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Yuan Chu stood in the shadows, silently watching everything unfolding before her eyes.
"Huo Yin, I'm sorry... I'm afraid I can't go back with you." Outside a cave dozens of meters away, a young man in his twenties looked sorrowfully at the tall man currently holding off a mutated beast.
"Ji Ming, why?!" The man was covered in blood, uttering a furious question from his dry throat.
"There's no saving our country anymore." Ji Ming shouted in agony.
"Rather than wasting time trying to save it, it's better to find another way out."
"Another way out?" Huo Yin continuously overdrew his power, standing like an iron wall in front of the beast, refusing to let it advance even half an inch.
"Is your so-called another way out betraying your own country?"
"I didn't betray it!" Ji Ming roared.
"I merely chose a path better suited for me."
Huo Yin curled his lips in mockery. Crimson blood trickled down his forehead, running past the corner of his eye. Deep in his dark eyes was a profound sense of disappointment and sorrow.
"Ji Ming, stop babbling and get moving!" Not far away, a blond man called out loudly.
"The Bone-Spine Vine is too strong. Huo Yin won't be able to hold out for long."
Ji Ming gave Huo Yin a deep look, then turned around and walked away resolutely.
"Ji Ming!" Huo Yin's body was pierced through by several vines, leaving him unable to escape, nor capable of striking back.
If Ji Ming and the others had stayed to fight alongside him, they would have stood a fighting chance. But they chose abandonment instead, using him as a sacrifice.
Huo Yin's eyes turned blood-red, his heart twisting in excruciating pain. He was not afraid of dying, but Ji Ming's betrayal rendered his sacrifice utterly meaningless.
"Argh- !" Huo Yin let out an unwilling roar. Gathering every last ounce of his strength, he kicked off the ground with both legs, launching himself like a cannonball into the giant mouth of the vine, his body bristling with thorns.
The vine's massive maw closed swiftly. The wildly flailing vines slowly ceased their movement, sinking into an eerie silence.
At this moment, Yuan Chu stepped out of the shadows, a glint in her eyes, as if waiting for something.
She had been following this team for seven days, maintaining a low profile with little presence, until this exact moment.
Yuan Chu was not truly human. Originating from the void, she gradually gained self-awareness amidst the prehistoric cosmos. She could glimpse the trajectory of all things and alter the course of fate.
Possessing such power made her a bug-like existence in the universe, incompatible with the Heavenly Dao. To survive, she had to gather power that could contend with it: Luck.
Countless small worlds existed in the universe, and every small world had many Children of Luck. They often possessed extraordinary talent in a specific domain, always managing to turn danger into safety, finding life in desperate situations, step by step rising to the peak of life and achieving great feats.
However, before each Child of Luck grew strong, they would encounter all kinds of severe hardships and obstacles. Only by crossing them could they achieve perfection and break free from the Heavenly Dao. If they failed, their luck would be seized by the Heavenly Dao, leaving them manipulated by it for all eternity.
Children of Luck who had already escaped the Heavenly Dao possessed their own domains and would not easily accommodate external entities. Yuan Chu could only search for Children of Luck who had not yet grown powerful, establish a bond with them, grow together with them, protect their lives, and share their luck.
However, she could not act or render aid recklessly, as every move she made could potentially be detected by the Heavenly Dao.
Huo Yin was the Child of Luck Yuan Chu selected in this world.
He hailed from Blue Star, an overdeveloped planet on the brink of collapse. Plagued by radiation, the planet was creeping toward destruction. That was until over a hundred years ago, when a space exploration team discovered a peculiar planet.
This planet possessed a self-awareness capable of spawning all manner of incredible life forms. Defeating these creatures yielded corresponding technologies and abilities, much like killing monsters for loot in an online game.
The people of Blue Star dubbed this planet Creation Star. Not only did special radiation-resistant plants grow here, but it also possessed high-end biotechnology that could drastically improve Blue Star's environment and usher it into a brand-new stage of development.
However, the outer perimeter of Creation Star was encircled by a strange isolation zone. Only living organisms could pass through, nothing not belonging to the planet could be brought along.
Moreover, during transit, living organisms would undergo passive genetic modification to adapt to Creation Star's environment. Yet this modification had only a 50% success rate. A cruel screening of life and death, superior and inferior, with no shortcuts.
For the survival of Blue Star, various factions were forced to stake everything on a single throw, periodically selecting groups of people to enter Creation Star to gather information, technology, minerals, materials, flora, and fauna that could help improve and develop Blue Star.
The isolation zone was merely the first hurdle. Those Blue Star natives who successfully passed through would have their potential dramatically unlocked, gaining abilities of various attributes.
However, what lay ahead was Creation Star's array of bizarre lifeforms: Plants, animals, specters, machinery, elemental beings, any of which could become powerful mutated beasts.
To return to Blue Star, those who entered Creation Star had to obtain a Spatial Core from space-type beasts. With a Spatial Core, one could freely travel between the two planets.
But Spatial Cores were quite rare, those with bad luck might not find a single one even after a year or two. Consequently, every survivor who walked out of Creation Star alive became a top talent fought over by major factions.
Huo Yin originated from the Flower Nation. This country suffered from the worst radiation contamination, exhausted resources, rampant disease, and death everywhere.
In recent decades, the infant birth rate had dropped precipitously, and the population shrank from 700 million to just over 400 million. Even worse, children had weak immunity, with up to an 80% chance of radiation pollution, most did not survive to adulthood.
