As the terrifying virus spread in all directions, Grey and Gavin, who had previously held the clear upper hand, suddenly began exhibiting a series of symptoms. Worse yet, amidst the violent coughing fits and pain, they had absolutely no idea what was happening! The combat log was completely blank, yet the damage and suffering inflicted were strikingly real and vivid.

They could clearly feel their health and stamina being devoured, much like hot water poured into a cold glass—the water seeping out through the tiny fissures. Watching Grey clutch his mouth and cough up blood before him, Fang Sen merely shrugged, not even taking the time to spread his hands in apology, and then threw a punch! Grey previously possessed at least seven or eight ways to counter this blow, but at this moment, he couldn't execute a single one.

The only thing he could do was tense the muscles in his body and take the hit head-on! Struck by Fang Senyan’s punch, half of Grey’s face immediately swelled up, several teeth clattering out. His entire body executed a clean backward flip, slamming heavily onto the ground.

Blood welled out of his mouth, soaking into the sandy soil, which greedily and hungrily absorbed the nutrient-rich sludge, instantly turning a large patch dark brown. Gavin had originally intended to rush forward and execute a highly sophisticated pincer movement against Fang Senyan, but the SARS virus, now rapidly spreading within his body, had gone into a frenzy of proliferation. After letting out a sneeze, any notion of ‘sophistication’ vanished entirely from his maneuver.

It was tantamount to shoving his own face directly into the path of Fang Senyan’s fist. And so, another dull thud of flesh meeting fist echoed. Gavin immediately followed Grey’s fate.

Fang Senyan grabbed him by the hair and slammed a knee viciously into his abdomen. This fellow was notoriously weak in close combat, instantly recoiling several steps in agony. Fang Senyan then seized his neck with one hand, lifted him halfway into the air, and violently smashed him toward the ground!

Moreover, he deliberately aimed for a nearby rock. Gavin immediately let out a pained scream, clutching his lower back as he rolled on the ground. How could Grey stand by and watch his ally suffer such cruel abuse?

Ignoring the pain, he charged forward and lashed out with a whip against Fang Senyan’s back. This strike was vicious and sharp, peeling away at least a meter of flesh from Fang Senyan’s back, the wound turning a deathly white and emitting a foul, smoky vapor! But the whip could not be retracted in time.

Fang Senyan seized it with the back of his hand, then charged back toward Grey like a brutish bull. The blood-red longsword in his hand pierced straight through Grey’s chest with lightning speed, before he could even blink! The utility of SARS revealed itself here.

Perhaps someone could, through sheer combat skill, put Fang Senyan in a position where he could only passively absorb blows without recourse. However, the potent SARS virus had effectively dragged both sides down to the same starting line. In this scenario, the enemy might be able to strike Fang Senyan, but that also meant one thing: they would equally have to face Fang Senyan’s fierce counterattack, requiring an exchange of wounds...

But when it came to defense and survivability, Fang Senyan was a monstrous anomaly even among MTs. As for offense, Fang Senyan possessed legendary gear like Apophis, which could instantly transform into various bizarre weapons! The outcome of trading wounds was obvious even to someone using their backside to think!

Fang Senyan yanked Apophis out roughly, but there was no surge of enraged blood as expected, only what looked like a trivial wound remained. Only Apophis itself looked dripping red, as if all the enemy’s blood had been sucked into the blade. As Fang Senyan withdrew the sword, Grey immediately felt his spirit and vitality—everything—gushing out of the puncture wound like countless rivers flowing to the sea.

He had never imagined he could become so weak, nor had he ever conceived that he would one day be so powerless! The sensation was like the weakness of a man starved for seven or eight days, coupled with the emptiness felt after a man has just poured out his essence. This near-collapse almost brought him crashing to the ground; even breathing became a burdensome task.

This was, in fact, the terrifying power of the Demonic Sword Apophis. Its devastating power instantly destroyed the data-enabled resistance of Grey’s wound. Fang Senyan kicked him hard under the chin; Grey immediately executed a complex backward flip, his jawbone cleanly shattering into seven or eight pieces.

