Fang Senyan glanced back at his companions, noting their lack of objection, in fact, they seemed impatient, whispering amongst themselves in the rear. So he stated, "Unless they are fools enough to attack us first, I have no interest in slaughtering my own kind or the weak."

The short man nodded. "Agreed. Who goes first, then?"

At this point, Fang Senyan's contingent became animated, with several stepping forward to volunteer for the fight, treating the upcoming battle as hardly anything at all.

Of course, this situation had many causes, largely stemming from the fact that Fang Senyan's prior mental exchange with Artificial Human No. 1 had not been leaked.

Fang Senyan's response was to turn around, look back, and fix the crowd with a look so cold that it took a moment for them to realize something was seriously amiss. Only then did he calm down and state, word by word, "No need to argue over the first match. I’m going first!!"

"Do you know why I’m going first? Because you damned bastards are all taking this too lightly!! I don't know how you've managed to survive this long, but you clearly don't grasp how terrifying this damned Space, this damned World, truly is, yet you make the mistake of underestimating the situation right now! If we didn't absolutely require everyone's strength later, I would make you all suffer a significant loss just to teach you a lesson!"

Though some inwardly disagreed, Fang Senyan's authority within the team had gradually solidified, and since every word he spoke held logic, no one offered a rebuttal. More importantly, everyone realized that if the enemy posed a genuine threat, Fang Senyan would be the first to probe their strength, meaning he faced the greatest danger!

With that thought, a faint hint of respect appeared in several pairs of eyes.

Fang Senyan stepped forward and looked at the short man. "I'll take the first fight. Who is my opponent?"

The short man looked at Fang Senyan. "You? Are you sure you want to take the first round?"

Fang Senyan stood perfectly still, calmly stating, "Yes, I’ll take the first round. Are you my opponent?"

The short man shook his head slightly, and from behind him, a middle-aged man walked out. The man’s face was naturally etched with worry, as if he owed a great deal of money to a loan shark with a penchant for vicious debt collection.

However, when the middle-aged man slightly raised his head and met Fang Senyan’s gaze, Fang Senyan was sharply startled. The man’s prior plainness and low profile had been like a dark cloud obscuring the scorching sun. Now, his gaze was like sunlight piercing through the cloud cover—blazing and utterly sharp!

As the middle-aged man looked up, the joints of his entire body began to pop and crackle. A layer of bio-armor started forming over his skin. Most bizarrely, his face was completely covered by skin, with the only distinct feature being a long, narrow aperture formed by twisted, swirling muscle tissue where his brow should be! It was bottomlessly deep and dark, seemingly churning with endless shadow.

The man’s limbs elongated, becoming lean and powerful, even manifesting several crystals embedded deep within his musculature, clearly intended for significant enhancement. These crystal placements were strategic: the temples, chest, navel, and backs of the knees—vital points. Sharp bone blades had sprouted from his elbows and other joints, unmistakably forming extremely potent offensive weapons!

"This level of complete transformation...!" All the contractors felt a jolt of shock.

The transformed man seemed to only bend slightly, yet in the next instant, he was directly in front of Fang Senyan, raising his elbow high before smashing it down with force! Considering the bone spurs on his elbows, combined with his transformed strength and speed, he was nearly equal to a Hunter in combat capability! Those bone spurs looked capable of inflicting terrifying damage!

Fang Senyan raised a hand to block. The bone spur immediately pierced his palm, drawing a rush of blood. He could even see a spiral texture on the tip of the spur, clearly indicating it could be rotated and fired if necessary.

Fang Senyan’s purpose in taking the blow head-on was to immediately gauge the opponent's specific attributes. After holding the block for less than three seconds, Fang Senyan roared and forcefully swept the enemy’s elbow aside. He then lunged forward, drawing his knee up and aiming a brutal strike at the opponent's lower abdomen.

But the thrust missed. The enemy's agility was even faster than Fang Senyan’s, retreating over twenty meters with lightning speed. However, Fang Senyan had already noticed that the enemy's chest seemed to be rising and falling at a slightly faster rate, and what appeared to be smooth flanks now featured two neat rows of pore-like openings, presumably aiding respiration.

