Monster Synthesis Master - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Perfect Genes

After opening all the safes, an inventory count showed that they totaled up to $600,000 in cash.

“Didn’t Jack have the habit of using a bank card?”

Old Third pushed his spectacles as he replied, “No, he didn’t. This is because we’ve always paid in cash upon the cargo ships’ arrival for the wild animal smuggling business. Moreover, we had no idea what kind of goods would be delivered each time, so we had to prepare sufficient cash in advance.”

“Didn’t you bother taking the initiative to contact the cargo ships?”

Old Third shrugged helplessly and replied, “We wanted to, but the cargo ships are always different each time they arrive. Their phone numbers were also encrypted virtual numbers. We’ve spoken to them about this issue before, but their response was that they couldn’t break the rules. Thus, we never brought it up ever again.”

Lin Ke nodded to express his understanding. Once a business took off, many rules would also follow suit and come into place. Behind the wild animal smuggling ring was definitely also a profit-based group.

Next was the money distribution segment.

As the first step to stabilizing the troops’ morale, these thugs currently in front of him were akin to his ‘base voters’ in the Jack Gang. Therefore, he needed to solidify and secure them.

Lin Ke wasn’t miserly with the money. With a grand wave of his arm, he began to distribute the money.

“I don’t know whether or not Jack used to give you any bonuses in the past or how much he gave each time, but I, Lin Ke, will keep my word. As long as I can get a mouthful of food, there’ll always be a share for the brothers! This time, we’ll go for an auspicious number and give everyone $6,666[1] each for now!”

He’d only just spoken when the thugs before him already broke into joyous cheers, shouting things like: ‘Long live the Boss!’ and ‘How wise of the Boss!’

They were in a fever of excitement and wished for nothing more than to sell themselves to Lin Ke immediately.

Lin Ke believed that, even if he were to order them to jump into the river at this point, there would probably be people who would do so accordingly.

In actuality, Lin Ke had already questioned Old Third about this in advance before he distributed the money.

The Jack Gang was a small gang. Despite having channels for smuggling wild animals, as part of the water transport industry, they were required to pay part of their profits to the White Crane Hall above them every half a year.

Practically speaking, they couldn’t have earned that much. Every member’s monthly income was only about $2,000 to $3,000, let alone bonuses or whatnot. There was nothing of that sort.

Lin Ke could only do this because he had killed quite a few of them previously. Had there been any more of them, he wouldn’t have dared to employ such a method.

“This is your bonus, Old Third. There’s $20,000 here,” said Lin Ke as he pushed two stacks of cash toward Old Third.

“Boss, there’s no reward without merit. How can I take this money when I’ve only just pledged my allegiance? I’m too embarrassed to do something like that.”

Lin Ke gazed at the overcautious and uncomfortable Old Third and said seriously, “I know that you’ve sincerely pledged your allegiance. That’s why you can work even harder after that if you take this money.”

Lin Ke then got up and patted Old Third on the shoulder as he said, “To be honest, you’re aware that there’s no difference as to who the one taking over the leadership position in the Jack Gang is. The ones above only look at whether or not you can put your heart into your work. They’ve never cared about who the one sitting in the position is.”

He lightly tapped on the two stacks of money on the table and said, “This money is not for the Mr. Cong that pledged allegiance to the Jack Gang. It’s for the Mr. Cong that pledged allegiance to Lin Ke.”

Old Third’s eyes lit up at his words. He got up, accepted the money, and said, “Alright, I’ll thank Boss for this then! I’ll get someone to fix the electrical circuits and clean up Boss’s bedroom now. Boss might have to make do a little for tonight. I’ll get someone to completely re-do the place first thing tomorrow.”

“No need to make it too complicated. You can just go simple on everything.”

After that, Old Third directed someone to go and clean up the suite.

Talking to clever people was simply so easy. Just a slight hint was already enough for the other party to understand the underlying meaning behind his words.

After giving away the money, Lin Ke discovered that the men’s Loyalty Meters had increased by a large amount.

They ranged from as few as five points to as many as ten points. After all, receiving a bonus worth two to three months’ of income at one go was an experience that they’d never had before.

When they were done cleaning up, Lin Ke tossed another few stacks of cash to Old Third and said, “When Old Second and the other brothers return, remember to distribute the money to them as well. I’ll rest for now.”

Old Third received the money from him. After some hesitation, he said, “Boss, there’s something that I’d like to tell you…”

Lin Ke—who could see the struggle on Old Third’s visage—patted him on the shoulder and said, “We can talk about it tomorrow. Let the brothers have an early night tonight.”

Old Third swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue, nodded, and went out.

After Old Third left, the army ants climbed back up onto the door and completely covered the door.