Even half of his tongue was chewed through, spilling out into the air. “Aaaargh!! Die!” The enraged Gavin finally regained some strength, his eyes nearly bursting, watching his comrade suffer such brutality.

Clenching two silver-glowing Uzi submachine guns in both hands, he frantically pulled the triggers aimed at Fang Senyan. The Uzi submachine guns were only about forty centimeters long at most, but the muzzle flashes spewing from them reached an astonishing half a meter. Given their theoretical rate of fire of 1500 rounds per minute, one could see the ejected casings sparking and flying everywhere behind them, stinging the face and lending an intense, acrid scent of gunpowder amid the scorching heat.

But Gavin was stunned speechless in that instant, because the man before him was charging forward with his head down, directly enduring the torrent of bullets poured out by the two Uzi submachine guns! Some bullets deflected off his body; others lodged in the flesh only to tear free, trailing blood, as if the man before him was a metal monster clad in human skin! Fang Senyan reached Gavin without any fanfare, merely a flash of grim crimson light—and Gavin’s left hand flew off, still firmly gripping the Uzi, his fingers locked on the trigger, spitting fire and sending bullets wildly astray.

Then Fang Senyan let out a low roar, seized Gavin by the neck, and violently slammed him against the nearby rock! The rock shattered instantly, and simultaneously shattering was the poor Gavin’s spinal column. There was little need to describe what followed.

These two were stubborn about talking, but Fang Senyan felt he could extract something, though it would cost considerable time and effort. And what Fang Senyan least wanted to waste right now was time. So, without further ado, he grabbed both men by the hair, like slaughtering chickens, and slit their throats one after the other!

These two yielded Fang Senyan eight Honor Points, one silver plot-grade weapon: the Uzi submachine gun, and a pair of silver plot-grade standard boots. Failing to loot the best items was a regret, but Fang Senyan could only treat it as building good karma. Fang Senyan rested briefly and bandaged his wounds.

He noted that the area struck by the damned bone whip healed significantly slower, and the wound emitted a foul, putrid odor that shouldn't belong to a living body. Furthermore, this strange power did not seem to fall under the category of the Sun Ladder. Fang Senyan surmised it was something akin to corpse poison from supernatural movies.

Fortunately, backed by his immense vitality, the wound was still stubbornly closing. “You think that by saying nothing, I have no way to gain intelligence?” Fang Senyan sneered at the two corpses before him. “Naive!” “From the explosion until I landed stably, less than ten minutes passed.

The only conclusion for you to monitor everything and arrive so quickly is that you were previously hiding somewhere high up, somewhere minimally or not at all affected, allowing you a full view of everything happening below.” “I clearly recall that the ancient city of the Protoss back then lacked such natural high vantage points. Therefore, the answer becomes obvious: you people arrived via aircraft, and that aircraft must be cloaked—in the StarCraft universe, a standard weapon fits this description: the Human Ghost fighter!,” Fang Senyan concluded, continuing his analysis. “Back then, six escape pods were ejected, so why did you come for me first?

The answer is equally clear: the other five pods must have gathered together after being ejected, while I was hit head-on by the blast wave. Thus, by all logic, I, the straggler whose escape pod was heavily damaged, was naturally the prime target!” “Hmm, if I were you, what would I do next? If the people sent out don't return for a long time, there would likely be two thoughts: first, those guys ran into trouble and died; second, they found something immensely valuable and don’t intend to come back.

You sent people over to check the spoils, likely with supreme confidence, believing no accident would occur.” “So, based on the assumption of inherent human wickedness, they would lean more toward the second possibility... Therefore, your next course of action would be to bring a squad proficient in tracking and mobility to hunt down the traitor... This implies a division of forces, which means that should be a great opportunity for me.” Once Fang Senyan had solidified his deduction and reasoning in his mind, believing he had grasped the truth of the situation, he quickly tidied up the scene and headed in the direction Gavin and Grey had come from.

Walking barely two kilometers, Fang Senyan, relying on his superb perception and having taken precautionary measures, indeed encountered a group of anxious, hurrying Contractors on their way forward—just as Fang Senyan had calculated with perfect accuracy.