With every blow landed, Qin Fen felt his vital energy churn within his chest. It was the first time since his debut that he had encountered an opponent so fiercely powerful. If not for the opponent’s energy level being shy of Six-Star, possessing only the combat strength of a Six-Star, he would have already sustained internal injuries and been blasted backward in defeat.

A Four-Star warrior using a bio-beast was virtually a quasi-Six-Star Meteor-level engine of destruction! Qin Fen’s Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill granted him unparalleled strength at his own level, but against this Zajjad, he had to admit the brute force was superior; every clash of their arms sent a searing pain through his limbs.

He waited, biding his time for the moment Zajjad’s momentum would wane.

While the bio-beast granted immense power, nothing in this world was perfect. At least in a Second-Level Fusion, the stimulation from the bio-beast drastically boosted combat power, but this state could not last. If a swift victory was not achieved, the overuse of the bio-beast would instead become a crippling burden.

Zajjad was even more vexed—that was the sixth punch! Usually, a Four-Star warrior surviving two blows without defeat was a miracle, yet this opponent practiced the startling Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill. This martial art, which vastly enhanced physical strength and fortitude, might not offer an advantage against others, but against a quasi-Six-Star Meteor-level master, he was actually gaining ground.

Don’t his bones break? Is he truly practicing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill? Why does that protective aura feel more like the Golden Bell Shield?

Roar!

Zajjad was truly enraged; he had to eliminate this opponent as quickly as possible and flee this location! If a mere recruit was this troublesome, who knew what kind of monsters lay outside in that Dark Web? For the seventh punch, Zajjad’s kinetic force surged once more. Qin Fen swung his arm to block, but the impact involuntarily propelled him backward nearly forty meters. A long series of deep footprints marked his retreat, his right arm aching as if it were on the verge of snapping.

Having gained an advantage with that punch, Zajjad lunged forward, determined to finish his opponent with the very next blow.

Qin Fen continued to retreat without stopping, his left hand darting rapidly towards the small of his back. A shadow of imminent death washed over Zajjad as he pounced.

What is this?

Before Zajjad’s body could fully stop its forward momentum, he saw Qin Fen whip a gun out from behind his back! It was a firearm of a length that could only be described as exaggerated among handguns. Even someone utterly ignorant of firearms could sense the sheer, brutal destructive potential emanating from its appearance.

A slight smile touched Qin Fen’s lips. The thirty-meter retreat had provided ample distance to draw and fire!

If I can’t exhaust all your power, then I’ll just shoot you dead!

An unprecedented gunshot cracked through the violently engaged hall. The gun in Qin Fen’s hand trembled violently as it fired, as if it might fall apart at any second.

These materials... they’ll have to suffice! Qin Fen felt a touch of exasperation towards the weapon he had just discharged. It likely wouldn't withstand more than two more shots before truly disintegrating.

Thwack!

Zajjad, airborne from the momentum, twisted violently in mid-air, letting out a strange cry before landing heavily. Red was blooming on his shoulder.

Both the materialized bio-beast entity and Zajjad’s physical body had been pierced by the bullet. The gun’s power, despite everything, remained astonishing!

Qin Fen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Zajjad’s bio-beast had been a Third or Fourth-Level Fusion instead of Second, he wasn't sure if this hastily assembled knock-off gun could have even wounded him.

To injure a bio-beast warrior using an expensive enhancement with a cheap, cobbled-together weapon brought Qin Fen a sliver of satisfaction. It seemed the bio-beast wasn't invincible after all, at least not in the Second-Level Fusion stage!

“A fine gun! Excellent marksmanship!”

Zajjad grimaced in pain, yet his eyes held a gleam of excited admiration. The wound on his shoulder was already beginning to repair itself at a rate barely visible to the naked eye—a capability inherent to the bio-beast upon entering First-Level Fusion.

“But your gun still has many flaws,” Zajjad said slowly. “At the very least, you cannot track the brain of a Six-Star Meteor-level speedster like me.”

Qin Fen fell silent; Zajjad spoke the truth. If he could track the opponent’s full movement, the bullet wouldn’t have merely grazed the shoulder; it could have struck the heart or the brow.

“I cannot kill you, and you cannot kill me,” Zajjad stated, slowly backing toward the window from which the glass had been blown out. “Then, until next time…”

“Trying to leave?”

Xue Tian’s voice cut through the air just as a black object materialized above Zajjad’s head. It moved far slower than a bullet. Wary of Qin Fen taking another shot, Zajjad dared not propel himself backward; he could only rely on rapid footwork to retreat.

Swish…

The fist-sized black object suddenly expanded into a vast, dark net, instantly enveloping every space within a ten-meter radius of Zajjad’s body.

A Bandit Capture Net!

A standard apprehension tool frequently used by specialized police units.

A trace of disdain curled Zajjad’s lip as he raised a hand to grasp, twist, and pull!

What? Zajjad froze. Normally, a Bandit Capture Net would be destroyed with such handling, but why was this one… resilient?

“Tear it?” Xue Tian laughed. “If such power could tear through a Bandit Capture Net, my master, Qiao Shi Gong, would tear me apart first.”

