"The ’Infinity’ quietly left Beiwan Station in the darkness of the night, continuing its journey eastward. On the way, KIKI asked Lin Xian, ’Why are we leaving in such a hurry? There are still so many places we haven’t searched.’"
"Supplies are endless, and getting too greedy might lead to big losses," Lin Xian said flatly.
"That Tang Hai doesn’t seem to be dead yet, and I’m worried that he may cause other troubles."
"Not dead?!" KIKI frowned, "I thought he was already dead."
Lin Xian sighed deeply and described what he had seen at the beginning.
"I feel that Tang Hai may have a kind of superpower, and the situation we just saw might be that superpower undergoing some change."
At this point, he turned to Lou Shasha and Lou Ye and asked, "How much do you two siblings understand about superpowers?"
Lou Ye looked startled at this question and earnestly shook his head, "I’m not too sure..."
About his own superpowers, Lou Ye seemed to know little, only aware that one day he suddenly became much stronger.
"Right, brother, haven’t you forgotten?" At this moment, Sha Sha revealed a pivotal piece of information, "When that Feng Yuming turned into an insect and attacked you, he said you were still low-grade stuff, and he mentioned you don’t even know that superpowers can evolve after killing Abnormalities and Superpower Users..."
Lou Ye scratched his head, "Seems like it."
"Really?" Teacher Chen exclaimed from the side, "Superpowers can level up?"
"They should be able to."
Lin Xian took a deep breath, "If there are levels, then Feng Yuming is certainly not the lowest level. He is very strong, and even knowing that there are three superpower users among us, he’s not at all scared, which shows he’s very confident."
After he finished speaking, he noticed that KIKI, who usually talked the most, was silent. Lifting his gaze, he saw KIKI squinting and smiling at him with a somewhat strange look in her eyes.
"Speak up!" He knew this girl knew a lot and felt a twinge of annoyance at her smile, so he immediately spoke up.
"What if I tell you that I know how to level up superpowers and that there are many types of them? Do you want to know?"
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at KIKI in surprised anticipation.
Lin Xian frowned, "What’s the catch? The way you’re speaking seems to imply there are conditions?"
KIKI arched an eyebrow and suddenly leaned into Lin Xian’s ear to whisper something. Hearing her words, Lin Xian couldn’t help but clutch at his temples with a headache and said helplessly, "Fine, I agree."
"Hee hee, remember, you gave your word~"
KIKI appeared quite satisfied and began, "First, after the first polar night, there were already tens of thousands of reported cases of human mutations worldwide, and that’s just a tiny part of the post-disaster statistics. Following Apocalypse Day, to deal with the extreme disaster, the Federation Government hastily established a special Mutant Research Bureau called the ’Angel Plan’, with the aim, well, apart from research, I suspect it’s to use this power to explore the secrets of Star Abyss and find a way to save the world..."
"How do you know all this?" Chen Sixuan looked at KIKI in amazement.
KIKI curled her lip proudly, "Hacking into the Federation Government’s internal network isn’t hard, and besides, it’s the end of the world; who’s going to control Miss me?"
Lin Xian watched KIKI with a scrutinizing gaze. This girl had managed to ride a rescue helicopter after the polar night. Whether she was the daughter of Linglong Group or not, her identity was certainly extraordinary. However, since she knew valuable information, Lin Xian did not bother to question those minor details.
KIKI cleared her throat.
"The ’Angel Plan’ had gathered some of the remaining top scientists on Apocalypse Day, who discovered through research that all survivors who didn’t mutate into zombies after the Extreme Night possessed a very similar energy that repelled external forces. They called this energy Spirit Swinging Value, and even the weakest survivors, including women and children, had a value of at least 1. In contrast, when observing zombies or some Dark Abnormalities, this value was less than 0 — a negative number."
"This discovery was initially believed to be some sort of selective mechanism, but since no pattern could be found, it was treated as the ’life energy’ of the survivors."
"Then comes the interesting part. All superpower users, especially physically strong adults, show significantly higher values in this measure. In particular, superpower users after the first Extreme Night were categorized into 34 similar types of superpower classifications by the ’Angel Plan’, which conducted assessments based on functionality and destructiveness, correlating these assessments with Spirit Swinging Values and confirming the correlation."
"Spirit Swinging Value represents life energy or the ability to resist the invasion of darkness—the stronger the person, the higher their value."
"This is the first point."
