Chapter 99: Mutation

Zhou Liming was completely confused. The sudden itching pain made him bite his lips hard, preventing himself from making a sound.

He did not notice the small hole in his Radiation Suit and intuitively thought that there was a problem with his Fierce Beast Gene. Because this cellular itch was different from an itch on the skin; even if you wanted to scratch it, there was no way to reach it. It was like the itch had penetrated into the bone marrow, making people tremble.

What made Zhou Liming even more alarmed was that after the cells turned burning hot, he felt a sensation of burning up.

The power lurking within the Fierce Beast Gene was triggered and then became surging. Like a tsunami, it raged wildly inside Zhou Liming’s body. Every cell seemed to be tearing apart, constantly splitting and then recombining. An incomprehensible pain madly impacted his brain.

“What is going on, what is going on?”

Zhou Liming asked himself over and over again. He did not know what was happening at all, so he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

Perhaps it was a few hours, or perhaps it was a few minutes. The severe pain made Zhou Liming lose his judgment of time. When the pain reached its peak, his head felt like it was about to explode. Zhou Liming suddenly held his head. Unable to hold back, he was about to roar out loud.

However, just as he wanted to roar, the pain seemed to vanish into thin air. If not for his body being covered in sweat and his bitten lips, he would not even believe that he had just experienced such painful torment.

Gasping loudly, Zhou Liming sat up. After this torment, he had long lost his sleepiness. He stared blankly at the night sky, thinking hard about what had just happened to him. It was as if his cells had mutated, and then were reorganized during the splitting.

“Did the Fierce Beast Gene grow again? But…”

Yes, this was impossible. The Fierce Beast Gene in his body had evolved just a few days ago. At that time, the Sixth Level Fierce Beast herd had landed on the continent. It was impossible that in just a few days, the seventh batch, which was the Seventh Level Fierce Beasts, would land again. Their growth speed could not be this fast.

But if it was not gene growth, what caused the mutation of the Fierce Beast Gene?

That is right, it was a mutation. Since the pain stopped, Zhou Liming had already sensed changes in his body. Many of the split cells did not combine back immediately, making him suddenly look a bit fatter. Through his senses, Zhou Liming could clearly feel that there were some twisted muscles on his body, just like soldiers starting to mutate under radiation.

The surging power in his body did not change because of the cell splitting; instead, it became even more massive and still lurked inside Zhou Liming’s body.

Realizing what had happened to him, Zhou Liming panicked immediately. “No, it can’t be like this, how can this be…” He stood up, checked his Radiation Suit, and then despairingly saw an inconspicuous small hole on his calf cut by a shell fragment. The culprit that caused all this was obviously it.

One had to know that this was the central area of the Nuclear Strike. The radiation was more than ten million times higher than outside. Even just a little bit could instantly put a person into a severe state of radiation.

Suddenly, Zhou Liming thought of Qiao Bingsen. Why didn’t he have such a situation? His radiation level was deeper than his own. Now Zhou Liming finally understood why Qiao Bingsen had been silent these past two days. The mindset of knowing one was radiated, like himself, was full of panic and despair. How much perseverance did it take for him to maintain that indifferent attitude towards life and death?

Zhou Liming forced himself to calm down, and then lay down without showing any emotion.

“So what if there is radiation?” Zhou Liming mocked himself. “I can transform into a Fierce Beast Form, what is the difference from radiation? Can I still call myself a human now? At most, I am just a monster with a human aura. The domestic public does not know about the existence of Fierce Beast Warriors yet. If they knew, would they accept it?”

But whenever he thought of the miserable state of the radiated people he saw on TV before, Zhou Liming still felt panicked in his heart.

On this night, Zhou Liming spent it with his eyes wide open staring at the night sky. With the Radiation Suit, no one noticed the changes in Zhou Liming’s body the next day. They just felt that Zhou Liming was more lonely, and like Qiao Bingsen, became silent and rarely spoke.

According to the plan, today was the second to last day, and it was also data collection.

Data collection was relatively the safest and easiest task. One only needed to operate the instruments and record some indicators like the radiation here.

But at noon, instructions came from the rear to stop data collection. Based on the collected data, it was already sufficient, and they needed to conduct terrain detection.

Hearing this news, it could be said to be half good and half bad.

The good part was that conducting terrain detection meant this would be the last day staying in this ghostly place, and they could leave here tomorrow morning. The bad part was that terrain detection was not staying here, but required moving around, which undoubtedly increased the probability of the team being exposed.

