I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 163: Chapter 151: Incomplete Divine Grace of Evolution (Part 2)

Dongli was the perfect place for him to grow, and he had to seize this opportunity to become stronger as quickly as possible.

...

Su Ze didn’t return to the conference room. He simply waited until the academic exchange was over.

After the conference, Lin Hua Noble Academy held a banquet, inviting all attendees to dinner.

Su Ze’s mind wasn’t on the banquet at all. He took a few half-hearted bites, then left for the hotel early with Liou Wenxin before the event had even concluded.

Liou Wenxin knew the purpose of Su Ze’s visit, so she asked on the way, ”How did it go? Was it a success?”

Su Ze nodded. The two entered Liou Wenxin’s room, where he did his best to recount his entire conversation with Feng Boyi.

When she heard that Feng Boyi had transplanted Zhao Lingxiao’s heart into him, her brow only furrowed slightly. As an evolutionist, she was far more accepting of such things than Su Ze.

Once Su Ze had finished, she said, ”Verifying Feng Boyi’s claims is simple. When we get back, I’ll take a small sample of your heart tissue for examination. That will tell us everything.”

”You don’t need to worry too much. After all, you aren’t truly one of the Corrupted. I can’t smell any foul odor on you. So, even if you do have a Corrupted’s heart, it won’t emit a detectable stench, nor will it have any other negative effects on your body. It’s not that big of a deal—at least, not an urgent problem.”

”That’s what I was thinking, too. It’s just... a little unsettling,” Su Ze said with a bitter smile.

”Liou Wenxin, do you think if I removed the heart and used the Regeneration Core to reform a new one, I could get rid of the stench?”

Liou Wenxin pondered for a moment before analyzing the situation. ”I can’t rule out the possibility. It wouldn’t work for any other Corrupted, of course. The stench is a chronic ailment etched into their very genes. But you’re different. In theory, that heart was never yours to begin with. The stench is in Zhao Lingxiao’s genes, not yours. Your two genetic profiles aren’t completely identical.”

”Just as a Bloodline Crystal skill can’t be replicated through cloning, the ’stench’ of the Corrupted is also impossible to copy. Transplanting Zhao Lingxiao’s heart didn’t change your own genes.”

”So, I think it’s worth a shot. Even if it fails, it’s a direction worth pursuing...”

Hearing Liou Wenxin’s words, Su Ze decided he would try it after returning to Dongli. The worst that could happen was wasting one Regeneration Core. He could always just spend some time to form a new one.

Liou Wenxin continued, ”Feng Boyi said your Evolution Divine Grace Skill is incomplete. What’s your take on that? If the skill really is incomplete, you should be able to feel that something is wrong.”

Su Ze flopped onto the sofa and began to think hard.

’Actually... there is something...’

Su Ze realized there was still a lot he didn’t understand about his Divine Grace of Evolution skill.

He had always attributed the various unexplainable anomalies he experienced to the Divine Grace of Evolution skill.

He could summarize them into four points:

The ability to freely choose skills when absorbing extracts.

Skills upgrading passively.

The unexplained phantom that had once appeared behind him.

And a digestion speed for extracts that was faster than anyone else’s.

In reality, however, the Evolution Divine Grace Skill as he perceived it didn’t have any of these effects.

If the Evolution Divine Grace Skill truly had these effects, he should have been able to clearly perceive them.

’So that’s why I always had my doubts. I could never confirm if these anomalies really came from Divine Grace of Evolution. I even wondered if they were just perks from being a Transmigrator.’

’But what if it’s because the Evolution Divine Grace Skill is incomplete? What if that’s why these special abilities are also incomplete, or only work intermittently, preventing me, their owner, from being able to sense them?’

’I can’t rule out that possibility.’

’Still, there’s one thing I can’t explain. Zhao Lingxiao should have had the complete version of Divine Grace of Evolution. But from his memories, I know that he wasn’t aware of any effects other than ’absorbing one extra tube of extract at each evolution stage.’’

Su Ze explained his theory, carefully omitting any mention of being a Transmigrator.

