Biochemical Martial Arts: Supreme Heavenly Venerate

Battle Spirit No. 1: Xue Bogao (can be possessed)

51 skills available to learn: Handgun Use (Proficient), Purple Glow Thunder Blade (Grandmaster), Purple Glow Thunder Palm (Grandmaster), Red Sky Thunder Protection Skill (Grandmaster), Spiritual Rejuvenation Stake (Great Success), Magic Control Divine Technique (True Meaning), Formation Basics (Proficient)... and others not listed here

20 skills available to copy: Handgun Use (Proficient), Purple Glow Thunder Blade (Grandmaster), Purple Glow Thunder Palm (Grandmaster), Red Sky Thunder Protection Skill (Grandmaster), Spiritual Rejuvenation Stake (Great Success), Magic Control Divine Technique (True Meaning), Formation Basics (Proficient)... and others not listed here

Lin Rui carefully reviewed both skill lists.

Battle Spirit No. 1 had 7 more copyable skills, and 9 more learnable skills than mentioned, all of which were related to magic and spiritual power.

They must have been abilities Xue Bogao acquired after devouring the spiritual essence of the demonized Martial Cultivator.

Furthermore, as Lin Rui's spiritual power focused on Xue Bogao's name in the list, another piece of information appeared in his mind—Brigadier-level Battle Spirit.

What is a Brigadier? Above a Senior Colonel, yet not quite a Major General.

While the official ranks don't include this echelon, it's a term used among the people.

This phase is called Half-step 'Dragon Transformation' on Tianji Star.

Lin Rui was astonished, could a Battle Spirit actually level up? He wondered if it could reach the rank of Major General.

However, this seemed to have little benefit for him.

His need for the Battle Spirit primarily lay in learning and copying various skills.

Then again, if he faced a situation like the recent possession, or needed to compete in spiritual power, having a Battle Spirit with greater spiritual strength would be of use.

Lin Rui then glanced around at his neighbors without showing any reaction.

The soul of that demonized Martial Cultivator couldn't have possibly drifted over from outside the residential area.

A mere Senior Colonel-ranked Martial Artist wouldn't meet the requirements for a Primordial Spirit to travel far from the body.

The person must have another body nearby.

Lin Rui's gaze quickly locked onto two of the row houses in the vicinity.

The roar of the thunder just now was so immense that, had it not been for the good quality glass of this era, all glass within a 200-meter radius would have likely shattered.

All the neighbors in the vicinity were startled, either turning on their lights or walking to the windows to peek out, some even cursing. Yet the row houses Lin Rui was particularly vigilant about showed no signs of life, no light shone from within.

Housing at Base Nine was always in short supply, so occupancy rates in this public servants' residential area were very high; any vacancy would be filled immediately.

Therefore, these two houses were the most suspicious.

Lin Rui then without any apparent concern, went back inside his own house.

He stayed inside for about 10 minutes, waiting for the surroundings to calm down, before stepping out again from the back door.

Now, a ball of electromagnetic energy opened in his palm, using optical stealth techniques to deceive nearby cameras, while he operated the Concealing Breath Skill to prevent his own breath from being sensed.

Lin Rui then agilely scaled the walls, arriving in front of a row house across the street.

First, he used electromagnetic induction to confirm there were no active magnetic fields inside the house, then he used Xue Bogao's door-opening technique to enter through the back door.

As soon as Lin Rui entered, he sensed something was off.

The house was empty, devoid of furniture, yet there were signs of life.

The water and electricity were functioning, with several medicine bottles in a corner, a few bottles of mineral water and boxes of ready-made meals, and on another side, a trash can filled halfway with household waste.

Lin Rui also smelled a hint of blood.

Following the faint blood scent, he arrived at a garage on the left side of the house.

"Huh, another basement."

Inside the garage, there was indeed a basement, with the door wide open.

Lin Rui couldn't help but shake his head.

The various villas in this public servants' residential area weren't designed with basements, but illicit construction within the community was rampant.

These people were really daring—weren't they afraid to dig through to the lower district?

As Lin Rui walked into the villa, he saw an altar and a corpse.

