Abyssal Wanderer

My own blood was burned dry by the flowing flames...

This was Liao Qi's most intuitive feeling after the adjustment and transformation started.

It was as if countless fiery needles pierced through the bionic skin, drilled through the subcutaneous armor made of plastic steel, and then injected some corrosive liquid into the blood vessels. The severe pain made him clenched his teeth.

Immediately, a burning sensation occurred in all places where blood could flow. The flame-like liquid reshaped his body's blood circulation system.

As large as the large arteries and veins extending from the heart, as small as the capillary ends curling around the fingertips, Liao Qi's blood circulation system has been gradually replaced by a lattice network-like structure.

A structure with greater energy transfer efficiency, greater load-carrying capacity, and greater resistance to destruction.

Naturally, what flows inside this new blood circulation system is no longer a mixed liquid mixed with red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and various inorganic salt ions. It is a kind of magnetic fluid driven by electromagnetic field, which can imitate blood and perform all functions.

Compared with blood, this kind of ferrofluid has higher energy transmission efficiency, faster flow speed, and stronger resistance to invading foreign substances in the body-at least there are no naturally evolved bacteria or viruses that can survive in this way. survive in the environment.

Not only that...

At a certain moment, Liao Qi could suddenly feel the flow of his new "blood" clearly.

That's not feeling the blood rushing when you're emotional. Instead, it senses the flow of its own "blood" through its own magnetic field sensing ability, just like sensing the airflow during breathing.

Not only can it sense, he can even control it.

Using his magnetic control ability, as long as Liao Qi is willing, he can change the flow rate and flow of his "blood" at any time, and use this to more precisely control the output of his various organs or prosthetic bodies.

The Mercury Wing System...

Along with the upgrade of the blood circulation system, it is Liao Qi's "heart" and "brain".

The broad-spectrum energy core merged with Liao Qi's second heart, upgraded to a coronal core, occupying his chest. Its powerful maximum output efficiency is about three times that of the past—that is enough output to self-destruct the current prosthetic body. And as for the energy it can store, it is ten times as much as the previous energy core!

Now, after Liao Qi is fully charged once, under normal energy consumption, the whole body prosthesis can last for nine months.

In order to dissipate the heat of this thing, two sets of liquid nitrogen cooling systems were implanted and installed at the positions of his two shoulder blades, one on the left and one on the right. After the connected cooling fins were stowed, they hung behind him like stowed featherless wings.

Corona heart...

And in the depths of Liao Qi's brain, his originally normal pituitary gland began to divide and grow like a cancer cell after receiving some kind of stimulation—under the joint action of mutated gene expression and Turing-forming factor, The "cancerous" pituitary gland expanded by about 30 percent of its volume. It didn't stop until it grew upward and merged with the optic chiasm.

The supercomputer bio-protein chip is fused with the optic chiasm nerve, which makes it possible for Liao Qi to almost instinctively obtain far more information than ordinary people for things that involve numbers in his vision. For example, if someone sprinkles a handful of rice on the table, he can directly report how many grains are on the table with just a glance.

Of course, this intelligence processing instinct, on the other hand, also brings a lot of hidden dangers - when he receives too much digital information in an instant, he may be like a cat that will unconsciously pounce on the red dot, producing certain An obsessive-compulsive reaction.

For example, in a battle, if the enemy knocks over a bucket of beans in front of him, he needs to fight his own instincts and work very hard to restrain his urge to count the beans.

But on the other hand, this calculation instinct combined with the "bullet time" activated by the hurricane-type adrenal pump enables Liao Qi to accurately calculate the bullet trajectory in his mind even in a battle that is calculated by milliseconds, so as to make the optimal tactical choice.

Apollo pituitary...

Although there were only three adjustments and transformations, the depth 3 adjustments and transformations of the Icarus path lasted a total of half an hour-this is almost as much as the previous two depth adjustments combined.

What is different from the previous two adjustments is that this time after getting out of the universal printer and falling back to the solid ground, Liao Qi didn't say anything or do anything—he just stood there quietly, Close your eyes as if meditating.

"how do you feel?"

Winston, who has been in charge of the debugging and operation of the universal printer, walked up—of course, he didn't dare to get too close—and asked cautiously.

The adjustment and transformation of depth 3 this time gave Liao Qi a significant change in his body. His face is paler than before... no, not only pale, but now his face is like a character in an ancient cg movie, with an unreal and inhuman texture.

Besides that, the most eye-catching thing is a pair of "wings" extending from behind him.

