As she felt a slight sense of relief, the monster finally spoke again.
"I assume you have chosen your stance."
Shi Wanyun immediately looked up at the monsterâs image.
"What I have to say next is your mission."
Shi Wanyun slightly sat up straighter.
This monster... seems to assume she would surrender.
It guessed right.
"Your task is very simple. Kill the man named Xu Xin."
"The capsule you took earlier is a drug to alter your constitution. Now your physical abilities are almost at the level of mid-tier mutated creatures and will continue to rise in the future."
"Despite being human, your physical abilities have surpassed his."
Shi Wanyunâs eyes slightly shifted.
She was now, surprisingly, reaching the capabilities of mid-tier mutated creatures.
She clenched her fist and waved it.
Indeed...
Her strength and speed had increased significantly from before.
Even though she wasnât in the best condition, she could clearly sense the change in her power.
In other words...
Now, even without weapons or armor, she possesses formidable abilities with her bare hands.
Originally, she could already fight mid-tier mutated creatures. With weapons and armor, ordinary mid-tier mutated creatures shouldnât withstand a few moves from her before being killed.
"But this power is not given to you for free." The monster fiddled with its fingers, opening its eyes on its head, chest, and even arms, looking at its own pitch-black fingers, "Right now, you are completely under my control."
Shi Wanyun wasnât surprised, quietly watching the image.
"Like this."
As the monster spoke, the Crystal Ball on the ground emitted a crimson light again.
Shi Wanyunâs face changed, immediately looking out the window.
Luckily, there wasnât any movement outside.
No group of mutated creatures appeared again.
This is...
She suddenly felt an itch on the back of her hand.
Then, various parts of her body began to show signs of discomfort.
She raised her hand to look, her pupils contracting, almost screaming.
Her handâs back started to show... silver-gray scales like fish scales.
Not just a few, her entire handâs back was starting to show patterns and shapes!
She immediately reached out to grab them, already feeling the hardness!
"This...!" She looked at her body, beneath her tattered clothes, various parts of her body displayed this strange pattern, especially on her legs where they appeared in large patches!
She touched her face.
Her cheeks were also starting to feel hard.
"No... donât!" This time she was truly terrified.
Her fear of turning into a monster was far greater than her fear of death!
Becoming such a monster, sheâd rather die!
She forcefully tried to tear the slowly emerging scales on her hand.
With her tearing, she increasingly felt the reality of scales on the back of her hand!
The scales were forming!
"No..."
She immediately sat down weakly.
Was she really turning into a monster...
Luckily, things werenât so bad.
The crimson light of the Crystal Ball abruptly faded.
The scales that had appeared on her body suddenly receded with the fading of the crimson light.
Her handâs back returned to skin, leaving only the blood marks where she had forcefully scratched.
The large scales on her legs also receded.
She was almost overjoyed to tears.
"Not... didnât turn into a monster?"
Shi Wanyun felt her emotions were like riding a roller coaster.
Looking at her fair skin, her breath quickened.
She was highly afraid of any strange things growing on it.
She hastily donned a leather armor to cover the exposed skin, making her feel a bit safer.
The monster spoke again: "I can turn you into a puppet that listens completely to me and loses its own consciousness at any time, but I donât want to do that, itâs too boring."
So that previous state, if successfully converted, she would become this monsterâs puppet...
"So, donât have any crooked thoughts. However, you can use this power on your own," the monsterâs voice became somewhat lazy, "When you enter the gene explosion state, you can transform into that form and possess even greater power."
"With your current strength, the burst state should have at least mid-tier capabilities, killing Xu Xin should not be a problem."
"By the way, after completely entering the burst state for the first time, you will have a beautiful set of scales covering your bare and ugly body, considered a reward for you."
... Reward?
Shi Wanyun fiercely bit her lip.
She didnât want such a reward.
Scales all over the body, even on the face...
That completely crossed her boundary!
...
"Burst mode?" Xu Xin felt very familiar with it.
Isnât that Lou FeiâErâs capsule ability?
Obtaining mutant power post-consumption but not immediately mutating, only upon entering burst mode for the first time does it happen.
And due to the irreversibility of mutation, those whoâve entered burst mode will have blood lines that canât be removed.
Which matches almost exactly with the monsterâs assertion of indelible scales...
The pill ability of Lou FeiâEr was not something she inherently possessed but was acquired from the underground city.
He suddenly became interested in the underground city Lou FeiâEr entered back then.
...
Next, the monster began to narrate its plan.
"I will send you to a place where you can encounter that particular human."
"The place is underground, a wrongfully constructed underground city, where you just need to wait patiently. Maybe a few days, maybe several months, that human will certainly show up there."
"Once you meet that human, find a way to kill him."
"Simple mission."
The monsterâs explanation still left Shi Wanyun somewhat clouded.
Underground city?
Leaning back, appearing to rest on the chairâs back, the monster spoke with its unique language:
"To be honest, besides being too ugly, you are more interesting than those intellectually underground animals, and Iâd like to communicate with you more. That Xu Xin, if he behaved honestly, I might give him a bright future, but unfortunately, he chose to oppose us, hindering our plans."
"Then he must be killed."
"By you. If unachievable... kill everyone else instead."
The monsterâs voice was casual, but Shi Wanyun knew it was casual because it could accomplish such a task effortlessly.
Itâs like someone observing an ant carrying food in an ant colony and saying, "If this ant canât carry the food back to the nest, then wipe out the entire ant colony."
This feeling.
Casual, yet undeniable.
Shi Wanyun suddenly felt immense pressure.
Her face turned pale.
Was this asking her to choose between Xu Xin and including herself among other survivors?
Truthfully...
Itâs a pretty easy choice.
"Alright, prepare and set out as soon as possible. Place this Crystal Ball under your treehouse, its energy will tear open a space to send you where you should go. Iâll explain the next steps over there."
"So troublesome, needing to leave such messages... but the human appearance is indeed too disgusting, face-to-face conversation is unbearable..."
After muttering a few sentences, the image concluded.
This monster seemed genuinely interested in communicating with humans and was attempting to do so, even showing some enthusiasm.
Shi Wanyun remained silent for a long time and ultimately decided not to take action just yet.
She was too exhausted now.
Xu Xin, huh...
Letâs contact him first.
He, being her savior as well as her mission target, what would he be like now?
She thought for a moment and dialed the connection to Xu Xin.
"Is it Xu Xin..."
She uttered in a somewhat weak and weary voice.
Then internally apologized.
Sorry.