Chapter 223 The Role of Gene Source
Due to the angle, Ford couldn't see the expression on Asmara's face. He could only hear her emotionless voice: "I understand. I'll send you the coordinates later."
Asmara put away the smart terminal, opened the door and walked out without saying a word.
Bang!
The door rattled, its frame buckling. Prince Baijan's face was stern and expressionless. He shook his head and said, "Take care of yourself."
Ford was surprised, then sighed, looking a little disappointed. After this incident, his father had realized that he might be in big trouble and began to deliberately distance himself from him.
However, he murmured: "Alright..."
…
On the other side, in the Iron Castle, Li Ming returned to the room.
He had already mastered the [Quantum Cluster Cannon] and used the [Matter Recombination Fabricator] to create a metal rod of the same length and weight and placed it in.
He was checking the description, [Energy Burst: Energy consumption increased by 100%, power increased by 50%]
Simple and crude, he likes it very much.
Half an hour later, the smart terminal placed aside vibrated slightly. Li Ming's movement was like a phantom, and he had already picked it up in his hand, as if he had been waiting for a long time.
When I opened the page, it was indeed a friend request from Black Hole Network.
After agreeing, the other party immediately popped up a message--
"I'm Ceci, the civilization representative of Bernest. Can we have a video call?"
Li Ming waited for a moment before replying, "Okay."
Almost the second moment the message was sent, a communication request popped up from the other party. After the call was connected, a guy who looked similar to Thiago appeared on the screen.
They were wearing ethnic clothing, which seemed to be their formal attire, and were very polite.
"Your Excellency Qinglong," Saisi said, "I'm glad you took the initiative to contact us for this communication."
Li Ming interrupted and said calmly, "No need to talk so much. Five billion star coins, transfer via the Black Hole Network. I'll release you once the funds arrive."
"If you're worried, you can use the bounty mechanism, which is backed by the Black Hole Network."
Sisi's expression changed slightly, his eyes wandered, and then he said in a deep voice:
"Sir, in the half hour since we received the news, we have reviewed all publicly available transaction and redemption records of A-level life forms in recent years. The redemption price for A-level life forms with a development progress below 30% is mostly around 3 billion star coins."
Three billion can buy an A-level life form? Not really.
This is the redemption price. For captive A-level life forms, there is almost no way to ensure that they are obedient or become one's own people. They either have to be killed or redeemed.
It is almost a fixed market transaction, otherwise you will have to kill.
"How about we add another 500 million star coins?" Ceci further asked.
"3.5 billion?" Li Ming shook his head. "Your A-level lifeform came all this way to attack. I'm afraid it must have gained a lot of benefits. That's why you only give 3.5 billion?"
The money from Black Hole Network has to be calculated after depreciation, and this price does not meet Li Ming's expectations at all.
His metal energy has reached its limit, and he is hoping to get a big one.
Cece frowned, "The price you offer is too high."
As an intermediate civilization, Bernest has its own currency system and does not use star coins.
The advantage of doing this is that it can maintain the economic stability of one's own civilization, but the disadvantage is that star coins become foreign exchange reserves.
They don't have any unique cultural specialties, and their reserves are not too large for export in exchange for star coins, so they don't want to be taken advantage of.
"Then there's nothing to talk about." Li Ming looked indifferent.
Sisi also said solemnly, "You can kill him, but then there is no value. Three and a half billion is already a lot."
Li Ming glanced at him and asked, "Do you think I dare not kill him?"
Ceci was about to speak when she saw Li Ming raise his hand to stop her, lowering his head to operate something. Then Ceci also looked down, a little stunned.
A prompt popped up on the account and the other party pulled him into a temporary discussion group.
Then, the huge screen in front of him split from the center and a video window emerged. After seeing the other party's appearance clearly, Sissi's face turned ugly.
"Your Excellency Qinglong, what do you mean by this!?"
"Cessi?" The newly joined life form looked like an arthropod, with two huge compound eyes on its head, four gray arms, and a sharp voice.
The Duke Zerg are extremely close to the Bernest civilization, and have been in friction with each other for years, fighting fiercely for the newly discovered resource galaxies, and the hatred has lasted for more than a thousand years.
