Countless specks danced like a blanket of snowflakes in his vision, as his consciousness continued to sink, numbly welcoming the impending death.
...
...
...
"Tap tap tap..."
However.
"Tap tap tap..."
After an indeterminate amount of time, those footsteps reappeared, seeming both real and illusory.
In his final moments, Su Mo once again opened his eyes.
That familiar figure was running towards him, snow-white hair fluttering wildly in the air, the lamp light reflecting off it with moon-like silver brilliance.
Nuobai was holding a stack of blankets and an emergency medical kit, both taken from the motorcycle.
She unfolded the blanket to wrap Su Mo, and tightly embraced him to warm him with her body heat, preventing hypothermia.
Immediately after, she opened the medical kit and took out a syringe.
This was a type of military cardiac stimulant, often equipped in elite frontline units of major forces. It's used for emergency pain relief, stimulating heart and lung activity, temporarily enhancing physical functions, with a black market price of 500,000 lunar currency per dose, nicknamed "the warrior's second life."
It was the only stimulant Nuobai had, and she would only consider using it in the most critical moments.
Without hesitation, she injected the precious stimulant into Su Mo's neck, then rolled up her sleeve, drew the Tang Blade, reversed the blade's direction, and made a swift cut on her wrist.
"Sss." The blade easily sliced the wrist open, and blood gushed out.
She moved her bleeding wrist to Su Mo's mouth.
Meaning: here's the blood you need.
The stimulant's effect surged through Su Mo's body, greatly alleviating the intense pain, bringing a resurgence of strength and allowing him to regain control of his limbs.
Seeing Nuobai's wrist drenched in crimson liquid, Su Mo's survival instinct overpowered everything.
He grabbed Nuobai's wrist and directly sealed his mouth on it.
The blood flowed down his throat, seemingly sweet amidst the extreme agitation.
The alien substances released by the black cocoon were eroding Su Mo's entire organs. As this foreign blood rushed into his esophagus and stomach, they too became erosion targets.
The alien substances were limited in quantity. Eroding Nuobai's blood cytoplasm also meant less erosion of Su Mo's body, giving more time for the alien gene fusion tincture to take effect.
However, the erosion trend was still very fierce.
The meager stream of blood from the wrist was far from enough.
Driven by survival instinct, Su Mo was like a beast, maintaining basic sanity in extreme hunger, but once he tasted the first drop of blood, his inner turmoil and madness took over completely.
Initially, Su Mo sucked, then started tearing and biting on Nuobai's wrist, increasing the force and widening her wound.
Blood acted like a highly addictive poison, constantly agitating his frenzy.
Not enough...
Not enough!
Still not enough!!!
The more he thirsted for blood, the more frenzied Su Mo's hunger became.
The arterial blood flow from the wrist barely satisfied him.
He roared, lifting his head, and saw an even more tempting spot.
Nuobai's neck was slender and long, her skin pale to the point of translucence, with faint blue veins barely visible like intricate lines on petals, filled with intoxicating beauty.
This beauty magnified under his frantic senses, and the liquid flowing through those veins utterly shattered Su Mo's sanity.
"Ugh!!!" His breath suddenly grew heavier, and the black cocoon in his chest sprouted numerous black tendrils, crawling and spreading across his face.
He let out a monstrous, twisted roar, breaking free from the blanket, lunged at Nuobai, pinned her against the wall with a thud, and aimed his open mouth at her pale neck.
"Slurp!"
Su Mo was like a bloodthirsty beast, tearing open Nuobai's carotid artery, constantly gnawing at the fountaining blood, the black tendrils also piercing the wound, voraciously devouring her blood.
An ordinary person would likely perish from such a bite.
However, the "Crimson Rose Blood Code" endows the body with incredible regenerative powers, including hematopoietic capabilities.
Carriers of Nuobai's level can withstand blood loss far beyond the average person.
So Nuobai didn't resist; she simply held Su Mo tightly, even actively adjusting the angle, enduring the pain as much as she could to accommodate him.
