Chapter 2980: Dream Lover and Impotent Rage
"What's so fun about the government building?" Xu Huo said. "Do you have new friends there?"
The Painting Woman's gaze was a bit evasive. "No new friends, but there's definitely something fun there."
Xu Huo looked up at her. "Be careful when you're out and about."
She gave him a "don't worry" look, then slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked off cheerfully.
Xu Huo opened his communicator and took out all the materials he had previously gathered regarding Super Evolution to read.
Everyone's understanding of Super Evolution is different, and the direction of evolution also varies. Generally speaking, if the evolutionary direction is different, it's hard for others' experiences to be helpful to oneself. However, it can broaden one's horizons and show the other possibilities of Super Evolution.
He read until evening. After dinner, a message from an unfamiliar number appeared on his communicator. The sender knew his identity and invited him to participate in a ticket instance that had appeared in Zone 014. The ticket was already prepared for him, and the conditions offered were generous. They promised that all items and other objects found in the instance would be his to keep two-thirds of.
Xu Huo paused. This was clearly not aimed at the instance. As for its purpose, he didn't reply and set it aside for now.
When he had free time, he examined the items given by the Special Defense Department.
First were the time-type items:
[Instant Noodle Time: As everyone knows, instant noodles taste best when they've just started to soften but still have a bit of firmness. According to the Artificer's personal taste, he confirms that at 45 seconds of steeping, the flavor of the instant noodles reaches its peak.]
[But this Artificer, who combines poverty and skill, couldn't resist opening the noodles before that time, so this item was born. Instant Noodle Time can select any one person, causing them to fall into a state of stasis lasting 45 seconds.]
He really went all out just to eat a bowl of instant noodles. Truly, human imagination is limitless.
The seven single-use items were mostly passive-triggered life-saving items of very high quality. It seemed the Special Defense Department was extremely afraid of him having an accident, even giving out life-saving items like this in bulk.
The mental-type items were all auxiliary items that could double the holder's mental power for a short time. However, one of them was quite interesting. It had the effect of making the target recall the best moments of their life, which was, in another sense, a way of treating the dead kindly.
The special items with thinking abilities were "Dream Lover" and "Impotent Rage."
Xu Huo took out "Dream Lover." As it landed, it became a monster with a scaly tail and a humanoid upper body. Its long tail dragged on the ground, its upper half wore a bright red dress, and its long hair was disheveled. Its stiff face had unusually vivid eyes—so vivid they seemed about to pop out of their sockets. The overly active eyes, combined with the rigid lower half of its face and its slithering posture, made it look like something out of a nightmare.
Items like this, which possess consciousness, are not easy to capture. They have a certain level of awareness. Other items can be released and retrieved, but releasing this one might be like letting a wild horse run free. To store them in the item slot, their consent is required. This seems to be a special rule specifically for items that have developed thinking abilities.
The Painting Woman was like this. As long as she was unwilling, no one could store her in an item slot or luggage compartment.
"Hiss!" "Dream Lover" slithered over. Whether out of anger or testing, it leaped straight at Xu Huo's head.
"Slap!" Its head hit the space barrier with a loud crash. From the sound, it was clear how much force it had used, so much so that after falling back to the ground, it kept tilting its head to one side.
This "Dream Lover"... didn't seem very smart.
"Want an apple?" Xu Huo picked a green one from the fruit bowl. "It's sour."
"Dream Lover" was still a bit dizzy, but its attention was caught by the apple being tossed up and down. It couldn't help but start salivating uncontrollably.
Xu Huo threw the apple over. The tail that had been dragging on the ground shot out swiftly, its scales opening and closing as it precisely stabbed the apple mid-air, then slowly brought it to its mouth.
It sniffed the apple, as if confirming there was no problem, then opened its mouth and swallowed it whole.
Its mouth could open to a scale unimaginable for humans. But if it were smarter, it would know to taste a small bite first to determine if something was edible. With a few crisp crunches, its saliva and apple juice spilled out.
"Hiss!" "Dream Lover" angrily spat the apple at Xu Huo's face, its tail slapping the ground repeatedly, even cracking the floor tiles.
"I'll give you a red one." Separated by the defense barrier, Xu Huo felt no pressure and handed it another apple.
Before its hissing mouth could close, another fruit was inside. "Dream Lover" tentatively licked it, then began chewing loudly.
"Do you have a name?" Xu Huo asked it. Unfortunately, "Dream Lover" had no interest in anything besides eating for now.
"Forget it. I'll have Li Chun name you later."
Although it was called "Dream Lover," it couldn't actually enter dreams. It preferred to scare people in the dead of night—just the Artificer's twisted sense of humor.
As for "Impotent Rage," it was even more interesting. Its appearance was strikingly similar to an orchid mantis, and its colors were very beautiful, a light pink overall. However, it was quite large, about two meters tall.
A creature of this size was already frightening just to look at.
Xu Huo didn't take it out to examine, because this item shared a similarity with "Holder's Demise." Every time before use, it would first attack the holder. If it couldn't kill or injure the holder, then for the next three minutes, it would go into a berserk state, indiscriminately killing all living things around it.
After all, this was an item, not as fragile as a real mutant beast. It was a true berserk metal weapon.
Unlike "Dream Lover," this item wasn't naturally born but artificially crafted. But why did the Artificer enjoy making items that first kill their holder? What kind of hobby was that?
Still, being able to create items with consciousness made this Artificer incredibly skilled.
After storing "Dream Lover" in his item slot, Xu Huo opened the belongings of Jin Feixue and Whale.
Whale's belongings hadn't been transferred in time. He had many good items, but most were suited for coordination with his physical evolution, ideal for large-scale attacks.
Jin Feixue's belongings, however, were more intriguing. Knowing he couldn't escape, he chose to hand over his good items to his companion—that wasn't surprising. In fact, the number of good items in his item slot wasn't large, at least not matching the reputation of a famous wanted criminal like him.
But under these circumstances, there was a game item in his luggage compartment.