“Quick! He’s here!”
Zhang Jie sprinted through a narrow alley, shouts echoing behind him. His eyes narrowed, and the life code of one of his pursuers instantly became chaotic, causing the person to collapse to the ground, wailing.
“Gene ability! It’s a Gene Ability!”
With that shout, Zhang Jie felt the ordinary life codes behind him slow their pace, while a few remaining, very complex life codes continued their relentless pursuit.
Zhang Jie weaved through the labyrinthine streets, only to sadly discover that the entire surrounding area had been sealed off. The encirclement was shrinking rapidly, and the escape route he had hoped for them both seemed to have never existed from the start.
“Zhang Jie… can we escape…?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Trust me.”
Zhang Jie ducked into a ransacked clothing store. Clothes, still bearing their tags, lay scattered across the floor, marked with dirty shoe prints.
He gently lowered Lin Ran from his back, leaning her against the bottom of a counter, then pulled a few pieces of clothing from around them to spread on the ground.
“Wait for me here. I’ll lead them away.”
“Hide well here, you must! You absolutely must hide well!”
“Zhang Jie!”
As Zhang Jie was about to leave, Lin Ran grabbed his arm with all her strength.
“Zhang Jie… you must, you must come back too.”
“I… I only have you…”
Zhang Jie let out a long breath, lowered himself, and gently rested his head against Lin Ran’s forehead.
“Me too.”
“Wait for me to come back.”
“There was no time to delay. You picked up a pile of clothes to cover Lin Ran, then hoisted a small mannequin wearing a wig and clothes onto your back and rushed out.”
“Your figure instantly attracted the attention of your pursuers. The encirclement quickly closed in on you, but fortunately, it also bypassed the clothing store where Lin Ran was hidden.”
“But you didn’t know this. You only knew that you had to break through, to escape this damned encirclement, no matter what happened to you, as long as Lin Ran was safe.”
“You dared not confront those with Gene Weapons head-on. The genetic knowledge in your mind surged forth at this moment, becoming increasingly clear. Gene codes of extraordinary creatures appeared, and at the same time, you could clearly sense an invisible lock on your own life code.”
“You sensed the Gene Lock. It limits the upper potential of a creature, determining the limits of that species. Only individuals who constantly break through their limits have a chance to break this lock, but Gene Medicine made from the genes of extraordinary creatures can easily break this rule, giving even an ordinary person a chance to break it.”
“You felt as if you had glimpsed something profound. Could you compile the genes of extraordinary creatures into your own life code, thereby breaking the first-level Gene Lock?”
“The relentless pursuers behind you left no time for such thoughts. You gritted your teeth and quickly chose an extraordinary gene, using the gene editing knowledge you had learned in your spare time to compile it into your life code.”
“Instantly, an incredibly intense pain spread throughout your entire body, so severe that you couldn’t breathe. You fell to the ground, thinking you had successfully activated the Gene Lock, until you glimpsed your own life code, continuously displaying errors.”
“The pursuers quickly caught up to you. When they discovered that you were carrying a mannequin instead of Lin Ran, they angrily demanded to know Lin Ran’s whereabouts, repeatedly punching and kicking you. You struggled to get up, but a sense of powerlessness surged through you again.”
“You failed. Gene Medicine was the culmination of dozens of generations of human effort. How could your amateur genetic knowledge compare to hundreds of years of human research? You could feel your body gradually losing sensation, from the initial excruciating pain to feeling nothing at all from their punches and kicks.”
“Your consciousness gradually blurred, and the kaleidoscope of your life began to spin. Scenes from the past continuously emerged, until the flickering images settled on the present moment: on the ferocious faces of those who were beating you, on Lin Ran, hiding in the clothing store, waiting for your return, and on your continuously disintegrating body.”
“You didn’t want to die like this. You still had many unfinished tasks. Unwillingness and anger transformed into a blazing inferno that surged into your heart. Scarlet flames erupted from the depths of your consciousness, spewing forth from your shattered body.”
“Life Trait — My Broken Body Becomes a Blazing Inferno — Activated.”
“Damn it! This kid is really evil!”
The leader kicked Zhang Jie’s half-dissolved body hard, getting an unknown, disgusting solution on his shoe.
He disgustedly scuffed his foot on the ground, then immediately called to his subordinates behind him.
“Go back and find her! I don’t believe this kid can make a living person disappear!”
“If you don’t find that girl, none of you will get a single drop of Gene Medicine!”
He snorted coldly and turned to leave, but suddenly felt a fierce burning sensation on his foot.
He saw that the unknown solution on the foot he had just used to kick Zhang Jie had actually begun to burn. Blood-red flames, like a vengeful spirit, rapidly climbed up his body.
“What the hell is this?!”
He tried to slap out the flames with his hands, but it was useless; instead, his hands became covered in even more red flames.
“Water! Get water!”
“Boss… you… behind you!”
He watched as his subordinates all showed expressions of terror, backing away. He quickly turned around, only to witness an unforgettable sight.
Endless blood-red flames shot up into the sky, and a figure stood amidst them, like a demon with a gaping maw, blood-flames continuously gushing from his body.
“Roar!!!”
“Monster! It’s a monster!”
The subordinates behind the leader turned and ran. The blood-flames surged like a tsunami, instantly engulfing them, dissolving them in the sea of fire like salt meeting water.
More than just this one team of pursuers had arrived; among them were even second-tier Gene Warriors. The pursuers behind, seeing this scene, were scared out of their wits. These blood-red flames seemed to possess a genetic deterrent, making them feel an indescribable fear.
“Retreat!!”
“What in the world is this?!”
A red figure rushed out at an incredibly fast speed. Wherever it went, blood-red flames spread, and people were continuously swallowed by the sea of fire, torn apart by the beast within the flames. Even second-tier Gene Warriors found it difficult to escape.
That figure was like a fiend, carrying endless fury, burning wildly.
Screams followed one after another. Zhang Jie only felt his boundless rage had nowhere to vent. The angrier he became, the more fiercely the blood-flames burned.
The approaching pursuers were completely annihilated within a few short minutes, with no one left alive, leaving behind only a scorching red sea of fire and a monstrous beast roaring at the sky.
“Caesar Life’s capture plan failed. The red flames that soared into the sky that night instilled fear in countless people. No witnesses survived, and everything within a hundred meters was incinerated. No one knew what truly happened that day.”