I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 233: Chapter 198: The Third Evolution

”Li Yongguan wants to go to the Divine Dice, too?” Zhou Wenshan asked, stunned.

”Yeah,” Li Fayi grumbled. ”Damn it. I don’t know who the hell that kid takes after—he’s as stubborn as a mule. I beat him ten times last night, and each time I asked him, ’Are you still going?’ He just stuck his neck out and insisted he had to. It’s driving me nuts!”

He exhaled sharply and said viciously, ”I’m going to beat him again when I get back!”

The other Dongli Guardian Gods fell silent.

’Ten times in one night? You’re not tired?’

’And you still have to ask who he takes after? Who do *you* think he takes after?’

Gu Chengguang was the first to break the silence. ”Is Li Yongguan confident he can complete his third evolution in time?”

Li Fayi said, ”The kid’s already at the peak of the Cocoon Stage, so finishing the evolution shouldn’t be a problem. But even if he succeeds, that little bit of strength is nowhere near enough. Isn’t going to the Divine Dice just a death sentence?”

Zhou Wenshan said, ”Didn’t he just receive a Tier 4, B-Grade extract as a reward from the Sovereign Country? If he absorbs that vial, his strength will be barely passable.”

”I’m just worried he’ll fail the absorption. Trying to absorb a Tier 4, B-Grade extract right after entering the Butterfly Stage could easily kill him! Not everyone is a little monster like Su Ze, wanting to absorb a Tier 4, S-Grade extract from the get-go,” Li Fayi sighed.

In the end, they all looked to Gu Chengguang, waiting for him to make the decision.

Gu Chengguang frowned, deep in thought. ’Li Yongguan wanting to go to the Divine Dice makes things complicated. His situation is similar to Su Ze’s. If I agree to let Su Ze go, I have to let Li Yongguan go as well. Otherwise, I’d be openly stating that he’s inferior to Su Ze. While that may be true, it would be too discouraging.’

After a moment, Gu Chengguang made his decision. ”If both of them can complete their third evolution and absorb a high-grade Tier 4 extract before the Divine Dice begins, then we’ll let them try.

”We’ll pick two main candidates and two alternates. If Su Ze and Li Yongguan don’t meet the requirements by then, the alternates will take their spots.”

”Alright.” The other three overlords nodded in agreement.

Li Fayi nodded, but his heart felt incredibly heavy, as if blocked by something. He was already bracing himself for the agony of losing his beloved son.

They all knew this trial of the Divine Dice was perilous, but those who survived and reaped rewards from it would reach even greater heights in the future.

”Considering that two young talents like Su Ze and Li Yongguan might enter the Divine Dice, we should pick powerful Butterfly Stage evolvers for the remaining two slots to act as their escorts,” Zhou Wenshan suggested.

Ning Yushen glanced at the list and suddenly spoke up. ”Mr. Gu, that Zhang Tai of yours isn’t bad. He’s not too old, his strength is solid—he’s a good fit!”

Zhou Wenshan nodded as well. ”Zhang Tai is indeed a solid choice. He just turned forty, is in the Butterfly Stage, and has absorbed three extracts. While he only just absorbed the third vial and hasn’t started digesting it, all three are Tier 4, B-Grade. He has the potential to break through to the Saint level.”

”Then let’s go with Zhang Tai,” Gu Chengguang finalized.

With the four of them discussing, the candidates were quickly finalized.

...

For the next ten days, Su Ze led an extremely disciplined life. He had his three meals on time every day, and outside of sleeping, he spent every moment digesting the extract.

The Three Little Swans Dance Team reassembled. Every morning, the trio would gather in the courtyard on time to take their concoctions and dance.

After ten days, Su Ze had used up all ten of his Acceleration Fruits. The effects were remarkable—he had already digested more than half of the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract!

If he could have kept taking Acceleration Fruits, he estimated he would have finished digesting it completely in another two or three days.

Unfortunately, a resource of this caliber was a rare find. For the rest of the way, he would have to make do with the Sun and Moon Epiphyllum Honey.

Still, Su Ze calculated his progress and figured he should be able to finish the digestion before the middle of the month. He just hoped the Divine Dice wouldn’t activate too early.

On another note, it was worth mentioning that after more than four months of effort, the Wind Tiger extract within Mrs. Yun was also about to be fully digested, likely within the next ten days.

Mrs. Yun didn’t have much time left. As soon as the extract was fully digested, she would have to immediately attempt her breakthrough to the Saint level. Everything hinged on this single attempt.

By his calculations, Su Ze would be attempting his breakthrough to the Butterfly Stage around the same time.

To speed things up, Su Ze had been asking Xu Sheng to help him acquire natural auxiliary medicines on par with the Evolution Fruit, but he hadn’t made any progress.

Xu Sheng told him that medicine was just a side business for Evolutionary Technology and suggested he ask around at Life Pharmaceutical.

Su Ze wasn’t familiar with Life Pharmaceutical Company and didn’t have many business dealings with them, but Liou Wenxin did have a partnership with them.

Using Liou Wenxin’s connections, he surprisingly managed to acquire three more Acceleration Fruits, which cost him 500,000 points.

The actual transaction price for such a scarce resource was far higher than its listed market price.

