The two men advanced slowly down the gloomy, dark alley, moving for nearly a minute, yet Zheng Zha’s anxiety was steadily building. Perhaps De Chai had no need to rush; after all, he had nothing to worry about. But Zheng Zha was different; he had many things demanding his attention, like Zhan Lan and the others. Even setting aside their lives, as members of the same team, if they were killed, he would suffer a score deduction that would instantly kill him as well. Therefore, for both public and personal reasons, he could not afford to linger here.

If this continued, his mounting anxiety would become impossible to suppress. Once his mind lost its calm, his stealth technique would be instantly exposed, rendering any surprise attack impossible. Caught in this internal conflict, Zheng Zha could only continue to follow De Chai slowly, waiting for the precise moment he needed.

Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps a blessing from heaven.

The opportunity he needed arrived surprisingly soon.

It could only be described as a miracle: on the wall ahead of De Chai, a Licker had appeared. Its body spanned several meters, possessing massive claws and spines covering its frame. This was a Licker mutated from a standard T-Virus, not one that had consumed enough humans to evolve into a high-tier variant, so its body and claws weren't excessively large. In contrast, the bone spurs erupting from its back seemed far more threatening.

De Chai observed the Licker’s appearance, yet he drew no weapon. Instead, he walked toward it with an expression of excitement. Through Zheng Zha's eyes, a faint, shimmering halo appeared around De Chai's fist.

It looked as if he were wearing gauntlets made of pure light, though this luminous casing was somewhat ethereal.

The Licker thrust its tongue out toward De Chai, then lunged at him violently. Yet, this powerful lunge failed to knock him down.

Instead, De Chai stepped back slightly, perfectly positioning himself just outside the Licker’s immediate striking range. Simultaneously, all four of De Chai’s arms began a relentless barrage of strikes. The speed of his punches was almost invisible to the naked eye, and his fists were already covered by that circular corona of light. After this flurry of attacks, the Licker’s massive claws, hardened to the consistency of metal, were smashed into fragments. This was not all; De Chai then kicked the Licker’s shoulder joint—a crisp crack echoed as the creature’s shoulder tore open.

What terrifying instantaneous destructive power! This sequence of attacks took less than a second to complete. De Chai’s double-headed, four-armed configuration proved immensely powerful, augmented by the sharpness of his Muay Thai techniques and the destructive bonus from the light halo. By the time he landed, the Licker was reduced to nothing more than a dying shriek.

De Chai sneered. He reached out with both hands and gripped the Licker’s head. Then, as the halo flashed around his knee, he delivered a powerful knee strike. At the exact same moment, a hand shot out from the darkness toward De Chai’s head. As the knee strike landed, the hand accelerated violently, grabbing De Chai and smashing him hard against the nearby wall.

Zheng Zha had been waiting for this very instant. Just when De Chai thought he had dealt with the Licker, his guard was at its lowest. In this moment, Zheng Zha unleashed his attack. He had already maintained the third stage of his Gene Lock, which enhanced the strength and reaction speed of the previous two stages. Even without mimicking anyone's consciousness, he possessed power exceeding the second stage of the Gene Lock. Thus, with this brutal impact, he actually drove De Chai through the thick concrete wall. The two of them crashed violently into the interior of the residential building, and as they did, Zheng Zha’s eyes burned a furious crimson.

(Must resolve the fight quickly, must resolve the fight quickly, must—) Zheng Zha’s anxiety was beyond description. Seizing the opportunity, he fought De Chai with reckless abandon. The moment he drove him into the wall, his fangs clamped down hard onto De Chai’s back, while his arms wrapped around De Chai’s body, squeezing relentlessly. Immense force poured out; Zheng Zha’s arms were visibly four times thicker than normal. Under this colossal pressure, De Chai’s ribcage let out a grinding, bone-crushing sound within one or two seconds.

