At that moment, an incomparably powerful aura surged off Zhang Heng. The sheer terror of that impending strike was something even the scarred Zheng Zha could not possibly ignore. It wasn't just him; everyone around him was frozen in place. This arrow, once loosed, would carry infinite destructive power; their protective gear was utterly incapable of blocking it—the force was simply too terrifying.

Just then, a stunningly beautiful girl slowly stepped down from the flying skateboard. Curiously, she didn't descend to the ground; instead, a cluster of luminous feathers constantly beat behind her, like the wings of a fairy, allowing her to hover as she drifted toward Zhang Heng.

Zhang Heng had the arrow nocked, ready to fire without mercy the instant anyone in the opposing group made another move. But now, someone dared to approach him. Zhang Heng’s hand twitched, nearly letting the arrow fly, but upon seeing her clearly, his mind instantly fractured. Before the arrow could be loosed, he gasped and spat out a great mouthful of blood. The arrow from his Ancient Bow Shooting the Heavenly Wolf shot toward the ground instead, instantly erupting in a flash of light and blasting a massive crater over a meter wide into the earth.

The scarred Zheng Zha and his companions finally dared to move. Zheng Zha seized the opportunity, tossing a mass of dark smoke into the air. The smoke ballooned as it met the wind, rapidly engulfing an area of several hundred meters around him in blackness, and the darkness continued to expand. Within about ten seconds, thousands of meters around them were blanketed in this oppressive gloom.

The scarred Zheng Zha finally let out a breath of relief, mumbling, “Damn it, you can never let your guard down. Other teams aren’t necessarily all weaklings. I was careless, careless! Chu Xuan, go! Kidnap all those newcomers. If they’re too strong, kill them. If they aren’t strong, better to take them alive; that way we can distribute the team’s reward points and side quest data. That’s settled, everyone, execute the plan!” Far away, the Zheng Zha who was duplicated immediately knew things were going terribly wrong the moment he saw the smoke approaching.

In this kind of fog, he had almost no way to execute a long-range sniper attack. If he relied only on close combat, he couldn't stall the enemy at all. In other words, the enemy could simply ignore them and speed away toward their objective.

(Visual range was only about two hundred meters, and that was with the Gene Lock unlocked. In the normal state, he could barely see fifty meters—sniping was impossible.) When the duplicated Zheng Zha had pulled out the Necronomicon earlier, the original Zheng Zha had seen that thick, black tome. This meant his copy had also survived the The Mummy horror movie, and seeing the copy skillfully chanting from the Necronomicon, causing this huge cloud of black smoke to appear, instantly reminded him of several magical skills he had once asked Qi Tengyi about—one of them was called Dark Cage. He remembered it clearly.

It was a bidirectional attack skill that didn't distinguish between friend or foe; anyone inside the area of effect, regardless of who cast the spell, would be affected. Its most significant characteristic was obscuring vision, making it primarily a supportive escape magic. He never imagined his copy would use this exact skill.

(What’s the point of this? Just to separate us? Or to bypass us and go after Zhan Lan and the rookies?) Zheng Zha silently stood up from his crouched position. He stored his sniper rifle into his spatial ring, preparing for his next move, when suddenly two skateboards shot toward him out of the air. The front of one skateboard, the one he mentally referred to as Gentleman’s Uprightness, was lined with blades as sharp as any edge. By the time he registered that these boards were aimed at him, the cutting edges were only a hundred meters from his head, and that distance was shrinking rapidly. The speed of these boards was far, far greater than Zheng Zha’s own velocity.

Zheng Zha gritted his teeth, circulating his internal energy. He stomped his foot and leaped into the air. Using his advanced internal energy to enhance his Qinggong, he easily jumped four meters high. Before the two skateboards could impale him, he launched himself upward and delivered a fierce kick to the chest of the person directly facing him. That man’s reaction speed was excellent; he managed to block the kick with his hand, but the immense force behind the kick still slammed him onto the ground.

The other person on a skateboard was the large white man Zheng Zha had previously knocked down with a summons book. He was decisive, jumping off his board onto the ground. The board he had been riding flew straight into the distance, while the board belonging to the man who was kicked down became embedded in the concrete rooftop.

The big white man burst into laughter, pointing at Zheng Zha and shouting, “Captain, this guy is identical to you! Is he your main body? I wonder what his actual strength level is.”

