Doomsday Cognition Guide

Days passed, and during the time spent building the base, the training efficiency improved significantly thanks to the use of the mid-frequency therapy device. During the day, they moved stones to build walls, and at night they practiced standing meditation for half an hour, with the rest of the time dedicated to physical training.

If my fourth uncle and father weren't too tired during the day, they would come over to practice for a while in the evening. My fourth uncle practiced more frequently than my father. My father practiced less, but he was always very serious, his movements were simple, and he would practice until he broke a sweat. He also insisted on using a mid-frequency therapy device to practice exerting force for half an hour every day.

On the eighth night, after finishing a set of push-ups, Uncle Si sat on a rock, panting. He stared at his hands for a long time.

"I've been feeling something off with my hands lately. When I touch steel bars, they feel different than before." Li Xuan picked up a short steel bar from the ground and handed it over.

Uncle Si took it and slowly tightened his grip. The steel bar began to bend—not by brute force, but with a uniform curve, without any shaking or rebound.

"This is a sign of your superpower awakening. Yours should be metal-based. Bend metal like this every day, do it several times, stop when you feel powerless, and keep practicing and you will get stronger." Uncle Si nodded, stood up and continued doing push-ups.

After Uncle Four awakened his superpower, the connection between metal parts no longer required welding. When two steel bars were joined together, fingers pinched the joint, the cut surfaces interpenetrated, and the weld was smooth and flat.

Meanwhile, renovations inside the cave were also underway—Father built a makeshift bathhouse with wooden planks next to the pool on the lower level. A small patch of wasteland on the back hill was also cleared, and Mother was already planning what to plant.

The wall grew taller day by day. By the thirteenth day, the wall had reached the intended height, and Uncle Si began to install barbs on the wall.

Those barbs were made of thick iron wire and scrap steel bars, one end embedded in the cracks in the stone and sealed with cement, the other end sharpened and sticking outwards. They were arranged from the base of the wall to the top, each bar spaced about a hand's width apart.

Li Xuan couldn't get involved in this part of the work—his fourth uncle could handle the steel bars treated with his metal powers by himself. The steel frame of the pulley system on the top of the wall also needed reinforcement, and these delicate metalwork tasks could only be done by his fourth uncle himself.

That evening, Li Xuan practiced until he was exhausted, as usual. He sat by the pool, panting, sweat dripping from his chin onto the stones, his arms still trembling.

He looked down at the old scar on the back of his hand—a scar left before he was discharged from the army, which had been with him for several years.

He pressed his fingertips against the scar, focusing his attention on it. The scar and normal skin perceived as two different textures. He gently loosened the knots one by one, allowing the fibers to rearrange into the texture of normal skin.

A few minutes later, the scar disappeared, leaving only smooth skin on the back of my hand.

His superpower had officially awakened. A wave of fatigue washed over him; the exertion was considerable, but he felt more confident.

Over the next few days, his father, mother, and cousin showed no unusual behavior. In that memory, only about one in ten people could truly awaken supernatural abilities. His fourth uncle was the first; others might not. Li Xuan didn't urge them, nor did he mention supernatural abilities again.

On the fifteenth day, the wall was completely built. The final dimensions were even larger than initially planned. It was over ten meters high. From inside the yard, the wall appeared only five meters high—the remaining five meters or so were hidden below the steep slope by the terrain. People outside could only see a five-meter-high curved stone wall; they couldn't see the yard behind it, nor the drop at the base of the wall.

The wall had no gate; instead, a simple pulley system was installed on top of the wall, and a basket made of thick hemp rope and angle iron was used to move supplies up and down.

A complete survival base was essentially completed by this day. It had walls, a place to live, water, electricity, and land.

That afternoon, Li Xuan and his fourth uncle were putting the finishing touches on the wall. His fourth uncle was reinforcing the steel frame of the pulley system at the top of the wall, while Li Xuan was checking the securing of the barbs.

My cousin, Li Ying, ran over from the cave, her slippers clattering on the gravel path. She reached them, tilting her head back, her face bearing an indescribable expression—not so much fear as she seemed overwhelmed with excitement, unsure how to begin.

"Brother, there's a snake in the cave... in the pool. No, it looks like a small dragon."

Li Xuan stopped what he was doing. "What did you say?"

"A dragon." My cousin gestured with her hand, indicating a length less than a hand's breadth. "It's so small, white, and in the water."

Fourth Uncle stopped what he was doing, looked down at her, and asked, "Are you seeing things?"

"No!" My cousin stamped her foot. "I saw it when my aunt and I were putting things in the hole. It gave her a real fright. I shone a flashlight on it and saw it had four legs. I checked it several times to make sure I wasn't mistaken."

The three people entered the cave and descended the steps to the lower level. The pool was not large, but it was very deep, and the water gushed out from the cracks in the rocks, maintaining a constant temperature year-round.

Li Xuan had his fourth uncle shine a flashlight obliquely into the water. The beam of light cut into the surface, and a thin, white shadow emerged halfway out from a crevice in the rocks. It was very small, thinner than his little finger, and no more than a hand's breadth long. It was entirely white, with a very faint pinkish tinge. Its four legs were thin and short, and it had two tufts of feather-like gills on its head, which opened slightly under the light. It paused in the water for a few seconds, flicked its tail, and retreated back into the crevice.

