CHAPTER 104: CHAPTER 104: THE CRIMSON ACE CARD, TRULY AN ACE! (SECOND UPDATE)

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

So far, the Pangolin that Ren Suo controlled, with the vast majority of its evolutions, had no advantage whatsoever against the National Forces Tactical Bureau and the Awakeners.

All of its concealment effects had failed. A Cultivator specialized in Scouting from the Tactical Bureau had identified the Pangolin’s exact location through unknown methods.

Its combat power was negligible. As powerful as the Pangolin was, it stood no chance against firearms. Moreover, the other side had anesthetic guns capable of locking onto targets. These days, even True Humans can cheat in shooting, Ren Suo mused, beginning to understand why he’d only ever seen Demons and Ghosts once or twice in big cities.

If those Demons and Ghosts didn’t Evolve to a certain extent and couldn’t withstand Hot Weapons, they could be locked on and killed by the Black Body Armor of the Tactical Bureau using special Magic Locks. After all, no matter how fast they were, could they outrun a bullet?

If they could outrun bullets, it would mean their bodies could directly break the sound barrier, and such bodies would indeed be able to withstand bullets.

Alas, what does the revival of Spiritual Energy matter when ordinary creatures in their initial stages are still no match for Hot Weapons?

Perhaps those creatures classified as ’Demons and Ghosts’ have all been anesthetized and sent for research.

The Pangolin was now only fleeing and not harming anyone, which seemed to have categorized it as a type of fairy. Ren Family Cultivators had encountered a few fairies in "Over My Dead Body" and even had a few offspring with them. The most significant trait of fairies is that they don’t harm people and can communicate. No wonder the Tactical Bureau even took the initiative to talk to the Pangolin.

But in this game, Devouring the Spirit of the World cooperating with any organization won’t achieve its fundamental goal.

Devouring the Spirit of the World seeks to become the strongest, and no human organization would ever allow an Otherkind creature to become the strongest.

If the Tactical Bureau had an Awakening Technique to establish a contract with Devouring the Spirit of the World, turning it into a Servant... then this game save would be GG.

Ren Suo looked at the combat power rating in the top right corner; the World’s Strongest was still growing stronger. It had been only an hour since the Pangolin lit the Heritage Volcano, and the World’s Strongest had gained another 1,000 combat power.

However, the Pangolin was not what it used to be, now possessing 2,300 combat power.

Ren Suo still didn’t quite understand what this combat power number meant, but it definitely didn’t mean the Pangolin could take on 23 ordinary people at once.

If it could handle 23 ordinary people without injury, it could naturally also handle 2,300 ordinary people without injury, provided the latter didn’t flee.

Well, it was clear it couldn’t take on the Tactical Bureau directly.

A helicopter was buzzing in the distance, heading towards the Pangolin, leaving it little time. If the helicopter looked for a nearby clearing to land, that would be one thing. However, it couldn’t be ruled out that Tactical Bureau personnel would descend directly from low altitude using ropes, or that the individual who could manipulate wind and used "Wind Domain" would bring a group of people and jump directly from the helicopter.

Ren Suo had no idea what kind of awakened spells they possessed or how many people they had brought.

Moreover, I have no intention of attacking my compatriots at the Tactical Bureau! Ren Suo thought. After all, I’m currently a salary thief at the Bureau. Only by swindling money from the Bureau can I enjoy playing the game.

Go to work? That’s impossible now. Work is something I can’t do for a lifetime. I can only secure funds by occasionally leaking a few pieces of information.

"Activate ’Spiritual Vision’!"

The surroundings were lush with trees, a sea of green. Ren Suo obviously wasn’t looking for treasure but was trying to find a wild animal here.

When trying to avoid infrared thermal imaging detection, Ren Suo had noticed that thermal imaging was similar to Spiritual Vision. If one’s own Spiritual Energy differed from the environment, one’s shape would be outlined by Spiritual Energy and revealed in the Spiritual Vision display.

It didn’t work on walls, but in a forest environment like this, using it like a limited-range X-Ray Vision was no problem!

Of course, the most important reason was that the in-game time was 1:00 a.m., and the Pangolin couldn’t see anything with its naked eyes.

As Ren Suo sprinted, he rotated the right joystick, scanning the vicinity 360 degrees for any creatures.

Insects are no good; their starting point is too low.

A small bird... could be a backup option.

A lizard... also a backup option.

There’s a river over there with fish... Hmm, who knows, it might Evolve into a Deep Sea Giant Kun.

Damn it, what happened to this being a nature reserve? Give me a more powerful wild animal!

