It wasn't until Zhao Yingkong seized a fleeting opening and effortlessly annihilated Zhao Likong right there that Zheng Zha managed only an exclamation of "Good!" But who would have thought that the seemingly doomed Zhao Likong was still alive, immediately countering with a punch to Zhao Yingkong's lower back? Seeing the little girl spewing blood and sent flying from the blow, Zheng Zha finally hesitated no longer, activating the third stage of the Gene Lock. He was already simulating Zhao Yingkong's thought patterns.

Zhao Likong, having punched Zhao Yingkong away, then twisted his neck, eliciting another series of teeth-grinding crack sounds. This monstrous aberration somehow managed to snap his neck back into place, though the bones within were now shattered into several pieces, leaving his head in a grotesquely distorted posture. Just as Zheng Zha materialized from his ghostly state, the muscles in his severed neck writhed ceaselessly like earthworms, and his head slowly straightened out from its unnatural twist.

Only then did the remaining onlookers burst into loud shouts. The girls who had previously been controlled seemed to have snapped back to normal, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before them, utterly bewildered. Save for a small handful who maintained some semblance of composure, the rest of the youths were completely stunned. After all, they were still just children—until a man suddenly appeared not far away on the battlefield.

Those few who remained calm exchanged glances and converged almost simultaneously toward this man.

This man was none other than the materialized Zheng Zha, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Zhao Likong in the distance.

This muscular man was becoming less and less like a human. His neck had been completely broken, yet under the rippling of his muscles, it was somehow slowly knitting itself back together.

Perhaps the bones remained fractured, but the hardened, horny musculature rigidly supported his head. Having completed this grotesque feat, Zhao Likong stepped forward and began walking toward Zhao Yingkong.

(...Is that his latent gene? Most people at the fourth stage still retain a human appearance; only those possessing the genes of some ancient, unknown creature transform at the fourth stage. This fellow... could his distant ancestor have been a lizard or a dragon?) While his mind spun with such hypotheticals, Zheng Zha was, after all, a veteran warrior seasoned in countless battles.

Since entering the Reincarnation World, he had never stopped fighting for his life; his combat experience was entirely paid for in life-or-death scenarios. As those few children approached, he let out a great roar, and the Gene Lock advanced again; he entered the process of unlocking the fourth stage of the Gene Lock, releasing a wave of killing intent that instantly saturated the surroundings.

Those few children were immediately paralyzed by this surge of murderous intent. Not only that.

Zhao Likong, who had been approaching Zhao Yingkong in the distance, violently snapped his head around, fixing Zheng Zha with a pair of blood-red eyes.

"Zhao Yingkong! I know you can still move! Leave this monster to me; go do what you need to do!" Zheng Zha shouted loudly, seeing that he had successfully drawn Zhao Likong's attention.

Just as he suspected, Zhao Yingkong had only been feigning unconsciousness beneath the large tree.

Although her injuries were severe, they were certainly not enough to render her completely comatose.

For anyone who has unlocked the fourth stage of the Gene Lock, as long as a single breath remains, willpower alone is enough to sustain continued action.

Zhao Yingkong sprang up from the ground, shot Zheng Zha a surprised glance, and then, without a moment's hesitation, charged toward Zhao Ruikong, completely unconcerned about whether Zhao Likong would wreak havoc in her absence.

Zheng Zha no longer glanced at Zhao Yingkong; he focused his entire attention on the monster before him. While he was confident he could dispatch Zhao Likong with ease, facing a powerhouse at the fourth stage of the Gene Lock, even the smallest detail could tip the scales of battle. Take, for instance, the assassination technique Zhao Yingkong had just employed—so-called martial arts were merely tools created by the weak to contend with the strong. Although he was vastly superior to Zhao Likong in raw power, fighting techniques were his weakness. Now, he could only hope this man lacked reason and wouldn't employ those assassin moves; otherwise, being instantly killed would be a truly unjust end.

"Come on, let me see how strong a rampaging fourth-stage assassin truly is."

He spoke, beckoning Zhao Likong with a slight curl of his finger. Beneath this seemingly casual gesture, his Vampire energy and internal force were already circulating, ready to unleash "Explosion" the moment Zhao Likong closed the distance, absolutely denying him any chance to employ assassin skills.

Zhao Likong was completely lost in his frenzy. He didn't even recognize the person fighting him now; he was merely selecting the strongest individual present based purely on instinct. After punching Zhao Yingkong away moments before, he finally sensed a dangerous aura emanating from Zheng Zha when the latter appeared. He instinctively felt peril, much like a wild beast encountering a superior predator. He let out a roar and stalked toward Zheng Zha step by step. Though his expression remained insane, his footwork had become significantly more cautious.