It is about two meters long when it is fully opened, and has neither feathers nor membranes—even if it has such a pitiful size and a heavy metal skeleton, it is impossible to support Liao Qi to fly by aerodynamics.

From a functional point of view, this pair of "wings" is mainly a cooling device.

But other than that...

The metal bone wings unfolded with a "snap", and Winston was so frightened by the movement that he took a few steps back, and immediately turned his head to look at Booker not far away.

If the opponent has fallen into the uncanny valley because of this adjustment and transformation, then only this team leader has the ability to subdue the opponent.

Booker shook his head at him, indicating that there was nothing wrong with it.

Winston turned to look at Liao Qi who had suddenly opened his "wings". At this moment, something like liquid metal was flowing, turning into something like feathers, covering the skeleton of the wings layer by layer. up.

At this moment, he looked like a metal sculpture of an angel.

"Are you ok?"

Booker watched Liao Qi finish doing this quietly, and then asked.

"I'm afraid the sleeping position in the future will be very awkward."

Opening his eyes again, Liao Qi replied.

His originally brown pupils were now silver-white—making him look blind.

"However, there are generally no problems ... my current mental state is very good.

"As for my change..."

After finishing speaking, he closed his eyes again, and began to feel the ability he gained from upgrading to Depth 3.

In addition to a more stable and powerful energy system; and the improvement of brain computing power, resistance to hacking. Essentially, there is only one ability acquired by Icarus Path Depth 3——

For the manipulation of ferrofluids.

In fact, both the "Apollo Pituitary" and the "Coronal Hearth" exist to assist this ability - the former provides sufficient computing speed for it, while the latter ensures sufficient energy for continuous manipulation.

And this ability itself can be seen as an extension of the magnetic field manipulation ability of Depth 2...

Liao Qi thought to himself.

Except for retaining a little circulatory system that supplies blood to the brain, all the blood in his body has been replaced with a special ferrofluid called "Mercury Wings". And in the "radiator" behind him, there is a magnetic fluid equivalent to the amount of his blood as a supplementary reserve.

After being activated by electric currents of different intensities, this kind of magnetic fluid will instantly change its molecular structure and exhibit different physical properties—it may be as hard as an alloy, it may be as soft as a memory sponge, or it may be woven and stretched. Strong fiber structure...

Under his control, these ferrofluids can change into a variety of shapes according to his own mind - it can be formed to wrap itself to form armor; it can also be turned into a sharp melee weapon; it can also be extended , as a hunting tool in complex terrain.

Liao Qi spread out his palm, and the bright silver liquid seeped densely from the palm, and under the influence of its tension, it gathered into a round and smooth silver bead.

Then, like shaking red wine in a goblet, he gently shook the silver bead, letting it roll in the palm of his hand like water drops on the lotus leaf, and then...

With a slight effort, under the influence of the magnetic field, countless sharp needles emerged from this silver bead like a sea urchin.

Next, it only needs to be powered on for a while to maintain a steady state.

And then, he can throw it... like a real sea urchin to hurt people?

Liao Qi laughed at himself and shook his head. Immediately, he continued to move his fingers, and the mass of ferrofluid continued to change shape with his movements.

The intertwined double helix, the film covering the palm, the countless needles standing up, the scales layer upon layer...

Although it looks ever-changing, if anything, they cannot be transformed into complex mechanical structures like the Aegis combat modules of the Perseus path.

Rather, it is very difficult to make the ferrofluid form a stable polyhedron through magnetic field manipulation.

Therefore, in battle, there are only a few forms that can really be used-as a fluid covering the surface of something, elongating sharp spikes, or gathering a large amount of ferrofluid as a whip for slashing.

as well as……

Liao Qi controlled the ferrofluid to wrap around his finger like a snake, drawing a "∞" sign.

Next, turn on the power.

He looked at the newly formed data wire in his hand and nodded slightly.

So, this is the true effect of "Mercury Wings"...

Liao Qi thought to himself.

If Christie hadn't told him about the direction of the Ascension Path Icarus's true ability, he might not have thought about it in this direction, but would have just used "Mercury Wings" as a slime controlled by him.

Unexpectedly, it can be compatible with almost all prosthetic interfaces after being connected to the interface and then adapted.

In this way, like Shoggoth, I have grown countless pseudopod appendages - I can use them to invade the prosthetic body that interferes with other adjusters, or expand other prosthetic bodies that do not have slots for myself.

And this is the real purpose of "Mercury Wings"! (end of this chapter)