Chapter 91: [shadow Experiment Group] Acceptance Test
Waking up from sleep, Yuan Zhu was lying in Running’s home. But he knew clearly that last night’s dream was not false; he now held intelligence information on 31 Running natives, preliminarily under his command, able to anonymously mobilize them to complete some simple missions.
He could now completely unleash [Ki Loan] like Kakarot, loudly telling everyone to give him ki loans to pool the first pot of gold, and never repay afterward. Kakarot never repaid, I got it with my own skills, why repay?
Crawling up from the bed, although the sky was overcast today, there was no rain, very good. After simply washing up, he took a car straight to the haunted house residential area, planning to check on his little green skins and see how they had developed.
After coming twice in a row, Yuan Zhu had already figured out the residential area’s layout; this time he didn’t go through the main gate, easily flipping over the wall without leaving any traces.
Entering the haunted house again, he found the four eggplant ghosts hadn’t been slacking off, but rigidly executing the [Soul Program] written by Little Spicy Stick, diligently feeding the 2nd and 3rd control groups.
After a full day of brewing, the [Shadow Control Group] left in the haunted house had basically marinated to flavor.
Goblins were not powerful creatures to begin with, with even weaker resistance to pollution, distorting faster from erosion. In just one day, they all croaked, becoming half-dead polluted mutants.
Yuan Zhu first observed the 1st subgroup of the [Shadow System]; the two had been infused with the purest [Shadow Spiritual Energy] by the Tiger Demon, now developing very well and still lively.
Their bodies were slightly shrunken and thinner than yesterday. Their skin surfaces were covered in pitch-black patterns, occasionally leaking faint black mist from within. From time to time, they could briefly escape into the ground shadows, but after a few seconds, they were bounced back out.
Although their performance was weak, it was clear they were gradually assimilated by ‘shadow pollution’.
However, the flaws were very obvious. Their brains seemed burned out, intelligence fully zeroed, acting in a mad and crazy style. Having been continuously beaten by the eggplant head ghost, they were now brain-damaged, in a terrified and autistic state, having exhausted all potential.
If the ‘Shadow Spiritual Energy’ infused by the Tiger Demon was 10 units, then these two goblins had digested and absorbed less than 2.5 before reaching the limit, transforming into retarded little garbage.
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, this was due to weak physical body and innate deficiency. Even force-feeding nutrients, they couldn’t absorb; any more would be wasted.
Of course, this was also related to his lack of shadow system cultivation techniques, only able to brute-force cram.
Take Holy Light as an example: he first branded [Holy Mark], then obtained [Holy Seal]. Every release of Holy Light burned life to temper his own will, improving Holy Light quality.
It seemed to consume lifespan, but his own potential was constantly excavated and expanded, making Holy Light stronger and stronger. This was cultivation, getting stronger.
In contrast, the other meat batteries (mouse, frog) also burned life to release Holy Light, but without enlightenment of Holy Light mysteries, growing their foundation. Instead, they burned everything at once, instantly releasing light and heat, ultimately turning to ash without gaining anything.
The same Holy Light, the same self-ignition: one could condense soul crystal, elevating life dimension; the other, even burned up, left only some divine protein powder, not even producing sarira.
Infusing [Shadow Spiritual Energy] into goblins was the same; if there was a cultivation manual targeted at [Shadow Pollution], these two little retards might become stronger and more powerful!
“Sigh…!”
With a sigh, Yuan Zhu wrote [Develop Shadow System Immortal Cultivation Technique] as a phased goal in his little notebook. His [Tiger Demon] succeeded instantly, born at quasi-gods and demons status, fundamentally doesn’t understand cultivation.
In contrast, [Holy Light] progressed steadily, with plenty of insights and experiences; new inspirations were written into Holy Light every day, becoming more and more aligned with his heart.
He even felt this [Holy Light] power was more like a highly malleable ‘Zanpakuto’ that could customize attribute contents.
Perhaps he could open another [Holy Light Control Group], subject them to Holy Light pollution, brand Holy Marks, creating a batch of [Holy Cough Goblins]? But once word leaked, he would be defined as a heretic traitor by the [Holy Church]?
…
Bypassing the not-so-satisfactory Group 1, Yuan Zhu looked at the pair of goblins in Group 2. They were bound hand and foot by two eggplant head ghost companions, controlled in the corner, fed shadow tomato fruit day and night, transforming their life state.
Group 2 goblins showed little change in appearance, neither weaker nor stronger, skin color darker (deep green), eyes without whites or pupils, entirely black.
Their mutation degree was far less than Group 1, without showing talents like ‘shadow escape’, no black shadow power leaking from their bodies. The biggest change was kneeling in the corner muttering gibberish, continuously chanting lowly: “Eggplant eggplant eggplant…”
“Did they go dumb? Or ruined?”
They clearly ate a large amount of shadow eggplants, with transformation intensity no less than Group 1. But Group 2 goblins’ performance greatly disappointed him. So, shadow eggplant pollution failed?
Little Spicy Stick reminded at this time: “No, there are traces of ‘high-energy pollution reaction’ in their bodies. Hmm… concentrated in the head, their brains or spirit have undergone alienation!”
“Head?”
