Chapter 1255: Return

The reward of all attributes + 5 was no doubt absolutely incredible for anyone who was a Growth Hunter or higher. It was equivalent to at least 50 free attribute points.

Unfortunately, Party Ace had utilised the power of storyline characters to ward off the enemies. Otherwise, they could have achieved the maximum completion rate, and the reward for that might have been all attributes + 7, or even + 10.

However, though every move Sheyan made may seem bold, he had in fact thoroughly and meticulously evaluated the risks in his mind.

By his judgment, Party Ace must rely on the power of storyline characters to have enough strength to go up against Rocky. Otherwise, no matter how lucky they were or how much advantage they had, it would still be courting death.

Less than an hour after completing the mission, Mr. G came to them with a group of people. He had kept his promise and had brought Party Ace the three national treasures, the cultural works of art they needed to collect — “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”, “Ghost Valley Downhill” and “Heirloom Seal of the Realm”.

Next, Mr. G gave them a confidential document.

The authentic “Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion” was originally rumoured to be hidden in the mausoleum of Emperor Taizong of Tang, but after a best-selling novel popularised tomb-raiding, the authentic relic was found and had fallen into the hands of Mr. Gu, a very rich yet very low-profile man in Taiwan. The one currently in the Palace Museum was only a copy.

The “Ramayana Engraving” was India’s national treasure and had already been packed up. It was scheduled to be taken aboard one of the arks in 36 hours. Its current location was in the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. However, it was very tightly guarded.

Both sides were in a hurry in this critical period before a crisis. Party Ace naturally did not have time to waste while an important person like Mr. G normally had to plan his time down to the minute. When the handover was complete, the two sides prepared to part ways after a brief exchange of words.

But just before they left, Mr. G suddenly told them, “You people have mysterious origins and have all kinds of peculiar abilities. In terms of your personal strength, you have already reached the pinnacle of human beings. It’s truly amazing. Unfortunately, all the people like you that we’ve come into contact with have shown a strong hostility towards us. You guys are the only ones willing to communicate with us. Hence, I would like to ask for a little help from you, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“You’d like to cut us up and study our anatomy?” asked Sheyan with a grin.

Mr. G laughed.

“Don’t worry, we won’t do that to our own people…. All of you know how critical the situation is for us. News of our secret bases being attacked comes daily. We can’t just sit idly by, so we’ve used some unconventional means to produce a batch of soldiers, and I’d appreciate it if you can provide some feedback for us.”

A trace of curiosity crept into Sheyan’s eyes. He immediately shifted his gaze to the soldiers who followed Mr. G. in. He did feel that something wasn’t right with them. Now he knew why.

When these soldiers walked, their legs were lifted quite high, but when they stepped on the ground, they made almost no sound. Not only that, every step they took were extremely uniform, as if their steps were measured with a ruler. There were more than 20 soldiers, but they actually managed to keep the same pace when they walked. Their movements were as precise as machines, down to the millimeters!

Ordinary humans could never achieve this no matter how well trained they were. Sheyan turned to Zi. Her Spirit attribute was much higher than his, so she should be able to sense more information in these aspects.

Zi said in the party communication channel, “I’m guessing that some kind of liquid has been injected into their brains, which enables their bodies to continuously secrete adrenaline. In addition, their muscles and bones have been strengthened, and they’re obviously breathing twice as fast as a normal person. They have probably undergone a biological transformation. To put it simply, they’re continuously drawing on their own life force to maintain this “mechanical” state. Of course, doing so means their lifespan will inevitably be reduced sharply.”

When Mr. G finished speaking, a burly man next to him had stood up, bowed his head and remained silent. He waited until Sheyan nodded before he stepped forward, stood in front of Sheyan, and after a word of warning, threw a punch at Sheyan.

Sheyan stopped the punch with his hand, but the strength in the burly man’s fist was far beyond his expectation and had caught him off guard! His body tilted back, almost staggering by half a step.

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But that exchange would be the only one where he was at a disadvantage. After he started taking the burly man seriously, he only defended and did not attack. The burly man threw four punches in a row, and the punches were so strong that they made sounds in the air. But after those four punches, his face turned pale and he started panting like a bull. Even raising his hands seemed to be a difficult task for him.

