Chapter 1 The Slit

Hiss.

The paper cutter lightly sliced across the cardboard box, creating a slit.

Li Cheng颐 eagerly lifted the lid, revealing a red porcelain flowerpot secured by white foam.

Inside the pot was a fair amount of soil, scattered with white wisteria flowers and their branches.

At the center of the flowerpot, on a brown branch about half a palm wide, grew tiny white flowers. They formed clusters, completely different from the purple ones.

White wisteria is white with hints of purple, while regular wisteria is purple with hints of white.

"Here it comes..." Li Cheng颐 took a deep breath, faintly smelling the delicate fragrance.

He suppressed the anticipation in his heart, reached out his hand, and gently touched the slightly wilted white flowers.

'White Wisteria: Deciduous vine, a variant of wisteria, with a strong fragrance, blooms from May to June.'

'Flower Language: Intoxicated Hand.'

'Flower Scale Armor: Initiate absorption and evolution?'

The moment he saw the last line of information, Li Cheng颐 felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders.

'That's it! This is the one!'

There were many variants of wisteria, but he chose white wisteria because it was a species he found that very few businesses cultivated in large quantities.

This would also make it easier for him to absorb and evolve, and to repair the Flower Scale Armor in the future.

Immediately, he confirmed the Evil Flower's query in his heart.

'Yes.'

Instantly, a strand of cool air, as thin as a thread, flowed in from the finger touching the white wisteria petal.

This air did not flow into the Evil Flower circle like before, but flowed along his hand, arm, and into his chest.

Then, from his chest, it spread throughout his body.

A coolness, like being immersed in mint-infused water, slowly emerged throughout Li Cheng颐's body, making him tremble slightly.

Fortunately, no one was home.

His parents were at work, and his older sister, Li Cheng Jiu, had to train every day to prepare for the upcoming assessment.

Li Cheng颐 lowered his head and looked at the Evil Flower circle on the back of his right hand, which was emitting a faint purple light.

A new line of information flowed into his mind.

'Flower Scale Armor is evolving...'

'The evolution process is influenced by personal character, values, physique, goals, etc. Different nutrients can be added midway to enhance the Flower Scale Armor's strength.'

'Different nutrients can cause changes in the final Flower Scale Armor's strength, form, and even its flower language ability. Please experiment with caution.'

"Nutrients?" Li Cheng颐 narrowed his eyes. This Flower Scale Armor could change according to the wearer?

But then he thought, ancient armor was definitely custom-made, so it was understandable that the Flower Scale Armor had this function.

This made him even more excited.

'What does this nutrient refer to?'

As the doubt arose in his heart.

New feedback from the Evil Flower quickly flowed into his mind.

'Nutrients: Divided into two types. Before the Flower Scale Armor completes its evolution, it needs to absorb flower qi to take shape.'

'After taking shape, except for repairs, it no longer needs flower qi, but needs to absorb all evil thoughts from the outside world.'

'Evil Thought Absorption: Completely defeat individuals with evil thoughts, allowing them to transform into other emotions, to complete absorption.'

'Current Evolution: 1%, Evil Thoughts: 0.'

Evil thoughts!?

Li Cheng颐 finally understood.

'No wonder this ability is called Evil Flower... a flower cultivated with evil thoughts... truly fitting of the name.'

'So, depending on the wearer and the evil thoughts absorbed along the way, the final Flower Scale Armor that is condensed and evolved may also be different...'

Thinking this, he carefully lifted the flowerpot out of the foam plastic and went to the bathroom to wet a rag, carefully wiping the exterior clean before placing it in his bedroom.

"The room is still a bit small. If only I had my own flower garden..."

Looking at the once-empty space, which now seemed slightly crowded with the addition of a pot of white wisteria.

The idea of renting a place became even stronger.

Sitting at the desk, Li Cheng颐 took out his phone and, without hiding anything, directly searched for the location from which the white wisteria was shipped.

He planned to go there in person and complete the Flower Scale Armor's evolution in one go before returning.

Once it was completely evolved, he would only need to go there when it needed repairs.

'It seems that the future development of the Evil Flower will require a large number of various flowers. Perhaps I should consider opening my own flower base...'

This idea gradually rose in his mind.

Because mobile phones were very insecure, he simply disguised himself as an ordinary person who loved flowers and the information and keywords he searched for on his phone contained no secrets.

Before long, he found the merchant who shipped the white wisteria.

He dialed the number.

"Hello, is this Bao Ju Yuan Flower Shop?"

"Yes, who is this?"

After a brief and quick exchange, Li Cheng颐 scheduled a visit to the other party's flower base. His excuse was that he wanted to wholesale a batch of white wisteria.

After confirming the time, he looked at the flowerpot in the bedroom again, feeling much more at ease.

'Next, I need to find a way to test the Flower Scale Armor's specific strength...'

In these days, he hadn't been idle. He had repeatedly tried it alone at night and successfully controlled the Flower Scale Armor's automatic donning speed.

Li Cheng颐 discovered that as long as he continuously issued commands to slow down, slow down, slow down, within a short period of time after deciding to wear the Flower Scale Armor.