Treasure Hunter Rat also scurried out from underneath the flax clothing and bounced about in the suite.

This particular suite used to be Jack’s lounge in the past. Some wooden training dummies and punching bags still remained in the room. From these, one could tell that Jack had been a man obsessed with martial arts training.

Lin Ke didn’t get the men to remove them since he could also use them for training and increase his martial arts proficiency whenever he had some spare time.

He had an extra-large space of 80 square meters to himself. The suite was arranged in a layout of two rooms and one hall.

The suite was equipped with all the daily necessities that one could need. It even had a private open-air balcony—measuring 30 square meters—by the river.

One absolutely mustn’t find the place cramped. In a place like Sand City—where every inch of soil was as expensive as gold—being able to own a gang that occupied a space of several hundred square meters and a suite bigger than 50 square meters to oneself already made one a successful man.

The towering buildings in the vicinity might look big and tall, but in reality, there wasn’t much of a difference between the building interiors and slums’ shacks. A single unit housed more than a dozen people, leading people to jokingly refer to the living conditions as pigeonholes and coffins.

Forbes took the smaller bedroom at the side while Lin Ke took the bigger one.

Lin Ke laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep for the longest time.

Too many things had happened that night. From being pursued by the Jack Gang and raiding the Jack Gang to meeting John the King of Assassins, the speed at which things had developed was as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button.

Although Lin Ke had taken over the Jack Gang, the other small gangs in the vicinity were stirring and bubbling under the surface. On top of that, there were still unstable elements in the gang.

Should he rob them directly, the amount of money he could gain would definitely be enough for him to strengthen himself a full round.

But if he decided on long-term development instead, this bit of money from the Jack Gang was honestly insufficient, considering that he had to pay part of the profits to another organization above him and also maintain their own operations on top of that.

At the same time, the Eye of Providence Gold Coin that John had tossed him was tantamount to having pushed him into the open. It was hard to say when assassins or bounty hunters might just attack him for the Eye of Providence Gold Coin at any time.

Therefore, his most important priority at the moment was to make a trip to Platinum Hotel as soon as possible and spend the Eye of Providence Gold Coin.

Lin Ke did a mental tally—he had two things he needed to do tomorrow. The first was to speed up the unlocking process of the Universal-type, get his hands on the Scholar class, and pick up skills as soon as possible.

The second was to head to Platinum Hotel and spend the Eye of Providence Gold Coin.

As for developing the gang, that was a long-term plan. At the very least, he could still afford to wait to make the decision after he cleaned out the unstable elements in the internal structure and got a clear understanding of the Jack Gang’s network and connections.

Since he would be unlocking the Universal-type once he woke up tomorrow, Lin Ke decided right away to level up to Level 10.

[Leveling up from Lv8 to Lv9 will consume 5,400 EXP. Will you level up? Yes/No]

Yes!

[Leveling up from Lv9 to Lv10 will consume 6,500 EXP. Will you level up? Yes/No]

Yes!

After leveling up, Lin Ke was left with 7,085 EXP and 18 Latent Capacity Points.

Lin Ke had a very good sleep that night.

All the fatigue and tension—which had accumulated over several days—dissipated into nothingness under the mild, gentle sunlight that spilled into the room at dawn.

After washing up, Lin Ke walked out of his room to see that Forbes was already awake and was currently cleaning the suite.

“Let’s go, Forbes. Follow me out to get some stuff done.” Lin Ke dressed himself and got ready to depart. He then took another few tens of thousands of cash from the safe.

After exiting the suite, Lin Ke took a walk around the base and only spotted Old Third and some of the thugs. “Where’s Shaw?”

“He brought some of the men out early in the morning, saying that he was off to get the guns repaired. Boss, there’s something that I don’t know whether or not I should say…” Mr. Cong looked troubled. He had some things that he’d already wanted to bring up the previous night, but Lin Ke had stopped him.

“I’m heading out to attend to something for now. We’ll talk again when I’m back in the afternoon. You can temporarily manage all the gang matters during my absence.”

Then, Lin Ke brought Forbes with him and left, leaving a dazed and disordered Old Third behind.

Old Third had a troubled look on his face as he watched Lin Ke—who had left so valiantly—from the back. “The new Boss is strong and pretty nice, but why is he so insensitive to matters? We’re doomed, we’re doomed. We’re really doomed this time…”

The Joint Pharmaceutical Organization building in the uptown area was the destination of Lin Ke’s trip this time.

To unlock the Universal-type, Lin Ke needed to reach 10 points for all his attributes first. Considering Lin Ke’s current body’s aptitude and standard, it was impossible for him to achieve that without any external aid.

“Sit here and wait for me, Forbes. I’ll be out in about half an hour.”

