Chapter 262: The First Day of Spirit Energy Tide

‘The current cultivation method is enabling all my body cells to devour energy. They will become stronger after they fully digest the energy obtained this time. Following that, they will be able to devour more energy in one go. The chances of doubling my strength will be very high next time.’

At the thought of this, Lin Yao gasped coldly. He was freaking out. Aside from his astonishment, feelings of fear also welled in his heart.

It was good to be able to increase one’s cultivation speed. However, Lin Yao sensed imminent danger, as this was too fast and uncontrollable.

‘I can barely provide 90% of the energy needed. With the Great Sun God Pattern, I can forcibly supply 180% or 360% of energy. But what about 720%, which is double 360%?’

After contemplating it for a while, Lin Yao discovered he was not able to provide that much sunlight currently. Although there were alternatives, such as the Water of Life and the power of thunderbolt, the former had no inhibitory effect on activated cells, and the cells would grow freely. The latter was too violent, and receiving a huge amount of thunderbolt power without resisting might cause Lin Yao to die from electrocution.

Besides, Lin Yao had a sense of foreboding. If he was unable to feed the starving, activated cells, something bad would happen. Lin Yao had satisfied the hunger of the cells this time, which had resulted in changes occurring after three minutes of electrocution.

‘In the end, what matters most is the power of sunlight, which is open and honest and can restrain all evil. There is a reason why it is called positive energy.’

Praising the holy light, Lin Yao ended the development. He then told Professor Li what he had experienced and sought his help to study the principles.

“I am aware of your situation now and I will do my best to research this in the next few days.” After pausing for a moment, Professor Li reminded him, “I suggest you take a break for two or three days before proceeding with the next development. Your progress is… too fast.”

“I know. I’ll undergo the next development in three days.”

In the past, Lin Yao wouldn’t dare delay. However, this time, he took the initiative to postpone it.

He had found a quick way, but he also wanted stability.

As he was leaving the research institute, Lin Yao couldn’t help but look at his personal interface again, searching for changes in his attributes.

After a careful round of searching, Lin Yao discovered that, in addition to the substantial improvement of his physical body, his mental strength scale had also advanced from 242 to 272. This was an increase of 30 points after just three minutes of development.

‘How did this happen?’ Greeted by this sudden, incredible change, he was extremely shocked. ‘Has my Sea of Consciousness expanded, or did my brain cells get stronger, thereby increasing my mental strength?’

Lin Yao couldn’t figure out the reason for the sudden increase in his mental strength, but he discovered something. There was a huge disparity between the speed at which his physical body was improving and that at which his mental strength was improving. His physical body was evolving particularly fast. Lin Yao could not stop feeling worried about this situation.

‘If my mental strength is much poorer than my physical body, will my brain cells be activated fully the next time I undergo magnetic field development? Will this turn me into a complex monster without a trace of consciousness?’

Lin Yao was concerned about the shortage of energy and mental strength. Although the development was successful this time, there were many aspects Lin Yao had to worry about. He had a hunch that he would lose something. Nevertheless, he did not view this negatively, as this would allow him to prepare in advance for the mutations that might occur in the magnetic field.

With this thought in mind, Lin Yao made a plan. The next two developments aside, he would have to improve his mental strength before the third enhancement of 360%.

Leaving the research to Professor Li, Lin Yao planned to treat Senior Sister Jiang to a meal before leaving.

However, she declined his invitation, as she didn’t have the time to enjoy this anymore.

Professor Li was overwhelmed with excitement after encountering an observation subject like Lin Yao. He had already begun working in high spirits and was even prepared to leave Ninghai for Shanghai. While he was traveling, Senior Sister Jiang would be Professor Li’s right-hand man and would help him collect information.

At the same time, Lin Yao didn’t know that because of his success, Professor Li was not the only big-shot researcher who would be coming. Some of the researchers who’d originally studied the impact of magnetic fields on humans had also gotten involved. Due to severe mutations, they had not been able to put their theories to the test. Professor Li had also invited them and was going to form a scientific research team.

These invitations had attracted the attention of the country as well. It was not because they were strictly monitoring this, but because some of the professors had submitted applications for research funds to formalize the private research.

Unfortunately, these applications had been shot down by the supreme audit department. Based on past experiments, the country was certain that it would be difficult for this research to benefit ordinary people. In addition, during the experiment, some indescribable incidents that could trigger special disasters might occur.

This was why Professor Li, who was recruiting people, had received a warning.

By then, Lin Yao, who was unaware of this, had already arrived. As he had returned early, he simply continued to study the Heaven and Earth Furnace and Heaven and Earth Manifestation.

Soon after he began studying, Qin Ya arrived with some good news.

“Yuan Hao has accepted your challenge. It will take place tomorrow.”

