CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 25: DEMON MUTATION

The Demon kills the Demon, and the dead Demon will also condense into an item.

After consuming the ’death drop’, the Demon can absorb part of the deceased Demon’s abilities for its own use.

The above was discovered by Yan Luo and Sasa through the surveillance video in the trunk.

The cicada-like monster is a fairly weak Demon, having no other means of attack besides its painful bite.

Even if the cicada-like could break human skin with their bite, their small size means they can’t cause real harm—unless the bitten area is near a major artery.

However, Yan Luo and Sasa watched the surveillance footage and found that the captured cicada-like creature seemed capable of emitting high temperatures, melting the box.

It was only now that they discovered that the [Demon Preservation Box] has this flaw—when subjected to temperatures above 400℃ and below 500℃, the glass of the preservation box would gradually melt, without triggering any alarm.

The Demon Preservation Box has a built-in alarm system; if the demon inside breaks out and escapes, the box will sound the alarm.

The issue was that the box didn’t trigger an alarm.

The cicada-like creature itself doesn’t have the ability to emit high temperatures, this ability likely comes from another demon it consumed.

Yan Luo thought back a bit and recalled which demon had this ability.

The Coal-scaled Moth, a moth demon that can generate scale powder with physical properties similar to coal, Yan Luo tore off its wings and threw it into the ’beast fighting circle’ to battle other demons.

With its wings gone, the Coal-scaled Moth could only crawl on the ground, and it wasn’t fast, so it wasn’t surprising that it was preyed upon by the cicada-like creature.

According to the surveillance footage, the cicada-like creature did not develop the ability to produce scale powder; it emitted high temperatures mainly relying on its abdomen.

When the high temperature was emitted, the abdomen of the cicada-like creature would glow red.

In other words, after absorbing other demons’ abilities, a demon doesn’t directly acquire the corresponding ability, but rather evolves a similar ability using its own conditions?

Realizing this, Yan Luo and Sasa couldn’t help but exchange glances.

"You’re going to fall behind in updates," Sasa said to Yan Luo.

Yan Luo didn’t have any special abilities, just a lot of strength and high jumping ability. Nowadays, he fights demons relying mostly on the memories in his mind.

If demons can evolve and develop new abilities, then Yan Luo would struggle to come up with a method to tackle the targets in time.

Pondering the issue for a moment, Yan Luo found himself powerless.

The changes in demonic creatures are universal; all demons can continue to evolve, and he can’t stop it.

Yan Luo looked at the cicada-like creature locked in a new box, and seeing that its abdomen wasn’t glowing red against the glass, he thought its magic power should be exhausted.

"Magic power is truly unreasonable; such a tiny bug can continuously emit high heat for several hours, even melting the glass of the preservation box which is as hard as diamond," Yan Luo couldn’t help but sigh.

When he felt everything was progressing smoothly, the Abyss made another abrupt change, putting everything back to square one.

Even more than back to square one, the Abyss updated a major version, even ordinary level demons could have multiple superpowers.

Yan Luo’s only way to cope with the situation was to quickly strengthen himself; otherwise, when most demons in the Abyss have multiple abilities, he would struggle to deal with the demons.

"Can you help me devise a rapid training plan?" Yan Luo turned to look at Sasa.

Sasa chuckled, sending Yan Luo a file, "I’ve already prepared it for you."

She had long discovered that for Yan Luo, eliminating demons and vanquishing the Abyss was his sole purpose for survival.

Yan Luo received the file, glanced at it, and then closed it.

"I’m taking you back to Crimson No.2 now."

Saying that, Yan Luo turned and walked to the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel and starting the armored vehicle.

With Sasa alongside, he couldn’t fully engage in battle and slaughter, needing to spare effort to protect Sasa.

With Sasa having collected a lot of information on this Abyss anomaly, it was sufficient for her to write several papers, and the findings she just researched certainly needed to be quickly communicated to the Hunter’s Guild to let all of Blue Star’s hunters know what kind of mutation had occurred in the Abyss.

Sasa didn’t refuse; she also clearly knew she was being a hindrance.

She sat in the large trunk behind the driver’s seat, looking at the demons in the preservation boxes, deep in thought.