"Heh, so even in madness, you can still sense the gulf in strength between us?" Zheng Zha quickly checked on Zhao Yingkong in the distance; she had already reached Zhao Ruikong's side. Zheng Zha exhaled, smiling as he spoke while advancing toward Zhao Likong.

When Zhao Likong was five meters away, he abruptly stopped. He let out a low snarl, his muscles swelling violently, appearing to posture aggressively. His instincts screamed that the area was intensely dangerous; lingering here meant swift death. If he hadn't been in a state of mad rampage, facing the pressure of Zheng Zha's methodical advance, Zhao Likong’s instincts alone might have driven him to flee long ago.

Zheng Zha would grant him no such opportunity, whether to flee or to strike. When the distance between them narrowed to about five meters, Zheng Zha’s Vampire energy and internal force exploded simultaneously. The "Explosion" skill was deployed, and in an instant, Zheng Zha seemed to vanish from sight. Everyone only saw a streak of afterimage flash past, followed by a deafening, heavy thud emanating from the center of Zhao Likong's chest—Zheng Zha's punch had landed squarely there.

The impact drove the flesh inward, forming a protrusion on his back. But that wasn't the end.

Zheng Zha swept out a leg, the sheer power lifting the very ground cover. This sweep indeed managed to heave the giant Zhao Likong into the air.

"Is that all you've got at the start?" Zheng Zha roared, showing no mercy.

While Zhao Likong was suspended mid-air, his fists hammered down onto his chest at a speed invisible to the naked eye. In the few heartbeats it took for him to fall back to the ground, Zheng Zha had pulverized Zhao Likong’s chest cavity. If he hadn't been airborne and unable to anchor his full force, Zheng Zha might very well have snapped him in half at the waist. But even without that complete severance,

Lungs, heart, and several vital organs were destroyed. Unless he had truly transformed into a pure monster, anyone retaining even a shred of human form was surely finished.

(Now I finally understand what Luo Yinglong meant back then: Realm and strength aren't necessarily correlated. A Realm is like a person's age. From child to youth, then to young adulthood, and finally to the peak strength of middle age. Strength naturally grows throughout this process, but strength encompasses far more than just the Realm—things like technique, like martial moves. If I hadn't possessed "Explosion," it would have taken me at least tens of minutes to decide the victor against this Zhao Likong...) Zheng Zha stood beside the corpse, silently contemplating the conversation he once had with Luo Yinglong in The Lord of the Rings.

But he didn't have long to dwell on it. Suddenly, a sharp gust hit him from behind, feeling like a small pebble. Zheng Zha didn't evade; he took the impact of the stone head-on while simultaneously spinning around. Not far from him, Zhao Yingkong stood gazing at him with cold malice.

"Wait! Wasn't I helping you?" he quickly exclaimed, "He was about to attack you just now! I was forced to kill him. Forget it, forget it, why say so much? The point is I..." He trailed off, realizing something was terribly wrong. The little girl's eyes were also a uniform blood-red. Although her facial expression wasn't grotesquely distorted, this appearance clearly signaled that she had succumbed to the frenzy of the rampage.

Behind Zhao Yingkong, Zhao Ruikong stood silently. She pointed a single finger at Zhao Yingkong, while her other hand indicated the group of children behind Zheng Zha. Strangely, however, this little girl's eyes were not blood-red; on the contrary, the whites dominated about eighty percent of her eyes, giving her a terrifying and ghastly appearance.

(Was she consumed by that previous surge of violent consciousness? So Zhao Ruikong has also entered the "Inner Demon" state?) Zheng Zha knew that generally, those entering the fourth-stage "Inner Demon" state for the first time, despite the extremely violent nature of the consciousness, usually survived after an initial outburst, like himself when he first entered the state during the mission to seize the T-virus prototype in Resident Evil. Although he massacred over a hundred gigantic Crawlers then, he didn't die from exhaustion; however, the sheer intensity of that insane, violent consciousness was astonishing, nearly matching the destructive awareness of a genuine "Inner Demon" transformation. Struck by this impact, Zhao Ruikong, who had just partially processed Zhao Yingkong's violent consciousness, was completely engulfed when caught off guard. She, too, had entered the "Inner Demon" state... This was one method Zheng Zha had theorized for surviving the "Inner Demon"—a life for a life! Simultaneously, the distant crowd finally rushed toward the battlefield. What they saw upon arrival was Zhao Yingkong's group of teammates, with Zhao Zhuikong leading them! He leaped toward...