weather. Whether the test subjects were living people or mice, it made no difference to this mad scientist. This almost natural indifference and detachment made everyone, including Lao Tian, feel a chill.
Old Tian and his men were not unfamiliar with bloodshed or killing, but they had never seen such a cold-blooded level of "treating human life like dirt." Even a madman like Prince was stunned by what he heard.
"The only result that might have any value is that I know Chen Xiao has also lost consciousness while in a coma, becoming irritable, losing self-awareness, and exhibiting strong aggressive emotions towards his surroundings. This is somewhat similar to the symptoms of the last five test subjects. Moreover, according to Prince and the data we have now obtained, Chen Xiao has fallen into this condition again. We can now confirm that he has lost self-awareness and is experiencing strong aggressive emotions."
"Just say he's become a madman without reason." Prince laughed, but his face showed some pride. After all, this unprecedentedly powerful madman was created by Prince himself!
"No matter what, we have to bring him back!" Old Tian clenched his fists. "Even if we have to arrest him, we have to bring him back! We can't let him continue causing trouble outside! He's gone on a killing spree in Japan now; who knows what might happen if he loses his mind and runs off somewhere else, like back to China?"
"Hmph! But can we beat him?" Prince seemed smug. His breath was weak, and his voice was short, but he couldn't hide the smugness in his eyes: "I can guarantee that none of us here, including myself, the guy surnamed Tian, and this fellow with the sword, are a match for this kid! Hahahaha..."
Old Tian was furious, but then he thought about it and realized that although what this madman said was despicable, it seemed to be true. After all, to blast an S-class expert into dust with a single blow, such strength was indeed not something that his side could easily defeat at present.
“Hey Tian, I’ve come up with two plans for you to choose from.” Shi Gaofei snorted. “You called me here just to ask me if there’s any way to suppress Chen Xiao’s continued mutation, right? Well, I have two ideas.”
"Speak quickly!" Zhu Rong had been listening for a long time. She was a person with a fiery temper, and Shi Gaofei had been talking about this theory and that theory for so long that Zhu Rong was completely confused. She had long been impatient, and now that he was finally about to get to the key point, she couldn't help but shout.
"The first plan, hehe, is the one I personally prefer, because if it's implemented and succeeds, it will be incredibly beneficial to my research results!" Shi Gaofei's eyes gleamed with excitement as his gaze swept over the group of superpowered individuals in front of him. Three S-rank and two A-rank individuals seemed like lab rats in this mad scientist's eyes. Shi Gaofei barely managed to suppress his excitement and took a deep breath: "The first method is to continue the 'double infection' experiment on you! There are three S-rank and two A-rank individuals here now. I will conduct the 'double infection' experiment on each of you. If it succeeds, you can become the second Chen Xiao! You will simultaneously possess superpower replication and bloodthirsty evolution! Then, as long as you inject each other with a little blood, for example, inject the blood of several S-rank experts into one person, you will quickly create a powerhouse capable of contending with Chen Xiao! Then, you can forcibly bring that kid back by force."
"Wait! Wait!!" Old Tian felt increasingly uneasy as he listened. He immediately interrupted Shi Gaofei, who was still lost in his daydreams, his expression somewhat strained: "Conducting two infection experiments? Hey! Didn't you just say that you conducted two infection experiments on fifteen people before, and they all failed? Those fifteen guys all kicked the bucket in the end!"
Shi Gaofei snorted: "Since it's an experiment, there will always be failures! Your strength is far superior to the test subjects I used before, so even if the experiment fails, you might not die."
Old Tian was so angry he almost spat in the guy's face: "Pah! Maybe? Maybe if we actually listened to you, we'd all be dead! What are the chances of your plan succeeding?"