The scarred Zheng Zha stood cold and motionless in the air, hovering due to the black, fleshy wings behind him. After a long silence, he finally spoke, “He’s yours to handle. I’ll provide some auxiliary skill support. Don’t be too careless. Although his strength might not be exceptional, he is still a version of me. If you feel your life is in danger, let me know; I’ll end this fight.”

The man who had been kicked down also rose. He was tall, nearly one meter eighty-something, with brown hair and dark, sallow skin, his muscles appearing like interlocking steel cables. He looked like someone from Southeast Asia. This man shot Zheng Zha a cold glance and said, “No need for the Captain to intervene. Even I alone am sufficient to defeat him. Francois, are you trying to steal him from me?”

The white man, named Francois, laughed heartily. “Of course I want him! This is a powerhouse who has unlocked the Gene Lock, and he looks skilled in close combat too. He’s a rare training dummy, Dexai. Do you think I’m passing this up?”

The yellow-skinned man, Dexai, snorted coldly. He pulled some cloth strips from his pocket and began wrapping his fists.

Zheng Zha watched them coldly, yet he kept a portion of his attention fixed on the copy hovering not far above him. The scarred Zheng Zha above laughed loudly. “The other me, do you need me to introduce their combat power and skill enhancements? Haha, this Dexai is Thai; he specializes in various Muay Thai techniques. His enhancement is Four Arms with Two Heads, possessing the strength of the second stage of the unlocked Gene Lock. He’s terrifyingly strong in close combat; if I were you, I wouldn’t try to engage him head-on.”

“Francois is European. He naturally has the ability to converse with certain animals, and he’s enhanced with the Druid Shapeshifting spell. Based on his physical conditioning and enhancement skills, his close-combat ability is no weaker than Dexai’s, even though he only has the strength of the first stage of the Gene Lock unlocked. I have to ask, are you really intent on fighting them? Hahahaha!” Zheng Zha said nothing. He simply drew his combat knife from his storage space and began entering the second stage of the Gene Lock, his muscles visibly swelling. Simultaneously, Dexai flashed forward, rapidly closing the distance, leaping up, and launching a knee strike directly toward Zheng Zha’s face.

As Zheng Zha initiated his engagement, the situation surrounding Zhang Heng had become bizarrely strange. He stood there dumbfounded, watching the girl with the beating, luminous wings approach. This girl was Ming Yanwei, the girlfriend he thought he had completely lost—a pitiful woman he abandoned due to his cowardice, which ultimately led to her being brutally killed. Afterward, losing all hope for survival, she entered the ‘Main God’ space, only to be killed in the Ju-On horror movie. Of course, Zhang Heng knew none of this.

Zhang Heng had not loosed the Wind Arrow attack. That immense, crushing force reversed course and pressed back into his body through the bow, severely wounding him instantly. At the crucial moment, he managed to shoot the arrow into the ground; otherwise, the rebound force of that single shot would have been enough to incapacitate him. Even so, he was currently wracked by agonizing pain, feeling as if every part of his body was tearing open—the power of the Wind Arrow had deeply damaged his flesh.

Ming Yanwei carried a small, silver bow, which resembled Cupid’s bow of love; even its curve was heart-shaped. In contrast, Zhang Heng’s Ancient Bow Shooting the Heavenly Wolf, while appearing ancient and elegant, radiated an intense, palpable scent of blood, overwhelmingly stronger than the delicate bow in Ming Yanwei’s hands.

Zhang Heng stared foolishly as Ming Yanwei flew closer and closer. He opened his mouth to speak, but for a moment, he didn't know what to say. Especially when he saw the faint sheen of tears in Ming Yanwei’s eyes, Zhang Heng was even more at a loss. He wanted to apologize, to say he was sorry, but he dared not look up at her. He stared fixedly at her hands, and gradually, his head bowed lower and lower.

“Heng, do you remember what I once told you? I have very strong premonitions about certain things, especially about what certain people might do next.”

“But I never predicted that you would abandon me and run away alone. Heng, this is the first time I was wrong.” A thin silver light flashed. Tiny, toy-like silver arrows shot out, piercing Zhang Heng’s right arm and then passing straight through to embed themselves deeply into the bronze bell behind him.