He wasn't dead... Not a drop of blood erupted; no, not just blood—he was still standing there. The sheer penetrating force of a Gauss sniper rifle bullet should have sent a decapitated head tumbling several rotations, so how could he possibly remain upright? A thought sparked in Zheng Zha’s mind, and he dared not approach the standing figure again. As he stared fixedly at the body, his peripheral vision caught movement on the ground. The pulverized fragments of heads, flesh, and bone were actually writhing there, slowly crawling from the body’s feet back up onto it. After several seconds, the brown-haired man stood completely whole again.

The young man with brown hair silently turned his head, coldly looking in that direction. “Was that gunfire? The power is surprisingly immense. It seems I must eliminate him first…” As he spoke, the people on the plaza who had been devoured by those giant zombies moments before also stood up. Their bodies had only slightly distended; they weren't as massive as the previous enormous zombies, but their appearance was far more terrifying.

Their bodies were ripped open, revealing bloodied flesh, and some even showed their internal organs. These men and women surged toward Zero Point in the distance.

Zheng Zha quickly used the Mind Link to tell Zero Point to leave. At this point, he no longer dared to underestimate the brown-haired youth before him.

As expected, this was the difficulty of a B-grade side plot, and one with a group reward at that. Its level of danger was comparable to that of a Great Dragon; he certainly had no right to regard it with contempt.

Only then did Zheng Zha clearly see what the brown-haired youth had attacked him with moments before. It was a thin blood vessel—definitely a blood vessel—peeled directly from the youth’s own flesh. Heavens, this monster was using its own vascular system to strike at others!

A weapon like that sent a genuine chill down Zheng Zha’s spine.

(No, the pressure he exerts on me is far less than what the Copy exerted. His strength is significantly weaker than the Copy’s... If I flee now, I’ll never be able to face the Copy again! I must defeat him, defeat this monster head-on!) Zheng Zha took a deep breath.

His gaze immediately turned distant and unfocused as his entire being entered the state of unlocking the Gene Lock. Instantly, data about his surroundings flooded into his mind: where this person might attack from, what speed the blood vessels or hair might achieve, and how to strike to defeat the monster without harming the little boy. All this information poured into his consciousness ceaselessly.

Zheng Zha retrieved the Dragon Crystal Necklace from his storage ring, gripping it tightly in his palm. Then, with a push of his foot, he charged toward the monster. Several blood vessels simultaneously shot toward his brow and heart. Both parties moved at extreme speed; in the blink of an eye, the vessels were mere centimeters from piercing Zheng Zha’s body. Yet, Zheng Zha did not dodge, continuing his forward rush. Just as the vessels were about to touch his skin, a semi-transparent protective layer materialized between them. Simultaneously, Zheng Zha brought the Spear of Judgment down fiercely toward the monster’s head. This was different from the giant zombies; as he thrust the spear, he poured his internal energy and vampiric energy into it, causing the Spear of Judgment to flash with a golden light.

The expression on the brown-haired youth’s face finally shifted. His reaction speed was also terrifyingly fast. The instant the Spear of Judgment struck, he raised a single foot to meet the thrust, allowing the spear to pierce his heel. The might of the Spear of Judgment finally showed itself this time. Although he hadn't channeled much internal or vampiric energy, the gold-flashing spear ruthlessly bored through the man’s heel, grinding away a large chunk of flesh—not shattering it or piercing it, but actively disintegrating it with the golden light.

The brown-haired youth’s movements did not falter in the slightest. He seemed impervious to pain, actually exerting force to drive the Spear of Judgment into the ground. At the same time, he swiftly reached out with one hand toward Zheng Zha’s throat. The moment his hand touched Zheng Zha’s neck, an intense, biting cold shot up from his arm. In less than a second, Zheng Zha’s neck went numb. His reaction speed was unmatched, and he was already in the unlocked state. He immediately channeled his internal energy with one hand and landed a heavy punch on the man’s arm. With a sharp crack of breaking bone, Zheng Zha’s blow snapped the brown-haired youth’s arm backward, allowing him to wrench free from the youth’s grip.

