Chapter 433: Mechanical Battle Armor

Urban Fiction

Du Xue had been quietly cultivating in seclusion, nearing godhood.

To achieve godhood, one needed their own cultivation system and techniques. This led to the current situation where Xia Naiming racked his brains to create the Corpse Sword Immortal lineage.

He himself couldn't cultivate it; his primary motivation for creating this system was Du Xue.

After all, they had survived countless eras and numerous deaths together, becoming dependent on each other.

From every perspective, this system was highly compatible with zombies—in fact, only zombies could cultivate it. Reaching this point represented the limit of his current knowledge.

Many years ago, even before the establishment of the Umbrella Corporation, Du Xue and the remaining dozen or so Ishtar people had secretly undergone zombification, retaining their consciousness through special means.

They had no intention of changing their firewall C language or resisting the viral invasion again. After escaping, to avoid inevitable forced infection, they directly accepted the virus and became one with the zombies.

"Alas, the Ishtar people are effectively extinct," Xia Naiming sighed, still feeling a lingering fear, a shudder even now. "After all, this virus is too terrifying. No one can stop it. Even researching a new language would eventually lead to a breach, just like with dragons and hydras... And even now, it's still mutating in a terrifying and unknown way."

The previous Sea Clan, despite having taken precautions with everyone having an independent firewall, likely wouldn't have been able to withstand it even if the Cherry Blossom Emperor hadn't exterminated them. The more brains that were infected, the stronger the mutation and computational ability, making the fall of the Sea Clan only a matter of time.

This era was unprecedented!

After all, with billions of "computers" processing the mutations of an intelligent AI racial virus program, nobody knew how many generations of variants the virus would produce in the future.

In other words, the world was still in an evolutionary period, akin to a biological big bang!

When the ecosystem would finally stabilize was an unknown.

"The entire world is becoming even more terrifying, changing silently in the shadows... Some ordinary plants, once infected, are forcibly developing tumorous demon cores... and then forcibly infecting you."

This was simply too overbearing!

Originally, the biochemical virus could only infect the Ishtar people. Later, it evolved to infect all creatures with demon cores, such as the Sea Clan, dragons, and hydras. Now, it could forcibly cause creatures without demon cores to grow them, and then infect them...

It was iterating and updating at a furious pace.

What kind of terrifying scene would it be when a virus could, through infection, transform even non-sentient life forms into millions of zombies, potentially giving birth to sentient primordial Corpse Clans among them, who then embarked on a path of cultivation?

He was seeing it now.

This advanced grand world far surpassed all previous worlds; it was truly horrifying!

An infection apocalypse!

It involved unlocking the life code of forbidden divine zones, an unknown, world-ending, god-level virus!

Many times, Xia Naiming even felt he had cultivated too early. If he were still a first or zero-order creature, he would probably be infected by now, forcibly acquiring a demon core.

This was because some of his ordinary balloon fish populations were already exhibiting extremely terrifying sights: tumors were gradually growing in their brains, seemingly transforming into demon cores.

"Perhaps in a while, when the virus becomes even more terrifying, even I, a quasi-emperor without a demon core, will be infected and forcibly develop one... Then, I can do many things!" he thought to himself.

However, was gaining a demon core, transforming into a zombie balloon fish, and becoming part of the zombie race through infection a blessing? Or was it some terrifying hidden danger?

No one currently knew if it was right or wrong.

The virus granted immense power, assimilating individuals into the "demon core" biological system, but its side effects remained unknown.

At this point, Xia Naiming addressed the forum, "I will try to improve it. It won't be as horrifying as head-pulling; after all, Du Xue always resisted it before, finding it terrifying... now, perhaps she can accept it."

The players in the forum nodded silently.

Given your morbid humor, it's doubtful any girl would agree.

Someone commented, "But, is this like a flip-top lighter? Your wife's head flips open with a 'pop,' flames burst out... then a long sword appears, and with another 'pop,' her head closes."

Xia Naiming remained silent.

He felt utterly unable to communicate with such wits!

He silently ignored them and continued, "Regarding the refinement of this cultivation system, please take a look... Also, concerning the creation of the Lord God Space and new worlds, I'd appreciate your ideas. Something like farming-style gameplay or creating virtual worlds... It needs to have as few NPCs as possible, but still be very special and powerful, allowing me to earn points... After all, we don't have that many NPC demon cores!"

Everyone immediately became interested.

A Lord God Space, infinite flow teams, traversing through movie worlds...

The idea of the "Umbrella Corporation" recruiting talent this way was exciting just to imagine! A farming-style Lord God Space!

Someone spoke up:

"There are indeed options with few numbers. We could create some 'enjoyment-focused' scenarios, not combat-oriented, which members would pay for. For instance, those low-cost worlds we're familiar with, where typically only one room and two or three people are needed to complete a good show, then earning hundreds of millions at a time... in 'happy beans'—like those small 'Fight the Landlord' card game rooms (the tone suddenly shifted)."