Yuan Zhu’s human form perception was limited, so he switched to Tiger Demon Stance, observing again with shadow vision. Sure enough, he found the two goblins’ ‘brains’ had mutated, condensing dense shadow power, somewhat surprised in his heart: “Could it be mage goblins?!”
Tiger Demon tried driving them with [Ghost Companion Divine Ability], but the two still-living goblins didn’t respond. It tried various stimulations and attempts with shadow power, but Group 2 goblins never showed talents like ‘mental power, shadow spellcasting, shadow manipulation…’.
Their brains had indeed mutated, but seemed to mutate into nothing?
Unable to restrain curiosity, Tiger Demon manipulated shadows to fetch one, deciding to crack open the skull for observation. The result: this goblin’s head was empty, leaving only a severely shrunken tomato fruit-shaped ‘gyrus body’.
It had the gyri texture of a brain and the shape of a tomato, covered in black veins.
“???”
Uh… if forced to describe, a shadow-mutated version of brain fruit?
Tiger Demon was baffled: because they ate too much shadow eggplant, deeply polluted. So brain mutated and shrank into ‘tomato brain’? But what was the point of such evolution? Or was the irregular pollution mutation just happening to both in the brain?
Little Spicy Stick: “Does Group 2 count as failure?”
Tiger Demon pondered: “If we can discover the use of this [Tomato Brain], it’s a successful salvage. If not, Group 2 is indeed wasted.”
He bypassed these two goblins of unclear meaning, looking at the final Group 3, the outcome undoubtedly more disappointing.
After transplanting eggplant seedlings to the top of their skulls, Group 3’s two goblins continuously had nutrients extracted from their bodies, becoming increasingly weak and shriveled. Even with ghost companions supplementing food and water every half hour, they failed to subdue the ‘shadow eggplant seedlings’ in their bodies, merge as one body, evolving into unique ‘eggplant head goblins’.
Instead, they thoroughly became physical body flower pots, reduced to cultivation dishes for the eggplant seedlings, using their flesh essence to nourish two vigorously growing activated shadow eggplant seedlings. And the shadow eggplant root tendrils deeply integrated with the goblin physical bodies, rooting into every inch of blood vessels, forming a perfect parasitic relationship.
If only these two seedlings had intelligence, they could fully become ‘Gundam drivers’, piloting the two living flower pots to stroll in the room, fertilizing and watering themselves…
“So, this group experiment also counts as failure?” Little Spicy Stick couldn’t help feeling discouraged.
Tiger Demon: “I don’t think so. Although goblin and shadow eggplant fusion evolution failed. But from another angle, we successfully raised two shadow system plants. Shadow eggplant was originally part of ‘eggplant head ghost companion’, but now they’ve completely detached from the ghost companion, parasitizing goblins to survive as independent magical plants—isn’t that also an achievement?”
Three control groups:
Group 1 fully showed goblins’ ‘insufficient foundation, insufficient aptitude’. Even fed high-purity shadow spiritual energy, hard to transform, only evolving into defective products.
Group 2, after consuming large amounts of shadow eggplant fruit, failed to inherit and show ‘eggplant head ghost’ plant system talents; instead, brains underwent unknown mutation, shrinking into tomato fruit shape, suspected special use, but still needs discovery.
Group 3 fully proved ‘shadow eggplant’ cannot become bloodline or Rogue Immortal’s Dao Seed. Instead parasitizing goblins as flower pots, gradually showing ‘plant, flesh, shadow’ merging as one characteristic, perhaps worth continued cultivation?
Snake Tail at this time summarized the experimental data, then asked: “Boss, how to handle them next?”
Tiger Demon: “Group 1’s waste goblins have reached limit, no value in continued cultivation. Directly recycle with [Universe Within The Belly], see if can refine into ghost companions? Group 2… keep one sample continuing to feed shadow eggplant, closely observe brain changes. The other, also swallow and refine into ghost companion; I want specific data on its ‘tomato brain’.”
“Group 3, continue raising. Have ghost companions suppress shadow eggplant growth, preserve goblin lives, and feed more food. This shadow plant also counts as my personally cultivated ‘exclusive plant’; I’m very curious what abilities they’ll develop growing further?”
Although shadow eggplant seedlings originated from ‘Star Realm mad tomato bloodline’, now covered and polluted by massive [Shadow Power], they’ve long become shadow system pollution spirit plants.
Even if he returns to [Little Xihong Realm], he can fully scatter these ‘shadow eggplant seedlings’ into [Shadow Dimension], letting them grow and propagate, transforming the Shadow World’s environment.
At that time, [Little Xihong Realm] will have ‘Star Tomato, Mad Tomato, Buddha Tomato, Ghost Tomato, Shadow Tomato’ sharing the world. Building an LGBT diverse tomato universe!
As he finished speaking, the skeleton snake tail behind Tiger Demon acted on its own, swallowing the two Group 1 goblins in one bite, then swallowing the skull-opened Group 2 experimental subject, refining in [Universe Within The Belly].
“Ghost Companion mission generated, refinement progress 0.01%, estimated completion in 20 hours.”
Tiger Demon secretly thought they were indeed weak, refined so easily, greatly disappointing.