Liou Wenxin mulled it over for a moment. ”It’s possible you’re right. Your Evolution Divine Grace Skill might be incomplete, causing you to be unable to control some of its functions. There’s another possibility: your Divine Grace of Evolution truly only has one effect, but it will suddenly fail once you reach a higher evolution level.”

”For example, once you reach Saint-rank, you might suddenly find you’ve lost the privilege of absorbing one more tube of extract than everyone else.”

”And we can’t rule out that both are true.”

Su Ze frowned. Neither scenario was acceptable to him.

’I’m a Transmigrator! Isn’t it only right and proper that I get a cheat ability?’

’I could put up with having a third-hand cheat. But now you’re telling me my cheat is incomplete?’

’They really don’t treat clones like proper Transmigrators!’

’This is intolerable!’

In Su Ze’s mind, the Divine Grace of Evolution skill was supposed to get more powerful the further he progressed. This became especially clear after he learned that Saint-rank experts could only gain a single new skill per evolution stage. He understood then just how potent his skill truly was.

Below Saint-rank, others absorbed three tubes of extract per stage while he absorbed four. The advantage wasn’t overwhelming.

But at Saint-rank, others would absorb one tube while he absorbed two. That was a twofold advantage!

But now, to hear that Divine Grace of Evolution might stop working at Saint-rank... Su Ze couldn’t accept such a devastating blow.

However, this was all just speculation for now.

”We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Su Ze said with determination. ”If the Evolution Divine Grace Skill really is incomplete, I’ll personally make a trip to the Mu Country once I reach Saint-rank.”

As long as the King of Mu hadn’t completed his fifth evolution, Su Ze was confident he could handle him.

Liou Wenxin comforted him softly, ”You don’t have to let it weigh on your mind. We can worry about it when you reach Saint-rank. When that time comes, I, Mrs. Yun, and all of Dongli’s experts will be there to help you. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”

”Okay, I won’t,” Su Ze said, changing the subject. ”The conference is over. Are we heading back to Dongli first thing tomorrow?”

Liou Wenxin said, ”Tomorrow morning, the esteemed Mr. Lin Chengye, the lead evolutionist from the Lin Hua Country Evolution Science Academy, is coming to Lin Hua Noble Academy to give the closing speech for the conference. We’ll head home immediately after he’s finished.”

”Lin Chengye? Who’s that? What a big shot. All these people are just waiting around for him to come and give some useless speech?” Whether in school or at work, Su Ze had always hated long, rambling speeches from people in charge.

Liou Wenxin’s lips curled into a smile. ”He’s not just the number one ranked evolution master currently on the Lin Hua Continent. He’s also a Saint-rank Supreme who has completed five evolutions.”

*Cough*... ”For an esteemed elder like him to take time out of his busy schedule to guide and show concern for the younger generation of evolutionists... he is truly down-to-earth!”

...

「Meanwhile, at Lin Hua Noble Academy.」

”Mr. Deng.” A middle-aged man hurried over to Deng Donghua, the headmaster of Lin Hua Noble Academy.

Deng Donghua had just seen off the last of the banquet guests. His thoughts turned to the new, young female teacher from the practical combat department waiting for him in his office. The fact that she possessed the serpentine mutant beast’s ”Forked Tongue” skill made Deng Donghua’s heart race with anticipation.

”Mr. Ji, whatever it is, can it wait until tomorrow? I’m busy,” he said, glancing at the middle-aged man who had called out to him.

Mr. Ji said hurriedly, ”Mr. Deng, this is about the deaths of Tao Qian and his group!”

Deng Donghua stopped in his tracks.

He certainly knew the name Tao Qian. It had been brought to his attention repeatedly as of late.

Last month, Lin Hua Noble Academy had organized freshman military training. Tao Qian wasn’t a freshman, but he had joined the new students’ expedition to the Blood Earth Forest. Unexpectedly, he never returned.

It wasn’t just Tao Qian. The two freshmen with him and the Butterfly Stage teacher assigned to protect them had all vanished without a trace.