Chapter 2516  Upgrade

“Would you mind if I took a look at the power of the demonic seed?”

The others exchanged glances at Fang Heng’s words.

“Fang Heng, while the demonic seed is in a dormant state, it’s still very dangerous. Recklessly activating the instruments might lead to damage, so…”

“I’ll be very careful.”

As he spoke, the vines of Abe Akaya, which had been coiling at the edge of the laboratory, began to slither rapidly toward the sealed glass vessel. One of the vines slipped into a small ventilation duct on the right side of the petri dish.

Several researchers looked on in astonishment.

The ventilation hole was specially designed, with a diameter of no more than one millimeter.

Yet the tip of the vine seemed to shrink down, successfully passing through the narrow passage!

Once inside the petri dish, the vine continued to grow, swiftly submerging into the liquid and attaching itself to the imprisoned demonic seed.

In a matter of moments, the vines of Abe Akaya completely wrapped around several demonic seeds.

Chi, chi, chi…

Tiny sharp spikes extended from the vines, piercing through the skin.

[Hint: Abe Akaya absorbed part of the origin power of the demonic seed—Gluttony, gaining 1819 experience points…]

Great.

The absorption was successful!

Fang Heng nodded to himself.

Perhaps Gluttony had been imprisoned for too long and continuously drained by the Revolution Society, leaving it extremely weak.

No!

Fang Heng sensed the spiritual link information from Abe Akaya.

Abe Akaya was directly interacting with Gluttony, allowing Fang Heng to accurately perceive the immense power still contained within it. However, this power was severely suppressed by an external force.

At that moment, Gluttony appeared extremely weak under this special suppression. This resulted in Abe Akaya’s absorption process being painfully slow, to the point where Fang Heng worried that if he continued, Gluttony might perish.

No need to rush the extraction.

He decided to wait and assess the situation.

Fang Heng turned to the laboratory supervisor and asked, “How did you keep them quiet?”

“The Jealousy demonic seed left behind special runes that provide some suppression. Combined with a tranquilizing potion, we ensured the experiment was safe and reliable.”

“Interesting.”

So it was the runes from the Jealousy demonic seed that were used to suppress Gluttony’s power.

Fang Heng stepped closer to the petri dish, searching for the runes.

There!

He spotted a special stone slab beneath the dish.

The slab was inscribed with unique suppression runes.

A smile crept onto Fang Heng’s face.

Perfect, the elements were all in place.

Now, the next steps would be much simpler.

He just needed to figure out how to remove the Jealousy stone slab, unlock the shackles suppressing the demonic seed, and then completely extract Gluttony’s power!

“Mr. Fang, did you find anything?”

“Yeah, I have noticed something,” Fang Heng said, pausing to look up. “The demonic seed appears very weak. I’m curious—since you’ve sealed most of its power and are continually extracting energy from it, aren’t you worried it might be drained completely?”

“That is indeed a concern,” Guillermo explained. “However, we intentionally keep it that way. If the demonic seed’s power is too strong, we worry we won’t be able to control it. Besides, its origin power gradually recovers over time, so it won’t be completely drained.”

“Fair point. I’d like to check out the energy crystal area.”

“Sure.”

Soon, Fang Heng was led to the lower level, where the energy stone columns were concentrated.

He quickly surveyed the surroundings.

In reality, the energy stone columns were much taller than what he had seen on the monitors, each standing over six meters high.

Hundreds of these columns nearly filled the entire basement area.

The floor was cluttered with large magic arrays and thick electrical wires connecting the energy stone columns.

Fang Heng followed the wires, glancing to the right side of the underground area.

“That’s the core of the Hell Gate,” Guillermo explained, noticing Fang Heng’s gaze. “At this stage, all the energy extracted from the demonic seed is fed directly to the Hell Gate’s core.”

That made sense.

The Hell Gate they encountered outside was summoned using the power of the demonic seed.

Fang Heng thought about it as a crimson light flickered in his pupils, allowing him to see the giant Hell Gate looming in the dark distance.

During the battle, the Revolution Society summoned a projection of the Hell Gate. The real Hell Gate was right here.

In the time it took for the few to converse, Abe Akaya had already sensed the energy stone pillars and quickly entwined around them, wrapping them tightly as if binding them with ropes.

Chi, chi, chi…

A game prompt appeared in Fang Heng’s vision.

[Hint: Abe Akaya is absorbing unknown energy and is in the process of conversion…]

[Hint: Conversion completed. Abe Akaya has gained 512 energy from the Gluttony demonic seed.]

Fang Heng quickly checked the game prompt. Abe Akaya could absorb energy stored in the crystals as well. However, due to the intermediate transfer through the energy crystals, there was a noticeable loss in overall energy.

As Abe Akaya fully absorbed the energy, the color of the pillar of light visibly dimmed. Fang Heng couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied with the absorption speed of the crystals.

In the research institute’s laboratory, researchers saw the energy values on the screen rapidly decreasing and were alarmed, immediately connecting with Guillermo.

“Sir! There’s an anomaly with the energy crystals!”

“We’ve detected that the stored energy in the stones is depleting rapidly!”

Guillermo glanced at the tightly bound stone pillars and spoke into the walkie-talkie, his tone serious. “Don’t panic, continue to observe.”

Fang Heng looked at Guillermo and asked, “The energy output is a bit slow; can it be increased?”

Guillermo frowned and replied, “Are you suggesting…?”

“I have an idea that might help you increase the strength of the Hell Gate,” Fang Heng said.

“Really?” Guillermo responded, his expression shifting to one of seriousness.

“Of course.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

Guillermo placed great importance on the Hell Gate. With a serious look, he picked up the walkie-talkie and quietly instructed the other end, “Inject the potion, activate the demonic seed for the next test, increase the catalytic force of the demonic seed, boost the energy infusion, and reduce the suppression on the demonic seed.”

“Understood!”

The energy extraction instrument powered up once more.

Soon, energy began to flow into the stone pillar again, emanating a faint yellow glow. However, before the energy could fully saturate the entire pillar, the vines of Abe Akaya entwined around it greedily absorbed all of it.

“Whatever there is, absorb it all!”

[Hint: Conversion complete. Abe Akaya has gained 801 energy from the Gluttony demonic seed.]

Fang Heng glanced at the game prompt, feeling that the speed was still too slow. He looked up and asked, “Can it go any faster?”

Guillermo grabbed his walkie-talkie and said, “Research room, continue to enhance the energy infusion efficiency.”

“Supervisor, we’ve already pushed the mechanical instruments to their absolute limits; we can’t increase it any further.”