The corpse was that of a white middle-aged man, around 40 years old, with gaunt cheeks and sparse hair, nearly bald.

Lin Rui went over and turned the body over, confirming that the man had died from a lack of oxygen throughout his body, resulting in brain death.

It was the loss of the soul that left him unable to breathe autonomously, leading to asphyxiation.

This must be the demonized Martial Cultivator who had attempted to possess him.

However, the fellow's appearance was that of a normal human being, of the Caucasian race, and there were no signs of demonic transformation on his body.

Lin Rui wondered to himself if this person had been possessed by the people of Sky Extreme Star?

Or perhaps—

Lin Rui thought about the medicine bottles he had seen earlier in the villa's living room.

He remembered the names on them were to alleviate and treat 'Cybernetic Implantation Syndrome'.

The medical community refers to all mental abnormalities caused by cybernetic implants collectively as 'Cybernetic Implantation Syndrome'.

Lin Rui guessed whether this person also suffered from 'Cybernetic Implantation Syndrome'?

Were these patients with 'Cybernetic Implantation Syndrome' also considered demonized Martial Cultivators by the Battle Spirit Ring?

But if this person just had Cybernetic Implantation Syndrome, what was his purpose?

Lin Rui couldn't be sure, so he began searching for personal items on the body.

This time, his loot was much better than the previous time in the basement of General Xue's home.

In addition to a smart wristband terminal, Lin Rui also found a fourth-tier smart pistol, a fourth-tier battle sabre, a set of fourth-tier half-body armor, an anonymous savings black card, and six magazines filled with 30 bullets each, two of which contained expensive smart bullets.

The smart pistol, named 'Smart Dragon' Model 4, was an electromagnetically powered firearm, not only fast to charge but its bullets could also reach eight times the speed of sound and could fire smart guided bullets. The drawback was that its firing rate was slightly slow, at only 80 rounds per minute, providing somewhat insufficient suppression against cybernetically enhanced warriors.

The fourth-tier battle sabre, 'Truth' Model 4, was shaped like a Tang sword and integrated with the electromagnetic energy storage technology from Sky Extreme Star's runic studies. The blade was extremely sturdy and resilient, enhancing the user's sabre speed and strength, and could also store energy in the scabbard, greatly increasing its power when drawn!

The half-body armor, on the other hand, was a very ordinary set of Level 4 bulletproof armor, its advantages being agility and lightness, capable of being worn under clothes.

Lin Rui was overjoyed.

This pistol and sabre were much better than those he had seized from General Xue's place.

In General Xue's basement, although he had also obtained a fifth-tier battle sabre and a set of fifth-tier full-body armor, which he hid in a secret location, Lin Rui could neither fully leverage their power nor dared to use them.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

In contrast, the weapons he had acquired from the white middle-aged man might be useful in the future.

In the following days, Lin Rui paid particular attention to this villa and the information released by the police.

He suspected that the white middle-aged man's identity was shady, and he might even be undocumented, as his smart terminal showed obvious signs of tampering and was not a common model on the market.

This person must have entered the community in a very secretive manner, known to few.

If the police hadn't listed the white middle-aged man as missing, it would indicate that the authorities were completely unaware of his death.

Lin Rui felt joyful yet regretful.

It was a pity he didn't have hacking abilities; otherwise, he could have hacked into this guy's smart terminal and traced his origins.

He could also try to extract the funds from the savings black card.

This was an anonymous savings card issued by an underground bank. Although it wasn't tied to an identity, one must know the password to withdraw money.

No sooner had this thought formed than a string of numbers, interspersed with a few English letters, appeared in his mind.

"Could this be the savings card's password? I absorbed and refined this person's spiritual essence, obtaining some of his key memories, similar to Xue Bogao, who gained so many new skills."

Lin Rui's eyes lit up with surprise, and he hurriedly inserted the savings card into his wristband terminal, entering the password into the prompt box.

However, the result was slightly disappointing, as there were only 70,321 federal dollars in the savings black card.

Yet, it was still an unexpected delight. Lin Rui then shook his head and opened up the list of skills learnable from Xue Bogao.

As Lin Rui's intention locked onto the Cleaner skill, he began to learn, and his eyes gradually took on a cold indifference.