With the help of the Acceleration Fruits, on May 9th, Su Ze successfully finished digesting the Iron-blooded Honey Badger Extract in his body.

Digesting this Tier 4, C-Grade extract had taken less than a month in total. The speed was fast—astonishingly so!

However, he had used up over twenty billion worth of natural medicinal aids.

It was truly a case of using money to buy time.

But it also brought Su Ze one step closer to his goal. He could finally begin his third evolution!

Su Ze didn’t rush. Instead, he took a day to recalibrate and relax, spending the entire day doing nothing but eating, drinking, and enjoying himself.

On May 10th, with his condition at its absolute peak, he began his third evolution.

Taking a deep breath, Su Ze lay on his bed, mobilized the evolutionary power within him, and began his metamorphosis.

Orange evolutionary power coursed through his body. The light it emitted shone through his flesh and skin, making his body appear translucent. One could see the vessels beneath his skin, the outline of his skeleton, the blurred shapes of his organs, his heaving lungs, his beating heart...

The evolutionary power within him felt like it was boiling, its temperature constantly rising, undergoing some kind of change in the extreme heat.

It was a metamorphosis on the level of life itself; the orange evolutionary power was shifting toward yellow.

Feeling the evolutionary power flowing through him like molten lava, Su Ze had no doubt that an evolver with a weaker constitution wouldn’t be able to overcome this stage. They would probably be melted or cooked alive by the terrifying heat.

Thus, not everyone could succeed in the third evolution. Countless evolvers at the peak of the Cocoon Stage ultimately failed at this very step. If the evolution failed, the lucky ones would get away with severe injuries. The unlucky ones would simply die.

Of course, Su Ze had no need to worry about this. If even he couldn’t withstand it, then it was likely no one on the entire Blue Star could complete the third evolution.

Finally, fifteen minutes later, all the evolutionary power in Su Ze’s body had completed its transformation, upgrading into yellow evolutionary power.

Upgrading the evolutionary power was only the first step. Next, this power would begin to reconstruct Su Ze’s body.

The yellow evolutionary power broke down into countless units, imperceptible to the naked eye. They swam through Su Ze’s body like a school of deep-sea fish, burrowing into every single one of his cells.

Su Ze’s very genes were being rewritten, upgrading him into a higher form of life.

A strange sensation washed over him, as if his body had been divided into countless tiny units, each one an independent cell.

And now, these cells were all undergoing their own metamorphosis, each one growing stronger.

An immense power erupted from within them!

It was the potential hidden within his cells, buried deep within his genes, now being excavated by the transformative evolutionary power.

Every cell seemed to sprout wings, transforming into a butterfly, experiencing its own evolution.

This was the true essence of the third evolution, and the very reason the Butterfly Stage was named as such. This evolution served to unearth the hidden power within an evolver, to tap into the potential of life itself.

A caterpillar can transform into a butterfly; that is its innate gift, the deepest potential of life.

A human can become a god. The human body also holds untapped, undeveloped potential.

And the third evolution was a process of meticulously excavating that human potential at a cellular level, allowing every cell to undergo its own evolution and metamorphosis.

Once the cells had evolved, they began to integrate. The minuscule improvement in each individual cell, when converged and accumulated within Su Ze, amounted to a colossal enhancement!

The third evolution was complete!

Su Ze felt the explosive surge of power within his body. This unprecedented feeling of strength thrilled him.

Powerful!

So incredibly powerful!

The third evolution was a true metamorphosis, a rebirth like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.

The enhancement wasn’t limited to his physical constitution or basic attributes like strength and speed; it was an all-encompassing improvement. It felt a lot like the cellular-level strengthening his ”Knowledge Is Power” skill had given him, but the magnitude was far greater, far more dramatic!

Even all of Su Ze’s skills were strengthened to a degree.

Of course, this strengthening was limited to improving the effects and power of his skills; it didn’t add any new effects.

His power had swelled, and along with it, so did Su Ze’s ego.

He couldn’t wait to find an opponent to fight and test his newfound strength.

”Sun Xiayun! I’m calling you out! Do you dare to answer?”

Su Ze bellowed and flew into the courtyard.

”You brat, are you itching for a beating?” Mrs. Yun rolled up her sleeves, preparing to teach this insolent boy a lesson.

But when she looked up and saw the yellow evolutionary light flowing around Su Ze, the hands rolling up her sleeves froze in place.

”You’re... at the Butterfly Stage?”

”That’s right. The time has come for me to redeem myself,” Su Ze said, puffing his chest out. ”Watch how I, a new Butterfly Stage evolver, suppress you, a veteran at the peak of the stage!”

Mrs. Yun appeared calm on the surface, but her hands trembled slightly.

’She honestly wasn’t sure she could win. Even when Su Ze was in the Cocoon Stage, he was already becoming a handful. Now that he’s in the Butterfly Stage, what if I can’t beat him?’

’No way. If I lose, or even if it’s a draw, I’ll lose so much face. Knowing this kid’s personality, won’t he be crowing about it to the high heavens? I can’t fight him...’ Mrs. Yun unrolled her sleeves.

”I don’t have time to fool around with you. I’m going to attempt my breakthrough to the Saint level.” Mrs. Yun turned on her heel, returned to her room, and slammed the door shut with a BANG, locking it from the inside.