The battlefield was a ruin, the air thick with the choking scent of gunpowder cutting through the heat. Mobile armors, just moments ago bristling with life and formidable in formation, now lay broken and smoking in the golden grit.

Five mobile armors stood silently and scattered behind Qin Fen, rapidly scanning the area with military-issue sensors for the base entrance.

Qin Fen scanned his surroundings with extreme caution; no one could guarantee that another missile wouldn't suddenly erupt from the sands. Luck paired with skill wasn't a guarantee for every engagement.

During the missile attack not long ago, Qin Fen had skillfully dodged several crucial strikes aimed at vital points, ensuring that while the Red Lotus Phantom was damaged, the pilot inside remained completely unharmed.

Qin Fen knew very well that if the instructors witnessed the final moments of today’s fight, they would administer severe reprimands. This battle, which should have been decided solely by the mobile armors, had ultimately forced the pilots to engage directly.

He was certain that rigorous special training awaited him upon their return.

Qin Fen approached a previously destroyed surface-to-air missile launcher and delivered a heavy kick to it.

Crrrk...

The missile, still tethered to the ground mount, tumbled sideways, revealing a concealed passage beneath it.

Jessica Weir’s cheeks flushed with a faint pink embarrassment. Her super base detector, modified from standard military components, had proven less useful than the Captain’s own eyes and judgment; while her device was still frantically working, he had already kicked open the base entrance with a single move.

The five dismounted from their mobile armor cockpits in succession. Amidst the wreckage of the armors, Tai Fen found an undamaged Thunder Cloud Storm. He briefly checked the magazine's fill level and then, carrying the weapon that looked impossibly heavy to the others, appeared at the doorway.

“Captain…” Jessica Weir stared at Tai Fen’s body, as agile as a monkey, and couldn't help but ask, “Are you sure about carrying that weapon?”

Tai Fen weighed the Thunder Cloud Storm, a weapon he hadn’t handled in quite some time. After a moment of thought, he nodded. “It’s a bit light, but thankfully, it’s still very useful.”

A bit light? Jessica Weir quietly shut her mouth. She had worried that the weapon he brought would be too heavy, potentially draining his stamina before the brutal combat they might face. Instead, he commented that the weapon was too light. She genuinely didn't know what to say.

“Wait here,” Tai Fen said, hefting the Thunder Cloud Storm. He leaped into the passage. The five special forces soldiers carefully guarded the surroundings; even ruins were not guaranteed to be safe.

The base beneath the desert was far larger than military intelligence had estimated. Even the access tunnels were immensely wide, capable of accommodating two container trucks side-by-side without issue, giving the area the appearance of an underground city.

The entire base was utterly silent, as if deserted, resembling a long-abandoned metropolis. Yet, the fresh air told Qin Fen that people must still reside here; otherwise, the air wouldn't be so clear, instead carrying the musty odor of decay.

There were no signs of installed explosives anywhere in this place. Qin Fen spoke softly into his comms: “Come down. It’s safe for now.”

Qin Fen cautiously pushed open the door to the first room on the left. These areas required meticulous checking to prevent subsequent team members from encountering danger due to his oversight.

Bang! Qin Fen violently forced the door open with his palm. The dimly lit room spanned the size of a small basketball court, within which stood two cylindrical glass vats, each over three meters tall, filled with swirling green fluid.

More than a dozen human-head-sized Bug Dancer parasitic precursors floated gently within the green liquid. Qin Fen’s brow twitched. The appearance of these precursors was largely the same as those seen in Qinghai, but their color was entirely different. Those had black or brown carapaces; these were vibrant red! Each one glowed red, resembling fiery orbs suspended in the fluid.

As the door opened, the dozen parasitic precursors, already quiet, became instantly agitated. They thrashed against the glass vats with the soft tentacles attached to their bodies, emitting piercing, strange shrieks.

Qin Fen observed for a moment, noting the extreme sturdiness of the vats. These bizarre precursors could not break out through sheer force.

Safe? Unsafe! Qin Fen spotted a control console not far away. A few quick adjustments there, and the fluid in the glass vats could vanish, or worse, they might be automatically released to cause unpredictable harm.

