A few minutes later, Logan finally recovered.
Unlike Ashley, he didn't pass out after unlocking his first gene lock.
The intense pain he felt also subsided quicker than hers.
More importantly, he didn't find the pain unbearable.
It still hurt, but nowhere near the level of torment he had feared.
"Could gene locks have individual differences?"
Logan wondered, but he set the question aside for now.
There was a more pressing issue at hand.
He walked over to the mutated wild boar, which was now completely dead.
The mutated beast must be what the Cornucopia referred to as a "Tier-1 Source Beast."
So how exactly does one absorb the so-called "source power"?
Logan crouched in front of the wild boar, deep in thought.
[Detected unclaimed "source power." Absorb? Yes/No]
A line of text suddenly appeared on the Cornucopia interface.
Logan's spirits lifted as he responded, "Yes!"
[Please maintain physical contact with the source beast.]
[Note: Absorption of source power must not be interrupted. If interrupted, the source power will dissipate and cannot be reclaimed.]
So, if interrupted, would the source power be gone?
Logan hesitated briefly before storing the wild boar's corpse in his space and heading toward his safehouse.
He didn't know how long the process of absorbing source power would take.
Although the surroundings were currently clear, it's better to be safe than sorry. Returning to the safehouse was the safest option.
Logan quickly returned to the safehouse, patted Max Knight's head, signaling for the dog to stay in the living room, and then entered a storage room he had prepared for miscellaneous items.
After taking out the mutated wild boar from his space, the Cornucopia interface reappeared with the prompt:
[Detected unclaimed "source power." Absorb? Yes/No]
Logan let out a sigh of relief, placed his hand on the wild boar's sticky fur, and said, "Yes."
As soon as he spoke, an invisible source power began to flow from the mutated wild boar into Logan's body through his palm.
He could feel a slight warmth spreading from his hand and up his entire arm.
Then, a wave of comfort, down to his very cells and even his soul, surged through his whole body.
After two minutes, this sensation ceased, and there was no further interaction.
When Logan withdrew his hand, he still felt a lingering sense of satisfaction.
"So, this is what evolution feels like?"
Smacking his lips, Logan stored the wild boar back into his space and washed his hands.
Soon, he noticed that his walking speed had increased slightly.
He tested his strength and found that it, too, had improved.
Overall, his physical abilities seemed to have improved by about ten percent.
He was now certain that source power was the key to accelerate human evolution!
Logan remembered when the apocalypse had first started, the Cornucopia had displayed the following message:
[Solar storm incoming, geomagnetic storm forming, "source" matter rapidly generating]
Source power could enable genetic evolution.
This "source" matter was the key to unlocking evolution through source power.
Obtaining "source" matter and forming source power was the key to strengthening.
In his previous life, scientists had discovered that animals and plants had begun to mutate, while humans had only become more cold-resistant.
This proved that the "source" matter could be passively absorbed by plants and animals, but not by humans. Humans had to actively absorb it.
That's why the "Resonance" technique had been developed in his previous life.
After practicing "Resonance" for two years in his previous life, Logan had felt his physical abilities improving, which was why he had been able to work with others to kill a mutated beast.
He realized that since the apocalypse began, he hadn't practiced the Health Preservation Technique.
Now was the perfect time to test which was more powerful, the Health Preservation Technique or "Resonance".
Without hesitation, Logan began practicing the Health Preservation Technique in the living room.
Just as he expected, after practicing the full set of Health Preservation Techniques, he felt a warm sensation throughout his body, similar to the tingling sensation when absorbing source power.
When he tried "Resonance," the effect was significantly weaker, by at least a half.
He looked at his hand, and the Health Preservation Technique manual appeared in his palm, still as dirty and tattered as ever.
"Health Preservation Technique, Resonance..."
If he ever encountered that fat Taoist priest again, he would definitely ask where the Health Preservation Technique came from.
Logan put the manual away once again.
Now that ordinary people could activate gene locks and even mutated beasts had appeared, this apocalypse was no longer like the one he had experienced in his previous life.
The world outside would soon become even more dangerous.
Logan glanced at Max Knight, who was lying on the carpet, curiously watching him. He patted the dog's head and said:
"Max Knight, let's get stronger together!"
"Woof!"
"We'll have game meat for dinner!"
"Woof!"
...
That evening, Logan processed the mutated wild boar.
The massive wild boar weighed at least 400 pounds, a huge beast.
In his previous life, he had heard that mutated beast meat was delicious, and he had always wanted to try it.
Logan cut off a large piece for Max Knight and then fried himself several wild boar steaks.
Sure enough, the meat wasn't as tough as regular wild boar meat and didn't have much of a gamey taste.
It was tender and bursting with flavor, each bite full of texture and freshness.
Logan devoured seven steaks before finally stopping.
Even Max Knight ate two extra pieces, licking his lips in satisfaction.
It probably had something to do with the source power that had altered the essence of the source beast.
After dinner, Logan felt the need to go for a walk to help with digestion.
Max Knight wanted to follow, but without fur, Logan worried the dog could get a cold, so he modified a piece of clothing to dress him.
Though a bit uncomfortable, Max Knight reluctantly accepted the outfit.
Outside, snow was falling heavily.
In just a few hours, the bloodstains on the ground had been completely covered.
From the mountain, Logan could see half of the county below, shrouded in darkness.
Occasionally, there was a faint glow from some households, likely from candles being lit.
"Max Knight, there will never be lights in every home again."
Logan murmured as he looked at the dark world before him.
He now understood the true purpose of this apocalypse.
Humans had been at the top of the food chain for too long, living in comfort.
This apocalypse was forcing humanity and other creatures to compete once again.
Logan also had a suspicion as to why the first two apocalypses had restarted.
Humans had grown too accustomed to relying on external forces, forgetting how to improve themselves.
In the early years of the previous apocalypse, humanity had continued to strive to restore technological civilization.
Logan could imagine that after his death, in the following decades, the evolution of animals and plants would far surpass that of humans. Their reproduction rates would be much faster than humans, too.
And once humans fell behind, they would only fall further, ultimately leading to extinction.
As the only one who knew this truth, Logan felt as though a heavy weight was pressing down on him.
What should he do?
Max Knight looked up at Logan, sensing the heaviness in his heart, and nuzzled his leg.
In the pitch-black, snowy world, man and dog stood in silence.