Chapter 97: Play with Me

Three minutes earlier, inside the base, in the spacious dining hall.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere, the deafening noise was unceasing, gusts of fierce wind swept in all directions, tables and chairs shattered violently, and fragments shot out in every direction. Like two raging beasts, two power ful figures clashed fiercely on the first floor of the dining hall.

At this moment, the leader Long Ying’s chest heaved, his body was covered in blood, and several bloody holes of varying sizes had appeared on him, seemingly indicating he was heavily wounded.

These were caused by the protrusions on the combat gloves Diris wore. However, under his control, these wounds contracted, and very little blood flowed out.

His stern face was filled with urgency. He had tried several times to break through Diris’s blockade, but his opponent’s strength was completely on par with his own, sticking to him like an unshakable piece of sticky candy, entangling him here.

Long Ying knew very well that the other party’s plan was probably the same as his own side’s earlier combat strategy: to entangle and stall the enemy’s strongest combatant, eliminate their effective strength, and then join forces to encircle and annihilate. The longer this dragged on, the greater the losses on his side would be!

“Hahaha, you’re not bad! To unlock your Gene Lock through your own exploration in such a barren Wasteland and reach this level is truly astonishing!”

Forcing back the frantically charging Long Ying once more, Diris gently licked the specks of blood on his steel combat gloves. He still seemed to have strength to spare, his handsome face full of mockery as he laughed:

“Are you so eager to rescue your subordinates? Don’t waste your effort. They should all be dead by now, right?”

Diris’s condition wasn’t much better than Long Ying’s. At this moment, over a dozen knife wounds crisscrossed his body, large and small, and his military uniform was dyed red. However, while these wounds looked gruesome, they were not deep, and he controlled the bleeding by contracting his muscles, which also did little to affect his combat ability.

Yet, although he appeared evenly matched with Long Ying, Diris seemed to have some hidden trump card, faintly revealing an air of confidence that he had nothing to fear.

Listening to the intense gunfire and explosions coming from the direction of the Experiment Area, Long Ying held his scimitar, standing like a reef battered by wind and waves, unwavering. His gaze swept back and forth, seemingly waiting for something as well, as he said coldly:

“Is that so? With just your subordinates?”

“I know you. You should be Long Ying, the leader of the Dawn Gathering Place, right? Most of the subjects in our lab were provided by your territory.”

With a scoff, Diris’s azure eyes sized up Long Ying as he said unhurriedly:

“I also know that since you dared to launch a long-distance raid on the base, you must have brought quite a few elites. I’m guessing there are at least five Awakeners in your team?”

Seeing Diris’s look of absolute confidence, a sense of unease rose in Long Ying’s heart:

“So what if I did? The team I brought has eight Awakener-level combatants! You have less than fifty people defending this base. Even if we were caught off guard and suffered losses, annihilating you would be easy!”

At that moment, all the gunfire from the direction of the Experiment Area ceased completely, leaving the massive base in dead silence.

Diris sighed lightly and smiled:

“You foolish man… what if I told you—there is also a Transcendent-level combatant inside the base?”

What?!

Long Ying’s pupils involuntarily constricted sharply, and his expression changed drastically!

Thump!

Just as Long Ying’s heart was struck with shock, a fierce light flashed in Diris’s eyes. He immediately seized this moment of mental lapse and, with a loud boom in the air, pounced like lightning! His clothes flapped rapidly, creating a series of sharp cracking sounds. Diris locked his steel-gloved fists, one in front and one behind, straight onto Long Ying’s throat. In an instant, the air churned violently, showing the ferocity of this strike!

Clang! Crack!

At this life-or-death moment, Long Ying’s eyes blazed with fury. His reaction could not be called slow; a burst of cold light exploded from his hand, his blade’s glare surging to slash at the incoming fist. However, focusing on one left him open to the other. Diris’s other fist slammed hard into Long Ying’s left shoulder, shattering his shoulder blade. With a muffled grunt, Long Ying was sent flying backward, crushing tables and chairs, crashing thunderously to the ground!

Clang!

In the next instant, before Diris could follow up his attack, the fragments of tables and chairs exploded. Long Ying flashed out from within, carrying a mournful, cold gleam like startling thunder in a sonic boom, charging wildly like an arrow leaving the bowstring!

The air burst open like a string of firecrackers. Long Ying’s gaze was icy to the extreme, as if the temperature itself had dropped. The cold gleam of the scimitar he wielded tore through the air, flashing and vanishing in the dim space. Just looking at it stung the eyes. No one would doubt that in his current imposing state, even a sturdy armored vehicle blocking his path would be cleanly cleaved in two!

He was thoroughly erupting every ounce of Vital Prime in his body, starting to stake his life on this.

Having been caught off guard by Diris, Long Ying’s left shoulder bone was now broken, making it nearly impossible to exert force. He had sustained a significant injury. Even though he didn’t know if the claim of another Transcendent in the base was true or false, his injured shoulder had already greatly impacted his combat effectiveness. If he didn’t erupt quickly and end the fight fast, they might face total annihilation!

Facing Long Ying’s incredibly fierce assassination attempt, Diris felt a shock in his heart. Instead of taking it head-on, he retreated rapidly like a phantom. Long Ying’s attack, with the momentum of a comet striking the moon, missed its mark, but he wasn’t discouraged. With a shake of his arm, the air screamed as he slashed horizontally towards Diris!

