Apocalypse Circular

Lu Luo also felt a bite on his toe. He didn't understand how, with his Constitution of 50 plus the tenacity effect, this insect had broken through his defense.

When he caught a glimpse of this Exotic Species from the corner of his eye, he understood.

[Goldwing Bug, a Third Tier special Exotic Species, bred by Blue Sky Pharmaceuticals for information collection. This is a type of bug that specializes in collecting information from other Exotic Species under safe conditions. It possesses an extremely strong Outburst of power but can only attack once before its fangs break.

Attributes: Outburst Strength 100, Agility 14, Constitution 2]

The attributes of this bug were outrageous. Its strength reached the theoretical limit of the Third Tier, but its Constitution was only 2, barely stronger than an ordinary person.

At that moment, he was still digesting the gifts from other Exotic Species, his body stiff and immobile, so he was unable to catch it.

The little Goldwing Bug fluttered its wings and flew towards the ventilation hole.

Qiao Xing, who was cracking sunflower seeds, and Ludie, who was smoking, both pondered whether taking action against such a small bug was too demeaning.

Zhou Kai looked at the two bosses beside him. They weren't moving, so he figured he didn't need to either. He trusted Brother Luo to handle it.

But Lu Luo couldn't speak right now!

As he watched the little bug about to escape, Lu Luo became somewhat panicked.

Damn it, are these people idiots? This is something they could easily help with, don't they see that?

Is this guy really that weak? Should I help him? No way, Ludie didn't move, so I can't either, Qiao Xing thought.

Has Lu Luo gone brain-dead? So pathetically weak. No, Qiao Xing didn't move, so I can't either, Ludie mused.

Brother Luo didn't move, and the bosses didn't either. As someone just blending into the background, I better stay still as well, Zhou Kai considered.

Why aren't they moving? I think I'm about to succeed! Song Hana exulted internally.

Just as the Goldwing Bug was about to reach the ventilation duct and escape, a small black tentacle suddenly extended from the piece of Lu Luo's flesh it was carrying.

The tentacle hardened abruptly, like a black steel needle, and instantly pierced the bug's abdomen.

Following that, the bug's body shriveled at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It didn't even hit the floor before its body turned into flameless embers, dissipating into the air.

This process was almost identical to the way Lu Luo devoured Exotic Species.

Although both targets were small, the four people present saw everything clearly.

For a moment, everyone... oh no, all five of them fell silent!

Lu Luo, seeing that the chunk of flesh hadn't been taken away, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, good, everything is under my control.

[Under your control? Maybe you should look at their expressions before you say that.]

At this, Lu Luo looked over. Aside from Zhou Kai, Qiao Xing, Ludie, and Song Hana were all staring at him with incomprehensible expressions.

The situation isn't as good as I'd imagined. Damn! How do I explain this? Lu Luo was silent for a long time.

"Actually," he finally said, "that piece of flesh isn't mine. It's from an Exotic Species I carry with me, possessing incredible powers."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the chunk of flesh, after devouring the bug, rolled towards Lu Luo, leaped up, and returned to his toe.

The flesh merged perfectly back onto Lu Luo's toe.

[You have devoured a Third Tier Exotic Species, Goldwing Bug, gaining 84 Life Energy points.]

Lu Luo fell silent once more…

After pondering for a long time again, he lifted his head and said earnestly, "Actually, I am human."

When the topic of whether he was human came up, Zhou Kai hurriedly raised his hand as well. "Actually, I too am human."

Qiao Xing shifted his seat and turned his back. "Busy with my seeds, didn't see anything."

Ludie exhaled a smoke ring, covering his face. "Too much smoke, didn't see anything."

Lu Luo, hearing them say this, finally felt at ease. As long as they didn't see it.

He then focused on Song Hana, who was standing there dumbfounded, and signaled to Zhou Kai. "The Hunter and guards should take a while to get here. Brother Kane, now's your personal time. Leave her alive; I still have questions for her."

