"Indeed, I was careless..." "Our weapons have been in hand until now, so even if they discovered our position, they wouldn't neutralize the bugs. Unless there were hundreds more flying insects, they couldn't do anything to us. So they waited until we merged with the squad before shielding the bugs attacking us. A clever tactic..." Chu Xuan muttered as he ran.

Chu Xuan and Overlord watched the gigantic Fire-Breathing Armored Beetle from a distance. They could only choose to evade helplessly, as attacking with their standard-issue weapons would be nothing more than scratching the beetle's itch. Moreover, this beetle had materialized right in the center of the army, meaning the soldiers couldn't use miniature nuclear bombs against it for fear of collateral damage to countless nearby people. Thus, for a moment, they could only scatter in all directions. Every time the Fire-Breathing attack erupted, several, even more than ten people, were burned to ash. Furthermore, from the spot where the Fire-Breathing Armored Beetle had emerged, ground-crawling insects began to pour out ceaselessly.

Chu Xuan murmured softly, "Assess the situation. If it truly comes to it, we clear the entire area with full force—kill everyone here and all those bugs—and then figure out how to integrate with the Sixth Mobile Unit. It seems the plot might be altered; the Iron Man squad could very well be annihilated here... Though I am curious: if the Tough Guy squad is wiped out here, will that team receive the subplot reward for altering the plot?"

"Now is hardly the time to think about such things! We should focus on finding a way to escape this place quietly first!" When Zheng Zha reached the scene, aside from seeing the Fire-Breathing Beetle rampaging through the crowd not far away, he heard Chu Xuan speaking to the others with unnatural calmness. His demeanor suggested he was discussing mathematics or political issues in a classroom, not fighting on a battlefield. Only when Zheng Zha reached the five of them did Chu Xuan suddenly ask, "By the way, do you remember how the main protagonist in the movie defeated the first Fire-Breathing Armored Beetle? I mean the one the movie hero took down."

Zheng Zha was about to lead the group in fleeing towards Zhan Lan when Chu Xuan’s question made him freeze. He nodded. "You don't expect me to draw the Tiger Soul Blade and fight, do you? While using the Tiger Soul Blade would easily slay this giant beetle, don't you think it’s too over-the-top for a battlefield of ordinary soldiers to suddenly see someone wielding a flashy long saber and cleave a ten-meter-long insect into two pieces?" Chu Xuan waved his hand with a hint of sarcasm. "I'm not asking you to do that. What you need to do is use an ordinary weapon, jump onto the beetle's back, and keep firing with the standard weapon. Shoot a large hole in its carapace, then toss an ordinary grenade inside. With a loud boom, you'll earn the rank of Sergeant, or perhaps even Chief Petty Officer. Such a rank would greatly benefit our subsequent actions."

"That makes sense, but..." Zheng Zha pointed at the massive Fire-Breathing Armored Beetle behind them. "You want me to kill this beetle with the skill set expected of an ordinary person? And the mocking look on your face while you say it seems to imply, 'Your chance of death is over fifty percent'..." Chu Xuan maintained the same slightly mocking expression. He waved his hand again. "That’s right. If ground bugs continue emerging at this rate, your chance of killing that Fire-Breathing Beetle has risen to seventy percent. Unless you use the 'Explosion' skill and the Tiger Soul... At this rate of spawning, in two minutes you won't be able to get near the Fire-Breathing Beetle. Choose now... Oh, and to attract the attention of those Lieutenants, do you see the grenade on that Iron Hand Lieutenant's waist? Grab it before you go kill the Fire-Breathing Beetle... Old rules apply: do your best. If things get truly dangerous, use the Tiger Soul and kill everyone here... everyone."

