Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded

Lin Feng turned around, staring directly at the mental pollution phantom coalescing in the shadows behind him.

The monster wearing his face gradually retracted its sinister smile. After a moment of silent laughter, it seemed intimidated by Lin Feng, and slowly began to speak:

"We can cooperate."

Only then did Lin Feng respond:

"You're the distorted flesh aggregate at the bottom of the Feicheng Shelter ruins?"

The mental monster was taken aback, then nodded:

"This is my divine self. If it weren't for back then…"

"Speak human language!" Lin Feng interrupted its deliberate mystification again, while also glancing towards the corner of his eye, ready to click 'Yes' on the system's purge prompt.

Faintly sensing an aura of death constantly approaching, the mental pollution monster felt a strong sense of crisis erupt in its consciousness, and hastily shut its mouth.

It looked at the man before it, unable to understand why, despite having successfully parasitized him, it couldn't continue to erode his brain and consciousness even a step further.

It was as if an insurmountable high wall, a giant gate, blocked its advance.

In order to bewitch the parasitized host and return to the ruins, it had to risk being killed by the blazing sun, releasing information and energy within the host's consciousness, forcibly manifesting itself in the shadows.

Now, facing Lin Feng's threat, it reluctantly abandoned the aloofness and arrogance brought about by its noble status, and instead began to introduce its own origins:

"I am a first-generation Tier 3 King, and one of the top evolvers of that era. Before the shelter was sealed, I had already reached the mid-stage of Tier 3, ranked ninety-seventh globally."

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. He knew that the other party was likely the builder of the Mount Tai Shelter and the controller of this area back then.

As the strongest Tier 3 King in the Luzhou region, he was naturally among the top evolvers of that time.

However, Lin Feng didn't expect that a powerhouse ranked in the top 100 globally in the old Earth era would fall to this state, becoming what he was now.

This was clearly not an issue that could be explained by choosing the wrong evolutionary path.

The mental monster wearing Lin Feng's face shrugged. After parasitizing him, although it couldn't continue to invade the host's mind, it could sense the other party's emotional fluctuations and general thoughts.

For example, it had previously discovered that Lin Feng felt no fear or dread towards mental pollution and its appearance, but rather disgust and indifference.

This made the mental pollution monster feel a sense of loss and fear it had never experienced before, and it even thought it had mistakenly entered the body of an existence of the same level, worrying about its main body being implicated, and feeling uneasy.

Now, seeing Lin Feng looking slightly puzzled, the mental monster, regaining the initiative, nodded and continued with a sinister smile:

"It's normal to feel confused, after all, even I didn't expect that the people outside would be so insidious, cunning, and unscrupulous, even colluding with alien races to put me to death…"

"In the old Earth era, my name was Zong Shiyue, the King of Luzhou back then, and later the Lord of Mount Tai."

"It was I who saved the millions of survivors in Luzhou, allowing them to enter the shelter and escape the danger of being wiped out by the solar storm…"

"Many small tropical countries located in areas rich in biological resources, or island countries isolated overseas, were directly destroyed by the beast tide…"

"Those Tier 3 sea kings led a large number of mutant sea beasts, causing tsunamis, rushing all the way to the coastal land, and sweeping through areas hundreds of kilometers deep."

"Fortunately, after the recovery of human industry, coupled with the powerful physique of the evolvers, they exploded with amazing combat power."

"Mainly because the cities have fallen, they can use artillery fire to cover and eliminate low-level mutant beasts without any burden."

"And after humans restored order, new problems followed, the sunlight suddenly weakened in those years, until the Wentian telescope was used to check, and then we realized that a huge crisis was coming…"

"This crisis is a hundred times, a thousand times more serious than the so-called cataclysmic frenzy, and it will sweep the globe, causing widespread destruction."

Speaking of this, Zong Shiyue took a deep breath:

"And this crisis is that the mysterious celestial body that brushed past Earth is going straight to the sun!"

"Its volume is a hundred times larger than Earth, and it is a high-quality rocky planet. Once it hits the sun, it will set off an unprecedented solar storm that will sweep the entire solar system."

"Earth, as a member of the inner solar system, is very close to the sun, and there have been solar storms in history that have caused mass extinction events…"

"According to scientists' predictions, this solar storm may continue to agitate for a hundred years, and the high-energy particles released can heat the Earth's surface to five or six hundred degrees, and even cause magnetic field disturbances, causing the poles and the Earth's axis to shift."

"At that time, the earth will crack, the volcanic magma gushing from the mantle will melt everything, and the surface ocean will be completely evaporated."

"Earth will become a second Venus or Mars, becoming a barren and dead planet!"

