Transforming Succubus: Almost Doomsday

Zhou Baiyu was indeed intrigued:

"'We', are you new gods? Old gods? Was it 'we' who caused the corruption?"

Dr. A clearly wouldn't answer that question, and he raised his index finger, shaking it repeatedly:

"No, no, no, no, have you ever seen your intermediary recklessly reveal information? Hehehe, the information I bring is all about forbidden history, the dark pasts of the gods, and that's all I'm interested in. So if you want information, you'll have to pay."

"As for 'us', trust me, until you're strong enough, until you can use skills, traits, items to shield yourself from 'our' observation, you're better off not knowing too much about 'us'."

Zhou Baiyu roughly understood. In short, he indeed had an additional intermediary, another option.

An option specifically to deal with defense mode.

Of course, he didn't think he was special.

In the original world, there were many talented people, second to none, like Guang Tongchen and others, and even many who might not be inferior to them, but had not yet appeared. Or some... those who came even before the pioneers.

What about the Advanced World then? There must also be many powerful humans there.

Like in version 2.0 of Nightmare Bridge, the guild leader and other legendary pioneers who joined forces to escort those people.

And then there's... Dr. A right in front of me.

It seems like Dr. A really had dealings with the gods and is currently wanted by the gods.

Out of necessity, he even turned part of his consciousness and soul into a potion, masking himself to this extent to evade the gods.

He must have learned some taboo secrets of the gods or... mastered something that the gods fear.

But the Advanced World is vast; the humans of that world have been contending with monsters, corruption, and gods for a long time.

Maybe there are existences even more insane and powerful than Dr. A.

In any case, the Advanced World is a continent worth exploring. And I have found Dr. A.

Maybe in the future, I can find others who try to become gods. Perhaps they will be discovered by me, or perhaps by other pioneers.

Zhou Baiyu said:

"Your notes mock, saying pioneers are but toys of the gods; that everything we pioneers do is in vain. But what you're doing now, is helping me slap your own face."

Dr. A seemed completely unconcerned about this: "Early research led me to make many premature deductions, plus the big shots I've seen are one more impressive than the next..."

"I even... hehe, found the actual whereabouts of the intermediaries!"

"So making some one-sided conclusions is quite normal, and back then I didn't know that one day, some outliers among 'us' would play such a big game."

Zhou Baiyu found this conversation confusing, and after thinking it over, he assumed the doctor wasn't a riddler.

If he spoke in riddles, it would mean that these matters were beyond my current reach.

"Do we have a deal? Give me your Advanced values, exchange with me the things you used to trade with the intermediaries, and I can provide you with a stronger 'transformation,' and reduce the side effects of your transformation."

"Side effects?"

Zhou Baiyu frowned.

Dr. A said:

"Take this time, for instance; you obtained the power of Reverse Corruption, which I developed, from the potion."

"The so-called Reverse Corruption makes you become a corrupted being, but ultimately allows you to revert back to being human."

"This perfectly solves the problem brought by corruption and gives you the power of corruption at critical moments. But my dear client, there is always a price to pay."

"This is one of my ultimate research projects, but it's still an unfinished product. Your body will most likely not be able to withstand Reverse Corruption. To put it simply, you could die."

"With your current abilities, even if you don't die and miraculously survive, you will be sickly for life. It would be hard for you to get out of bed. The damage Reverse Corruption does to a person is immense. Don't think you can turn into a monster to fight monsters again when the second defense mode strikes."

Zhou Baiyu understood; it seemed that this potion wasn't single-use?

I'm not permanently turned into a corrupt being?

He had to admit that Dr. A indeed had a tremendous talent for researching corruption.

He suddenly asked curiously:

"What did you study before?"

"A bit of everything, know a little about everything. After corruption came, I didn't stick to human technology, but believed that in this idealistic world, we must learn to confront distortion with madness."

"Many of my colleagues, students, were driven mad, or should I say... their beliefs collapsed. I once had a student named Bai Ye, who left me because he disagreed with my philosophy and was unwilling to experiment on pioneers."

Bai Ye?

Zhou Baiyu was shocked, wasn't that the excellent scientist from the Advanced World?

Bai Ling's father.

Bai Ling was a genius girl with intelligence surpassing her peers.

All of this was thanks to Bai Ye's excellent genes.

Bai Ye was actually... Dr. A's student?

Wait...

In version 1.44, Bai Ye died at the hands of the Seamripper.

In version 1.45, An Ya had already stated that her grandfather Dr. A had died.

The two versions should be close in time.

And Bai Ye, having fallen out with Dr. A, took his wife and daughter to live in Xiangyang City of the Advanced World, in building No. 92...

That must have been a few years before version 1.44 as well.

In these years... just how many versions have there been?

"You must know that for the forerunners, one day may not just be one day, one year might not only be one year. Once time's rules have issues, whether it's advancing or regressing a step, a different algorithm must be used. It seems you've met my student?"

Dr. A's observation skills weren't weak either. Judging by Zhou Baiyu's reaction to hearing about Bai Ye, he guessed the two had met.

So he casually thought that the other party might be sorting out the timeline.

Zhou Baiyu shook his head and said:

"I met his daughter."

"Oh, that child, she seems to have the potential to become an advanced decay kind, I had always hoped Bai Ye would dissect his daughter, but this blockhead, wouldn't listen to me," Dr. A sighed heavily.

It seems he really thought, proposing to a father to dissect his daughter was a very reasonable thing.

Zhou Baiyu suddenly felt... An Ya was quite pitiable.

If Dr. A's thought process and cognizance were purely research-oriented, then...

An Ya might just be an experiment of Dr. A's as well.

"Alright, back to the main topic, do you want to collaborate or not? If you don't, you'll die in this Reverse Corruption," said Dr. A.

Without much choice, Zhou Baiyu sorted it out—

The so-called collaboration.

That was to provide his own Advanced Value, now equivalent to having an extra tech tree, allowing him to learn more skills through the Advanced Value.

And Dr. A, on the other hand, needed his perspective to observe the Advanced World.

"I don't want my will to be interfered with, that's my requirement."

Dr. A nodded:

"Of course, I can't interfere with your will either. I can only share vision with you when you are undergoing Reverse Corruption, as well as have a short conversation with you in my transfer station, after your training in the Advanced World has finished but before you return to the transit station."

Was that a short conversation? That was stealing Lin's business!

"Your existence won't be known by the middlemen, right?"

"Even the gods can't discover me, let alone them. However, to properly explain why your Advanced Value would decrease, I will apply a little subterfuge. I'll add a very flawed trait to you, but it is only to deceive the gods and won't actually take effect. After all, I am not a real middleman; giving traits––that's the inheritance of the gods, which I can't do," said Dr. A.

"A fake label, is it? Pleasant collaboration!"

"Pleasant collaboration. To show my sincerity, I will take away the Advanced Value you acquired in defensive mode. Similarly, your body will be repaired faster."

...

As Dr. A's voice trailed off... Zhou Baiyu suddenly felt everything in front of him blur.

Minutes later.

Zhou Baiyu opened his eyes and saw a long-haired man with tattooed arms.

"Awake? That was quick."