Zhou Kai narrowed his eyes. "I got it."

Ludie and Qiao Xing simply got up and left. Since the Exotic Species had been sacrificed in batches, there was no longer any danger here.

The remaining time was left for Lu Luo to handle on his own.

***

Lu Luo walked to a corner of the cave by himself to start tallying his gains from this occasion.

In terms of benefits, they were undoubtedly huge.

The Disc World and one turn of the Disc were equivalent to 20,000 energy and 60 Sequence Value.

A full attribute increase of +5 was a solid upgrade, with nothing superficial about it.

The Devourer had also undergone very noticeable Enhancement, obtaining Exotic Species 3.

Exotic Species 3 - Thunder Serpent: Allows manipulation of energy into White Snake Thunder. White Snake Thunder possesses tremendous destructive power. Its empowerment grants penetration and sharpness Enhancement effects. You can control it perfectly. This is a gift from the White Snake.

Seeing the Thunder Serpent, Lu Luo felt so moved he wanted to cry.

After struggling for so long, he finally had a solid attribute attack.

Look at those Church people; every one of them wielded Holy Radiance, be it light or justice, all kinds of showy energy strikes.

Even Ludie could control fire and had abilities like inducing freezing with his Mist Form.

And what about him, Lu Luo? He was nearly at the Third Tier, yet he had always relied on plain Qi He to fight his battles.

His repertoire consisted of a forehand Deliberate Bombardment Fist, a backhand Qi He Slash, or poisoning.

Poisoning was great, but poison dealt damage over time and lacked the effect of instantly boosting his combat Outburst.

Thunder Serpent was different. It inherently possessed enchantments to strengthen its destructive power, along with weapon Enhancement abilities like sharpness and penetration.

Isn't that more useful than the seemingly high-class Netherflame that, in reality, wasn't particularly useful?

Netherflame also occupied one of Lu Luo's attribute slots. Previously, he had only two Exotic Species abilities—which, in Lu Luo's terms, were two attribute slots.

These were poison and Netherflame.

He specialized in poison gas, could use it in combination with Mist Form, and also possessed secret techniques like poison explosion.

It offered damage, range, and covert Outburst potential all in one, so Lu Luo couldn't possibly give up the poison attribute.

As for Netherflame, although not very useful, it had a truly impressive style. It might become very valuable in the future, so he couldn't give it up either.

This had led to the fact that Lu Luo had no regular attribute attack methods until now.

Now that he had the Thunder Serpent, Lu Luo couldn't help but sigh.

"The heavens have opened their eyes!"

After his contemplation, Lu Luo turned his focus to the last item: Sequence S-07 Summoner.

[Sequence S-07 Summoner]

Effect 1 - Primitive Summoning: Consumes energy to summon Exotic Species from the specimen room in biological form.

Effect 2 - Contract Summoning: Summon White Snake - Thunder Scales, the Exotic Species fated to be bound to your destiny. You can withdraw the White Snake. Cooldown: 1 week.

Introduction: Summons an Exotic Species.

"Specimen room?"

Lu Luo felt a little surprised but tried using the Summoner ability. Immediately, a host of Exotic Species images surfaced in his mind.

Apart from the Exotic Species that had just merged with him, he even saw Ganmu and the Nightmare Demon's attendants in there.

Ganmu - King of Decay

Summoning Method 1: Consume 1 Doomsday Factor, 9,100 energy points.

Summoning Method 2: Consume 27,300 energy points.

This consumption was already considerably less than using the Doomsday Disc to directly summon with a Doomsday Factor.

Method 2 was beyond his means for now. However, Method 1, requiring one Doomsday Factor plus 9,100 energy points, was expensive but certainly affordable.

Imagine him suddenly summoning Ganmu in a densely populated area within the ring, plopping it down on a bustling street – that effect, tsk!

[Upgrading Summoner can reduce the energy required to summon Exotic Species.]

