I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 181: Chapter 165: Poison Sac and Stick Bone

Whether the origin story of the Miracle Oasis is true or not, a colossal tree now stands within it, known as the Oasis Mother Tree.

Supposedly, the mother tree isn’t a Spiritual Plant, yet it possesses some of their characteristics. Its exact nature remains a mystery.

Beneath the mother tree lies a spring called the Miracle Spring, the most famous resource of the Miracle Oasis.

When sprinkled upon sand, the water from the Miracle Spring can transform it into fertile soil. If consumed by humans or mutated beasts, it can heal injuries and strengthen the body. It even has the miraculous effect of improving a human’s constitution, making an evolver’s body more attuned to evolutionary power and accelerating their speed of digesting Evolutionary Material.

Beyond that, it is said to have many other unknown, miraculous effects.

However, the Miracle Spring produces very little water, making it exceedingly precious.

Countless Spiritual Plants grow within the Miracle Oasis, with the Oasis Mother Tree at its center.

Though both are mutated beast enclaves within human territory, the Miracle Oasis is completely different from the Black Rock Mountain Range. The Black Rock Mountain Range is filled with mutated beasts, and Spiritual Plants are rarely seen.

The Miracle Oasis, however, is abundant with Spiritual Plants. It is a place where mutated beasts and Spiritual Plants coexist. Only those beasts capable of living in harmony with the flora are allowed to live in the Oasis’s core region.

As for beasts that only know how to plunder and destroy, they are restricted to the outskirts of the Miracle Oasis, where they become prey for human evolvers.

Even human evolvers must abide by certain rules when entering the Miracle Oasis. Those who cause wanton destruction or indiscriminately plunder Spiritual Plants almost never make it out alive.

Su Ze had learned that some of the ”specialty products” from the Miracle Oasis were compatible with his skills, which piqued his interest.

Su Ze had also contacted the Great Desert merchant, Prolo, who told him the Oasis Commerce Association was holding a trade fair mid-month. Higher-tier Evolution Items and materials—including extracts, curios, and more—would be on display and for sale. Prolo suggested Su Ze check it out if he was interested.

Su Ze didn’t explicitly say he would go, but he planned to attend the trade fair using the Hundred-Change Mask to conceal his identity.

The trade fair would be held on the very outskirts of the Miracle Oasis, where the Oasis Commerce Association’s headquarters was also located.

With that, his next steps were planned. He would visit Xu Sheng’s shop in the afternoon, and in a few days, he would travel to the Miracle Oasis for the Oasis Commerce Association’s trade fair.

’I’ve been cooped up at home for a week, it’s time to get out...’ Su Ze changed his clothes, altered his appearance with the Hundred-Change Mask, and headed out the door.

He had an appointment to look at materials at Xu Sheng’s shop today. Xu Sheng had already gathered all the high-grade evolutionary materials from the dozen-plus shops he managed and consolidated them in one location, awaiting Su Ze’s arrival.

Xu Sheng was Evolutionary Technology’s regional manager for Hedong Province in the Dongli Kingdom. Hedong Province was close to Dongping City, so after a high-speed train ride of just over two hours, Su Ze arrived in the provincial capital.

Xu Sheng was already waiting for him at the high-speed rail station with his car.

Xu Sheng didn’t recognize him because of his altered appearance, so Su Ze had to approach and identify himself.

”Mr. Su, it was a long journey. Why don’t we get a bite to eat first?” Xu Sheng asked as he opened the rear passenger door for him.

”No need. Let’s see the goods first,” Su Ze replied, declining the offer.

The two drove to the flagship store in Hedong Province. Its decor was high-end and impressive, leagues more magnificent than the small shop back in Heiyan City.

The moment he stepped inside, all the sales associates and service staff bowed to him in unison.

This was clearly something Xu Sheng had arranged beforehand. When it came to flattery, he was second to none.

The employees, however, didn’t know Su Ze’s identity; they had only been told by Xu Sheng that a VIP was arriving today.

Xu Sheng led Su Ze straight to the VIP room at the back of the shop. A saleswoman in black silk stockings immediately brought them tea and refreshments.

Xu Sheng proceeded to bring out several locked briefcases from the adjacent storeroom. He placed them on the table and opened them one by one, releasing a dense wave of evolutionary power.

The cases were filled with nothing but high-grade evolutionary materials.

Even the lowest-grade items were Tier Three materials—and the rarer, more practical kind at that. The majority were Tier Four materials.

”Mr. Su, please, take your pick,” Xu Sheng said, stepping aside.

Su Ze stepped forward and extended his hand, letting it hover gently over the evolutionary materials.

He didn’t actually touch them, maintaining a slight distance; some evolutionary materials were not meant for direct physical contact.

Suddenly, his hand paused, hovering over a dark green object that resembled a fish bladder. As his palm neared it, a familiar instinct surged within him—a desire to reach out and touch it.

The sensation was extremely similar to what he had felt when he encountered the Tier Four Coral Worm Tentacles, but it was nowhere near as intense.

When he had been close to the Tier Four Coral Worm Tentacles, he had been completely unable to control his actions, compelled to touch them. That didn’t happen this time.