Qin Fen stood outside the doorway and struck the air with an open palm. Visible palm energy shot out, slamming into the control panel. The metal console buckled inward violently, showering sparks from the ruined machinery.

The door on the right was secured with an electronic keypad lock. Qin Fen did not resort to immediate brute force. Locations in a base equipped with electronic locks were often wired to a series of explosives; forcing the door could trigger a detonation, potentially jeopardizing the mission’s success.

More importantly, Qin Fen feared the explosive power behind the right door might be so great that it could affect the room on the left containing the Bug Dancer precursors.

He needed to bring back a dead specimen for Lin Liqiang, but getting him a live one would be far better. Qin Fen had not forgotten Lin Liqiang’s specific request from before. Seeing these precursors, whose colors differed from what he previously encountered, made him extra cautious.

Jessica Weir stood before the electronic lock on the right door, rapidly deploying a cracking program on her handheld micro-computer.

Beep beep... The electronic lock’s code was broken. Jessica Weir excitedly pushed open the door blocking her path.

Creek...

The instant the door opened slightly, six flashes of lightning-quick, vicious light erupted from the dimly lit room, where three massive glass vats were similarly positioned!

A chilling cold, brimming with the murderous intent of jungle beasts, surged out of the room. The hairs on Qin Fen’s skin stood erect instantly, followed by the sound of shattering glass and those piercing, ghastly shrieks.

These three huge glass vats did not contain Bug Dancer precursors. Instead, each tank held a naked ‘human’ figure floating in the fluid. Their bodies were covered in thick, worm-like blue veins, forming an intricate, near-webbed pattern across their skin, devoid of any recognizable human essence.

Before the door opened, they had floated silently in the green fluid, eyes closed, perfectly still like preserved specimens.

The moment the door opened, these three corpse-like monsters moved! The glass vats enveloping their bodies could not impede their advance. Jessica Weir felt as if she had been targeted by a fierce mutated beast in the jungle.

Twelve-Star level? Jessica Weir screamed internally at the sight of the three searing killing auras. Were these people insane? Were they using Twelve-Star martial artists for bio-experiments?

The Bug Dancers moved with incredible speed. Though Twelve-Star ranked, their physical robustness far exceeded that of normal Twelve-Star practitioners! Their outstretched claws deployed nails as sharp as blades, rapidly growing larger in Jessica Weir’s vision.

Three Twelve-Star martial artists simultaneously! Jessica Weir’s body was jammed in the doorway, preventing any coordination with her comrades. A sense of inevitable death instantly surged through her.

The claws sliced through the air, whistling like a broken flute, the piercing shriek vibrating the atmosphere. The predatory gleam in the Bug Dancers’ eyes flickered with bloodlust; instinctively, they sensed that after this strike, they would feast on the exciting sight of fresh blood, pulped flesh, and broken bones.

“Move aside.”

Jessica Weir suddenly felt her collar grabbed, and her entire body was swept backward as if riding the clouds. Qin Fen’s tall figure blocked the doorway. His right hand spread wide, the palm nearly double its usual size, his fingers as thick as carrots. He struck out three times like a lightning bolt!

The whistling sound in the room instantly gave way to a raging gale. The eyes of the three Bug Dancers felt a sharp sting, as if the air whipped up by the palm strikes was about to pierce their eyeballs. The air-slicing whistle abruptly diminished, replaced by a sound akin to a desert storm.

In the sealed room, it was suddenly as if they were standing on the desert surface above the base. If there had been dry sand on the floor, this fierce wind would surely have lifted it into the air.

Divine Fist Style: Banana Fan! This was Tai Fen’s unique air-splitting palm technique, created by synthesizing several forms of empty-force strikes and his accumulated martial wisdom. It was no longer a mere invisible force aimed at injuring; as his Star Rank increased, the gale generated by a single strike could transform into a tangible, destructive wind blade.

Boom, boom, boom!

Tai Fen’s Banana Fan struck the three Bug Dancers with precise, overwhelming force. Their razor-sharp claws exploded along with their bodies, spraying clouds of dazzling crimson blood. They slowly fell, as if they were mountain flames extinguished by a massive fan.

