Chapter 545: Chapter 547: Life Scepter * Gene Editing

“A Genetic Editor?”

Qin Muye finally managed to extract partial data of the Life Scepter from within Wang Wei’s body through the White Death God Armor.

It took him nearly three months to do so, and during these three months, Wang Wei was waging wars in all directions, showing off and slapping faces to seize opportunities everywhere.

He even gained several alien beauties as confidantes.

When Qin Muye saw this scene, he was absolutely astonished, even though the looks of these confidantes tended to align with the Human Clan’s aesthetic standard, but that did not mean they were of the same species.

The genes might be different, but shouldn’t the lengths and shapes be different too? It’s pure Platonic love, then.

However, Qin Muye no longer cared much about these things, as long as he didn’t take off his White Death God Armor, that’s all that mattered, let him play however he pleased.

So, Qin Muye got his hands on a portion of the data from the Life Scepter.

Essentially, this was a Genetic Editor, Qin Muye guessed that it must be because the data was incomplete, otherwise, it would definitely be more than just an editor; it would surely possess various abilities like gene optimization, automatic outfitting, and so on.

Otherwise, based on how Wang Wei dared to shove any kind of Superpower into his own body, relying solely on a Genetic Editor, he would have exploded and died long ago.

Even Qin Muye wasn’t sure if he could handle the Genetic Editor well–an editor that directly modifies genes. Once there’s a problem, surviving it would mean a stroke of great Luck, and even if one lived, they’d certainly suffer from various defects and sequelae left by post-editing of the genes.

It’s not that Qin Muye underestimated Wang Wei, but with the Knowledge in Wang Wei’s head, he simply couldn’t master the Genetic Editor at all, hence the greater part of the credit for his Infinite Superpower should go to the Life Scepter.

With the help of the Life Scepter, Wang Wei could thus so effortlessly replicate Superpowers through Energy Manipulation.

“Once Wang Wei leaves the Life Scepter, his entire body would collapse into a pile of rotten flesh in no time.”

“However, this possibility is not great. Following the usual plot routine, later on, Wang Wei would definitely be able to completely Refine the Life Scepter, making it a part of himself.”

Qin Muye knew that if it weren’t for his intervention, the other party was unlikely to encounter accidents.

“The Life Scepter of the GROX Empire is at minimum Divine Artifact Level, the remaining two, the Book of Eternity, and the Galaxy Cube, are also similar.”

“So I must get my hands on it after Wang Wei has completely refined it; if it’s too late…”

“Then I’ll just have to capture Wang Wei and make him into a Territory Trait.”

“It’s just a matter of timing it right.”

Qin Muye would certainly not give up on a Divine Artifact Level Treasure, but right now, Wang Wei was still useful, like helping him get his hands on the rest of the Book of Eternity and the Galaxy Cube, as well as assisting in finding things like a Star God.

If it’s tough to rely on strength alone, then one has to think of a more specialized approach.

After all, that’s what the protagonist is there to solve.

“Even though I didn’t get much, the Genetic Editor alone is enough to break even.”

The Genetic Editor was just a name Qin Muye came up with, not to say that it was actually some sort of device.

Soon, a specimen was brought up by Spirit Monster; it was an F-level Superpower User, belonging to the Interstellar Human Clan.

“It’s time to try an Superpower version of a Biochemical Crisis.”

The F-level Superpower User’s Superpower was very simple–acid spitting.

An organ similar to a sac had mutated in the throat area, capable of producing acid, and the mouth had undergone certain mutations to resist the damage from the acid.

The potency of the acid wasn’t great, probably because the Superpower Level was too low.

But that’s not an issue for Qin Muye; the Genetic Editor started its work, the specimen’s body began to swell abnormally, with a mass of flesh squirming.

“…”

“This must be discrimination, isn’t it? When Wang Wei used this function, there were no such changes.”

Qin Muye had only just begun to analyze the genes of this experimental subject and hadn’t even started editing when the subject ended up looking like this ghastly figure.

He knew why, because the driving force was different, Wang Wei relied on the Life Scepter, while the experimental subject was controlled by Qin Muye himself, which meant one was akin to a legitimate hospital surgery, and the other was like contamination from the Abyss.