In that moment of mental shock, the brutal weapon in Qin Fen’s hands roared again. Zajjad’s heart tightened. He pushed the full power of his bio-beast to his body, shifting to the side.

He dared not dismiss the Bio-Turtle Shield; he had to use it to endure this violent shot. Without the shield blocking it, the bullet, combined with the high-speed vortex of displaced air, would have left behind not a small bullet hole, but likely a transparent crater the thickness of an infant’s arm.

Thud!

Blood splashed. Zajjad gritted his teeth, instantly shifting his power back to his hands, stretching both shoulders…

Rattle…

Xue Tian’s Bandit Capture Net had not been designed with Six-Star Meteor-level masters in mind. It was adequate for capturing Five-Star Meteor-level threats, but against Zajjad in his current state, it was proving slightly insufficient.

Seeing the net ripped apart, a surge of resentment flooded Qin Fen! This makeshift, crudely assembled weapon had another problem besides fragility: it couldn't achieve rapid successive firing in the shortest time. Otherwise, three quick shots would have been enough to end Zajjad’s life.

The instant Zajjad tore free of the net, the gun in Xue Tian’s hand also fired! Although his marksmanship didn't match Qin Fen’s, he was only slightly inferior. Furthermore, Zajjad’s focus had been entirely on dealing with the net, so this was an unfair ambush…

Unlike Qin Fen’s weapon, Xue Tian’s gun was not quite so overwhelmingly powerful, but it maintained a high standard for rapid, successive firing.

Four shots rang out in quick succession. Except for the first one, aimed at the head, which was blocked by the Bio-Turtle Shield, the other three burrowed into his back. As blood sprayed, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill channeled power into Qin Fen’s legs, providing tremendous thrust. In the blink of an eye, he was closing in on Zajjad.

One Qin Fen was already difficult enough; now, with the sudden appearance of this fresh recruit and those deadly guns, Zajjad knew he had no chance of killing both gunmen. He turned his back on his wounds and leaped toward the open window.

Trying to escape? Qin Fen fired his third shot! The violent weapon reached the end of its operational life at that moment, shattering from the recoil.

The third bullet pierced Zajjad’s body completely for the first time. Blood jetted high into the sky from the wounds. The injured Zajjad twisted his wrist, launching a steel cable toward a building twenty meters away…

Qin Fen reached the window frame, but he was half a step too late. Zajjad had already swung out fifteen meters using the cable. He could pursue and eliminate the opponent in the air, but that would mean facing a five-story fall—which was actually seven stories, as the first two levels were parking garages. Qin Fen doubted he could execute the opponent and still land smoothly without injury.

Staring intensely at the heavily wounded Zajjad fleeing, Qin Fen let out a long sigh. He failed to notice that the blood ejected from Zajjad’s injured turtle-type bio-beast had fallen directly onto the bio-beast egg he wore suspended on his chest.

The bio-beast egg, gifted by Lin Liqiang, had shown no sign of hatching until now. Those few drops of turtle-type bio-beast blood landed on the shell, and with a speed visible to the naked eye, they were rapidly absorbed into the egg.

The shell of the small bio-beast egg flashed with a momentary metallic sheen before returning to its placid state.

Qin Fen noticed nothing of this change. On the sidelines, Xue Tian was too busy firing at Zajjad to notice the bio-beast egg Qin Fen carried.

“Damn it! I didn’t expect this bastard to have a bio-beast!” Xue Tian slapped the window frame in frustration. “Too strong!”

Crossing the two buildings, Zajjad dared not pause. That final shot had perforated his lung; if the turtle pattern hadn't slightly altered the bullet's trajectory, it would have struck his heart.

“Butcher, why didn't you kill him?”

Seconds after Zajjad fled past, Phoenix’s voice sounded softly in the area where he had run, posing the question.

“Kill him? In that state, an instant kill was certainly possible,” Butcher replied with a confident smile. Zajjad had just run past him; the terrorist hadn't even detected him. If he had intended to strike, he could have taken his life in that single moment.

“However, I suddenly feel that this terrorist won’t be satisfied with his plan failing,” Butcher narrowed his eyes. “He’s been wounded this badly by Qin Fen, so he must be furious. Judging by his personality, he might launch another attack on the concert, and this time, the target won't be the fans, but those two pairs of twin, wildly popular Little Heavenly Queens.”

“I didn’t realize that you, who only know how to kill, possessed the talents of that liar, Hao,” Phoenix commented coolly. “You want to prolong Qin Fen’s mission?”

“I’m far inferior to that liar, Hao,” Butcher admitted, recalling how he was always duped by Squad Leader Hao and had to concede defeat. “We need to instill a good habit in Qin Fen: get the job done cleanly and thoroughly. The mess he failed to clean up himself, he must deal with.”

“It seems you all care quite a lot about that kid,” Iron Hand arrived at that moment, catching the end of their conversation. “Caring is fine, but don’t let it turn into spoiling.”

“Spoiling?” Butcher scoffed. “What we are doing is throwing the little lion off the cliff and letting it climb back up on its own. If that’s considered spoiling, then I have nothing more to say.”

Iron Hand shrugged and said no more. Compared to Butcher and Phoenix, he, a mere special forces soldier, amounted to very little in their eyes.