The Highest Bounty

Chapter 108: Taboo Energy that Frighten Even the Gods

With each second and minute that passed, Neptune began to dread the inevitable more and more.

The Witch Tribe’s entire treasure trove had been looted completely. Apart from the bottle of black medicine, Neptune could not find something else that gave Gu Ding and the others hope to escape the place. By that time, Neptune had simulated the whole thing at least a thousand times, and he always got the same result whereby all three of them died each time.

“Neptune...” Gu Ding looked at the time displayed on his wristwatch. “It’s noon.”

Although Neptune was reluctant, he knew that it was the only way. He retrieved the bottle of black medicine from the Inventory and unlocked the seal on it. Then, the invisible energy that sealed the bottle slowly began to dissipate.

Gu Ding held up the bottle of medicine, took a deep breath, pulled out its stopper, and then drank it in one go.

Gu Ding did not feel any abnormalities within seconds of drinking it. However, when the medicine slowly reached his abdomen, Gu Ding felt as if a bomb had been placed inside his body. Energy began to surge through his entire body, and he felt a wave of shock overcome him, stunning him at his core for a brief period of time.

Then, his brain went blank for a few seconds. However, when Gu Ding was on the verge of death, Neptune witnessed the virus in Gu Ding’s body appear out of nowhere. The virus soon started to devour the taboo energy.

The very first moment Gu Ding regained consciousness, he felt severe pain and every cell in his body was in agony. Nevertheless, apart from the pain, Gu Ding felt nothing else. Hence, Gu Ding persisted in keeping himself conscious and did not allow himself to pass out because he assumed that if he did not do so, he would probably never wake up again.

Under such pain, each second felt like thousands of years to Gu Ding, and he could not tell how much time had passed.

Neptune observed the virus in Gu Ding’s body continue to engulf the taboo energy for almost half an hour before the latter completely disappeared. It was only at that time did Gu Ding’s pain start to cease.

Neptune silently took note of the changes in Gu Ding’s body. Soon, he saw one of Gu Ding’s gene chains beginning to mutate. The tiny gene chain began to turn black, and just like ink on a white piece of cloth, the black gene chain spread its color to nearby gene chains, staining each of them black.

The energy did not seem like it was going to stop spreading any time soon. Upon seeing this, Neptune began to feel very worried. Within mere seconds, one of the two double-helix gene chains in Gu Ding’s body had two-thirds of it stained black. Nevertheless, it still did not look like it was going to slow down.

“What’s happening?” There was no other record of taboo energy in Neptune’s database. After all, he still had restrictions placed over him, and there was special information that he could not access yet. When he saw the changes in Gu Ding’s body, he started to feel anxious.

Gu Ding laid on the ground, motionless. Gu Ding’s body no longer felt like it was his own after all the pain he had just faced, so much so that he could not even control his blinking, let alone speak.

The staining only seemed to stop after his entire gene chain had turned completely black. It was then when Neptune realized the big difference between Gu Ding’s blackened gene chain and his original gene chain.

At that moment, Gu Ding regained control of his body.

“Neptune, can you check my body stats?”

Neptune immediately projected Gu Ding’s latest body stats:

Name: Gu Ding

Sex: Male

Age: 15

Gene Level: Level 3

Special Ability 1: Level 2 Rage Attack (Evolvable)

Ability Description: Attack power, defense power, speed, and regeneration are all tripled continuously for ten minutes.

Side Effects: Ten hours into Prostration, combat effectiveness is halved.

Special Ability 2: Level 1 High-Speed Regeneration (Evolvable)

Ability Description: The regeneration rate of cells is increased by tenfold (permanently).

Special Ability 3: Level 3 Damage Stacking (Curse Stream Ability) (Evolvable)

Ability Description: Causes a cursed effect on the target whereby damage is be stacked. The second blow will be stacked onto the first blow, while the third blow will be stacked onto the first and second blow.

special ability 4: Absolute Seal (Level 1 taboo energy) (Evolvable)

Ability Description: An absolute seal effect can be placed on any living body via the sense of touch. It is able to seal all energies of the opponent, including primary power, special ability, cell energy, spirit, and any other form of energy.

Ability Limitation 1: Seal duration: ten hours.

Ability Limitation 2: Each use must be more than 30 days apart.

Ability Limitation 3: Not effective for non-living entities.

Ability Limitation 4: Only can be placed on a single body.

Cell Index : 300

Spirit Index: 298

Battle Prowess: B+

Mental Cognition: A

When Gu Ding saw the new ability he had gained, he was shocked. The ability sounded like one that had the capability of frightening even gods. If Gu Ding managed to seal the energy of a god, they would be no different than an ordinary person. In fact, they could then even be killed by an ordinary person. The most terrifying thing about the ability was that it could be evolved. For example, the duration of the seal could become longer, its interval use time could become shorter, and it would be possible for it to become a ranged seal.

Neptune was also taken aback by Gu Ding’s new ability. As an artificial super-intelligence life, he knew very well how terrible it was to seal a life form. Not only did it mean that Gu Ding could now seal gods, but he could probably seal non-standard super life forms like Neptune himself or Skynet.

“It seems like we’ve been saved!” Gu Ding immediately had a new plan in mind.

“All we have to do is seal Oldman, and Biggie will be able to block the rest of them with his strength.” There was finally a solution to Neptune’s biggest concern. “Other than Oldman, there’s only one Level 10 Gene Body and two Level 9 Gene Bodies in the Witch Tribe. Since they’re under the curse, their combat strength should be half their normal state.”

“My only concern now is whether Biggie will be able to do it...” Gu Ding knew that Biggie played a key role in the escape plan. “You know that he’s completely unable of finding humans, right? That’s because he has mental obstacles that prevent him from doing so.”

“What if he doesn’t fight but merely escapes with the two of you? Shouldn’t he be able to do that?” Upon hearing Gu Ding’s reminder, Neptune recalled Biggie’s condition from the conversation Gu Ding and Biggie had prior to this.

“I don’t know...” Gu Ding was not sure how serious Biggie’s mental obstacles were. However, he was sure that Biggie was the key to success in their escape.

“Let me talk to him,” Neptune suggested after a moment of silence.