I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 744: Chapter 398: The Ownerless Super Star

The moment he steadied himself, Mage rushed over and grabbed him. “Su Ze, you must let me participate in this chlorophyll research!”

Su Ze smiled to himself. ‘Just as I expected. Mage took the bait.’

However, he feigned a troubled expression. “Mage, I can provide a batch of Chlorophyll Capsules for you and for the Tree Spirit Race, but this is ultimately a secret of my Human Race. For you to want to participate in the research, I’m afraid…”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. The main issue is that this project is currently being handled by my Human Race’s elite evolutionary scientists. All the research is conducted in a secret human base. For the safety of my people, I can’t reveal the base’s location to any non-human, nor can I take you there. I hope you can understand.”

Disappointment showed on Mage’s face, but he understood Su Ze’s position. After all, the Tree Spirit Race was the same. They had two mother stars—one known and one hidden—and the location of the hidden one was an absolute secret.

It was the key to the Tree Spirit Race’s survival, their guarantee against extinction.

“I was being presumptuous,” Mage sighed. Inwardly, however, he was incredibly reluctant to let it go. It felt like someone was constantly tickling his heart with a feather, driving him mad with curiosity.

This was his life’s work. His research into the Hundred-Change Flower was also part of his search for inspiration, for a breakthrough.

As it turned out, his research direction was correct. Liou Wenxin had been able to develop this special chlorophyll by drawing a great deal of inspiration from the Hundred-Change Flower.

The research notes Mage left behind had helped Liou Wenxin immensely. She was, in a sense, standing on the shoulders of a giant.

The final version of the chlorophyll was the result of a complex cultivation process, combining the special cells from Feng Bqing with those of the Hundred-Change Flower.

However, there was still significant room for improvement.

Having personally experienced the effects of the Chlorophyll Capsules, Su Ze also hoped that a top botanist like Mage would stay behind to help Liou Wenxin perfect this special chlorophyll.

This wasn’t just an opportunity for the Tree Spirit Race’s rise to prominence—it could be one for the Human Race, too!

Like the Tree Spirit Race, the Human Race had been weak for a long time. They possessed the Racial Talent of a first-rate race, yet it seemed to be sealed away, difficult to awaken.

Relying on slowly accumulating strength to re-establish themselves in the universe would take an unknown number of years.

But this special chlorophyll, combined with powerful light energy, could allow the Human Race to grow at an incredible speed.

Therefore, Su Ze’s plan was to get Mage to join the chlorophyll research—just not on Zexing.

He could find another safe location for Mage and Liou Wenxin to connect, exchange their findings, and then have them meet every few years to consolidate their research results.

While this would be less efficient than them working side-by-side, there was no other choice. He couldn’t possibly let Mage onto Zexing. He couldn’t afford to take that risk.

Thus, despite his direct refusal, he planned to pretend to relent after a while and offer this alternative proposal.

But just then, the ship came to a stop again.

They had run into Star Pirates again.

Su Ze scanned them with the Magic Cube. Seeing they were another group of run-of-the-mill Star Pirates, he had no intention of intervening and let Mr. Ya and his men handle it.

He watched the battle calmly through the window.

However, Mage, who was standing beside him, suddenly pointed to Dou Yi and the other two Moon Gods with a curious expression and asked:

“Su Ze, these three must be from the Dou Race, right? Why are they with you? Do you trust them?”

Dou Yi and the other two were not disguised at the moment, so they appeared in their true forms.

Su Ze explained, “I have a parasitic skill. Once a target is parasitized, they retain their self-awareness but become absolutely loyal to me. These three are my prisoners of war, and I have already parasitized them.”

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Mage hesitated for a moment before asking, “If I were to accept this parasite, Su Ze, would you trust me enough to let me participate in the chlorophyll research?”

Su Ze was stunned.

‘I really didn’t expect Mage would be willing to go this far.’

‘Maybe I, as a regular person, can’t understand how these researchers think. I can’t imagine their kind of zeal.’

‘I did want to rope Mage into working for me, but I never meant for it to go this far…’

Su Ze’s expression turned serious. “Mage, you need to think this through. This is no joke. Once you accept the parasite, you will obey my every command and be completely loyal to me. Even if I were to become an enemy of your race, you would side with me. Are you sure you can accept that?”

“Can the parasite be removed?” Mage asked seriously.

“It can, but it might cause some irreversible changes to your body,” Su Ze said.

He had already learned about this himself. The Blood and Flesh Parasite could be removed. First, if the target’s life level surpassed that of the caster, there was a high probability they could break free from the control. Second, the caster could also remove the parasite voluntarily.

However, the Pope’s Blood and Flesh Parasite would transform the host’s body into a single, large mass of flesh, which was an irreversible change.

“That’s not a major issue. I can use healing skills to replace all my body parts. Worst case, I’ll just get a new body,” Mage said, unconcerned.

“Have you really, truly thought this through?” Su Ze asked, looking Mage in the eye.

“I have. But let me calculate…” He began counting on his fingers. “Give me eight hundred years… No, five hundred. Remove the parasite after five hundred years. I need you to promise me this. If you agree, then I will have no further reservations. Of course, if the chlorophyll research is still not perfected after five hundred years, you can extend the time.”