“Great explosive power, but the energy reserves in their bodies are too low, so they can’t sustain the burst of power for long. Besides that, they can’t handle their power properly. It’s like giving a child a million dollars to shop with. Most of the money just goes to waste,” commented Sheyan seriously.

Finally, he added, “Of course, the most important point is that their physique totally can’t match up to the strength they possess. If the Major just now wasn’t punching at me but at a wall or a tree, then I believe the bones in his arms and even in his fingers would have been broken.”

Mr. G took a look at the soldiers around him. He could not help admiring Sheyan. Everything Sheyan said was very precise and straight to the point.

The people chosen for the biological experiment had all been carefully selected. All of them had some foundation in martial arts, so they could adapt much better than others. Even so, many among the first batch of experimental subjects had actually broken their legs when they were undergoing running speed tests because they were kicking too hard.

Despite sighing in his heart, Mr. G still said, “We’ve identified this problem too and have started to find solutions for it. The current plan that we have is to equip them with a specially made battle suit. But the scientific research team still hopes to get some data from a fight against people with supernatural powers like you.”

Upon hearing this, Sheyan suddenly grinned. “I actually have a few insights of my own in the field of human body strengthening. These insights can produce immediate effects for your research. If I write them down for you, and tell you the exact time for the beginning of the apocalypse, what can you give me in return?”

In order to prove his point, Sheyan even showed them his amazing ability to grow creatures right there and then. All of them were naturally stunned to see a tough-looking creature suddenly grow out from the ground within a short period of time.

But Mr. G was, after all, a politician. He could clearly hear the implication behind Sheyan’s words. These people obviously had no need for money, women, or power. All this while, all they had shown interest in were those works of art. This transaction must revolve around those too.

After some negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement. Party Ace still needed seven works of art, including the European ones, to obtain the title of ‘The Great Collector’. Mr. G. said that the government could help them obtain five of the works of art, but the remaining two were impossible for them. Party Ace would have to find their own ways.

But still, that saved Party Ace a lot of trouble. Stealing two works of art was pretty much just a tour for them.

Therefore, not long afterwards, Party Ace successfully acquired the title of their desire, ‘The Great Collector’.

They had now amassed about 110 points for their main mission: ‘Protection!’, which was not too low and not too high. They had wasted a lot of time to obtain ‘The Great Collector’ title so they did not have too much time left to continue gathering points. The day of the apocalypse was slowly approaching like a nightmare!

Sheyan knew to focus on what was important, so he did not try to use the remaining time to gather as many points as possible, because he knew that the more pressing the situation, the easier it was to make mistakes. Their biggest weakness right now was the protagonist Jackson Curtis, who had been tucked away inside the base, but how would the legendary figures take this ordinary guy seriously? It would not be impossible for someone – Bind, for example – to lurk around and find an opportunity to assassinate him.

That was why Party Ace was in a hurry to go back. There was not much time left to amass points anyway, so the time would be much better spent on strengthening the defence. If Jackson Curtis was somehow killed, all the points in the world would do them no good. They must not give the enemy any chances.

Furthermore, Sheyan must also go back to monitor the progress of the airship constructions. Although the Realm had not specified what kind of reward they would get for saving the ordinary people, but Sheyan knew from the path they had chosen that they would certainly not go wrong with saving the masses. At the very least, it would give a bonus to their mission completion rate.

***

After returning to New York, the first thing Sheyan did was to go see Professor X. He learned that, triggered by China’s replica ark project, the US government had actually set their sights on the airship project near New York City. They had began to try to cooperate semi-openly with the base.

The base would only be building the core motherships now. The sub-ships of the formations would be constructed by two other external factories, which means that the scale of the project would be further expanded. Furthermore, as the government started to loosen their tight grip on rare resources, the war between the superhumans, which only happened in the first place due to limited resources, had also subsided.

The US government had forcefully suppressed all internal conflicts in this critical period before the apocalypse. Anyone who was strong enough to do anything was beginning to make every effort to prepare for their own survival, while silently waiting for the moment to come.