Everyone discussed for a while and finally agreed to execute the command from the rear. This was the last procedure; if not completed, the efforts made in the previous two days would be almost wasted.

“Alright, guys, relax. We’ve been here for two days and no Fierce Beast has discovered us, which means luck is on our side. As long as we complete this detection mission, we will leave here immediately, then take a good shower in a hotel in New Delhi, eat a delicious meal, and let this damn nutrient liquid go to hell.”

Kahn’s words made everyone let out a light laugh. After checking their equipment, they began to carefully leave this forest.

Zhou Liming walked to Qiao Bingsen’s side and asked softly, “Captain, do… do you feel any discomfort?”

Qiao Bingsen shook his head and said, “Everything is normal now. For people exposed to radiation, sometimes symptoms appear in a day or two, sometimes it lurks for ten years, or even decades. Some people are radiated and don’t change until they die.”

Qiao Bingsen’s words undoubtedly made Zhou Liming feel that his luck had been taken back by the heavens.

Walking silently at the back of the team, Zhou Liming could already confirm that he was definitely radiated. The last bit of luck in his heart disappeared accordingly.

Under Kahn’s lead, the team soon appeared by the seaside. From here, one could see the torn places. Some soil was very fresh, forming a steep cliff. Amidst the sound of waves, one could occasionally see large chunks of soil suddenly collapsing from the steep cliff and falling into the sea.

Many broken logs and withered leaves floated on the sea surface, rising and falling with the waves. One could also see some human and beast corpses mixed in.

Over the distant strait in the sky, the crisp calls of Flying Fierce Beasts could be heard from time to time. Some sounded like birds, while others were strange calls never heard before.

The whole team stopped. Zhou Liming sat on a huge rock and watched the busy experts below. All around were alert team members. They faintly surrounded the experts, carefully guarding against possible dangers around them.

Zhou Liming was feeling restless. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but in reality…

A Small Fierce Beast, only about one meter tall, silently emerged from a strange rock area not far away. Its fur was grayish-black and very shiny, and its shape was very much like a rat. Or rather, it would not be wrong to call it a giant rat. At this moment, it was staring at the busy crowd with two eyes full of frightening cold light.

A moment later, it let out a “squeak” and instantly disappeared into the strange rock area formed by the crustal movement.

If it hadn’t made the “squeak”, perhaps Zhou Liming would not have discovered it. But as soon as its sound was made, Zhou Liming immediately captured its movement. Although it flashed and disappeared, it still could not escape Zhou Liming’s eyes.

Without hesitation, Zhou Liming sprang up, jumped down from the rock, and rushed toward the strange rock area.

“What is going on?” It was Qiao Bingsen’s voice. Under the activation of the Fierce Beast Form, his speed was much faster than Zhou Liming. In a moment, he caught up with Zhou Liming.

Zhou Liming did not stop and continued running forward, saying, “I seemed to see something in front.”

Qiao Bingsen just hummed, and his speed suddenly increased. In the blink of an eye, he appeared in this strange rock area. He stood on a rock and looked around, but apart from the strange rocks, he found nothing.

With Qiao Bingsen’s experience, he naturally would not believe what he saw on the surface.

Zhou Liming walked to Qiao Bingsen’s side and asked, “Did you find anything?”

Qiao Bingsen pointed to the soil beside a rock and said, “Look, the traces on it.”

This rock was exactly where Zhou Liming had discovered the Small Fierce Beast just now. The soil on the ground was very fresh; if it had been stepped on, it would be obvious at a glance. Then, following these traces, they discovered a stone crevice resembling a hole entrance in the gap between several rocks. A small head stuck out but seemed to see Zhou Liming and the other, and shrank back in.

Qiao Bingsen’s face turned ugly. From his experience, he could tell that this Small Fierce Beast was not simple.

“Squeak” calls suddenly rang out in a chorus. Very quickly, one Small Fierce Beast after another crawled out from the gaps in the strange rocks. They were densely packed, and the number actually reached nearly a hundred. As soon as they appeared, they only paused slightly, then crawled and ran swiftly, making a “rustling” sound, and scurried toward Zhou Liming’s position.

By this time, Kahn had also arrived here. Seeing these Small Fierce Beasts, he exclaimed, “Damn it, they are Gold-Devouring Rats.”