“Zero-Point, Zhao Yingkong, you two head up to the high-rise to wait for the snipers. We'll use the communicators to talk later. Do not fire unless I give the order. The next wave of ghosts will target whoever dispersed the last one…” Zhang Jie, Qi Tengyi, you two stay here. If any ghosts follow me, I’ll need you to provide covering fire…” Zheng Zha decisively shut off the communicator and hurried to tell the four of them, while he himself bolted toward the edge of the plaza.

Zhang Jie quickly called out, “Zheng Zha! Where are you going?” “To fulfill a promise! And… to save our team!” A team exists because of its cohesion and its common interests; neither can be lacking. Right now, the group’s shared interest was surviving by supporting each other—undoubtedly the strongest common bond. But team cohesion was his commitment to never abandoning anyone. Even without a promise… he had to go, regardless of life or death. Otherwise, this team would cease to exist, and… he would forever live under Chu Xuan’s shadow! It wasn't far from the plaza to the Sunshine Hotel, but running would still take a few minutes, wouldn’t it? The more urgent the situation became, the clearer Zheng Zha’s thoughts grew. As soon as he exited the plaza, he scanned the area but saw not a single taxi. Without hesitation, he stepped in front of an oncoming car, leaping up just before impact, rolling directly into the driver’s seat.

The car's owner was startled—someone suddenly lunging out from the roadside. He immediately slammed on the brakes, but the vehicle, carrying its momentum, struck the figure. Then, with a sharp crack of glass, the owner was thrown forward, instantly knocked unconscious.

Zheng Zha’s physical condition was already formidable; such a heavy impact only caused his head to shake slightly. After a few deep breaths, he was fully lucid. He pushed the stunned, unconscious owner out of the car, offered a quiet apology, closed the door, and sped toward the Sunshine Hotel.

“Zhan Lan, what’s the situation now? Stop crying, tell me what’s happening!” Zheng Zha mashed the accelerator while roaring into the communicator.

Zhan Lan slowly stopped crying. She murmured, “Haven’t seen the ghosts yet. The protective talismans are burning very slowly, but they ignite rapidly near the room door. I only have four left now, and I don’t dare go near there again… Zheng Zha, what’s that noise? Are you driving?” Zheng Zha urgently replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll be at the hotel within two minutes! Wait for me, no matter what!” “No! I forbid you to come! Waaah, please don’t come, the Curse will kill you… Please don’t come, no one will remember you, and those who love you will be heartbroken if you die… Lolita will be so sad.”

Zhan Lan’s voice suddenly grew frantic; she was nearly shouting as she spoke.

Zheng Zha paused, then continued, “This is a promise I made to you… and I promised Lolita too. I won’t die, no matter what. I have to live… I must keep my promise, so I will live!” The car hurtled toward the Sunshine Hotel, its speed long surpassing the legal limit for that stretch of road. Passing bystanders heard only a whoosh of wind as the car sped past them, leaving all other vehicles far behind.

With a screech of tortured rubber that lasted over ten meters, the car skidded to a stop. Zheng Zha then kicked the door open and surged toward the Sunshine Hotel like a leopard. The doormen standing at the entrance hadn't even registered his presence before Zheng Zha was inside.

Zheng Zha charged relentlessly up the emergency stairwell. He was moving incredibly fast, but Zhan Lan’s startled cry echoed over the communicator once more. Zheng Zha only caught a snippet: “The talismans are gone!” Then, the sound of rapid submachine gun fire erupted from somewhere above him. At this moment, Zheng Zha’s eyes were burning with desperation.

(Speed! Speed!) Zheng Zha screamed internally. He desperately recalled the sensation of unlocking his Gene Lock in previous instances. After an unknowable amount of time, he felt something inside him give way. This was his first attempt to consciously unlock the Gene Lock, without the direct threat of external danger… He succeeded! But the cost of success seemed significant; Zheng Zha vomited several large mouthfuls of blood. Activating the Gene Lock consciously felt worse than death. Every muscle in his body twitched and writhed violently, his stomach felt as if a massive hand were churning it, and the bones in his frame cracked and shifted constantly. If the protective talismans on his body hadn’t remained unburned, he would have sworn the ghosts were already attacking him.

Yet, coupled with the pain came a power and sensation greater than any he had felt after previous activations. That stream of combat instinct flooding his mind, the premonition of danger, the refined control over his power—this overwhelming feeling was truly beyond words.

If anyone had witnessed Zheng Zha’s movements at this moment, they would have screamed in terror. He was now scrambling along the stairs on all fours, his hands and feet gripping the walls. He was moving so fast that he didn’t fall; it was like riding a track bicycle, the entire body seemingly running along the vertical surface… moving like a beast on all fours.