Zheng Zha managed a bitter smile. No matter how long he had known Chu Xuan, the plans this man devised were always this insane, yet they were also the plans offering the greatest possible return. So, he could only take a deep breath, then pushed off with his feet and charged toward the Iron Hand Lieutenant. (Ordinary people’s strength and speed could never manage such a leap; he had to circulate thirty percent of his internal energy, using Qinggong to boost his jumping height. Once he landed, it was time to fight for his life!) Zheng Zha’s physical conditioning was already far superior to an ordinary person’s, especially in strength and speed. Coupled with the speed boost from Qinggong, he reached the Iron Hand Lieutenant in mere seconds. He snatched the several grenades from the Lieutenant’s waist, and while the man was stunned, Zheng Zha leaped again, covering several meters away.

The Iron Hand Lieutenant reacted swiftly. Though momentarily dazed, he immediately roared at the top of his lungs, "Damn it! Clear a path for him! Kill all the bugs on the ground!" As he shouted, he raised his sniper-variant submachine gun and fired several shots. An insect nearby, a ground crawler, had its eye pierced by a bullet and was clearly done for. The surrounding soldiers were clearly the elite of the elite, likely the remaining members of the Iron Man squad. Upon hearing the order, they immediately began firing skillfully at the ground bugs. Their aim was precise, almost every shot targeting the gap between the bugs' eyes and teeth—the ground crawlers’ most vulnerable points. After continuous fire, many ground bugs were instantly killed.

While running, Zheng Zha had already entered the fourth stage of unlocking his Gene Lock. He kept recalling Zhao Yingkong’s movements in his mind, using that miraculous footwork to charge forward. What troubled him was that he dared not use his full strength when sprinting. His power was already about ten times that of an ordinary person. At full sprint, every footfall would be enough to crack the ground. This running style would be incredibly fast, but it would look far too exaggerated. Thus, he could only constantly weave and weave while controlling his speed. Over this short distance of several dozen meters, weaving left and right, it took him over twenty seconds to arrive. Then, he leaped, landing forcefully on the corpse of a ground crawler, launching himself over three meters high, barely bringing him level with the Fire-Breathing Beetle's leg joint.

All the surrounding soldiers turned their gaze toward this spectacle, their breathing held in silent observation. In a desperate battlefield, what soldiers needed most wasn't ample ammunition or anything else, but hope for survival. The appearance of this Iron Man squad was one hope, and Zheng Zha’s performance now was another. Everyone inwardly prayed for a miracle. Although few believed Zheng Zha could destroy the Fire-Breathing Beetle, every heart was screaming: "Destroy it!"

Zheng Zha, however, knew his true difficulty. It wasn't that he couldn't climb onto the beetle; he could easily flip up with one hand. But doing so would not look like the action of an ordinary person. This was what troubled him most—fighting in a manner consistent with an ordinary person was far more taxing than fighting at full strength. This feeling of having power but being unable to use it was dreadful. Zheng Zha reluctantly drew his standard-issue military dagger, then jammed the blade into the beetle’s carapace with one hand. As he pressed down on the dagger to flip himself upward, he simultaneously pulled the blade out, then stabbed it into the beetle’s shell again. Repeating this action of stabbing and flipping three times, he finally managed to roll onto the beetle’s back. The beetle, seemingly realizing something, began to buck and toss violently. While such thrashing might be effective against ordinary people, for someone in a Gene Lock state, it was merely a flood of bumpy sensory information into the mind; a slight adjustment of balance allowed him to stand perfectly steady.

Zheng Zha pressed the standard submachine gun against the giant beetle's carapace and frantically pulled the trigger. Pop, pop, pop sounds echoed continuously. Even if the standard weapon's power was small, such concentrated fire would gradually accumulate damage. Finally, after several seconds, the submachine gun managed to crack the giant beetle's shell. Without hesitation, Zheng Zha pulled the pin on the grenades and hurled all several of them down with force. As the giant beetle surged forward wildly, Zheng Zha flipped off the beetle’s back, landing on the ground and rolling several times. He then slammed violently into the fang of a ground crawler. His right forearm was instantly pierced by the insect’s sharp tooth, and almost simultaneously, a violent wave of explosive shock reached him from behind—