Then Ren Suo blinked, paused for a moment, and pulled out his phone to check what "nature reserve" actually meant.

Hmm... it’s only for protecting the local ecosystem; it has nothing to do with the presence of powerful wild animals.

What to do now? Run tens of kilometers more to find the next nature reserve? But the next one might not have any powerful wild animals either.

Fine, a bird will do. The Pangolin’s perspective spun around, and Ren Suo randomly chose a direction with bird-like Spiritual Energy to dash towards. By then, the helicopter was already closing in on the Pangolin’s position.

Time is short... you’re it, Kotori Minami—

Hmm?

As the Humanoid Pangolin charged forward, the grass beside it suddenly rustled. A Little Fox with a brownish-red back, white belly, and white-tipped tail emerged from the bushes, evidently startled by the Humanoid Pangolin.

It was unclear whether it had escaped from a fox farm or was wild; it seemed to be the only fox in the vicinity.

However, Ren Suo’s eyes lit up as he lay on the sofa. He immediately controlled the Humanoid Pangolin to dash over and grab the Little Fox, deftly maneuvering the controller to switch the active Skill to "Immortal Legacy"!

"Immortal Legacy, activate!"

In an instant, time seemed to halt. A crimson flame erupted from the Humanoid Pangolin’s body. The flames coalesced above its head into a Crimson Ace Card, which swooped down with a WHOOSH onto the head of the Little Fox, melding into it in a burst of fiery splendor!

"You have activated ’Immortal Legacy.’"

"Devouring the Spirit of the World has been transferred to the Red Fox."

"The Red Fox has acquired the Crimson Ace Card: Immortal Legacy."

"The Red Fox has gained 28 chances to Evolve."

"Do you wish to use the auxiliary effect of Immortal Legacy: Rekindle (choose 28 Evolution Cards out of 84)? You may also choose to Evolve in the normal way."

Since it was the special effect of the Crimson Ace Card, Ren Suo naturally had to try it out first, so he chose to activate "Rekindle."

On the game screen, a whopping nine rows of Evolution Cards appeared, totaling 84. Ren Suo quickly scanned through them and realized that the evolution options for the Red Fox were very different from those of the Pangolin.

Most of the Pangolin’s evolutions were for physical Attacks, making it a brute, whereas the Red Fox seemed more like an assassin, a spy!

"Fragrance Charm," "Suggestion," "Hallucination," "Existence Concealment"...

Out of the 84 Evolution Cards, only one Super Evolution Card appeared: "Human Mimicry." It was grayed out, indicating that Ren Suo needed to increase any of the Red Fox’s Attributes to their maximum before he could select it.

Is it because of the Pangolin’s Inheritance, or is "Human Mimicry" the only option for a first-time Super-Evolution?

Wait a minute.

Ren Suo quickly understood the significance of "Immortal Legacy: Rekindle."

Unlike the previous random growth, which involved blindly choosing the most cost-effective evolution from three options, Rekindle allowed for selecting the most suitable Evolve combination for the character’s survival strategy from all 84 cards!

After spending 45 minutes in reality researching, Ren Suo finally selected the Evolve combination, and game time resumed.

He had the Little Fox jump to the ground. Ren Suo glanced at the Pangolin, only to find it standing there, still and dumbfounded.

Why isn’t it dead yet?

Hmm?

Ren Suo considered a possibility and opened the Evolve tab. Indeed, the description of "Immortal Legacy" made no mention that the Inheritor would die.

At that moment, Ren Suo noticed that the top-left corner of the screen, which previously displayed the Humanoid Pangolin’s icon, now showed the Little Fox’s icon, with the Pangolin’s icon squeezed below it.

Additionally, a prompt appeared to the right of the Pangolin’s icon: "Press the directional keys up and down to change the control target."

Ren Suo’s eyes widened as he saw the screen’s main view switch from the Little Fox to the Humanoid Pangolin!

According to the game prompts, although the Humanoid Pangolin could no longer Evolve or absorb Spiritual Energy, and all its evolutions were lost, its appearance remained humanoid and its Physical Condition dropped to an average human level. This was only because Super-Evolution was irreversible.

But I can still control the Pangolin! That’s enough!

"Comrade Pangolin, we are personnel from the Mysterious Country’s Tactical Bureau, here to protect you. Please do not resist any further and accept the state’s restructuring..."

Ren Suo had the Pangolin stay put to accept the state’s restructuring, then quickly controlled the Red Fox to slip away.

Yet, at this moment, his heart surged with overwhelming excitement!

The Crimson Ace Card... it truly is an ace!