“Starting to fight with your life, huh? Too bad…”

And at this moment, with no room left to retreat, Diris’s handsome face displayed a mix of confidence and madness:

“That’s not how Original Force is used!”

With a clang! In the next moment, Diris’s sleeves on both arms suddenly billowed as if inflated. Then, his arms shot out like pythons emerging from their holes, his palms clapping together to catch the blade of Long Ying’s horizontal slash between them! As if magnetically attracted, the blade could not advance a single inch!

What?!

He never imagined his attack could be blocked this way; Long Ying’s eyes changed drastically! However, his left arm was unable to immediately counterattack. In the next instant, with a loud clang, before he could make any move, his refined steel blade snapped! Simultaneously, accompanied by Diris’s ferocious grin and shadowy fist, an incomparably immense power erupted from Long Ying’s chest!

Crack! Snap!

Amidst a series of cracking bone sounds, Long Ying roared, blood spraying wildly, and was sent flying over ten meters, slamming hard into a steel plate, leaving a clear indentation.

This time, after landing, Long Ying coughed violently, roaring in unending pain. Blood continuously gushed from his mouth and nose. He struggled desperately to stand, but the shattering of his sternum and internal organs made every movement agonizingly difficult.

Having taken a blow from Diris’s Original Force eruption, a common Awakener with such severe injuries would likely have died on the spot. Long Ying, with his Transcendent Mid-stage physique, had withstood it.

But even so, the severe injury had cost him most of his combat ability!

“Too bad. I thought I might need to use my trump card, but this works out fine anyway.”

Ten meters away, the dust had settled. Diris, holding the winning hand, exhaled lightly, trying to calm his physical exertion. Looking at the dying, struggling Long Ying, he smiled:

“Long Ying, you should be at the Transcendent Mid-stage, right? Too bad. Self-taught means always self-taught. Even though I haven’t reached Transcendent Mid-stage, you’re still no match for me.”

“Not reached Transcendent Mid-stage…”

Vomiting large mouthfuls of blood, the Transcendent Long Ying’s eyes filled with extreme despair. He forced his head up, his vision already starting to blur from the intense pain, and said with difficulty:

“You… what exactly are you…”

Diris indeed had not reached Transcendent Mid-stage. However, as an absolute elite within the organization, the various resources he enjoyed, the Life Tempering Method, Gene Awakening Method, and Original Force application techniques he practiced were all advanced methods researched by the organization’s top scientists and powerful New Humans. This was far beyond what a self-taught Transcendent from the wilderness like Long Ying could compare to.

“Hahaha… You want to ask about my origins?”

Maintaining a safe distance, Diris stayed absolutely cautious, afraid Long Ying might have some trump card to turn the tables. He laughed heartily:

“Too bad, my origins are not something you can fathom. Knowing would only lead to despair. Dying in ignorance is a form of bliss, isn’t it? Of course, rest assured, I will also squeeze out every last bit of value from your subordinates before sending them to accompany you!”

“You animal!”

Long Ying’s eyes were bloodshot, his steel teeth practically ground to dust. Kneeling on the ground amidst a low growl, he seemed to be gathering strength for a final counterattack in his life.

“Still struggling?”

Diris stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Long Ying, who was like a dying beast trying to make a last stand. His eyes were filled with pity:

“Truly, one refuses to shed tears until seeing the coffin…”

Tap, tap, tap…

However, at that very moment, in the silent and wrecked dining hall, the sound of soft footsteps drifted out from the hallway entrance.

“Lin, is that you?”

Hearing the footsteps, Diris kept his eyes fixed on the dying, struggling Long Ying, guarding against any sudden moves, and laughed loudly:

“Have you completely finished off those people?”

He knew very well the effects of the [Night Demon] serum. He also knew exactly the extent of power Katherine, originally an Awakener, had reached after taking the [Night Demon] serum. It was an inhuman strength that no Awakener could withstand, save for a Transcendent who had unlocked their Gene Lock. Precisely because of this, he had confidently allowed Katherine to go play her revenge game.

But just as Long Ying’s eyes were filled with utter despair, and Diris’s inquiry echoed in the empty dining hall…

“Looking for her?”

Whoosh.

A malicious voice rang out. With a soft sound, a human figure was tossed out, drawing a curved arc and landing not far from Diris.

Diris couldn’t help but freeze, turning his head back.

It was a mutilated, headless corpse.

“…Lin!?”

In that instant, upon recognizing the figure’s build and the blood-soaked research uniform on the corpse, every expression on Diris’s face solidified.

At that very moment, Chen Chong’s tall figure had already entered the dining hall from the hallway. And as he walked out step by step, his body began to continuously pull taller and expand. The leather coat on his body burst open instantly, revealing large chunks of blackish-blue, sharply defined muscles, as if cast from steel…

When the Body Tempering Iron Body was fully activated, in the blink of an eye, Chen Chong’s form shot up from 1.9 meters to over two meters, transforming once more into a ferociously imposing, suffocating black-iron tyrannosaur!

“Heh, your little girlfriend got beaten to death by me, and she died very miserably. Are you angry? Want revenge?”

Clang!

Smashing his fists together, the sound was like metal clashing against metal. Chen Chong’s fierce gaze locked directly onto the frozen expression of Diris, looking at him as if he were a weak lamb. He grinned savagely:

“Then hurry up and come play with me!”