He merely felt that this dark-green, bladder-like thing held a certain allure for him.

”What is this?” he asked, turning his head to Xu Sheng.

Xu Sheng answered immediately, ”That is the poison sac of a Tier Three Plague Poison Rat. The beast can spread the Plague Poison. Its victims fall gravely ill, showing symptoms like coughing, fever, weakness, and vomiting. While not as potent as directly fatal toxins, its strength lies in its ability to affect higher-level life forms.”

”Are you saying the Tier Three Plague Poison from a Plague Poison Rat can even affect a Saint-class?” Su Ze asked, slightly surprised.

”It can!” Xu Sheng confirmed. ”The effect is diminished, of course. The higher the target’s evolutionary tier, the weaker the Plague Poison’s effect, but it does have an effect.”

Su Ze nodded. ’This toxin is actually more practical than a typical lethal one. I can easily kill enemies weaker than me without using poison anyway. A toxin that can affect higher-level life forms is far more useful.’

’But I can’t figure it out. I don’t have a single poison-related skill in my entire arsenal, so why am I resonating with this poison sac?’

’And the resonance isn’t as strong as it was with the Tier Four Coral Worm Tentacles. Is it because the poison sac is a lower tier—only a Tier Three material?’

’Can Tier Three materials upgrade skills, too? It doesn’t have to be Tier Four or higher?’

’Whatever, I’ll buy it and figure it out later!’

Of course, Su Ze wasn’t about to absorb the poison sac and evolve a skill in front of Xu Sheng. He simply signaled to Xu Sheng that he’d take it and moved on to the remaining materials.

He extended his hand again, letting it pass over the rest of the materials in sequence.

Xu Sheng had brought a considerable amount of evolutionary materials—dozens of items worth a small fortune—but none of the others triggered any resonance in Su Ze.

’Looks like finding materials compatible with my skills isn’t so simple...’ Some of the items seemed like a perfect match to Su Ze himself—like the horn of some Tier Four rhino-beast or the secretions of a Tier Three ant-beast—but his body felt no resonance with them whatsoever.

Just as Su Ze was about to lose hope, he unexpectedly felt that familiar sensation from one of the last few items!

Another compatible material!

Su Ze examined the material closely... It was a large leg bone, shimmering with a faint green light!

’What the hell is this? Am I supposed to take it home and make soup?’

From the residual green evolutionary light on the large bone, Su Ze could tell it was a Tier Four material.

”And what’s this material?” Su Ze asked.

”That’s a small segment of leg bone from a Tier Four beast, the Earth-Shaking Demon Ape. A complete leg bone is two meters long; this piece is its most essential part,” Xu Sheng explained.

’An Earth-Shaking Demon Ape, an ape-type beast... could it be...’ Su Ze’s mind immediately jumped to his ”Knowledge is Power” skill, which had come from another ape-type beast, the Mutated Upright Ape. This leg bone from the Earth-Shaking Demon Ape was very likely the material needed to upgrade that skill.

The skill he most desperately wanted to upgrade right now was ”Knowledge is Power,” and he hadn’t expected to find the material for it so effortlessly.

However, he didn’t feel a strong resonance from this bone either. The pull was still very weak, similar to what he felt from the Plague Poison Rat’s poison sac.

’Could it be that the strength of the attraction isn’t determined by the material’s tier, but by some other factor?’

”I’ll take these two. Please pack them up for me,” Su Ze said.

”Right away. One moment, please.” Xu Sheng immediately instructed his staff to pack the Plague Poison Rat’s poison sac and the Earth-Shaking Demon Ape’s leg bone separately, presenting them to Su Ze in two cases.

Su Ze didn’t haggle, paying the full price on the spot.

After a discount, the two items cost a total of 150,000 points.

Afterward, Xu Sheng insisted on treating Su Ze to dinner and arranging for him to stay the night.

Su Ze considered it. ’It would be a hassle to travel with two large cases. I might as well absorb the materials here before I leave.’ He agreed to the arrangement.

Xu Sheng booked a suite for Su Ze at the best five-star hotel in the city and then joined him for dinner.

After the meal, he drove Su Ze to the hotel, having attended to his every need with the utmost care.

Once in his hotel room, Su Ze closed the door. Before doing anything else, he set the two cases on the table.

First, he opened the case containing the Plague Poison Rat’s poison sac. Staring at the dark-green, bladder-like object, he took a deep breath and placed his hand on it.

The moment his hand touched the poison sac, that familiar feeling surged through him once more. Simultaneously, a faint, phantom-like image appeared behind him.

The poison sac seemed to stick to his hand.

However, it didn’t burrow directly into his body like the Tier Four Coral Worm Tentacles had.

Su Ze frowned in thought for a few seconds, then a wisp of orange evolutionary power began to emanate from his fingertips.

This time, the poison sac finally reacted. Something within it—perhaps the toxin, or maybe residual Evolutionary Material and power—fused with Su Ze’s own evolutionary power, causing it to change somehow.

Gritting his teeth, Su Ze drew the altered evolutionary power back into his body. The moment it entered him, it immediately began to transform his physique.