Even the appearance of the Itlan civilization itself could not stop them.
"Your Excellency Qinglong, I'm Leonard. I didn't expect you to contact them."
Li Ming smiled. "After all, Tiago is a Class A life form of that civilization. How can we not notify the person involved?"
"Well, Mr. Sisi, this Leonard seems to be interested in Thiago as well. Interestingly, the offer they gave me is the same as yours."
"This is a difficult situation. There's only one Thiago. We can't split him in half, giving each of us half. So, who among you would like to withdraw?"
Despicable and shameless!
Sissi's face turned pale. This bastard was clearly planning to hold an auction. The Duke Zerg hated them to the core and would definitely offer a high price to disgust them.
"Okay, you two continue talking. I'll go talk to Thiago." Li Ming ended the call directly.
"Leonard, you should understand what he means. This man is cunning and shameless. Even if you offer a high price to bring Thiago back, it will be useless. He will never work for you." Sisi analyzed clearly.
"If you were faced with a situation like this, I would never participate in a hostile bid."
"You make a lot of sense," Leonard nodded. Before Ceci's expression could soften, he continued, "But I'm going to bid maliciously."
Saya gritted his teeth. They could even refuse to redeem Thiago, but they could not watch Thiago fall into the hands of the other party.
"And our A-level life forms wouldn't come to a place like the Land of the Stars and cause trouble recklessly." Leonard interjected, "Or, if you give me 3.5 billion, I'll quit."
Cissi's forehead was smoking, and he ended the call immediately, his chest heaving.
After ending the communication, Li Mingze came to the third underground floor of the Iron Castle. This was Ulrich, where some disobedient but valuable living beings were imprisoned.
As a Class A life form, Tiago enjoyed extremely high treatment and was imprisoned at the end of the corridor, where the cells were specially made.
After verifying his identity, he walked into the room and was hit by the smell of blood. Thiago's injuries seemed to be more serious, with several slap marks on his face.
He glanced at several surveillance cameras in the corner, and there was an electromagnetic flash, and sparks flew from the surveillance cameras.
"Who hit him?" Li Ming frowned and stared at him for a long time. "Could it be Sandro?"
Tiago looked at him coldly with a blank expression.
Li Ming brought a stool and sat in front of him, then asked with interest, "What price did Asmara offer you to ambush me?"
"I have nothing to say." Tiago's voice was cold.
Li Ming shook his head. A-level life forms are all tough, and conventional torture will definitely not work.
Moreover, due to its high degree of evolution, its brain structure has undergone multiple transformations, making it difficult for ordinary psychics to break through, and high-level psychics are extremely rare.
"Forget it..." Li Ming took out a syringe from behind and walked towards Thiago.
"What are you going to do?" Thiago didn't understand, but he had a bad feeling in his heart.
"Take something." Li Ming walked to his side, compared his body structure, inserted the needle into his artery, placed his fingers on his skin, and activated the ability of [Gene Warrior].
This syringe is just a cover, his real purpose is to extract the genetic essence.
Tiago was puzzled and said coldly, "What's the point of you interrogating me? I'm just following Asuma's orders."
"You know exactly why I came here, even more than I know. Is there any need to interrogate me?"
"You must know something that I don't know." Li Ming shook his head. His main purpose was to extract the genetic material, and interrogation was just a side job.
Tiago couldn't help but frown. "You mean, you don't know what I know, but you think I know some secrets. If I can't give you a satisfactory answer, what are you going to do? Kill me?"
Li Ming felt something being drawn out of Tiago's body, as if absorbing metal energy, and said at the same time: "You followed Asuma's orders and attacked me, so I killed your men."
"To be honest, there's no deep hatred between us. I've already contacted your civilization and am waiting for their quote."
Tiago was not surprised. This was the choice that maximized benefits. Although the other party had killed several B-level life forms, it was impossible for him to attack again because of this incident.
He twisted his body and felt as if something was being drained out of his body, not just blood.
This made him extremely uncomfortable.
"However, the transaction has not been completed yet. To be honest, I want to squeeze out all your value." Li Ming said warmly, looking very sincere.