De Chai knew this was a life-or-death struggle. The sheer force stunned him, so he immediately unleashed all the Dou Qi within his body, causing a faint white glow to radiate from him. This light carried immense power; this thin layer easily forced Zheng Zha’s teeth away, even though his teeth had managed to tear away a large chunk of muscle. Still, he had broken free from the bite.

Zheng Zha realized he couldn't allow De Chai freedom of movement. This man, skilled in Muay Thai, was not only incredibly strong, but his striking technique surpassed anything Zheng Zha possessed. Often, Zheng Zha fought purely on instinct, which worked fine when vastly superior, but now, locked tightly around De Chai from behind, he recklessly unleashed his inner Vermilion Flame and corrosive internal energy. It was a desperate fight; if he couldn't kill De Chai quickly, the arrival of De Chai's clone and the other Black Brown Bear would leave him with no building left to leap from.

The faint white light clearly deflected the scorching attack of the Vermilion Flame, but it could not counteract the corrosive internal energy dissolving it. As the corrosive energy surged forth, the thin white layer faded until it was barely visible to the naked eye. It was only then that De Chai let out a terrible scream, as the heat of the Vermilion Flame began to burn his flesh.

With another loud crack, Zheng Zha, still clutching De Chai, smashed through the wall and burst out onto the street. The street was utterly deserted. Apart from the two locked in combat, there were no other moving lifeforms, not even a single zombie. De Chai was now on the verge of death. The area where Zheng Zha held him had been seared to charred carbon by the bloody flame, and this crimson fire showed no signs of stopping, continuing to burn upward across his body. Furthermore, Zheng Zha’s uncontrolled corrosive energy had caused fissures to spread across De Chai. Just as death seemed imminent, Zheng Zha suddenly threw De Chai aside and rolled onto the ground. An almost invisible shockwave rushed toward him. As the sharp sound of a gunshot rang out, Zheng Zha was jolted awake. That sound was so deeply familiar: the report of a Gauss Sniper Rifle. Had the Demon Reincarnation Squad even managed to copy Zero Point? Regardless of the thought, Zheng Zha immediately checked his injuries. He had been incredibly lucky to dodge that last strike. The Gauss sniper round passed inches from his thigh, missing his flesh entirely. However, the shockwave alone had ripped a massive gash along his thigh, looking as if another bullet had grazed him. Behind him, the ground bore a massive, bottomless crater (a Gauss sniper round takes several seconds to impact). Zheng Zha quickly steadied his mind. He lunged toward De Chai, grasping his face with one hand, ignoring the man's loud screams. He dragged him back into the darkness of the alley. Behind them trailed the steaming, hot blood flowing from De Chai’s burned flesh. Soon after, the man's screams finally vanished into the dark passage.

Over a thousand meters away, on top of a tall building, a thin, dark man wearing strange goggles muttered, "Captain, no good. Too far. Even with the Fog Lens piercing the speed-fog, I couldn't see clearly enough from this distance. The shot failed."

Zheng Zha’s voice echoed in his consciousness: "It doesn't matter. His position is fixed in this sector. Unless he stays still, moving means he'll be targeted by both me and Francois. I won't stand by this time. That idiot De Chai—why couldn't he understand my instruction for him to move with Francois? If he insisted on acting alone, he should have been ready to self-detonate his Dou Qi; he shouldn't have died so meaninglessly! Damn idiot! I won't watch anymore. Nochard, snipe any non-team members you see!" The man named Nochard laughed carelessly, stroking his brand-new Gauss Sniper Rifle. "Don't worry, Captain. Next time, I’ll enter the Gene Lock state before firing. I don't believe anyone can withstand the power of this Gauss Rifle. I say—" Before the man could finish speaking, a cold gleam flashed through the mist of the 'Gentleman's Integrity' smog. An arrow shot toward him at an unbelievable speed. It pierced the floor below his vantage point, shot straight through the level, and impaled his body. Before he could react, his form shattered into dust on the floor, leaving the Gauss Sniper Rifle still resting on the ground, looking perfectly pristine.