(...Frostbite. What kind of temperature is that? It was only a touch for a second! If he had held on longer, would I have turned into that zombie? But his strength is far weaker than mine—maybe only seven or eight times that of an ordinary person. If I use my internal energy, my strength will far surpass his! Good! I'll break all his limbs with sheer power in close combat! Then I'll figure out how to retrieve the boy!) Zheng Zha settled his resolve. Before he could act, he saw the brown-haired youth standing there, muttering while staring at his broken arm, “The body’s toughness isn't enough. It needs to become stronger, and strength must increase threefold from this level…” As he spoke, his fractured arm mended, and the muscles beneath his skin began to writhe violently. A layer of keratin appeared on his skin, resembling scales. All of this happened in less than ten seconds, leaving Zheng Zha completely dumbfounded.

A realization struck Zheng Zha; a certain condition he knew of might be manifesting before him: the unlocking of the fourth stage of the Gene Lock, which grants the ability to freely manipulate one’s own genes, allowing for different manifestations of power based on the situation. A normally weaker body conserves energy and reduces physical strain, but when combat is necessary, the body evolves in the shortest possible time to its most optimal fighting form. This was the power of the fourth stage of the Gene Lock! It was also the level the Copy had attained.

Zheng Zha exhaled, and he, too, entered the second stage of the unlocked Gene Lock. The muscles in his arms began to swell rapidly, and he channeled his internal and vampiric energies into the Spear of Judgment once more. As the brown-haired youth charged, he brought the spear down fiercely toward the youth’s head. The youth raised his arm to block the strike. When the two collided, a sound like grinding metal echoed. The Spear of Judgment managed to penetrate halfway into the youth’s arm before getting completely stuck. Zheng Zha paused momentarily. In that instant of distraction, the brown-haired youth kicked toward his chest, forcing him to release the spear and leap backward. Utilizing Qinggong, his speed increased dramatically, and he managed to jump several meters away just before the kick connected. However, the blast wave from that kick left his chest aching and tight, indicating the sheer force of the blow. If the youth’s strength had previously been only seven or eight times that of an ordinary person, it was now at least twenty times that amount! The brown-haired youth sneered, looking quite pleased, and pulled the Spear of Judgment from his arm. He eyed the golden spear and coldly stated, “You are much stronger than ordinary people, a very powerful low-level creature. I have decided: I will turn you into a zombie obedient to me, a slave to fight for me, and in return, I grant you eternal youth and immense power…” Zheng Zha also laughed. He chuckled as he said, “That’s good. It’s fortunate I met you before meeting the Copy. Yes, you possess the unique ability associated with the fourth stage of the Gene Lock. Although you are not as strong as someone who has fully unlocked the fourth stage, you serve as an excellent demonstration subject. It’s excellent that I encountered you before the Copy; I won't have to vaguely guess how strong the fourth stage truly is... Dealing with you only requires an ‘explosion’!” The brown-haired youth froze, clearly not understanding what Zheng Zha meant. At that very moment, intense bursts of gunfire erupted from the edge of the plaza—Bawang was clearly beginning his rampage against the zombie horde. Zheng Zha instantly exerted all his strength; a red line of blood shot down from the center of his forehead, and a violent surge of air rushed up from his Dantian, converging at his heart... The brown-haired youth was just preparing to attack the man before him when the man suddenly vanished from his sight. Where the man had stood moments before, an explosion suddenly erupted. Zheng Zha stomped down hard on the ground, and the reactive force pulverized the stone slabs beneath him. Using this recoil, he shot forward with incredible speed to the brown-haired youth’s face and drove a devastating punch straight into his head, caving it in entirely. Then, with a flip of his hand, he snatched the little boy from the youth’s grasp. Following up, he kicked out hard, sending the brown-haired youth flying dozens of meters away, crashing with a bang against a street lamp pole and bending it double.

“You didn’t get what I meant? This… is ‘explosion’!” Leaping to...