Tiago felt a chill in his heart. The awkward feeling in his body made him feel even more uneasy. He said in a deep voice, "I was just following orders. I really don't know anything."
"Maybe." Li Ming did not comment.
Tiago couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
"How do you feel now?" Li Ming asked, tilting his head.
Thiago was stunned for a moment. Is this great mechanic sick?
Now draw his blood and ask him how he feels?
"This is really a problem," Li Ming emphasized.
"It's very uncomfortable. Although you are just drawing blood, it feels like you are drawing it from all over my body." Thiago said with a dark face.
Li Ming was thoughtful. The feeling of extraction was very obvious and took a long time. It would probably be difficult to steal secretly.
"By the way, I've actually contacted the Duke Zerg, and they seem to be very interested in you as well. So in the end, it's not certain who will get you." Li Ming said again.
"What!?" Tiago paused, then twitched his body, filled with anger: "You...you...how could you do this?"
"Why can't this be done? Are there any unspoken rules?" Li Ming wondered.
Thiago was breathing heavily, his eyes were red and bloodshot. He knew that the Duke Zerg would deliberately disgust them. If he fell into their hands, his fate would probably be very miserable.
Just as he was gritting his teeth and cursing in his heart, he suddenly felt a piercing pain all over his body, as if someone was knocking out his bones inch by inch, extracting his marrow, and mixing it with his flesh and blood.
"ah--"
Thiago wailed, his black blood vessels stretched tight on his red skin, blood oozing from deep within his gums, and the wounds on his body that had already healed slightly were torn apart.
"ah!"
The pain seemed to be deepening. Li Ming frowned slightly and his fingers had already left Thiago's skin. Seeing the other party in such a miserable state, he was a little surprised and even more curious.
"What on earth is genetic material?"
The reason why Thiago was in so much pain was because the extraction of the genetic material had ended.
His eyes were dazed as he opened the control page. In addition to the neatly arranged energies, there was something new.
[Gene Source (A): Extracted from A-level life forms, blended with some of their genetic characteristics and development potential.]
Li Ming raised his brows slightly, quite surprised. How could they combine genetic characteristics and development potential?
Besides the instructions, there was more relevant information that surfaced in his mind.
Gene source can be used as energy to upgrade genetic control objects, abilities, and professions.
For example, to become a [Gene Warrior], one needs one hundred A-level gene sources to be promoted.
He was secretly astonished, yet also quite excited. This way, both the Theory of Evolution and the Secret Record of Liberation could be upgraded using genetic source material without wasting precious alienated energy.
As for the two A-level evolution theories that he had just mastered, he did not feel it was a waste. It would be difficult to obtain more genetic source material in a short period of time.
At the same time, Thiago's wailing gradually stopped. He was breathing heavily, his body still twitching from time to time, and there was a hint of fear and horror in his eyes when he looked at Li Ming.
"You, what did you do to me? I...why do I feel, feel..." He opened his mouth, but couldn't describe the specific feeling coming from his body.
I just feel like something is missing from my body, as if... as if...
"It seems that the road to evolution is blocked." Li Ming added the second half of the sentence for him.
In an instant, the horror on Thiago's face became more obvious.
In fact, not only that, according to the description of the genetic source, he essentially draws out all the evolutionary potential of a living organism.
Although it will not damage the current strength of the living organism, it will prevent it from making any further progress and lock the possibility of evolution.
Li Ming even suspected that Tiago would degenerate in the long years to come, but he didn't know whether he would fall from a Class A life form.
Tiago felt an indescribable hesitation in his heart. The desire for evolution is deeply rooted in the genes of every living thing.
Even when he was defeated before, he did not feel this kind of hesitation.
He is a life form specially cultivated by the upper echelons of civilization and has extremely high genetic potential.
It is even possible to reach S-level life forms. Although the process is extremely difficult, it is still a hope.
But now, this hope was blocked, and what frightened Thiago even more was that he had never heard of such a terrible method.
This made Tiago grit his teeth and said stubbornly, "I... have important news. I will tell you if you kick Duke the Bug out."
He no longer dared to stay under the other party's control, fearing that there would be other terrible means.
(End of this chapter)
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