I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 209: Chapter 183: Absorbing the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract

Su Ze slept soundly.

He had been training relentlessly, day and night, like a fully wound clockwork spring. He was stretched far too thin.

Now, he could finally relax a little.

By the time he woke up, it was already nine in the morning the next day.

Su Ze got washed up and went downstairs to find that Liou Wenxin hadn’t left yet. She was busy in the kitchen.

”Liou Wenxin, you’re not going to the lab today?” Su Ze asked, puzzled. By this time, Liou Wenxin would normally have already gone to ”work” at the lab.

”You’re awake. How did you sleep?” Liou Wenxin said, placing a steaming bowl of small wontons on the table. ”I knew you were absorbing the extract today. I have to be here to watch, right? What if something goes wrong?”

”You’re the best,” Su Ze said as he sat at the dining table, happily enjoying his breakfast. ”I slept great last night. I’m in peak condition today. The absorption is guaranteed to be a success.”

”That’s good.”

After Su Ze finished his breakfast, Liou Wenxin cleared the table and immediately came to the living room.

Mrs. Yun also stopped practicing her Swan Dance and returned to the living room.

With both of them watching, Su Ze took out the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract.

A Tier 4, C-grade extract. According to the data analysis, he only had a 62% chance of successfully absorbing it. It was definitely a gamble.

’But I can’t worry about that now. The path of evolution is fraught with risk; there’s no such thing as absolute safety.’

Without wasting any more time, Su Ze downed the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract in one go.

This extract was the complete opposite of the Sand Blind Snake Extract he had absorbed previously. The Sand Blind Snake Extract had been difficult to swallow, but this Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract seemed to be alive, burrowing straight down his throat.

’The taste? It’s like some awful cough syrup, extremely bitter with a weird, sweet aftertaste.’

’I wanted a sweet extract, not this bittersweet crap!’

The Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract seemed to have inherited some of the honey badger’s traits. It was incredibly aggressive, forcing its way down Su Ze’s esophagus and into his stomach, then spreading from there to every corner of his body.

Instantly, Su Ze’s entire body began to be remolded by the extract’s power.

The transformation was direct and brutal, not the least bit gentle. It paid no mind to whether his body could withstand it.

To Su Ze, it felt as if countless tiny insects had burrowed into his body and were gnawing on him from the inside out.

PAIN!

Every inch of his body screamed in agony!

’Su Ze could only grit his teeth and bear it. The problem was, even his teeth were aching!’

At first, Su Ze could endure it. But as the pain intensified, seeming to seep into his very soul, he could only curl up on the sofa, his body trembling violently as his consciousness began to fade.

Suddenly, Liou Wenxin’s voice rang in his ear: ”Wake up!”

Her voice was like the tolling of a great bell, thunderous and rousing. It jolted Su Ze back to awareness. He knew Liou Wenxin must have used some kind of spiritual technique to awaken his consciousness.

Liou Wenxin warned, ”Stay conscious! The pain is just the first wave. The evolutionary power might affect your body and mind next. You have to stay awake!”

Every time he absorbed an extract that was beyond his own level, the evolutionary power—being too high a tier for him—would have an adverse effect.

When he absorbed the Rock Scorpion extract, he was nearly petrified, and his heart almost stopped.

When he absorbed the Black-bellied Flood Dragon Extract, he floated to the ceiling, blood spurting from all over his body.

This time, by absorbing a Tier 4 extract, he wasn’t just jumping an evolutionary grade. He was crossing a major life-tier. The effects on him would only be more severe.

Whether or not he could successfully absorb it all depended on if Su Ze could endure the coming onslaught.

Su Ze forced himself to focus, to fully embrace the pain coursing through his body, using it as an anchor to stay conscious.

This was partially thanks to the Wen Si Fruit he had taken earlier. His Spiritual Power was stronger than that of a typical Cocoon Stage practitioner; otherwise, he might not have been able to maintain his consciousness.

CRACK! Unable to control his strength, Su Ze’s grip shattered the frame of the sofa beneath him.

Su Ze curled up on the floor, his hands clamped around the sofa’s wooden frame. The wood warped in his grasp as if it were made of cotton.

Mrs. Yun and Liou Wenxin could only watch, their hearts aching with worry, completely unable to help him.

In reality, the pain didn’t last long, but to Su Ze, it felt like an eternity. The agony finally began to recede, but before Su Ze could even sigh in relief, his mind was assaulted by a powerful will.

Su Ze immediately lost his sense of self. A pure, violent battle lust seized his consciousness, and an uncontrollable roar erupted from his throat.

’He would fight the heavens, the earth, and the very air itself!’

’Fight gods, fight demons, fight every enlightened being!’

’My destiny is my own, not the heavens’ to command!’

With a savage howl, Su Ze lunged at Mrs. Yun.

Mrs. Yun’s expression darkened. A month ago, she could have subdued Su Ze with a single gesture. But the current Su Ze had a body like steel; just hitting him would be jarring to her own hands.

Mrs. Yun took a deep breath and met Su Ze’s punch with her own. The floorboards beneath their feet instantly splintered.

Mrs. Yun shook out her hand, feeling a sting of pain. But the current Su Ze felt nothing and charged at her again.