"No living things, not even microorganisms, can survive this catastrophe."

"Even Tier 3 Kings cannot escape!"

"So, initially, we planned to gather the strength of the entire country to build a space battleship and escape Earth directly…"

Lin Feng was stunned. If that were the case, wouldn't most of the survivors have been buried in the subsequent solar storm?

But now it seems that the Wandering Earth project has been implemented, giving humanity a glimmer of hope.

As for why the Tier 3 Kings abandoned the original, more convenient and faster warship escape plan, it is naturally related to their own high level of evolution.

The powerful strength brings not only the improvement of status and power, but also their amazing appetite.

Lin Feng then mocked and ridiculed:

"Is it because only one warship can't carry many passengers at all? After sailing into the universe, you Tier 3 evolved beings can't solve the problem of food sources, so the warship escape plan was abandoned?"

Zong Shiyue nodded. Lin Feng was right. Indeed, this was the main reason why the warship escape plan was abandoned not long after it was proposed.

In addition to the problem of food, even if a warship is built as large as possible, it cannot carry enough supplies to drift for a hundred years or go to a new home.

However, although this is the case, the original warship escape plan is still being promoted in an orderly manner, and its purpose is not to take multiple paths to preserve the seeds of hope for mankind.

Instead, the Evolutionary Alliance hopes to take this opportunity to receive all the resources and order from the rulers of the old world.

After admitting it, Zong Shiyue explained frankly:

"That's right, but the warship was still built and left to those rulers of the old world. Although they have a certain degree of evolution, they generally only have first-order evolution, and a few of the younger generation can be promoted to second-order."

"Because evolution has a time limit. Once you pass fifty years old, the transformation effect of the evolutionary essence will drop sharply. Even if you achieve evolution, the degree of transformation is very poor, so people over half a hundred years old are destined to have no achievements."

"And we, the Tier 3 Evolvers, as a powerful emerging force, represent the direction of evolution and the future, destined to ascend the stage of history and eliminate those fragile ordinary people of the past."

"Thus, a power struggle, both overt and covert, unfolded between the high-tier Evolvers and the power holders of the old era, centered around how to save humanity and the Earth."

"The ultimate result was that the power holders of the old era continued to build cosmic battleships to escape the precarious Earth, while the remaining humans were entrusted to the leadership of the Tier 3 Evolvers."

"We formed the Global Evolution Alliance and unanimously passed the Wandering Earth Project."

"Utilizing the technology and equipment left behind by extraterrestrials in those years, we built planetary engines to directly propel the Earth, our mother planet, away from the solar system, which was about to become a fiery hell."

"At the same time, we also informed the mutated evolved beasts about the solar storms and the impending extinction of life on Earth, especially their Tier 3 King Beasts."

"Having evolved to this extent, their intelligence is actually no lower than that of humans. They quickly realized the crisis and agreed to our proposal to work together to deal with it."

"With the cooperation of both sides, working together with one heart, the construction of planetary engines in various regions was very rapid."

"Therefore, while building various underground shelters, humans on land also created corresponding underground hibernation sites for these evolved beasts to avoid the harsh and severe ice-sealed environment on the Earth's surface during the wandering process."

"As for the original power holders, they also began to use extraterrestrial technology to build their own cosmic battleships in order to escape the Earth and the solar system."

"To this end, they were willing to hand over nuclear bombs and nuclear bomb codes and use them to ignite the planetary engines."

"This is everything that happened in the past."

Zong Shiyue's expression was slightly dazed. The memories of that year resurfaced, making it difficult for him to let go. So, he continued to supplement his experiences at that time:

"The solar storm caused by the extraterrestrial impact will erupt in less than a hundred years, and most of the human survivors have already entered the built shelters."

"The surface environment continues to deteriorate as the extraterrestrial star blocks sunlight, and only some Evolvers can continue to stay on the surface to build planetary engines."

"I completed the construction of four engines, after which I returned to the Mount Tai base, obtaining the promise of the Evolution Alliance to rule over the tens of millions of survivors inside."

"Using geothermal power generation and the nuclear fusion technology in the planetary engines, the survivors in the large shelters do not need to hibernate and can obtain sufficient food and a comfortable life."

"And during the thousands of years of ruling them, I successfully advanced to the late stage of Tier 3 through a continuous supply of resources and began to sprint for the final stage of godhood."

Speaking of this, a hint of ferocity flashed in Zong Shiyue's eyes, obviously, the subsequent result was not satisfactory.

However, Lin Feng also learned from this the truth behind the Wandering Earth Project in the past and various details in the initial plan's advancement.

