Chuxun didn't know that someone had cleaned up the traces of battle after he left. At this moment, he had returned to his home. However, compared to his calm departure, his appearance now was much more disheveled.
**Bang!**
With a dull thud, the door slammed shut behind Chuxun. He placed the items in his arms on the table and cautiously untied the cloth strip around his neck.
At this point, the cloth strip had been mostly corroded by the acidic blood, turning into ragged bits. However, the wound on his neck had fully stopped bleeding and was gradually healing.
Standing in front of the mirror, Chuxun carefully observed his wound. To his surprise, the wound was faintly glowing with white light, and there seemed to be a warm current gathering inside his body, converging toward the wound.
Soon, an even more astonishing scene unfolded. Under the effect of the white light and warm current, the neck wound, which had been torn open by almost half, began to grow small, fine tendrils of flesh. These tendrils, like sutures, began to entwine the wound, accelerating the healing process.
"What is this white light and warm current?" Feeling the tingling pain and itchiness from his neck, Chuxun knew that the wound was healing rapidly. But he was perplexed. What were these forces that could accelerate the healing of his wound?
After all, from his knowledge, neither the Xenomorph gene nor the Ant gene should have such a miraculous power. So, the question was: how could his body possess such power, even beyond his understanding?
He thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer. By now, the wound on his neck had completely closed, leaving only a faint mark, which would likely disappear completely in no time.
"Forget it, I won't think about it anymore. At least it's not a bad thing…" Shaking his head, Chuxun took a deep breath, deciding not to dwell on the issue.
He had too many secrets, one of which was the Super Savior System, and another, this strange warm current and white light. Since he couldn't find the answer right now, he might as well go with the flow.
After wiping the blood from his neck, Chuxun reopened the metal box on the table. As before, a soft blue light illuminated the room.
"Tsk tsk, as expected, there's always a blessing after surviving a great disaster…" Seeing the neatly arranged twenty standard crystal nuclei inside the box, Chuxun's eyes gleamed with excitement.
He hadn't expected that a mere assassin would have so many crystal nuclei!
It was all the fault of Ghost Blade. Due to Chuxie's erroneous intelligence, Ghost Blade had mistaken Chuxun for a helpless, ordinary person, so he carried the crystal nuclei on him. But not only did he fail to complete his mission, he lost his life, and all those twenty crystal nuclei became Chuxun's spoils of war.
"Great! If I can use these crystal nuclei to unlock another gene lock, I'll have a better chance at securing the top spot in the student assessment!" Looking at the soft glowing crystal nuclei, Chuxun's heart surged with excitement. He quickly took one of the crystal nuclei, held it in his palm, and began to close his eyes, attempting to integrate it.
**Buzz!**
As before, the crystal nucleus began to vibrate faintly, then transformed into blue light and entered Chuxun's body. Meanwhile, the cold voice rang in his mind as expected.
"Ding, host receives biological energy supply, insect body energy enhanced, gene lock unlocked 1%."
"1%?" Hearing the prompt in his mind, Chuxun shuddered and opened his eyes wide in disbelief.
He wondered if he had heard wrong. The last time he integrated a crystal nucleus, the gene lock was unlocked by 10%!
Could it be that every time the gene lock was unlocked, the number of crystal nuclei required was ten times more than the previous one?
Realizing this, Chuxun's expression instantly turned grim.
With a hundred crystal nuclei, he might be able to gather them somehow. But what about a thousand, ten thousand, or even a hundred thousand? That number would surely be enough to make even a city lord like Chuxiong uneasy!
"Looks like after the student assessment, I'll need to find more crystal nuclei…" After pondering for a while, Chuxun sighed heavily. The joy of unexpectedly gaining twenty standard crystal nuclei was quickly overshadowed by the weight of this realization.
"There are still nineteen crystal nuclei left. I can't waste them…" His gaze shifted back to the crystal nuclei, and he frowned slightly.
Given the current situation, fusing just a few crystal nuclei wouldn't significantly improve his strength. Rather than wasting them, he'd rather use these crystal nuclei for more useful purposes.