”You little brat! These old bones of mine can’t handle you going wild like this!”

She gestured for Liou Wenxin to get back, then knocked Su Ze away and dashed out of the villa.

If they kept fighting inside, they would surely tear the whole place down.

Su Ze bounded after her in a single leap.

Once outside, Mrs. Yun could finally go all out, trading a flurry of blows with Su Ze.

As Su Ze battled Mrs. Yun, his body, unable to bear the power of the Tier 4 extract, began to split open with fresh wounds.

Had this happened before his ”Knowledge is Power” skill upgraded, his body probably would have exploded by now. It was only thanks to his various enhancements—giving him a body as tough as bronze and iron—that he could barely withstand the strain.

This was only possible with the aid of his Regeneration Body’s powerful Self-Healing Ability. Each time a wound burst open, it would heal completely within a second.

Without such a Self-Healing Ability, he would have already been torn to shreds.

”ROAR!”

A deafening tiger’s roar echoed as Mrs. Yun unleashed the skill she had obtained from the Wind Tiger extract: King’s Roar!

This was a superior version of the unique skill of tiger-type beasts, the Beast King’s Roar. It carried a powerful spiritual stunning effect and was also a highly destructive sonic attack. However, Mrs. Yun deliberately reduced the move’s power, controlling its range and lethality to focus on its ”stunning” effect.

Su Ze was instantly stunned, frozen in place as his consciousness gradually returned.

’What am I doing...’ Su Ze froze for a second as he came to his senses. He realized that the unyielding battle intent from the Iron-blooded Honey Badger extract had muddled his mind, causing him to lose control.

’If I can just suppress this battle lust, the absorption will be a success!’

However, as soon as the stunning effect of the King’s Roar wore off, the intense battle lust began to stir again, assailing Su Ze’s mind.

In the natural world, a honey badger won’t back down even from a lion. The idea that a mere tiger’s roar could make this battle intent retreat was impossible!

’Charge!’

’Kill!’

’Get her! Kill her!’

’Hit her!’

All kinds of thoughts flooded Su Ze’s mind.

Su Ze slapped himself hard on the head, trying to knock the stupid thoughts right out of his brain.

’Fight, my ass!’

’Charging in when you know you can’t win? Isn’t that just stupid?’

’Besides, that’s Mrs. Yun... If I’m ever going to fight her, I’ll at least wait until I reach the Butterfly Stage.’

Liou Wenxin had caught up by now. She used some unknown spiritual skill that soothed Su Ze’s mind, and the raging battle lust within him calmed slightly.

”Liou Wenxin... when will this onslaught of battle lust end?” Su Ze asked.

”You have to conquer it with your own will. Suppress it. Otherwise, it won’t stop unless you give up on absorbing the extract and expel the Evolutionary Material from your body, which would come at the cost of severe injury,” Liou Wenxin said.

’Su Ze cursed internally. In the past, when he absorbed extracts beyond his level, it had only ever affected his body. This time, it was directly attacking his mind.’

’It seemed to be because the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract contained a spiritual-type skill.’

’A mental assault had to be solved on a mental level.’ Su Ze sat down cross-legged and calmed his mind.

Just then, the surging battle lust assaulted him once more.

The help from Liou Wenxin and Mrs. Yun was only a temporary reprieve. To completely eliminate the battle lust, he had to rely on himself.

’Su Ze felt he should be chanting a Purifying Heart Spell or something. It might actually work. The problem was, he didn’t know any!’

There’s a saying that it’s better to provide an outlet than to suppress something, but that clearly wasn’t working here. He had just fought a huge battle with Mrs. Yun, and it hadn’t diminished his battle lust at all.

’Looks like I have to confront it head-on!’

’The world is so beautiful, yet I’m so violent...’ Su Ze began to chant to himself, trying to calm down.

When the battle lust surged and became nearly impossible to suppress, he fought the urge to get up and challenge Mrs. Yun to another three hundred rounds. Instead, he started visualizing his enemies.

’Amida, Ye Muni, the Shepherd King, the Filth Earth Organization, the Pope of the Evolution Divine Teachings...’ He imagined grinding each of these enemies into the dirt a hundred times over.

’Then he told himself that revenge is a dish best served cold.’

’Once I’m powerful enough, I’ll hunt them down one by one and grind them into dust!’

Using this method, Su Ze weathered one assault after another from the battle lust. Finally, he felt the intent within him begin to recede.

A few minutes later, Su Ze collapsed. The battle lust in his mind had completely vanished, and his body was no longer tearing itself apart. The initial absorption of the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract was a success!

Then, his consciousness once again entered a blank white world to select a skill.

Among four green clouds of mist, each representing a different skill, Su Ze chose the one for ’Unyielding Will’.

’Skill acquired: Unyielding Will!’

Then, a wave of heat washed over Su Ze’s body. Because he had acquired a new skill, his upgraded ”Knowledge is Power” ability was performing a Cell Enhancement.

The degree of this enhancement far surpassed any he had experienced before!

The Cell Enhancement was no longer limited to improving attributes like speed, strength, and defense. It was a complete, all-around upgrade.

A moment later, under the concerned gazes of Liou Wenxin and Mrs. Yun, Su Ze finally opened his eyes.

”I succeeded!”