The Queen’s claw had snagged his right arm just moments ago, and with a wrenching pull, a good half of his right arm was torn away. A massive wave of agony instantly washed over him; any ordinary person would have fainted from the pain, but at this moment, Zheng Zha had temporarily unlocked his Gene Lock. In the instant he felt the intense agony, he instinctively suppressed the sensation of pain, yet he knew his time was rapidly running out.

Blood! Yes, blood! A person loses more than a fifth of their total blood volume and enters shock; losing more than a third endangers life... Zheng Zha had no idea how much he had bled. He had suffered continuous injuries and blood loss during the previous fights with the regular Aliens, and this was compounded by the massive hemorrhage from his ruptured intestines. Only a small amount of fresh blood had flowed from his severed right arm just now, meaning the volume of blood remaining in his body must surely be approaching a critical threshold. However, this blood loss was only one danger he faced; the other was the genetic collapse resulting from unlocking the Gene Lock.

The pain following each Gene Lock activation went without saying, but beyond the agony, he felt as though his very body was disintegrating—an instinctual realization. Ordinary life forms could hardly unlock the Gene Lock easily because the violent fluctuations in their genetic structure were the most fatal injury to them. This time, facing the Queen, the degree to which he had unlocked his Gene Lock far surpassed the previous two occasions.

He knew his time was almost up. Severe injuries, blood loss, genetic collapse—any one of these could erase him from this world. If his desperate gambit failed, he wouldn't need the Queen to kill him; half of him was already standing at the gates of the underworld.

Settle the battle within three minutes—it must be either his death or hers! Zheng Zha charged toward the spot where his rifle had fallen earlier. The other spiral stinger bomb was in Zhan Lan's hands. Considering the distances, the rifle's location was clearly more advantageous. Furthermore, the Queen’s torso already had a large section of its outer shell missing; even the rifle would inflict considerable damage on it. The only caveat was that the Queen’s offensive power was terrifyingly immense; that level of strength and speed meant contact meant injury, and a direct hit meant death.

The Queen let out a pained shriek. The bomb's power wasn't earth-shattering, nor was it insignificant. It was likely because it detonated inside the Queen, otherwise, an explosion on the surface wouldn't have been enough to breach its tough carapace. Seeing Zheng Zha charging toward it again, the Queen roared from its grotesque maw. It whipped its tail toward Zheng Zha; the sound of air being cleaved by the blow was too fast for the naked eye to track.

Zheng Zha had just picked up the rifle from the ground when the whipping sound neared his head. Without thinking, he lunged upward, knowing evasion was impossible. Rather than taking the blow head-on, he might as well exploit the remaining value of his right arm... didn't he still have that last severed stump? That was a valuable asset.

With a dull thud, Zheng Zha felt as if his right flank had been struck by a truck. He gasped, spewing a mouthful of blood, and a fresh influx of information flooded his mind: comminuted fracture of the right ribs, the bone fragment piercing his right lung lobe, internal bleeding, and insufficient oxygen. At this rate, he would certainly die within two or three minutes! Zheng Zha had thrown everything into this. The moment the Queen’s tail struck him, he desperately used his right stump to clamp onto the tail. Though the grip wasn't tight, it prevented him from being flung away. Instead, he swung around the Queen’s tail in a wide arc, landing directly beside the Queen’s damaged flank—the section where the shell was breached! As soon as he landed, Zheng Zha aimed the rifle at the gap in the Queen's side. Crack-crack sounds echoed, and yellow blood continuously sprayed from the wound. This blood might be a terrifying corrosive agent to others, but Zheng Zha’s physique seemed capable of slightly resisting this strong acid; on his skin, it only scorched the surface black, nowhere near the dramatic erosion Zhang Jie’s forearm suffered.

The truly terrifying thing was not the blood, but the horrific counterattack that followed immediately. Zheng Zha gritted his teeth and leaped violently onto the Queen's body. Since he had already decided to risk everything, getting up close for a surprise was better.

“Die!” Zheng Zha sprang onto the breach in the Queen’s waist, his feet planting directly into the Queen’s flesh and blood. He was fighting with blind fury, plunging the rifle straight into the Queen’s side. Then, he frantically squeezed the trigger. Pop-pop went the gunshots. It was impossible to tell how severely he damaged the Queen, but her shrieks of agony gradually weakened.

After firing over a dozen rounds, Zheng Zha was finally tossed off the Queen’s waist. Before he even hit the ground, the Queen’s claws snagged him. The sharp point of the claw pierced directly through his left chest. Whether his heart was struck was unknown, but he let out another gargantuan gasp of blood.

“Zhan Lan... Zhan Lan! Give me the spiral stinger bomb!” Zheng Zha was utterly weak now. His recent movements had wrung out nearly all his remaining potential. His internal energy was almost depleted, and the Blood Race energy was entirely dedicated to sustaining his life. His consciousness was growing hazy; he was now relying purely on a fierce refusal to die, but even that desperate tenacity was clearly nearing its end.

Zhan Lan was arguably the least injured person present. The seemingly horrific wound on her shoulder was merely a scratch compared to the state of the others. Hearing his call, she immediately scrambled up and rushed toward the Queen without sparing a glance at the Queen’s ferocious visage. Just then, gunfire erupted again from the Queen’s side. Zero Point, spitting blood, crawled on the ground, emptying his submachine gun recklessly into the Queen’s side breach. However, he didn't fire many rounds before the Queen’s tail sent him flying again. Judging by the sight of his internal organs spilled across his belly, he appeared to be near death.

Zhan Lan continued running toward the Queen, but the Queen seemed to regard her as little threat. Instead, it violently smashed the Zheng Zha clutched in its claw against the sharp corner of a nearby shipping container. With a sickening crack, Zheng Zha could hear the sound of his own spine snapping. Beyond the violent pain, he found that his lower body, from the stomach down, had lost all sensation. His entire torso was bent backward at an unnatural angle.

(Don't die, I don't want to die!) Zheng Zha roared. In the instant of pre-death lucidity, he managed to coalesce a small reserve of internal energy in his left hand. Furthermore, he forcibly gathered the Blood Race energy in his mind. He then lunged, gripping the exterior shell of the Queen’s claw. Inch by agonizing inch, the corrosive property unique to the Blood Race energy manifested for the first time; he actually managed to gouge five distinct finger-shaped bloody holes into the Queen’s claw.

“Zheng Zha! Catch!” Zhan Lan’s speed was limited. She saw Zheng Zha’s entire body being bent and immediately threw herself toward him recklessly, simultaneously hurling the spiral stinger bomb toward him from a distance. Just as she threw the bomb, the Queen’s tail violently stabbed through her chest, punching a large bloody hole right through the center of her sternum. With such a massive, spine-damaging penetration wound, this girl also looked moments from death.

As the spiral stinger bomb neared him, Zheng Zha forcibly shattered the claw restraining him. Then, he bit down savagely on the Queen's outer shell. His single remaining left hand caught the spiral stinger bomb mid-air. But at that exact moment, the Queen’s other claw slammed down. With a sound of splintering impact, Zheng Zha’s lower body was completely smashed, and he—he was split into two pieces! Leaping toward...