I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 232: Chapter 197: An Ace in the Hole

After receiving his reward, Su Ze eagerly returned to his villa.

He took out the box containing his reward. After opening it, he found two smaller boxes inside, along with a card.

The card looked rather plain. On its black surface, the three large words ”Royal Hunting Ground” were written in gold foil. This had to be the pass for the Royal Hunting Ground that Chen Xuejiao had mentioned.

As for the two remaining boxes, he opened one to find it divided into ten small compartments. Each compartment held a greenish, loquat-sized fruit.

He didn’t need to guess to know these were the Acceleration Fruits.

Su Ze’s gaze fell on the other, longer box. He knew this one contained the tier-four curious object.

And, based on the request he’d made to Chen Xuejiao, it should be a tier-four curious object that could serve as a ”trump card.”

His anticipation maxed out. Su Ze took out the box, placed it flat in his palm, and ceremoniously lifted the lid.

A vibrant red flower greeted his eyes!

An impatiens flower.

’A Plant Element curious object?’

Su Ze grew even more curious about the object’s use. He reached out and picked up the impatiens flower. Its petals were delicate and glistening, their color a deep, rich red, as if it had just been picked.

Below the blossom was a stem over ten centimeters long, which fit comfortably in his hand.

Both its texture and feel convinced Su Ze that this was a real flower.

’This is a tier-four curious object?’

Su Ze’s eyes shifted to the bottom of the box, where he indeed found an instruction manual.

He picked it up and began to read it carefully.

This tier-four curious object was named the ”Desperate Flower.” It came from the tier-four Spiritual Plant, the Overlord Impatiens.

When he learned of the curious object’s effect, Su Ze was stunned.

He had told Chen Xuejiao before that he wanted a curious object that could serve as a trump card, and he didn’t care if the side effects were severe.

As it turned out, this curious object perfectly matched his request. It could absolutely be a trump card, because its power was immense, but its side effect was also genuinely severe.

So severe that the vast majority of evolvers couldn’t possibly withstand it!

The effect of this ”Desperate Flower” was actually self-destruction!

Not the self-destruction of the object itself, but the self-destruction of the evolver who used it.

’It really is a ”Desperate Flower.” The name is quite fitting. You wouldn’t use it unless you were in a desperate situation.’

The Desperate Flower came with the skill ”Self-Destructive Seed.” The impatiens plant’s fruit naturally has an ”explosive” effect. After evolving into a Spiritual Plant, its fruit had evolved directly into a ”bomb.”

And the ”Self-Destructive Seed” skill was even more incredible!

Self-Destructive Seed: After the Desperate Flower blooms, it produces a fruit. When an evolver consumes it, a seed of self-destruction is planted within their body. The user can then detonate it with a thought, destroying their entire body except for the head. The explosion unleashes power far beyond the evolver’s own stage and inflicts devastating damage on the surrounding area.

Self-destructing every part of the body except the head... without a powerful recovery skill, you’d be dead right after it went off.

Only someone like Su Ze, who possessed the Regeneration Core from his Regeneration Body, could even consider it. Otherwise, using this skill would be suicide.

But then again, this skill was a perfect match for Su Ze. It suited him well and was indeed a powerful trump card.

First, the side effect of the skill could be perfectly nullified by his Regeneration Core.

The self-destruction left only the head intact. Since Su Ze always kept his Regeneration Core concentrated in his head, he could shatter it after the explosion to quickly grow a new body.

Second, the power of the self-destruction depended on the user’s physical strength. Su Ze’s physical body was far stronger than others at his stage, so the power of his self-destruction would certainly be terrifying.

According to the instructions, a Cocoon Stage evolver’s self-destruction could unleash power equivalent to a full-force strike from a Butterfly Stage expert.

A Butterfly Stage evolver’s self-destruction could even unleash power comparable to a strike from a Saint-level Overlord—albeit one of the weaker ones.

Although Su Ze was currently at the Cocoon Stage, his physical strength surpassed that of an average Butterfly Stage evolver. If he were to self-destruct, the blast could probably rival the strike of a weak Overlord.

The only drawback was that this trump card had a rather long cooldown.

First, it couldn’t be used without a Regeneration Core. Second, it took time for the Desperate Flower to grow a new fruit.

Su Ze held the Desperate Flower and channeled a trace of evolutionary power into it.

In an instant, the vibrant red petals withered and fell away, revealing a fingertip-sized green fruit.

Su Ze plucked the fruit and swallowed it in one gulp. It was as if the fruit came alive in his stomach, sinking to his navel. Strands of green energy radiated from it, connecting to Su Ze’s limbs, flesh, and every single bone.

The fruit acted like a hub, linking his entire body except for his head. It could gather all his evolutionary power and Evolutionary Material to a single point at any moment.

With just a thought from Su Ze, all the power in his body would converge and detonate.

’And just like that, I have a trump card!’

’Once I reach the Butterfly Stage, could my self-destruction kill a Saint-level?’ The thought surfaced in Su Ze’s mind.

However, he wouldn’t use this skill unless he had absolutely no other choice.

The experience of being decapitated was still fresh and vivid in his memory. It hadn’t been pleasant. Blowing up his entire body would definitely be agonizing.

After Su Ze plucked the fruit, the Desperate Flower in his hand was left bare, with only a stem remaining.

However, the fruit could be regenerated; it just took time.

Following the instructions, Su Ze found a flowerpot, filled it with some soil, planted the Desperate Flower in it, and gave it some water.

