Chapter 4

The different levels of improvement in the three attributes made Lin Xinghai have many speculations, but now he had no time to study them.

Because many people, after touching the zombies, had already started to return to the troop transport vehicle.

The time left for him to collect blood qi was not much.

Putting away the attribute panel, Lin Xinghai quickly rushed to the next zombie corpse. As soon as he started running, he immediately felt the difference.

"This speed, it's increased too much!"

He could easily run at the speed he previously had to sprint at, and he even worried about being targeted by someone with ill intentions, so he didn't dare to run at full speed.

The increase in speed also made Lin Xinghai collect blood qi faster, and in the end, he collected another 13 points of blood qi.

At this point, there were very few people left, and to avoid drawing attention, he could only return to the troop transport vehicle.

...

"How is it? Did you find the cause?" As soon as Lin Xinghai sat down, Roger sat beside him and asked.

"I have some speculations." After a brief pause, Lin Xinghai said, "The wound on the back of the head is not a finishing blow, because the wound is not very deep, and more importantly, it is a cut, not a stab, which doesn't make sense."

"Most importantly, when I restored the skin and flesh, I found that a piece of flesh seemed to be missing."

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be something on the back of these zombies' heads, and it has been taken away."

After Lin Xinghai finished speaking, he looked at Roger. These words were not just speculation but based on careful observation.

The surprise on Roger's face quickly disappeared, and he nodded. "That's correct, it's a spirit crystal, a crystalline body containing special energy."

After a brief silence, Roger continued, "Now that you've seen the situation outside, you have a better understanding of the post-apocalyptic world. Let me ask you again, are you willing to join my mercenary group?"

"Can I ask what benefits there are to joining the mercenary group?" Lin Xinghai asked.

Seeing that Lin Xinghai was finally interested, Roger smiled. "There are many people here, let's find a quieter place to talk."

Lin Xinghai glanced around; everyone was eavesdropping, occasionally looking at them. This was indeed not a suitable place for a conversation.

But the problem was, where was a quiet place on the vehicle?

However, Roger had already stood up, and he could only hurriedly follow.

They arrived near the front of the vehicle, and Roger forcefully knocked on the alloy steel plate.

Creak!

The alloy steel plate, which was tightly sealed, slowly opened under the action of a pneumatic device, revealing a small door that led directly to the driver's cabin.

Following Roger and bending down to enter, Lin Xinghai found that the driver's cabin was quite spacious, easily accommodating five or six people.

After greeting the soldier driving the troop transport vehicle, Roger and Lin Xinghai sat down in a corner.

"Let me introduce our mercenary group first. Our group is called the Sky Split Mercenary Group, a level one mercenary group registered with the Mercenary Guild. Among the hundreds of mercenary groups in the shelter, we are roughly in the middle."

"With your B-level genetic rating, joining our mercenary group will earn you 100 points as a reward each week."

"Points?" Lin Xinghai interrupted to ask.

Roger explained, "Points are like currency. Everything in the shelter is purchased with points. A reward of 100 points per week is absolutely higher than any normal job."

"And this is just temporary. If you can become a genetic optimizer, the weekly reward will be at least 150 points."

"Genetic optimizer?" Lin Xinghai's heart skipped a beat. He vaguely felt that this was closely related to the genetic optimization level in the system panel.

"Yep!" Roger seemed to have anticipated this question and immediately explained, "This starts with our genetic engineering. Since the 20th century, humans have never stopped researching their own genes, but there were no significant breakthroughs for over 200 years until the appearance of spirit crystals."

"Inside the spirit crystals is a special energy. Although we cannot directly absorb it, after special processing, it can be made into a genetic agent to optimize the genes in our bodies."

"When the human body's genetic optimization reaches 30%, it's like breaking through a shackle, leading to a significant increase in strength, and there's even a small chance of developing special abilities."

"So we call those with a genetic optimization level exceeding 30% genetic optimizers."

"If you join our Sky Split Mercenary Group, we will provide you with a certain amount of genetic agents each week based on your talent to help you become a genetic optimizer as soon as possible."

After listening to Roger's explanation, Lin Xinghai's pupils slightly contracted, but he quickly relaxed and a smile appeared on his lips.

With the system, his genetic optimization level had already reached 19%.

Moreover, he still had 13 points of blood qi unused. Becoming a genetic optimizer was just a matter of minutes!

However, such rapid improvement in strength definitely needed some cover, and joining the Sky Split Mercenary Group was undoubtedly a good choice.

"If I choose to join your mercenary group, how do you plan to cultivate me? Especially the genetic agents, how many can I get each week?" Lin Xinghai asked.

Although he had the system, the genetic agents sounded like good stuff, so he wanted to fight for more.

Seeing that Lin Xinghai was finally interested, Roger smiled and said, "3 bottles, I can secure 3 bottles of genetic agents for you each week."

"3 bottles is so few? With my B-level genetic rating, I should get at least 20 to 30 bottles, right?" Lin Xinghai immediately asked for a high price.

As soon as he said this, Roger's face turned black, and even the soldier who had been driving attentively gave Lin Xinghai a strange look.

"Do you know how many bottles of genetic agents a new member of a mercenary group can get in a week? 1 bottle!"

"Even a formal member of a mercenary group only gets 2 bottles a week."

"Even with my strength and the captain's allowance, I only get 6 bottles of genetic agents a week."

"You want 20 to 30 bottles? Giving you 3 bottles already required me to beg the group leader." Roger said, suppressing his anger.

Lin Xinghai was also surprised. If that was the case, the treatment the Sky Split Mercenary Group was giving him seemed a bit too high!

He had a slight thought, brought up the system panel, and used the detection skill on Roger.

Name: Roger

Constitution: 50

Strength: 65

Speed: 43

Abilities: Super Strength (Strength increases by 30% for three seconds)

Genetic Optimization Level: 65%

"This strength is much higher than I expected! And he even has an awakened ability. But with such strength, he only gets 6 bottles of genetic agents a week, which means..." Thinking this, Lin Xinghai's lips curled up slightly.

"Captain Roger, your genetic rating isn't B-level, right?"

Roger's angry expression paused.

From the answer on his face, Lin Xinghai continued, "Then my B-level genetic rating must have great cultivation value! If I publicize this, other mercenary groups..."

Lin Xinghai didn't continue, just looking at Roger with a smile.

"A B-level genetic rating, you can choose to join the military, which is safer than joining a mercenary group, and you will also get 3 bottles of genetic agents a week." The soldier who had been driving silently suddenly spoke.

Roger's face turned even darker. If he had known, he would have stayed in the cabin to talk with Lin Xinghai.

"4 bottles of genetic agents a week, that's my limit. Additionally, I have one requirement: within a month, your strength improvement must match your talent."

"Otherwise, the maximum is 3 bottles of genetic agents a week." Roger had to restate the conditions.

"Okay! But if my strength improvement exceeds your expectations, how will the genetic agents be calculated?" Lin Xinghai smiled.

Roger's eyes narrowed slightly, but thinking of Lin Xinghai's attitude when touching the zombies, he suddenly laughed. "Good spirit, I hope you're not just talking. If that really happens, the Sky Split Mercenary Group will not let you down."