The main reason still lay with Qin Muye, roughly meaning that if used for good, it results in good; if used for evil, it begets evil.

So that was why things on Qin Muye’s end were so sinister.

It was a bit sinister, but as long as it didn’t affect the experiment, it didn’t matter.

Qin Muye swiftly rewrote its genes.

“The body can synthesize acidic liquids, a great ability, like a factory for synthesis separate from the body yet within the gene itself.”

Perhaps to other Superpower Users, acid spewing seemed useless, but in Qin Muye’s eyes, the real strength wasn’t the acid, but the organ that synthesized the acid.

“Currently, the organ has a powerful regeneration ability, even if cut off, it can regenerate once more.”

“However, data analysis suggests that the regeneration ability is limited, and too many cuts will lead to a decline in the quality of the acid.”

Qin Muye carefully removed the sac-like organ used for synthesizing and storing acid and, after stopping the bleeding, proceeded with further research.

As for regeneration, that too requires time, similar to a person’s wound healing. After all, his Superpower is acid spewing, not super-speed regeneration. Without external interference, it would probably take about three to five months to regrow.

“Preliminary estimates suggest it could replace synthesized substances.”

Synthesizing acid was nothing; Qin Muye planned to convert this individual’s Superpower organ from one that synthesized acid to one that synthesized biochemical viruses.

The difficulty was not significant; it only required transplanting a viral prototype into the body, combined with modifications to the body’s genes, cells, and other aspects, to enable synthesis of a biochemical virus.

However, using spewing as a method was terribly inefficient. Qin Muye planned to create an entirely new species with the aim of adding chaos to the Shining Universe and providing a surprise for other interstellar civilizations.

“Respiratory dissemination is somewhat useful, but the problem is that most aliens are already immune to various diseases and viruses. Civilizations that can evolve to interstellar levels have made significant advancements in medicine, biology, and other fields.”

“Hence, physical transmission can basically only trick those mercenaries who emerge from the unclaimed lands.”

“And each species structure is unique; the degree of damage varies.”

“Therefore… it’d be better to just turn it into a synthesis factory, creating an entirely new energy-parasitic species.”

This was a preliminary experiment in anticipation of the Star God calamity. To subvert a planet, other than turning it into glass, contaminating it from within was the only large-scale method available.

From Wang Wei’s memories, Qin Muye also saw that Star Gods were akin to a combination of Spirit Bodies and Energy Bodies, and the planets themselves were sort of nodes. If the planets’ bodies were not destroyed, the Star Gods could regenerate even after death.

This was only a beginning. Once the Cosmic Will was born, even the planetary bodies would become irrelevant. As long as the Cosmic Will did not perish, the Star Gods could rebirth time and again, free from the constraints of their planets.

Thus, Qin Muye’s idea was simple: see if he could create something that could parasitize a Spirit Body or Energy Body, serving as a means to infiltrate the enemy from within.

It would also serve as a beachhead for Qin Muye to nest in another’s lair.

“There are no big issues with the development direction; what’s left is the loading.”

For the needed Thought Virus, Qin Muye quickly concocted it and did not plan to use a standard virus but one developed specifically for targeting thought processes.

Qin Muye combined the Gendaya Civilization Mother Goddess’s Divine technology with the World’s Child’s parasitic methods and soon created an ethereal Thought Virus.

Once infected by this virus, there would be no change in appearance or internal structure, but the psychological aspect would show anomalies, such as mental splitting, thought contamination, the emergence of a completely new and distinct personality, or even the formation of a Mind Network, among other effects.

This type of Thought Virus could not be resolved by conventional means, and if it took root thoroughly, it could directly take over the original persona, becoming an uncontrollable source of infection.

“Next, I’ll randomly select an unclaimed land to spread it.” Qin Muye quickly finished transforming the experimental subject, then picked and chose on the Star Map, looking for an easy target.

He would definitely pick a soft target, as it wouldn’t make sense to directly confront the three major powers–that would be plain sickness.

He wasn’t worried about it getting out of control. If it actually did, the three major powers would truly be ineffective. Besides, Qin Muye himself was a fail-safe.