"Could it be that he was testing me before as well?" Fang Senyan couldn't help but think.

But in the very next second, Fang Senyan was amazed to see the muscles around the enemy’s single eye on his forehead twitch inexplicably. The eye, previously a deep black void, suddenly shifted to an indescribable blankness—a terrifying and bizarre emptiness, like the white of a dead person's eye, filled with an eerie chill!

Then, the enemy placed the middle finger of his left hand against his brow, yet nothing seemed to happen externally.

But while everyone’s attention was drawn to the head, an indescribable, translucent beam of light shot out from a crystal located exactly in the center of the man’s chest!

The bizarre facelessness and the strange single eye appeared to be nothing more than a deliberate misdirection to cover this single attack!

The emitted light was extremely faint; one could just barely make it out when concentrating at the moment of its launch, as if viewing the world through a very clean sheet of glass—you could still discern the presence of the glass if you looked closely.

But after traveling only two or three meters, that sharp, transparent beam seemed to completely dissolve into the air, striking Fang Senyan directly! Yet, facing this attack, Fang Senyan showed absolutely no reaction. Even with his keen senses, he perceived nothing unusual! Let alone the other observing contractors.

Fortunately, at the instant of impact, a profoundly strange sensation surfaced in Fang Senyan’s mind—a feeling of his hairs standing on end, a deep prickle of horror! Yet, he could find no objective abnormality.

More critically, the enemy gave him no time to recover, charging straight toward him with a terrifying momentum that was both manic and utterly confident, as if victory were already assured!

Fang Senyan remained rooted to the spot, bending slightly, his hands slightly flexed and held to his sides—a posture that was both offensive and defensive, the most stable combat stance.

As he charged, the enemy suddenly leaped, curling his body into a high-speed spinning sphere in mid-air. A crystal on his surface detonated, immediately launching three high-speed, spinning spikes! As they tore through the air, they emitted an intensely sharp shriek, a sound that seemed capable of constituting an area-of-effect attack!

Since Fang Senyan had already been pierced through the palm by these spikes before, he merely raised his left hand to guard his eyes—his vital point—and paid no attention to the three projectiles. Instead, he focused his entire being on monitoring the enemy's every move, because the chilling premonition in his heart had not faded; if anything, it had grown stronger!

With a soft thwack, the three spikes simultaneously sank cleanly into Fang Senyan’s flesh... and then shot straight through his body, tearing out the other side of his back accompanied by massive amounts of shredded flesh!

"What... what is going on?" The shock overwhelming Fang Senyan was truly indescribable. The intense physical pain was secondary; the crucial point was the battle log clearly displaying the following messages: "You sustained a Piercing Attack from the enemy. You lost 438 Health Points!"

"You sustained a Piercing Attack from the enemy. You lost 412 Health Points!"

"You sustained a Piercing Attack from the enemy. You lost 459 Health Points!"

Yet, when these spikes had previously pierced his palm, they had only inflicted a mere few dozen points of damage! Now, three spikes had inflicted an astonishing total of over 1200 points of damage on Fang Senyan!

When did the enemy's probing attacks suddenly become this terrifyingly powerful???!!

At this moment, the enemy had closed the distance to Fang Senyan's face. Just as Fang Senyan instinctively tried to counterattack, a large quantity of viscous yellow substance sprayed from the enemy’s single, dead-white pupil, instantly binding Fang Senyan. The enemy then leaned in close, a terrifying rumble emanating from his chest: "Humble ant! Be reduced to ashes under the majesty of the Fool!"

Then, the opponent extended both hands and tightly embraced the struggling Fang Senyan. At that instant, an intense, virulent green flame erupted across both their bodies, spreading wildly, extending two or three meters outward, soaring straight up into the night sky like a meteor, vanishing into the forest hundreds of meters away in a flash, followed by a massive explosion upon impact!

Clearly, this entity calling himself the "Fool" was cunning and insidious, fearing intervention from the other contractors, so he opted to violently relocate the battlefield! Bokan and Aldaris immediately stepped forward angrily shouting, "Hey! What the hell was that?!" (To be continued)