Lu Luo nodded slightly. Summoning Exotic Species like this was a bit too outlandish for humans like them.

After understanding Effect 1, Lu Luo looked towards Effect 2 of Summoner.

"Can I get some explanation?" Lu Luo asked. "A Summoner of your level should be able to explain, right?"

[The White Snake Thunder Scales assembled all the special Exotic Species to bring you the Summoner, so it is your destined Exotic Species bound by fate. You can Contract Summon White Snake Thunder Scales; contract summoning involves no costs, but if the White Snake Exotic Species dies, the effect vanishes immediately. So, try your best not to let the White Snake die.]

Lu Luo's expression showed he understood. "Got it," he said. "Simply put, I'm set. Let's go check on Brother Kane."

Lu Luo returned to Song Hana's side, only to find that Zhou Kai had not laid a hand on her where she lay on the ground.

Even the situation he had anticipated, where Zhou Kai would break one of Song Hana's arms, did not occur, which surprised Lu Luo.

He knew Zhou Kai's personality quite well. Under normal circumstances, Zhou Kai would not let go of such an opportunity for revenge.

"Brother Kane? Why didn't you make a move?"

Zhou Kai smiled and stretched out his right hand, which had turned into a plant, his fingers beginning to elongate.

His digits transformed into branches and leaves, and a flower even bloomed on his thumb.

"Do you think this is terrible?"

"It's not too bad. Looks pretty useful."

"Yeah, I also find it quite useful. You could say it's a blessing in disguise."

Lu Luo felt this wasn't Zhou Kai's real reason.

"Disasters are disasters, and blessings are blessings. I usually don't put the two together. Brother Kane, we've bled together. If you have something to say, just say it. There's no need to be so evasive."

"You still see through me, huh? You said earlier to keep her alive for questioning, so I spared her. I was afraid that if I roughed her up too much, it might interfere with your information gathering. That's about it."

Lu Luo's gaze became thoughtful, and he was silent for a long while. "Brother Kane, you've grown up!"

"Yeah, after going through so much, who wouldn't grow a bit?"

"That's true."

Lu Luo helped Song Hana up. Her face was a mask of pain from her shattered spine.

However, when she looked at Lu Luo, she was relatively calm, with no hysterical behavior.

This woman must die, but before she did, Lu Luo still wanted to know a few things.

For instance, who was the person backing Song Hana?

"You're just an ordinary person," Lu Luo said. "Why are you pushing yourself this hard?"

Song Hana shook her head.

"What's wrong with being ordinary? I've said it before, ordinary people can have their own dreams and pursuits.

"I lack the talent for cultivation. In many eyes, I'm a venomous woman who can only climb by her wiles or by leveraging her body.

"I'm also well aware that when you're down and out, there's no point in complaining to others, because there's never any true empathy.

"The humiliation I've endured is something I have to digest and bear myself.

"I'm in quite a sorry state now, so, Lu Luo, don't expect to get any information from me. It's pointless."

Lu Luo nodded. Song Hana was very resolute, and her words final. He had no reason to continue questioning her.

Picking up the iron sword from the ground, Lu Luo handed it to Zhou Kai.

"Brother Kane, you do it."

"Alright," Zhou Kai took the sword.

"Wait a moment!" At the brink of death, Song Hana spoke up once again.

"Changed your mind?" Lu Luo turned around.

"No, Lu Luo, I want to ask you a question."

Song Hana's eyes softened, but there was a hint of unwillingness within them.

Lu Luo was puzzled, yet he nodded. "Ask away."

"How can I say 'I don't love you anymore' in the gentlest way possible?"

Ah? Not only was Lu Luo taken aback by this question, but Zhou Kai was also stunned.

However, when it came to matters of emotion, Lu Luo was an expert and immediately understood the meaning behind Song Hana's words.

"Are you trying to say goodbye to him?"

"Sort of!" There was a tinge of regret in Song Hana's expression.