Uncle Si straightened up and clicked his tongue, saying, "This little thing really looks like a dragon. Legend says dragons can grow big or small; could this thing really be a dragon?"

The father appeared in the cave at some point, stood with his hands behind his back, looked around for a while, and said, "Your mother said there's a snake in the cave, so I came to check it out."

Li Xuan turned his gaze away from the pool. "This isn't a snake, nor a dragon; it's probably an olm. An amphibian that lives in underground rivers, similar in species to the giant salamander."

A memory suddenly flashed through his mind. Ten years after the apocalypse, he heard from some people who came from the west that an "Undying Dragon Emperor" had appeared in the mountainous region of his hometown. It looked very much like a dragon, and its strength was only at the fifth level, but it took several sixth-level powerhouses working together to kill it. Later, scientists, based on genetic analysis, discovered that it should have evolved from an olm. Its superpower was very special, and its regenerative ability was terrifying to the point of being almost immortal.

Could that immortal dragon emperor be the one right in front of us?

A few days ago, when he was thinking about how to use his superpowers, an idea popped into his head—if he used both positive and negative assimilation at the same time, and chose a small, resilient, and incredibly regenerative creature, could he turn it into a clone? It wasn't just simple assimilation, but rather, while assimilating the other creature, he used negative assimilation to fill it with his own flesh and blood, replacing its original tissues and making it fundamentally a part of himself.

The olm in front of us is the best experimental material.

He found a bucket, scooped the olm out of the pool, and put it in. The olm circled the bottom of the bucket twice, crawled halfway along the side, its head slightly tilted back, its gills gently opening and closing in the water. After a while, it slowly sank to the bottom of the bucket, retreated into the shadows, and remained motionless.

It's too late today, let's prepare first and start tomorrow.

The next morning, Li Xuan took the olm out of the bucket and put it in a box. He first took the olm out of the bucket, then dripped a few drops of anesthetic on it. The olm struggled slightly in the water and slowly calmed down.

He pulled the folding knife from his waist and made a shallow cut on his left index finger. Just enough to draw blood.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

My cousin, Li Ying, was standing at the entrance of the cave at some point. She was holding a basin in her hand, looking at the blood on Li Xuan's fingers, and then at the motionless little creature in the box.

Li Xuan looked up: "Let's test my ability. Little sister, do me a favor and go to the stream to catch some small fish and shrimp, the smaller the better, it needs to eat when it wakes up."

His cousin looked at him for a few seconds, nodded in agreement, and quickly disappeared into the light at the cave entrance.

Li Xuan pressed his fingers against the olm's body. Blood seeped from between his fingers, soaking the olm's skin.

He took a deep breath and simultaneously initiated both positive and negative assimilation.

Positive assimilation involves absorbing the olm's body tissues, dismantling them bit by bit. Reverse assimilation, on the other hand, involves filling the dismantled parts with one's own blood, rearranging them at the informational level, and transforming them into structures completely identical to their original positions.

This process must maintain a delicate balance—as much as is assimilated, it must replenish just as much. Soon, the olm's body will be unable to withstand it, and its blood supply will be insufficient.

The wall is already built, and Uncle Si is handling things outside. For the next three days, he only needs to focus on this one thing.

On the first day, his outer skin was replaced. He could feel a faint touch with his eyes closed.

The next day, muscles and bones began to replace each other. The wounds on his fingers scabbed over and then reopened, the blood never completely drying. When his mother brought in food, she saw the scabs on his fingers and the olm in the box, and stood there for a long time.

"What are you doing? How did you get your hands like that?"

"Testing supernatural abilities." Li Xuan didn't look up.

The mother opened her mouth, placed the food on the stone platform, turned and went out. As she reached the cave entrance, she said, "The food's getting cold."

On the third day, the internal organs and nerves. The olm's organs are too small and too fragile; he must control them with precision down to a scale finer than a hair.

Fourth Uncle arrived in the evening. He looked at the wound on Li Xuan's finger, which had already formed a thick layer of scabs, and then at the cave salamander in the box, which showed almost no change. He remained silent for several seconds.

"Have you been working on this for the past few days?"

"Yes, I'm testing one application of my supernatural ability."

Fourth Uncle didn't ask what it was used for, just said "Don't push yourself too hard," and turned to leave.

My father only came once. He stood at the door, glanced inside, said nothing, stood there for about ten seconds, and then left.

On the evening of the third day, Li Xuan finally loosened his grip.

He put the olm back into the bucket. It stayed at the bottom for two seconds, then began to swim naturally.

He closed his eyes. A blurry outline appeared in his mind—the cold water, the curvature of the bucket wall, the resistance of the gills opening in the water. He could feel the olm's body.

He tried to stop it. The olm stopped. He told it to swim to the left side of the bucket, and it swam to the left.

He released the grip. The olm paused at the bottom of the tub for a moment, then moved on its own, slowly crawling along the tub's side before burrowing back down into the shadows.

