After just five minutes, Liu Miaomiao hurried back.
Seeing Lin Xinghaiâs somewhat pale face, she was startled and quickly asked, "Are you okay?!"
"Iâm fine! You didnât tell anyone about my situation when you came back, did you?" Lin Xinghai asked.
"Of course not! Iâm practically invisible right now, so I could come back with any old excuse," Liu Miaomiao said.
Thanks to the concealment by Fang Tianhe and the other higher-ups, everyone else thought Liu Miaomiao was just a new recruit with decent potential.
However, because she was quite close to Lin Xinghai, no one dared to offend her, so her status was rather special.
"Good. We must keep this confidential. If the Morgan Conglomerate finds out, things could get complicated tomorrow," Lin Xinghai said.
Although Liu Miaomiao hadnât been on any missions recently, she had been helping out in the logistics support team for the past few days and had gained a clear understanding of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corpsâs situation.
Tomorrow was the turning point for the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corpsâit would either be a day of glory or a descent into decline.
At this critical juncture, her inability to help had left her feeling somewhat dejected. Now, learning that she could be of assistance to Lin Xinghai made her quite happy.
"What should I do?" Liu Miaomiao asked earnestly.
"In a moment, when you see me start to suffer, use your Superpower to extract the Life Force from the plants and inject it into my body."
"The injection process should be as slow as possible. Each wave of pain will last for five minutes, and I have to go through it 29 times." As Lin Xinghai spoke of the pain, he felt a wave of discomfort wash over him, even though it hadnât started yet.
"Okay!" Liu Miaomiao gestured that she understood.
Lin Xinghai said no more. He opened his system panel and began the process of raising his Genetic Optimization Level.
Liu Miaomiao watched as he closed his eyes, and the aura around his body began to slowly climb.
But at the same time, his skin started to turn red, like a fully cooked shrimp. Beads of sweat appeared all over his body, but before they could even roll down, they were evaporated into a faint mist by his high body temperature.
It would be a lie to say Liu Miaomiao wasnât astonished by this scene.
But even in her astonishment, her actions werenât slow in the slightest. She immediately activated her Superpower, directly extracting the Life Force from a lucky bamboo plant beside her and slowly injecting it into Lin Xinghaiâs body.
As the green Life Energy was injected, the pained expression on Lin Xinghaiâs face instantly eased.
Seeing that it was working, Liu Miaomiao inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
However, she didnât let her guard down. Lin Xinghai had said that this pain would last for five minutes and that he had to endure it 29 times. All told, that was nearly two and a half hours.
The drain on her Superpower would be terrifying. Liu Miaomiao didnât know if she could last that long; all she could do was try to extend the time as much as possible.
With this in mind, her control became even more precise as she tried to use the minimum amount of Superpower to achieve the optimal effect.
Soon, five minutes passed. At the cost of two dead plants, Lin Xinghai successfully completed the enhancement.
Looking at the two withered plants in front of him, he didnât regret the Points he had spent in the slightest. Even if it had cost double, he wouldâve considered it worth it.
Of course, he knew that the sacrifice of the plantsâ Life Force was secondary. The most important factor was Liu Miaomiao.
"Was the drain significant? How many more times can your Superpower last?" Lin Xinghai asked immediately.
"I can probably only support you for another 19 times. Iâll try my best to prolong it," Liu Miaomiao said, biting her red lip, a little ashamed.
"Donât worry, thatâs already better than I expected. Letâs continue!" Lin Xinghai comforted her.
Over the next hour or so, with the help of Liu Miaomiaoâs Superpower, Lin Xinghai passed the time in relative comfort.
Having witnessed the entire process, Liu Miaomiao grew more and more astonished.
With each wave of pain Lin Xinghai endured, his aura grew stronger. In just over an hour, his presence had strengthened by a large margin.
If she hadnât seen it with her own eyes, she would have found it hard to believe.
And so, with Liu Miaomiaoâs help, Lin Xinghai endured the pain of 22 enhancements.
Thatâs right, 22 times, not the 19 she had predicted earlier.
Because of Liu Miaomiaoâs efforts, her consumption rate decreased the longer she went on, allowing her to hold out for an extra 15 minutes.
"Are you okay?" Lin Xinghai asked with concern, looking at the equally pale girl before him.
"Iâm fine, just exhausted from overusing my Superpower. Iâll be okay after some rest. But what about you? Whatâs next?" Liu Miaomiao asked, concerned.
"Iâll be fine. There are only a few left. I can just grit my teeth and get through it. You should rest up. Iâll need your Superpower to help when I make the real breakthrough!" Lin Xinghai glanced at his system panel. His Genetic Optimization Level had already reached 84%.
"Okay!" Liu Miaomiao nodded obediently.
The depleted Superpower in her body was like stamina; it would recover slowly with rest.
She could recover about 10% in an hour. Under normal circumstances, her Superpower would be fully restored in ten hours.
If Liu Miaomiao rested now, she would be able to help again later.
For the next half hour, Lin Xinghai gritted his teeth and endured five more enhancements, raising his Genetic Optimization Level to 89%.
At this point, he finally stopped. Any further enhancement would mean facing the third Genetic Lock. Without Liu Miaomiaoâs help, he certainly wasnât foolish enough to try.
Besides, he also needed to rest and recuperate.
Another hour and a half passed, and Lin Xinghai had fully recovered.
As for Liu Miaomiao, with this period of rest, her internal Superpower had recovered to 20%.
"Next, Iâm going to start the real breakthrough. Watch for the right moment to act," Lin Xinghai said to Liu Miaomiao with a smile.
âThis girl really is a treasure,â he thought. âAt first, I just thought she was pretty, but I didnât expect her Genetic Talent to be so good, and now her awakened Superpower is this amazing.â
âPutting everything else aside, the fact that her Superpower can alleviate pain is reason enough to keep her by my side!â
"Mm, Iâll definitely do a good job. You have to do your best, but donât put too much pressure on yourself," Liu Miaomiao said worriedly.
Over the past few days, she had learned a lot about Cultivation and knew that the further one progressed, the higher the failure rate for breaking a Genetic Lock.
Even with Lin Xinghaiâs B Level Genetic Assessment, the success rate for breaking the third Genetic Lock was only 70%.
With a failure rate of nearly one-third, it would be a lie to say she wasnât worried.
Feeling Liu Miaomiaoâs concern, Lin Xinghai just smiled but didnât say much more.
âFailure isnât an option for me.â
"Ding! Spend 300 points of Blood Qi Power to initiate the third Superpower awakening?"
Looking at the system prompt that popped up, Lin Xinghai had only one thought, âJust as I expected,â and selected yes.
"Ding! Based on a comprehensive evaluation, the Hostâs probability of breaking the Genetic Lock is 70%. Do you wish to increase the success rate?"
He selected yes and spent another 300 points of Blood Qi Power to increase the breakthrough probability to 100%.
A few hundred points of Blood Qi Power was just a drop in the bucket for Lin Xinghai now; he spent it without batting an eye.
The next moment, he officially entered the breakthrough state.