He could control the Flower Scale Armor to only cover certain parts of his body.

For example, only his hands, legs, or torso.

This made it much easier for him to test the Flower Scale Armor's strength. After the basic physical training was over and the firearms training course began, he would find a suitable opportunity.

*

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Suiyang City, xC District.

Along the old street were rows of five-story residential buildings.

The ground floor of these residential buildings were all small shops.

Outside the shops' yellowed walls, air conditioning units hummed.

In front of one of the shops, the blue roller shutter door was tightly closed, and a slightly chubby man in a silver jacket was squatting in the right corner, smoking a cigarette.

He smoked, occasionally turning his head to look around, as if waiting for someone.

"Xiao Ding." Not far away, a bald man walked slowly along the sidewalk, carrying a bag of things, and greeted the squatting chubby man.

"Hey, Brother Zeng, you're here?" The chubby man quickly stood up with a smile on his face.

"If there's anything you need, just say the word. The brothers are all waiting." He smiled and approached, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and opening it to offer.

"Thanks. The boss said he needs to find two people. Isn't your sister really good with tech? Have her help look into it. You'll definitely get something out of it." The bald man said in a low voice.

"Who are they? We can't mess with anything too sensitive." The chubby man, Xiao Ding, hesitated.

"They're not sensitive. Just help me look into it. Same as always, 50,000 for each person." The bald man said in a low voice, "Looking into it once is like your sister's income for a month, and it's not illegal. It's just taking a screenshot. You can blur out the markings and stuff. How easy is that? As long as no one says anything, who's gonna know your sister did it?"

Xiao Ding hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, I'll ask."

"Here are profile sketches of the two people. Once you find them, you don't need to take screenshots. You can handwrite it or transcribe it, whatever works." The bald man understood the other's concerns and immediately smiled.

"I get it." Xiao Ding took the two composite photos from the other man and looked down at them.

One of the photos looked very similar to Li Cheng頤, and the other was of the gunman in the dead angle.

Xiao Ding took out his phone, took a few photos, and then went to the side to make a call.

Before long, he smiled again, hung up the phone, and turned back.

"Alright, I'll send you the information later. There's nothing wrong with these two."

"That's good." Brother Zeng also smiled. "If possible, it would be best to get all their family information too. It's usually registered online, right?"

After all, this was a modern society. Directly killing people was definitely the last resort. If they could first force and threaten the other party through family members, so that they would protect the young lady in the dead angle, that would be the best way to achieve their goal simply.

"No problem. The registration information has their names, so it's easy to look into. My sister said she can help directly locate their phones. When do you need it?" Xiao Ding said.

"The sooner the better." Brother Zeng replied quickly.

"Alright, my sister said she can get it done within an hour. But the money..." Xiao Ding replied with a smile.

"Same place, half the deposit first. You can go get it yourself in a bit." Brother Zeng nodded.

"You're the best, Boss!" Xiao Ding grinned.

*

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New Century Building - Hongjin Company.

Xindra stood with his arms crossed in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the sunny Suiyang city outside, without saying a word.

His eyes were deep, as if he were thinking about something, and his right thumb unconsciously rubbed the outside of his arm.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door was knocked.

"Sir, I've found them." A slightly nasal male voice sounded from outside the door.

"Ah Ran? Come in." Xindra turned around and looked at the door.

The door was gently turned, pushed open, and a strong, round-headed man walked in.

The man's face was sallow, like someone who was sick, and his eyes were a little cloudy. He was more than two meters tall, like a door panel, and walked straight into the room.

He stopped three meters away from Xindra and bowed slightly.

"According to the profile sketch of Mr. Li Cheng颐, the remaining survivor has been found. This is the information, please take a look."

The man handed over a file in his hand.

Xindra took it and glanced through it.

"Only one omen?" He frowned slightly, obviously a little dissatisfied.

"Yes, this Meng Dongdong herself probably isn't strong enough mentally. She only experienced the omen of the dead angle once, and entered directly the second time. According to Li Cheng頤's description, she was probably lucky to survive." The strong man named Ah Ran introduced.

"Too low of potential. Li Cheng颐 had three omens, which is the most among all the contractors we've contacted. The more omens, the easier it is to survive. This Meng Dongdong has no value." Xindra closed the file and shook his head slightly. www.

"Moreover, she comes from a wealthy family and is unlikely to cooperate with us." Ah Ran added.

"Well, give up on her. Focus on Li Cheng颐." Xindra confirmed.

Just as the two were talking, a rapid burst of footsteps came quickly from outside the door.

The person stopped at the door.

"Boss, Mr. Cheng Yi's phone is being targeted by hackers. Someone is trying to access Mr. Cheng Yi and his family's related information from the telecommunications operator's database."

"Cut him off and give him a warning." Xindra said calmly.

"Also, Meng Dongdong, since there's no possibility of her becoming my contractor, then she's of no value to us. Cut her from the pre-selection."

"Then... should we..." Ah Ran raised his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture.

To ensure the safety of the contractors, extend their survival time, and explore the secrets of the dead angle as much as possible, they had done this before.