Chapter 143 Temporary Test

Hao Ren looked at the bizarre container in the bearded man's hand, still feeling slightly nervous as the moment of truth approached. "Speaking of which, do I need to take my shirt off and lie on the ground?"

"You can just sit here," the bearded man said with a slight smile. "For you, it's enough to just undergo the source blood inoculation. But I still suggest you concentrate and try to call out to our goddess in your heart. Although it's hard to say what effect a non-devout call will have, it should improve the success rate somewhat."

Hao Ren gritted his teeth and nodded to the data terminal beside him. "Help me monitor my physical condition. If anything unexpected happens..."

The data terminal's voice sounded particularly eager. "Don't worry, this humble one will knock you unconscious at the first sign of trouble."

Hao Ren had a feeling that the thing's voice seemed a bit malicious, but at this moment, the bearded man had already pressed the container with its pointed needle against his forehead. He felt a slight coolness coming from it, but then nothing happened.

The bearded man coughed twice. "Ahem, well, could you turn off your shield first?"

Hao Ren quickly patted the back of his head. "Oh, right, I forgot about that."

The source blood seeped into his skin along the needle, and a warm, wonderful sensation spread from his forehead.

The liquids were just like their name suggested, containing eternal and primordial life force. They didn't feel cold or foreign at all. On the contrary, when they seeped into his skin, Hao Ren almost felt his body actively accepting these foreign objects. A gentle and slightly itchy stimulation spread under his skin, gradually permeating his limbs and bones. A thought couldn't help but flash through Hao Ren's mind:

He was really getting bolder and bolder. This was practically injecting unidentified microorganisms into his blood vessels... In any random plot, this would be a death flag, but he actually dared to happily engage in this kind of experiment. He wouldn't have dared to imagine this a year ago.

As this thought emerged, a trace of doubt suddenly crossed Hao Ren's mind. Why was he so eager to inject source blood into his body? Was this consistent with his cautious personality? The urge to perform the Thorn Seal Ritual seemed to have arisen from the first time he saw the ritual... Was this urge really just out of curiosity?

Hao Ren felt his mind slowly scatter, and a feeling of anticipation for the source blood and a sense of security as if returning to his mother's embrace washed over him simultaneously. This not only diluted the bit of doubt that had just emerged, but was replaced by a sense of joy as if a certain wish had been fulfilled.

The data terminal's holographic projection showed the diffusion of the source blood in Hao Ren's body. They expanded unhurriedly like mist, gentle, harmless, and full of vitality. Lily watched this scene a bit nervously, and after a few whimpers in her throat, she couldn't help but say, "Is this really okay? I feel like I'm watching an illegal medical experiment on TV..."

"It's just a temporary inoculation test," the data terminal's voice was as leisurely as ever. "Don't worry, the strengthening factors in this guy's body will soon break down the foreign substances. Before that, we'll see what he can 'hear'... Hmm?"

The data terminal let out a slight exclamation, and everyone saw an unusual scene. On the holographic projection, the source blood factors that were originally gradually spreading in Hao Ren's body all disappeared in an instant.

Vivian frowned, and a layer of shadow involuntarily appeared on her face, but she quickly returned to her normal expression, and at the same time recalled a similar situation.

Lily then reached out and poked the data terminal's shell. "...Did your sensor disconnect?"

"Nonsense, this humble one is in perfect condition," the data terminal vibrated a few times, and quickly circled Hao Ren a few times. "Disappeared... No, it seems like it was all absorbed in an instant? Hey, bearded man, is this normal?"

At this time, both the bearded man and Bishop Auben were still stunned. It was clear from their eyes that this was not normal. Bishop Auben immediately came over to check Hao Ren's condition. "This has never happened before... No matter who it is, it takes a long time to adapt after inoculation, and there should be obvious changes in the body... Foreigner, how do you feel now?"

Only then did Hao Ren withdraw from that inexplicably complex experience. He looked down at his hands. "No changes. Is that it?"

"The source blood disappeared in your body," the data terminal played the previous holographic image recording. "It seems to have been absorbed in an instant, and after the absorption, your body didn't show any changes. The source blood didn't leave any trace."

"Absorbed?" Hao Ren stared. "I feel like nothing's even started yet."