The room, moments ago filled with the sound of violent wind, instantly returned to silence, though it was now littered with debris. The force of the Banana Fan did not cease after shattering the three Bug Dancers; it gouged three deep handprints into the sturdy wall!

Jessica Weir and the other four comrades stared blankly at the battle that concluded in an instant. The three savage Bug Dancers had been as fragile as tofu before Qin Fen. That terrifying air-splitting palm was unheard of; after destroying the three combatants, it still left two-inch-deep impressions in the solid wall.

“Let’s go,” Qin Fen turned and walked forward. “Next time we crack a lock, retreat immediately.”

Jessica Weir managed a wry smile and nodded repeatedly. Seeing the Captain display such might in this mission, a subconscious desire to match his feat had led her to act rashly. She clearly needed to reflect and take this mission much more seriously.

The other four special forces soldiers exchanged wry smiles. They were all battle-hardened veterans, yet next to this Lieutenant Colonel, who was still somewhat of a rookie, they suddenly felt like green recruits on their first battlefield.

“Qin Fen, you there! Your strength has increased so much in the last year. Three Eight-Star Bug Dancers are nothing to us. Next, I will greet you with a swarm of bugs!”

Eight-Star Bug Dancers? A flicker of surprise crossed Qin Fen’s brow. The Twelve-Star creatures they just faced were merely precursors whose origins were only Eight-Star warriors? These Bug Dancers were far more potent than the ones he encountered previously. They had somehow bypassed the bottleneck of Blood Changing, Rebirth, and True Innate status just through instinct after possession.

The five special forces soldiers were even more shocked. The Blood Changing, Rebirth, True Innate transition that they had struggled so hard to achieve years ago could be crossed so easily by these Eight-Star warriors after becoming Bug Dancers? What kind of bizarre science was this?

“Little Hades?” Tai Fen focused, frowning slightly and puffing out his chest. The voice was not entirely familiar, but anyone who heard it once would never forget it: Little Hades!

The tone, inherently superior, was always saturated with the taste of battlefield slaughter! Even transmitted through a loudspeaker, it could not conceal that pervasive scent of carnage.

Compared to their last meeting, his words were now laced with a blade-like hatred that pierced the listener's eardrums and heart!

“You still remember me, that’s good.”

In the dark room, Little Hades lay naked in a bathtub filled with green fluid, casually tapping the edge of the tub with his finger. “I remember you too! I truly never thought I’d run into you here. This is excellent! Today, I will kill you. And later, I will kill the Azure Dragon to avenge my father!”

Hades had recovered? Tai Fen’s surprise deepened. During the final battle by the sea, he had unleashed his strongest move, Violent Raging Tide, shattering the opponent's meridians and bones, even severely damaging his internal organs.

Even with the most advanced medical facilities, Hades should only be clinging to life, unable to even get out of bed!

Qin Fen remembered that this was the collective conclusion drawn by numerous doctors in Zhongzhou! This was something with less than a one-in-ten-million chance of happening, a certainty that even miracles couldn't alter.

But Little Hades’s words declared everything: the once dazzling young genius martial artist, Little Hades, was back!

Not only was he back, but judging by his tone, he was several levels stronger than before! Such a person would never utter baseless, boastful nonsense. If he dared to say this, it meant he possessed absolute certainty and confidence in his future.

A man who was utterly destroyed returning—what did that signify? Qin Fen nodded slightly. It meant that Little Hades had created the impossible miracle; he had achieved rebirth through the Nirvana of Annihilation, rising from total ruin!

A person who could turn the impossible into reality, achieving success when even miracles were powerless against utter crippling—what did this mean? Qin Fen, who had also gone through the Nirvana of Annihilation, understood perfectly. His mission had just encountered an unforeseen complication.

Little Hades is back! What will this powerful return bring? What other techniques does Qin Fen’s Divine Fist Style possess besides Banana Fan and Golden Peng Descends the Monkey? These will soon be revealed to everyone! A flesh-and-blood, increasingly dimensional Little Hades is also making his entrance!