After returning to the surface, Qi Suian immediately began hunting.
The combination of his reconnaissance network, satellite tracking, and uncanny intuition was unbelievably effective.
In just three short days, Qi Suian successfully captured a large number of special zombies.
This caused his Spirit Enhancement ability to jump directly from D-rank to A-rank.
The boost also increased from its original 10% to 25%.
’I still haven’t reached the upper limit, but to reach S-rank, these special zombies are no longer of any use.’
Qi Suian understood that after A-rank, each subsequent level was a chasm, so it was normal for his progress to stall.
The enhancement of his Spirit ability was, in fact, quite similar to the Tai Sui God’s armor value. For example, increasing the boost from 10% to 11% required only a single special zombie.
However, as the boost increased, the number of zombies required grew larger and larger.
By the time he reached A-rank, it wasn’t that the special zombies were completely useless, just that even sacrificing all of them wouldn’t be enough to level up further.
After that, Qi Suian tossed these special zombies straight into the Melting Furnace and burned them.
And what do you know, this actually led to a pleasant surprise.
It turned out that, aside from himself, the special zombies were the best fuel there was.
He therefore hunted the special zombies with even greater intensity. If he didn’t want to have to choose between the satellite and the Ancient Dian Kingdom Jade Seal, the best solution was to get another module slot.
Not to mention, evolving the Tai Sui God was one of his main quests.
The problem was, the special zombies were a finite resource. The number of them that came into being was equal to the number of fragments of the Profound God’s vital consciousness he had squeezed out.
But the problem was, he wasn’t the only one hunting them. The consciousness suspected to be the Source of Profound Virus was also on the hunt, and the special zombies themselves would devour one another.
As a result, their numbers had been drastically reduced.
So by now, only a few scattered special zombies remained.
No matter how large their initial population, they couldn’t withstand being hunted from all sides like this.
’I wonder how much armor value the consciousness of the Source of Profound Virus could produce as fuel,’ Qi Suian thought, his eyes narrowing.
He didn’t plan on using it as fodder for his Spirit Enhancement ability; he highly doubted the mere consciousness of the Source of Profound Virus would be enough.
After all, the complete Source of Profound Virus was only S-rank in quality. On what grounds could a mere remnant of its consciousness help his ability reach S-rank?
Therefore, the best way to use it was as fuel—to burn it into evolution energy for the Tai Sui God’s evolution.
He wasn’t asking for much; even if it only produced 0.1 armor value, he’d count it as a pleasant surprise.
’Speaking of armor value, I’ve been thinking about getting a whole shield module, but plans just can’t keep up with reality.’
According to his data, 10 points of armor value was roughly equivalent to 0.1 points of physique.
That’s right, it was that low.
One could just imagine how fragile the initial Tai Sui God was, with only 1 point of armor value—truly weaker than a human.
His old D-rank Viper Armor had 100 points of armor value, which was a more normal figure.
Of course, even among armors, the D-rank Viper Armor’s armor value was considered on the low side. However, its mobility and offensive power far surpassed other armors of the same rank. Furthermore, it could employ special attacks like toxins, venom, and poison mists. Combined with its impressive stealth and anti-tracking modules, it was more of an assassin-type build.
It was geared toward either a one-hit kill or a slow, lingering death, not a direct, head-on fight.
That was why its armor value was only 100 points.
[Abnormal fluctuation detected. Locking onto transmission source...]
"Don’t bother locking on. I know what’s happening," Qi Suian interrupted the AI, looking up at the sky.
The moon... had turned red.
Even the moonlight washing down seemed exceptionally sinister and bloody.
’I’m sure the moon was its normal color yesterday,’ Qi Suian realized. The Profound God’s corpse had completely corrupted it.
The problem was, in his memories of his past life, this had never happened.
’Even if my actions created a butterfly effect, it shouldn’t have been able to affect the moon... No, wait. Actually, it could have.’
In his past life, he, the Zombie Dominator, had devoured both the Source of Profound Virus and the Profound God’s life force.
But things were different now; he had released the consciousnesses of both.
’The Profound Virus in my body is stirring.’
"It’s been temporarily enhanced under the light of the Blood Moon," Qi Suian said softly. "And it’s not just me. It’s happening to all the zombies."
’The survivors are done for.’
As soon as he had that thought, a brand new event appeared.
[Limited-Time Event: Night of the Blood Moon]
[Objective: Survive for one month]
[Reward: New World Pass]
Qi Suian only paid attention to these three key pieces of information. Things like rankings and extra rewards had nothing to do with him.
As a ’violator,’ he couldn’t appear on the leaderboards anyway.
As for the so-called "New World Pass," it was nothing more than a ticket for the survivors to be taken to the next Doomsday World by the game.
’So it’s getting ready to flee. Looks like the doomsday game is about to collapse.’
’But why doesn’t it just leave now? Why wait a whole month? Does it need to make preparations?’ Qi Suian couldn’t quite figure it out.
But one thing was certain: the doomsday game’s ability to directly interfere with the world was incredibly weak.
Otherwise, wouldn’t it have been easier to just shatter the moon?
[Profound Virus detected as abnormally active. Suspected influence from Blood Moon. Prolonged exposure will affect consciousness and logical thought.]
’So, a frenzy,’ Qi Suian mused. He wasn’t particularly concerned, since he had the Tai Sui God. "Can it affect me?"
[Based on monitoring, it is preliminarily estimated that a slight effect will occur after one hour of exposure. As you...]
"Wait, I have an expedition-grade ecological recycling system and the Divine Purification Force Field on me. How is the Blood Moon’s light breaking through?"
[The increased activity of the Profound Virus in your body is the effect. The enhancement from the Blood Moon’s light comes with side effects.]
Qi Suian didn’t ask if rejecting the boost would remove the side effects, because he knew it wouldn’t.
’This is going to be a problem. As expected of something contaminated by the corpse of a god.’ Qi Suian’s heart sank.
He certainly couldn’t just find a place to hide for a month; he still had plenty to do.
If he just tread water, he’d be signing his own death warrant for when his enemies came knocking.
Did anyone really think those special zombies were all still Tier 1? The ones that had devoured each other had probably reached Tier 5 by now.
If he continued to let them grow, especially with the boost from the Blood Moon’s light, they might not become as strong as Zombie Chunyu Hu, but they would at least reach the level of a Tier-9 Mutated Zombie.
Besides, he couldn’t hide anyway. He was now part of that mysterious connection.
’The plan doesn’t change. If the influence becomes too severe, I’ll just deactivate it.’
Qi Suian wasn’t too worried about the effect on himself. If the worst came to pass, he could always be resurrected through death and reforging.