Just then, an alarm sounded from one of the preservation boxes.

It wasn’t an alarm for a demon escape but an alarm signaling the death of the demon inside the box.

This alarm caused Sasa to pause for a moment, quickly standing up and pressing herself against the box, observing the demon inside.

She then pulled up the preservation box’s system panel, finding no parameters set incorrectly.

So, what caused this demon’s death?

It certainly wasn’t due to injuries; after all, when they collected the three ’victors’, they treated all three demons to ensure they wouldn’t die from severe injuries.

Since it wasn’t due to injuries, could it be possible that they failed to absorb other demons’ abilities?

Another preservation box’s alarm went off, similarly signaling the death of the demon inside.

"So that’s it!"

Sasa realized.

Demons can’t fully absorb other demons’ abilities; indeed, there’s a high probability of them dying while absorbing abilities.

The stronger a demon is, the smarter it becomes; harmless and ordinary demons might brainlessly absorb other demons’ abilities, but higher-level demons would likely be selective in absorbing them.

That is a good piece of news.

Although demons can still absorb other demons’ abilities, the abilities of higher-level demons won’t change dramatically but will instead form a new ability system with their abilities as the core.

Upon realizing this, Sasa immediately shared the good news with Yan Luo.

Yan Luo drove with a blank expression.

According to Sasa, lower-level demons will still absorb other demons’ abilities, and Yan Luo’s current opponents are these lower-level demons, so that good news was not helpful to him.

He still needed to quickly become stronger, or dealing with the upcoming drastic changes in the Abyss would be very difficult.

Yan Luo drove back to Crimson No.2; the soldiers at the checkpoint saw him and couldn’t help but feel curious, asking, "Yan Luo, did you encounter any unexpected situation? How come you went in for just a day and came back already?"

While the vehicle was being inspected, Yan Luo chatted with the soldiers outside the car: "This time I didn’t go in for an Abyss hunt; I was hired as a guard to enter the Abyss, and the person who hired me was this woman."

With that, Yan Luo pointed to Sasa.

"Oh, a research assignment!" the soldier realized.

Just then, the large scanner that could scan the entire vehicle finished its job and didn’t detect any prohibited items.

Although there were two demons inside the car, they were kept according to regulations in the Demon Preservation Boxes, thus not considered prohibited.

The environment inside the Demon Preservation Boxes was similar to the Abyss, so the Swift Claw Falcon and cicada-like creatures didn’t have a stress reaction due to environmental changes.

After passing the inspection, Yan Luo called Sasa to get in the car.

Activating the autopilot, setting the destination to Lingquan University’s research team’s dormitory building, the armored vehicle drove out of the checkpoint, heading for the dormitory building.

As soon as Sasa returned to Blue Star, she sent messages to her professor and fellow students. By the time the armored vehicle arrived at the dormitory building, Yan Luo saw a large group standing in front of the dormitory waiting.

"Quickly! Move them down! Don’t let them bump into anything; those are precious samples!"

The armored vehicle hadn’t even stopped properly when an old man led a group of middle and young people, all rushing forward, taking the preservation boxes out of the vehicle, even the ones containing the dead demons and the one with the glass burned by the cicada-like creature were taken.

In the researchers’ eyes, those preservation boxes contained exceptional information, enough to write several papers.

After they moved the research equipment out, Yan Luo carried out his weapons and equipment, laying them on the ground.

The armored vehicle’s rental time is ’one Abyss hunt’, regardless of how long this Abyss hunt lasts, an hour, or ten days, once you exit the Abyss, the rental period ends.

Yan Luo sent a location to his motorcycle, letting it come over automatically, then sent the armored vehicle back to the rental company on its own.

"I didn’t expect you to be quite reliable," a voice came from the side, it was Zhang Xiaofang.

Yan Luo glanced at her, saying nothing.

Sasa had already followed the group back to the dormitory building; what is she staying here for?

Zhang Xiaofang pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and bowed to apologize, "I was really rude to you earlier, I’m sorry!"

With that, Zhang Xiaofang turned and ran, swiftly running back to the dormitory building.

"...Crazy," Yan Luo was speechless.

What’s there to apologize for?