Zhu Zha gave a wry smile and said, "I pretty much understand what happened. For someone as stealthy as Jonathan to only manage to steal a fragment of the Golden Mask, you can imagine how terrifying that monster must be. At the very least, if Jonathan tried to steal something from me, unless I held it tightly in my palm, I wouldn't be confident in snatching it back once he had it."

Jonathan gave a seemingly modest, hearty laugh, and he actually dared to utter the words, "Your praise is too kind." The man truly had no shame, and Zhu Zha stopped paying attention to him.

He simply asked wearily, "If he obtains this golden fragment, can he mend those deficiencies?" Evie shook her head and replied, "No, but completing the Golden Mask is the first step he must take. As depicted in the murals, he requires a massive, whole diamond to act as an energy concentrator. By focusing sunlight into a beam directed at the mask's core, he could potentially evolve again, reaching a level similar to a 'Saint.' And the only person in this world who possesses that gigantic diamond..." Zhu Zha paused, then said slowly, "Could it... could it be the giant diamond Jonathan once acquired? The one taken from the top of King Scorpion Anubis's pyramid? But how would that monster know you possessed that diamond?" O'Connell nodded, "That's right, it's that very diamond. It might be the only one in the world capable of gathering sufficient energy to trigger his next evolution. As for why he knows... Jonathan once boasted about his diamond during a card game with the archaeological team, even exaggerating its size to that of two footballs..."

"As expected..." Zhu Zha rubbed his brow, turned to Lan, and asked, "How is it, any results from the scan yet?" Zhan Lan shook her head with a bitter smile, "No luck. Those zombies scattered in all directions around the city; there's no trace of the monster's whereabouts. For now, I can only monitor the hotel and its immediate surroundings, just in case the monster tries to attack us inside."

Zhu Zha nodded. He then turned to Chu Xuan, "What about you? Any new findings regarding the monster's biological structure? Besides sunlight, is there anything else that can kill it?" Following the explosion in the plaza earlier, Zhu Zha had retrieved the Spear of Judgment. This golden spear showed not the slightest damage from the blast. Not only that, but the group also discovered a small piece of the monster's flesh torn from the spear. This chunk of meat writhed incessantly, seemingly alive, trying to detach itself from the Spear of Judgment, but it was snagged by the spear's grip. Thus, the group obtained this small, fingernail-sized piece of monster tissue.

Chu Xuan nodded, pulling out a glass jar from his large backpack wearily. "To study the composition of this tissue, I specifically asked the gatekeeper here to buy a batch of chemical reagents. Although the tools are rather rudimentary, obtaining some data is straightforward. First, this tissue can be considered a complete living entity."

Inside the glass jar, a small piece of pinkish flesh wriggled continuously, and several tiny eyes even sprouted from the mass. Furthermore, small tendrils began growing out of the flesh. The size of this piece was also disproportionate; it was significantly larger than when they first obtained it, which was barely the thickness of a little finger.

Chu Xuan continued, "When we first got it, it was just a tiny fragment. After that, I cut off about one-third of it, but after I poured some bovine blood onto it, it absorbed the blood and slowly grew to its current size. Moreover, it began developing rudimentary organ classifications, such as visual organs, olfactory organs, and so on. It can be said that this piece of tissue has already become an anomalous life form."

Having spoken, Chu Xuan proceeded to bring out several more glass jars. These jars contained tissue chunks immersed in various liquids. Chu Xuan continued, "I have been soaking this tissue in different media, such as concentrated sulfuric acid. After only a few seconds, this tissue would corrode completely, just like the flesh and bone of a normal organism. However, when I used diluted sulfuric acid—look at this piece of tissue..." Following Chu Xuan's gaze, the group saw a small, spherical object in one jar. The surface of this sphere was covered with numerous tiny pores, from which bubbles occasionally escaped. Chu Xuan said, "Do you understand now? The tissue began evolving within seconds to counteract the acid's corrosion. It formed an isolating layer on its surface, similar to an air bubble membrane. Although the outermost layer was completely necrotic, the tissue at its core remained alive..."

"The reaction to strong alkali was similar to that of the acid, but the phenomenon in the saline solution showed a new development. Haven't you all seen the evolution of the tissue that was previously empty space? That is the evolution of the tissue submerged in saline solution..." Chu Xuan pointed to the last glass jar. Floating within it was a thin, wafer-like piece of tissue, almost transparent, resembling a single-layered jellyfish. It floated on the surface of the saline solution, continuously 'breathing' the air, truly looking like a marine organism.

After demonstrating these glass jars to everyone, Chu Xuan stated calmly, "Have you all grasped it? This tissue is fundamentally different from our own flesh. It can essentially be assumed that the creator of the Golden Mask intended for those wearing it to control their own genes. But in reality, because the experiment failed, the life forms wearing the mask did not gain an independent life form. Instead, it's like a collection of amoeboid transformations, where every cell gained this vitality. When countless such cells aggregate, they form that monster. Therefore, it is no longer the monster controlling the evolution of the cells, but the cells evolving autonomously when encountering danger, which in turn controls the monster. That’s all there is to it. This monster's evolution is beyond its control; it has become a monster comprised of self-sufficient, cell-based units. As long as a single cell survives, the main body of the monster can essentially be considered alive."

"Indeed, this is a B-level difficulty team mission. With one lapse in concentration, we would never be able to complete this mission. The only fortunate thing is that this mission has no time limit and no penalty for failure, otherwise, we would likely all die here."

The surroundings fell silent, especially for O'Connell and the others. They had barely understood the details, but they grasped the general situation: the monster had immense vitality and was nearly impossible to kill, and with a stroke of bad luck, many flesh-block monsters similar to it might emerge.

Zhu Zha pondered for a moment and said, "If that's the case, it is indeed difficult to handle. However, I think this might also be an opportunity. Why haven't the tissue blocks on that monster fought independently or started attacking and consuming each other? Instead, they merged into an almost complete whole. Do you remember the scene when we fought in the plaza? Even after the tissue blocks were shattered, they could automatically reattach to its body. In other words... can we use these tissue fragments to locate the monster?" Chu Xuan looked at Zhu Zha with appreciation. "That's right, there is indeed a high probability of locating the monster's existence via this tissue. But before that, I plan to conduct one more experiment: let's desiccate this tissue. I am very curious if cells, without water, can still evolve into a life form independent of moisture?" (To be continued) Jump to