“Ah!” Zheng Zha roared as he burst onto Zhan Lan’s floor, and simultaneously, the protective talismans on his body began to smolder. The closer he got to Zhan Lan, the more fiercely the talismans burned. Then, he saw the suite door gaping wide open.

The scene inside made his eyes split with rage. Zhan Lan stood trembling, her face pale and ashen, while a ghostly, pale hand reached from behind her, gripping her throat tightly. Beside Zhan Lan’s shoulder, a woman’s head materialized.

Zheng Zha lunged to Zhan Lan’s side and slapped the burning talisman against her pale, sickly face. The ghastly woman recoiled as if scalded, emitting a gurgling, rattling sound. The moment she pulled away from Zhan Lan’s back, Zheng Zha whipped out his submachine gun from his spatial storage ring and opened fire. The pale woman, still wearing a malevolent grin, dissolved into nothingness under the spiritual bullets.

As soon as the ghost left Zhan Lan’s side, she collapsed, her entire body shaking violently. The talisman stuck to her face burned even hotter, consuming half its surface in an instant. But where the paper was consumed, the pallor on her face began to recede, slowly returning to a semblance of color.

“Second…” Zhan Lan tried desperately to speak, but she was so weak that her voice was barely audible.

Thanks to Zheng Zha’s activated Gene Lock state, he actually heard the sound. He immediately scooped Zhan Lan up, taking the last burning talisman from his pocket and pressing it to her face. Zheng Zha urgently asked, “What second?” “Second… that’s the second wave…” The second wave, meaning the third would attack from behind? Zheng Zha’s gaze sharpened instantly. He set Zhan Lan down and charged toward the nearest wall. Just as the premonition of danger struck him, he was already running up the wall, stepping off it mid-stride. Then, a pale hand shot out from behind his neck. Before the hand could make contact, he flipped his body in mid-air and slammed a punch downward… It was the fist wearing the spatial ring, and he poured his inner force into it, driving it directly through the pale woman. This time, it was immediate: the invisible force field at the top of the ring acted like sulfuric acid. The moment the pale woman touched that field, she vanished completely. With that single punch, the ghost was obliterated into smoke and dust.

“This is the third wave; the fourth is next… Are many ghosts attacking together?” As soon as Zheng Zha landed, he rushed back to Zhan Lan. He barely managed to hold her when he heard hundreds of rattling noises erupting from all directions, as if hundreds of ghosts were emitting that eerie, terrifying sound simultaneously. The warning signal in Zheng Zha’s mind peaked—a terrifying sense of imminent death.

After an undefined period, the first pale limb snaked out from the doorway. A woman’s pale body twisted unnaturally, crawling toward them along the wall of the doorframe, followed by a second, then a third… Zheng Zha raised his submachine gun and began spraying continuously. While the weapon’s individual power was low, it made up for it with rate of fire and capacity. After mowing down at least a dozen pale women, a sense of danger struck him from behind. He spun around just as pale limbs began emerging one after another from the window ledges behind him. He quickly moved toward that side, firing to eliminate a few ghosts, but then he fell silent as he looked out the window.

Outside the Sunshine Hotel, the road was choked with a dense mass of pale female ghosts—easily eight hundred to a thousand. Coupled with the unknown number swarming from the hallways, it was only a matter of time before the two of them died under this dual onslaught… “Zhan Lan, will you trust me? Even if it looks like death…” Zhan Lan had regained a small measure of vitality. She nodded lightly. “Yes, even if you asked me to die… I would definitely trust you.”

“Good!” Zheng Zha kept firing while wrapping Zhan Lan tightly inside his bulletproof vest… just as he had once wrapped Lolita. Now, he and Zhan Lan were pressed closely together.

“Hold on tight! Trust me… we will survive this, no matter what!” Zheng Zha roared through the pain. Zhan Lan watched in astonishment as his right arm began to swell noticeably, the change visible to the naked eye. The limb eventually grew three times thicker than a normal person’s, its bulging musculature appearing like biological mutation.

“So this is the change in the second stage of unlocking the Gene Lock… Hold on tight, Zhan Lan!” Zheng Zha supported Zhan Lan with his left arm, while his mutated right hand gripped the High-Vibration Particle Cutting Dagger tightly. He kicked out the window and leaped down, pressing himself flush against the exterior wall. They were on the twelfth floor of the Sunshine Hotel… a twelve-story drop… “Aah!” As he jumped, Zheng Zha flicked his right wrist, plunging the dagger—capable of slicing through anything—into the wall. Following the track carved by the blade, the two plummeted rapidly toward the ground…——————(Recommended New Book: Hunter King, Book ID: 110311) Click to view image link: cmfu/smenhu.cn?bl_id=110311Hunter KingJump to