Lu Luo narrowed his eyes. Two simple sentences, yet they offered him a very important piece of information!

After some thought, he gave a lengthy answer.

"Then say this:

"From now on, I won't contact you anymore. You never truly belonged to me, so there's no question of loss.

"Although you once filled my heart, my future will forever be without you."

Song Hana's eyes brightened slightly; Lu Luo's response was unexpected to her as well.

"Lu Luo, beneath room number 349 in the slums, there's a batch of supplies."

"And then?"

"Engrave what you just said on my tombstone."

"Understood."

Lu Luo nodded. He didn't even bother to ask who would erect a tombstone for Song Hana as he motioned with his lips to Zhou Kai, indicating he could proceed.

"Head, neck, heart. Then burn it."

"So complicated?" Zhou Kai asked in surprise. Was killing an ordinary person this involved?

Lu Luo nodded to confirm once again. Brother Kane is still too young!

He pointed to Zhou Kai's arm and then to Zhou Kai's heart, wagging his finger.

Zhou Kai immediately understood what Lu Luo meant; both his heart and arm were no longer in a human state.

What Zhou Kai didn't know was that in Lu Luo's vision, although Zhou Kai was still Brother Kane, he was no longer the same Brother Kane as before.

[Plant Person - Zhou Kai, First Tier plant species, core located in the upper chest area, ability to control plants.

Attributes: Strength 7.5, Agility 2, Constitution 10]

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Lu Luo did not turn back to watch Zhou Kai's consecutive sword strikes.

According to the Nightmare Demon, the Dark Energy Level in the Wasteland world had been continuously rising.

The strength of the Exotic Species had grown to an unimaginable extent over these 100 years.

Old Eighth Order Exotic Species like Stone Mother and Noah had not died. Plus, new stars like the Nightmare Demon must have emerged over the years.

The power of the Exotic Species collective was unprecedentedly strong.

In contrast, the basic strength of humanity had not seen any substantial increase over these past 100 or so years.

The pinnacle of combat power was still at the Seventh Tier, and the number had only increased by two or three.

From all this intelligence, Lu Luo could infer one thing: the future inside the Wall might not be particularly safe.

So, it was necessary for Zhou Kai and the other members of Circle Studio to grow stronger during this time.

Before long, Zhou Kai came over with his sword in hand.

"Brother Luo, are you really going to carve words on her tombstone?"

"Why not?" Lu Luo asked with a smile.

"Isn't that too poetic? Besides, the location she mentioned might have traps or something."

"Whether the place she mentioned has traps or not, we'll find out when we get there. But regarding the tombstone engraving, don't you have any other ideas?"

Zhou Kai pondered for a moment.

Stay calm—organize thoughts—spot the brilliance.

Eventually, Zhou Kai lowered his head. "Uh, no! Brother Luo, stop being mysterious and just tell me."

"Someone will definitely visit Song Hana's tombstone. Later, we can have someone monitor her tombstone for a while. Whether or not there is any gain, at least we won't suffer any substantial loss. Moreover, from her last words, I can also roughly make out some basic characteristics of that person."

"That person?"

"A man, probably older than Song Hana, who came into contact with her when she was at her most destitute and helped her. This interaction had a significant impact on Song Hana."

Lu Luo looked at Zhou Kai. Sigh, why isn't he picking up on my cues? This makes me look foolish.

"Brother Luo, why are you looking at me?"

[Looking at you is a way of using my eyes to remind you that this is the time to shout '666.']

"Ah, forget it," Lu Luo said. "To think that a woman as vicious and promiscuous as Song Hana would sacrifice her body, career, and everything for something as unattainable as love. Humans really are complex creatures."

"Yes, Brother Luo is right. I feel the need to emphasize again: I am human, and so is Brother Luo!"

Zhou Kai's eyes still seemed to wander uncertainly. Lu Luo knew he was feeling anxious and looking for reassurance.

He patted Zhou Kai on the shoulder and affirmed, "Yes, we are all human."