KIKI continued, "The second key point is that superpowers are evolvable, and the data even shows that a small portion of individuals had intrinsic values that had already surpassed the third or even fourth levels at the time they were discovered..."
"Third level, fourth level?" Lin Xian asked with a frown. "Have you forgotten to mention something?"
KIKI shrugged, "Ah, I just glanced through the material generally. Apparently, it’s a bunch of lab geeks who made up a whole system of rank assessments based on Spirit Swinging Value, physical strength, energy output, destructive power, potential lethal threats to living organisms, and so on. From my quick look, all ordinary people or superpower users fall within the 1-100 Spirit Swinging Value range, classified as the ’Origin Seed Level’. For example, the third level, the Vajra Level, is basically beyond human limits, and unless heavy weapons are used, they are hard to kill, defined as having 500-1000 in Spirit Swinging Value."
"The fourth level, the Rampage Level, is considered a significant threat to an area, requiring large armies, heavy combat vehicles, and various types of armored weapons to suppress, with Spirit Swinging Values defined within 1000-3000 combat units."
"As for above the Destruction Level, there is no detailed information because they lack data in this area, so it is only a projected exponential growth based on previous levels..."
Lou Shasha’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t help but ask, "Then Sister KIKI, how exactly do superpowers evolve?"
"Well... it might be different from what everyone imagines."
KIKI spoke with a complex expression, "I saw some top-secret material that indeed indicates that superpower users who reach the second level, the Evolution Level, can achieve a certain increase in Spirit Swinging Values through combat, defeating dark abnormalities or even other superpower users. But these are just initial reports with not much content."
"The second level and above?" Lin Xian sharpened his gaze. "And the first level?"
"Hey!" KIKI looked at Lin Xian with interest. "You’ve hit a key point there."
She paced with a serious demeanor, "The strangest thing is, the Mutant Research Bureau, with some preliminary data, found that the superpower nature at the Origin Seed Level is quite unstable. These superpower users seem to need to undergo some sort of ritual, event, or emotional change to evolve. ’Angel Plan’ even believes that starting from the second level, one can truly metamorphose or complete a full evolution, which is why they call it the Evolution Level or Breakthrough Level."
"Ritual?" As soon as these words came out, everyone reacted in unison, the idea even carrying a bit of religious and mythological significance.
"Correct," KIKI continued. "For example, someone like Feng Yuming would probably be type 16, Limb Mimicry, or type 21, Monster Shape Multiplication from the ’Angel Plan’—either type, once discovered, if they can kill dark abnormalities or other superpower users, then through absorbing through their monstrous limbs or mutated torsos, have the chance to evolve."
"But..." KIKI suddenly turned to Lou Ye. "Judging from your descriptions, Lou Tall Guy, you should be a type 3 Body Enhancement Power user, which is one of the more common types among superpower users. What’s strange is that for such abilities to evolve to the second level, the ’Angel Plan’ has multiple uncertain assessment reports. The method Feng Yuming uses is completely ineffective, which is said to be a different pathway of evolution!"
"Really?!" Lou Shasha exclaimed in shock. "That sounds scary, doesn’t it?"
"Who knows," KIKI shrugged her shoulders. "This statement, whether from biological or physical science... well, let’s face it, these two disciplines no longer exist in this world, so everyone just treats it like theology."
"One more thing, this research bureau believes that the evolution of superpowers has a dual nature; that is, superpower users also have weaknesses similar to zombie infectees. Without specific conditions, they are eroded by this power, gradually heading towards an evolutionary error or becoming zombies—so to speak. When a person’s Spirit Swinging Value falls below 1, they call this state... Fallen!"
"What about Tang Hai?" Lin Xian looked at her. "The situation I just witnessed, have you ever seen that in the records?"
KIKI nodded solemnly, "Not only have I seen it, but I’m sure he’s of type 32, an Uncertain Contagion class of superpower users—very fascinating." KIKI frowned as she said, "The data shows that at the Origin Seed stage, it’s quite hard to detect this power because they don’t exhibit any physical or spiritual power changes. The only characteristic is..."
"That they’re not easily detected by zombies?" Lin Xian recalled that image with a heavy expression.
KIKI nodded. "But this type of superpower is the easiest to evolve."
Lin Xian frowned, "Does it mean that getting killed by a zombie might lead to an upgrade..."
KIKI tilted her head, her eyes slightly sinking, "According to a collection of cases, evolution isn’t inevitable or guaranteed to produce a specific outcome. It might also... lead to an evolutionary error!"