Someone else, quite serious, offered to help find interesting worlds and figure out ways to reduce AI costs.

Xia Naiming discussed the Lord God Space's construction, then moved on to the next topic: "The Emperor of Great Joy is expected to return at an unknown time, and I'm not sure when we'll be able to defeat him. A Mid-Tier God is still quite formidable... Perhaps when Du Xue masters the assassination-style godhood, coupled with several ordinary gods to distract him, a sudden surprise attack might succeed... When that happens, I'll live stream it for all of you."

"This period shouldn't be too long for you, perhaps half a day, which is about twenty to thirty years... And while this is an internal human concern, other aspects are also becoming strange. Do you think the zombie apocalypse has ended, now that the entire world has been infected and assimilated? No! It hasn't. The virus is still mutating, full of unknowns..."

Screenshots,Screenshots,Showed plants, flowers, forcibly growing demon cores.

The entire ancient lava land had already transformed into a breathtakingly beautiful landscape, with every patch of ground filled with vibrant flowers and colorful trees, resembling a dreamlike fairy tale realm. Yet, its illusory beauty was unsettling, sending shivers down one's spine.

This world was too beautiful!

So beautiful, in fact, that it felt unnatural.

Xia Naiming observed the online discussions, filtered them again, extracted the essence, and then quietly left the forum, allowing those scoundrels to continue their animated discussions.

Xia Naiming departed, but the discussions did not cease.

"Awesome! Head-pulling sword, this Corpse Sword Immortal concept is so creative!"

"Everyone, what do you think this advanced grand world will become, with the virus infecting it so wildly?"

People shook their heads, finding it hard to imagine.

"Presumably, if this virus spread to the Three Realms or the Ancient Wood World, it would also bring about their destruction, right?"

"No way! This virus can only infect creatures with demon cores, can't it? It can't infect those without them, can it?"

"You're naive! It has now evolved to forcibly grow a demon core in those without one, and then infect them! It's incredibly overbearing! This quasi-emperor balloon fish currently has a high life-form level and strong resistance, but after a few more generations of reproduction, it's estimated that it too will be forced to grow a demon core, transforming it into a zombie balloon fish!"

"That's terrifying!"

"In the Primordial World, even the Ancestral Witches... if bitten, they would probably be infected by the virus, forcibly transformed into 'demon core' type beings, becoming mindless walking corpses—zombie Ancestral Witches?"

Everyone imagined it: Witches, one by one, turning into zombies, aimlessly shambling through the streets—it was too horrifying...

"Zombie Shu Mountain Sword Immortals? Zombie Grand Confucians? Zombie Dragon Veins? Zombie Wizards?"

"Zombie Medusa? Zombie Dao Changsheng? Zombie Armin?"

"The above is an exaggeration; Gods shouldn't be infectable, but Heavenly Emperors... that's hard to say!"

Everyone was shocked.

The previous Wizard World and Primordial World were too small, considered barren minor worlds where even giving birth to a god was difficult. This current lava world, however, was a hundred times larger, making the birth of gods incredibly easy—that was the difference.

This advanced grand world was already devastated; if this virus spread to other worlds, they would likely also suffer the same fate...

"However, we've acquired some mechanical-demonic energy technology, which is still very valuable for reference!"

"Don't panic, everyone. It'll probably be fine in five or six hours. Let's just watch a movie on our computers and chat; he'll likely update us on the situation inside again!"

Everyone was a bit restless, chatting and bragging, planning to wait for this player for a few hours. After all, it was the weekend, many didn't have to work, and the wait wouldn't be long.

Xu Zhi also silently observed all this, continuously familiarizing himself with the Heavenly Emperor realm he had just broken through. "I'll accompany these online netizens and wait for six or seven hours too; it's not a long time, after all."

He sat down where he was, curious to see if Du Xue would achieve godhood, and if so, what kind of "head-pulling sword" she would manifest. He also wondered what the world situation would be like after the Emperor of Great Joy returned.

"That virus is indeed terrifying, even beyond my control. It's an unprecedented hybrid virus—a combination of a silicon-based network computer virus and a carbon-based biological cell virus—forcibly converting any creature into a semi-silicon, semi-carbon-based life form..."

"I'm curious to see what it becomes in the future. If I could control it, its significance would be immense, akin to wielding a god-level virus... And even if it's not under my control, it won't be able to cause much trouble, as everything about it is based on the Zerg's biological virus."

Of course, his waiting didn't mean he would be idle.

"And having just broken through to the seventh stage, it's the perfect time to begin constructing my vacuum mech suit." Xu Zhi reached out, and a small Rubik's Cube-like pet from an orchard entered, then shattered with a crash, disintegrating into numerous small black parts.

Soon, before him in the room, appeared the blueprints for a mechanical battlesuit, custom-designed for him by Caroline.