It's just that even Zong Shiyue is not clear as to why the Earth ultimately stayed here and suffered the plight of three suns in the sky.

The control of the planetary engines that year was in the hands of the highest conference of the Evolution Alliance, controlled by ten of the strongest Tier 3 late-stage Evolvers.

Zong Shiyue sighed softly:

"Later, at the critical moment of completing my transformation, the gate of the shelter was breached by surface forces. I, already deep in slumber, was unable to stop them, and several of my Tier 3 early-stage guards were also killed."

"In the end, those guys destroyed the Mount Tai shelter and completely contaminated the evolutionary sequence in my body with filthy blood and alien genes."

"This not only led to the failure of the transformation, but also caused my body to lose control, beginning to proliferate uncontrollably, eventually becoming the current Aberrant Mother Nest."

After listening to the causes and consequences of that year, Lin Feng took a deep breath and asked:

"So, the original method you planned for transformation beyond Tier 3 was to release the life essence within your body, using all living beings as a carrier, treating the survivors in the shelter as food, and using them to improve the quality and quantity of the essence, thereby strengthening yourself?"

This is what Zong Shiyue said before, to help it walk among humans, spread faith and aberrant essence, becoming a shepherd of gods, treating all living beings as cattle and dogs, shepherding them.

Becoming a shepherd saint under the seat of a god.

This naturally made Lin Feng think of the Holy Spring Sect, a top-tier force in the wasteland, which is this development model.

Based on fusion evolution, it expands its recruitment of believers, and the one who acts on behalf of the Holy Spring Lord's divine authority is the Undead Saint.

He is also the existence with the highest power and status in the Holy Spring Sect, except for the Holy Spring Lord.

Now Zong Shiyue also wants to use this method to escape the Mount Tai ruins, escape the blockade of the Scorching Sun Forbidden Zone, and return to the surface with the flesh and blood of humans as a carrier.

However, after hearing Lin Feng's question, the other party unexpectedly revealed a hint of disdain:

"This is now a last resort."

"Although that woman who manipulates space is boastful, she is right on one point: pretending in the name of faith and acting against the natural order of shepherding is truly the worst strategy."

"The reason is that reaching the upper limit of Tier 3 late-stage makes it impossible to maintain the majestic power within the body. The energy that overflows and dissipates every minute and second is more than what is absorbed, but the body cannot continue to carry more..."

"In the end, either one explodes and dies, or one willingly accepts the decline in evolutionary level, no longer as powerful as in the past."

"In order to maintain their own strength, those guys created the method of shepherding, first using gene radiation to change the external biological environment, and then actively releasing their own essence."

"On the surface, they bestow the blessings of the gods, helping humans embark on the path of evolution, but in reality, they are just sowing seeds widely, waiting for the harvest in the coming year."

"This cycle ensures that their own strength will not fall too much, and when they encounter a crisis, or when the opportunity is ripe, they can absorb a large amount of Tier 3 essence and launch an attack on the realm above Tier 3."

"But this worst strategy requires relying on others."

"Although one can lie down and improve their strength, there are great risks. One can be seized or backlashed by the food they cultivate, or gradually lose themselves in the impact of the massive information of countless believers."

Lin Feng nodded. Zong Shiyue was right.

Fusion evolution seems to be the most stable, and the speed of evolution is not slow, but in reality, it is the most dangerous evolutionary path.

In the later stages, one faces not only competition from the same kind but also the secret coveting of the creator of this path.

It can be said to be fraught with difficulties.

However, if one only wants to evolve to Tier 2, or restrain themselves after advancing to Tier 3 and not go any further, then relying on the fusion evolution of top forces is indeed a good path to ascend.

And the risks involved, Zong Shiyue also made it very clear. Although it is not as obvious as alien genes, it is a big pit that will be stepped on later.

A lifetime of hard work, ultimately all done for someone else's benefit.

"Since you are quite disdainful of this, then what was the path of transformation you originally took?"

Lin Feng spoke slowly. At this moment, his heart was very excited, but he still suppressed this emotion.

He had a hunch that the method Zong Shiyue initially planned was the orthodox way to advance in Immaculate Evolution and would also be the path he would take in the future.

This may not have been a secret in those years, but later, in the wasteland wilderness, various churches and monarchies prevailed. Apart from alien evolution, there was only fusion evolution.

Immaculate Evolution has already been suppressed, so this path of transformation that does not require relying on others will also be targeted by major forces.

After opening the skylight and speaking frankly, Zong Shiyue, who was just an avatar, was no longer afraid and shook his head with a sinister smile:

"I don't know."

"The free answering time is over. As for now, we should talk about cooperation!"

"When my strength recovers, maybe I can remember."