The unraveling of the mystery surrounding the "Tyrant" virus opened a new door for Todd in terms of supernatural evolution.

After understanding how Tyrant works, Todd decapitated all the previous lab mice and began to focus his attention on the practical applications of the Tyrant virus.

First, select several commonly used superhuman bacteria from the "Superhuman Library," such as regenerative bacteria, weakening bacteria, clairvoyant bacteria, light-gathering bacteria, and rapid-acting bacteria.

These bacteria were then placed into separate petri dishes and injected with the Tyrant Virus.

Take regenerative bacteria as an example. When its DNA fragments are extracted by the Tyrant Virus and an evolutionary gene is generated in the virus nest, its regenerative ability is enhanced to an unbelievable level.

Using live experiments to illustrate this would be more intuitive.

Todd first transplanted this evolved regenerative bacteria into mutated white mice. Then, he cut a slit in the mouse's belly and used the enhanced regeneration ability to heal the wound instantly, almost as fast as the blade had cut through it.

Todd then removed one of the rat's thighs with a scalpel, aligned the removed limb with the wound on the test subject's leg, and reattached it. When the cut surfaces of the severed limbs touched, a surprising scene unfolded: tissue healing occurred on both sides of the wound, and the severed thigh eventually regained its function.

Through this experiment, Todd discovered that the Tyrant Virus could optimize the genes of mutant bacteria, evolving their original abilities into even more powerful ones. For example, the original regeneration ability could only slowly heal wounds, but was powerless against severed limbs and missing organs. However, the enhanced regeneration ability not only greatly accelerated the regeneration speed but also enabled the reattachment of limbs and the reconstruction of organs. This discovery gave Todd a glimmer of hope that the mutant army could be upgraded into mutant super soldiers.

After completing the bacterial evolution experiments, Todd learned from the results that regeneration ability could evolve into enhanced regeneration ability, and weakening ability could evolve into enhanced weakening ability (i.e., disintegration ability). The same applies to X-ray vision, focusing light, speed, and so on.

After completing his experiment on superpower evolution, Todd had a bold idea.

Simply placing mutant bacteria A together with the Tyrant Virus will result in enhanced mutant bacteria A+.

So, what would happen if two different mutant bacteria, a and b, were placed together with the Tyrant Virus?

With that in mind, Todd selected X-ray vision bacteria and light-gathering bacteria from the "Power Library" and made these two microorganisms the subjects of his next experiment.

Photosensitive bacteria are distributed inside the dermis of the human body. They can store the light energy that shines on the skin inside the bacteria and release it when stimulated by the nervous system. Transparent bacteria exist inside the eyeball and can emit special wavelengths that can penetrate thin obstacles and form images using the principle of radiation feedback.

Todd was very interested in what would happen if these two bacteria were put together with the Tyrant Virus.

When three types of microorganisms—transparent bacteria, light-gathering bacteria, and tyrant virus—were placed in the same petri dish, a completely new and unknown bacterium was born in the tyrant virus nest after a period of waiting.

The novel bacteria in the petri dish were injected into the white mice. Todd then squatted in front of the container, quietly waiting for the unknown bacteria to take effect.

Although he had taken all necessary precautions in the laboratory, such as using reinforced glass containers for storing experimental subjects and installing flamethrowers above them for forced sterilization in emergencies, what happened next was still far beyond his expectations and cost him dearly.

After a period of slumber, the white mice that had been transplanted with unknown bacteria awoke and opened their eyes. Suddenly, two scorching laser beams shot directly from the subjects' eyes, piercing through the container. Todd, who was observing the experiment from a short distance away, was caught off guard and unable to dodge in time, resulting in a large hole being burned in his clothes by the two high-temperature beams.

Just as Todd was about to activate the sterilization device in his flustered state, he noticed that the lab rats were turning their attention to the wooden shelf where the materials were stored.

Seeing the direction of the laser beam, Todd yelled, "Oh no!"

The experimental rack containing flammable materials was instantly ignited by the laser beam. With a loud bang, the entire laboratory was engulfed in flames and billowing smoke.

Todd, who had hurriedly transformed into his monster form, rushed into the fire and began to deal with the experimental subjects, extinguish the fire, and clean up the scene.

After half an hour of busy work, this sudden experimental disaster was finally dealt with properly.

However, one-fifth of the experimental materials were destroyed in the fire, and a large number of experimental subjects were affected, rendering the entire laboratory unusable for a short period. Fortunately, the 'Amber Stone' and all the Tyrant samples were unharmed.

Todd plopped down on the lab floor, looking at the corpse of the culprit in his hands, and smiled bitterly. He never imagined that simply transplanting an unknown bacterium fused and evolved from a tyrant virus would cause such serious consequences.

Finding the notebook that had fallen to the ground and was half burned, Todd wrote on it, stroke by stroke:

First, the Tyrant Virus can recombine and optimize the genes of a single type of mutant bacteria, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of its mutant ability.

Second, the Tyrant Virus can extract two or more superpower genes, combining and evolving them into a completely new superpower gene. (Be careful! No one knows what kind of effect this combined superpower will have!)

Third, the evolutionary abilities generated by the Tyrant Virus can only be transplanted into mutated inheritors. (Ordinary people, ordinary mutants, and unmutated inheritors lack the catalytic enzymes of archaea and cannot prevent the Tyrant Virus from devouring their internal tissues.)

When he got to the third point, Todd suddenly stopped writing because he had discovered a serious problem.

Looking across the entire city of Twilight West, there is only one and a half truly surviving mutant inheritors. The one is Todd, and the half is Jerome, the seventh in line of the 'Dispute Legion'. (The Valkyrie of the North Island cannot enter the evolutionary state, therefore she is not the fully evolved mutant.)

However, the Tyrant Virus and the evolved mutant bacteria it generates can only be transplanted into the mutated successor; the mutation of the successor will cause the collapse of bodily functions and damage to the central nervous system. Even if the mutation is successful, the successor will become a monster that only knows how to kill.

These two premises are like a self-contradictory cause and effect, trapped in a perpetual vicious cycle.

In other words, regarding the Tyrant Virus and the evolutionary abilities it brings, currently only one person in the entire Twilight City can truly use them—Todd.