The Flower Nation was plunged into panic over the threat of extinction. It was under these circumstances that Huo Yin became one of Creation Star's pioneers.
Contaminated by radiation at age fourteen and diagnosed with a terminal illness, he entered Creation Star alongside a dozen other children sharing the same plight, seeking a sliver of hope amidst the threat of death.
Back then, only seven children successfully survived the modification. Having escaped the threat of illness, they also carried heavy responsibilities.
While the plants on Creation Star could resist radiation, only a few species could survive transplantation back on Blue Star. Huo Yin and his companions' primary task was to gather the seeds and rootstocks of these plants.
Fortunately, one child among them awakened a Plant-type superpower during the modification process: Ji Ming.
Huo Yin and the other companions decided to protect and nurture him with all their might, prioritizing the allocation of any item capable of enhancing abilities to him.
Creation Star was fraught with danger. The team centered around the seven of them saw members die or scatter, over ten grueling years, step by arduous step, Ji Ming was always well-protected, becoming the very first among them all to advance to a Tier 9 Evolver.
However, what Huo Yin never expected was that after acquiring a Spatial Core and deciding to return to the Flower Nation, Ji Ming chose to betray them and defect to the top superpower of Blue Star, the Dali Nation.
The nation's nurturing, the sacrifices of his companions, ten years of selfless dedication, all became stepping stones for Ji Ming's future.
How could Huo Yin not hate? How could he not rage? How could he not ache?
This event was destined to become the turning point for this Child of Luck. But before that, he had to survive first.
The Bone-Spine Vine possessed extraordinary regenerative capabilities. According to the original trajectory, after Huo Yin hurled himself into the vine's body and spent his final bit of strength to kill it, he accidentally merged with its regenerative cells. Not only did he come back from the dead, but he also gained a Plant-type ability.
Yet the outcome was not guaranteed, there was a high probability Huo Yin could fail to fuse. If the Bone-Spine Vine did not die immediately, if Huo Yin's will to survive was not strong enough, or if his brain suffered irreversible damage, the trajectory of the future could be altered.
Yuan Chu had not yet established a bond with Huo Yin, meaning she could not share his luck, nor could she directly or indirectly assist him. He could only rely on himself to survive this desperate situation.
Boom!
A vine suddenly whipped toward where Yuan Chu stood. Yet Yuan Chu remained motionless, letting the vine brush past her side and smash heavily against the ground, spraying a shower of shattered rock.
Though Yuan Chu neither dodged nor ducked, not a single piece of flying debris touched her.
As if stimulated, the Bone-Spine Vine began wildly flailing its tendrils, emitting sharp, piercing whistle-like screeches. The surrounding cave walls were battered until pitted and broken.
Standing before this mountain-sized mutated beast, Yuan Chu's slender frame appeared exceedingly fragile.
A moment later, the Bone-Spine Vine's movements gradually slowed before stiffening. Starting from its center, cracks fractured inch by inch until it collapsed into a thunderous explosion, shattering into fragments that covered the ground.
Huo Yin lay amidst the debris and green sap, his heavily scarred body trembling faintly, as though enduring unimaginable agony.
His desire to survive was intensely strong, even at the final moment, he never gave up. Straining, he opened his eyes, and within his hazy vision appeared a faint greenish glow.
That was... a Source Core, the Bone-Spine Vine's Source Core!
A Source Core was the source of life and the nucleus of abilities. Dead matter revived because of it, and living beings evolved through it, such creatures were collectively termed mutated beasts. Evolvers from Blue Star could absorb Source Cores to gain corresponding attributes and enhance their power.
Huo Yin was an Elemental Evolver and originally could not fuse with a Plant-type Source Core. But on the verge of death, there was no room left for caution. He struggled to move his arm, reaching out inch by inch toward the nearby Source Core.
Though less than two meters apart, it felt like an insurmountable distance.
The Bone-Spine Vine's sap continuously seeped into his body, corroding him while simultaneously repairing his flesh. The process of splitting and reassembling caused him agonizing pain, gradually blurring his consciousness.
Just as he desperately tried to grasp that final sliver of survival, a pale hand suddenly appeared in his line of sight and picked up the Source Core.
Huo Yin's pupils shrank, his fingers dropping limply. He didn't even have the strength to raise his head to see who owned the hand. He only felt a chill in his heart, as a sense of despair quietly bloomed within him.
Is it over?
Huo Yin blinked exhaustedly, yet forced himself to keep his eyes open.
"Open your mouth." A gentle voice suddenly drifted into his ears, followed by an unfamiliar sensation against his lips.
Huo Yin instinctively opened his mouth. A cool piece slipped between his teeth, sliding down his throat and into his stomach as he swallowed.
A spark of light instantly burst in his eyes before he could hold on no longer, plunging into unconsciousness.
Yuan Chu dragged Huo Yin by his back collar into the depths of the cave. Filled with the heavy aura of the Bone-Spine Vine, ordinary mutated beasts would not easily approach, making it an ideal temporary sanctuary.
Having survived the life-threatening crisis, the light of luck on Huo Yin grew much brighter. Regrettably, they had not yet established a bond, so she could not share in his luck just yet.
Looking at Huo Yin lying like a corpse on the ground, Yuan Chu's eyes flickered with regret, the distress of having a delicious feast right in front of her, yet being unable to partake...
An unknown length of time passed before Huo Yin awoke from his stupor. His very first sensation was... no sensation at all!
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An OP fl is a great fl! +1
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