“That fast?”

“This is very normal. He is a combat fanatic. As long as this arouses his fighting spirit, he will be more anxious than you. This is why I suggested that you challenge him. The challenge is scheduled for tomorrow at noon, and the venue is the martial arts hall of the University of Monster Science and Technology.” At that moment, she paused for a second before adding, “He has also announced the battle with a micro-tweet. Many people will be paying attention to the battle tomorrow. There will even be a live broadcast.”

“It’s okay, I have nothing to hide.”

Upon speaking of this, Lin Yao smiled. “The netizens must be mocking me now.”

Casting Lin Yao a surprised gaze, Qin Ya shook her head. “No.”

“There’s no need to console me. Someone who just defeated the last person on the Hidden Dragons List immediately challenged Yuan Hao, who is in the top 50. How can the netizens not comment that I’m in over my head?”

Lin Yao understood the netizens’ temperament somewhat, as he had been chided a few times in the past. He did not think that the netizens would endure this. However, this situation had exceeded Lin Yao’s expectations.

“Not this time. The scene of you anchoring Lǚ Yang’s cloud whale when you fought with him was too astounding. When the netizens learned that you plan to challenge Yuan Hao, none of them dared to say that you’ll surely lose. They are all discussing whether you will use that skill again during the battle.”

“Were they freaked out by the Heaven-and-Human Oneness? This ability is indeed shocking. Unfortunately, this move has a one-month cooldown period.”

This was not completely right. This world was not a game, and there was no compulsory cooldown period. However, Heaven-and-Human Oneness consumed the Taoist aura of the Bodhi Tree. Its one month of accumulation was enough for Lin Yao to use the skill only once. He could forcefully unleash it, but the Bodhi Tree would suffer irreparable damage afterward. Therefore, Lin Yao would not do that unless there was a critical moment.

Amid the chirps of cicadas, Lin Yao was immersed in the learning atmosphere of a summer class. However, he didn’t have a peaceful night that day.

After studying for several hours until midnight, Lin Yao frowned and was about to take a break. Wee woo, wee woo, wee woo. Suddenly, he heard some noises.

Upon hearing these sounds all of a sudden, before Lin Yao could react, the two sisters, Yin Meng and Yin Yin, stood up abruptly with a look of horror on their faces.

“What’s wrong?”

‘This is a siren. The military siren. Shanghai is at war.’

Yin Yin and Yin Meng came from Tianhai City and had heard such sirens before. That was the biggest nightmare of their life. They would never forget what happened after the sirens were heard. Countless freaks would suddenly appear, leading to a horrible massacre.

Because of their phobia, they shivered when they heard the warning siren.

On the contrary, Qin Ya, who was not afraid of this, was much calmer. After listening carefully to the siren, she heaved a sigh of relief upon discovering that the siren had only rung once.

“It’s not a war. The siren has only sounded once. This is meant to tell us to stay at home and remain alert.”

The air-raid siren also had different warning levels. The siren that rang for one to three times was of the lowest level—Level 1. The sound of this siren indicated that there was chaos in the city, but the military personnel and constables could control it. What people had to do was stay at home and not run around.

The siren was also used to remind the security guards, residents, and self-established militia organizations of the communities to be on their guard and not open their doors to strangers.

The Level 4 to 6 warnings were at the refuge level. When such a siren was heard, the residents would have to evacuate the city and go to the nearest safe place to seek refuge.

The Level 4 warning was heard when there was a disaster in Tianhai City.

The Level 7 warning signaled an impending natural disaster and meant that the city guards were unable to resist it. The residents should thus escape as fast as they could.

As for the Level 8 and 9 warnings, the local cities couldn’t trigger them at all. Only the central government could ring these alarms, and the sound of these two sirens also meant that a national crisis had occurred.

Fortunately, China was still quite powerful. Although the Level 7 warning had sounded many times and many cities had been destroyed, the Level 8 and 9 sirens had never been activated.

At that moment, the lowest-level warning had been heard in Shanghai.

However, this did not alleviate most people’s worries. Shanghai was a first-class city in China. There were countless military personnel and several millions of constables stationed there. It was hard for ordinary situations, including chaos-level (high) freaks, to land Shanghai into chaos. This was a very powerful city, but the sound of a siren had just been heard. How could its people not feel stunned?

At the same time, some people with a more sensitive sense of perception felt even more worried. They knew very clearly that Shanghai had not sounded the siren because of a surprise attack but because it had been affected by the outburst of spirit energy.

They were also aware that the fifth spirit energy tide would occur throughout the world. Now that Shanghai had also been affected, what about all the other areas?

It was the first day of the fifth spirit energy tide. The siren had rung, and the entire country was affected!