The increasingly forceful bites...
The oppressive roars reverberating around them...
Blood gushing out only to be swallowed...
The two were tightly entwined, jointly battling the unseen monster within Su Mo.
After an interminable amount of time...
Su Mo's frenzied biting finally began to abate, his movements shrinking ever smaller.
The black tendrils covering his face also started to shrink, retracting, seemingly suppressed by some force.
Looking again at his chest, the originally fist-sized black cocoon had completely collapsed, leaving only a faint scar-like black mark, losing its former menace.
It succeeded...
The alien gene fusion tincture took effect, his body perfectly assimilated the Ancestral Blood Code, no longer suffering any side effects.
He could finally survive.
At this moment, Su Mo was like a puppet whose strings had been cut, collapsing weakly against Nuobai's shoulder, surrounded by the trembling sound of his breathing.
Nuobai activated the Blood Code Ability, and her torn artery quickly clotted, the bite wound healing at a visible pace, restored as new.
However, from her somewhat pale complexion, Su Mo truly harmed her, as his sucking was overly intense.
The Crimson Rose Blood Code's rapid regeneration isn't without a cost.
The regeneration of any cell or tissue requires consuming the body's IPS stem cells.
The difference between carriers of the Crimson Rose Blood Code and ordinary people is that their bodies can store a greater number of IPS stem cells for activating abilities, regenerating faster.
But once IPS stem cells are overly depleted, it's like a car running out of gas, no matter how high a carrier's Blood Code level, it won't help.
Before this, Nuobai underwent several days of intense journeying, battling, and then being drained by Su Mo; her reserve of IPS stem cells was already diminishing.
If Su Mo were to bite her like that again, she might not withstand it.
Nuobai raised her sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead, picked up her phone, and typed:
[Did you make it through?]
"Mm…" Su Mo propped himself up, sitting upright, looking at Nuobai with complex eyes, and asked softly, "Why did you run back to help me?"
Nuobai blinked, her gaze crystal clear, she typed:
[Because you helped me]
Su Mo understood; she was talking about the matter with the gene piezoelectric protein.
In Nuobai's eyes, he might be a super saint.
This "Dr. Chen" went to great lengths to help her break through the encirclement of Storm Plains, dutifully fulfilling his promise by taking her to this Life Sequence Exploration Center, and finding the gene piezoelectric protein as pledged, giving her hope for survival...
But in reality, it was far from the truth...
Su Mo closed his eyes and sighed inwardly, whispering to Nuobai: "I owe you one, and I'll repay it."
Not waiting for Nuobai to respond, Su Mo stood up: "We've all got what we needed. It's rare to come to the Ancient Era Ruins; let's go and scavenge separately for a bit. Let's reconvene here in 10 minutes."
Nuobai nodded, not forgetting to leave a word before departing:
[Call me if you need help]
Su Mo: "Mm."
The two split off to search each layer for other supplies.
Besides some medicine stored in freezers, they did not find anything valuable.
These medicines weren't rare items either; there are now many drugs with similar effects on the market, at best considered better than nothing.
Of course, not all of Su Mo's intention to send Nuobai away was for plundering materials. He wanted to verify something.
The same is true for assimilating the Ancestral Blood Code through the alien gene fusion tincture; his experience differed from the game's "protagonist."
The protagonist was a chosen hero, relying on physique to resist side effects, breezing through adversity.
He, however, endured the backlash with Nuobai's help, as they faced it together.
During this process, he consumed an immense amount of Nuobai's blood.
It's commonly known that any tissue fluid in the human body, including blood, contains genetic information fragments.
The Blood Code is embedded in genetic fragments.
And the Ancestral Blood Code's ability—isn't.
Su Mo squatted in a corner, placed his finger in his mouth, and bit hard, his eyes wide with observation.
Blood slowly oozed from the teeth marks...
Then...
The blood clotted, scabbed.
The wound closed, healed.
Su Mo was astonished, his heart stirred by the revelation.
"Damn, I actually have the Crimson Rose Blood Code!"