The Desperate Flower was actually linked to the fruit inside Su Ze’s body. If Su Ze didn’t detonate the fruit, the flower’s regeneration would be extremely slow.

It might take several years to grow the next fruit.

But if Su Ze used the self-destruct and consumed the fruit, the flower could produce a new one in about half a month.

In other words, the cooldown was half a month, which was about the same time it took for his Regeneration Core to reform.

’With this trump card, hunting a tier-four S-rank beast in the Royal Hunting Ground will be a sure thing,’ Su Ze thought to himself.

The tier-four S-rank beasts in the Royal Hunting Ground all had their power restricted. If Su Ze was willing to self-destruct, he could definitely take one down.

But unless he was truly out of options, Su Ze was still reluctant to do it. If he could save this self-destruct opportunity for the Divine Dice, it would be another powerful trump card at his disposal.

Su Ze had finished examining both rewards from the Sovereign Country—the tier-four curious object, the Desperate Flower, and the natural medicine, the Acceleration Fruits—and was very satisfied with both.

Just then, a message came from Chen Xuejiao.

”You received the reward, right? Are you satisfied?”

”Thank you, sis. It’s a perfect fit for me!” Su Ze replied.

”Haha, I pushed to get that curious object for you because I saw you had a powerful recovery skill during the competition. Other curious objects that could be trump cards aren’t as powerful as this one, but they’re less user-specific and thus more valuable. Some of the old geezers were reluctant to give it to you.”

”This Desperate Flower has a pretty big side effect, but that also made it easier to secure, and it’s perfect for you.”

Su Ze understood. Even among tier-four curious objects, there were differences in value. The Desperate Flower was powerful, but its massive side effect meant it was destined not to be among the most prized tier-four objects.

Other curious objects that could serve as trump cards but had minor side effects would surely be the absolute top-tier ones. It was perfectly normal that the Sovereign Country was unwilling to give him one of those as a reward.

Still, the best one was the one that suited you. For Su Ze, the Desperate Flower was probably more useful than any of those other top-tier curious objects.

After thanking Chen Xuejiao, Su Ze hung up the call and began dancing to digest the extract.

This time, he swallowed one of the Acceleration Fruits he had just received.

The effect of the Acceleration Fruit was as simple and direct as its name suggested. Its main purpose was one thing: acceleration.

After swallowing it, Su Ze felt as if time itself had sped up, like the world was on fast-forward.

The digestion speed of the Evolutionary Material inside his body multiplied several times over!

However, the speed of his Swan Dance didn’t increase, and the clock on the wall was still ticking away slowly.

Time hadn’t changed; only Su Ze’s body had.

The true effect of the Acceleration Fruit was to put Su Ze’s body into an ”accelerated” state. All the cells in his body became exceptionally active, his metabolism sped up many times over, and his whole body experienced the illusion of Time Acceleration.

In this state, combined with the Swan Dance, Su Ze’s speed of digesting the extract was astonishing!

Time ticked by, second by second, but Su Ze didn’t dare to stop.

The effect of the Acceleration Fruit was time-limited. He had to make full use of this period and not waste a moment.

After all, he only had ten Acceleration Fruits in total. Once they were used, they were gone.

After dancing the Swan Dance for eight hours straight, Su Ze finally stopped. The effect of the Acceleration Fruit had worn off, and he felt exhausted and famished.

’Looks like I can’t use these Acceleration Fruits back-to-back. I need to balance work and rest.’

Su Ze took a short break, ate something, and then began the Swan Dance again.

This time, he didn’t take an Acceleration Fruit. Instead, he continued using the Sun and Moon Epiphyllum Honey to aid digestion.

Su Ze planned to use the ten Acceleration Fruits over ten days, taking only one per day. For the rest of the time, he would use the Sun and Moon Epiphyllum Honey.

By the time these ten Acceleration Fruits were used up, he estimated he wouldn’t be far from completely digesting the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract in his body.

* * *

While Su Ze was engrossed in his intense training, the second video conference began in the Dongli Guardian Gods’ group chat.

This time, their goal was to decide on the four candidates who would enter the Divine Dice.

As agreed, the four of them sent a list of all the Butterfly Stage evolvers under their command to the group.

Then, Zhou Wenshan began to speak. ”That kid, Su Ze, came to see me. He wants a spot for the Divine Dice...”

Zhou Wenshan then relayed Su Ze’s entire proposal.

Ning Yushen was the first to speak. ”Good for him! He’s got guts! A worthy choice for my grandson-in-law!”

Zhou Wenshan chuckled. ”I don’t think Ye Jin or Su Ze feel that way. Don’t go playing matchmaker, you’re her grandmother.”

Ning Yushen sneered, ”If he wasn’t interested in Jin, why would he lure her to Dongli University?”

”What!” Zhou Wenshan bristled. ”That was his doing?”

”Alright, let’s get back to business,” Gu Chengguang interrupted them. ”Do you all think this is feasible? Isn’t it too risky to let Su Ze enter the Divine Dice?”

Ning Yushen said, ”Which of us didn’t fight our way here through countless life-or-death situations? Su Ze’s talent is better than ours, and his future achievements will surpass ours. Let him go. We don’t need to overprotect him.”

Gu Chengguang turned to Li Fayi. ”Mr. Li, what do you think?”

Li Fayi was taken aback for a moment. ”I don’t know! That little brat Li Yongguan has the same idea. He wants to go to the Divine Dice too. I beat him all night, and it was useless. He still wants to go!”