Without purpose or direction, it's just the instinct of a cave-dwelling creature.

He tried to take over, making it crawl out of the shadows, swim to the surface, and stick its head out.

When he doesn't control it, it is itself, living by instinct. When he does control it, it's like playing a remote game—closing his eyes, letting his consciousness sink in, and becoming it.

It's not a true clone, but an incarnation, an extension of his body.

My cousin came in carrying a bowl. At the bottom of the bowl were several tiny fish, smaller than a fingernail, and a transparent river shrimp. She squatted down to look at the cave salamander.

Li Xuan closed his eyes and took control. The olm rose from the bottom of the bucket, opened its mouth, and bit down on a fish fry.

My cousin's eyes widened.

Li Xuan released the control, and the cave salamander retreated back into the shadows. After a while, it swam to the surface and found another fry.

Over the next few days, he repeatedly tested the control distance. Beyond one kilometer, the sensing began to weaken. At one and a half kilometers, only a faint, indistinct shadow remained.

He also made an unexpected discovery—a life force field. He could now use the same ability the olm possessed. Initially, its effects weren't strong; it simply allowed injuries to heal slowly and perfectly. The cut on his finger was reduced to a faint mark by the next morning. An additional benefit was that he could sense the surrounding life magnetic fields and judge the strength of living beings. He had sensed it with his eyes closed during evening training; his fourth uncle's magnetic field was slightly brighter than his father's, suggesting that his fourth uncle's ability had altered his physique.

The olm, as an avatar, could also use his assimilation ability, but the effect was weaker than his own. That's how it is with externally acquired abilities; no matter how much you train them, their power and potential can never compare to your innate ability. However, he had a vague idea—if he repeatedly performed positive and negative assimilation, perhaps he could gradually improve the compatibility.

Even with the discount, these two abilities worked well together in the early stages—assimilation allowed him to absorb energy faster, and the life force field ensured that he could train hard without worrying about leaving any hidden injuries.

From that day on, his training intensity doubled.

He looked at the olm in the bucket. It was still too small; its life field hadn't even fully awakened, only exhibiting the most basic regenerative abilities and a weak sense of life. But the channel between the avatar and him was open. With the two abilities refining each other within the same body, the rate of evolution would be much faster than in his previous life.

A day later, he went down to the stream and caught a rat snake. It was non-venomous, about the thickness of a thumb, and over a meter long.

He brought the snake back and placed it on a stone platform next to the cave salamander. Then he closed his eyes, controlled his clone to crawl over, and used his assimilation ability to disintegrate the snake's body.

The goal is not to let the olm eat the snake, but to let its body actively absorb the snake's tissue, extract the useful parts, and replace the corresponding structures.

After the snake skin is broken down, the keratinous layer and scale structure are preserved and rearranged on the surface of the cave salamander's skin.

On the first day, a layer of fine lines appeared on its back, arranged longitudinally along its body, extending from its head to the tip of its tail. The grooves were shallow but evenly distributed, and their regular geometric arrangement could be seen under the light. Li Xuan reached out and touched it—the skin his fingertips touched was still soft; the lines were simply shapes pressed into the skin's surface, like a piece of soft rubber with grooves pressed into it.

The next day, the patterns became clearer, spreading from its back to its entire body, completely covering its once smooth skin with a layer of snake-scale-like patterns. Li Xuan held the olm in his palm, his fingertips gently gliding over its back—the texture of the patterns was more pronounced than on the first day, with neat, ridged lines. It wasn't hard; it was just getting thicker.

On the third day, the skin had noticeably thickened. The lines were embedded in the thickened epidermis, as if someone had pressed a layer of soft rubber into a scale shape and then dried it to set. It still didn't feel bony to the touch, but it was firmer than the previous two days, and you could feel the springiness when you pressed it with your finger. When the olm swims in the water, the water flow over these grooves and protrusions, creating extremely slight changes in resistance—each line is a tiny channel for water to flow.

He filled a bucket with cool water, placed the olm in it, and shone a flashlight from the side. The light shone through the water onto its body, casting faint shadows on its snake-scale-like patterns, like real scales arranged in a pattern. But when the light shone from the front, the shadows disappeared, leaving only a layer of even, textured skin.

Many more transformations are needed—this thickened skin will gradually shrink and tighten, with layers of fiber stacking on top of each other, and keratin gradually accumulating. Only then will these patterns truly harden, becoming scales covering the entire body.

Li Xuan pulled his fingers out of the bucket and shook off the water. He looked at the white shadow curled up in the shadows at the bottom of the bucket—its body was thicker than it had been three days ago, and its skin was darker, turning from pure white to a grayish-white, the thickened epidermis changing its color.

He crouched by the bucket, not controlling it. The olm stayed at the bottom of the bucket for a while, then slowly crawled out, circled halfway along the bucket wall, turned over underwater, and retreated back into the shadows.

In his memory, the immortal dragon emperor had no scales. It was called a dragon only because of its large size, ability to fly, and invincibility. In this life, he wanted it to be a true dragon, inside and out. Scales were just the first step.