Forbes sat on the couch in the main hall, somewhat uneasy. This particular building was extremely modernized, and the digital screens were playing all sorts of promotional videos that he didn’t understand.

The main hall on the ground floor was brightly lit and spacious, while the lobby was paved with pale marble tiles. When one looked over, they would also see pure white statues, various glass products, and display counters.

The size of the whole lobby was even bigger than the entire Jack Gang base put together.

Forbes sat there stiffly and uncomfortably. Toward the end, he didn’t even dare to look about anymore. Everything here was too exquisite, giving him a restrictive feeling. He felt like even the slightest bit of carelessness would destroy the atmosphere.

Lin Ke walked over to the front desk. As if he had already done this countless times, he said, “Give me a tube of Gene Restoration Concentrate.”

“That’ll be $200,000. May I know if you’ll be paying by card or cash?”

In no time, he finished the payment with both card and cash.

“Mr. Lin, this way, please.”

Lin Ke followed the sweet-looking, long-legged staff member to a room that had been prepared for him.

After shutting the doors, Lin Ke began to undress. He placed the gun sling, his weapons, and the army ants all at the side.

Fully unclothed, he placed the Gene Restoration Concentrate into the electronic robotic arm device and laid down in the ‘miniature swimming pool’ full of an orange-colored nutrient solution.

A brief moment later, the robotic arm was activated. After doing a scan of Lin Ke’s body, it inserted the needle into his arm and injected all of the silver Gene Restoration Concentrate into him.

[Gene Restoration Concentrate injection successful. Body reparation and restoration to full condition will now commence…]

[Power ↑, Agility ↑, Endurance -, Intelligence ↑, Energy ↑, Charm ↑, Luck ↑]

[Gene restoration complete. Please check your new attributes]

Following the system’s notifications, Lin Ke eagerly checked out his attributes.

Name: Lin Ke

Race: Human

Level: Lv10

EXP: 7,085

Class: N/A

Status: Refugee, Mandala Spokesperson, Assassin, Jack Gang Leader

Health Points: 150/150

Energy Points: 70/70

Stats: Power (7), Agility (7), Endurance (15), Intelligence (7), Energy (7), Charm (7), Luck (7)

Latent Capacity Points: 18

Talent: N/A

Skills: N/A

Equipment: Sharp Dagger (White), Glock 17 Pistol (White), Bezos T1 Tactical Machine Pistol (White), Pump-Action Shotgun (White)

Special Abilities: Basic Driving (67%)

[Basic Marksmanship Lv1: Firearms Hit Rate +5%, Reloading Speed +10%, Firing Speed: +5%]

[Basic Fist-Fighting Lv1: Melee Attack +1%, Attacking Speed +1%, Melee Hit Rate: +1%]

Appraisal: Hehe, someone has shot his own beloved car!

Aside from his Endurance, all his other six attributes had risen to 7 points!

Lin Ke’s 18 Latent Capacity Points just happened to be enough to raise all his attributes to 10 points each.

The Gene Restoration Concentrate—as the name indicated—was a potion that could repair and restore one’s genetic flaws.

In the game, it was effective only on players that were Level 10 and below and NPCs. Due to its exorbitant price, it daunted many.

In his past life, by the time the Gene Restoration Concentrate had become widely known among players, most players had already reached Level 15.

Only an extremely small handful of people had chosen to delete their account, start over, and spend the effort to save up $200,000 to try out the restoration concentrate.

The purpose of the restoration concentrate was to repair one’s genetic flaws, and the conditions that one needed to meet in order to use it were also extremely demanding.

Not only did it target players Level 10 and below, but once any attribute exceeded 10 points, it would no longer enjoy the restoration concentrate’s benefits.

This was also the reason why six of Lin Ke’s attributes had been raised, yet his Endurance was the only one that hadn’t shown any improvement.

It was previously mentioned that the first four of a normal player’s initial attributes basically started out at 5 points, while the latter three were randomized.

In other words, the restoration concentrate was able to raise a single attribute by a maximum of 4 points, thereby making the theoretical total increase a maximum of 28 points, which was roughly about the number of unassigned attribute points that one would gain upon leveling up to Level 10.

But since it was a randomized increase, it was rather dependent on luck.

Adding the fact that every player account could only use it once, its demanding conditions had obstructed a fair number of players.

After all, everyone had already elevated their levels by then. Although one could gain attribute enhancements by deleting their account and starting over, they would also end up missing a lot of high-level missions.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, only an extremely small number of wealthy players had chosen to delete their accounts and start over. This subsequently allowed them to discover the hidden fifth system—the Universal-type.

[1] 666 is Chinese Internet slang used when complimenting someone for smooth or slick moves. Originated from Chinese gaming slang