The bearded man held the container and thought for a long time, then gritted his teeth. "Let's try again!"

Before Hao Ren could express his opinion, the bearded man had already stabbed the needle on the container into his forehead with a *puchi* sound. A moment later, the data terminal's exclamation sounded again. "It's absorbed again!"

Seeing that the bearded man had another eager look, Hao Ren immediately broke out in a cold sweat and quickly waved his hand to refuse. "Stop, stop, stop—don't try it anymore! This isn't saline solution, is it!"

Only then did the bearded man put the container aside with some regret, and Lily couldn't wait to jump out. "So what exactly is going on with the landlord's situation?"

"I only know that a similar situation has happened before," Vivian bit her lip, and mentioned Hao Ren's strange constitution. "He's immune to some magic, and he's absorbed my blood before when I used blood magic to cast spells on him."

"Even absorbed a vampire's blood?!" Nangong Wuyue was immediately amazed by Hao Ren. "Which of you is sucking who?"

Vivian awkwardly turned her face away. "My professional skills in this area are indeed not very proficient..."

"Stop discussing the menu," Hao Ren waved his hand to tell them not to stray from the topic. "The key issue now is what's going on with me. Could it be that my magic immunity is effective even against source blood?"

"It may also be a matter of divine conflict," the data terminal said leisurely at this time. "If the source blood affects other organisms with its divine nature, then it will definitely conflict with the divine nature on your body. It's possible that it's been neutralized."

The data terminal cautiously used "neutralized" instead of "devoured," which was to take care of the feelings of the two Radiant Church followers present, but Hao Ren still understood the deep meaning in the terminal's words. He realized that this universe's creator goddess was weaker in divinity than the female psychopath behind him, so the former's divine power had no effect on him—this would normally be a good phenomenon to be proud of, but now it was obviously causing unexpected interference with his work.

"But that doesn't make sense," Izhaks had also learned about "divinity" out of curiosity, and he felt that something was wrong. "The source blood here is the unknown generation of material 'bred' from the seed of life, and the connection with the creator goddess shouldn't be that strong anymore. And if you have to say it, all living things in this world are conceived from source blood. If source blood has divinity, then wouldn't all the flies and mosquitoes in the world have divinity? If that were the case, the moment the landlord landed on the planet, the whole family would explode."

Vivian frowned. "But if it's not like this, how do you explain the phenomenon of the source blood disappearing in the landlord's body?"

Nangong Wuyue curiously circled Hao Ren (because she was in sea serpent form, so she crawled). "Let's not talk about anything else, landlord, can you concentrate and hear the goddess speaking? What if there's still a little effect?"

When Hao Ren heard this, he thought it was also a good idea, so he immediately closed his eyes and concentrated his mental strength, silently calling out to the creator goddess who was nowhere to be found in his mind. Everyone else around him also quieted down to prevent disturbing him, and the entire ritual room became so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.

A faint sound came from somewhere. "*Paji... paji... paji... kacha kacha kacha...*"

Hao Ren opened his eyes, a little puzzled. "I just heard a strange *paji* sound."

Lily raised her hand. "I heard it too!"

Hao Ren looked around and suddenly found a fish baby not far away holding a table leg and biting it hard. "...Dou Dou is gnawing on the table!"

After a flurry of commotion, the slippery Dou Dou was finally caught by the adults, and Hao Ren's attempt finally ended in failure.

He couldn't perform the Thorn Seal Ritual, and not only that, he couldn't even have any form of contact with source blood.

The bearded man and Bishop Auben tested a few more times with other methods. The last time, they smeared the source blood on Hao Ren's skin. After a moment, the source blood that was only smeared on the epidermis was quickly absorbed, and didn't even leave a trace.

"Speaking of which... I've never really directly contacted source blood before, I've always been separated by observation containers or isolation gloves," Hao Ren stared blankly at the back of his hand. A few seconds ago, there was still some warm red liquid smeared there. "It turns out that I only discovered this phenomenon now."

"But my contact doesn't seem to be a problem." Lily raised her hand and shouted. She had just volunteered to undergo the same set of tests as Hao Ren, and the result was that the phenomenon of source blood disappearing didn't occur in her body.

But apart from that, Lily hadn't been able to establish any so-called spiritual connection with the goddess.

In any case, this attempt had failed.