Such as the Xenomorph?
With this thought, Chuxun summoned the Xenomorph again to see if the crystal nuclei could be of use to it. After all, if he could improve the Xenomorph's strength, it would drastically boost his overall combat capabilities.
Even with his current strength, he wasn't confident that he could defeat a fully grown Xenomorph!
However, to his disappointment, the Xenomorph seemed only interested in primal crystal nuclei and fresh blood. When it saw the soft blue-glowing standard crystal nucleus, it didn't even glance at it, instead crouching next to Chuxun like a pet.
Seeing this, Chuxun couldn't help but sigh. Though the Xenomorph's body had grown slightly after consuming Ghost Blade's corpse, it still wasn't enough.
With no immediate use for the crystal nuclei, Chuxun decided to store the remaining ones for later. He then picked up another item he had found on Ghost Blade's body, a small leather-bound booklet, and began flipping through it.
"Interesting…" The leather booklet wasn't thick, about fifty pages at most. But after reading a few pages, Chuxun's face visibly lit up with excitement.
The booklet had no title, and its contents seemed disorganized, appearing to be notes and experiences that Ghost Blade had casually written down.
However, these writings were of great value to Chuxun, not inferior to the crystal nuclei. After all, this was the crystallized experience of an assassin's life. Not only did it provide a detailed analysis of the human body and vital points, but it also included notes on how to destroy those vital points with minimal force, killing efficiently.
Additionally, the booklet contained numerous poison recipes and tips on setting traps and mechanisms. While Chuxun wouldn't become a master of poisons or traps with just this booklet, it was enough for him to gain some understanding and learn to defend against them.
Most importantly, Ghost Blade had also gone on adventures in the past and had valuable insights on how to deal with zombie creatures and mutated beasts. The booklet contained plenty of annotations regarding dangerous creatures.
These were priceless experiences gained through bloodshed, and for Chuxun, who was still a novice, they were invaluable!
"I have to say, this harvest is really rich…" Taking a deep breath, Chuxun stored the leather booklet.
Although it wasn't thick, the content was extensive and varied, and mastering it would take more than just a day or two.
For now, the most important thing was to go to the Combat Skill Hall for systematic training. That way, he could quickly improve his combat abilities, and he could always study the booklet's contents after the special training.
After storing the crystal nuclei and leather booklet, Chuxun wiped down his entire body with a damp towel to remove the blood stains, then changed into a new outfit, preparing to head out again to the Combat Skill Hall.
On his way to the Combat Skill Hall, Chuxun once again passed the alley where he had fought Ghost Blade. To his surprise, all the traces of battle had completely disappeared. Even the pits on the ground that had been corroded by his blood had returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
"Huh? Who cleaned up the battlefield for me?" Seeing this, Chuxun furrowed his brow and chose to take a different path, continuing forward.
The sun had fully risen by now, and the temperature had risen slightly. The streets were becoming busier, and he didn't want to linger too long to avoid unnecessary trouble.
However, that lingering doubt still clung to his mind, refusing to dissipate…
Chuxun City wasn't very large, and it didn't take long before he arrived in the West District.
The Combat Skill Hall and Combat Magic Hall were both located in the West District of Chuxun City, the busiest part of the city. Besides these two halls, there was also the largest free market and the Bounty Hall, where bounty missions were posted.
As soon as he entered the West District, Chuxun immediately felt a different atmosphere.
Compared to the clean and orderly northern noble district, the West District was much noisier, dirtier, and more chaotic. It was a place full of all kinds of people: from commoners running small businesses, to bounty hunters who made a living hunting dangerous creatures, to ability users from various families.
Yet, it was in this chaotic place that the city had the most order and equality. Even the direct descendants of powerful families didn't dare to act recklessly here, bullying others. Because one could never tell if the seemingly ordinary person in front of them was actually a powerful ability user with hands drenched in blood.
This wasn't uncommon. Many strong individuals liked to play the "hiding in plain sight" game, blending into the crowd to relax their minds. After all, high-intensity battles and killings could be mentally taxing, and it took time