Invincible through Touching Corpses-Chapter 61 - 60: The Rip-off System

When Lin Xinghai saw Roger’s message, he was stunned for a moment, then immediately replied, "I’m in!"

But after sending the message, another question quickly occurred to him. "Old Luo, who’s going to pilot this Mecha after we buy it?"

Roger replied quickly, "I’ll pilot it for now. Then, whoever’s Genetic Optimization Level reaches 90% first will get the final piloting rights to this Mecha."

"Really?" Lin Xinghai asked, pleasantly surprised.

Back at the base, the look of eager anticipation on Roger’s face suddenly froze.

He had just realized a very serious problem. Given the demonic pace of Lin Xinghai’s improvement, there was no way he could break the third Genetic Lock faster than him.

And that wasn’t all. His biggest competitor had been Wu Yan, but it would have taken at least two months, maybe even longer, for one of them to emerge as the winner.

That way, even if he lost, he would have still gotten to pilot the Mecha for two months.

But with Lin Xinghai as his opponent, there was no telling how long he’d get to pilot the Mecha.

Finally, he reluctantly typed two words into the message field: "It’s true!"

"I’m telling you, Old Luo, what’s with the long face? Why are you acting so profound? If I were you, I’d be shooting off fireworks at the front gate to celebrate," Xu Haishui couldn’t help but remark as he passed by Roger.

It couldn’t be helped. With his D Level Genetic Assessment, it was impossible for him to compete with the others in terms of improvement speed.

"Instead of wasting time watching me, you’d be better off spending it on improving yourself. We’re starting a large-scale recruitment tomorrow. If the new recruits all show up with higher Genetic Optimization Levels than you, let’s see if you’ll still have the face to be a captain," Roger immediately shot back.

"I mean, really, what are you guys learning? Is it fun to constantly roast people like Wu Yan does?" Xu Haishui grumbled angrily as he walked away.

Wu Yan: ???

...

Meanwhile, Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but pump his fist after seeing the message pop up on his wrist-mounted computer.

He knew Roger’s Genetic Optimization Level was 65%, and Wu Yan’s was probably about the same. ’These guys are no competition for me at all!’

’With my system, breaking through is just a matter of minutes.’

’Of course... that’s assuming I have enough Blood Qi Power.’

And the thought of Blood Qi Power made him a bit melancholic.

He opened his system panel.

Host: Lin Xinghai

Physique: 25 points

Power: 21 points

Speed: 30 points

Blood Qi Power: 16 points

Genetic Optimization Level: 30%+

Superpower: Speed (Within ten seconds, Speed increases by 100%) (Energy Value: 10/10)

Basic Level Shooting Skill: Proficiency 100%+

’This 16 points of Blood Qi Power is nowhere near enough!’

According to the pattern of Blood Qi Power consumption, after his Genetic Optimization Level exceeded 30%, every 1% increase would require 3 points of Blood Qi Power. That meant raising his Genetic Optimization Level to 40% would require 30 points of Blood Qi Power.

By that logic, increasing it to 50% would require 40 points of Blood Qi Power, and to 60% would require 50 points.

In other words, he needed at least another 120 points of Blood Qi Power.

However, he definitely had to keep leveling up his Superpower, so he’d need to set aside another 100 points of Blood Qi Power for that.

That meant he needed at least 220 points of Blood Qi Power to break through.

’After the Mercenary Corps gets promoted to Second Level, we’ll probably have to recruit new members and all that. It’s very likely we won’t be going out on missions for a while. So how am I supposed to get Blood Qi Power?’

’Should I just use Genetic Medicine Liquid to brute-force it? It’s not impossible, but the amount of Points that would cost is definitely no small sum.’

’Having to spend money on Blood Qi Power that I could have gotten for free just feels wrong! Forget it. I’ll just wait and ask Roger tomorrow if I can go out and hunt Zombies by myself.’ Lin Xinghai muttered to himself, still unable to come up with any good ideas.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. He scrolled down the system panel to the very bottom, where there was a quest log, and opened it.

He had been on edge the entire time he was out with the Mercenary Corps today, so much so that he’d almost forgotten he had accepted some kind of main quest earlier.

Of course, the main reason he forgot was that there was no reward, even for completing it.

Lin Xinghai never paid much attention to things that offered no benefits.

Main Quest: Kill 100 Zombies. (Completed)

Description: Taking shortcuts is only temporary. To acquire Blood Qi Power, you must still rely on your own strength.

Reward: None.

Seeing the completed quest status, Lin Xinghai let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Although he had definitely killed more than 100 Zombies today, he had killed all of them with a Tearing Rifle.

He was worried the system would suddenly go crazy and pull something like, "Kills made with external items will not be counted," which would have totally screwed him over.

Of course, getting a main quest with no reward was already a huge rip-off in itself.

Full of resentment, Lin Xinghai clicked "Complete Quest."

Soon, a new quest refreshed.

Main Quest: Break the 1st Genetic Lock (Completed)

Description: Breaking the 1st Genetic Lock to become one of the Optimized is a small step from weak to strong, but a giant leap for yourself.

Reward: 1 point of Blood Qi Power.

Lin Xinghai looked, and looked, and looked again, but he hadn’t misread it.

’This system’s rewards are just...’

He was now absolutely, positively certain that this was a one-way system that only took, but never gave.

One only had to look at the ever-increasing, ever-more-terrifying Blood Qi Power costs for the system’s various functions to know.

Especially the Superpower’s Energy Value. Replenishing just one point actually cost 100 points of Blood Qi Power.

You couldn’t even call that ridiculous; it was simply insane.

And what were the system’s rewards? Either "None" or one point of Blood Qi Power, which was practically the same as nothing to Lin Xinghai.

As for the Investigation Technique he got as a reward for completing his first main quest, it seemed nice, but the problem was that only the first ten uses were free of Blood Qi Power cost.

’It’s like they give you a little taste of something sweet at the beginning. You get used to how useful it is, and then later, when you want to use it to investigate an enemy...’

Lin Xinghai didn’t even need to think to guess that the system would demand an astronomical amount of Blood Qi Power.

Of course, complaints were complaints, but the system itself was still incredibly useful. He could only click "Complete Quest" and claim his reward.

And his Blood Qi Power rose to 17 points.

’Every little bit counts,’ Lin Xinghai consoled himself as he looked at the newly refreshed main quest.

Main Quest: Break the 2nd Genetic Lock

Description: Breaking the 2nd Genetic Lock to become one of the Optimized is a small step from weak to strong, but a giant leap for yourself.

Reward: 2 points of Blood Qi Power.

Lin Xinghai: "..."

’Did you just copy and paste this system quest?!’ Lin Xinghai complained internally, then hid the entire quest log. Out of sight, out of mind.